TrainerEstew

I don't typically leave reviews, but I noticed that this game had been review bombed. it previously held a respectable 8.0 user score before suddenly being flooded with dozens of scores that didn't leave any review so that the game could intentionally be dragged down. It's sad, but I guess that's how some people are. Anyways, the game is fantastic. The soundtrack is one of the best in Digimon Story history, and the Cyber Sleuth series continues to provide great gameplay with the most interesting story in the series so far. The only drawback to the game for me was that it dragged on just a bit too long at the end and the constant cyber-scenery began to get a bit too repetitive. Other than that, however, these games are truly fantastic and I would recommend them to anyone that likes JRPGs.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Short Review: 7.5/10, forced to round down. With a large amount of content for its price and solid gameplay, Mercenaries Saga Chronicles is definitely worth a look from those who enjoy the SRPG gameplay, but not if you're looking for interesting story and characters, or if you're looking to get into the genre. Long(er) Review: Mercenaries Saga Chronicles is a compilation of the Mercenaries Saga games. This marks the debut of Will of the White Lions, the first game in the trilogy, on consoles. The other two, however, are available on 3DS as well at the cost of $5.99 each. Gameplay: Mercenaries Saga presents solid SRPG gameplay. There's nothing astounding here, but nothing terrible either. It's simply solid. Grid-based movement, Final Fantasy Tactics-esque combat, so on and so on. It's very generic, but it holds up well. The only notable feature is that maps feature elevation advantages, which is something that I did quite like and isn't necessarily in all SRPGs. Overall, though, there is a large amount of content since it is a trilogy of games. There's easily enough content to get your money's worth in hours played. Story: One of the game's weaker areas. The stories are all very bland and really just a way to push more enemies into your path. There's no investment in the plot or characters, most of which are just generic templates. Definitely don't buy the game if you're looking for an engrossing story. Graphics: Serviceable, but not great. The tileset is the epitome of generic, but there's some good spritework in the game. Enemies and allies have well-made sprites that definitely add to the overall presentation. Generally, though, map tiles look generic and a little underwhelming. Controls: These can take a bit of getting used to. Joystick is pretty much unusable for movement, which isn't overly surprising in a grid-based game. D-Pad works well, but sometimes the camera angles can disorientate the user and cause a few bad inputs. Nothing serious, but something that occasionally occurs. Overall, the game is a solid 7.5/10, but I can't bring myself to bump it up to an 8 for Metacritic. I simply can't recommend the game to those that aren't genuinely looking for an SRPG to play. It's not a great entryway, but it's a solid way to scratch the SRPG itch for cheap.

Darkest Dungeon is a very good game. The game itself is fun, with extremely high replayability due to the randomized nature of the game. This was, of course, known with its releases on PC and other consoles. But how does Darkest Dungeon run on the Switch, and how does it compare to the other consoles? Before heading any further, it is worth a warning to those that have never played: Yes, the game can be difficult. And yes, you will likely a lose a lot of units. And, yes, it will not always be entirely your fault. RNG is a heavy factor in this game, and if you are not a fan of that, I wholeheartedly advise you to stay away from Darkest Dungeon. That being said, the game is fantastic, and the port was done very well. As I found with the other console versions, the controls aren't nearly as fluid as they are on PC. Buttons can sometimes be a little confusing and unintuitive, but it doesn't take too long to get used to them. Frame rate seems stable in both docked and undocked modes. My untrained eye can't perceive what FPS it's running at, but in a slow, turn-based game such as this, it doesn't particularly matter. The touchscreen is able to be used in portable mode which, while it's not required, felt more intuitive than the button controls. I particularly like that the touchscreen can be used for all menu, combat, and navigational purposes. It makes playing in portable mode a lot more fun than I would have expected. However, as with the Vita version, the Switch's screen suffers from a small UI. Text can be hard to read, and touchscreen may be harder to navigate for those with larger fingers. Perhaps the highlight of Darkest Dungeon on Switch is its battery life. While I have not tested it in all possible configurations, it lasted 5 hours and 12 minutes with maximum brightness and Wi-Fi enabled before hitting the 1% mark, at which point I put it into sleep mode to charge it. Darkest Dungeon at its core is a fantastic game, and its port to Switch is nothing short of well-done. Despite initially readjusting to button controls after heavy PC usage, I can fully see the Switch becoming my main way to play the game with its touchscreen options undocked and fantastic battery life.