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WOW. This is one hell of a SNES game that has to be played by retro JRPG players out there. This is seriously one that doesn't get talked about much and there's little documentation about the game (good thing there's an old GameFAQs walkthrough that exists to this very day even though it's not adjusted to the fan translation due to the guide being written long before it existed, bless that dude. Be warned that it can give you a bit of spoilers from time to time. And what the HELL does the Love stat do???). That's a damn shame because this belongs with one of the top RPGs out there for the SNES library (and an authentic SFC cartridge is not often listed too on auction sites!). Now, it's not Chrono Trigger / Final Fantasy VI / Terranigma great, but this is definitely in the middle of a top 10 or top 15 SNES RPG list for sure. Imagine a bit more serious and mature themed EarthBound, humor included (and a few references and inspirations to other RPGs), set in the real world with real sites of an alternate 1999/2009, with the battle interface akin to something like Phantasy Star (animated enemy sprites included!), and a job-like system like Final Fantasy V in the form of Chakras (and you could combine them too later in the game!), your typical Fire/Ice/Electric specials, and overworld with the obligatory mode 7 (though this is late-game) like your typical SNES RPG. You get G.O.D. Heed the Call to Awaken. The story is excellent (plus two heartbreaking moments included), it's humorous, the characters are likable, and the game's art style has a pretty cool aesthetic too (plus the NPCs have that Dragon Quest-like animation to them). The fan translation put these things to light and I think it's fantastic that JRPG players get to experience something that not very many don't.

My only gripes with this game are the sub-par music (but then again what else do you expect from a game published by someone who isn't SquareSoft/Enix/Atlus?), sluggish battle speed (though to my knowledge the PS1 remake speeds it up significantly, perhaps too fast in fact), and the OUTRAGEOUS encounter rate (plus there's no item to reduce or eliminate the enemy encounters in dungeons, only a skill that only works in the overworld). There's an Easy-Type patch (though it's more "anti-grind" than "easy") for the game if you want to ease the encounter rate issue in conjunction with this excellent translation: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/7141/ As for the fan translation patch itself, it's a tiny bit rough on the graphics side of things (and I mean tiny), notably the Dynamic-Designs splash screen having literal jailbars as you boot the game up (though this only happens when you use RGB/S-Video, composite will just have the background look like a darkened white instead due to the quality of composite video) but it's not present upon resetting the game, and a brief graphical flash on navigating the menu, but not game breaking regardless. However, don't let that take away from the experience - if you already played almost every good JRPG on the SNES and are still itching for more (like I was), try G.O.D. out, you won't regret playing it. I got through the entirety of the game with this fan translation without experiencing any game-breaking glitches. It's a hell of a hidden gem like everyone else's reviews said before me. Talk to every NPC as much as you can and read the Diary too as you save - it's a good part of the experience. Now we need someone to hack and fan translate the PS1 remake, G.O.D. Pure! There's literally almost nothing about it online and there's even extra FMV cutscenes!

Just to add: if you're playing this on original hardware (like I am via flash cart, or a modified authentic board), don't freak out if your modern TV and/or upscaler freaks out when going into battles - this is due to the game itself switching resolutions (I think, or maybe it forces the system to cut sync), and thankfully it's not too game-breaking and only affects whether or not you see that you got a first-strike opportunity and your TV or upscaler re-syncs itself in time to see that message. Of course, this won't be a problem if you are playing on a CRT TV/monitor or an emulator.

Oh and just a tip: BUY AND FIND EVERY BUN YOU CAN FIND IN CONVENIENCE STORES AND HIDDEN AREAS (especially the Toad Bun, Angel Bun, Sexy Bun, and Luna Bun, because they're ones that are MISSABLE). There's a dude that collects them and there's 7 specific ones that you can trade for useful stuff (if your Joy Node and Spirit Nodes are at least level 6, level 7 for both gives you the ones you haven't gotten yet) near the end parts of the game, and they're apparently able to be acquired repeatedly. That GameFAQs walkthrough I mentioned goes through each of them, though there's a few that's missing, but not missable for those specific missing ones as long as you get each bun from convenience stores in inns/hotels (usually) at least once.

Happy playing.

There is little information about G.O.D. out there, and hardly anybody seems to be talking about it. This absolute gem of a game... it's a tragedy that it got hardly any recognition when it came out and gets hardly any recognition today. It's similar to Earthbound in a way, where the classic JRPG formula is pasted onto modern trappings, with psychic powers replacing magic, aliens replacing monsters. The game, like Earthbound, has fourth-wall-breaks, meta humor, nonsense jokes, real-world references. I'll never know how much was added by the translators and how much is native to the script, but for what it is, this script is phenomenal.

This game and this translation had me laughing out loud several times. On top of being funny, the game handles a dramatic, serious, mature story very well. This is honestly an A rated game in my book, comparable to Earthbound, Terranigma, and Chrono Trigger, in that you want to keep playing just to see what happens next.

A couple things of note: The translation is 100% complete except for one thing I found - characters can acquire a special ability to shout at an enemy and deal damage. The 'shouting' is depicted using giant Japanese katakana that appear atop an enemy sprite. One character is American, and his shout is a giant "GODDAMN", but the other four characters you play as use Japanese katakana that I don't know the meaning of.

Also, I'm not used to seeing swearing in a SNES. Again, I don't know how much of that is in the original. I think it's fine and relatively tame in context - a couple of 'goddamns', 'bastard', maybe a 'sh*t' or two. I did find one use of the F-bomb in some random soldier, and to some degree it's a serious enough moment in context that it's warranted, but on the other hand I know that can cross the line for some people.

This is a complete translation which English-speaking people can now play for the first time. I watched a beginning to end play through of this game and I thought the English in G.O.D. was good and easy to understand.

What drew my attention and caused me to write this review was that the modders involved fixed a bug that was very significant. The bug was that you couldn't revive party members during battle, only outside of battle.

The modders are actively involved because they listen to people who report bugs and they care about the quality of the games they translate.

It makes me feel good to be a part of the community and it makes me feel that the game is worth playing.

This is a real undiscovered gem of a game. I've put in about 17 hours so far and am really loving it overall. It has the aesthetic of EarthBound and a similar modern setting, but in some ways I am liking it better. The Chakra system is really fun and innovative as well.

Also, you'd think that having save/restore points in the middle of a dungeon would make a game less enjoyable or easier, but really, this game is brutally hard at times. I've ended up using those "safe" areas for grinding, usually, and honestly, grinding doesn't feel tedious or annoying in this game for some reason (the "Auto" feature may play a role there).

My only caveat is that there seems to be a glitch with revive/Life spells and potions. I don't know whether this is an issue in the original Japanese game or not, but I've found in the course of playing that Life potions ("Miss You" & al.) do not work *in battle*, and when Love (a revive spell) is cast, it always targets the wrong person (a character who is alive and well). I am not sure why this is happening, and it's frustrating, but it in some ways makes the game more challenging. I'd just hate to get to the final boss, for example, and not be able to revive a fallen character.

Otherwise, I am absolutely loving this game, so thank you for the translation patch!