I've been playing the first Jade Cocoon lately - I played that demo a lot when I was younger, but had never played the full game.

It's not the greatest game ever, but I had fun and it didn't overstay it's welcome (~15 hours. I don't have time for long RPGs anymore ). I would say it holds up pretty well, especially for a game with tank controls, and the fusion system still remains impressive.

However, I was extremely disappointed with the ending cinematic... It's a low-FPS (with obvious blending between frames) FMV with the in-game character models.

While usually I would be fine with it, this game starts with an incredible animated opening!

I was really expecting that there would be more of that. Although I wouldn't be surprised if that got cut for budget reasons.

It's not easy to show in side-by-side screenshots (as the animation quality makes a big difference) but man, what a downgrade.