Final Fantasy IV: The After Years

(psp version)
While it is nice to see the original characters and how they evolved after the end, it gets VERY repetitive.

First because there is a lot of revisited dungeons and it gets very tiring, like "doh, here again?"

Second because the last chapter is just advance through and endless dungeon plenty of very frequent encounters with enemies with very high-hp, requiring alot of grinding (which I hate).

There are a lot of characters to choose from, each very unique but there's some stupid (hidden) requirement that If I don't go to a story place with a certain formation I will miss the good/extended ending.

What I appreciate the most are the new sprites for characters and scenarios, they are high quality and really makes the game look very modern and refreshing. But I'm sure this won't happen again, Square always messes up. Music is great as usual.

Did I like it? Only seeing Kain&co.
I think you will like it if you:
- Liked FFIV
- Don't mind heavy grinding

I rate my experience with a 3 out of 10.

Mystic Ark

While this can remind to the 7th saga, this time we got a way more classical jrpg.

On exploration abandons the 7mode (3d perspective) for the usual 2d perspective using tiles, giving it a very generic look, character sprites included. Combat still uses the 7 mode and bigger character sprites.

The combat is pretty much the same turn based one, this time with random encounters and with the possibility of having 2 allies. The feeling is different from the 7th Saga but still very fun.

This time the main character is choosen from 2 characters, I think the plot remains the same. There are lots of towns, shotps, dungeons and even worlds to visit, each world with its story and plot, I loved this.

Did I like it? Not very original but yes.
I think you will like it if you:
- Love jrpg
- Don't mind playing snes games

I rate my experience with a 7 out of 10.

Final Fantasy IV

My first Final Fantasy and probably the first jrpg I've ever played by myself, I think I was like 7 years old and got up to the moon where I found a difficulty spike and quit it (of course I finished it years after).

Many things were new to me, a deep story and very charismatic characters, I started to learn english just to understand them ^^.

Combat is turn based with the active time battle system that gives a more dynamic behavior that makes the combats very interesting. Encounters are random of course.

There are many characters and with unique skills that gives the game the necessary variety to not make it repetitive. There's no customization aside form the equipment.

There are many places to visit, the usual shops, towns and even other worlds, though smaller than the main one. The game is not very long but is very intense and with many secrets to find.

It looks okay (the psp review is excellent) and to me this is where Uematsu career takes off because it has a lot of excellent melodies. I think this is the start of epicness on the saga.

Did I like it? Yeah!
I think yhou will like it if you:
- Like jrpg
- Don't mind random encounters

I rate my experience with a 9 out of 10.

Dark Souls 2

I love Dark Souls because gives me a fun and balanced challenge, though this time I'm a bit disappointed because 2 things.

The first reason is because after beating Demon's and Dark Souls I'm getting used to the game style, so I know what to expect and many fightning tricks.

The second reason is that it seems easier overall, sometimes the bonfires are too close from eachother, trivializing the death penalty as I could return to the place I died in less than 5 minutes, so I didn't need to be as extra careful as in previous games.

I beat all the game in less than 40 hours without many troubles, I never found any road-block boss, just some area that was a pain in the ass to deal with as a tank, but I just slowly killed everything until they stopped spawning.

The story seems a bit light, but it's there for who wants to follow it and never interrupts the player who just wants action. Graphics doesn't look much better, I think I prefer Demon's Souls but don't really care much as the game is fun.

Did I like it? Yes.
You will like it if you:
- Want more Dark Souls pain
- Like challenging games

I rate my experience with a 8 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.

Saiyuki: Journey West

A game where Son Goku doens't go super saiyan, what the f...!

Jokes aside, this game is about the tale that "our" Dragon Ball is based on (I think). So we may find a few familiar things and it was the only motivation I needed to keep going through the story.

This is a tactical rpg with a few special features like the elements and transformations and a very traditional gameplay system where there are no surprises but is Very addicting and fun, I think any srpg fan will enjoy it.

I remember there are many recruitable characters but I can't remember if there's any customization to do with them, sorry!

Graphics are good enough, I've seen worst and I acually liked many designs, music is okay.

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

I rate my experience with a 8 out of 10.

Final Fantasy IX

A shame for me, because the story didn't hook me up at all, I tried to play this game since it came out and always stopped before finishing the first disc, then several years later I finished it and I must say that I didn't enjoy much. Characters are cool and so, but it is missing something, maybe more character development, epic story or a lively world.

The gameplay feels more classical, still turn based random encounters with active time battle but I think that the combat is more simple and repetitive, it also probably because all these years I've been playing lots of rpg and I got used to these fights, but I barely used skills nor invocations, just steal-steal-steal, ok let's finish it.

I didn't have fun with customization either, it reminded me to a light version of Lost Odyssey and skills weren't as interesting for me as in the previous Final Fantasy games.

Of course the game is an excellent Final Fantasy and thousands of people have enjoyed it. A big world map with many things to do and production values are very high, beautiful enviroments, excellent design and a very well done soundtrack. It is just that my tastes or expectations are different to what FFIX delivers.

Did I like it? Yes, but not what I expected.
I think you will like it if you:
- Like jrpg
- Get interested by the story and world

I rate my experience with a 6.5 out of 10.