You should play Nostalgia (DS, 2009)
THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY MADE ON COHOST AND HAS BEEN ARCHIVED HERE
I'm playing through Nostalgia no Kaze, one of RED Company's late-era DS RPGs. At first I expected to not get very far into it after dropping it for something else, but I'm surprised how much it ended up clicking with me. There's nothing super groundbreaking here, it's traditional turn-based combat with a battle queue system. But this game ended up being comfort food for my Dragon Quest-loving brain and I haven't been able to put it down.
The game's airship exploration across the world map really evokes the sense of adventure and wonder that a system like this should, and it's so fun to sail around for optional areas and hidden treasures before having to hightail it out as you wander into a random encounter of a secret late-game area. If you've been jonesing for a Skies of Arcadia sequel, I highly recommend this game to see if it scratches that itch!
Once I got the hang of the combat system, managing agility and learning how to push enemies back in the queue to get a bunch of attacks in before they can even move, it's addictive to pull off a tough fight efficiently and get an S-rank in each battle. It's simple enough to not overload my brain while being just deep enough to give you the options you need for battles to stay interesting.
This game is going to be nothing special for most people, but if you're like me and enjoy a good classic comfort food RPG with a unique setting, I recommend giving it a shot!
THE NEXT SECTION WAS ADDED A MONTH OR SO LATER
The airship exploration is so engaging that I've been going back to it from time to time in the past few months since finishing it, filling in uncharted spots of the map and whittling away at the postgame sidequests. It's still really fun to just sail around and see the world, it's the closest I've seen to Wind Waker in capturing the joy of sailing! I really wish the airship combat had more late-game options like the party combat does, though. Your airship's damage-dealing skills cap out near the late game and as a result, a lot of the postgame airship bosses feel like you don't have sufficient firepower to deal with them. Similarly, your party mage character just can't keep up in damage output with the knight character by this point, even when she's properly exploiting weaknesses. It's a postgame issue so not a dealbreaker, but I do wish RED added a few more postgame super-powerful spells for her sake. Even with those shortcomings, the game's successes make it far more than the sum of its parts, and I want more games that scratch this itch.
If only the game got a sequel... >.<
