Mohamed Hassan
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DualShockersLatest Reviews
So yeah, Sea of Stars is one of the greatest labors of love i've witnessed this year, and it makes me feel validated for all the time I've spent with this genre. I simply can't find any fault with it. Maybe there should have been a little more meaning in choosing your playable character at the beginning, but I didn't obsess over it much since JRPGs never really gave you that much choice anyways. If anyone wants to dive into the genre, especially the classics that defined it, Sea of Stars will always be my first recommendation.
Like A Dragon: Ishin! is a near-perfect experience on all fronts. It has deeper combat than the style-oriented Yakuza 6 or Lost Judgment. NPCs are loaded with cultural essence through this historical lens on Japanese nationalism, and the localization masterfully handles all the old difficult dialects and Japanese Keigo (honorific speech). Despite being a remake of a decade-old Japanese-only game, Like A Dragon: Ishin! is the definitive version for those looking for a good action experience with a memorable and thought-provoking story, and was well worth the wait for a proper localization.
Fie Emblem Engage tries to give a new life to stable franchise mechanics, but it might have gone a tad too far and created an unbalanced experience.
If you fall in love with the main loop and the freedom to design and interact with your followers, then you can expect to take at least 30 fun hours out of it, but don’t go in there expecting anything innovative in either the rouge-like or management-sim departments.
Quibbles aside, This HD-2D is the best way to enjoy Live A Live, and has come a long way from the original SNES version - it feels like how the game would’ve been made had the means existed at the time. Both the English and Japanese voice talents lift the characterization and emotional impact of the game, and the narratives – while perhaps a little cliched – are a breath of fresh air with their unique approach to storytelling, design and play choices. That modern JRPGs can still take cues from this classic is testament to how timeless it is.