Recent reviews by JayJay

It should have been SPAZ with an expanded space sim built into it, instead we got some kind of mount & blade in space. Building ships isn't fun. This should be a case study on a developer being completely disconnected from the community they built. Game is all but abandoned and the developer is making mini-golf now. Really sad what this could have been.

Soft no. Please note that this is a no... for now. I think some of the other no's here are way too harsh. I think this game has a lot of potential and I do see the huge amount of effort put into it by one developer. With that said, I refunded the game for now due to crashes and performance issues, as well as a lack of polish in the controls and UI which I think can and will be improved over time, based on the responsiveness and care of the developer I've seen here. If I had known this before refunding I would have likely given it a little more time instead. This game on paper is nearly everything I want out of a space simulator, i'll check back soon to see if it improves and revise my review at that time.

I've been on steam for something like 16 years and I have only written a single review. I didn't even really like that game that much but I was testing the (at the time new) review system.

Tales of Berseria is amazing, I am totally captivated by this game. It is beyond doubt, the best JRPG i've played since Final Fantasy 6. Incredible story, voice acting and writing/translation. Out of a cast of hundreds, maybe one side character annoyed me. Characters are written with deep personalities and flaws. The story is unique and well told, scenes leave you feeling an impact and having to pause to take in what just happened. Sometimes even an unanimated conversation can get intense. Emotion vs. Reason is a BIG recurring theme in the story, which relates very much to the real world today. It never gets political though, which is such a huge credit to its writers. Things never go as you expect and moments can turn dark quickly.

The action combat system can be as simple or complex as you make of it. Multiple difficulties can be changed anytime and loads of essential modern day conveniences are available without losing the J in JRPG. (Lets be honest, FF15 was more western RPG than Japanese.) There are tons of items to collect, tons of skills to learn, multitudes of attacks, plentiful combos and a huge variety of enemies and upgrades. The huge mostly open maps are beautiful and connected with linear sections throughout, so it never feels like you are on rails even though you are generally only moving the direction the story takes you.

Cons? If I had to think of any. Some combat moves aren't explained very well. (Hint: You can chain Mystical Artes (LT) by using the direction pad up and down to switch in other characters, resulting in huge damage.) A few of the side scenes can get a little anime-cringey, but 99% of them hit the mark. Theres a bit too much item management due to loot dropping like candy and often a trip to the store can take 15 minutes figuring out what to dismantle or sell. A lot of items are just used to learn their skils and then are quickly discarded.

With a playthrough and a half and 200+ hours sunk into this game I can say it's probably my favorite JRPG in 15+ years. I like to think of this as the "Breaking Bad" of JRPG's, nearly perfect from start to finish. You're missing out big time if you do not give this game a shot!

And on sale? It's a no brainer.

Magikazam! Buy this now!

Very much like the old "hacker" simulation genre games, but with newer graphics and an ok GUI. Worth giving it a try if the price is right (Like nearly free from a humble bundle) but otherwise i'd say hold off, after a few hours you can break the game and become ultra-rich which makes playing further pointless.