Have never played it, don't know what it's about, but the soundtrack is really good.
Thanks for the run-down :rat-salute-2: I think I may give the first one a shot while it's on sale or wait until a better sale.
I'm definitely up for playing a JRPG that has some of the older aesthetic and has such a banging soundtrack, even if it's a little repetitive.
I hated how nonexistent the party interactions were. They basically already had stock characters, but due to the way you pick party members in any order they failed to create any meaningful bonds between the characters, which is one of the reasons I like old school JRPGs. If you want a similar but much better experience, try Grandia
The second one has a lot more interactions between the characters both during battles and for in-town travel banter. It felt a lot less "mechanical" than the first one overall; for example, they put a ton of extra work into sprite animations.
It's not bad if you're into the whole "FFV re-tread" thing (disclaimer: I totally am). It has some spots where you might not be able to get enough levels to take down chapter bosses just through regular gameplay, which can suck if you have the "wrong" characters to be able to reach certain areas to speed through level grinding, and if you want to 100% the achievements, you're in for a bad time because of all the missable shit. Overall, though, it was a good take on retro/SNES-era JRPGs.
The second one feels a lot more "lived in" and does a better job at showing interactions between the characters. It also has a character who is literally out to seize the means of production from a capitalist arch-ghoul. Also a magical murder-hobo.
