Review #698: 64 Memories - Nightmare Creatures(Nintendo 64)

 Nightmarishly bad.

 Part I: The Flashback
 Would you believe me if I told you that I used to love this game? Oh yes, when I was younger, this game was my jam. I think the fact that one of the characters was named "Ignatius" really helped. I have rather fond memories of playing with the 'Play as a Monster' cheat too! Plus, the dismemberment mechanics felt so good. They still do, one of the game's few highlights. What's more, I gave the PS1 version a very undeserved 5.0 in my review a few years ago, and this version is supposed to be better!

 Part II: The Review
 Since I reviewed the identical PS1 version I'll keep it short and simple: It's awful. It's a survival horror-ish beat'em up game in which you play as either Ignatius or Nadia as you chase Adam Crowley through England. The game is made up of 16 levels and four bosses, levels are huge mazes full of secrets to find and monsters to fight. If anything, I appreciate how many secrets the game has, and they are always full of necessary healing items or offensive one-time use items to help you on your quest.

 There's only one thing you need to know: Tank Controls. With a beat'em up game they just don't work very well. You are supposed to sidestep or attempt a pitiful dodge and wait for openings to attack, but even on the easiest difficulty settings the monsters are just too powerful, and if you find yourself facing more than one, well, good luck. A and B are your two attack buttons, but for whatever reason a few combos use the Jump and Defense buttons to perform attacks, that said, combat controls don't feel very responsive. Heck, as a whole, movement feels very sloppy, the jumpy frame-rate doesn't help in the slightest. The original PS1 game had an Adrenaline gauge, that once depleted would start sapping your health away. It was a horrible design choice on a game with so many secrets to find, switches to hit and large levels, but in the N64 version you can actually turn it off, which makes this the best version of the game, even if it's lacking voiceovers and the FMVs.

 Nightmare Creatures is a pretty bland game that is only getting worse with age. It's not completely awful, I think the art direction is brilliant, stages and monsters look great, and I love how crunchy the dismemberment feels, but as far as the rest of the game goes? It's too clunky and sloppy.
 3.0 out of 10

Review #697: Resident Evil 2(2019)

 In which Capcom finally made a proper horror game.

 When it comes to Resident Evil I find myself in a very peculiar place, as I happen to enjoy both classic and modern styles. While a chunk of the fanbase got disenchanted with the franchise as it veered more and more into the 'action' territory, I didn't really mind. Heck, I'd argue that the only real 'horror' game was the very first, as subsequent games had ammo to spare and explosions up the wazoo. Regardless, ever since Revelations Capcom has tried to go more and more horrory with their games, and Resident Evil 2 might be their first horror Resident Evil since 1/Remake. Ammo is scared, enemies are tough and you're better of turning tail and running through.

 More than a remake, this is a reimagining. While it follows the same plot from Resident Evil 2, Leon a rookie cop on his first day of duty and Claire Redfield searching for his brother, and how they arrive into Raccoon City only to find it infested with zombies.... it takes quite a few liberties with the plot. Some things were removed, some things where shuffled around and some things were added. As is to be expected of a game of this era, the writing is much better, the script is better, and it's much more cinematic than it ever was. The Scenario A/B feature from the original is still here, with some caveats. A and B scenarios for both characters don't actually change the story. For instance, and without spoiling too much, during Claire B, a certain character would get infected with the new G-Virus, but that wouldn't happen during her A scenario. In this game the story of either character is exactly the same, but the puzzles and item locations are shuffled appropriately, so it still works. Losing the alternate story bits is kinda disappointing, but at least we get a single, solid storyline while also getting alternate ways of playing the game.

 All four scenarios are pretty similar between each other, although both Leon and Claire are privy to different weapons, a different cast of secondary characters as well as slightly different puzzles. Each run should take about 5 hours to complete on your first time through, although the game rewards you with infinite-ammo weapons by beating it in under 3. Scenario B is a bit shorter, but it's much tougher, with less places to save your game, the constant presence of Mr. X stalking you and a new weapon(different for each character) that uses a different type of ammo from your other guns, so you might have to shuffle your armament a bit more to survive. There are three difficulty settings, the Standard difficulty is pretty alright for a survival horror game. I found myself reloading whenever I felt I could've done something more effectively, I got a few honest game overs, but by the end I had healing items and ammo to spare, although, to be fair, I was being pretty darn stingy with my ammo. I also tried the easier difficulty setting, 'Assisted', which grants you an assisted aim, which can be kinda annoying when you want to target a specific part of the zombie, as well as regenerating health, making healing items pretty much obsolete as long as you can avoid damage. Honestly, it's pretty decent for more leisurely runs, although the assisted aim kinda sucks.

 Gameplay is pretty much what you'd expect, fixed camera angles have been changed for a behind-the-shoulder camera, and now you can walk while aiming, instead of rooting you to the ground. Controls in the game feel great, characters have this nice weight to their movement and even dashing, by pressing L3, is pretty slow, so it's not like you can just zip through enemies. Aiming while moving decreases your precision, but as long as the enemy is withing your sights you're free to take the gamble. Landing shots and handling weapons in the game feels great thanks to how weighty everything feels. Enemies in this game are pretty much bullet sponges, and you can never trust a zombie to be dead unless its head pops, so a lot of time it's a good idea to try to move around them or just pop in a few shots to down them or distract them and move around them. Eventually the game introduces other nasties, like the Lickers, which are blind so you can only walk around them lest you alert them to your presence.

 The knife sub-weapon has been nerfed and buffed at the same time. It breaks with use, and deals pitiful damage, however... if an enemy grabs you, you can press the L1 button to counterattack, before you get hit, and stab the knife into them. If you want your knife back, however, you'll have to down or kill the enemy before it'll let you retrieve it. You can also equip grenades as a sub weapon, and use those instead of the knives. Naturally, you can't retrieve those. As a whole, the gameplay works pretty darn well. Enemies can soak up a ton of damage, but you don't need, and are not expected, to kill them all, so just kill the ones you need, distract the ones you can, or just trade a little bit of health in order to conserve bullets for other unavoidable threats. Anything goes as long as it works.

 That said, your biggest enemy will be your inventory, as you start with a pitiful amount of space that you'll have to juggle in order to carry key items, something to defend yourself with, ammo and pick up items you come across. Item Boxes, which are magically interconnected between each other, are rather plentiful, so you'll have to learn how to deal with your inventory. As you go through the game, you'll more than double your inventory space, so it stops being a problem later on. The game has made the map more useful than it's ever been. You can access it at the tap of a button, and it will tell you if a room has any item left to find or if there's anything left to solve by its color, a red room means you still haven't done everything while a blue room is a room that has nothing left for you. Trying to open doors will also make marks on the map appear which shows which key you'd need to open the door with, which is pretty darn neat and makes pixel-hunting a thing of the past. That said, be sure to press 'Examine' with every single key item you come across, as many hide their true purposes behind this menu screen!

 As for the rest of the game... it's classic survival horror stuff: Medium-sized areas full of puzzles to solve, key items to collect and shortcuts to open-up. The puzzles were pretty fun to solve, none were too obscure or hard to figure out. The game also lets you know when a key item has served its purpose, so that you can discard it and stop wondering if there's something else you need it for. I think part of the reason I think survival horror gameplay is so good is because it's pretty much a Metroidvania, only instead of abilities you find objects that you can then use on places you may have come across before. It's a fun progression system, and seeing how pretty much every new room you come across has SOMETHING to find or solve, makes exploration very rewarding all the time.

 On the other hand, one thing I didn't enjoy, but one thing that had to come back because the classic had it, is Mr. X. I know that part of the horror is that he can pop up anytime, anywhere, and this time around he even pops up in A scenarios, but it's pretty annoying having figured out a puzzle or the way through, only to have him appear in front of you, forcing you to run away until he gets lost so that you can then try to make you way back to where you were trying to get to. It feels like a very annoying waste of time. I understand, it's part of the scares, yadda, yadda, but I really hate having my time wasted.

 Beating the A scenarios unlocks the B scenarios for the other character. Beating at least one A and one B scenario unlocks Hunk, in which you have to backtrack from the sewers up to the Police HQ's entrance with a finite amount of ammo and health-restoring items. Manage to beat Hunk and you'll unlock TOFU, yet another mode with another character, and you can unlock other skins for TOFU. Besides, you can also unlock costumes for Leon and Claire, as well as weapons with infinite ammo, if you are good enough. The short length of the campaign, as well as all this goodies makes the game highly replayable.

 I think Capcom has done it. I think they found their perfect blend of horror and action that'll keep most people happy. It's not as actiony as 6 got, since ammo feels more scarce as it won't 'randomly' drop out of enemies and it doesn't have melee attacks or crazy QTE dodges, no punching rocks either. But it's also not as quaint as to have tank controls or fixed camera angles, which mind you I actually like those. I'll admit that the game managed to pull a few jump-scares on me that I didn't see coming. All in all, I loved Capcom's new take on Resident Evil 2. I'm a bit more of a fan of how Mikami evolved the formula with The Evil Withing, but I think this works perfectly for Resident Evil.
 9.5 out of 10

Review #696: Tearaway Unfolded

 Length matters.

 Tearaway was one of those few, quirky titles that made owning a Vita worth it. I wasn't much of a fan, but I appreciated the game for what it was. Tearaway Unfolded is an enhanced port for the PS4. There's a lot of misinformation on just what Unfolded is, some call it an enhanced remake, some say it's a sequel and some say it's just a port. The truth is somewhere in-between. A lot, and I do mean a LOT has changed, and a lot of fat has been added, making the game feel quite bloated at times. You might even say that a few things got removed entirely since it changed that much. So, it's not quite 'just a port' or an 'enhanced port' on the basis that so much is different, but it's not different enough as to fall under the "sequel" category. It's something in-between.

 The story is a story about a story. Really. You play as yourself as you help Iota or Atoi, depends on the chosen gender, a message turned messenger who is trying to make their way towards you. But life ain't easy and the mysterious storytellers don't like a simple narrative, so they'll constantly get in your way, in order to prolong the story and add more hardships. Just like with the Vita game, the best part about the game is how you can interact with the world. Often you'll get asked to draw something, and said something will be instantly reflected in the world around you. Something as simple as giving someone a mouth or a pair of eyes, or as extensive as designing the clouds above you. It's endlessly charming, and the fact that the drawing mechanics are so rustic and don't allow for graceful strokes makes everything your creations look like a toddler's scribble, and that is a good thing. The visuals certainly got a boost in quality, everything looks made out of paper, and it's beautiful. There are a few really smart uses of this aesthetics that'll make you go ´Ah! That's smart' as a simple smile draws upon your face. It's a charming game, no doubt about it.

 The game is a simple adventure-platform game, there's a very linear road you must traverse, but this version of Tearaway has made everything bigger. A ton of new, wide, open areas have been added, filled with simple sidemissions to perform. Which is nice and dandy, but they only reward you with confetti paper, the game's currency. But even if you avoid these sidemissions, and why wouldn't you if they are so dull, you'll be swimming in confetti. In fact, your movement speed is pretty slow, so going through this larger areas also becomes a bit of a chore. I mean, if you enjoy the game, there's plenty of stuff to do, but if it's not your cup of tea? Oh boy....

 You see, the game goes on and on and on and on and on and on. When it looks like it's about to end, and it should, it gets stretched. This happens a lot of times, killing any kinda of climax the story could've gotten. It's ridiculous how stretched the game feels. The Vita version was much shorter, but its brevity went hand in hand with how limited the gameplay was. The game is far too long for its own good.

 As for the gameplay, its pretty basic. Your messenger can jump, roll and grab/throw stuff. You, the player, can blow wind to affect the environment, or receive objects from your messenger to throw them towards places the messenger can't reach. There are way too many controller gimmicks involved, aiming with the gyroscopic controls, blowing/tapping on the touchpad or drawing with the touchpad itself, which, at least in my opinion, wear out their welcome pretty quickly. Also, try not to play with the joystick too much, since you may need to recalibrate the gyroscope.

 Combat is dull, and it's also pretty frequent. The messenger can't do much by itself, so you have to find something you can throw towards your enemy. Or you may pick up an enemy and use it as a projectile itself. The game later introduces various enemy types, some you have to roll into first, some you have to direct with the controller's LED light towards their doom, others you have to throw off balance by blowing wind.... It's a bit surprising how involved combat is, to the game's detriment. Honestly, given the game's setting and aesthetics, combat shouldn't be as prevalent or as complex as it is, both of those actually made combat turn quite wearisome halfway through. It's not even hard, and even if it were, death is but a slap on the wrist, but there are so many mechanics I couldn't care about involved! Combat became something I had to suffer in order to progress.

 Platforming was a bit better, if only because they could get more creative with it. Blowing wind in different directions to create platforms out of paper, shining a light on the environment, carrying a pumpkin-head to create a scarecrow, etc. That said, the controls aren't the best, and the camera can freak out on you at times, getting stuck behind object it shouldn't, although most of the time you can rotate it around you. Collision detection can be a bit spotty, or maybe it's the level design, but if you move too fast the game might kill you as the scenery in front of you unfolds. Sometimes you won't even be able to tell what killed you, for example, near the end of the game, there's a section in which you roll into a ball inside a paper cage. It's possible for your character to somehow slip through the cracks and just die. That said, there are too very, VERY annoying flying paper plane sections that fail to convey just how you are supposed to control the plane, and we somehow got through both sections without properly understanding how we were doing what we were doing. On another note, a ton of the neat gimmicks with the camera and microphone got lost, but I think you can do a few similar things with the companion app, I couldn't be bothered to download it and preferred to play the game as is.

 Tearaway Unfolded is a perfect example of why bigger isn't always better. All the added chapters and expanded areas only extend a game that doesn't benefit from the added fat, quite the opposite, it makes it boring. There's a lot of great ideas and charming little details with the paper aesthetics, it's a shame the gameplay isn't up to snuff. Stick to the original.
 4.5 out of 10

Review #695: Untitled Goose Game

 Also known as the irritating Goose.

 Untitled Goose Game is a weird one, it's a new indie stealth game in which you play as a goose and your objective is to annoy humans. It's as silly and as fun as it sounds, all it took for me to buy the game was watching the trailer and seeing the horrendous things you could do to the nerdy kid. It was amazing.

 There's no real story to the game, you play as a goose that one day decides, 'hey, let's go bother some people' and so it does. The game is divided in about 5-6 different interconnected sections, and each section has their own list of goals. You don't need to clear every goal before you're allowed to proceed, but trying to do everything is always fun. The game is quite short, probably lasts about an hour, but it's a very fun hour. Clearing the game rewards you with new, tougher objectives, as well as having the entire game open for you to explore as you like from the get-go.

 As the Goose you've got two very important abilities that will let you vex the hell out of every human that comes your way: Honking and Grabbing(with your beak). Honking can help you distract humans, call their attention or, sometimes, scaring them. Grabbing is how you'll do most of your bothering, as you can grab pretty much everything you see. You can also crawl, in order to grab a few smaller objects, as well as flap your wings which does little more than show the world how badass the Goose is.

 It sounds so simple, and it is, but it's a very charming game. It's impossible not to giggle as you untie the kids shoes, so that he trips and drops his glasses, when you scare him, so that you can take his glasses away and swap them for another pair. The Goose is 2019's nastiest villain, and it's amazing. A lot of humor and charm comes from its premise alone, but you'll find yourself interacting with stuff just to see what chaos you can cause. It's simple, it's fun.

 Untitled Goose Game is no the best game you'll ever play, nor the deepest, but it's a funny romp from beginning to end, and easily worth it's price of admission.
 7.5 out of 10

The DLC Report: Samurai Shodown DLC #2 - Shizumaru

 No, he is not a tiny Kenshin Himura.

 While I've always hated children characters in videogames, I've always been rather fond of Shizumaru, must be his accidental resemblance to Rurouni Kenshin's Kenshin. He is also one of those classic Samurai Shodown characters that got snubbed for the reboot. Regardless, he is back, and for free!

 I really liked Shizumaru, he translated very well into the reboot. He's got his Haomaru-inspired shoryuken as well as his trademarked reflector, making for a pretty decent rushdown character. His rage move is amazing, and he looks really cool when he pulls it off.
 9.0 out of 10

Review #694: Megaman 11

 Alright Man strikes again.

 I grew up with Megaman 3, so trust me, I love Megaman. I prefer X, Zero and ZX, but I'm always up for some classic Megaman. While Megaman saw two NES-style revivals with 9 and 10, Megaman 11 makes graphics 3-D, while gameplay remains firmly in 2-D, it's like a prettier version of PSP's Megaman Powered up.

 Mighty No.9 received a lot of flak for its story, but Megaman 11 isn't far behind. The story has Willy having a flashback dream to an invention from his past, the double gear, and so he builds it again in the present day. As luck would have it, Professor Light kept Willy's original version and installs it in Megaman, because why the hell not, so that he can tackle all eight robot masters. The dialogue is absolutely cringeworthy, with a ton of dumb puns that seemed ripped straight out of Mighty No.9. The game has 10 stages plus the annoying, but mandatory, boss gauntlet as well as a final battle with Willy. The game, on the normal difficulty setting, took me close to four hours, although I spent an entire hour on the dreadful ice level. There are a few bonus challenges, if you are so inclined, but disappointingly no unlockable bonus characters. You do, however, unlock infinite use of subweapons and the gear system, so you can just cruise through the game on repeated playthroughs. On the other hand, the game features 4 different difficulty settings, two below the Normal difficulty setting, so it definitely accommodates for more casual players, which is always good in my book. As for the normal difficulty.... it's tough, man. I cursed a lot, but the game is fairly fair, for the most part, so those looking for a challenge are in luck.

 Gameplay is standard Megaman: Jump and Shoot, defeat bosses to earn their weapon, each boss being weak to a specific weapon. New to the series is the double gear mechanic. L button uses the Speed Gear and R button uses the Power Gear. Both abilities share the same small gauge, so you can' use them any time you want. Ideally, you'll be tapping in and out of either gear, so as not to fill the gauge and overheat, since when you overheat you have to wait until the entire gauge goes back to 0 before you can use either again. Power makes your shots stronger, also strengthening your subweapons, while Speed makes everything move slowly. Honestly, Speed is much, much better and more versatile, since you can use it to aid you with platforming or avoiding enemy attacks, while Power Gear seems very situational. Like, it actually works against you if you use the basic Mega Buster, since the powered-up chargeshot makes Megaman root to the ground for a little while as he fires off two shots, 90% of the time you're better off using Speed Gear. On another note, I love the fact that earned boss weapons now change Megaman's helmet and buster! It's a small little detail, but I adore it.

 If the going gets tough, and it gets tough, you can always visit the shop to spend bolts on chips to make Megaman better and stronger. Initially I thought that chips became available as you defeated bosses, but that's not the case, it's all about fulfilling certain, hidden conditions. For example, you can purchase a 'spike-resistor'(One time use!) after falling into spikes one time. Not only can you buy chips that make you stronger(Move at normal speed while under Speed Gear, larger shots, less slipping on ice) but you can also buy extra lives, up to 9, and even healing items, also up to 9. It doesn't matter how hard it gets, you can buy your way through your problems! Bolts are pretty generous, so I never found myself grinding for bolts, although, to be fair, I must've retried most stages twice, so that might account for why I had bolts to spare. But then again, if I had to retry stages it means that I needed the extra help, so it all works out in the end!

 Level design is fine, for the most part. Most of my deaths felt fair, I couldn't deal with the obstacle in the proper manner so I got damaged in return. That said, the Ice level is downright awful. Even with the chip that makes Megaman less slippery he still slips a bit. Then there are also platforming sections with air currents that might mess up your jumps. I was 2:30 hours into the game, by the time I finished it I had 3:30 on the clock. This stage is a mess, and feels very unfair. I spent over 15 lives on this single stage, no other level in the game was this hard, heck, it's the only stage I had to attempt more than twice. And it's nasty, because the more you try, the angrier you get and the sloppier you become, which is horrible considering Megaman's movement is already sloppy due to the ice! Luckily, once you are done with Tundraman, the worst is left behind. Bounce Man's level can also be a bit annoying, but not because of unfair deaths, but because sometimes getting the bounce right can be a bit tough. On one final note, I almost felt like boss weaknesses didn't really feel like weaknesses. On a few times it was even hard to tell if I was actually dealing extra damage. Previous games, games like Megaman X, would add alternate animations when bosses got hurt with their weaknesses, heck, I seem to remember classic Megaman would make the damage animation a bit longer if hit with their weakness, but, for whatever reason, this game wasn't giving proper audiovisual feedback that the boss was hit with its weakness.

 I've seen a ton of praise thrown Megaman 11's way, but... I mean, it is good, y'know? It's a fun time, it really is.... but it's nothing special. Most of the game is really fun, tough but fair, and it has a very cute art style, even if the dialogue is horrible. However, I just can't help but feel like something's missing. Challenge rooms are fun 'n all, but look a Megaman Powered Up, it came with playable bosses, playable characters(Protoman, Roll, alternate versions of Megaman), as well as two ways to play the game(Original and Arrange) as well as challenges! And it was a simple handheld game! Megaman 9 and 10 made Protoman and Bass playable, even if by DLC. Basically, I think it's a decent game, but I would've liked to see more content and more fun stuff. The Gear system is a decent addition, yes, but it works mostly as a get-out-of-jail-free card and Power feels like a handicap when compared to Speed. Hopefully the next Megaman can try a few more things. More characters, game-changing chips(Sacrifice the charge shot for doubled shooting speed, add a second jump but lose the ability to restore your health with pick ups, let Megaman get a second-charge level or store his chargeshot, etc), but then again, hopefully the next Megaman we get is X9!
 6.5 out of 10

Review #693: Lost Sphear

 But not lost in translation.

 Lost Sphear is Tokyo RPG Factory's second attempt at bringing classic Squaresoft styled JRPGs into the modern day. It's a bit of a mixed bag, featuring a ton of needless mechanics couples with very shallow characters, as well as an uninteresting plot that goes on and on and on...

 The plot follows Kanata, your unassuming generic JRPG protagonists that goes out fishing with his friends only to return to find his village 'lost', yeah, kinda like Tales of Phantasia. Not to fret, as Kanata soon discovers that he has the ability to collect memories, from people, books or fallen monsters, and 'recover' whatever or whoever got 'lost'. And thus Kanata's journey begins to save his planet from total disappearance. Characters are fairly uninteresting, although I found that Van and Kanata get quite a bit of development together, making for a few endearing interactions between both of them, the rest of the characters don't fare much better. The dialogue is fairly cringy, and it only gets worse as the game goes on, and some characters that pull some pretty shady stuff, like turning a certain civilian into a brainwashed cyborg get away with it scott-free, as a matter of fact, a ton of dubious characters are forgiven pretty darn easily, making for a rather unsatisfying narrative. 2/3rds into the game, it pulls a fast one on you and plays the credits. It's so sneaky that some people refer to this final third as the 'post-game', but it's a lie, it's part of the game and brings closure to a TON of dangling threads. And while it ties said threads and provides more twists to the story, its only to the game's detriment, since this final part of the game drags on for what feels like forever. The plot should've ended by the time the credits rolled, because the plot got very uninteresting by this time, and I was growing tired of all the 'we can't lose hope!' and 'Kanata is everyone's hope!' shtick.

 As for the gameplay, it follows the tried and true SNES JRPG formula of going through towns and dungeons while engaging in turn-based battles. Fun stuff. It's also got an overworld, when was the last time we saw one of those? It gets bonus points for that alone. As per tradition, you eventually get a boat and an airship to travel through continents and what not. While going through the overworld you may come across 'lost' areas, so you may have to find a specific spot to raise an Artifact, out of your collected memories, which restores the lost area and grants bonus passive abilities to your party. Things such as periodic damage to the enemy party, including bosses, bonus experience points, halve the cost of magic by removing your ability to deal critical hits, etc. It's a surprisingly fun way to strengthen your party, or cripple it if you choose to build the terrible 'Paragon' artifact, while tying it to the whole 'restoration' part of the plot. Not that it does such a good job at that though, later in the game a few characters get 'Lost' and good guy Kanata and the party decide that there simply isn't time to restore them, when it'd take a few minutes at most. As a matter of fact, Kanata only brings them back because the plot demands it, and you can't restore them before that even though there's no good reason as to why Kanata would downright ignore a couple of persons while you go around the overworld restoring stuff.

 Before getting into battles you may want to equip your characters with weapons and abilities, but that opens a new can of worms. In a few words... the game can very easily become a grindfest. Restoring the world around you, including a few plot-mandatory restorations, requires memories. Which, fair enough, you get from defeating enemies.... problem is, buying spells for your characters ALSO require trading memories at various different shops. There's a ton of different memories, so it's impossible to remember which enemies may drop what memories, and a few memories are exclusive to the overworld, so you have to enter and exit the overworld to recollect them. If you want specific, useful artifacts, you will need specific memories. There's an in-game enemy glossary that shows you what memories each monster drops, but that means finding said enemy and then remembering where they are. It's a needless annoyance, to be honest, so you probably won't get to customize everyone as much as you'd like. Besides the spells, you can also buy 'counter' spells or side effects to your spells, which is pretty neat and deep, but unless you grind for memories you won't be getting much mileage out of it.

 Then comes equipment.... the entire equipment system is weird. Money is rather hard to come by, but upgrading weapons gets pretty expensive pretty fast, meaning that you'll probably be focusing on four out of the eight different characters. Word to the wise, Dianto is a mandatory character for two boss battles, and Locke is required for another mandatory battle, so try not to neglect them. I was able to do just fine with my fully upgraded Kanata and having them equipped with base level equipment, but it was unnecessarily tough, more on this later. Regardless, here's the best tip I can give you: The best armor in the game is the initial 'Noble Cloak' characters start with. It's pathetic at first, but keep them and upgrade them every chance you get and you'll end up with the best armor in the game. Also, another tip, look up on the internet which are the best weapons for each character, upgrading is TOO expensive to focus on more than four characters or to waste upgrade materials on weapons that are better left ignored. For example, Lumina's best weapon is the Mech Tekko, the second weapon she gets. Honestly, upgrading is very weird in this way, and it's a bit flabbergasting as to why they made it such a money sink when money is so hard to come by in the game. Plus, there are very few healing spells, and besides the mana cost they also have a cooldown, making them fairly unreliable, so you need items which are also pretty expensive. Particularly the revives, which are pretty much a necessity since so many bosses have INSTANT-KILL attacks.

 On the other hand, battles are relatively fun. There are no random encounters, so you can try to avoid enemy mobs if you want, but you shouldn't since extra money and memories never hurt anybody. Positioning is very important, having your characters close together or lined up could mean getting multiple characters hurt from a single enemy attack. On each turn you can either attack, use a spell or an item, and each option lets you reposition your character. Long-range characters, such as Van or Luke are pretty neat, since they can shoot in a straight line and pierce through every enemy on their line of fire. As said before, spells also have a cooldown, a set number of turns you must wait before you can use them again, so you can't just use spells willynilly. As for turns, the game uses Square's classic ATB system, wherein enemies can attack while you pick your actions, and every character and enemy having their own speeds when it comes to getting their turns. Landing hits, or getting hit, charges your momentum gauge. Momentum can be use to add extra damage to your attacks or add effects to your spells, provided you bought said added effect with memories. Momentum is a neat idea, I just wish I could've gotten more out of it.

 There's yet another mechanic: Vulcosuits. Each character gets his own Vulcosuit, a mech, and you can get them on and off them by pressing the L button on their turn. Vulcosuits raise a characters stats, but they are fairly limited. Each Vulcosuit can only do three things: Spells, their unique ability or use an item. Abilities usually take about 8 turns to cooldown, so most of the time you can only use spells, and you also draw from a shared pool of Vulcopoints, which can only be restored with a few rare items or by sleeping in an inn. Vulcosuits can give you a little edge during boss battles, but not always. For instance, I felt that having Sherra, the game's designated healer, in a Vulcosuit was just stealing Vulcopoints away from Van and Lumina, two characters with a ton of DPS that made better use of them.

 While random battles are usually rather fun, bosses are not. Most of them are fairly cheap, being able to pretty easily kill your characters, a few having egregious one-hit kill attacks. During the 'post-game' there's this boss that you have to fight with Kanata, Dianto and Locke. Not only where my Dianto and Locke underequipped, but this boss had a bad-breath attack, not unlike Final Fantasy's Malboro's, that would cause all sorts of negative status effects on my party. One time it turned Dianto into a rooster, froze Kanata and confused Locke, so I had to wait as the boss slowly murdered Locke and Dianto while I could do nothing about it. Things like these made a few bosses feel luck-based, one time I'd get murdered without a single sliver of hope, and then I'd try again and kill them without much hassle. This is not good game design, and made the difficulty feel very artificial. Shin Megami Tensei this is not.

 Lost Sphear feels like a very generic SNES JRPG, which is the highest praise I can give it. It sticks to very classic and aged tropes, but those are the best parts about the game. Sadly, the plot has more lows than highs, and I wish characters would've received more depth, while others getting the comeuppance they deserved. On the other hand, where it chose to innovate, with all the unnecessary mechanics that just makes the game a bit overwhelming just doesn't help, specially when getting the most out of said mechanics involves wasting time grinding for memories or money. I know one could do a lot worse than Lost Sphear, and for a short while I had fun playing through a SNES-style JRPG, but the game simply falls into too many pitfalls that prevent it from reaching the quality of the classics it so closely tried to emulate.
 5.0 out of 10