PAX has become an annual tradition for us. I guess it’s maybe a bit premature to call something we’ve done two years in a row an “annual tradition,” but I think of it as optimism. We loved our time last year so much that we had to come back this year, and somehow, against all odds, we enjoyed ourselves even more the second time around. So why not keep it going? What makes PAX West such an excellent event is a combination of a lot of different factors: the games, the crowds, the friends. The late nights at the Sheraton downing plate after plate of cheesy bacon fries and hot honey pepperoni pizza. Going to bed too late and getting up too early to make it to appointments to get your hands on unreleased games for the first time. It’s all good stuff.

This year was a lot like the first, only we radically changed our lodging situation. The three of us JRPG Pursuiters shared an Airbnb with Retro Brandon and Slam Zany from the Level Up Legacy podcast and Cam Hawkins from the Party Chat podcast, so it was a JRPG party nonstop. We filmed a couple of episodes of their shows while we were there, but unfortunately ran out of time to record our OWN show, so if you want to see us all hanging out, check out their podcasts.

But podcasting and friendship are one thing; games are another. And PAX is probably the best place in the United States to see the biggest heavy-hitters before they come out.

Final Fantasy VII Revelation

This year, the flagship game was Final Fantasy VII Revelation, at least for our niche. Heck, it may have been the biggest game there overall, and it technically wasn’t on the show floor at all. Square Enix booked some suites at the nearby Westin, and we all made appointments to stop by and spend an hour with the game, hands-on.

The demo started us out on the Highwind, and we pretty quickly gained control of Yuffie. We could run around freely and explore the ship. I ran up to the deck, took out my binoculars, and started scoping out the world below. It’s all there, all laid out for you. You can take control of the ship and fly anywhere you want. They gave us a little printed packet of information about each of the locations that were available in the demo so we could make an informed decision about where to spend our 60 minutes. If we wanted a dose of the story, we were told to head to Wutai, but we had to keep in mind that this would lock us into the story path and we wouldn’t be able to jump back out and explore. I wasn’t having that, personally. I’m content to save the story for the full release; I just wanted to explore the world. I hit up Mideel, one of the new regions accessible in Revelation, and the game seamlessly transitioned from me flying the Highwind to Yuffie and the gang jumping off the ship and parachuting to the ground.

I had expected that parachuting was not all that open, that when you chose a destination the game would land you in a specific area, or maybe that you’d get to choose from a handful of landing spots. No, you guys. You jump off the ship, and then you have complete freedom to land wherever you want. There are even targets I spotted in some areas that are part of some side quest or another where you can earn stuff for precise landings. This game…… It’s nuts.

Cid is a dragoon, which means he’s super agile and can naturally use the jump command. He can also through spectral lances that can pin multiple enemies, allowing him to attack them all at once. He’s great, and I think he’ll be a lot of fun to play with, but I’ll be honest… I spent most of my time with Vincent.

He’s just so cool.

He’s that 90s throwback edgelord type of character, and it’s so nostalgic for me. His primary weapon is his gun, and he slots in nicely in the mid-range, leaving the distance attacking to someone like Barrett. Being mid-range is helpful, too, because it allows him to transform into the Galian beast, a skill that he can use at will. Yeah, there’s no charge meter to fill up, no prerequisite kills to rack up, you can just press a button and you’re a big freaking monster.

Overall, combat is at least as fun as it was in Rebirth, and even more so in some areas. It’s all flashy and extremely good looking, but you also feel fully in control the entire time. It’s honestly the best Final Fantasy battle system out there, and I really hope it gets used again… Maybe in Final Fantasy XVII?

Persona 4 Revival & Stranger Than Heaven

The SEGA/Atlus booth had two games for us to check out: Persona 4 Revival being the one I was most excited about, but Stranger Than Heaven also left a pretty big impression. In my face. After it beat the crap out of me. Let’s talk Persona first.

Persona 4 has always been my favorite of the series, and this remake is looking SO good. It’s got all the polish of Persona 5, but with a cast and story that I’ve preferred all along, so it’s really the best of all possible worlds in my opinion. The new voice actors are really owning their characters, and the combat is faster and smoother than I remember. The demo was pretty short, just a run through Yukiko’s dungeon up through the boss fight with Chie’s shadow, but it was more than enough to give me a strong sense of what this remake is going to deliver next year. It’s very good stuff.

Stranger Than Heaven was not really on my radar prior to this. I’ve only played one game from studio RGG, Yakuza 0, and I liked it, but I haven’t gotten wholly into the series yet. I expected an action RPG in the vein of the first seven Yakuza games, but instead I got something pretty different. The demo was a series of three boss encounters with difficulty that scaled up in each. The first two involved fighting off gangs of enemies along with a head honcho, and the third was a one-on-one duel with a really nasty dude. Gameplay wise, I’d describe this as a tactical brawler. You control each arm independently, so pressing L1 punches with your left hand, R1 with your right. Blocking involves holding down a button and then pressing the appropriate arm button to block with that arm. Even something like getting knocked down is way more complicated here than it’s been in every other action game I’ve played. You’ll get swarmed if you lose your footing, and you need to roll out of the way to get enough space and time to get back on your feet.

It’s going to take some time for me to get accustomed to the gameplay, but I have a feeling that when I do, I’ll really like this one. It’s super technical and heavy, but it feels extremely good to play.

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse

This was maybe the biggest surprise of the show for me. I’ve been a Castlevania fan since the earliest days on the NES, but when this game was revealed, I kinda felt… eh. I wasn’t crazy about the artwork, it looked way too flashy and fast, it just didn’t seem very Castlevania-y to me. I was gonna skip it, to be honest, until I heard everyone at the show losing their minds about how amazing it was.

And it really is pretty amazing. Contrary to how I felt watching the trailers, the visual style I actually found to be really striking in person. The action definitely IS faster than most Castlevania games, but not in a way that felt unfaithful to the spirit of the series. The combat feels incredibly good and the story is already intriguing. As far as action RPG Metroidvanias go, this is shaping up to be one of the good’uns.

FuRyu’s Crymelight and Anomalith

FuRyu is much-maligned in most of the JRPG community, and not necessarily without good reason. I’ve tended to support them, since even in some of their rougher titles I’ve been able to find elements that I really enjoy and respect. With the exception of Exstetra, which might be the worst game I’ve ever played. But that aside, I was sort of ambivalent about their upcoming game Crymelight. It’s a roguelite, for one, and I’ve never been the biggest fan of that genre. Actually playing it at PAX West, though, I found the gameplay loop to be extremely fun. You have a ton of different moves you can do, from grabbing enemies or objects and chucking them at bad guys to riding around the arena spinning and deflecting enemy projectiles. There’s a cool card mechanic, too, where you gain cards with power ups to enhance your run, like you’d expect from a roguelite, but the cards all have numbers and suits, just like playing cards. If you’re able to put together a good poker hand with your selections, it enhances your abilities. It makes choosing powerups a bit more involved than in other games, and I think that’s a good thing.

Definitely going to be keeping my eye on this one.

The other FuRyu game on display was Anomalith. I was actually pretty intrigued about this one. It’s sort of a Japanese take on the Backrooms, which is already something I’m a big fan of. Essentially, this is an anime-styled 3rd-person shooter where you explore these messed up liminal spaces and fight abominations. The only real issue I have with this one is that the dialog isn’t voiced in English — there’s just text in the bottom corner of the screen, and the voices are all Japanese. It’s basically impossible to accurately aim your gun at an enemy’s head and read text in the corner of the screen. Seems like a pretty big oversight to not give this game a full localization. Not sure if it’s gonna be a dealbreaker for me or not yet, but I’m looking forward to seeing more.

Exhausting… But the Best Year Yet

It went by in a flash, and I’m super grateful for both the opportunity to go as well as the time I got to spend with good friends. I’m already looking forward to next year, not just to attend the next event, but to play all these freaking incredible games.