What a game. What a pleasure. What the hell. I loved playing this. I got all the achievements, that's my seal of approval.

A beautiful art anthology where the art is experimental RPGs from a bygone era. And like the other reviews, I'm gonna say some I unequivocally loved, some I didn't have the strongest feelings about, some wowed me with the sheer audacity of the gimmick, and Near Future was just a touch um, how you say... big potty.

Summarizing like that though doesn't really convey how satisfying it feels to be able to play a RPG like this in these compact 1-4 hour full experiences. It doesn't convey how delightful it is to reach the final chapter and assemble your far flung heroes for one last grand adventure. And that final boss! I feel like I can't spoil a thing about it because it's so damn hype.

I was playing a Final Fantasy right. One of the older ones. I was struck by how sloppy the design was, how tedious, how lacking in intent, how small bad decisions snowballed into long gameplay struggles. And how some of those design choices I recalled were echoed still in later entries in that franchise I had more nostalgia for. I thought about feeling lied to by my own nostalgia. I have never played the original Live A Live. I picked this game up just cuz I hoped it would give me the thing I wanted from that other game, and it did.

I teared up at the end, all my guys coming together in that wonderful, cheesy, epic power of friendship JRPG way.

That is not the fairest, most objective measure of quality. But it meant something to me, and maybe it will mean something to someone else.

P.S. Yoko Shimomura GOAT

What a game. What a pleasure. What the hell. I loved playing this. I got all the achievements, that's my seal of approval. A beautiful art anthology where the art is experimental RPGs from a bygone era. And like the other reviews, I'm gonna say some I unequivocally loved, some I didn't have the strongest feelings about, some wowed me with the sheer audacity of the gimmick, and Near Future was just a touch um, how you say... big potty. Summarizing like that though doesn't really convey how satisfying it feels to be able to play a RPG like this in these compact 1-4 hour full experiences. It doesn't convey how delightful it is to reach the final chapter and assemble your far flung heroes for one last grand adventure. And that final boss! I feel like I can't spoil a thing about it because it's so damn hype. I was playing a [i]Final Fantasy[/i] right. One of the older ones. I was struck by how sloppy the design was, how tedious, how lacking in intent, how small bad decisions snowballed into long gameplay struggles. And how some of those design choices I recalled were echoed still in later entries in that franchise I had more nostalgia for. I thought about feeling lied to by my own nostalgia. I have never played the original [i]Live A Live[/i]. I picked this game up just cuz I hoped it would give me the thing I wanted from that other game, and it did. I teared up at the end, all my guys coming together in that wonderful, cheesy, epic power of friendship JRPG way. That is not the fairest, most objective measure of quality. But it meant something to me, and maybe it will mean something to someone else. P.S. Yoko Shimomura GOAT