I’ve been a gamer most of my life, ever since the Atari was up on the shelves and Pac-Man was all the rage, I’ve seen all the fads, VHS video game systems (VHS for those of you who don’t know were like the original DVD’s, and for those really young people Blu-Ray’s and for those who are crawling around in Diapers 4K HD blu rays or something) I’ve lived through the Nintendo strangle hold onto the bright shining beacon that fought against Nintendo in the Sega Genesis. Upwards and onwards into PC gaming. Now in all my years of gaming I mostly stuck to Platformers and crappy licensed games with a few sports games thrown in TECMO Super bowl. That was until I discovered a game which changed my outlook on gaming.. Final Fantasy 7, that glorious shining beacon which awoken in me a light that has influenced my gaming choices ever since.

Being that Final Fantasy 7 was my jumping point, I missed out on a lot of classic NES titles, and then Super Nintendo titles, but the Playstation had a large collection of classic games in its own right and I owned all of them. Anyway, with my history on RPG or more specifically J-RPG’s out of the way lets move onto the game which has gotten us all here today Alphadia Genesis. How does this seeming Relic of the past hold up compared to games today. For starters AG (Alphadia Genesis) is graphically A LOT better than some of the games in the past, it’s a lot cleaner and crisp. The gameplay is very similar with some minor alterations which are for the most part positive.

The Story – The game starts you as Fray just a normal dude, chilling in life, when lots of crazy things happen and turn you from a mostly zero into a hero. A very classic J-RPG tale, complete with whiny dialogue by your sister, to an obnoxious Soldier, to a damsel in distress. It was like this game went through the list of J-RPG cliches and used them all. To sum up the story, you through a bunch of happenstances become part of an investigative team, trying to figure out why Clones (Docile servant like humanoids) have taken to killing their masters. Along with your sister Aurra, the princess Corone and his every diligent protector Walter embark on an adventure to last a lifetime. or 45 hours. whichever comes first

Gameplay - your typical J-RPG fair with turn-based combat, grinding for levels, Gold to buy weapons, armors, potions. Some side quest thrown in, a ship, a airship, everything we love… Even a battle arena, the only thing missing is a bestiary section and controller support

Pro’s -
Decent enough story line, if you can ignore the whiny, bratty dialogue from time to time
Beautiful artwork
Difficult enough to keep you grinding but not too hard that you pull out your hair
Easy 100%
No crashes or Bugs that I’ve found

Con’s
No controller support, J-RPGs were made for controllers
Less achievements on steam then other formats
Some cringe writing
A team splitting section. Ugh..

Recommendation - I liked this game a lot, even without controller support (I’d fully recommend something like controller companion as j-rpg’s, just feel better with controllers IMO) With that said, turn-based combat won’t be for everyone. I personally think turn-based lets you use far more strategy as you can fully control your whole party rather then having useless teammates who run around and do nothing until you switch into them. The price during sales normally hovers around 3.99 – 4.99 which is cheaper then a cup of coffee, if you’re a fan of J-RPG’s, then by all means give it a go. If you’re an achievement hunter give it a go, 35 hours for an easy 100%..