Musical Soundalike of the Day, 4/29/2024
Something I’m trying since I’ve been having trouble keeping up in this blog, first a piece of music that sounds like a cross between previously-written pieces.
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Let me know if the videos don’t work.
japanese rpg
Gaming Update, 3/19/2024
Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past
Did some more class grinding in Traveller’s Tablet worlds before returning to the past Nottagen to finish the final quest. Maribel has left my party, replaced by Aishe, whom I made a Warrior since she has some ranks for that class. The Hero is a Priest, Ruff an Armamentalist, and Sir Mervyn a Sage. Maribel was a Jester before she left.
Grandia HD Remaster
Beat this baby. Expect a review eventually.
Gaming Update, St. Patrick’s Day 2024
Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past
Got the Mysterious Fragment from the present-day Sullk Tower, and gave one of the monster-obtained Traveller’s Tablets dungeons a shot. Despite the enemies in one being super-weak, battles with them still count towards vocation advancement. The Hero is still a Gladiator, Maribel finallymastered Mage and is now a Sage, while Ruff is still a Drake slime and Sir Mervyn a Malevolantern. Doing the second part of Nottagen’s past right now.
Grandia HD Remaster
I’m at the start of Gaia, with Feena back in my party. The end is near…
Gaming Update, 2/29/2024
Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past
I’m at Gröndal in the past, after visiting the town. Ruff is getting close to mastering the Sailor class, but the hero and Maribel haven’t gotten any further in theirs. Maybe in the next dungeon…
Grandia HD Remaster
Working my way through the Tower of Temptation and have gotten some of the money within it.
Gaming Update, 2/28/2024
Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past
Completed the Likeness of the Great Evil dungeon. Mastered Thief class for Ruff and now have him as a Sailor, one star from mastery. Ironically, the hero is still a Warrior and Maribel a Priest, and haven’t ranked up at all, probably because Ruff is a few levels lower than they are and is not subjected to the threshold of enemy power. Ah well.
Grandia HD Remaster
Working through the Tower of Temptation, and got all the first-floor treasures.
Chrono Trigger
The Temporal Epiphany
Before Square and Enix merged, Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, along with Yuji Horii and Akira Toriyama, the respective architect and character designer of the Dragon Quest series, banded to develop an RPG under the former company’s banner heavily utilizing content excised from the planned debut of Secret of Mana on the Super NES’s aborted CD add-on when Nintendo sought partnership with Sony when their negotiations fell through. The final product was titled Chrono Trigger, seeing original release on the Big N’s 16-bit console and future ports to platforms that include the PlayStation, Nintendo DS, iOS, and most recently, Steam. Does it still hold up today?
The game opens in 1000 AD when the protagonist Crono’s mother awakens him on the day the Millennial Fair, which celebrates the founding of the kingdom Guardia, begins. At the festival, he bumps into a mysterious maiden named Marle, whom he takes to test his friend Lucca’s teleportation device, which strangely resonates with her pendant and mistakenly sends her four centuries into the past. Thus, Crono gives chase, discovering various temporal events and conspiracies culminating in the destruction of the world in 1999 AD by an entity called Lavos and recruiting others to secure the timeline.
Even in the original’s time, Chrono Trigger was not the first Japanese RPG to emphasize time travel, with that honor going to SaGa 3, which received the phony moniker Final Fantasy Legend III from Square’s North American branch when it was translated years before. However, the game weaves its story effectively, with the characters being endearing and often having intricate backstories, the various substories being interesting, events in historical periods impacting the future, a few plot differences dependent upon the player’s party composition, and different endings that depend upon actions taken throughout the quest.
However, many negative plot beats abound. Among them are Guardia’s soldiers leaving Crono with his weapon and armor on when incarcerated early in the narrative, the tale of a “legendary hero,” and elements derived from literature like the repair of a broken ancestral blade, a plot point from The Lord of the Rings. Other unoriginal elements include a dystopian future and an evil queen; other tropes from previous RPGs, like a character having to relearn all powers from scratch when joining your party and a doomed floating continent also appear. Additional “why” moments like cavemen in hiding emerging to glimpse an approaching tidal wave before returning to safety are also present. Fortunately, these don’t heavily dent an otherwise enjoyable plot.
The original translation by Ted Woolsey was one of the better ones in its era, receiving much of the polish it had when ported to the Nintendo DS. As is expected of any RPG released today, the dialogue is legible, and very few spelling and grammar errors exist. Most Japanese-to-English name changes were also for the better, like the names of the Gurus of Zeal, renamed after the Magi that visited the infant Jesus after his birth, with their original names being far more comical. Magus’ generals, furthermore, had the names of condiments in the Japanese dialogue, although Woolsey changed their names to Ozzie, Slash, and Flea after musicians well known to Anglophone gamers.
While Chrono Trigger features an overworld, it relegates enemy encounters to dungeons, with foes visible to fight in most of them. Contacting enemies or coming near them triggers combat, but many cases come where they’re hidden and emerge to engage Crono and his party. Battles bequeath the active time system of the Final Fantasy franchise, with the three frontline characters having gauges that, when filled, allow them to perform commands. As in Hironobu Sakaguchi’s flagship Square franchise, players can choose between active mode, where the battle action continues while they peruse Tech and item menus, or wait mode, where the action stops during navigation of said inventories.
However, the wait mode doesn’t work universally, for example, not while targeting monsters to attack or execute Techs against or anytime outside the Tech and item menus, even when all three characters’ active time gauges fill, which would have been welcome. Attacking using equipped weapons, using MP-consuming Techs, and consuming items are the primary battle commands, but a typical RPG staple, defending to reduce damage, is oddly absent. Players can escape by holding the L and R buttons on whatever input device they use, which usually works except during mandatory battles or standard boss fights.
Winning battles nets all participating characters experience for occasional leveling, money, TP to unlock more powerful Techs, and maybe an item or two. Depending upon the player’s party composition, characters can learn Double and Triple Techs that allow combination skills targeting all allies, one enemy, or all enemies, which can help hasten even the most daunting battles. Many bosses require a specific strategy to defeat them, whether exploiting an elemental weakness or offing boss units in the correct order (critical to the absolute final battle, hint, hint). Other issues aside from those mentioned include the existence of Techs whose range depends on a character’s current location but the lack of any means to move them across the battlefield. Regardless, the game mechanics form a satisfying whole.
In contrast, control is a mixed bag. However, the Steam port has numerous quality-of-life additions, like autosaving, a suspend save, and autodashing. Other positive usability features from previous versions remain, including diagonal character movement, an in-game clock the player can view at any time and not just while saving (which oddly seems endemic to many contemporary Japanese RPGs for some reason), the ability to walk around while minor NPCs are talking, sortable item inventory categories, being able to see how weapons and armor increase or decrease stats before purchasing them, item and magic descriptions, and overall polished menus.
However, those in charge of the Steam port could have addressed issues that include a potential glitch when booting the game that can prevent it from even going to the title screen, the absence of an auto-equip feature for the player’s party, the lack of dungeon maps, no pausing outside of battle, no fast travel in the early portion of the game, the inability to speed up increasing item quantity when purchasing consumables from shops, the pause feature in combat not muting the volume (and heaven knows I hate having to fiddle with my television remote), many secrets being tedious to discover without the internet, and a late-game missable sidequest dependent upon interacting with a minor NPC earlier in the storyline. Even so, the controls aren’t absolute dealbreakers when pondering a purchase.
Chrono Trigger marked the musical debut of composer Yasunori Mitsuda, who, with help from resident Square composer Nobuo Uematsu, provided an endearing soundtrack. The titular main musical piece has several remixes throughout the game, with each character also having a musical motif, including Marle’s lullaby, Lucca’s triumphant anthem, Frog’s whistle-along refrain (which somewhat resembles “When Johnny Comes Marching Home”), and Robo’s techno tune, whose resemblance to Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up,” as Mitsuda noted when informed of it, was coincidental.
Other notable tracks include the Fiendlord’s battle theme, which has an orchestral flamenco feel (as does that during the penultimate final boss fight), and “Corridors of Time,” the theme for the floating continent during the Ice Age, which utilizes digitized Indian instrumentation. The minor jingles have pleasant melodies, like the sleeping theme, with the sound team adding quirks like Frog’s croaking and Robo’s beeping and buzzing. However, the musical variety, especially regarding the standard battle theme, can often be minimal, many areas lack unique themes, and a few “why” tracks like Gato’s jingle and the prehistoric “Burn! Bobonga!” abound. Regardless, the aural aspect is a boon to the game.
Its original version having been of the final Japanese RPGs released on the Super NES, Chrono Trigger featured polished visuals with vibrant colors, beautiful environments, character sprites having reasonable proportions and emotional spectra, fluid animation by the player’s party and enemies, stunning battle effects, and the anime cutscenes introduced in the PlayStation port and onward, mostly readjusted for contemporary television screens. Akira Toriyama provided the character and monster designs, most being well-designed, even if most human characters have similar faces typical of the artist’s work, alongside many reskins among the latter.
Other graphical issues include countless recycled nonplayer character sprites, a few that have odd appearances such as those for the old green-haired women, hints of pixilation even with upscaling and smoothing enabled, character sprites not facing diagonally, many NPCs absurdly walking in place, and Mode 7 graininess especially evident during the ending credits. The porting team further left maybe a few anime cutscenes from the PlayStation and Nintendo DS ports out (but mercifully, the one appearing after the ending credits, which adds to the game’s story and slightly connects to sequel Chrono Cross, remains). Otherwise, the graphics serve the game well.
Finally, playtime will vary, depending upon the player’s skill, with 24 hours being an average time for an initial playthrough, even with most sidequests partaken in. Chrono Trigger was the first RPG to term and popularize the New Game Plus, even if a handful of Japanese games before featured similar modes. Combined with significant extra content, like potential plot differences, around a dozen different endings, and discovering every secret, the time-travel RPG is the epitome of replayability.
Overall, Chrono Trigger, pun intended, does indeed stand the test of time, given its enjoyable aspects that include its solid game mechanics enhanced by contemporary features such as a turbo mode, the intricate narrative with potential variations and around a dozen different endings, the beautiful soundtrack, and the upscaled visuals. However, while inarguably a classic, “masterpiece” is an overstatement since there are numerous issues bequeathed from prior releases, like the slight inaccessibility to those experiencing it for the first time, given the difficulty of discovering helpful elements without referencing the internet and coasting through the game in general.
Furthermore, while contemporary quality-of-life features such as auto-saving and a suspend save exist, the game could have used more polish in the usability department. The localization quality is also inconsistent, musical variety can be lacking, and some aspects of the visuals haven’t aged well, even with the upscaling and smoothing. Regardless, it was in many respects a turning point for Japanese RPGs after its original release, especially with the significant lasting appeal that its various endings and New Game Plus feature contributed to the realm of roleplaying games, and, while imperfect, is easily a bucket-list title necessitating at least one playthrough from those with a passing interest in Eastern video gaming.
This review is based on a single playthrough of a digital Steam copy purchased and downloaded to the reviewer’s Steam Deck, played on a television through the Docking Station.
| Score Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| The Good | The Bad |
| Great gameplay with new features like turbo mode. Excellent story with variations on plot and different endings. Enjoyable soundtrack. Good graphics with choice of higher resolution. Plenty lasting appeal. | Can be difficult to cheese through in initial playthrough. Some usability issues. Inconsistent translation quality. Musical variety can be lacking at points. Some aspects of the visuals haven’t aged well. |
| The Bottom Line | |
| Not perfect, but definitely a bucket list JRPG. | |
| Platform | Steam |
| Game Mechanics | 9.0/10 |
| Control | 6.0/10 |
| Story | 9.0/10 |
| Localization | 6.5/10 |
| Aurals | 8.5/10 |
| Visuals | 7.5/10 |
| Lasting Appeal | 9.5/10 |
| Difficulty | Moderate |
| Playtime | 24+ Hours |
| Overall: 8.0/10 | |
Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation
Nightmares and Dreamscapes
When Nintendo’s latest portable system was the Nintendo DS, Square-Enix announced a remake of the Zenithian trilogy of the Dragon Quest series, comprising the fourth through sixth installments, with North American release announced for all three, as the franchise had somewhat been experiencing a golden age outside Japan with the success of Journey of the Cursed King. However, unlike Cursed King, the rereleases of the fourth and fifth games, because of invisible advertising, didn’t sell as well, leaving the fate of the sixth and final Zenithian Dragon Quest in the air. Eventually, Nintendo took charge of localization and reannounced the trilogy’s conclusion as Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation, but it kept its original English subtitle, The Realms of Reverie, in Europe. The title saw a port to iOS devices, with an experience on par with the rest of the series.
Combat is turn-based and randomly encountered, with the sixth installment following the tried turn-based tradition of the player inputting various commands for their characters and letting them and the enemy beat up one another in a round. Turn order can be inconsistent as in other entries, and the escape option doesn’t always work, with a few instances of accidentally tapping it when guaranteed not to work, like against bosses. While exploring the overworld, the player can swap party members out from their carriage, an option sometimes available in some dungeons when the player’s carriage comes along. As in prior Zenithian Dragon Quests, AI options are available for all characters except the protagonist, which can work well depending on the situation. Victory nets all living participants, including those not in the party, experience to level occasionally, money, and maybe an item. Death results in the player being transported to the last church with only the hero alive and his allies dead, with early-game revival expenses potentially burdensome.
Eventually, the player accesses the job system, each with their strengths and weaknesses, with a certain number of battles with enemies on par with the player’s levels or any in the Dark World necessary to advance, acquire new skills that become permanent parts of a character’s skill set regardless of occupation, and ultimately master skills, with higher-level careers available depending upon base classes mastered. Despite many powerful free skills, the game is no cakewalk, especially the main final boss. There is some early-game hell as well, like the initial revival spell failing half the time, and things such as skills on the part of the player and enemy affect all one at a time, which can drag out fights where the player has their carriage present. The game mechanics have many positives, but the archaic elements from previous series entries can spoil things.
As usual, moreover, interaction leaves room for improvement. The menus are superficially clean, but shopping for equipment and items is troublesome, given the countless confirmations, alongside the taxing nature of saving the game, the unavailability of the quicksave in dungeons, and a general poor direction on how to advance the main storyline or where to go next. Dungeons don’t have maps, either; a map for the underwater version of the lower world would have also been welcome, given its numerous points of interest. Hopefully, one day, the franchise will abandon these archaic traditions.
The story is enjoyable for a Dragon Quest game, focusing on two parallel worlds and a conflict between the playable characters and a villain named Murdaw. All characters have a story behind them, and the various subplots are detailed. However, the game is frequently unclear on how to advance the central storyline. Some plot beats, as well, are derivative, such as amnesia and a higher power behind everything. The localization is top-notch, with a hurricane of puns characteristic of contemporary translations of the series, with maybe some minor odd lines such as the ever-present “But the enemies are too stunned to move!” Even so, the narrative is a significant driving factor.
Composer Koichi Sugiyama, as usual, does a superb job with the soundtrack, with every track being enjoyable. However, some silence abounds, and the battle sounds are still dated.
The sixth entry utilizes the same graphical style as its Nintendo DS predecessors. The sprites and scenery look nice, despite pixilation, and fluidly animated enemies designed by Akira Toriyama dazzle in battle. However, many foes are reskinned, and the perspective of combat remains in first-person, like classic series entries. Camera rotation during exploration isn’t always available, which would have been handy given a plot quest where the player must tail a non-player character without being caught. The visuals aren’t an eyesore but show their age.
Finally, playtime ranges from twenty-four to forty-eight hours, depending upon how much grinding of levels and classes the player needs to make it through the game. Some lasting appeal exists in mastering all character classes, not to mention a post-game dungeon. However, there are no plot variations or achievements, and most players will likely want to move to other games.
In summation, Dragon Quest VI hits many positive notes, particularly with its solid class system, enjoyable narrative with polished translation, and superb soundtrack. However, many aspects leave room for improvement, including the occasional difficulty of spikes throughout the main quest, the retention of the franchise’s archaic traditions that affect combat and control adversely, the frequent poor direction on how to advance the main storyline, the questionable quicksave feature, and the dated visuals. Those who have enjoyed other games in the franchise will likely be able to look beyond its flaws. Furthermore, since the story doesn’t have much connection to other games in the series beyond its trilogy, those unversed in the franchise may find this port a decent romp.
This review is based on a playthrough to the standard ending with no postgame content attempted.
| Score Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| The Good | The Bad |
| Great class system. Enjoyable story and translation Excellent soundtrack. | Retains franchise’s archaic elements. Poor direction on where to go next. Graphics show their age. |
| The Bottom Line | |
| Typical Dragon Quest. | |
| Platform | iOS |
| Game Mechanics | 5.5/10 |
| Control | 5.0/10 |
| Story | 9.0/10 |
| Localization | 9.5/10 |
| Aurals | 9.5/10 |
| Visuals | 6.5/10 |
| Lasting Appeal | 5.0/10 |
| Difficulty | Moderate to Hard |
| Playtime | 24-48 Hours |
| Overall: 7.0/10 | |
Etrian Odyssey III HD
Underwaterworld Revisited
The Etrian Odyssey series would attract attention from the gaming community due to its throwback to old-school first-person dungeon crawlers like Wizardry, lasting until the Nintendo 3DS became a defunct system. However, in 2023, the company released remasters of the first three games in the franchise for the Nintendo Switch and Steam, a fortunate thing for those who missed out on them and wished not to pay the exorbitant prices that Atlus games tended to receive after physical versions of their games fell out of print. Etrian Odyssey III HD, like the original tertiary entry of the franchise before it, would shake things up a little in the gameplay department, the remaster making it more accessible to mainstream audiences.
The third entry occurs primarily in the ocean city of Armoroad, which once prospered greatly with a highly developed civilization that fell underwater with a great earthquake, with various adventurers, including the guild the player creates, seeking to unravel its mysteries. While the members of the customizable party lack a story behind them, the other aspects of the narrative are surprisingly well-developed, with plenty of substories, many in the sea exploration sidequest and a few within the Yggdrasil Labyrinth, alongside a significant plot decision that affects the endgame and warrants another playthrough. However, a few moments abound that leave the player clueless on how to further the central storyline unless they pay pedantic attention to the dialogue. Regardless, the plot is a benefit to the game overall.
The translation is also executed well, with a deficit of spelling and grammar errors, legible dialogue, and good naming conventions, aside from occasional awkward lines.
Etrian Odyssey III shares many mechanical similarities with its predecessors, with the player first needing to create a Guild of at least five characters of different classes to traverse the Yggdrasil Labyrinth. Encounters are still random yet anticipatable, with an indicator shifting from blue to red to denote their closeness. In battle, the player inputs commands for each character, which include attacking with their equipped weapon, defending to reduce damage, executing a TP-consuming skill, using a consumable item from the party inventory, executing a limit skill that requires the users to have their respective gauges to be at their maximums, or attempting to escape, the player having up to five chances to do so in case one or more fails.
Afterward, the characters and the enemy exchange commands depending upon agility, with some classes having skills that can affect turn order and thus negate the typical turn-based battle issue of healing coming to allies with low health too late. How the game handles death depends upon the difficulty setting, with the Picnic mode taking players back to town with nothing lost and higher settings resulting in a Game Over but a chance to preserve dungeon map progress. Victory nets all characters still alive experience for occasionally increased levels and parts from the defeated enemies, which the player can sell for money and unlock new items and equipment for sale in town.
Leveling nets characters a point they can invest into their skill tree to unlock new active and passive abilities. Upon reaching the Third Stratum, the player can select a subclass for their characters, which nets them bonus skill points and the opportunity to obtain the abilities of another class. Some class combinations can be incredibly ideal; for instance, I had an Arbalist with elemental attack abilities subclassed as a Zodiac, whose passive magical skill bonuses made for a killer mix. As in prior Etrians, powerful enemies called FOEs wander the Yggdrasil Labyrinth, with the recommendation to avoid them initially ringing true on difficulties above Picnic.
Etrian Odyssey III introduced a major sidequest that consists of sailing the seas around Armoroad, with the player needing to outfit a ship with food supplies that dictate how far they can travel alongside nautical equipment such as a sail that can allow players to traverse several tiles with one movement and a ram that can allow their vessel to bypass obstacles such as coral reefs. When the player reaches new landmarks, sidequests unlock where the player can send characters currently in their active party to battle powerful enemies alongside AI-controlled allies. Their experience rewards can provide an edge in the battles of the Yggdrasil Labyrinth.
Players can also obtain experience from story missions and the tavern quests, and while some of the latter and the sea exploration may necessitate the use of the internet, completing all is scarcely necessary to finish the main quest. Ultimately, I had a blast with the mechanics, with the adjustable difficulty accommodating players of different skill levels and putting the game above and beyond the original Nintendo DS version. A few class abilities can nullify the typical shortcomings of traditional turn-based battle systems, and the endless potential for subclassing combinations is another plus, making the high-definition port a pinnacle of classical-style RPG mechanics.
As with its precursors, Etrian Odyssey III HD features an intricate mapping system, with players able to set it so that tiles and walls in the Yggdrasil Labyrinth are automapped. While it’s up to players to place icons indicating elements like shortcuts and doors, the developers adapted the control surprisingly well for the remaster. A suspend save is also available to accommodate players with tight schedules outside gaming, and the base menu system is easy to handle. The only real issues are the inability to see how equipment increases or decreases character stats when pawning it and the weak in-game direction at many points on how to advance the central storyline.
As with other series entries, Yuzo Koshiro composed the soundtrack, which is just as riveting as in the Nintendo DS version. Plenty of catchy tracks of different styles abound, starting from the main Stratum themes and concluding with the ending credits music. There are a few silent portions, but the remaster is an absolute aural joy.
The remastered visuals are mostly a joy to behold as well, with excellent character and monster designs, great colors, pretty environments, and mostly smooth three-dimensional effects within the Yggdrasil Labyrinth and on the seas around Armoroad. Granted, some of the environmental textures are blurry and pixilated, and many enemy designs consist of reskins and are completely inanimate in combat. Even so, the game is far from an eyesore.
Finally, playtime can be on par with the third entry’s predecessors, somewhere from twelve to twenty-four hours, with lasting appeal existing in the form of Steam Achievements, postgame content, messing with different party setups, and so forth.
In conclusion, Etrian Odyssey III HD is the final feather in the cap of the Origins Collection, on par with its preceding remasters, given its intricate gameplay mechanics and mapping, tight control, well-developed storylines, and solid sight and sound. However, there are a few blemishes in the interaction, story, and visual departments, given the potential to become lost if not paying close attention to the dialogue, the lack of backstory for the player’s characters, and how the visuals retain much of the lazy design choices of the original game such as inanimate enemies in combat. Regardless, I had a blast and would recommend the game to those who enjoyed its precursors.
This review is based on a playthrough of a digital copy downloaded to the player’s Steam Deck to the standard ending with 11/29 achievements obtained.
| Score Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| The Good | The Bad |
| Engrossing battle and mapping mechanics. Good story with different branches. Great sound and sight. | Player’s party lacks backstory. Some poor narrative direction at a few points. Visuals could have been better in a few areas. |
| The Bottom Line | |
| Another excellent Etrian remaster. | |
| Platform | Steam |
| Game Mechanics | 10/10 |
| Control | 9.0/10 |
| Story | 9.0/10 |
| Localization | 9.5/10 |
| Aurals | 9.5/10 |
| Visuals | 9.0/10 |
| Lasting Appeal | 10/10 |
| Difficulty | Adjustable |
| Playtime | 12-24+ Hours |
| Overall: 9.5/10 | |
Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster
Scenes of the Class Struggle in Final Fantasy
During the 8-bit and 16-bit video game console generations, North America was in a dark age when it came to Japanese roleplaying games, with many overseen for localization, as had been the case with the Final Fantasy franchise, which led to confusing renumbering of their titles that the seventh installment for the Sony PlayStation would rectify. Final Fantasy V on the Super Famicom would be one of the titles overlooked for translation until the release of the Final Fantasy Anthology for Sony’s first game console. The fifth entry would see numerous rereleases, the latest being the Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster, which would find its way to the PlayStation 4 along with the other entries of the remake collection.
Final Fantasy V opens with a vagrant named Bartz, who, along with his trusty Chocobo named Boko, investigates a fallen meteor accompanied by an amnesiac elder named Galuf. The other deuteragonists include the princess of Tycoon, Lenna, who is searching for her father, and the pirate captain Faris, both joining Bartz to stop seals breaking to release the wicked sorcerer Exdeath. The characters are well-developed, with some decent twists, although the narrative rehashes elements from prior Final Fantasies, which include the weakening of elemental forces. The translation doesn’t detract from the lighthearted disposition, with cultural references such as the Power Rangers. However, the choices for names such as Hiryu for King Tycoon’s Wind Drake and Exdeath for the main antagonist could have been better.
The fifth installment was the second to feature the franchise’s once-signature active-time battle system, fights still randomly encountered. However, as in the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch versions of the other Pixel Remasters, the player can turn random fights on or off. Boosts also return that can as much as quadruple experience, money, and job ability points, and make the game more accommodating to players of different skill levels than ever before, a godsend given that Final Fantasy V, without them, is one of the more difficult entries of the series. The structure of active-time combat remains unchanged, with the playable cast of up to four characters having speed gauges that let them perform a command when filled.
Alongside the standard system of levels from experience is the job system, returning from Final Fantasy III, albeit evolved. Upon reaching the first elemental crystal, players receive access to different vocations that affect what kind of abilities the characters can perform in combat. Among the initial classes are the Knight, which can equip swords and heavy armor and take damage instead of allies low on health; the Monk, which can deal significant damage without weapons yet can only equip lighter armor; the Thief, which can steal items from enemies; the Black Mage, which can cast offensive magic; and the White Mage, which can cast healing and defensive spells.
Jobs have levels that rise with Ability Points obtained from battle alongside standard experience and money, letting a character equip one additional command, a passive ability, or a stat increase with their current occupation’s base command. For instance, one can have a Knight that can cast White Mage spells up to a specific tier, provided the player has advanced levels in the staple Final Fantasy healing class. One major issue is that if the player continually wants to master new class skills, they can only have one extra active or passive ability while learning a particular vocation. This setup can feel constraining, but players can set their characters as Freelancers, where they can equip two job abilities.
Late in the game, the player can unlock a secret class, the Mime, that allows for far greater freedom in vocational customization and was my go-to job for all my characters during the endgame. The general restrictiveness of the job system before then is perhaps the main shortcoming of the game mechanics, and there are a few bosses that drove me to reference the internet and can be unbeatable depending upon the player’s party setup. The turbo mode players can toggle can relieve some of the grind necessary to progress without the Boosts, and some class and ability combinations can make the experience a breeze at times. Ultimately, with the adjustable challenge, the fifth entry’s Pixel Remaster is an accommodating experience.
Those who have played prior installments of the Pixel Remaster collection will be familiar with the control, with a menu system that is easy to handle and an overworld map connecting all towns and dungeons. A suspend save is also available, along with autosaving when transitioning between areas, which can be beneficial given the frequent poor placement of hard save points. The in-game maps for towns and dungeons are also helpful, although the latter can be annoying, and the direction of where to go next is frequently poor. Regardless, things could have been worse in the category of interaction.
Composer Nobuo Uematsu’s soundtrack for the fifth entry is one of his strongest, beginning with a central piece that sounds like a cross between the Indiana Jones and Back to the Future themes, along with numerous remixes of various emotions throughout the game. The Prelude and series overture are also present, and tracks such as “Clash on the Big Bridge” are equally solid, with superb instrumentation. Some silence sporadically abounds during many story scenes, but the aural experience is well above par.
Visually, the game is on par with its preceding Pixel Remasters. The original introduced effects such as various emotions for the character sprites, which retain their miniature proportions and only enlarge in combat. Some graphical laziness from the Super Famicom release returns, like the main character sprites beyond battles not showing their current jobs. Enemies in combat are also inanimate and consist of occasional reskins. However, the environments and effects within and without engagements are solid, so there is some reason to celebrate regarding the fifth remaster’s graphics.
Finally, given the possible need for grinding to make it through the main quest, total playtime ends up higher than in previous Pixel Remasters, somewhere between sixteen to twenty-four hours, with lasting appeal present as maxing every class and receiving every PlayStation Trophy. However, there are no narrative variations and above-average difficulty on default settings that may deter additional playtime.
In summation, the Pixel Remaster of Final Fantasy V is mostly on par with its predecessors, given the accommodating difficulty settings that will appeal to players of all skill levels, the quality-of-life improvements such as in-game maps, the enjoyable story and above-average translation, the superb soundtrack, and the pretty remastered visuals. However, the fifth entry leaves room for improvement even in its positive aspects, among them the restrictiveness of class development, the weak direction on advancing the central storyline, the derivative nature of some story elements, and lazy visual decisions retained from its prior ports. Regardless, while it isn’t the strongest entry of the Final Fantasy franchise, it does warrant a look from gamers exploring the storied series’ history.
This review is based on a single playthrough with all Boosts at their maximums to the standard ending and 54% of PlayStaton Trophies acquired.
| Score Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| The Good | The Bad |
| Some killer class combinations. Good story with humorous writing at times. One of Nobuo Uematsu’s best Final Fantasy soundtracks. Nice remastered visuals. Decent lasting appeal. | Class system often feels restrictive. Narrative reuses elements from past series entries. Some lazy visual direction carried over from prior versions. |
| The Bottom Line | |
| Probably the definitive version of the game. | |
| Platform | PlayStation 4 |
| Game Mechanics | 8.5/10 |
| Control | 8.5/10 |
| Story | 8.5/10 |
| Localization | 9.0/10 |
| Aurals | 9.5/10 |
| Visuals | 7.5/10 |
| Lasting Appeal | 8.0/10 |
| Difficulty | Adjustable |
| Playtime | 16-24+ Hours |
| Overall: 8.5/10 | |
Etrian Odyssey II HD
The Second Crusade
When Atlus’s Etrian Odyssey for the Nintendo DS saw its North American release, most gamers found it a throwback to old-school role-playing games, given a fully customizable party, first-person dungeon exploration, and sometimes punishing difficulty. Given its success, it was natural that a sequel would see its release soon afterward, later given a 3DS remake and years later remastered for Windows and the Nintendo Switch as part of the Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection as Etrian Odyssey II HD, allowing new generations to discover the original version of the first sequel of the dungeon-crawling franchise.
Upon starting a new game, the player must create a party of five characters of diverse classes, with some new selections in the sequel, which include Gunner and War Magus. Before choosing a party, it’s a good idea to give their skill sets a once-over to ensure that whatever party the player selects can work harmoniously. For example, the Survivalist has certain skills that can grant specific allies the initiative in a round of combat, which can, for example, help healers execute their healing before the enemy kills whomever the player wishes to heal.
Battles in the labyrinth are random, with an indicator gradually turning red to indicate how close the player is to encountering enemies, a feature that, like in the first game, alleviates the typical tension associated with random encounters. Fights follow the traditional turn-based formula of inputting commands for the player’s party and letting them and the enemy beat up one another in a round, with agility determining turn order. The player puts their characters into a formation consisting of a front and back row, each able to hold up to three characters, with characters in the front row dealing and taking more damage and back row characters taking and dealing less damage.
Commands include attacking with an equipped weapon, defending, using items, attempting to escape (with up to five opportunities and an increased chance of success with a skill all characters have), changing the front and back row formation (if all characters in the front row die, the back and front rows will switch), or using a unique Force skill when a character’s Force points are at maximum. Defeating all enemies results in the player acquiring experience for all participating characters who are still alive, not to mention monster parts that the player can sell at the shop in town for money (since monsters don’t drop money themselves).
Violating the Hippocratic Oath
Sold parts gradually unlock more powerful equipment and consumable items. In some cases, gear and consumables are of limited stock, so the player must acquire more monster parts to unlock the equipment and items again for purchase. What happens when the player dies in combat depends upon the difficulty setting: the lowest challenge, Picnic, transports players back into town with no experience lost, while higher settings result in a Game Over but the chance to preserve the dungeon map.
Leveling results in the player acquiring a skill point they can invest in a character class skill tree, with upper-level skills requiring weaker skills to have a certain number of points to unlock them. Bosses end each Stratum, their difficulty depending upon the challenge mode, and as a hint for those playing on standard or advanced settings, using bind skills on their head, arms, and feet can be pivotal. Ultimately, the game mechanics are virtually flawless and accommodating to players of divergent skill levels.
The interface is mostly the same as it was in the first game, with a linear structure and a hub town where the player can perform various tasks such as buying new items and equipment, recovering health, and so forth, with expectant features like the ability to see how gear increases or decreases stats before purchasing it while shopping. The ability to map walls automatically also reduces some of the stress of dungeon cartography, and there are some improvements in dungeon navigation, primarily magnetic poles every couple of floors that provide teleportation shortcuts. Aside from the lack of visibility of stat increases or decreases when pawning equipment, control is very tight.
While one can argue that the first Etrian Odyssey sequel is light on plot, it isn’t forced down the player’s throat like in contemporary high-end video game releases. Plenty of positives include intricate backstory (especially elaborated upon towards the end), tavern quest subplots, and mysterious characters such as the adversarial dungeon-crawling duo Der Freischütz and Artelinde. The translation is equally solid, although it features some of its preceding remaster’s missteps with awkward lines such as “It’s a horde of enemies!” when targeting all monsters in battle.
An Etrian autumn
Yuzo Koshiro’s soundtrack, like in the first game, is one of its high points, with plenty of catchy, memorable tracks for each Stratum and enemy engagements, the primary battle theme changing midway through the game. Sound effects could have used more diversity at times, but otherwise, the sequel is an aural delight.
The sequel uses the same remastered visual style as its predecessor, relying on anime character portraits for the player’s characters, people in town, and occasional people in the labyrinth, with three-dimensional dungeon visuals that look nice and colorful, While the monster designs in battle look nice, they’re still inanimate, and a few reskinned foes abound. Still, the game looks good in high definition.
Finally, one can breeze through the sequel in as little as twelve hours; however, plenty of lasting appeal exists: a postgame Stratum, filling the compendia, tavern quests, and Steam achievements, which can push it well beyond that length.
In summation, Etrian Odyssey II HD is, like its predecessor, a great remaster that sports quick combat with adjustable difficulty, making it more accessible to players who would not usually enjoy such RPGs. Control and the signature cartography are also tight, the audiovisual presentation is solid, and the story has some good twists; however, many may admittedly find the narrative shallow. Regardless, the remaster of the first Etrian sequel accomplishes the goal of the remaster collection of bringing the old-school-style dungeon crawler to new audiences. Given the endless possibilities of character and party customization, it will keep prospective players occupied for a fair time.
This review is based on a playthrough to the standard ending with no postgame content attempted.
| Score Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| The Good | The Bad |
| Lots of classes and formations to mess with. Tight control. Solid audiovisual presentation. Endless lasting appeal. | Plot is thinly developed. Many areas where the graphics could have been better. |
| The Bottom Line | |
| Another great Etrian remaster. | |
| Platform | Steam |
| Game Mechanics | 10/10 |
| Control | 9.5/10 |
| Story | 9.0/10 |
| Localization | 9.5/10 |
| Aurals | 9.5/10 |
| Visuals | 9.0/10 |
| Lasting Appeal | 10/10 |
| Difficulty | Adjustable |
| Playtime | 12-24+ Hours |
| Overall: 9.5/10 | |
St. Gallen's Scribblings 