Final Fantasy XII

I tried hard to like this game, but I can't.

The combat system looks diferent than usual, I guess it's because there's no random encounters, but the execution is basically the same active time battle again with a few differences, like the mmo's "agro" system where enemies target a determined ally based on a few parameters.

While the player controls one character, he can command the others but also rely on a programmable IA called Gambit. Those allow the ia to make actions based on conditions, like if the leader gets below 50% hp then heal him. This is good but the problem is that gambits are found through the game, I think this is a bit lame because most of the basic orders are unlocked at the beginning making the game even more boring because I had to keep ordering them what to do for many hours.

My problem with the combat system is that it got very repetitive and after 14 hours I was just rushing through endless and simplistic enviroments populated by 3 or 4 types of enemies.

The story and characters aren't bad, I think it's the only reason that kept me going until the end, but I think It wasn't worth it.

I didn't like the customization either, every character has the same choices which the only choices are if to become a mage, rogue, warrior, etc. but inside those classes there's nothing else to choose from.

Did I like it? Nope.
I think you will like it:
- Don't mind the repetitiveness
- Have fun exploring endless straightfoward dungeons

I rate my experience with a 4.5 out of 10.

Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits

(I may be inaccurate because I played it a looong time ago)

A saga that I miss so much :(. Features tactical turn based combats but not like the usual srpg. It doesn't have a grid system, so being able to move anywhere gives the game an increased feeling of freedom..

The battles tough are way shorter and simplistic but still challenging and fun to play. The character customization is limited too, the usual equipment and not much else. The amount of content is very good, we got an arena, exploration and many secrets to find.

The production values are good, nice voice acting and music, okay graphics and interesting character designs.

The story is about 2 different races that are historically confronted, though is very typical the development is good because is explained from 2 different points of view, one on each side with their own charismatic characters.

Did I like it? Yes
I think you will like it if you:
- Don't hate jrpg
- Don't mind the light strategic battles

I rate my experience with a 7.5 out of 10.

Final Fantasy X

At first I loved this game, I think because I needed a to play a new Final Fantasy, but with the time (after 100% finishing it :P) I started to notice that it has a lot of things that I don't like

The combat is turn based again and without the active time battle, this time it uses turn order based on different parameters. It is very nice and has some challenging battles and lot of optional bosses to fight..

Customization is the key point here, each character has a grid with plenty of different paths to choose and skills to unlock giving the variety I always apreciate, specially with the advanced grid.

It looks awesome, there are many beautiful places to visit, though instead of a world map this time we get a cheap waypoint system. Also exploration is very limited because level design is very simplistic, I always knew where the treasure is. Music is superb.

I didn't find the story so interesting as in other FF games, it is very straight foward and with unrealistic behaviors. I hate Tidus, I hate Yuna, I like the other characters though.

The blitzball mini-game is a bit random but fun to progress.

Did I like it? Yes.
I think you will like it if you:
- Like jrpg

I rate my experience with a 8.5 out of 10.

Final Fantasy X-2

Ok after the weird start that can turn many people away, the game concept is very interesting. Graphically is very good, some models are very detailed and effects are cool. Music doesn't dissapoint either.

Customization is based in something called dress spheres, that it is like a Job system, similar to FFV but with less depth and variety, though they can be switch in combat giving some extra status if done so.

The combat is turn based but it leaves the system used in FFX for the more typical active time battle.

The story is not very interesting but we all know where it leads so we keep playing the mission based system to advance through the events. Again there's no world map, instead we find a cheap waypoint system.

But after many hours it stopped being fun, I found myself doing plain missions on very straight-foward places with repetitive random encounters and where dialogs and character interation was very poor. I wasn't really motivated anymore so I had to force myself for at least 10 more hours to finish it just because I wanted to watch the ending.

Did I like it? I got bored after a few hours.
I think you will like it if you:
- Want to know about Tidus
- Like jrpg

I rate my experience with a 5.5 out of 10.

NIS Special

Disgaea 2

New story, new characters and a few new features. Nice for people who wanted more Disgaea but it is not very refreshing, plus I miss Laharl.

Did I like it? Yes, but...
I think you will like it if you:
- Like srpg
- Don't need a FFTactics story

I rate my experience with a 6 out of 10.

Disgaea 3

Cool story and characters, a whole lot of content but it feels dated, I already know all the tricks, grinding, etc. so I got bored and had to force myself to finish it. Ugly graphics.

Did I like it? I got bored as I progressed
I think you will like it if you:
- Like srpg
- Don't need a FFTactics story
- Aren't tired of the Disgaea combat style

I rate my experience with a 5 out of 10.

La Pucelle Tactics

The game before Disgaea, it is weaker on content and characters but still very funny to play and follow the story. It has some kind of feature similar to "geo panels" that makes it unique too.

Still it has a whole lot of features, way more than the usual srpg but I barely remember them.

Did I like it? Yes.
I think you will like it if you:
- Like srpg

I rate my experience with a 7.5 out of 10

Phantom Brave

This game has the Disgaea style but feels older and more classical. I got bored before I finished it, I think it will pleasure a srpg fan though.

Did I like it? I got bored
I think you will like it if you:
- Love srpg

I rate my experience with a 4.5 out of 10.

Disgaea

This game came out at the perfect time because there was a heavy lack of srpg on ps2, so it was taken with open hands by the community and got great sales for a japanese title like this one.

The main gameplay is very classic, tactical turn based combat with grid movement. But then I found some very special features that I hadn't seen before:

- Character Throwing: The player can throw away his allies to reach places that aren't easy accessible, or just to get to places quicker. The enemies can also be thrown, for example this can be used to get them closer or away from allies and also can be used to fuse the enemies which increases their level.

- Geo panels/symbols: Colored panels that give a bonus effect on the player that stands on it depending on the symbol it has. Symbols can be moved and broken to change the color of the panels. I'm not gonna explain all the possiblities but it is very entertaining, it is like having a puzzle inside the scenario that can be solved to get more bonus.

- Character creation: It is huge, there's a lot of classes, from the usual mages to weird monsters and can be promoted to superior versions, upgrades, armor, customization (up to lv9999!), huge.

- Item world: Each item has a whole world inside of it and can be explored to improve the item. did I mention that there's a huge lot of items?

- The assembly where new characters, stages and other features can be obtained with the assembly's approval.

The story is nothing special but it is very humoristic and characters are hilarious, I wasn't used to a game like this. Visually looks very ugly though I like the character designs, music has very nice tunes and I liked the english voices.

Did I like it? Haaaa-hahahahahahaaaaa!
I think you will like it if you:
- Like srpg
- Don't need a FFTactics story

I rate my experience with a 9 out of 10

Way of the Samurai

What a surprising game, I was expecting nothing but a crappy game and I found a very well done open world about samurais.

It is short, small and doesn't look very good but it is well done in the terms of action-consequence and that any little choice I made, could change the course of the story. Games like Mass Effect could learn a lot from this one.

Combat is very technical: parries, counter-attacks and with many available styles depending on the equipped sword. Rushing here usually meant dead.

Swords has many parameters, aside from the wielding style there's also level, defense, attack and stamina, the latter determines how many straight hits can be done/received before breaking. Swords can be crafted or looted from the corpses, sometimes the player may choose it is worth killing a npc just for his sword.

Story gets very entertaining because every playthrough is diferent and many things carry over on the next play making it very worth and fullfilling to experience the different endings.

Did I like it? I love it.
I think you will like it if you:
- Aren't a graphics whore
- Like Samurais

I rate my experience with a 8.5 out of 10.

Way of the Samurai 2

A sequel that tries to make it bigger but in my opinion fails.

The gameplay keeps being very good, but there are more story paths, events and a bigger map than before making the story more poor, choices less relevant and many events easier to miss which as a player made me feel a bit lost. Still way better than most of the western rpg.

Did I like it? Yes but not so much.
I think you will like it if you:
- Aren't a graphics whore
- Like Samurais
- Finished the first game

I rate my experience with a 6.5 out of 10.

Phantasy Star Online

My first online  game! I played for tons and tons of hours though I never got any character to level 100, thats because the lack of content forced the player to repeat over and over the same missions and places.

So the main attraction here was the online gaming, being in a game with so many people, playing with them, making strong friendships in a different way than usual, everything was new and exciting for me as a teenager :P.

The combat system is a bit simplistic but fun and accesible, player can choose between a few classes (ranged, melee and mage), races and a little companion that could be feed and evolved in many different ways improving the character status and giving some special attacks.

The game had high production values so presentation, graphics, music and interface are excellent.

Did I like it? YES!
I rate my experience with a 9 out of 10

Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst

More content added, if this had come sooner PSO would have been saved for me, too bad I was already tired of it and I found some new and bigger MMORPGs.

Did I like it? Nope.
I rate my experience with a 5 out of 10.

Phantasy Star Online Ep3 C.A.R.D. Revolution

Another iteration, this time using card battles, I didn't play for more than 1 hour.

Did I like it? No, I didn't.
I rate my experience with a 4 out of 10.

Phantasy Star Universe

It tried to increase the mmo experience and added many improvements and also a few bad things like separating the online and offline game. To me it felt very dated, I played PSO too much and this wasn't what I wanted on a new MMO.

Did I like it? I got tired very soon.
I rate my experience with a 4.5 out of 10.

Phantasy Star Online 2

I've played the beta and the japanese release, it is entertaining and has improved in many ways, combat has more options and a different pace. Now it depends on the amount of content and customization and when the english version is released.

I rate my expectations with a 6 out of 10.

Suikoden V

This is a game that I have enjoyed "in excess", because I think it doesn't really excel in any area in particular but I can recommend it to anyone because it doesn't disappoint.

The story reminds me to the first Suikoden games, it doesn't try to "innovate" by telling the story from different points of view nor weird naval stories. It just tells a big, entertaining and epic plot plenty of turnabouts, treasons, surprises, etc. Which is what I loved from the series.

One of the things that I liked the most are the characters, I loved following their development and thats probably what kept me goind foward, I just couldn't stop, I wanted to know more about the plot and about the characters and loved so many of them. Plus as usual, there are more than a hundred characters to recruit.

Combat hasn't changed much, there are a few tweaks/evolutions on its mechanics but the spirit is the same, fast-easy random combats and challenging bosses.
 For the rest it keeps the usual rpg elements like towns, shops, exploring, etc. Very entertaining for any jrpg lover.

In the end this is a game I can't forget, I had much much fun, I loved the cast and it really felt like a true Suikoden experience.

Did I like it? Very
I think you will like it if you:
- Love Suikoden series
- Like jrpg

I rate my experience with a 9.5 out of 10.

SMT: Persona 4

I think Atlus has some of the best development teams ever, they've been doing this for so many years and always improving their last job. It was a difficult task to improve Persona 3 but they managed to hit the spot again, they know what to keep, drop or change.

Improves the combat, finally the full party is controllable on combats again, no more IA dependence. Social link mechanics got better, it's minor details but help making a better experience. And finally no more tartarus, this time dungeons are move varied and original shaped.

Keeps all the scent: the Persona system, fusions all over again, challenging combat and a good and darker-than-usual story.

The story is about a murder investigation, I love these so I really enjoyed it plus I think it is very well done and told. I keep loving the characters and their behaviors that Atlus manages to make and they're excellent again, I prefer this cast than most of the Persona 3 cast.

The graphics are very good, specially on the PSVita and music repeat the pop style formula again and I freaking love it, I still keep listeting this and P3 soundtracks on a regular basis, damn I really want to attend one of those Persona music concerts.

[Little ending Spoiler begin]

What keeps it from the perfect score is the last impression it left on me, is that the ending is not very emotive to me, I prefer Persona 3 in this case ;).

[End of little ending Spoiler]

Did I like it? Very.
I think you will like it if you:
- Don't hate jrpg

I rate my experience with a 9.5 out of 10.

SMT: Persona 3

Here Atlus shows us how to renew a good rpg:

- Step 1: Face-wash, adapt the graphic style to a more current and attractive one, while keeping the cool "disgusting" style of some designs. Also the jump from 2d to 3d is very well done. Same with music, it choose to go with pop music which gives it a unique style, plus the songs are excellently composed, I absolutelly love the soundtrack!

- Step 2: Maintain the core mechanics, dark atmosphere, challenging turn based combat, dungeon exploring, demons, fusions... Though it dropped the demon negotiation which is still a core feature on the Shin Megami Tensei main series.

- Step 3: New additions, appart from fusions, personas are obtained as a post-battle reward. And the main addition of the game are the social links. This consists in doing social activities with the many characters that appear on the game's world which allows to obtain more powerful fusions, new personas plus experiencing little but very interesting side-stories (damn you sun arcana!).

As negative points I would mention that exploring the tartarus can get a bit repetitive and the other negative point is that on combat the rest of the party are controlled by IA, giving problems from time to time. But thankfully this is solved in the PSP version of the game where the player can control the entire party.

Finally the story is dark, long and engaging as always, maybe this time I didn't become too fond of some of the allied characters but this was compensated by the other social link characters. Also the ending... it just left an awesome feeling on me, Cry Count = 2 (Chrono Cross was the first).

Did I like it? Yes, at the end I was speechless.
I think you will like it if you:
- Don't mind a "happier" Shin Megami Tensei atmosphere
- Like jrpg
- Don't hate anime style

I rate my experience with a 9 out of 10.

SMT: Digital Devil Saga

Again, this saga is made of 2 games and I rate it as the whole experience.

The setup is good, an intriguin story with the usual Shin Megami Tensei dark atmosphere, mature behaving charactes, demons, dungeons, customizations, etc. More intense than usual but with some lacks.

The dungeons were pretty simple to me, with the 2 typical ways: one leading to a treasure and the other leading foward.

Also there's no demon fusion or negotiation, just some customization that increased the amount of abilities available to the character.

Still the game is nice to play, combats are fun and the press combat feature and human or demon form adds some variety. Plus I think the second game improves a lot, the customization is more original and overall I had way more fun than the first.

Did I like it? It was okay.
I think you will like it if you:
- Like Shin Megami Tensei
- Like dungeon-based rpgs

I rate my experience with a 6.5 out of 10

Xenosaga

One of my favorites, Xenosaga is a futuristic rpg divided in 3 games (originally 6) explaining a story, so I'm doing a quick-review for the whole experience, not one specific game.

Without loosing the "japanese touch", it explains a story darker than usual, with many references about religion and philosofy that surprised me a lot, keep in mind that I had not yet played Xenogears or any Shin Megami Tensei game, I was used to play the usual SquareEnix hero-of-justice games like Final Fantasy, Rogue Galaxy, Radiata Stories... so it was very refreshing to me.

This is a saga with a major emphasis on scenes, on telling a story, that I think I was more time listening than playing. And I was fine with it, I found the story so interesting and had me so engaged that I just wanted to keep playing to get to the next scene and know more and more about the plot.

But I wasn't forcing my way through: the gameplay is really good too, so I wasn't forcing my way through. Nice customization and using a turn-based combat system with some nice additions like boosts and Mechs with each game improving the system further and further. Exploration while short, it's still there with many excellent locations and cities always keeping the sci-fi style.

The character design is the common Anime, though it changes each game going from a bit "deformed" style to a more realistic one. Strangely I prefered the deformed style.

Also keep in mind that each game has a different pace which seems to draw back some people, specially around the second game, but I recommend to endure, try to enjoy it on its own way and keep going because it gets better.

Did I like it? So. Much.
I think you will like it if you:
- Avoid comparisons with Xenogears
- Like jrpg
- Don't mind scene-heavy games

I rate my experience with a 10 out of 10.