Rhythm games need three things to succeed. Good tracks, good gameplay, and good progression. This is Final Fantasy; so good tracks are plentiful. I find myself playing NES/SNES era ones if I'm listening to something more intently, as the rhythms are basic enough, while other tracks are the primary focus when I have something in the background. Also every time I get to play a Man in the Machine remix my heart smiles a little.

The core gameplay builds upon four basic mechanics to make super engaging stages. You can tap, hold, flick, or trace a note. Songs have either one lane or four lanes, and you're only expected to max do two actions simultaneously. Based on the song and difficulty, your actions per minute can vary wildly, so pick what's comfortable for you to start. There's no wrong difficulty; I usually do Expert with a mix of Ultimate.

Right away, I need to give props to the devs for making this game button agnostic. In practice, if I need to tap and flick a hold at the same time, I can use the same joycon to do both. If I hold two buttons at the same time and the game needs me to let go of one first, it doesn't matter which one I let go of. This has made the game very comfortable, and on Expert I can just rely on one hand while laying down most of the time, scooting in my other hand for a few flicks and holds.

Honestly, sometimes the songs themselves are enough incentive for me to continue. Each stage has a max score of 10M, with different ranks for 500K milestones, and have a lot of little ways to maximize this. Each note not only has a critical for hitting it on time, but a rainbow critical, which always feels like a nice bonus. Getting a chain at 25 or above maximizes your note score, so even if you drop one or two, you still have hope for the SSS.

However, what also keeps me going is the progression this game has. Good progression can often mean getting better at the game and conquering challenges you wouldn't have been able to previously. I've definitely gotten better at the game, getting more rainbow criticals consistently and accidentally achieving my goal of a 9.8M track on Expert. However, this game based off of an rpg franchise tips the scale a bit with rpg elements which boost that sense of progression.

While you're doing your rhythm, there's an entire other game happening. Your entire party is engaging in battles on the bottom half that's directly affected by your rhythm game on the top half. As you level up, they get stronger, but they also have specialities like Magic or Defense that you can lean into with your abilities. You get more abilities as you level up, which you can equip 3 of and they trigger based on certain battle conditions, like hitting enough notes or encountering a boss.

Each party member usually has a signature ability or two you can unlock, which considering you unlock over 100 just from playing that character's respective game, that's a bunch. To avoid choice paralysis, this game does a few smart things. One is having certain typing to let you know what a character might specialize in. Two is giving you items to add abilities or boost certain stats. Three is letting you grind past level 99 to very slowly achieve a prestige to eventually max out some stats.

And these battles and stats are useful for the quests. I do enjoy the quest diversity, as there are a lot of different types of quests for pure rhythm, pure party, or a health mix of both. They also often scale based on the difficulty, like scaling party damage needed, but some benefit from switching the difficulty, like getting a boss kill or missing no notes. Some make you think a bit different, like one that requires 15 abilities be used had me equip one that activates after being damaged and tanking a few timely hits.

The stage modifiers are also very fun and a great way to spice up stage conditions. There are rhythm-based stage modifiers, like speed up the game or make the timing more strict, but also ones which affect your quests. You might get a stage modifier doubles summon damage, but the song is just a few notes too short at getting your summon out for the second time, even when performed very well. So you get one of the summoner characters you've unlocked since, which have abilities which can quicken summon recovery, grind it up in other stages, and once it hits 99 then circle back and try that challenge again.

I'm glad these are in place as they give me more of a sense of accomplishment besides just doing the stage. When I need to change the party composition every 5 or so stages to check off a quest, or even come back to a quest later when my party is better, it makes completing the quest and the stage more satisfying. Sometimes the game asks me to lock in, and I'm happy to deliver, but otherwise this game does a fantastic job at being a casual rhythm game I can enjoy without too much effort or strain from my side.

Between Guesspionage, Trivia Murder Party, and other Jackbox trivia games, Survey Scramble has been the only pure trivia game that I've seen that's appeals to everyone. I have the streaming, Discord, and in-person hours to back up that claim. Part of that is because it's not just one game, but a set of complementary games.

Each game has the same core tenets. Your group gets to choose between 1 of 3 ranked list of a couple of hundred most popular answers to a question. The game is either two teams or every person for themselves, and besides Speed you get a bit of time to submit your entry.

The top entries aren't necessarily going to be the best answers for the question, but what pops to people's mind most frequently. Likewise, the deeper answers might be the same train of thought but an alternative take. Fishing for a high and a low entry rewards you for breadth and depth of thinking patterns.

Some games simply ask for the best and worst answer, like Hi Lo or Dares, some ask you to snipe a specific position or range, like Bounce or Squares, and some ask you to choose the best guess from a few options. Half the fun of the game is seeing where a guess makes it on the list, and it's fun working with others to crush your friends.

Between picking what the category is, picking the type of experience, and picking when it ends, this does feel like the best trivia game for any setting. It's not revolutionary, but it's telling to how well catered it is that there's usually a healthy mix of people who come out on top.