Update 1: In my review notes I’ve got a bit about a moment where audio played two songs at the same time. That needs patching. Update 2: It is worth noting that by the very end of the game you’ll have an item to remove random battles - but my issue is more with the loading than the battles. Well 26 hours in a few days was clearly a bit much: my little reference before the “let’s find out” is totally bizarre - if you can guess it though you’re in the running to win a copy of this one! Let me know what you think of the review. Much love! Mark

Hey! Game Director here, thank you for this incredible review, I absolutely enjoyed it, and I'm glad you liked the game :) (and next time, we'll send the game with a lot of time to review :D )

The art style reminds me My Life As A Teenage Robot combined with Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends.

Will buy it when they fix the random encounter loading issues. 17 seconds is an eternity for random Battles

Such a quality review, definitely worth that extra time. I must say, this one was nowhere on my radar however the time mechanic coupled with the amazing art has me insanely interested now. Another +1 to my Wish List.

"I won't go into details but you've got a friend who's a talking frog..." *Stops video, buys game*

Thanks so much for the thoughtful review! A lot of really helpful feedback in here as well that we will definitely consider. Great work!

Those load times on switch would definitely kill it for me. I might have to wait for a patch and a sale to get this one. But omg does that art style make me want to buy is not for that sole purpose alone. I need to see more games with these visuals. Absolutely gorgeous.

Thank you again for a great Review. You helped me so much in the last weeks, finding out if certain games i found interesting are worth buying. And this one is. Keep up the good work!

Just enjoyed your review whilst waiting for the sun to set in a breeze at the beach, finally cool today. I'd already pre-ordered on the strength of the demo, sounds like I won't be disappointed.

Kept refreshing “cris tales review” waiting for your review! Glad to know you guys made one! Cheers!

Just finished and I gotta say for a first timer by some developer friends from Colombia it was a real treat to play through. The gameplay was great. Really brings back that classic RPG feel of turn based combat. Takes me back to the days of Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy titles before 7. The story was actually interesting to me albeit the execution could have been so much more. Once you get to the big twists it starts to feel a bit rushed and inconsistent which is regrettable but again this is their first official title so I can let that slide. The lack of combat transition bugged me for some reason. Like if I expect random encounters there's gotta be some flashy transition in to it. The base loading screen in to random encounter kinda made it lost its impact. The world building while beautiful but definitely there could have been more. It felt a bit repetitive the entirety of the storyline revolving around the same 4 zones being visited 3 times over. It could have easily been 12 separate zones and 1 final zone for the big bad. Would have just felt a tad more refreshing than just revisiting the same zone constantly to progress the story. I loved each and everyone of the party members. I absolutely adore both Zas and Kari and Crisbell was a treat of a main character. Never did I feel like she stole too much of the spotlight from supporting characters they all felt like they had impact in the story. But I personally just couldn't stand Wilhelm. He was just insufferable through the whole game dialogue wise. His comedy always just fell flat with me. It always felt less like wise acre remarks and more of him just being an asshole for no real reason. Made me dislike his character a lot. My biggest gripe with the game though hands down had to be the very complete lack of side content/superbosses and no ultimate weapons/armor. I feel like that just has to be a staple of any RPG. I did feel a great disappointment going through the entire game hoping eventually there would open up some side content with stronger than storyline enemies and superbosses but it just never came and it made my heart sink when I saw the end credits and my wish still wasnt fulfilled. I don't really count the upgrade system for your weapon as ultimate weapons since all you need is money to obtain them. And there is one piece of what you can call ultimate armor but its just that. 1 piece. so only one person in the party can use it. Also the difficulty! Im sort of an extremist when it comes to my RPGs so i was a tad dissapointed going through the game and never really feeling truly challenged by the bosses and enemies. It becomes more prevalent after obtaining JKR and Zas but you start to notice thst you deal with enemies and bosses much easier as the story progresses so much so that bosses tend to just die before they can actually showcase their power. The only one I found somewhat difficult was the Time Empress. Until i figured out that Crisbell has an ability that completely nullifies what made her difficult. If there was a way to raise the diffficulty higher that would have been a huge bonus. But as it stands you get to a point in the game where Crisbells Past and Future ability doesnt hold much merit anymore since most of the random enemies will die in like 2 or 3 attacks. All this aside I still enjoyed the game immensely for what it was. Really gave me a nice nostalgic feeling of the old days of JRPG/RPG Classics. I can't tell you how much I yearn for Rpgs to return to the roots of turn based combat but we all know that era is long gone. Thats why this game really hit home with me. It fulfilled a longing I always have in my heart when it comes to the RPG genre. I wholeheartedly can give the game a 7/10 and mean every word of it.

I was so excited for the release of this game! I fell in love with the demo and I've put in a couple of hours so far. I really like it. And I pre-ordered it on Amazon and got a poster of the cover with mine. Not sure if that is all copies but I need a frame because the cover to this game is GORGEOUS!!!

I'm latino so i gotta support this game. PS: Buy Rock of Ages (Chile), Kaze and the Wild Masks (Brazil) and Fight N' Rage (Uruguay) All great games

Thank you!! Even with the hiccups you mentioned I feel much better putting this on my "To Buy" list than I did after watching other reviews.

Hell yes, so excited. I ordered a copy yesterday, cant wait to go pick it up!

I’ve come here to see what this game is all about! Can’t wait 👀

Feels like I’ve been waiting forever for this game. I already had it preordered, but your review got me even more excited. I’ll jump in when they release the performance patch that will address the load times.

On sale on eshop for $3.99 right after/during black Friday.

This looks super interesting.. Definitely picking this up when I finish stories 2

Been looking forward to hear your opinions on Cris Tales!

Was curious about this game, but more than discovering a gem in the game itself, I've discovered a gem of a review. This is excellently done, better than any of the popular sites and channels I can think of. Please keep doing what you're doing, I look forward to seeing more of this!

I've been excited for this one since it was announced! It looks so awesome! And K really don't care for all those small "problems". Something that I love that Cris Tales can be read as Cristales, Spanish for crystals, remembering the developers are from Colombia, I just love that little detail!

I was greatly anticipating this review. Based on your review I will be waiting for a performance patch and possible sale before purchasing this. The random battles only sound bad because of the load times. Once they fix that, it shouldn't be so bad. Maybe even include the option to either turn off random battles in areas you've out leveled or make it an automatic thing where once you reach a certain level the number of random counters is greatly reduced.

This looks great ! Gamepass as well, hopefully the SSD makes the SeriesX version quicker on the loading times !

As i expected it turned out to be a very good game. Might gonna buy it later on

This channel is seriously the best!

30/40 hours playtime sounds perfect, yet another on the wishlist!

Mind blown on this game!!!!

Thank you! This is always such a big help in choosing what to buy next :) and for an indie developer I always want to buy full price when I’m able.

It looks absolutely gorgeous. I will definitely play this game, only if the load times are shortened by a patch.

Excellent review Mark. Had my eye on this one for a while as I love a good JRPG- the time gimmick sounds great too. I now want an Austin Powers JRPG game with time travel mechanics too😅

Omg was that loading screen for real?? 😳 Awesome review as usual

Great review! Been eagerly waiting for this after playing the PC demo a while back. The loading times are a deal breaker for me though, no matter how stunning it looks. I assume this runs fine on PC so I guess I'll just put up with my less than comfy desk chair for a while as I want this NOW.

I’m playing it on gamepass and enjoying it. I’ll probably end up buying it on switch when I can.

Can’t wait to play once I get through MHST 2. Sucks about the load times but I love Classic JRPGS!! Got my copy yesterday!

This games flipping amazing. Just got it for pc and it’s fantastic. Gonna purchase em on consoles soon, to help support it 👍

You have such fantastic reviews! Thanks for another great one! Now I know I want to pick this up.

Thanks for leaving in the actual loading screen in the review like that. I read several reviews that complained about loading times, and I was thinking, "meh, I'm from the PSX era, load times won't bother me" but holy cow, after actually seeing it, having a load screen that long for a random encounter is just crazy. This looks like a great game otherwise, so that's truly unfortunate.

Looks like the loading times will swing this in the direction of a Steam purchase for me. Thanks for the great review!

Even though this look stunning, the random battle + long loading time is a deal-breaker for me.

YAY! Thanks guys

Been looking forward to this ever since the demo!

I’ve been so looking forward to this review!!! Still debating buying this but your review really helps 💕

Lmaooo thank you so much for putting the work in towards getting this review out. I’ll prob wait for a sale, but I think lol I’ll be getting a physical copy for sure. Again thank you for the review 😄

Random battles aren't bad, case to bravely being able to manipulate it, even Pokemon restricts it to just certain terrain If it had smoother loads I imagine it wouldn't be as bad a fault here

So glad this game is free on Xbox game pass or I might have over looked it!

Very good review! Made me wanna buy the game

The unavoidable battles took this game off the list for me :(

Looks and sounds amazing, will definitely check out the demo, thanks for the review Mark

I just played Cris Tales demo on Nintendo Switch and loved everything about it except where I struggle to time my "A" button accurately to trigger the parry / deflect move against enemy units attacks or trigger double attacks on enemy units. I hoped @CrisTalesGame do patch an easy mode to auto-block enemy attacks, post launch of the game. I truly want to enjoy and experience the story in Cris Tales full game without having to throw the controller at the wall in fustration. I will hate to reset the same enemy battle for the n-th time because the game ccould not register my input to trigger block and parry enemy attacks. I would want Cris Tales to be my new favourite time travel mechanic video game if it is not bogged down by its unreasonably strict input timing window which I experienced in the demo. I would wait for a sale before I get this game.

I actually preordered this game at best buy over a year and half ago when it was announced for the switch. Just got it in the mail a day or so ago. Can't wait to play it!

I've got this for free (Nintendo gold coins and only cost $7 on sale) so far, I'm enjoying it right now.

Thanks for the review! I randomly added it to my wishlist awhile ago based on the artwork, and I'll make this a definite buy based on the mechanics. I really want to play it handheld, but I might have to play on PS5 or PC due to load times...I feel like the battles and load times would make me dislike it.

Been waiting for this one!

RPG with timed hits/defense to do extra damage or take slightly less damage. First game that comes to mine is Mario RPG.

Ok I have an issue actually with my copy of Cris Tales on Switch, the voice acting simply doesn't work, like seriously the voice clip play perfectly fine during the battle, but during cutscene outside of battle the voice acting doesn't trigger and all scene are mute, anyone as an idea why I have that issue ?

Haha Dr Evil reference, love it

It seems a bit jarring that the demo ran at full 60 FPS on the Switch, but the final product runs at 30 FPS. Besides that (and an apparent lack of shop early on), not bad so far. Also, while I understand why they changed to font to something more legible, it would be nice if they had the option to switch it back to the demo version's. Well, I'll still have to keep playing.

The loading times and 30fps or even below 30 fps are a no go for me. I’ll get the PS5 version and play on my iPad Pro, mobility problem solved. ^^

I've been waiting for this game for months and it decided to launch right when I'm so busy with other titles that I won't be able to play it for months anyway. Bummer, but I'm glad it turned out to be good. I loved the demo back then, and I think I'm gonna buy the game now and just hold onto it rather than wait until I'm ready to play it.

Thanks for the review! Looks like it's definitely flawed but overall still worth it; I'm glad; it looks so gorgeous I wanted to get it just for the art direction. I think I'll wait a little to see if it goes on sale or gets good patches to cover some of the things you mentioned (especially the long load times).

Slightly reminds me of Grand Kingdom on Vita. Looks amazing, artistically speaking

Thank you for another thorough review. It was helpful.

Wow, 70 seconds load time for each battle? On a cartridge!?

For the loading time, I recommand a lot to download it in the console memory, not the SD card (it's better). But yes I hope a patch will short them.

I really am enjoying the game and I thought this review was spot on.

How I'd love as an illustrator to shake the hands of the art director and designers of this game for the awesomeness of the visuals they created. ❤

Looks like a storybook come to life. I don’t need more JRPGs on my wish list right now but I have no choice but to add it!

I played the demo and really enjoyed it. Even with the few small issues I’ll still pick this up. Thanks for the review

Started playing this game after picking it up for 20 bucks and can't put it down. The art style, the gameplay, all is great. I don't even mind the random battles, it's spaced out enough to where you can go pretty far before getting one.

i played the demo back when it first hit the eshop. the game is beautiful, and the characters/story seemed decent enough. the combat while fun felt like it could get old after a while...maybe if they reserved the time powers for boss battles only it would be better. my big problem with the game is the exploration sections where the screen is split in three. this literally gave me headaches, something a game hasnt done since mario kart on snes. when a game causes me physical pain, im going to have to pass.

Well I’ve never played a game like this before but I think I’m going to have to treat myself after a hard week at work thanks for the review guys looking forward to giving this a whirl

It's on sale for $3.99 usd

Where did you encounter the 'screen flashing' bug? Bit concerned this will just suddenly start all of a sudden!

great review

Love the art style, just glad the game is reviewing good as well. Definitely want this one.

Looks good! But… 15 sec loadscreen to enter combat in a jrpg is a no go for me. I hope they will patch this.

Very excited to see this game coming out very nice overall. Hopefully I quick patch will fix load time issues, but I think I'll get it now anyways. Such a unique game and artstyle, looks beautiful.

Ive been in love with this game since the beta last year. So far its still amazing so im loving it :)

The review is fair when the demo came out I loved it. Already today's the big day still waiting for my physical copy to be delivered by Amazon.

How can such a beautiful labour of love be allowed to release with 30 second load times ? It really really makes no sense …

i got my switch collectors edition can’t wait to start it

12:45 How do I know when a performance patch has been released?

I've seen a lot of mixed reviews about this game, but I'm going to pick it up for the beautiful art alone and see what's good. I just need to decide if I want it on Steam or Switch

OMG, I am totally lost in all those options I can use in this game! I just want the talking frog! ==))

Got the demo of this months ago and loved it, put it on my eshop wish list immediately and I can’t wait to pick it up. Hopefully there’s a sale because I’m a broke university student who can’t afford games at the moment. Also loved the Dr Evil Austin Powers reference!! A great film

I bought this yesterday (same with cruis'n blast)

Quite surprised! Never heard anything about this game. Thanks.

Way to many good games coming out this month. So happy I preordered it.The Gamestops in my area are only getting ones for pre orders after that they do not have extras. Why pre orders are worthwhile at times.

This sounds right up my alley! The art is amazing in my opinion

Great review and the game is fun i played the demo ages ago

Nice work! Always feel properly informed after your reviews. Any chance of getting you on metacritic as critic reviewer?

Talking frog, time bending mechanics.. looks like they grabbed "some' from Chrono Trigger. I'm sold.

The reviews on Steam are rather unflattering. They say that there's grammar errors all over the place, missing sound effects, and loads of other issues.

The game is great but it needs a map, and a reminder who a person is. For a side quest I was in the position to where I was like, “Who is that again? Dang, now I have to go through like 6 loading scenes.”

This game looks great visually, but I completed the demo and it is not one I plan on picking up due to my epic backlog.

I reallllllly wanted to ask for a review code for this one but felt so scared that I would not like it and play through. I am very bad at turn based combat but a sucker for beautiful aesthetics. This will definitely be a wait for sale for me!

Gah, it's on sale but idk, I'm not a big fan of timed counter attacks in a turn based rpg.

Looks nice, might consider buying. Does this have a post-game or optional super bosses?