Reviews and Impressions Overview

[Avk]

I was thinking about doing this for a moment, to help people interested about the game. Since Nintendo Everything just posted their translation of the Famitsu review yesterday, I think now is a good moment, I'll also link a few impressions from english speaking players and try to summarize a few reviews from amazon.co.jp (note that my japanese understanding is FAR from perfect, but I can still get the gist of it, but that's probably why my translation attempts may seem rough, sorry). If you have any reviews or impressions you want to add there, just notify me. I also recommend you to check some streams if you are curious and want to see the game in action.

So first, the Famitsu review (8/9/9/8). I won't quote it here, but you can check it at the link, as you can guess with the score the review is pretty positive.

Second, some impressions from the Neogaf Official Import Thread. I recommend you to check the whole thread to see more impressions that haven't been compiled in this post. I don't know about other english impressions/reviews, but if you have any, I'll be glad to add them.

A review from a member of Serenes, nocturnal YL.

Also French review site Gamekult did their review, they are known for being harsh when noting.

6/10 Recommended ("Sélection")

+ The ultimate J-Pop JRPG, for the better and the worst.

+ Interesting characters

+ Stylish design akin to Persona

+ Some musics (excluding J-Pop) gives an old school vibe

+ Good ideas for some dungeons

+ Hybrid-SMT system rock solid

+ Quite attaching

- Some plots are incredibly ridiculous

- Annoying loading

- There isn't a lot of Fire Emblem actually

- Some awful musics repeatedly appearing

- Tokyo is extremely small with a lot of invisible walls

- Liking J-Pop is recommended (?)

Amazon.co.jp reviews, first I must point out that reviews on this site are usually quite harsh (or so I've heard), for example, Fire Emblem if sits at 3 stars (both games). Only a few games manage to get high scores (Splatoon, Bloodborne, Bayonetta 2...), I just want to mention that so you can have an idea.

So currently, the game sits at 4 stars with 67 reviews. I'll try to do a short summary of some reviews, mentionning the note and the name of the reviewer in case you would want to check.

Disclaimer : my japanese is actually far from perfect, so is my english skill, there are some things that I skipped either because I didn't understand them well, or just to make it shorter.

ペンネ's review (5 stars) : The reviewer start by saying that he was really excited at the announcement of a collaboration between Megaten and FE, but was really surprised at the reveal, saying that they betrayed the expectations of the fans, and he tried the game out of curiosity (?).

He then praises the game but especially the combat system, mentioning SMT3, Persona 4, Strange Journey, etc... saying that the battle were the most enjoyable thing for him. After that he gives some details about multiples things (boss battles, level up system and skill acquisition), saying that each of these are really well balanced, that trying to brute force through the game without thinking doesn't work.

Finally he says that it's been a long time that he hasn't played a typical JRPG that was satisfying and enjoyable like this game.

マボロタヌ's review (5 stars, didn't clear the game yet) :

After the seeing the reveal of the game, based on his first impressions, he first decided to ignore the game, but as the game's release was getting closer, he changed his mind and bought it.

After playing the game, his impressions were "This is fun ! (or interesting, but fun fits better), there was no uncomfortable feeling on the contrary of what he expected, and he grew fond of the game. He then mentions both the side story and the main story saying that he enjoyed both, saying that it's been a long time since a game made him to laugh out loud. He lost track of time doing Side Stories.

He really enjoyed the battle, the tempo was good and they were exhilarating and flashy. Despite being turn based, the battle felt quick and good. The further you progress, the more interesting thing becomes, a lot of new elements are added, yet it doesn't become difficult to understand.

He ends by saying disliking the game just by looking at his atmosphere without having tried it is a shame, and it's a shame that RPG lovers will probably not play this game.

teles's review (3 stars, cleared the game, hard mode, 80h in-game time) : his own short summary

- Superb balance (speaking about the combat)

- Refreshing progression systems etc..

- This is a great RPG

- Story is lacking

Didn't regret buying it, it's a good product (but not a masterpiece).

[spoiler=really long, already wrote this, so...]Played Persona 2 to 4, currently in middle of Fire Emblem Awakening. Particularly liked Persona 3 and 4. Bought the game because of the likeliness with Persona.

Didn't like the characters very much, and was wondering multiple times if he did a mistake buying the game.

He likes the battle system, the characters talking to each other was extremely satisfying, and looking at them doing Session was nice too.

He mention the skill system, saying that planning and thinking about the skill management is important, people that like to plan things will probably really get into it.

The balance of the battle is perfect, whether you win a carefully planned and strategized battle or a really tense one.

The side stories made him change his opinions on the characters a little.

The main story is the usual "save the world with the power of friendship" RPG story behind the entertainment theme, and he enjoyed the light tone of the game. This is a different style than an elaborate story like Xenogears, but it's not disagreeable.

He didn't dislike the songs made by avex, but he felt like they were trying to emulate the Persona ones from Meguro.

However there are some bad points :

- the loading are longs, it's fine at first, but it gets annoying after a while.

- you can't skip the Session attacks

- the endgame is tedious (?)

- there are a lot of useless travels

- people disliking the songs and the flashiness won't like the game. For him personally, the game was saved because he really enjoyed the systems.

- the segment before the last boss was lame

Overall for him, it was a long time since he enjoyed a JRPG like this one.

People who liked Persona 3 and 4 can buy this game without hesitations. He can't say for SMT fans.

There was not much FE elements, and he can't recommend the game to only FE fans.

はたも's review (1 star) : the loading times are awful, they are present before a battle, after it, before entering a dungeon...

Complains about the npc residents (didn't really understand, sorry).

The character design and the story are lame.

There's nothing of FE or SMT.

This is a game releasing with day 1 DLCs. Sub-Event DLCs are restricted to the limited edition.

I wanted to put more, but that's it for now. It takes me too long to read and try to understand/translate these (plus I'm not fluent enough for that to be worth it I suppose). From what I've seen, most of the 1 star review are a few sentences long "this is not SMT x FE", so don't expect more, this is the only one long enough and with actual (well, kind of) arguments (there is another one a little longer, but I can't make sense of what is said, I think it's a troll review). I wish I could find more mixed reviews with some actual arguments, I'll try to look for more later.

Edited February 8, 2016 by Avk

[Taka-kun]

Thank you for doing this. Still undecided whether I should buy this or not, since I really enjoy Xenoblade Chronicles X and have come to expect breaking out of the JRPG norm and trying something new that doesn't depend on grinding and stale combat. Will probably have to see when Western reviews are given out (particularly GameXplain).

[Avk]

The game systems are definitely more classic than in Xenoblade Chronicles X, if you really don't want to play this type of JRPGs anymore, you probably won't enjoy the game very much. But if you want to give it a try when it releases, it has one of the most solid battle system around. I didn't check, but if I remember correctly, GameXplain did a few videos of the game since they got it from import ?

While I'm at it, I'll do a short recap of what seems to be the general impressions of the game :

- Really great combat system

- The game is really well balanced (challenging, but not stupidly unfair, you have to think about how you play)

- Story is so-so, not great, not awful either, it's decent. The Side Stories develop the characters pretty well.

- Characters and Songs appreciations depend on your tastes, people are usually positive about the characters, or at worst they at least don't seem to find them awful. Songs totally depends on your tastes.

[Taka-kun]

Now I am really curious of how the localization will change the songs, if at all. I can't recall any situation where pop songs had to be translated from Japanese to English to keep consistency with the voice cast. The Japanese songs were not that bad, if just, IMO, regular J-Pop but it could be totally screwed up if they have to shoehorn English into them.

It's the thing with solid battle system that gets me curious. Of the SMT series, I have only played Persona 3 and 4 and while it was an enjoyable experience overall, the combat could get repetitive once you got the hang of the weaknesses and strength traits. So far, I don't see anything different in the SMTxFE, though I am speaking from ignorance since I don't understand any of the Japanese in the battle videos to really deduce if there is a strategic element or not.

[Avk]

Now I am really curious of how the localization will change the songs, if at all. I can't recall any situation where pop songs had to be translated from Japanese to English to keep consistency with the voice cast. The Japanese songs were not that bad, if just, IMO, regular J-Pop but it could be totally screwed up if they have to shoehorn English into them.

It's the thing with solid battle system that gets me curious. Of the SMT series, I have only played Persona 3 and 4 and while it was an enjoyable experience overall, the combat could get repetitive once you got the hang of the weaknesses and strength traits. So far, I don't see anything different in the SMTxFE, though I am speaking from ignorance since I don't understand any of the Japanese in the battle videos to really deduce if there is a strategic element or not.

That's the big interrogation at the moment, how Nintendo will handle the localization. To be honest, I've no idea what they're going to do, they are known to dub all the games they release if I'm not mistaken, but I don't think they've had something as challenging to localize yet since this game is as japanese as it can get. I'll take what they decide to give us, but I hope for dual audio, but it may not be possible since they have to deal with avex for licensing and stuff (that's one of the reasons I've heard for games not coming with dual audio). And that's only speaking for the audio part of the localization.

Hmm, if you've been able to go through Persona 3 and 4, I think you'll be able to manage the same for this game, but then again, if you are in a turn-based combat system fatigue, I can't really tell how you'll react, since the combat system is quite similar. I personally don't get bored by this kind of systems, even after a while. You still have time until the game is released here (it still doesn't even have a localized name yet) to form your own opinion.

I've found

in english. I don't agree with everything said (mostly the complaints about the battle/boss musics) and there's something that bugs me and that I can't pinpoint, but it's a decent review.

[PeaceRibbon]

I'm actually really hopeful that our release gets every last bit dubbed. If they really can't dub the music, I won't be too beat up over it, but it would be fun to see which VA's could pull it off. Those actors would get some serious cool points from me because being able to sing and act just screams quality work.

[wumples]

I also kind of hope the songs get dubbed. Tsubasa, though she is not a bad singer, does an excessive amount of "swooping", which is a BIG no no and quite cringeworthy in most musical settings. You ARE allowed to do swooping in pop music, but Tsubasa does it to the point where it is downright infuriating.

[RedRob]

What's swooping?

[PeaceRibbon]

I believe he's referring to sliding into notes. Simply as I can tell it, it's when you can hear the singer connect two notes together by rising or falling through other ones. If you sang "down to" in this style, it would sound more like dowwwwwn to, and the pitch change would be painfully obvious. Spiritual music is a good genre to look for examples in 'cause they do it a lot. Hopefully that kinda clarified that. I'm no expert, I'm just good at singing.

Edited January 14, 2016 by PeaceRibbon

[wumples]

That's more or less correct. If you don't understand swooping, just listen to Tsubasa sing anything. Literally every second note is swooped. To most people this doesn't matter at all (some even like it) but to someone who competes at an international level, it is incredibly annoying. The other characters don't really do this. Only Tsubasa.

Just for comparison, maybe listen to Toma then Tsubasa. Toma does an acceptable amount of swooping for pop music. I'd consider him the best singer of the group, but that's just my opinion, please disregard it.

Edited January 15, 2016 by wumples

[Avk]

I'm actually really hopeful that our release gets every last bit dubbed. If they really can't dub the music, I won't be too beat up over it, but it would be fun to see which VA's could pull it off. Those actors would get some serious cool points from me because being able to sing and act just screams quality work.

I'm curious to see what they can do indeed (I personally would prefer dual audio to have the original voices and songs) but if they managed to do well with english VA, it could be interesting. It'll be really difficult though, but as you say, it'll just make it the more impressive if they manage to pull it off.

That's more or less correct. If you don't understand swooping, just listen to Tsubasa sing anything. Literally every second note is swooped. To most people this doesn't matter at all (some even like it) but to someone who competes at an international level, it is incredibly annoying. The other characters don't really do this. Only Tsubasa.

Just for comparison, maybe listen to Toma then Tsubasa. Toma does an acceptable amount of swooping for pop music. I'd consider him the best singer of the group, but that's just my opinion, please disregard it.

I'm not sure to perfectly get what you're saying, but I personally don't find anything especially disturbing with the songs, I suppose it's a matter of tastes ? And I don't think Touma sings, maybe you're talking about Yashiro (BLACK RAIN) ?

I don't really have the motivation for now, but I'll try to check for more reviews to translate from amazon.co.jp when I have more time.

[PeaceRibbon]

That's more or less correct. If you don't understand swooping, just listen to Tsubasa sing anything. Literally every second note is swooped. To most people this doesn't matter at all (some even like it) but to someone who competes at an international level, it is incredibly annoying. The other characters don't really do this. Only Tsubasa.

Whoa, you sung on an international level? I've done some cool events myself, but nothin' like that. That's sweet! Also, yeah, I went back and listened to Feel a few hundred times and yeah she is really swoopy. I just can't hear it as you often because honestly, I can't bring really myself to care about a song on a technical level that I don't understand the words to, making dubs or at least translations even more important to me. Excessive breathing in pop music is my actual pet peeve anyways.

[wumples]

I'm not sure to perfectly get what you're saying, but I personally don't find anything especially disturbing with the songs, I suppose it's a matter of tastes ? And I don't think Touma sings, maybe you're talking about Yashiro (BLACK RAIN) ?

It's true that Toma doesn't have his own song, but close to the end

When they're singing that silly Fire song and flying and stuff, Toma has a couple of lines. (I guess I should have noted that earlier..)

He has very nice tone, his voice would be acceptable to sing in other genres than pop.

If you can't hear anything wrong with the songs, I envy you. Please never study classical singing!! You'll never hear things the same way again.

Edited January 15, 2016 by wumples

[Avk]

A lot of new impressions were added on Neogaf, I recommend checking them if you're interested. Some are concise and some others are more detailed.

Also French review site Gamekult did their review, they are known for being harsh when noting.

6/10 Recommended ("Sélection")

+ The ultimate J-Pop JRPG, for the better and the worst.

+ Interesting characters

+ Stylish design akin to Persona

+ Some musics (excluding J-Pop) gives an old school vibe

+ Good ideas for some dungeons

+ Hybrid-SMT system rock solid

+ Quite attaching

- Some plots are incredibly ridiculous

- Annoying loading

- There isn't a lot of Fire Emblem actually

- Some awful musics repeatedly appearing

- Tokyo is extremely small with a lot of invisible walls

- Liking J-Pop is recommended (?)

Edited February 8, 2016 by Avk