Recent reviews by Germ

The use of AI slop for the artwork is really disappointing from a series that's always had such beautiful art. There are so many low quality and very obviously AI generated images used without any touching up at all. I don't mind the use of AI as a creative tool, but it should never be the finished output in a $90 game. Hire real artists.

It's a solid 6.5/10 imo. The presentation of it is incredible. The UI is snappy, the pixel art incredible, music and sound fantastic. The battle system is fun at first, a lot like ones found in Mario RPG or Mario & Luigi, but becomes dull quickly as you don't learn many new skills.

Ultimately, it's an RPG that fails in what matters the most: writing and narrative. The characters are one note, every attempt at humor or endearment comes across as forced and cringe. I've finished the game and can't even remember the main two character's names. The characters have no conflict between each other, no substantial backstories, no motivations beyond "adventure!!!" They talk indistinguishably from one another in the same internet slang. I'm told often that Garl is "just the best!" but never see it for myself. When deception is revealed, the characters are just like, "It's all good! ^_^"

This would be okay if the narrative took a backseat, but it stays pretty on the rails with little opportunities for exploration or free play until the end. It may have been made by fans of Chrono Trigger, but absolutely is not another Chrono Trigger and you should not trust anyone telling you that it is. I recommend it with a lot of caveats, but gotta give a thumbs down review because I feel like the overwhelming praise for this game is misleading and inaccurate, while much better games with far more expertly crafted narratives have been lambasted.

Took me awhile to get around to this game. The first game left such an impact I didn't see how this could possibly match it. While the pacing here felt a little slower, the story absolutely bowled me over and I'll be thinking about it for a long time.

I've dumped hundreds of hours into this game on Epic Games, and bought it again for Steam for the convenience of having all my games from one launcher. For anyone curious about doing this - you only need to buy the base game on Steam. If you already have all the DLC on Ubisoft Launcher, they'll all unlock when you launch it, so no need to buy all the DLC again.

Incredible resource management and city builder game, among the best I've ever played. With all the DLC, it has SO much content to explore. Hands down the best Anno in the series - this will be difficult for the developers to top! Listen to it when it prompts you to take a break for a cup of coffee. ;)

I wasn't expecting such a cartoony looking game to take me by storm like this.

Give it more than just the first episode. It starts out like such a typical team drama, you'll find yourself wondering why this is a video game at all and not a show on MTV. Trust me, it gets twisted, and it will utterly BATTER you emotionally. There were a few decisions I had to make that stressed me out about as much as entering a hospital in Silent Hill.

And cliffhangers? Holy. Episode 3 sent me straight to Twitter because I just couldn't even. Episode 4, I'm pretty sure caused an earthquake in my home because I manage to fall out of my couch in shock.

Incredible story, beautiful soundtrack, excellent character development. This kind of game only works if you truly care about the people and how your decisions may effect them - and you will. A lot.