Recent reviews by Mike Hawk

Same crap, same game. face it if you buy it its because you're addicted to the game and not because you like it.

while the game is not likely to top the charts of people's "favorite Final Fantasy". the game itself is pretty solid. most of the issues that people have with this title deals with how grindy the game can be. however the pixel remaster now has a multiplier for experience. this has made my most recent play through much much more enjoyable. do yourself a favor and turn on 4x multiplier for everything. this will let you experience the game at a good pace and allow you to play around with the excellent game system.

story wise the game is not exactly ground breaking today. however it is solid enough for new players to explore the evolution of story telling from FF I to this one.

Music is pretty fantastic and the pixel remaster does not disappoint. the big stand up tracks being the overworld theme, battle scene A, battle scene 2 and pandemonium castle. I dare you to find a better final dungeon theme in all of final fantasy.

Deckers: game played flawless in Steam Deck docked and portable. I believe this is the right way to enjoy this game. having the guides at the press of the steam button made getting 100% a breeze also thanks to the amazing achievement guide.
link to the guide: https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2562182792

overall. turn on your 4x multipliers and enjoy this game. its a short but worthwhile journey for old and new players.

this is the worst game ever. the developer keeps giving out free updates with extra content that makes it difficult to keep your 100% achievement award. its terrible you have to come back over and over again to see the new content and get addicted to one more run again and again. hey Poncle, did you not get the memo from the games industry? you're supposed to screw over customers and release broken boring crap.

simply awful.

as of October 2023 the game is in a very rough state. It runs poorly for a game that is not exactly pushing the envelope in graphics. coupled with a few issues of philosophy. for example, not allowing you to prioritize tasks(prioritize building bots vs more iron plates to increase my iron bar output as fast as possible). the game is not ready for prime time. more patient players might get a kick out of it, but coming from Factorio where there is ALWAYS something to do this game does not engage me in the same way.

to the devs: I love the concept and there is a huge potential for an amazing game here. I will, and this is a promise, try it again in a year's time.
for now it is refunded. please set up a demo on your website just as Factorio devs have made.

excellent collection of Classicvanias. it emulates well enough, no unnecessary slow down or input lag unlike other collections like the first Megaman collection.

worst tales game I've played so far. gameplay was fine but the story was just so incredibly bad I was rushing to get it done as fast as possible. I generally didn't care for the cast.
music was for the most part terrible. save for 1 or 2 tracks. none of the soundtrack will be in a playlist any time soon.
the plot twist is basically global warming. and I feel like it was done already in a previous tales game.

can someone please call out Yuri for being a hypocrite? no nobody? alright. would've been a good character building moment. not like the game had any to begin with.

A begrudging yes. the game was entertaining for the most part and I enjoyed it up until the end of it.
then it all falls apart quickly. sometimes jrpgs do this thing where they speedrun their conclusions by just doing a 10 hour info dump, sometimes its ok when that happens, IF the info dump is at least interesting or has a nice twist(some Trails games do this. a lot).

sadly this was not the case here. coupled with a horrible hp sponge filled final dungeon this game's ending was the part that kills the recommendation for me.

a few more nitpicks

music. mostly atmospheric chanting horribleness. nothing to put on your playlist.
sound mixing. terrible. maybe its my sound system but I could not find a good mix of audio that would not have either the music or the voices overpowering each other.
also. get ready to hear people sigh or grumble. all. the. time. you could make a drinking game out of it. but you'll be dead after 1 scene.

overall. the game was at least entertaining enough for 40 hours before it jumps off the cliff so the dollar to hour investment is there.

excellent classicvania adventure

Just one more run

it does everything you need it to do.