Thief (2014) is garbage, I haven't played it, but I haven't seen any positive review on it. The original from 1998 is one of my fav games.

Pins function in different manners, but most of them are activated via touch controls. Some pins let you shoot projectiles if you tap empty space, for example. Or slash across an enemy and Neku will slash it in the game. There are tons of different actions, I'm actually pretty impressed how creative the inputs are. One even requires you to shout into the microphone.

The resemble towards SMT might derive from the story - kind of. I won't spoil too much, but apparently the main characters participate in some kind of game, against their will, of which they cannot esacpe. It consists of various challenges across a timespan of seven days. At the end, only one can win and everyone else will be erased. So this is pretty heavy shit there.

You last paragraph is interesting: what is your motivation to stay on a low level? Do you like the challenge? I see this in Xenoblade Chronicles in a somehow similar way. Your level grows with experience points gained in battles, but you get far more of those in the background by other factors. The game lets you decide then how many levels you want to rise when you sleep in an inn instead. I always rise as fast as I can :D

I know. I was joking.

The properties Square bought were all excellent, bit you'd be hard pressed to justify it as one of the best moves ever. Seeing as how the properties they bought were """"""too niche"""""" to """"""sell well""""""  by their standards (Thief, Hitman, Dues Ex). 

1) It's rather semi-limited. In the beginning you can wear three pins at a time during battles, but with further progress you can wear up to six, but each of these three to six pins must function in a different way. You can only have one pin for slashing, one for shooting projectiles, one for creating ice pillars, one for flames, etc. While you use them in battle, they have a certain amount of times they can be used, like say 10 slashes for example, and then turn grey and need a certain amount of time to become usable again. So you get encouraged to mix up your fighting techniques and not spam one single attack the whole time. The combat is quite hectic because often times you are surrounded by mutliple enemies with different moves, attacks and patterns and you need to keep an eye on all of them simultaneously.

Now all of this is only happening on the lower screen of the DS. I didn't mention the top screen yet. That's where your partner character fights at the same time against the same set of enemies. Your partner acts autonomously, but you can intervene at any time and input combat commands and moves yourself. You share one single health bar, so you need to look on both screens most of the time. On the other hand, all enemies share the same health bar across both screens, too. So let's say you fight against a snake and a bear and both characters attack the snake on each of their respective screens, the snake gets damage from both characters. It's kind of hard to explain with written words. Actions speak louder in this case.

TWEWY also features multiple level systems. Like most rpgs, you grind by killing enemies and with rising levels your basic stats rise. Furthermore, each pin can level up, too, and gains higher stats with higher levels. Also, sometimes when levelling up a pin may transform into a new, different pin. Next, your basic stats can grow additionally by eating food. Each food item must be digested before it grants its' enhancements. A double burger, for example, rasies your max hp by 16 and goes down in 13 bites - one battle equals one bite. This is very creative, I think. Also, you can only eat one meal at a time, so you need to wait for the next day in real time before you eat something new, otherwise your character refuses to eat more because he's stuffed. Soft drinks and ice cream can still be consumed, though, even if your character is stuffed already.

Another thing is clothes. They grant higher stats, like def+3 for example, and need to be bought in various shops across the entire city. Every shop owner has a level system. The more you buy from them, the more their level grows and the more likely they are to explain to you what kind of effects certain pieces of clothes feature. Because these effects are hidden to you, you must first 'make friends' with the shop keeper to get his trust and to let him explain you stuff.

2) That's the description of TWEWY.

3) I knew I wanted to play Nier: Automata one day, but you cemented it. I will buy this game. Thank you very much, all of this sounds very interesting. Also, this 'chapter select' feature sounds so typical of Platinum Games. Other games from them like the Bayonettas, The Wonderful 101 and Star Fox Zero feature this as well.

Ah? But this is a great FF.

On the bottom right of the US release, I see that little special hyphenated word...

But it was produced and originally released under Squaresoft...

First off, that is not a great game and this is coming from someone who considers FFX their favorite. It's a bubble-gum, girl quest with pop music, giggles and rainbows. I remember when it came out because I bought it when it came out, thinking I was getting an epic sequel to an epic game. I can remember the fall out online... the whole bait-and-switch outcry. It wasn't well received by fans.

Second, Square merged with Enix officially in 2003 which means they were doing the deal sometime in 2002. They had already merged officially when that game dropped in the US... so even if YOU think it's great (I will forever question your opinions if that is true), it still wasn't released solely under the Square name. 

The Enix thing marked, as I said, a turning point. It showed that the suits were taking a different approach... and history proved that correct when all of their long time talent fled for greener pastors and their FF games continued to decline in quality.

LOL, good one.  But for a early PS2 game The Bouncer was actually halfway decent.

I'd say that it's exaggerated, there are still some great titles released by them.