Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible（女神転生外伝 ラストバイブル）

So given that I'm finally starting to make progress in the Megaten series by beating the first 3 games, I figured I should mix it up by playing something more modern like Devil Survivor Overclocked. Naw, who am I kidding, time to play Last Bible!

So who REPROGRAMED GAME? I can't tell.

I checked out both the Game Boy Color and Game Gear versions of this game and not shockingly, the Game Gear version looked far better in every category including graphics, monster design, sound, and even the ending which I'll get into very vaguely later (no spoilers).

I'm going to be perfectly honest here and admit that I don't own a Game Gear nor would I want to destroy my eyes with those amazing color graphics on actual hardware. Did I ever mention that the PSP is the greatest system ever made? Just saying...

No pesky Nintendy censors here!

The game starts with you, chosen along with 2 others to become a Gaia Master. You kids part ways and you grow up to 15 or whatever the standard ridiculously young age for JRPG adventuring is (insert obligatory reddit/resetera thread complaining that no JRPGs have mature protagonist here). Of course, the first thing that happens is monsters appear out of nowhere and attacks the town. Pretty standard stuff.

Oh sheeit, that kancho laced with Gaia is gonna hurt REAL bad.

To be honest, I really didn't get the story maybe because this is a pretty short and minimal game without too much dialogue. It was also confusing how your master's name is Zodia and there's some other guy called Zodo. At one point, Zodia suddenly brings out another student from nowhere called Morgan and you kill him immediately for some reason... yeah, I dunno.

Thank god I'm used to Kana from PC88 games!

Anyway, I didn't expect too much from an RPG originally released for the Game Boy. The game play isn't really anything to write home about. You can save anywhere and you merely lose some money if you die. The demon recruitment is a huge pain in the ass as they ask so many damn questions. Fortunately, you can pick up some bones and resurrect some real good zombies. Just like all the previous games in the series so far, I mostly used Auto battle.

There's better designs than this man boob Medusa

Speaking of the battle system, unlike the Nintendo version, the monster designs are probably not what I would call um... Cero A. While the Game Boy version is all cutesy and fun times for kids, some of the monsters in the Game Gear version were like dayum, better make sure no kids are around.

Awww, look at that pretty flower!

Overall, I feel like the Game Gear version is the true game that Atlus really wanted to make. While the original game has a Gaia (Chaos) vs Force (Neutral) type of ending, things don't end in quite the same way in the remake. There's a whole extra dungeon at the end that you reach after 3 blue stones turn red and umm... well let's just say those 3 blue stones were REALLY important.

This is not Kansas I'm pretty sure.

Score: 2 my schwartz is bigger than your gaia out of 5

Overall, I kind of enjoy these simple, early portable RPGs to kill some time. There's not too much to think about, they're pretty short, and the dungeons in this one were super tiny. Yeah, maybe there's a ton of better games I could play. You're totally right. I probably should be making better use of my time... Ah fuck it, time to play Last Bible 2! Too bad there's no GG remake of the sequel.

Eh, I guess this game was aight

Scale
0 - Awful
1 - Bad and not worth your time
2 - Has some flaws but still enjoyable
3 - An average enjoyable experience
4 - A great game
5 - Masterpiece of a caliber only found very rarely