This is it, my first taste of the legendary "Tales" games. Its a series I've heard so much good about, and an entry where the main character had my curiosity, so when the dice called it out, I jumped in eagerly. But as I finish up, I look back and, well, if you know the phrase "more then the sum of it's parts" then you are looking at a game that feels like the absolute reverse of that. It has all the pieces, but somehow is less then what it should be.
As I put the controller down, we have reached a turning point of this franchise. For those of you who join me on Twitch, I have been on a campaign with this series, to both celebrate it in it's own right and raise money and awareness for Extra Life by playing literally EVERY US release of it. (I do this every Wednesday night.) And now we have finished the classic era.... and man did it go out with a BANG!
As we continue our journey through the classic franchise in the name of Extra Life, we finish another entry from the Sega Genesis era, and probably the one that both has the least fans and the least audience to have played. This is not without good reason, however as it is also clearly the outlier that it takes little time to see was not even originally supposed to be a Phantasy Star game. Still, does it deserve the reputation it has? Or is all the hate just because this game is so different. Well, it may get harsher then it deserves, but... that doesn't change this is the lesser game of the set.
We have come full circle with the first Phantasy Star game I ever played. I did not play this on the Sega Genesis like so many others, however. Back in that day, I was much more of an SNES fan, so I missed this game until I had left consoles for PC entirely for a streak. Back then, I had stumbled on a CD-ROM called the Sega Smash pack which I picked up with the intention to play with Altered Beast more then anything else. But this game was also on the disc, and I fell in love with it the moment I started playing. So is it everything I remember it to be? Well, it's still pretty good, but... let's talk on it.
This time we have a game that has been hiding in the backlogs for many many years. Way back in the day I had bought a PSP for the soul purpose of playing two games: Phantasy Star Portable and the recently released remake of Persona. But to have a console and not play more the two games is an absolute waste, so I would pick up other titles during it's life. Unfortunately I did not get to play them all over the lifespan of that machine, but it would hint at it's own demise coming, so I had time to prepare, ripping my library to file form so I could eventually play them all anyway. Today this should have paid off with an interesting view of how the events of Final Fantasy VII were set into motion. But I am sorry to say, it did not. I found myself bored by it to be quite honest.
Now before we begin, I have to admit, just as the above suggests, I did not play this game on the PSP. Rather well after my actual hardware died, I played via emulation ripped from my original copy, so my experience could well be different then yours. But with that in mind, step inside.
This is a game that's been waiting probably a lot longer then it should have. When it came out, I was excited to get my hands on it... until Atlus started coming after people for streaming the game like they thought people who didn't want to have it spoiled would not have the self control to just not watch. I put a damper on it, but ultimately I did get my hands on the game and put it in my backlog for several years... enough for me to play several other games in the franchise first. But I have to say it... this one was worth the wait.
Now before we continue, I must say that offhand, your experience with this game may vary from mine. My actual PS3 died a few years ago, so while I ripped the game myself, I was playing through an emulator. But with that in mind, let's get into it.
I think I can honestly say I now have some history with this game, having played through three other tiles in the franchise so far. And while this seems to be "more of the same" from the set, I don't think that's such a bad deal. In fact, I've already lined up the next one. Come on inside.
What can I even say about this game? Back when the Switch was announced this was one of the titles that drew my attention. I have been a fan of the franchise for many years now, starting with my first taste towards the end of the PS2 era with a copy of Persona 3 and there was no looking back. Since then I have gotten into as many of the franchise as I could get my hands on and while I know I will never be able to collect them all, I wasn't going to miss this. I had a the console ready and this was the second game I would play on it (and the third I would finish). I don't know how many more games I will play on this machine just yet, but this was definitely a worthy journey to get one for.
And we finally come back to the Ys franchise, and to be blunt, it has been too long! From a flawed classic to a sequel that takes everything Ys did and perfects it, I have been waiting way too long for the dice to let another game in the series appear. It finally has and things just keep getting better and better.
This could have been something great. If you were a kid during the early days of gaming, the idea of a game that celebrates each era in turn is a nostalgia trip the likes of which will would bring a tear to the biggest retrogamer's eye. If you are not so old, then it would be worth it just to see what gaming was like once. But this, as much as it wants to be, is not that game. It starts as it, absolutely, but by the time you are done, it falls from grace in repetition and, ultimately breaking down entirely into a mess nothing short of patching it at a code level will fix.... just in time to ruin the end of your experience.
Another day, another time to see if one of the last franchises I collect remains as strong for me as when I started... while others have been on the decline (or put out to pasture by their publishers), I have to say we have a shining ray of sunshine here. Figures I would call a game about summoning and fighting demons such a thing, but yes, this game really is that good. Come on in.
As we continue to march through games, I have to admit I was looking forward to this one. After all, I have yet to play a game in the franchise I did not like, and this one certainly was not going to be an exception. However, there was little chance it was going to stand up against the incredible standards the last game reached... and it did not. But on it's own, it remains one Hell of a game.
My history with Ragnarok has been scarce, but personal. Back in the day, a now ex of mine that to this day I consider a damn good friend introduced me to the original game on a private server she played on, and we had fun running around and wrecking monsters for a little while. But I never found myself interested in the game itself enough to go play any of it’s sequels. But it’s introduction left the series feeling warm and something I might to play with later. When I saw this game, it was already late in it’s life, but that warmth and wanting to see if something can stand up to Phantasy Star with Sega refusing to bring their newest game to the west, I gave it a shot. All I can say is I hope I'm not looking at the original game with rose-colored glasses due to who I was playing with at the time.
Under normal circumstances, should the dice include a Persona game in the list, it’s usually one of the top 3 games I will pick. With this being the last currently released game in the franchise I had not yet played, I would be more likely to. So when this game came up with Persona 5 in the works and coming out in the fairly near future, it was not even a question. And now as I put my controller down, I am glad to have played through, and not just because I am fully caught up on one of my favorite game series. Come on in and have a look.
When a new generation of consoles comes around, we expect them to take over for the old. This has happened recently to the Wii, and yet the system also got something fairly unique in the form of a very hefty RPG to send it off. After 95 hours of game-time with it, it’s time to talk about it, and sendoffs don’t get much better then this.
