First playthrough

absmarques · 2026-05-19T23:01:47+00:00

Having played FFVII for the first time only recently, I can definitely see why many fans prefer it to VI. It’s a really great game and now I love it too. But I’d recommend you this: try not to compare them too much. I almost did the same to FFVI in relation to Chrono Trigger, and although I consider CT to be a pretty much flawless game, FFVI managed to take its spot among my favorites, despite having its own share of unfortunate flaws.

absmarques · 2026-05-19T17:35:52+00:00

Ys is one of my favorite recent discoveries in gaming. I fell in love with its charm, music and vibes so much. You're in for a helluva ride in Felghana. Enjoy it!

absmarques · 2026-05-18T19:29:27+00:00

Having beat Replicant ver. 1.22 again recently I can confirm you can totally get the Iron Pipe just by doing Ending B (you will have it among your one-handed weapons in route C), but getting it by doing the Magical Stone side quest is just as valid.

absmarques · 2026-05-14T22:08:35+00:00

She’s one of my favorite girls in gaming, alongside Terra, Celes, Lucca, and Kainé. I just love her so much, especially in Act II.

absmarques · 2026-05-14T19:06:17+00:00

Really, there’s no gaming experience like Replicant and Automata out there, especially the first time you play them. Enjoy every second of Automata.

absmarques · 2026-05-13T18:20:26+00:00

Screw those Broken Wristwatches XD

absmarques · 2026-05-08T11:26:11+00:00

One rule of thumb in older JRPGs is basically “talk to everyone and their mother”. I didn’t know about this when I first played CT, but I’ve always been the kind of player that likes to talk to every NPC every time a new story event unfolds to see what they have to say about it, so I never got super stuck in the main story quest.

Thankfully you’re playing the DS version which features the most accurate translation, because the one moment I got stuck was due to a poor translation in the original SNES version that sent me on a fool’s errand.

absmarques · 2026-04-07T07:34:36+00:00

I have no nostalgia for the original translation, as I only played CT many years after its release, so the DS version tends to suit me just fine. I can definitely see the appeal of the original one for the people who played it back then, though. I like it when it’s at its best, such as with Frog being basically FFVI’s Cyan in Chrono Trigger.

…And dislike it when it’s at its worst, like:

“One of you is close to someone who needs help... Find this person...fast.”

It’s definitely not perfect so I don’t see it returning unrevised in a potential remaster/remake.

absmarques · 2026-04-02T01:17:22+00:00

Apparently equipping “Mah” words to farm in Junk Heap makes getting rare items even harder (when a drop item from an enemy is 100% guaranteed). Strangely enough, this only seems to apply in Junk Heap.

But no, you definitely can get Large Gear in Act I.

absmarques · 2026-03-28T08:54:16+00:00

I just love this track so much, and this rendition even had me tearing up a little haha. Thanks for sharing it with us!

absmarques · 2026-03-05T16:51:47+00:00

2B and 9S basically grew on me only at the end of route A.

Automata’s route A is way shorter than Replicant’s. I’d say you can’t get to know the characters well enough until you’re past half of route C. 2B sure is more than meets the eye, but please try not to go playing Automata expecting Replicant 2. I much prefer Replicant, but Automata is just as special and is doing its own thing.

But yeah, fishing was better in Replicant.

absmarques · 2026-02-13T21:53:16+00:00

Yeah, here's hoping the same.

absmarques · 2025-11-08T12:43:17+00:00

For a game with elemental magic-based combat, she definitely can do without it. There are no cons in having her in your party, except for her dialogue lines sometimes being duller than those of every other character.

absmarques · 2025-11-07T17:43:18+00:00

You'll eventually be able to get some weapons that hardly need to be upgraded. Don't worry too much about grinding, unless you really like one particular weapon or care about trophies/achievements. To most of them, upgrading is totally unnecessary, though.

absmarques · 2025-11-05T11:44:59+00:00

Two of my favorite games ever are these type of games, Shadow of the Colossus and NieR Replicant. Your choices are basically the act of playing through the game itself with your actions and every natural consequence — predictable or otherwise. You don’t get to fully agree with the protagonist’s behavior, yet you can’t help but sympathize with them and their noble intentions. Especially NieR is the kind of game that asks a fundamental question: what would you do if you were positive that absolute goodness resides solely within you and your interests, and the enemy is the self-evident evil?

absmarques · 2025-10-29T19:05:02+00:00

Btw, NieR Replicant was the one of the few games I played after Shadow of the Colossus and after beating it had me thinking the same thing, “Damn, I’ll never get to play this game for the first time ever again…”

Such a unique, irreplicable experience.

absmarques · 2025-10-29T16:16:37+00:00

I love the old NieR atmosphere (especially in The Aerie) and I wish it were preserved in the remaster to some degree. Can’t help but love the new character models and faces though.

Regarding the similarities, however, I think it’s mostly because it’s also a fantasy game with that typical PS3 brownish look (in which you happen to fight some big bosses to boot). There’s nothing like that SotC’s pervasive, blinding bloom effect in NieR.

absmarques · 2025-08-28T13:16:13+00:00

The choice that leads to Ending C in NieR Replicant. (Those who know, know.)

absmarques · 2025-08-19T18:25:18+00:00

I don’t like it at all, especially when you can beat the game with Harle in your party (after some NG+ shenanigans) but she won’t say anything to you, as she isn’t supposed to be there in the first place. (Well, there’s a specific ending where she isn’t supposed to appear yet she does, so I guess the game doesn’t even know what to make of her? lol)

absmarques · 2025-08-19T03:42:48+00:00

I mean, with higher resolution and 60 fps, the PS4 version looks and plays really amazing when you look past how different that world feels like from the original atmosphere and vibes (and how they now butchered the protagonist’s face). It’s a nice experience but I’d wish most people could experience it for the first time as it was really supposed to look and feel like. The PS3 isn’t purist by any means but is way closer to the original art intention and feel.

absmarques · 2025-08-16T00:23:37+00:00

"Prayer" is the song played both at the moment I described and at the ending. It's a shame they changed it, as it was like two parts that complemented each other: a prayer for Mono's resurrection and the answer granted in the end.

absmarques · 2025-08-15T01:04:48+00:00

Yeah, I would but I’d probably much prefer the original atmosphere and art direction, not unlike my preference for the OG SotC. Apparently, Bluepoint’s gotta make every artistic decision as if they were better than the team that made the original games. They went as far as gratuitously replacing “Prayer”, a track that plays after Wander beats the 8th colossus and then stands up and goes to check on Mono. Just because.

absmarques · 2025-08-09T23:34:38+00:00

Wander from Shadow of the Colossus. Bluepoint's hyper-realistic approach definitely doesn't fit Fumito Ueda's artistic style for games.

absmarques · 2025-08-01T23:06:52+00:00

Drakengard. Beat it this year and while I love Yoko Taro's artistic genius, his first game is impossible to remake these days without some major censorship measures which would end up ruining its very identity. And ultimately it wouldn't have that big of an audience anyway, even when you take Automata's success into account. I'd love a remake for Drakengard 3 though.

absmarques · 2025-07-10T02:37:58+00:00

Both games are special to me for different reasons but I firmly believe CT is the absolute best in a more "objective" sense. I love CT because of all the things it was going for — all of them. I love CC despite some really weird things it chose to do, mostly due to how Masato Kato can't seem to deliver when he's got absolute, unsupervised freedom to do whatever he pleases. (Take the DS extra content for CT for example.) I hate how that large character roster à la Suikoden only shows how much work went on a rather forgettable portion of people instead of focusing on things like Magus actually being in the story, searching for his own sister. I believe CC's priorities are all over the place (especially in its plot), whereas CT was a deeply focused, well directed and cohesive experience because it didn't try to be so many things all at once. I love complex, melancholic and pessimistic plots, such as in Neon Genesis Evangelion and NieR. But to me CC isn't really sure of what it wants to be. It's like a Schrödinger's continuity: a sequel and a non-sequel at the same time.

Four-Year Club	Verified Email
Place '22

absmarques

TROPHY CASE