Breath of Fire (1993)
Breath of Fire's so goddam fiddly. There's always some shit you're missing because you didn't note down all 817 locked doors you're supposed to come back to once you've unlocked one of the 39 different powerups/keys. There's so much layered-on Videogame Bullshit, all their attempts to complicate the (extremely basic) formula just get on my nerves.
It's very funny that your level doesn't matter. The whole game's about finding the right equipment and transformations (by backtracking to locked doors). I kept a full stock of repels (available cheaply in the very first town) and played like two thirds of the game with encounters turned off. I expected that to catch up with me at some point, but it never did.
It's long and slow and relentlessly obtuse; it's also lock-step linear with brainless, meaningless fighting. The big story beats whiff. I can see having a better time if you're not as annoyed by all the lock-and-key Zelda shit as I am, but this is not the kind of journey I personally want out of a console RPG.
Sweetest Monster (2017) and Sweetest Monster: Refrain (2022) (Itch.io, Steam)
Loved these stories to bits. The first game wears its meta-commentary on its sleeve — the slow-burn build-up is fun and funny and hot, then the payoff hits like a truck. The second game is more grounded and miserable, a slow-motion train-crash unpacking all the ramifications of the previous game's twisted conclusion.
The games never flinch, never soften the blow. They also don't lean so hard into the exploitation elements that they become comical and uninvolving. They're stories about a weak and cowardly man that refuses to make a real choice until it's too late. Violence comes in many forms. I think Bell is best understood as a metaphor, a devil on the shoulder for a husband and father who doesn't understand what he has until he's let it all slip away through his own pathetic inaction.
The story itself is obviously fantastical; the portrayal of sexual violence doesn't map to the real world in any way that makes sense. But men don't have be ensnared by a demon to hurt their families in devastating ways. And they can be wretchedly self-aware the whole time they're doing it.
