The Secret of Varonis

I'm a turn-based JRPG fan. However, while I liked the SaGa games and owned them on the original Gameboy, I was never a huge fan of the series. The Secret of Varonis takes everything I love about the turn-based JRPG genre and wraps it in the aesthetic of the SaGa games while presenting a polished, modern feeling turn-based JRPG. It's everything I wanted the SaGa games to be while not actually being shackled by the hardware limitations of the time. I strongly recommend this game for turn-based JRPG fans. Random thoughts: - My time played doesn't seem to be synching correctly between my steam deck and PC. I think I'm nearly finished with the game at the time of leaving this review, based on other reviewers' time spent. - The story is surprisingly good and well-written. Usually indie RPGs really struggle to find the right tone, but I think this one nails it. - I'm playing on the casual setting with random battles. I'm happy with that choice, but it makes the game a little easier than I'd like. I think doing "Casual" with FIXED enemy encounters could have presented a really interesting challenge, and I may go back and try that. I also think doing the "classic" setting with field-mode enemies could be fun too. I don't think a game's difficulty settings have ever made me want to replay it as much as TSoV's difficulty settings make me want to replay it. - I did a 1 of each race party, and my monster is consistently underwhelming. This is probably related to the setting where items recharge at inns because of the "casual" setting. This will make mutant inherent abilities and monster inherent abilities both feel weaker. My mutant is strong though since I've probably fought more battles than I should have.

Definitely an easy recommend for anyone who grew up playing the old FF Legend games on the game boy. It feels like an unofficial sequel. I really enjoyed the worlds and level design, and the very detailed information on all abilities. I think the different character types are very well balanced, with Monsters getting a much better advancement system and overall the game design was tight. Cons are a couple spaces where it easy to get lost with what to do, even with the hint system. Gold grinding can be intense, especially if you have more than one Human or Esper in your team. But overall a solid experience, and felt like good value for the money.

Secret of Varonis was made just for me! It draws inspiration from Final Fantasy Legend 1+2+3 (SaGa 1+2+3) - games from my youth. It is filled with little nods to the games that inspired it: a couple familiar musical notes here and there, item and ability names, the pose of certain enemies, etc. Some game events are parallels to the old FFL games. This is a very intense dose of nostalgia for me. It isn't just a nostalgia bait game though. It builds upon the established formula and tells an original story with familiar themes. Compared to the FFL games, Secret of Varonis has a lot more dialogue and lots of characters. Monster and Esper(Mutant) characters level up more smoothly and predictably. The level/world design is very good. Spiritually, this game is absolutely worthy of being called FFL4. I'm sad to have finished it now. It is only January and I expect this to be one of the more memorable titles I play this year. I am extremely happy with this one.

Surprisingly long, interesting mechanics, good story. Still not done. Thumbs up. The difficulty options are really nice -- "fixed" battles is the hardest option, where there are only a fixed number of encounters in the game, so you have to be very, very thoughtful about where you're spending your resources. In a Final Fantasy Legend type system where there's no XP, it makes it a totally (I think??) unique experience.

Never played SaGa games, so I didn't have any previous experience with this style of JRPGs. Progression and balance are excellent, it was very interesting to juggle different characters and figuring out the whole team composition. I do generally enjoy grinding in JRPGs to be overprepared and it was a blast here. note: the games gets a little on the easier side towards the end. Story is pretty minimalistic, but writing is surprisingly entertaining. I liked the characters, some worlds had interesting gimmicks, the main plot is engaging. I mostly play JRPGs for the plot and I don't have anything bad to say in this case. Neat. The only frustrating part for me was that one overly complicated dungeon in the middle of the game, where I spent a little too much time flipping switches and going back and forth not knowing what to do. Not sure if it was me only problem, but it's the only annoying part I found. Very good game, highly recommend.

I just beat the game. A Real 9/10 classic. A solid rpg. I am looking forward to its sequel.

Perfectly emulates that old SaGa feel while bringing some great QoL options. Particularly love the change to monster transformations to encourage trying new forms.

I cried at the ending.