#evoland 2

I just stumbled upon this game on Twitter, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, and I saw that it has almost the exact same text box style as Evoland 2, complete with portraits of the character

frankly i am COMPLETELY blown away. id never heard of it til now, and im really mad i haven't because it is THAT good.

what it advertises itself as is a game that evolves as you play, which it is, but it's also a love letter to the evolution of rpgs- obvious in both the references and the gameplay, from early zelda to final fantasy and online mmorpgs, poking fun at all of them while also playing to their strengths.

even if you don't like certain parts, you'll find yourself continuing to see what else there is- personally, i despised the random encounters (which is why i tend to not play mainstream rpgs), but right after was a series of puzzles i found insanely charming!

opinions on the story: (no spoilers)

the game starts out without much of a story at all (in fact you have to unlock it, and then you get your companion character, who i really like). personally, i found myself invested in the story and wanting to know more because i was so engrossed in the game, which made some parts of it really hit harder because i wasn't expecting it.

to be clear: the story is pretty simple, though it does evolve with the game enough for me to really enjoy what it gives you!

that being said, even with the more serious parts, a good chunk of it is kind of silly. it takes itself just seriously enough for me to appreciate both sides though, which i really appreciate- it's got the dry humor of Nexomon with the charm of Undertale (while predating both).

is the game perfect?

no, not by any means. it's a bit janky sometimes, and you can tell a couple things weren't considered- in one place you can see the edge of the 3d map, the first town never upgrades out of 2d, and the typos and grammar errors occasionally feel like it was translated into English from another language- but for what it's worth, it's fantastic, flaws and all. it's also extremely ambitious and ahead of its time- it was made in 2013!! what!! that's SO cool.

He despises humans. He doesn’t even regard demons enslaved by humans as true demons. So why on earth would he heed Ceres a hybrid? Especially since, in his eyes, she appears as a human-pig hybrid would to us: a grotesque abomination. To serve her would be to sink lower than an animal.

What amuses me most is that Reno didn’t just insult her - he insulted himself to the exact same degree!