Switch

17th January
2023
written by Splash

Title: Fire Emblem Engage ファイアーエムブレム エンゲージ
Platform: Switch
Genre: SRPG
Language: Japanese
Company: Intelligent Systems, Nintendo
Summary: Cleared Hard without skipping cutscenes, watching all the supports I got on the way etc, in less than 60 hrs.

I early on preordered two copies of 3H, one physical for the limited edition bonuses, one digital so I wouldn’t have to wait on shipping. For this one however, I’m just sticking with just the physical limited edition. The main selling point would’ve been an art designer that I really like (the character designer’s art is nice, but it’s not Kozaki Yuusuke or Kurahana Chinatsu levels for me), or confirmation of Kondoh Rei’s involvement with the music, and this title has neither of those. Many aspects I’ve heard about the game have been positive though, so I still look forward to it once it arrives within a week after launch. Just a few days to wait! XD

Also still seeking confirmation on Koei Tecmo/Gust involvement for this title? No one seems to have the full deets on this. I’ve been informed that this is this game is built on Unity though, so modding is fairly easy.
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8th January
2023
written by Splash

Title: Live A Live
Platform: Switch
Genre: RPG
Language: Japanese, English
Company: Square Enix
Summary: Significantly better than I thought it’d be, after some dulling experiences with Squenix’s modern pixel games in general. But this one’s a big remastering of an old SNES title, and another good one to add to the resume after FF7:CCR

Big kudos to raising Akira out of joke status, I am a big fan
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23rd November
2022
written by Splash

Title: Switch: Pokémon Scarlet & Violet
Platform: Switch
Genre: RPG
Language: Japanese, English
Company: Gamefreak
Summary: Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse than Sword/Shield…
The bugs are hilarious. The lag is not fun. Speedrun oldies are all back. I still regret bothering with Sword/Shield and I’m mostly done with the mainline Pokemon games at this point, so I only backseat watched hubby play–aka suffer through the bugs and lag. Spoilers under the cut, but tldr spare yourself the waste of time and don’t care about spoilers for Pokemon at this point.
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29th August
2022
written by Splash

Title: Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Platform: Switch
Genre: RPG
Language: Japanese, English
Company: Monolith Soft
Summary: I’ll probably never bother putting up entries for the first two, because neither of those two really left enough of a (positive) impression on me to bother. This one’s pretty decent though.

Also another big case of playing it on PC instead of the Switch adds a TON of QoL, just like with X. The biggest thing that keeps the Xenoblade series back from its “full potential” is Nintendo hardware. :V …but I’ll keep it in the Switch category here.
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17th June
2022
written by Splash

Title: Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes ファイアーエムブレム無双 風花雪月
Platform: Switch
Genre: Action Musou
Language: Japanese
Company: Koei Tecmo, Intelligent Systems, Nintendo
Summary: The only thing really holding this game back is the Switch itself, but what can you do LOL. (besides emulate cough). The Treasure Box is really beautiful though ^q^ no regrets https://twitter.com/SplashTOMATO/status/1541885303211696130

I’ll try to go into more detail once I’ve finally done the Arval paralogue and completed these alternate routes.
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26th May
2022
written by Splash

Title: Trinity Trigger
聖塔神記(せいとうじんき) トリニティトリガー
Platform: Switch
Genre: Action RPG
Language: Japanese
Company: FuRyu
Summary: What is with Japan and these cringey names dealing with triangles and trinities these days.
(Note: I didn’t play the actual full game until June 2024)
In the most positive light, this game is the Three Houses lords Claude, Dimitri, and Edelgard partying up with partner Digimon and battling in a Secret of Mana style game.

Anyway, some comments about the demo, as the full game releases September 15 in Japan:

Very very much a Secret of Mana clone with even the composer for it on board (Hiroki Kikuta). I’d still give it a try since I love the Mana series so much. Honestly, having the same composer is enough for me to want to give it a full playthrough, and seeing the 8 weapon circle ring clinches it hard lol.

I actually just played a couple hours on the demo currently in JP eshop, and it’s still going (I thought it would be over after this boss fight but I guess there might be some more stuff afterwards). Overall, it feels mobile game quality (think Dragalia Lost), but at least I can see getting a whole console game experience out of it, and local coop will definitely be fun. The original price tag for the game is on the expensive side (7,800 yen), so I would expect a lot of content from the full game.

Overall… well, it’s rare to get a good local coop action RPG these days that doesn’t force you to deal with trashy gacha systems, and having a new Kikuta music experience is very welcome in my book. Looking forward to seeing more of this and hope there’s news for a western release (so that I can coop with my hubby who doesn’t read JP~).
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26th May
2022
written by Splash

Title: Triangle Strategy
Platform: Switch
Genre: Strategy RPG
Language: Japanese
Company: Artdink, Square Enix
Summary: Full backseat mode watching hubby play this one. Some peeps in the FE community got very hype and all about this, but… no it’s nothing to be excited for tbh.
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24th May
2022
written by Splash

Title: 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
Platform: Switch
Genre: Visual Novel + RTS
Language: Japanese
Company: Vanillaware
Summary: I had mixed expectations for this game from Vanillaware but they very much exceeded overall!
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15th February
2022
written by Splash

Title: Switch: Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Platform: Switch
Genre: RPG
Language: Japanese, English
Company: Gamefreak
Summary: Generally agree with most of the gaming veteran crowd who aren’t overrun with their Pokemon biases. 9/10 for Pokemon standards, only 6/10 by game standards. Basically, if you appreciate anything about Pokemon, I guess it’s worth playing. If not, then abbbsolutely skip lol. I WILL apply the full game standard to my rating here, unlike how I feel a lot of the “bigger” gaming critics out there put out.
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8th November
2021
written by Splash

Title: Digimon Survive
Platform: PC, Switch (and other platforms, but do they matter)
Genre: Visual Novel, Strategy RPG
Language: English (Japanese audio)
Company: Bandai Namco
Summary: We survived

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