Game 11 of 2024 - Jack Move

Jack Move

Developer: So Romantic
Publisher: HypeTrain Digital
Platform: PC
Genre: JRPG

Difficulty: Moderate
Hours: 7.1

Finished: Yes
Final Rating: 8.4/10

Jack Move is slick, bite-sized JRPG that satisfies without giving you the meat sweats. My playthrough was a little over seven hours, which includes some light grinding towards the end, and I feel that was the perfect length. It was enough to get a sense of the world , the characters, and the conflict, and the shorter length really helped keep the story grounded.

You control Noa, hacker extraordinaire and resident of Bright Town. Most of the game takes place in the Bright Town's surrounding areas, which helps anchor the story and give it a sort of cozy feel. Bright Town is your standard cyberpunk neighborhood, lit with neon and a chrome veneer that just barely disguises poverty. You'll explore sewers, slums, corporate buildings, and virtual reality, and meet a crew of colorful, beautifully animated characters.

Bright Town

Jack Move's pixel art is gorgeous and colorful, and each sprite is meticulously animated, accentuated by a solid soundtrack. The story isn't particularly groundbreaking or challenging, which might be a letdown to some fans of a genre that often explores some heavier themes. That being said, it's fun, paced well, and short; it's not trying to be something it's not. It's more about the parent-child relationship than transhumanism (touches on this one though), income inequality, or drug culture.

That's not to say Jack Move doesn't have heart; the developers clearly put a lot of care into their world. Most NPCs are named and at least have the framework of a personality rather than being info dumps, graffiti decorates the walls of buildings, and the world is sprinkled with small businesses just trying to get by. It's a story with characters in a world that feels lived in.

Plus jigawatts.

Combat is the meat and potatoes of most JRPGs, and I think Jack Move (mostly) delivers here. It doesn't bog you down with overly complex systems and gambits and whatevers. Nora has different types of attacks at her disposal: hacks (physical), wetware (purple stuff), electroware (blue stuff), and cyberware (green stuff). These come in the form of software that you install in your cyberdeck. Your cyberdeck is limited by the amount of RAM it has, but you can upgrade this during the course of the game. Most enemies are weak to a specific type of attack and they are usually color-coded to give you a hint. Your cyberdeck can be upgraded with hardware as well; this gives you more RAM, boosts to attack or defense, or some other ability.

You should sit this one out, Executive Power Dresser.

Be warned: Jack Move uses random encounters. You can tweak these and even turn them off (although you shouldn't because money and xp). Despite that, combat is mostly pretty easy. There are a few enemies here and there that give you a run for your money, but you level pretty quickly and money was never an issue so I was able to hang without really grinding (until the end).

If I had to complain about something, it would be the final boss. Without spoiling anything, the final boss has a HUGE difficulty spike and the fight took me something like 45 minutes. I feel like a boss battle shouldn't be like an 8th of your game's run time.

Anyway Jack Move is decent and you should check it out.

Game 6 of 2024: Sea of Stars

Sea of Stars

Developer: Sabotage Studio
Publisher: Sabotage Studio
Platform: PC
Genre: JRPG

Difficulty: Moderate
Hours: 28

Finished: Yes
Final Rating: 8.5/10

Many, many years ago, a young me sat down and played Final Fantasy VI (then called III here in the US) and my little adolescent mind was blown. I was legitimately invested in the adventures of Terra and company, and I was bewitched by FFVI's compelling steampunk/fantasy setting. Your traditional generic medieval-esque settings didn't cut it anymore; FFVI opened my mind to a whole new era of RPGs. I still consider it the best of the genre.

As I sit here after finishing Sea of Stars, my opinion hasn't changed. FFVI is still the best of the genre. 

BUT.

Sea of Stars is pretty freaking great. Top 10 JRPGs maybe? I can't really say, it's a genre I don't often play anymore, at least not since high school. I still fire up the occasional JRPG when the mood for nostalgia strikes.

Sea of Stars isn't exactly re-inventing the wheel, but it pays homage to the greats while freshening things up a bit. The story is your fairly rote RPG faire; extraordinary heroes must learn to harness their innate powers in order to save the world. Of course, heroes can't do it alone, so they meet a variety of colorful characters along the way.

Enemies have amusing names, and reskins are almost non-existent.

The story and writing might actually be the weakest part of Sea of Stars. I wouldn't say it's bad, just sort of amateurish I guess. However, it has a sort of earnestness and innocence to it I found quite charming, so this didn't bother me that much. Maybe an eye roll here or there.

When it comes to environments to explore, Sea of Starts shines particularly bright. From haunted swamps to meat castles to space stations, the world is lovingly detailed in gorgeous, colorful pixel art. And you don't just walk around either; you'll climb walls and ledges, traverse tightropes, and solve several puzzles while exploring. Seriously, exploring in this game is one of the best parts.

Stunning vistas abound in Sea of Stars.

Of course, a classic RPG wouldn't be a classic RPG without combat. Sea of Stars is turn based, of course, and I found myself mostly enjoying myself. Combat involves a bit more that just wait for your characters turn to attack, as you can swap characters in and out of battle, chain your attacks to break enemy locks, and use powerful combo attacks. Combat is fast and fun, and you aren't bogged down with a shit ton of random encounters. 

Sea of Stars has some pretty neat boss monsters.

The difficulty, however, is a little wonky, especially in the early to mid game. On several occasions I would find myself limping back to a campfire after a rote encounter, only to steamroll a boss a few minutes later. Something strange happens around the halfway point, though. The game just... gets easier? Gaining levels results in small but vital increases in stats, so I guess at some point my defense stats just outpaced the amount of damage enemies did. Early game encounters had me carefully planning my attacks and using my special abilities, while I could just sit back and relax in the late game.

I can't remember what this town was called. Brick?

There's a lot to love here and I hope the developer keeps at it. Sea of Stars is a nice length for this type of game, clocking it at around 30 hours (plenty more if you want the true ending). While it does occasionally feel like the story has a lot of unnecessary padding to make it longer, the game still remains fun with several activities to keep you occupied.

Hey, it's the thing from the title!

Game 9 of 2023 - Imposter Factory (2021)

Imposter Factory

Developer: Freebird Games
Publisher: Freebird Games
Platform: PC
Genre: Casual, Visual Novel, JRPG, Adventure

Difficulty: Easy
Date Started: Mar 31st 2023
Date Ended: April 1 2023
Hours: ~3

Finished: Yes
Final Rating: 8/10

Oh, Imposter Factory. You sly little devil. You tricky little piece of shit (I'm kidding the game is good).

Here I am, thinking I'm playing a quirky murder mystery starring a freaky little cat, but nope! Imposter Factory pulled the old switcheroo, and I found myself playing a tragicomic (is that a word) adventure that explores what it means to live a meaningful life.

"Hey Dad, you're up early," my son says to me at 6am Saturday morning. "What are you playing-hey, are you crying?"

Well done, Imposter Factory.

C'mon, show it. Show it you fucking cowards.

Game 4 of 2023: Chained Echoes

 Chained Echoes - A Substantial Slice of JRPG Sentimentality

Developer: Matthias Linda
Publisher: Deck13
Platform: PC
Genre: JRPG

Difficulty: Difficult
Date Started: Feb 2nd 2023
Date Ended: Mar 4th 2023
Hours: 37

Finished: Yes
Final Rating: 8/10

Chained Echoes looks a lot like something I would have played in middle school. Made by mostly one person, Chained Echoes is a love letter to the classic JRPGs of yesteryear that proudly wears its influences on its sleeve. Allusions to those classic RPGs abound, some subtle, some not. The game's incredibly well-done, charming pixel art graphics belie a fairly mature story and rather sophisticated combat.

The broad strokes of the story are pretty standard JRPG fare (motley group of friends must band together and defeat world-ending superbeings), but the best parts are the details, the little moments between characters that kept me mostly interested in seeing it through to the end. There are 12 characters you can get in total but some you can miss if you don't do all the side quests. Most of the important characters get pretty satisfactory arcs, particularly Robb, who begins as a callous asshole whose only redeeming quality is that he can poison enemies. There's definitely some cringe dialog, though.

The fantasy world we're given to explore is pretty interesting, filled with colorful and visually striking locations. You'll visit breathtaking mountaintops, sewers (there must be a law requiring games of this type to have a sewer level), island resorts and floating castles. The setting is a neat mix of the sort of generic RPG fantasy world many of these games have in common, with some science fiction elements (flying mechs and airships). Despite the cliches, the world feels well done because special attention has been given to the details, and the details are what make the world interesting and engaging.

The combat, while engaging, kind of dragged for me sometimes. The game does away with random encounters, but the encounters you face on the map are more challenging; if you just spam your standard attack, you'll quickly fail. Your party completely heals between each encounter, so Chained Echoes expects you to be at your best during each fight, taking advantage of enemy weakness and swapping out characters on the fly(which is a pretty cool feature) in order to win. I found enemies in the first area that were capable of completely wiping out my party. Despite the difficulty of some combats, the game is quite forgiving, allowing you to just replay the battle upon defeat if you so wish. I liked the idea of fewer but more rewarding encounters, but I felt that the enemies were often just damage sponges which made battles take some time. But hey, I'm old with precious little free time so to each their own.

There's a satisfying equipment upgrade system that often has you making a tough decision about equipping the cool new sword you just got in the dungeon, or upgrading the current one that already has some useful power ups. Rather than getting money after battles, you get items and 'loot.' A lot of the items you get after fights can be used to upgrade your equipment, while the loot is vendor trash. I certainly appreciate the efficiency of just getting money after a fight, but why the heck would a crab carry around a bunch of gold?

Exactly, it wouldn't. That crab would not carry gold around.

Anyway, this took me a little shy of 40 hours to beat. I got all the characters and did all the side quests and learned tons of skills for each character. 40 hours is a little bit longer than I would normally spend on a game like this (again, old, little free time, etc) but it was worth it in this case. This is getting a recommendation out of me.

Game 1 of 2023: Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (2020)

Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade - a Thorough and Fair Review

Developer: Squeenix
Publisher: Squeenix
Platform: PC
Genre: Action RPG

Difficulty: Not Sure
Date Started: Jan 1st 2023
Date Ended: Jan 3rd 2023
Hours: 1 (Refunded)

Finished: No
Final Rating: 2/10

I adored Final Fantasy VII for the PS1 back when it came out in 1997 or so. I put something like a billion hours in and when a friend of mine accidentally erased my save when I was grinding materia in the downed Shinra plane I cut him out of my life. I dont talk to him anymore. Fuck that guy.

The title screen of a better game.

I spent hours breeding chocobos and grinding Materia and when I was able to one shot the last boss with a fully-powered Knights of the Round, it was all worth it. I fought all the stupid Weapons and I got all the gimmick weapons for the characters. I'd find excuses to call out of work so I could play more Final Fantasy. On my third or fourth playthrough, I hooked the audio cables on my PS1 to my tape deck so I could record the ending music.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I liked it.

Absolute unit.

26 years later, my memories of this game are still vivid. If I was forced to list my top 10 games of all time this would almost certainly make the list. I haven't really enjoyed any of the Final Fantasy games since then (I guess IX was ok) but man, VII? Formative gaming experience for sure.

It's been a zillion years but these backgrounds still bring up some strong feelings.

Also, Avalanche are just straight up fucking terrorists.

Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade fucking sucks though and I wanted to die every time a character spoke. Refunded after an hour. That's my review.

Oh well. On to something else.