Video Game History Month: The SNES Is The Best System Ever (Part 2) -- The RPGs

Written By: Tyler

In the previous installment of "The SNES Is The Best System Ever," I talked a little bit about the more technical aspects of the system, and discussed briefly why it's the best system ever. But now it's time to get down and dirty and start talking about what makes any system a success: the games (or in the case of the Wii -- a gimmick followed by Wii Sports).

The SNES has a lot of great games, and I'm not going to be able to cover every single game but I would like to drop dime on some of my personal favourites. To do this, I figure it will be more efficient to group the games into genres and write a few posts instead of just having one massive article that nobody will ever finish. Since I'm a role-playing game fan at heart, I reckon that the RPGs are a good place to start. I'm not going to talk about every single RPG on the SNES, but I will select a decent collection of them. So let's begin this party with some big-ass letters.


The RPGS

Final Fantasy 3/6 - Final Fantasy 6 (3 in North America for a long time) is probably the best Final Fantasy ever. It had a large cast of characters, but most of them were actually memorable. I can only think of a couple that weren't, and to be honest, they were optional characters anyway. FF6 managed to be incredibly dark and surprising, with excellent gameplay. It always amazes me that the villain basically "won" halfway through the game when Kefka destroys the world. Sure, you beat him in the long run, but he's also messed up everything at that point and it'll be a long time before they can rebuild society.

I once borrowed this game from a friend, and I ended up losing it... though to this day I feel like my mom misplaced it or something else happened. Regardless, it seemed to have disappeared. To pay my friend back, I gave him one of my games, and for the longest time I felt like he was getting a better deal out of things anyway. I'm not entirely sure I feel that way anymore, but the next game in the list is said game and it's a testament to how good both games are that I'm conflicted about which is actually better.


Chrono Trigger - One of the greatest RPGs of all-time. It is a story of time travel with very memorable music and characters. At the time it was a small but wonderful detail that added to the immersion, but I was impressed by how you just whipped out your weapons and scrapped on-site. Not many games afterward actually did this.

I spent a lot of time playing this as a kid, and if you haven't played it you should... you owe yourself that much.


Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars - The marriage of two of the most influential companies in my life at that point: Squaresoft and Nintendo. Yes I know that Square developed games on the Nintendo platform before, but they literally took Mario characters -- along with creating some of their own -- and made an awesome RPG out of them. The battle system was still turn-based but due to the nature of timing your attacks, it added another dimension to it.

Super Mario RPG still has a line that I use to this day on occasion, "Are you leaking, my dear?"


Final Fantasy 2/4 - Though it's kinda sorta lightweight compared to the absolute monster that came afterward, Final Fantasy 4 (again, Final Fantasy 2 for a long time in North America) is still a completely solid entry in the Final Fantasy series, with incredible music and a lot of human sacrifice -- if only they hadn't ruined that at the end. There's actually a lot of emotion present throughout the game because of how much each and every character goes through. There are twins turning themselves to stone, love triangles, friend betrayals, Cid jumping down a massive hole, etc.

To this day, Kain is a favourite Final Fantasy character for me, and he brought about my love of Dragoons. Even in Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn, I got giddy once I did my first "Jump" attack.


Final Fantasy 5 - This is a Final Fantasy that didn't touch down on North American soil until later on, unless you had an emulator because a bunch of Gods translated it. I don't go to this one for the story or the characters, but it had a pretty boss job system that encouraged replay.


Secret of Mana - Secret of Mana, what can I say about you? I spent many hours playing you by myself in a dark room with romantic music on and with friends. Outside of the fact that maybe the ring system is a little outdated -- it's not a bad system, but in magic heavy battles it's annoying being the guy who isn't casting magic -- it's one of the best RPGs ever and just an amazing game to play with a friend.

Seiken Densetsu 3 - This is the sequel to Secret of Mana, and it wasn't released here in North America. Luckily, like Final Fantasy 5, it was translated by some fine people and I was able to play it. Technically it's probably a better game than Secret of Mana because it offers more of everything, like multiple characters and classes to choose from with more plotlines to play, and enhances the experience while retaining the core gameplay. I usually say I prefer Secret of Mana due to the amount of time I spent with it but SD3 is awesome too.

Secret of Evermore - It's not Secret of Mana, which was a disappointment for some, but it had its own flair, style and gameplay mechanics that made it its own game. The story was more out there and Sci-Fi, which I think was actually more interesting than Secret of Mana, but it is a lesser game as a whole. Regardless, I'm not saying it's a bad game... it's just lesser compared to an RPG that's one of the best of all time. That's hardly even a criticism.


Earthbound - My brother told me that a nerd at Comic-Con said that Earthbound is "too mainstream." I remember a time when nobody knew it. I remember going to rent it and getting that massive instruction manual/strategy guide that is still the best instruction manual I've ever seen. I remember playing Earthbound for hours on end as a kid, being amazed by the humour, characters and music. Years down the road I remember digging deeper into the story and being impressed by how clever the game actually was.

What I'm trying to say is that as a kid I appreciated Earthbound on a base level. As an adult I appreciate Earthbound as a complete experience, as a classic of the genre, a deconstruction of the RPG and North American culture... and possibly a story about abortion.

Basically, screw you random nerd.


Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals - The first Lufia game is a classic too, but I want to group the two games together. I'm a huge Lufia "mark," to use a pro-wrestling term. Lufia 2 is a prequel, and the ending is literally spoiled within the first twenty minutes of the first game, but that didn't matter because it was one of the most heart-wrenching sacrifices in the history of gaming.

Aside from that, Lufia 2 took the elements of the first game and added things like Capsule Monsters, enemies you could see on-screen and... puzzles? Normally I don't really want puzzles in my RPG, but Lufia 2 is okay by me.


Shadowrun - Some people say that the Shadowrun on Genesis is actually better, but I never got to play it. Shadowrun kind of creeps me out to this day, and I can't really understand why. It's a dark, cyberpunk world where within the first half hour you've scared people so bad they left the room and won't open the door, talked to an ugly dude about you getting "geeked" and talked to a dog in an alley. Awesome.

We never got another Shadowrun that could match up to this one, but Shadowrun Returns came close.


Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen - Top 5 RPG of all-time for me. This, FF6, FF7, Parasite Eve and Chrono Trigger tend to be the RPGs I fall back on, which Earthbound as an honourable mention (depending on my mood, really, because you can rotate any of these and I'll be happy, with Parasite Eve being the only game that is always number one). Ogre Battle 64 was a worthy successor, but nothing has compared to the original SNES one. This amazing strategy RPG has incredible replay value because a) it's hard as hell to not be a bad guy, and b) the customization of your army encourages this kind-of thing. There are also secrets I've never even found.

This is a game that we need to see another sequel of. Right now.


Dragon View - This is probably one of the RPGs on the list that don't get nearly enough recognition. It was a sequel to Drakkhen, which itself was a decent take on the computer RPG, but didn't wow me in any significant way. The dungeons are in a side view and the game becomes an Action RPG, and I'll never forget the scene where you walk into a room and Giza beats the everliving piss out of you.


Super Ninja Boy - Super Ninja Boy is another game that doesn't get any recognition. It's not that the story is incredible, but it's actually a completely solid two-player RPG with a battle system that was rarely seen back in the day -- you could actually run around freely in the battle screen, jump, punch and throw enemies into holes that for some reason are in the ground. It doesn't seem like much now, but it was a big deal then, and when I played this game again years ago I still really dug it (outside of how many random encounters there were).


Uncharted Waters 2: New Horizons - Just today my older brother (he loves when I mention him, and I know he reads this so I will keep doing it) said, "It's the first open world game I ever remember playing." I never thought of it that way but he could be right. Uncharted Waters 2 is a game where you pick one of, I believe, four characters (though I could be wrong), and they all have their own goals to accomplish. I remember that one guy has to map the world.

From there, it's a bit of an odd mixture. It's part strategy game, part simulation, but websites seem to classify it as an RPG so I had to mention it too. It's just out of my Top 5 RPGs of all-time, but it's very close and I do adore it more than my unborn children.

You sail the world, getting in ship battles, and I was always particularly intrigued by the one-on-one sword duels you could get into. Uncharted Waters 2 is actually one of the games that most influenced what I did outside. If you don't want to hear about younger me, then skip down, but I would go outside on my deck with a friend and basically  just re-enact the game. I would pretend that the deck was my ship, I'd create a fleet and attack other fleets, while creating my own story. So thank you Uncharted Waters 2 for impacting both my indoors activities and my outdoor activities too. Damn it I'm such a nerd.


The Others

There were other solid RPGs like Illusion of Gaia, Lagoon, Brain Lord, Breath of Fire 2, 7th Saga, Inindo: Way of the Ninja, Live A Live and Equinox as well. All of those are great in their own ways, and I'm not discussing them simply because I was trying to keep it to my all-time favourite RPGs on the SNES... but then I cheated and threw out these honourable mentions because I feel like it's a disservice to gaming if I don't mention them.


But Wait, There's More

However, my journey with SNES RPGs is not over, as their are two games in particular on deck that I intend to play someday. These were originally not released in North America and I can't read Japanese (well I can, just not successfully), but due to people being awesome and the internet, I will now be able to play them.

Star Ocean - I remember reading about this in, I believe, the same magazine that I originally read about Final Fantasy 7. I always waited for it and it never came. It's since been re-released for, I believe, the PSP, and I intend to eventually get it and finally play the game. I love love love Star Ocean: The Second Story, so I can't wait to play this one.

Terranigma - This is a game I never knew about until I got the internet, and I still haven't played it because all these new games keep coming out. I hear Terranigma has an awesome story, and from what I've heard of the soundtrack, that is great too. Eventually I shall sink my teeth into this and Star Ocean.




So there you have it people. Did I miss any SNES RPGs that you absolutely adore? Let me know in the comments below or tweet me @ArtBathednCrime. I'd love to hear about your own SNES experiences, and stay tuned for next time when I give you Part 3... though I'm not sure what genres I will be tackling next.

Video Game History Month: The SNES Is The Best System Ever (Part 1)

Written By: Tyler

 

Video Game History Month rolls on, and a few days ago I posted an article about what brought me to video gaming, which was the Nintendo Entertainment System. If the NES was my humble origin story about me as a little kid who wasn't kissing girls on the playground, then the Super Nintendo Entertainment System is the story of me starting to grow into my own as the preteen/teen guy who wasn't kissing girls on the playground. Or, to put it in a more flattering way, if the NES was Batman Begins, then the SNES was The Dark Knight.

I love the SNES -- it's my favourite console of all-time. This largely depends on the kind of genre you prefer, and I'm a JRPG guy in my heart of hearts. It didn't have much in the way of first-person shooters, but it had great RPGs, sports games, platformers and other action titles. It had some great puzzle games, fun adventure games, etc.

To celebrate video games, I'm going to celebrate the SNES. This will consist of multiple articles because I can't do it justice with just one. In this article I will talk about the more technical aspects of it like graphics and sound, and maybe even drop dime on something more personal.


What Is It?

The SNES is the prime of Nintendo. While the N64, Gamecube, Wii and Wii U are all fine systems (regardless of what haters say), the SNES was Nintendo firing on all cylinders. They made some of their best games as a company -- though to be fair Nintendo makes great games most of the time -- and they had a lot of support from other companies... something they lack these days.

Nintendo had Squaresoft back when they could churn out classic RPGs whenever they wanted. They had Enix while they were creating great games as well. The marriage of Squaresoft and Enix back then was kind-of a "super studio" type of deal.

There were fantastic strategy/historical simulation games, which is something that North America doesn't see a lot of these days. There are still games in the genre being made, but we never hear about them anymore. Koei was a beast back on the SNES.

Though sports games have gotten more complex, there was a simple fun to be had with some of them. We had a good mix of more realistic (relatively speaking) sports games and more extreme, less serious ones.

Platformers were on-point, and they were incredibly popular then. Sure, there were too many because at some point genres get oversaturated. We live in the era of the first-person shooter now, but back then we had a lot of platformers.

You get the idea... though games have evolved and we've gotten more genres and innovations since, some of the finest examples in a lot of genres were on the SNES. The main theme of the SNES is that we had legendary companies creating legendary games more often than not. That's an incredible feat.



It Sounds So Good

Audio back then was different, because they all used the same chip. And what a sound chip it was. Compare how music sounds on the SNES to how it does on the Genesis -- it's night and day. The quality, at least back then, was absurd. Not only that, but we had a lot of talented artists using the chip in fantastic ways, creating some of the best video game music of all-time.

Since then, we've obviously adopted a more modern, technically complex way of producing music, but if you're a fan of retro music, then the SNES is as good as it gets. It was to the point that I'd set up a tape recorder and hold it up to the TV to record the music. I'd have to be extremely quiet so it didn't pick me up, but I wanted to have the music so bad I'd do that.



It Looks So Good

Obviously graphics have gotten more detailed, with motion capture, more artists at work, more processing power, etc, but there's a charm to the SNES that hasn't gone away. Pixel art is still in. I think the NES also has a certain charm to it, but I feel like it's mostly just a nostalgia thing. With the SNES, it was the highest point for this type of art. There are a lot of SNES games that still look legitimately good today. Take a game like Chrono Trigger for example -- it's gorgeous. Companies had figured out how to best use this style, and the SNES was complimentary to that.

Take for example a system like the Playstation 1. I love the system (it's also a big RPG system), but they were going through an awkward transitional period during this point in time so games can look a little silly. They don't age as well as the SNES games do. The SNES isn't as complex, but the graphics looked beautiful despite that.


I Want It In My Bed

Um... never mind that one.



So this was just a little article of me praising the more technical aspects of the system, but over the next parts -- I don't know how many yet -- I will delve into what matters: the games. I'm not sure yet if I will sort them into different genres and maybe do a couple genres per post, or if I'll just pick a bunch of games and write about them, but check back over the next few days because I'm going to try to unleash that beast.

Video Game History Month -- What Brought Me To The Dance

Written By: Tyler

For those who don't know, Gamespot has designated May "Video Game History Month." I figure this is a good reason to do my own series of articles over the past month to discuss the history of video games. This article is a little bit more personal than what I'd usually do -- this is about where I started in the wonderful(ly expensive) world of gaming. I don't know how long this article will be, and while most of the articles will just be about specific games or systems, I think this is a good place to start.


My origin story is not that uncommon amongst "older" gamers -- the Nintendo Entertainment System. Before I even knew what I was doing, I was playing games. I would just grab a controller and press buttons. My older brother had an NES, and as far as I can remember, the first games I ever played were Duck Hunt, Super Mario Bros. 1 and 3, and Final Fantasy.

While I can never say that I was around for the true beginning of video gaming, I can honestly declare that I was born the same year that the NES first hit North American soils. The NES may be third generation, but it's arguably the greatest innovation within the industry because the NES helped video games crawl out of the dark and into the light of the public. Yes, people were playing games before the NES, but the NES symbolized new blood, new life. For years people would ask, "Do you play Nintendo?" rather than, "Do you play video games?" Nintendo etched its way into the conscious of the public, and video game history, and it all started with the NES.

Though I obviously didn't start playing right when I was born, I can say I've been playing games most of my life... and I'm pushing 30. Like I said above, I started with some of the biggest names in gaming. I remember using the gun to play Duck Hunt, and I remember trying to shoot that stupid dog (to no success). I remember running through the levels in the first Super Mario Bros. while being amazed. Though both of those games were essential to developing my admiration for games, it wasn't until Super Mario Bros. 3 and Final Fantasy that I found the first couple games that I ended up truly loving, with the latter opening up an entire genre that to this day is still my favourite -- the role-playing game.

I would go over into my brothers room, much to his chagrin, early in the morning and turn on Super Mario Bros. 3. The family would get annoyed, but I must have thought I was sneaky or something because I'd keep doing it. Maybe this time I won't get caught? I don't know, maybe I was just a badass. I would even dream of playing the game. Mario 3 was such an evolution of the first that it remains one of my favourites in the classic series to this day. It was an expertly crafted, masterpiece of game design, and even today it showing up on the Virtual Console (finally) is a huge deal to a lot of people.

Final Fantasy was a little too complex at first. It wasn't as easy as just running and jumping. You chose character classes, went on adventures, leveled up and paid attention to the -- admittedly shallow -- plot. Battles were turn-based, and to a young kid the game was pretty difficult.

I'm sure this made my brother happy, but I enjoyed the fighting in Final Fantasy. I would gladly grind for him, because it was a joy for me  to enter those attack commands and see what happened. It wasn't until later that I understood what the RPG genre entailed, but once the SNES came around, I was fully entrenched in the rich worlds that were created. Final Fantasy 2/4, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 3/6, Earthbound, Secret of Mana, Secret of Evermore, the list goes on. I enjoy most of those more than I do the original Final Fantasy, but I can't deny the importance of the original because despite the fact it was supposed to literally be the final fantasy, it ended up being more than that to me and a lot of kids/teenagers. For me it was not the end; it was the beginning.

Much like the Nintendo Entertainment System.

May Is National Video Game History Month, So Here's What I Have Planned

Written By: Tyler

In January I started a monthly segment in which I take something that the month commemorates and I relate it to video games. For example, this month is National Pet Month and I was originally going to write an article about my favourite video game pets... but then I was on Gamespot and they designated May as National Video Game History Month.

I may still do an article about my favourite pets at some point in the month, but with this knowledge I've decided to ride the coattails of Gamespot, since this is a video game blog and I can't really think of something more important than a month dedicated to video games (whereas I dedicate my entire sad, pathetic life to them).

So this is just a quick post to tell any of my readers what I have planned. If you're one of the five people who know that Gamespot exists then you'll notice that what I have planned isn't really that different, and in fact it's less work because unlike them, I am not doing something every day. They are basically doing an article each day that commemorates retro games/systems, and I'll be doing write-ups on that same thing, only it won't be every day, because there's one of me and I don't get paid. What this means though, is that you can expect to have more content for the next month, so make sure to tune in.

Keeping Me Occupied At Work -- A Wayward Souls Review

Written By: Tyler
Platform Played On: Mobile (iOS)

Rating: 7.5/10
Verdict: Wayward Souls is a completely solid Roguelike RPG but it doesn't quite live up to the apparent hype that it's getting in other reviews. 


I don't often review mobile games, and that's mostly because I don't play that many. There is a lot of crap on the App Store, and it's hard to sift through that and find the gems. The other day I was looking for a good game to play on my phone at work (when I'm, ahem, on break), and Wayward Souls had just come out and was getting rave reviews. I thought, "Awesome, an RPG to sink my teeth into." After hours spent dying and restarting, clawing my way through the game, I've come to the conclusion that it's a very good Roguelike RPG, but I feel like I'm missing something.



I have a built-in dislike of touch screen controls, and that's the first thing a lot of iOS games have going against them right from the beginning. Perhaps that sounds unfair, but I just don't feel like certain genres are ideal for the platform. Games like Sword and Sworcery work fine, same with Year Walk, but any game with action is less than ideal (though I'm sure there are exceptions). Wayward Souls has a few hiccups in the way it controls, like sometimes when you're trying to do one thing and you do another. I rarely feel like touch screen controls are intuitive.

Aside from that though, there's a lot to enjoy about Wayward Souls. You spawn as one of three characters intially -- a Mage, Warrior and Rogue -- but you can unlock others as you progress through the game. It's a paid app, which a business model where the price increases with each update so grab it now, and there are no in-game purchases to unlock the characters... which is a relief. These characters play differently than one another, but not in any substantial, original way. They have generic names and handle in ways that we've seen before. The warrior is a tank who can block, the Rogue uses quickness and backstabbing and the mage blasts from afar -- these aren't innovations or anything, but they're solidly implemented. The variety is nice because when you die, you lose everything and being able to switch your play style up is refreshing.

As you progress through the stages, you collect money and items. The money sticks with you even when you die so you can purchase upgrades that you will always have. This is a welcome addition because even when you die you're still building your character, but I've been seeing this feature in Roguelikes these days anyway.

The items you collect are mostly there to give you special powers, but health potions do drop infrequently. The Warrior has an ability where health potions heal more but it's useless because you rarely get any anyway. The only real way to get health back is by completing each level -- each time you proceed to the next level you get a little health back.

There are checkpoints, but you have to defeat the boss in each area first. This is also a welcome addition because I have a hard time constantly replaying areas, so just to know that there is a light at the end of that tunnel is nice.

The combat can also be pretty intense, even if it is held back slightly by the touch screen controls. Like I said above, each character has a different set of strengths and weaknesses, and due to the random nature of both the enemies and the dungeons, things can get pretty hairy quickly and you never know what to expect. You could walk into a room and get swarmed, while something else throws giant rocks at you. Since they chucked the turn-based genre conventions in exchange for real time battles, the action makes you adapt on the fly and this is where it shines brighter than a lot of games within the same stratosphere.

The visuals and music combine to create a pretty forboding atmosphere as you travel to the depths of the multiple dungeons. They have put care into making the areas seem more populated than a lot of mobile games would. There are lamps and other objects all around, mostly just to create that sense of atmosphere, but you can break them for coins and whatnot. Where the game shines though is in the soundtrack. It's a joy to dungeon crawl because every track is quite good. There's a lot of polish in this, and RocketCat Games should be praised for that.

A lot of Roguelikes don't offer much in the way of story. It's not the appeal, generally, but RocketCat Games have gone the extra mile to rectify that. Scattered throughout the game are plot moments that try to flesh out the reasons why the characters are doing what they're doing. I'm not going to sit here and say it's the most memorable and well-told plot since The Last of Us, but I appreciate what they have done to try to add more substance to the tried, tested and true formula.

Wayward Souls is a very good game. I said it above and it was worth repeating, but I saw one reviewer state how this could be confused as a lost SNES era Square RPG. That's way too lofty a claim for this game, but it is a solid experience. It's possible that I should be judging this more on the fact that iOS doesn't have many games like this, but games like Year Walk, Sword and Sworcery or even Code Runner succeed as not just great mobile games... but great games in general. I'm not sure Wayward Souls can make that claim, but it's definitely worth buying.

On The Bookly Reads Chrono Trigger by Michael P. Williams

Written By: Tyler
Go Here To Buy: http://bossfightbooks.com/

Rating: 5.5/10
Verdict: It's a serviceable book, and there are some inspired parts. There are also parts that I feel take up way too much time, and he reaches sometimes for his allegories and analysis.


Welcome to the first ever On The Bookly. This is an idea I've had since Earthbound by Ken Baumann, where I take a book about video games and review it. I really love reading, and I figure this is a good way to blend the world of gaming and literature. So with that said, let's get on with the review.

Chrono Trigger by Michael P. Williams is part of Boss Fight Books, which is a neat concept where authors take a game they love and then they write about it, combining their experience of replaying it with tying the themes and allegories into the real-world and their own life. Chrono Trigger tackles the SNES JRPG classic, and discusses things like the translation issues, how religion impacts the world of Chrono Trigger, time travel and a couple other things.

My main problem with the book is that some of the transitions and comparisons of the real-world to the game are just bad, or at the very least hokey. Above all, him talking about a catastrophe in Japan one paragraph and then flipping to a fictional catastrophe is an example of hokey. I understand what he was going for there, but it just didn't work.
Some of the comparisons are just him reaching way too far to find something. Some can be chalked up to limitations of a game cartridge. Chrono Trigger was a big game, so obviously some things had to be simplified. He harps on about how underpopulated the game world is a few times, but it was 1995 and there were more important things in the game to consider.

How he dissects religion and its impact in Chrono Trigger was fine, but wasn't overly in-depth. It was thrown in there but it did make logical sense, so I give him props for that at least.

Another point of contention for me is his personal life. Don't get me wrong, his life is more interesting than mine, but I criticized Earthbound -- the book -- for the same thing. Only this is worse because at least Earthbound -- again, the book -- had a heart-warming tale of the author becoming close to his brother again. I wasn't particularly intrigued enough by his life to want to read about it.

I knew this going in, but there's a lot of talk about the translation issues. He even brings in two translators to talk about their versions. I'm sure there are people who will really enjoy it, but I don't think it was interesting enough to dedicate so much time to. I couldn't believe he spent so much time in such a short book talking about it. I get it, the translation affects certain themes of the game, but it didn't actually go into a lot of detail about it. One guy gave some things more religious names, okay, cool.

If Earthbound was a love letter to the game, than Chrono Trigger seems more negative. I wondered if he even liked the game anymore. Unless I completely misunderstood, it seems like he just didn't want to play it anymore because he's played it so much. He talks about moving on from being a perfectionist and wanting to get everything, to being more casual about it. I can actually sympathize a little bit with the first part of this paragraph. I love Chrono Trigger, but I don't think I want to play it anymore. I spent a lot of my youth playing it, but this book seems to pick a lot of it apart.

What I did like was the chapter about the Lavos destruction in 1999, but his best writing was when he dissected stereotypes within the game, and it's the only time I felt like I learned something about the game. I didn't look at it in this way, but that's probably because I was a kid when I last sat down and seriously played it. It was an interesting look into how Chrono Trigger played with stereotypes of gender and sexuality, though tying in his own sexuality seemed a little meaningless, if I'm being honest.

I'm disappointed by the book, but at the same time I wonder if it was just my expectations going in. Maybe I just desired certain things from a book about one of my favourite games. It's a really short book, so maybe with more pages it could be better because he'd be able to dive deeper into the whole thing... or he'd just focus more on the bad aspects of the book. I don't know, all I can say is that the book is only okay.