Gaming off the Beaten Path

  I mean, you had to know this was coming, right? You know how I love to do my comparisons, and this was just too easy. You could see it coming from a mile away. Of course, that's something you definitely can't say about the SMRPG remake itself. It's a few months later and I already finished the game, but it still doesn't feel like a reality that it actually exists. Even with all of the remakes that we see nowadays, I am really surprised that this game got the treatment. A lot of things had to align and, allegedly, a lot of bad blood had to be sorted out for it to happen. But here we are, we have a shiny new Super Mario RPG remake for the Nintendo Switch with updated graphics, music, translation and just about everything under the sun. Before anyone asks, I had originally planned a 10-Round Fight for this, it seemed logical at first. After playing Final Fantasy VII Remake and seeing how different it was from the original, I kind of had in my head that all remakes would ...

  When I started looking for games to review as part of TBS, I wasn't shocked to find that many of the candidates were either second or third games in their respective series'. I was, however, surprised to see how many of said candidates were first entries. Much as it was with Super Mario Bros. 2, developers would try and change it up for those entries before finally reverting to the style that put them on the map in the first place. That was common in the 3rd and even 4th generations. But it didn't always work out that way. There are several cases of developers starting a series with one type of game, only to completely pivot to something different and stay with it. Case in point, Shining in the Darkness. This is the very first game in the Shining series, known predominately for its turn-based strategy RPGs. I've already reviewed Shining Force 1 & 2 , both of which I liked quite a bit. I wanted to see where the series started, so I fired up SITD, expecting an ea...

 Last week I discussed Grandia II and its solid-but-uneven story, well written-but-tropetastic cast and well presented-but-uninspired style.  That's a lot of hyphens and not a lot about actual gameplay. Let's get started with something positive.  Grandia II absolutely nails one of an RPG's most important elements: the combat system.  It's a bit difficult to explain so bear with me here.  You enter (random) encounters with a party of four.  Each party member and enemy combatant are denoted on a scrolling bar, called the IP gauge, at the bottom of the screen.  When it gets to the command section, its time to input your command.  Each party member can use a combo or critical attack, special move, magic attack, evade, defend, use items or change their equipment.  Enter your command and the IP gauge will scroll through its last section, the command section.  If it reaches the end, your character will perform their attack.  The same is tr...

Here's the thing about the past, you can't escape it. You can learn from it, move on from it, grow from it, dwell on it or even downplay it.  But running from it is impossible, it will chase you until you can't run anymore.  For its first two thirds, Grandia II's narrative explores this better than any game has before.   Sure, other games deal with the past of their heroes and villains, but not quite like this one.  Initially released for the Dreamcast in 2000 before being ported (poorly) to the PlayStation 2, Grandia II tackles a theme that is difficult to discuss, something most people hate talking about.  It's entire story is framed around the past of not just its main protagonist, but everyone involved.  Your party members, your enemies and society as a whole.  It's a great, compelling 20 hours of storytelling...until it goes off the rails. In its final 10 hours, Grandia II goes from a pinpoint narrative about the inevitability of the past cat...

“There ain’t no gettin off this train we’re on...” Happy Final Fantasy VII month!  In case you weren’t aware, the much anticipated remake of the 1997 classic is slated to release April 10, quarantine or no quarantine.  I was going to cover FFVII with my other 10s anyway, but one post can’t adequately convey how I feel about this game and its universe. So, I am going to dedicate this whole month to FFVII, its spinoffs and finally, the remake (If I can actually get my hands on it, that is).  Now is probably the time to mention that there are going to be some serious spoilers, though I am going to actively try to avoid them. What is there to say about Final Fantasy VII that hasn’t already been said?  It was a killer app for the original PlayStation, which was even more impactful for Sony as it flipped one of Nintendo’s key franchises.  It put the PS1 through its paces, setting a new standard for what games could do in terms of graphics...

Last week I discussed my initial thoughts on Phantasy Star IV, a JRPG for the Sega Genesis.  As you could probably tell, I liked it quite a bit and was impressed by what it accomplished technically.  That’s great, but what was it that made the game truly stand out. First, we need to start with the story.  It starts out as fairly simple RPG fare.  You play as Chaz, a young hunter’s guild member on the planet of Motavia.  Once a lush, green world, Motavia has become a mostly barren desert planet full of monsters.  That’s bad news for most civilians, but it also means plenty of work for Chaz and his mentor Alys, a hunter so respected that she has been assigned a critical mission offered by the Motavian University.  That mission sets the pair on a path that will reveal the origin of the monsters, the reason for Motavia’s decline and the true level of danger the galaxy will soon face.     I think the best part of the s...

As I have mentioned numerous times, I grew up a Nintendo/Sony kid.  Most of my experience with Sega/Microsoft/Etc. Consoles came from playing at relatives’ houses, so my experience with them was very, very different. You see, I mostly stuck with those consoles because of their deep RPG libraries.  Up until I was older, I probably couldn’t have named a single RPG for the Sega Genesis.  Add in the fact that most of my time with those consoles were spent on more action oriented, quick playthrough games or multiplayer titles and you can understand why I lacked frame of reference with these games. The first I had ever really heard of Phantasy Star was via Phantasy Star Online for the Sega Dreamcast, a game that was probably too far ahead of its time for its own good.  It wasn’t until later that I found out there was an entire series of these games, that were traditional JRPGs dating back to the Sega Master System.  It wasn’t until even late...