Etrian Odyssey IV (3DS)

Before playing Etrian Odyssey IV, I had never actually played a dungeon crawling RPG of this type.  I knew going into it that it would be difficult but I didn't understand how true that was.  Until I finally learned how to make a cohesive team, I was having a really rough time but that just built up into a decent experience.  A little frustrating at times but towards the end I was having fun as my team finally clicked together and I could trudge forward to the end.  It actually rekindled my interest in this type of RPG and now I have several others waiting on my backlog, simply because the game got fun eventually.

To be fair, the hardest part of the game is the beginning.  Before you have a cohesive team, encounters are difficult.  Even normal encounters are super deadly and FOEs are near impossible without the right setup or luck.  This is the appeal of this genre, each fight is life or death.  Unlike other RPGs, simple things like bats or rats will stop at nothing to see you dead.  This is where teambuilding is very important.

Each character you create has a role.  Be it the defensive tank in Fortress, the utility Medic, or the damage dealing Landskecht, it is very important for the player to learn what each role is for.  Not only do you have to know what a role is for but you also need to create synergy between your characters.  Have the ability to have a Runemaster weaken an enemy to ice damage and then using the Nightseeker's Ice Blade attack is a simple example.  There is a lot of depth and freedom, although the game does punish experimentation after certain points.  I found a group of characters and subclasses that worked for me eventually but it did take some learning on my part.

Also unlike most RPGs, debuffs and status ailments are very important.  They can often lead to a quick victory should they land and almost always I would prioritize landing something.  Even in the final battle, I was surprised when certain ailments would land and help me achieve a slight advantage.  I hadn't played a game that would actually let me land an ailment on a boss, let alone the final boss.   It was nice to see that the game was designed to allow for creative play like that.

One of the key features of the series is the ability to build your own map.  You can map the overworld, dungeons, etc. as you travel around.  There are some tools and the ability to set custom points to remember key areas was really neat.  This is a feature that pretty much couldn't be done on anything other than the 3DS I feel.  It was very intuitive to draw my own map and what should have felt tedious was actually pretty fun.  I felt like a true adventurer, plotting my course and getting through unexplored territory.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the soundtrack. It starts out very simple but there are some great tracks in this game.  Especially towards the end of the game, the last few dungeons have some great themes.  The character art, enemy design, and dungeon design are all nice as well.  If I only had one complaint it would be about the moths.  Every time I fought the moths in the game, I would end up poisoned.  Every single time, without fail.  I hate the moths.

This is definitely no cakewalk of a game.  There were a few times I would just get wiped by what seemed like some very simple enemies.  I prevailed and eventually finished the game.  There is always postgame stuff to do but I got my enjoyment from the game.  Building a team, setting off to explore, and just getting through areas were all rewarding.  It starts rough but once you get better tools and abilities, the game really opens up.  I ended up enjoying this way more than I thought I would.

God Eater 3 (Switch)

 As a Monster Hunter clone, God Eater really does try its best to set itself apart.  With the devour and gun switching mechanics, they've done a decent job.  They introduced some new weapon types in the second title and the burst mechanics were further expanded.  In the third title, they added two new weapon types and grew burst even further.

I'll get it out of the way.  The story in this one is very generic.  It felt so similar to the previous titles that I skipped most of the cutscenes and still knew what was going on.  You spend your time learning about each of your team members, eventually befriending somebody mysterious, and then it all culminates in an epic climax.  I did watch the last set of scenes and it felt like I hadn't missed a thing.  The story is there but nothing to write home about.

The core of the game is going through missions with your selected weapon and beating on big or small Aragami.  The big difference from previous titles is there are new Aragami to hunt.  Some are fun to fight and others a complete bother.  Some hit entirely too hard and the new mechanic where some of the bigger baddies can now devour you and go into burst was annoying.  It led to a basic tactic of just running away once an Aragami started attempting to use the devour attack it had.  Problem is, some of them you couldn't run away.  They would either follow you across entire maps until you got hit or lost all your stamina.  Sometimes they would get you with no chance to even react.  

Still, combat is fun.  The burst mechanics are fun and it was fun using the different burst arts.  I played the game using only the new weapon type of Heavy Moon.  It felt good and often I had no problems just rinsing through enemies.  Sometimes my attacks wouldn't register or I wouldn't jump when I had clearly spammed the button several times.  The controls are not as responsive as I would have liked but I made due.  Guns and custom bullets though feel like they got a huge nerf.  Gone are the days of building a special bullet that pretty much destroyed whatever you fired it at.  They are very limited in use and I didn't bother even using one.  I picked the shotgun gun type and just blasted until I ran out of OP, using it as a simple way to rack up some quick damage while I was trying to run away.

My biggest complaint though is the camera.  I've never had to fight a lock-on system as much I had to in this game.  I would lock on to enemies only to have it just vanish seconds later.  I didn't press the button to dismiss it and the Aragami didn't vanish or move in a way it should have disengaged.  Most of my knockouts were from me just simply being unable to see the enemy.  It was incredibly frustrating to be hitting an enemy only to have the camera decide I no longer needed to see them and whiff my big finisher.

As far as the series goes, this was a good way to end it.  They really did peak in the Rage Burst.  The combat wasn't as tight in this but it was more fast paced.  The guns were not satisfying and I mostly ignored them.  Even the story wasn't great and very formulaic.  All in all, I had some fun but felt no need to keep playing after the main story was done.  I'm sure some of the side missions were interesting but I have no desire to keep playing it.  Good for fans of the series but if you want a Monster Hunter style game, just get Monster Hunter Rise at this point.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch)

 I'm not going to lie, I love Kirby.  I have played every Kirby game and there is just something about the little pink puffball that makes me keep coming back.  This game was no exception.  I found myself just bopping through the levels, looking for secrets and doing my best to finish with as much found as possible.

If you've played a Kirby game before, this will feel familiar.  The biggest change is the jump to a 3D platformer.  Kirby has been 3D for a while but never in a fully 3D world.  The transition was really good and for the most part, they nailed it.  There are a couple of instances where the depth of field messed up a jump or I randomly walked off the map because I wasn't paying close enough attention. Those moments were few and far between.

I do need to make a mention though, Kirby games have always been viewed as easy.  It is one of the reasons I love the series.  It is great to just turn off your brain and run through a level or two.  This game though, they added some difficulty.  There were many times, especially during bosses, that I almost died.  I didn't learn till after the main story and into the special secret stuff that the game intended the player to use guarding and dodging.  I tanked most fights and survived somehow, but I had to learn how to play a bit better at times.

The copy abilities in this game all felt great.  Some were familiar, like Sword or Hammer, but then you get some a new one like Ranger.  They actually gave Kirby a gun, they won't admit it but they did.  Each ability has strengths and weaknesses and the puzzles surrounding them were fun.  New to the series is the mouthful abilities.  Basically, Kirby swallows a huge object and gains control of it.  Each object does something unique, from racing around in a car to smashing enemies as a set of stairs.  Each has a section and each feels unique.

The best part of the game, and series, is the music.  This game is no exception but some of the tracks are especially noteworthy.  The ice themed area had some of the best music and the mall music made me feel like I was actually wandering around a mall as Kirby.  Doing what he would do, jumping from table to table eating the cakes and doughnuts stacked on them.

Kirby is one of those series that I just can't get enough.  They each feel unique and are some of the most fun I've had with a game.  Sure, most of them aren't long but that isn't a bad thing.  Some games pad the hours just so people feel they get their money's worth.  Kirby doesn't need to do that.  It sets out to be fun from start to end and that is what it is.  There is depth to the game though.  There are numerous side-games and collectibles.  Watching Kirby look at the little figures you collect is probably my favorite gaming moment as of late.  Kirby is the wholesome hero we need right now and I'm so glad that this game exists.  Do yourself a favor and play this game.  Just don't expect it to be a cakewalk.  

Suikoden (PSOne Classic)

 Lots of RPGs try to have large parties but nothing beats Suikoden.  What starts as a small force opposing an unjust empire, grows into an unstoppable army.  Sure most of the recruits are utterly useless but that's what makes it fun.  If you want to challenge yourself, you can.

The game, from the 32Bit era, is pretty simple.  The sprites are good and the music is passable.  I do wish there was a better way to skip some of the animations.  Having to watch the same rune magic over and over again does get kind of old.  But I understand that for the time this game was made, that wasn't the norm.  It was a lot of work to make those animations after all and I can see why the developers wouldn't want them to be skipped.

The core game revolves around building your army by recruiting 108 characters or "stars".  Many of them come from progressing the story but not a lot of them do.  Figuring out how to recruit of the stars is kind a of puzzle at times and does provide a nice little side piece to the mainly linear story.  Combat consists of building a party of six characters, with both a front and back line to consider.  Front line characters will hit harder and take more damage but some characters can't attack from the back line.  Usually the back line is reserved for the archer or magic using characters.

That brings up magic, to use magic or a skill, you have equip a rune.  You have your standard fair of magic, based on the elements like fire, water, wind, etc. Then there are some that do different effects, like protect against status ailments or reduce enemy accuracy.  Not every rune is useful and not every rune can be unequipped.  Some characters come with a rune that you cannot change but they usually are pretty powerful.

There are two other kind of combat, outside the main RPG battles previously mentioned.  Occasionally you will fight in large scale wars.  These play out in a rock-paper-scissors manner where you select and hope you picked the right option to counter what the enemy AI picked.  There aren't many of these and they aren't terribly hard but having the options for Ninjas/Thieves to tell you what the enemy is going to do is almost needed in some cases. 

The other kind of combat is rare with only three instances that I can recall.  These are duels, where it is one vs. one between one of your characters and an enemy.  The interface looks like a fighting game with two large health bars at the top but boils down to a rock-paper-scissors style fight again.  Although it isn't a true RPS style as one of the options doesn't have a a counter.  It was a neat way to do some very key story fights and better than just doing a standard fight with lots of dialogue.  If you know what you are doing or know what the enemies selected line means (each piece of dialogue corresponds to a choice), then you can easily win them.  They are very important to win as losing could mean permanently losing a character or a game over.

You would think that having over 108 characters would get muddled but each character has a unique style.  Some don't develop much but others you learn quite a bit about.  There are certainly some that I grew fond of and always kept in my party when I could.  This game isn't the most challenging and isn't super long but it was a fun ride while it lasted.  I enjoyed my time with it and understand that it really builds in the sequel.  Unfortunately, I won't ever get to play the other games in the series as they are incredibly rare and expensive.  It is a shame this series isn't around anymore, there are really good ideas here and I feel that this series could make a come back.  The only gripe I have is that the encounter rate was way higher than it should have been at times and a lot of the fights that you get into, you sometimes can't run from.  So you end up having to fight some enemies that literally give you 5 EXP for no reason.  For the most part though, it was enjoyable.

Stella Glow (3DS)

 This has been a long time coming.  I first purchased this game about 7 years ago when it came out.  I listened to the soundtrack and it was pretty good.  I was hyped but it went into the backlog.  2 years passed and it finally came up in my queue to play.

Everything started out okay, pretty standard Strategy RPG.  The characters were pretty neat, although some were a little annoying at times.  Nothing terrible but then a trend started.  See the main character, Alto, was pretty much requisite in every fight.  That is pretty standard for games like this.  They want you to use the character because they are important.

The trend was, almost every story fight had a lose condition if Alto fell in battle.  Okay, that makes sense story-wise.  Can't let the main character die before the end right?  Only, it didn't make sense after a while.  He could have easily just retreated, see other characters don't die when they are defeated.  There is no perma-death, they simply retreat and come back at the next fight.  

Why is this a problem?  Because after a while, the enemy AI would exploit these lose conditions with precision I've never experienced in any other game.  Alto became a huge target and liability but I had to keep him leveled because he was decent and in every fight.  Then started the other lose conditions with the one protection mission being where I lost it with this game. 

In one mission, you are required to protect an AI controlled unit.  You can't tell the unit to do anything, it will move, attack, whatever, all by itself.  Problem here, this unit was suicidal.  It would literally walk into groups of enemies and end the turn exposing the back to the highest attacking unit.  I lost 3 times with nothing I could do differently.

This game was way too random number generator dependent.  I would constantly miss attacks with 90% accuracy, only to turn around to have the enemy hit me at 43% and critical to boot.  Through out the whole game, it just felt like I could never get an advantage.  No matter what equipment I had, levels I was at.  The game was unrelenting for no reason.  

This all culminated in the last boss.  I won't spoil it but let's just say, as soon as I was done with this one, I wasn't going to touch this garbage again.  Not only did it always get two turns every 3-4 of my units but it had constantly respawning friends to help it out, giant attacks that were near impossible to get away from, and health regeneration.  I get that it was a last boss but still.  

I've played a lot of SRPGs in my life and this without a doubt is the first I have truly hated.  Not because it was bad or the story was trash but because it was completely unfair at times and I only won because the game let me win.  No matter how well thought out my strategy or how much I planned, the game would consistently change the rules in the middle of the adventure to the point that it was just frustrating.  This was Imageepoch's swan song, the last game they made.  I can see why now.  Don't punish the people playing your game and that is what this felt like, the whole way through.  A punishment I imposed on myself for completing this game.

Resident Evil VII: Biohazard (PS4)

 The survival horror genre and I have never really clicked.  I'm not the greatest at surviving things and I know that if I was personally in these games I would die almost immediately.  Luckily, zombies don't walk the earth yet and mutants are only in the movies still.  This is the latest entry in the Resident Evil story, if you don't count the recent remakes.  Gone are the tank controls and over the shoulder camera, this game is fully in first person.

While many fans disliked the change to first person, it was an interesting idea and I think they did it well.  It did make some of the horror feel a little cheap as it is really easy to make jump scares in first person titles but it worked well.  It really immerses the player in the world and you feel like you are the one being chased.

The story is good as well.  Learning the mysteries around why your character is there and just who the family is that are chasing you around their property was great.  The puzzles aren't super complicated and unlike the Resident Evil 2 remake, I don't recall this game having all that many keys to find.  

I won't spoil any of the story but there are a couple of twists and turns that are pretty well hidden.  It definitely feels like the start of a new story in the whole franchise but the key elements that link all the games are still there.  Having not played Resident Evil 6, I don't think I was lost.  I don't recall a time where I didn't know who a character was or what a key phrase meant.

The combat is good too.  Some of the bosses are a little annoying until you figure out the proper way to dodge their attacks.  Each encounter feels unique and it definitely goes without saying that you can easily die in almost any area.  Deaths never feel cheap and there is always something to learn in each try.

If you are a fan of Resident Evil or even of the survival horror genre, this is a must play.  Sure it doesn't feel like a normal Resident Evil game due to the new camera and some of the new gameplay elements but it is a solid entry.  From the look of the future, Resident Evil Village will be much of the same, which is certainly not a bad thing.  Definitely a must play.

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment (PSVita)

I was never big on anime based games.  When I first started watching Sword Art Online, it wasn't a terrible show and I thought the game couldn't be that bad.  It was way worse than I could have imagined for several reasons.

Most of the time when a developer tries to convert an MMO-like game to a single-player experience, it comes with some kind of tradeoff.  Usually it ends up being a bunch of fetch quests or just a boss rush simulator.  This game is both.  The world feels empty and the characters you meet will mostly ignore you.  For being an MMO simulation, this world feels hollow.

It doesn't help that the combat is also not all that engaging.  True to MMO fashion, it is all about using as many skills as you can and then watching the cooldowns.  It is pretty neat that you get to use different kinds of weapons and each weapon type is useful against a different type of enemy.  It does add a little strategy.  It is a shame that 85% of the bosses you fight are weak to one type of weapon though.  

The story in this game would have been game if the translation wasn't so terrible it is nearly broken.  It is almost as if the whole script was just run through Google Translate and then pasted in.  I've been told this was fixed in the PS4 version of this game but on the Vita, it is gibberish at best.  This really does hurt another big feature of the game, which is the dating-sim aspects.  It is hard to romance a girl when you don't have a clue what they are talking about.

All in all, this wasn't a terrible game.  I made it through and I didn't absolutely hate it.  If I can finish it and the 80+ hours contained within, it can't be that bad. It wasn't fun but if you like Sword Art Online, it is worth playing.  It does introduce characters that aren't in the anime and they do carry those characters into future games.  So it is almost required to play this before some of the other games.

Super Smash Bros. for 3DS (3DS)

I've always been a fan of Super Smash Bros.  Ever since the first game back on the N64, I have enjoyed each entry and loved pitting my favorite characters against each other.  This was the first time the series was ever portable and I have to say that it was an incredibly fun ride.

Super Smash Bros. is the epitome of party brawler.  The player basically picks a character, I usually choose random, sets up CPUs or other players, picks a stage, and it starts.  An all-out, no-holds barred fight to the end.  Each character has unique abilities with some feeling similar to others but each being just a bit different.  There are ranged characters like Samus or close up characters like Donkey Kong and everything in between.

What makes this game so much fun is that each battle feels different.  Even if you play the same CPU level character on the same stage, there is always something different in how each match plays out.  There are a ton of characters to master or just mess around with.  Everything feels solid and the controls are tight. 

I can't really find much fault with this title.  I love the concept, the characters, and everything about the game.  There is multiplayer for those with friends.  There is a robust amount of single player content though too, with a classic mode (with varying difficulty), challenges, etc.  So much to collect and do.  I've spent hundreds of hours playing almost every Smash Bros. game and sometimes I've still not gotten everything.  If you own a 3DS, you need to own this game.  It is a must have for any collection.

Super Mario Land (GBC)

One of the first Gameboy games I ever owned.  Mario's journey through Sarasaland is interesting.  There are lots of enemies here that players wouldn't see again until the most recent Mario adventure in Super Mario Odyssey.

The premise is simple, the evil alien Tatanga has kidnapped Princess Daisy.  Mario has to traverse various lands to save Daisy and set things right.  Just like Super Mario Bros, this game is all about killing enemies, grabbing coins, and making it to the end of the stages.  Each area has a different motif, based off ancient Egypt or the Easter Isles.  There is a new power-up, the Super Ball, similar to the fire flowers from the first game but it can bounce around the screen and collect coins.

While challenging, this game is a good place to get started with the series.  Nothing is super difficult and the game can be beaten in a reasonable amount of time.  There are many differences from Super Mario Bros.  Some enemies don't behave, like turtles don't have shells but rather turn into bombs in Super Mario Land.

If you enjoy Mario games and haven't played Super Mario Land, you really are missing out.  This portable game was every bit a Mario game as the original.  The music is catchy, there are some interesting segments, and it feels like a fun little adventure.  Sure the graphics haven't aged well but for the time, it was great to play Mario on the go. 

ClaDun X2 (PSP)

ClaDun was one of my favorite games on the PSP.  It was a simple dungeon crawler with sprites and randomized floors/weapons/etc.  ClaDun X2 goes even further with the new types of random dungeons and the new classes.  It keeps the same great pacing from the first game and adds some additional features.

If the player has never played a rogue-lite dungeon crawler, this is a good series to start with.  Basically, each dungeon is a series of randomly generated floors.  The story sections aren't random but the ran-geons are.  There are random enemies and item drops.  If the player dies, they lose all the stuff they collected and portions of the EXP and money they gained.  It is a very simple concept but it can be addictive.

The biggest draw here is that the player can design their own character, down to the pixel art.  There is a character editor that is a working sprite builder.  If so desired, the game can be played as a favorite character from another series.  Even weapons can be drawn and designed.  The customization is 100% up to the player.

There is some frustration to this game though.  It can be a little daunting to go through similar dungeons over and over to try to get a random piece of loot that is only slightly better than what is already equipped.  It seems tedious but sometimes addictive.  I often would trek through dungeons, just thinking about one more run.  Just one more time to get a better artifact to complete my circle or that weapon with the better ability attached.

I would recommend this game to anybody that needs just a simple dungeon crawler.  The level of customization isn't seen in any other series and the story isn't half bad.  Some of the bosses get a little annoying and sometimes some of the enemies are really broken.  I don't typically like games like this but this was a really fun game and continuation to the series.