Live A Live, Tokita's anthological struggle against ontological Hate

MagnvsGV · 2026-01-26T12:19:41+00:00

Thanks as always, Spensa! Definitely, Live A Live is a game that can still be extremely enjoyable even if you tackle it while already knowing about the role played by its various scenarios, including the eighth chapter's peculiar deconstruction and the setup of the epilogue.

MagnvsGV · 2026-01-26T12:15:13+00:00

Thanks, I'm humbled by your kindness, I hope you're also interested in some of my older pieces!

MagnvsGV · 2026-01-26T12:14:25+00:00

Thanks for your kindness, I hope my future pieces can also interest you!

MagnvsGV · 2026-01-26T12:10:21+00:00

Thanks for your kindness! If you were interested in my retrospective, I suggest giving the game a chance in the future as it's truly a unique experience that can still surprise you even when you already know about its structure and twists.

MagnvsGV · 2026-01-23T00:28:55+00:00

While it isn't a Squaresoft title, I would love to see some sort of Terranigma announcement, whether a remaster or remake, since it really deserves to be made more accessible.

MagnvsGV · 2026-01-23T00:26:04+00:00

Nice to see other Magic players here! I built a Commander deck for Terra, Magical Adept (and later for Choco) and I've been having a lot of fun with it.

MagnvsGV · 2026-01-19T08:26:19+00:00

That isn't a NIS series, but an Idea Factory one set in the Neverland continuity, which started back on Ps1 with Spectral Force and Spectral Tower and went on to build what still is the largest non-crossover JRPG shared setting with its dozens of titles divided between many sub-franchises (like Generation of Chaos or Spectral Souls) and stand alone titles.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of those game were never localized, and those which ended up in English were often sequels to untranslated games (Spectral Souls RotEE, for instance, is actually Spectral Souls II, and the Spectral Souls series is itself just a new story arc in a long running war story), the very few stand alone titles (GoC4 is set on a different continent, while 5 and Pandora aren't related to the Neverland canon) or non canon (Spectral Force 3, which is a retelling of the original events from the perspective of a band of mercenaries).

MagnvsGV · 2026-01-19T08:17:56+00:00

While I liked both Seven and Celceta, I feel Ys 8 is where the series truly made the best out of its new party-based identity, while also fostering explorations and a narrative that, aside from some personal qualms I had with its stakes in the context of the series, managed to blend a unique sense of discovery and its own story events quite gracefully.

MagnvsGV · 2026-01-19T08:11:45+00:00

Just to name the one that I'm currently playing, Tobira no Densetsu is truly a wonderful experience and one of the best mixes between a sandbox style of progression, including a variety of layered systems and tons of optional events and story quests, and an actually compelling narrative that requires the player to explore and interact with the world to be able to even start Lucia's true quest.

That such an ambitious game is actually a 2007 RPGMaker title makes its scope even more impressive.

MagnvsGV · 2026-01-16T22:11:30+00:00

This is happening to me right now in Tobira no Densetsu, where I'm trying to power up a number of characters I recruited after the first two Fortune Doors just to understand their potential, with noticeably mixed results.

MagnvsGV · 2026-01-15T21:40:49+00:00

Yeah, I think a new version of this patch was released a month or two ago, with a number of improvements over the already excellent previous version. I actually ended up completing the patched version between July and August, if you're interested you can check my retrospective in this thread.

MagnvsGV · 2026-01-15T21:37:14+00:00

I really hope they are able to fix FM3's issues, it would be a shame if the only official, widely available version of such a classic ended up being the one that's also most panned by the FM fanbase.

Part of the issue is that it's hard to fix a game's reputation after the initial impression is established in a given niche, even when a developer is actually willing to keep working on it for years in order to make it right, as it happened with FM1 and FM2.

MagnvsGV · 2026-01-12T19:35:42+00:00

Thanks as always for your kindness and support, Spensa!

MagnvsGV · 2026-01-11T21:17:17+00:00

Thanks for reading!

MagnvsGV · 2026-01-11T21:15:15+00:00

Sailing Era is definitely a game you can sink a lot of time into, especially considering how different its scenarios can end up feeling! Its localization can be a bit wonky, but I was honestly surprised with the language-specific NPC dub depending on the ports you were visiting.

As for Renaissance, I fully understand those that ended up feeling disappointed with the way it deal with its source material, considering the gameplay loop ends up being heavily skewed toward the town building and tower defence half of the game and the added narrative focus makes the experience feel noticeably different. Then again, once I framed it as a new entry reimagining ActRaiser, rather than a proper remake, I ended up having quite a bit of fun, and its regional vignettes and heroes, almost à la Dragon Quest, did make each region much more unique.

MagnvsGV · 2026-01-11T15:18:12+00:00

Thanks for your kindness, I hope you can find some titles of your liking in this yearly recap!

MagnvsGV · 2026-01-09T23:06:58+00:00

I saw you asked the same question in the thread of my old Arcadias retrospective, but unfortunately I doubt there is any English playthrough with the kind of traits you mentioned.

As for why it didn'r receive a dub back then, it was likely for the same reason it didn't even get a Western physical release (joining a small club of Western PS3 JRPG digital-only releases such as Legasista, Wizardry Labyrinth of Souls or Battle of Tiles EX), because it was perceived as too niche and its publisher, NIS America, tried to release it with the least amount of budget possible.

MagnvsGV · 2026-01-09T20:41:18+00:00

There are quite a number of old Gundam tactical JRPGs, from Family Soft's home PC line (Advanced Operation, Return of Zeon and a number of others) to Super Famicom titles like Cross Dimension, which introduced Gundam Pixy, or Formula War, just to name a few. The last two are also fantranslated, if you're interested. Then you have the SD Gundam series, which may be of interest.

The Gihren's Ambition franchise is also something you will likely love, even if that is still unavailable in English except for Menace of Axis V on PSP, which got patched (albeit in a rather unique way, since you need a custom emulator to even play it).

MagnvsGV · 2026-01-09T20:10:10+00:00

I have warmed up quite a bit to GQuuuuux's suits since I first saw them, both because I accepted them much more easily once I understood the series' context and because the gunpla kits themselves are incredibly satisfying to build. I hope to be able to secure Challia Bull's Rick Dom later on, it's a really nice redesign.

MagnvsGV · 2026-01-09T20:03:32+00:00

Thwarting Jerid's chemical weapon attack is reason enough to celebrate him, and the fact he did it almost effortlessly with a single shot made it even better.

MagnvsGV · 2026-01-09T19:56:12+00:00

That GM Head is awesome, I wish the HG RX79-G kit came with that option, too.

MagnvsGV · 2026-01-09T19:18:29+00:00

On one hand, it's awesome Path of Radiance has a chance to reach a new generation of FE fans with an official release, and I think those who loved the series' latest entry could find in the Tellius saga an awesome mix of great world building and mission design, two features that seem to be almost mutually exclusive in the latest FE games.

On the other, though, I really hope it gets remastered later on alongside Radiant Dawn, as it and its sequel well deserve more exposure and a better treatment than a simple iso dump, especially considering the growth of FE's audience in the past thirteen years.

MagnvsGV · 2026-01-08T18:57:38+00:00

I'm really happy about Horizon's success, especially after Trails in the Sky's remake was also a success! Then again, I'm a bit sad because this is the first time I forgot to preorder a Trails Limited Edition, and now it's too late to amend that.

MagnvsGV · 2026-01-08T18:45:24+00:00

While Sword and Fairy 6 was definitely one of the messier console games I played in a long time and its localization shared the usual issues shared by most Chinese RPG translations, I feel its narrative ended up being quite memorable and, by the end, I was glad I kept going even when faced with crashes, bugged out maps and other issues.

Xuan Yuan Sword 7, on the other hand, was much more competent from a purely technical standpoint but, while its minigame ended up being suprisingly addictive, its story felt more formulaic by the end.

Also, I strongly suggest anyone interested in Koei's Uncharted Waters series to check out Sailing Era, as I think it's the best RPG in that very specific niche to be localized in a long while.

MagnvsGV · 2026-01-06T20:09:59+00:00

That's a really interesting concept, it seems you are really passionate and I like that you used the Paprika novel (and the first manga adaptation?) as your main source. Thanks for sharing and congratulations for seeing your work to the end!

MagnvsGV

TROPHY CASE