Vay

I want to give a warning before I begin this review. I only recommend this version of the game for those who don't own the original Sega CD version (which is can cost somewhere between $75 to $300 depending on what you are going for, it is a Working Designs release after all) , those who don't have both the Sega CD and the original physical release, or those who want to play on the Steam Deck. Now with that said, I will start. Back in 2011, I was in a retro game kick (thanks to the Wii's Virtual Console) and I wanted to get the Sega CD because I wanted to experience some of the titles worth playing on the Add-On. So while I was on the hunt for games like Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side, Mickey Mania, The Space Adventure, Snatcher, etc., I came across this game called Vay (it's pronounced weirdly, think of the word "My" but change the M to a V so it's not pronounced what people would think of the word "May." It's difficult for me to explain on typing in text on a computer). I looked at the screenshots and thought this looks pretty good. So I got it and loved what I was playing. Yeah sure the combat was about as basic as games like the first seven Dragon Quest titles or Lufia 1 and 2 and random encounters were ridiculously high but I loved the story. I'm not going to explain the story because I don't want to spoil it for everybody. The voice acting ranged from decent to really good (depending on the delivery of course). The music was very memorable for me (especially the battle, boss battle and final boss battle themes) and I can still get those tunes stuck in my head at times. So yeah, this game is definitely on of the best JRPGs I've played not only for the add-on, but in general..... Which is why it's going to be very painful on what I am about to type in here. So this version is based on an 2008 Apple mobile release. It has new voice acting (which is something I am going to talk about later), upscaled FMVs (which look extremely pixelated), new UI, some features to cut down on grinding and farming for gold (also talking about later), the ability to change the name of the characters (which is good so I decided to change the names of the characters to their Sega CD counter parts), and other features. I want to talk about the voice acting in this version. Simply put, it's bad. I mean really bad. Like I want to know who the hell voiced the main character because that individual should of not have been given that role. Ever played "Last Alert" on the Turbo Grafx 16? You know the guy who mentions the Stealth Bombers in the back of the factory? Yeah, THE MAIN CHARACTER SOUNDS LIKE THAT GUY!!!! This is something in rereleased games that I absolutely disdain these days: new voice acting in older video games because the developer or publisher doesn't want to pay the OG actors. For F***'s Sake, just do it, man! I compared the voice acting on both versions and they are Night and Day. Another big thing I noticed about this release is the ability to multiply the amount of XP and Gold. I only recommend doing this is if you are in a grind session because it took forever to grind in the original, but please, don't do it the whole game. I found out people were beating this game in a day. That's not the way this game was meant to be played. The best way I recommend playing this is with HARD MODE turned on when you want to advance the story. It replicates the random encounter rate with that of the Sega CD release. If you want to grind, then turn off HARD MODE, turn up the XP and Gold multipliers up and grind for a while, then turn those off and put HARD MODE back on. The original was a difficult game. You had to grind a lot, just don't exploit these features to a ridiculous degree. Overall, I have to say that this is a pretty disappointing re-release because the core game is good, it just has problems that were not in the original. I wish that this looked more like the Sega CD version (4:3 ratio, original voice acting, button mapping, a proper TITLE SCREEN!!!!) but sadly that never happened. At least this version has achievements, but you can get them all in one playthrough. Until my physical copy dies on me, I will play the SCD version instead. Shame on you SIMS Co. Ltd!!!

A fun short retro JRPG with animated cutscenes and voice overs. I suggest you use the multipliers to speed up grinding in certain areas because this game had a notorious grind that acted as a time sink and filler to make up for the short time. Fortunately were aren't in the 90's and your parents aren't shelling out 50 bucks so you don't have to "make it last". Graphics 2/5 i'm not as harsh on 2D games because of my age but even for its time the style was dated for Sega CD. The anime cutscenes and voices were nice touch but SNES and Genesis had better looking RPGs Story: 3/5 Nice story with a few plot twists and some dark moments slightly better compared to most games of its time. Combat: 1/5 Typical Jrpg turn based combat despite the diverse cast it was surprisingly very bland, the hero nor the cast had much to separate them from the others since they all learned the same spells, some more or less and the attempt to create weapon weakness diversity fell flat due to the inability to change weapons during combat and you could just overpower enemies with the current strongest elemental spell not their type. Replayability: 2/5 Not much to miss the first time through something you might comeback to for a short romp if you're not backlogged. The fact that you can speed up grinding and cut off encounters is great but doesn't give the re-experience much flavor. Price: 5/5 for the price of a value meal at a fast food restaurant you can't go wrong. Overall: 2.4/5 Despite the low numbers for it's price, its a decent playthrough for rpg lovers and for those who missed it growing up. it's more mid than bad.

Good controls, fun story, excellent QOL updates. If you like JRPG’s, definitely consider picking this one up, especially for the content you get at this price point. I love the monster-design in this game and the dungeons. Good quality of life additions, especially with the ability to change difficulty at any time. I love having new Steam achievements too, it’s a fun way to celebrate making progress in the game and to challenge yourself. I’m gonna get that golden slime, so help me!

A JRPG classic. Pretty short regardless and if you're a hardcore RPG player a clear under 9 hours should be possible. Original version padded this with a LOT of grind but this port takes that away with 4x EXP/Money options and x2 faster movement and battle settings. In fact, you can even turn off Random Battles, which makes the annoying last dungeon where you can't save and almost every random fight a BOSS FIGHT more manageable.

It's short, and not really that great, but it's still a fun game to get threw, but be aware it has random battles that can be a little much! I got it, because I played it as a kid! :) And used all the "Extras" To zip threw it.

I never played the original Vay on Sega CD and even I could tell this was a butchered mess and a mobile port. The FMVs don't seem to play properly. The dialogue is horrible. The voice acting is abysmal. This is by far the worst version of Vay. All the "devs" had to do was a straight port, but no, they had to butcher the dialogue, FMVs, and voice acting. The music is good for the most part at least. I played through the game using 4x Gil and Exp just to get through it and the gameplay is not bad, just everything else is. Do not buy this version if you want the true Vay experience. Just play it on Emu. Maybe if we are lucky the team doing the Lunar HD Remakes will get a crack at Vay and give us something to be proud of. 4/10, If you have to have Vay on PC then wait for a deep discount and just know you are not getting the true Vay experience.

yes

ok, what the keybored control for this...