Final Fantasy XIV

The second version of the second mmo featuring a world with a few Final Fantasy details like summons, black mages and chocobos.

Gameplay is the very standard "World of Warcraft" style, quests and more quests about deliveries and defeating monsters all the way to the max level where the player will start attending bigger and spectacular dungeons and fights. The combats are cooldown based with a way slower pace when compared to other games.

The amount of content is decent but lacks many basic features. The story may be cool, but it isn't what I'm looking on a mmo so I skipped most of the dialogs, there are some unskippable ones, I didn't like this because affects the game's pace.

Graphically looks very good. The interface, special effects, monsters and characters details are awesome, specially the clothes that feel very realistic. Enviroments have nice textures and modeling but they feel a bit generic and not very fantasy like. Music has nice calm melodies, with is nice to avoid repetitiveness on a mmo.

Overall is a good and addictive mmo, but it is too standard for me and has nothing special to offer rather than the FF theme.

Did I like it? Yes, but...
I think you will like it if you:
- Aren't tired of mmos

I rate my experience with a 6 out of 10.

Bayonetta

Again an excellent action game from Platinum games, this time with the old Devil May Cry style but with its own personality.

Combat is simple but fastpaced, intense and challenging enough to not get repetitive. Plus it has a decent amount of customization, very similar to the Capcom game.

As usual the amount of content is low but to compensate the replay value is high.  The story is good enough though the main character behavior can turn off some people ^^.

Graphically looks okay while keeps the 60fps (thanks!), the enviroment is mediocre but there are some very cool enemy designs and special effects.

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

I rate my experience with an 8 out of 10.

Vanquish

  

I hate shooters but love Platinum games, so I had to try it and I loved it.

Mainly because is a nice demonstration of how action games should be, challenging and fast paced action where the player can't abuse the care-bear mechanics like the cover system.

The development is very nice though the difficulty curve is a bit high at the beginning, but once learned it is very fullfilling. My complain about the Platinum mechanics is that when I want to play the game after a few months, I need to do the tutorial again because I forgot about how to play it properly.

The content is scarce but the replay value is high with many optional things to do and different difficulty modes.

As usual, the story is just an excuse for the gameplay and it doesn't hurt. Graphically is detailed but it looks a bit low resolution.

Did I like it? Yes
I think you will like it if you:
- Aren't scared of challenging games
- Like action games

I rate my experience with a 7.5 out of 10.

Skies of Arcadia

Finally a decent RPG for the Dreamcast. A long, typical, turn-based rpg which I enjoyed a lot but I think it missing the spark to become a master piece.

Gameplay is based on random turn-based combats and heavily focused on dungeon exploring. Combats are fun but lacked on the customization side, and dungeons are a bit bland, but passable.

The plot is about sky pirates, with many original details but with the usual japanese Infinite Justice behavior from the main characters.

So we get many cool flying ships with an okay world map to explore. The exploration is motivated by many hidden treasures/places to find which is nicely rewarded. On the bad side, there are random combats even when exploring with the airship.

We also find a few ship vs ship combats, it is not a very deep but the originality is appreciated.

Graphically looks very nice, the town design is a bit lacking but the rest looks pretty enough, specially some effects.

Did I like it? Yes
I think you will like it if you?
- Like jrpg
- Don't mind the dated graphics

I rate my experience with a 7.5 out of 10.

Soleil

A very unique action rpg.

While it looks very much like any other 16 bit rpg because it has many enviroments with the usual sprites, real time combat with Enix style, towns, many places to explore, etc.

What made a unique experience to me were the animal skills, when I found an animal I got a new skill that allowed me to progress on the game but also to find new areas and secrets on the places I already visited. For example the Cheetah allowed me to run faster and jump to places that were unreachable before.

The story starts very typical with the child & his house but I found that the development is fresh, entertaining and made me to always want to progress, the game is not very long though and there isn't much replay value. Music and graphics aren't superb but still very nice and unusual on the Megadrive.

Did I like it? Yes!
I think you will like it if you:
- Like 16 bit action rpgs

I rate my experience with a 8 out of 10.

Fire Emblem

To me, the king of sprg. I'll start with a main review and then go by the order I played them:

while the combat system may seem very simple, it has with a very challenging difficulty where every move need to be carefully thought and where hours sunk in. Combat uses a stone-paper-scissors system represented with 3 different weapons (spears, axes and swords) or magic (fire, ice, lightning or dark&light).

The battles are turn based, first the player moves all his allies and later the enemy does. As part of the challenge, if an allied unit dies, is death for ever and the story keeps going without his intervetions. Of course if the main character dies is game over.

Customization is based on the weapons/magic, those have a limited number of uses before they break and the number of equipped weapons is also limited, so it adds more strategy to the choices. Also characters can promote their classes with an item once they reach a determined level, making them stronger and sometimes adquiring new skills.

The setup is pretty simplistic, the game is divided in many chapters that are composed of: Story -> Preparation -> Battle -> Story. Even so, The game gets pretty long. Graphics are always very standard, though character portraits are well designed.

Also the story has an unusual epic feeling, unusual for a game and Intelligent Systems manages to keep this formula for most of their games. Also characters have strong personalities and are very interesting to know.

Did I like it? Very.
I think you will like it if you:
- Aren't scared of challenge
- Like srpg

(GBA version) My first Fire emblem experience, it really surprised me and got me really addicted. Keeps the simplistic setup and there's no exploration nor many optional things to do.

I rate my experience with a 9 out of 10.

A few new additions like a world map and more customization options. The story is great and surpising, because when I though I finished the game I really was just at the 50%.

There also a few additional modes that extend its duration.
I rate my experience with a 9 out of 10.

The big brother version and one of my favorites, where the "epicness" gets multiplied with an excellent plot, characters and many gameplay additions like new skills, items and races/classes.

I rate my experience with a 9.5 out of 10.

A remake from the first FE from snes, including more chapters and explaining the story of Marth, the icon of this saga. Of course some features are a bit dated making this game a bit weaker than usual. The touch screen is very welcome.

I rate my experience with a 8.5 out of 10.

The Path of Radiance sequel, very continuist on gameplay but with a brand new story with old and new characters. Very very enjoyable.

I rate my experience with a 9 out of 10.

http://xquickreviews.blogspot.com.es/2013/10/fire-emblem-awakening.html

I rated my experience with a 8.5 of out 10

Final Fantasy Tactics

To me this is an overrrated game, yes it is tactical and very fun but it has many lacks...

Challenge isn't very high plus I HATE random encounter on a game like this, because to me the battles are supposed to be long, strategic and epic. Having random encounters just trivializes the combats and become very generic and repetitive, plus having that "free grinding" can unbalance the entire game.

I appreciate the job variety, gives a lot of customization and choices though some classes suck a little :P.

The story is okay, with a few twists but I can't see what's so great about it, I aslo found characters boring.  Graphics: got nice sprites and music is correct.

Also I don't see the "Final Fantasy" anywhere, it should have been called Vagrant Tactics.

Did I like it? Yes
I think you will like it if you:
- Like srpg
- Don't expect Final Fantasy

I rate my experience with a 7.5 out of 10

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

The start is really bad, I mean, that snow ball fight... but it is a great game, there aren't many additions but it is pretty entertaining. I think the story is worse than the original.

Did I like it? Yes
I think you will like it if you:
- Like srpg
- Can get through the start

I rate my experience with a 6.5 out of 10.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2

More of the same gameplay (which is good), new story and new implementations, fun enough.

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

I rate my experience with a 7 out of 10