LogFAQs > #898444467

81. Radiant Historia
Original Release: 2011
Developer: Atlus
Platform: DS

I think the biggest problem with Radiant Historia is it does a great job with an original concept but with executes it poorly, likely due to hardware limitations, falling into the same old tropes, or both. It also loves to recycle assets. I mean, I would never want to live in a world with a shit ton of giant spider bosses. But basically, I loved the alternate timeline concept and have wanted to play a game that does it well ever since Chrono Cross. But Radiant Historia's world is incredibly tiny and both timelines take place here, so expect a lot, and I mean a LOT of backtracking and treading through the same areas over and over. You like Lazvil Hills? Well, you'll visit it at least 10 times during the course of the game.

Stocke is a cool JRPG protagonist, up there with the Yuris, but the other characters are more on the lame side. I could care less for Raynie and Marco. The way they were introduced and their whole role in the game was yawn-inducing. Same goes for Aht. Eruca and Rosch fared a little better. The NPC characters were way more memorable than Raynie, Marco, Aht, or Eruca actually, especially Heiss. I don't know what happened here, or if this was intentional.

There also seems to be a lack of polish in this game. I don't know how to explain it, it just feels...stiff and cheap. Like, a lack of hit detection, maybe? I don't know. Battles felt this way. It's hard to put my finger on it.

That being said, I can give props to Atlus for trying because the alternate timeline storyline hasn't been done before in a JRPG from what I can remember, unless you count Chrono Cross. They recently remastered this game for the 3DS, and I'm guessing it plays better on that system, but I'm wondering if they did that because they want to gauge interest and see if it's worth the time to make a sequel.

80. Cuphead
Original Release: 2017
Developer: Studio MDHR
Platform: PC

I don't have much to say about Cuphead. I'm still playing through it at the moment, but it's been a slow ride. I've read the stories about its development and how the makers mortgaged their homes to finance it. I'd say they succeeded and creating a pretty good old-school type 2D platformer/run and gun, especially when you ask critics. Again, there's not much to say, you just play a level and hold the shoot button and try to make it through, or defeat the boss. I loved the fact that you can purchase upgrades, though, as it gave me a crutch in case a level pissed me off. Yes, you die a lot. I played plenty of SNES platformers and I know how it feels, and I wish people would stop (please, stop) equating this game to Dark Souls because "you die a lot." Seriously, stop.