Printable View
I used to hang out in Yahoo chat rooms back when Yahoo was actually a force on the internets. I do sometimes wonder what happened to the people I used to chat with on a regular basis. One of them became a pen pal (like actual, real letters through the mail! Crazy!). She was like a little sister, but between moving and going longer periods of time with no internet we eventually lost touch. It's a shame.
Story:
Long ago, Light and Darkness fought. Although it is said that Granas, God of Light defeated Valmar, God of Darkness, Valmar's Moon looms still in the sky, threatening the "Day of Darkness" when he will revive and the world will be plunged in to darkness. Ryudo, our hero, is hired to escort Elena, a songstress of the Church of Granas to perform a ritual at a nearby location. Unfortunately, things take a turn for the worse when Elena finds herself possessed by the Wings of Valmar. The wings take the form of a woman named Millenia who sometimes takes control of Elena's body. It is then Ryudo's job to take Elena to see the Pope in order to purge her of the darkness inside. On their journey they come to find that Elena isn't the only one struggling with this darkness and that perhaps Valmar's revival is close at hand.
Gameplay:
Grandia II is an RPG with an interesting twist on the combat system. In battle, you will see a bar on the lower right hand side of the screen. It has three sections, 'Wait,' 'Command', and 'Act'. Depending on a few factors such as character speed and previous actions, characters and enemy icons will move along this bar. Once their icon reaches Command, a command can be input for the character, such as Item, Defend, Moves or Magic, and one of the two versions of attack which I will discuss further in. Depending on the characters Move or special attack/magic level, their icon will continue along the bar until it reaches 'Act' and the command will be executed. The higher their move or special attack/magic level for the particular special attack/magic used, the faster they will execute the command.
Timing is critical in battles. There are two forms of attack: Combo and Critical. Combo deals more damage and is generally executed faster, while Critical has a chance of delaying or outright canceling an enemy action. If an enemy (or ally) is hit with a Critical attack when their icon is in-between the Command and Act bars, their action will be canceled. In order to properly time these things, the player must know their characters and enemies. They need to know the speed with which their characters move and attack, the positioning relative to the enemy, as well as how quickly or slowly the enemy actions execute. While you can simply go through battles by Comboing, you'll take a lot of unnecessary damage and, especially during boss fights, you'll have a much harder time. It also involves some strategy to knowing when to Combo and when to Critical. If a Combo will defeat an enemy, it might be better to use that instead of simply canceling the enemy move. It really makes you pay attention to how your characters act and when in order to use the system effectively.
There are a few things to build up in this game for your characters. After battles you will receive special coins. Some are used for special attacks and others for magic. Each character has special attacks that are unique to them. These can be learned at certain points in the story or by spending Special Coins. Each move can also be leveled up, gaining a star with each level until it reaches 5 stars and is maxed out. This also costs Special Coins and will reduce the amount of time needed to execute the move. Magic is leveled up through Mana Eggs that are obtained throughout the game. Unlike special attacks, magic is through the mana eggs which can be equipped on anyone. Leveling up the mana eggs uses magic coins which will allow for learning more magic spells depending on the egg, as well as leveling up the magic spells similarly to the special attacks. The eggs will retain their levels and spells no matter who has them equipped and they can be changed whenever the player wants. Finally, through skill books players can level up and add skills to players that provide beneficial effects such as strength or magic up. These use either special or magic coins depending on the particular skill.
World:
In this game you will be exploring towns and villages as well as dungeons. The world map will simply show you the destination which you will pick and go to. As the game progresses you will often be cut off from certain locations, although you may be able to explore them when you return. While dungeons start off mostly linear, they do get more complex as the game goes on and can be pretty confusing. Most towns have both an inn and a shop. While recovering can be done for free at any save point of Inn, choosing to rest at an inn will often provide additional scenes and dialogue for your characters.
Characters:
(Ordered from favourite to least favourite)
http://i.imgur.com/wavLIyH.jpgTio: An automata who struggles with the concept of being her own master and what it means to have a heart.
http://i.imgur.com/KVDcW0W.jpgRoan: A kind young man who likes to help others and always seeks to learn more.
http://i.imgur.com/wW2IHql.jpgMareg: A warrior in touch with nature who is seeking revenge on a man who brought destruction to his village.
http://i.imgur.com/qfBJHpB.jpgMillenia: The Wings of Valmar, she often possesses Elena. Very dramatic and has feelings for Ryudo.
http://i.imgur.com/zZEQ6Cv.jpgElena: A songstress of the Church of Granas, she is very religious and as such is troubled by the evil within her.
http://i.imgur.com/kTf1jM2.jpgRyudo: The main protagonist, a Geohound (mercenary of sorts), hired to keep Elena out of harm's way on her journey.
Overall:
I very much enjoyed Grandia II. The story was good and I enjoyed the theme of showing that not everything is black and white, that things can be both good and bad, or even neither. It's a theme I think should be explored more and that it was very well done in this case. The battle system was interesting and I did like it, and I also enjoyed having as much freedom to build up my characters my own way and at my own pace. Some of the special attack and spell effects looked pretty good. My favourite part was the character interactions and watching them grow together and form relationships. That would be the strongest point of the game in my opinion. The character section above was challenging because I actually really like all of the characters and they're all pretty close together in terms of who I like most and least. There were also some great scenes that touched my heart and made me think. There are some negatives though, as well. The dungeons could be frustrating, especially with the lack of a map. I hated the fact that there was no map. The sound effects could also be grating. The game also suffered from some random slowdown and could be a bit glitchy at times, although it was nothing that really affected the gameplay. Finally, some of the dialogue was cheesy and cringeworthy and could feel a bit forced. Overall though, the positives outweighed the negatives and I am very happy to have played this game. The story and characters were excellent and the battle system was fun. Would highly recommend to RPG fans.
Verdict:
LIKED IT A LOT
Sounds interesting. I do enjoy me some moral ambiguity. And that whole system with Combo and Critical sounds really nice! Was it a difficult game?
Not really. If you made sure to fight every enemy you came across and leveled your magics and special attacks appropriately it was a pretty good difficulty I'd say. I never needed to go back and grind but some bosses were still a challenge and you really had to pay attention to what you were doing.
I remember watching an ex play Grandia II years ago and the voice acting being absolutely awful, but that could have been because of awkwardly written dialogue more so than the talents of the actors themselves.
I bought this game on a whim many years ago, and when I started playing it, it was just kinda "eh". But then I move on and things started getting really exciting, and overall it was one of the more surprisingly enjoyable games that I have ever played.
Also, Millenia is such a joy to watch. I remember her theatricals vividly to this day. She also had by far the best battle banter. "Deep fried goose" indeed.
To The Moon is a short adventure game. You play as Dr. Eva Rosalene and Dr. Neil Watts, two professionals who's job it is to guide people to their dreams before they pass away. Their client this time is a man named John. His dying wish, to go to the moon. Using their magical future technology, Eva and Neil will travel back through his memories, trying to learn why he wants to go to the moon and altering those memories so that he will have motivated himself to achieve this dream.
As you play the game you will travel back in time through John's memories. You will have a scale displayed which will show you where you are in his life. As you enter different memories, you will click around on objects and explore the environments in order to create memory links and return further in to the past. You'll of course also watch his memories unfold and learn more about him and his life. After obtaining five memory nodes in each memory, you'll be able to travel further back. This involves a small mini-game puzzle where you flip squares to uncover the memento.
That is the gist of the game. It is much more about the story than the gameplay, although it does switch things up for you once in a while by adding certain mini-games. There's whack-a-mole, horseback riding, throwing plants at zombies. These gameplay mechanics don't last long but do serve to spice things up once in a while. You'll also be able to read notes and view items that you've examined throughout the story as well. On top of learning about John and his life, you'll also learn more about Eva and Neil as well, and a sequel has been announced for late this year or early next year. This is a stand alone game, however, and you will get a full and complete story if you play this game.
Overall I really liked this game. It was sweet and touching and pulled at the heart strings. I was a bit worried John's life would be all magic and rainbows and, while that would still be enjoyable, I much more enjoyed that this game showed the ups and downs of his life. He didn't get everything he wanted, his life wasn't always magical, and sometimes it was downright tragic. But it was a very touching to experience John's memories, his successes and his mistakes, in an attempt to guide him to his dream of seeing the moon. This isn't action packed or heavy on the gameplay, it's more like playing an interactive movie or reading a good book, so if that type of thing is up your alley, I would highly recommend it. I very much enjoyed my time spent with To The Moon.
Verdict:
LIKED IT A LOT
Sounds like something worth buying.
Yep, sold.Quote:
throwing plants at zombies
Oh yeah I love To The Moon, the twist is really smurfing sad.
I had a blast playing To The Moon together with my wife. I wish more games put as much effort into their stories and characaters
I heard "Everything's Alright" once and it made me want the game.
Note: There is a lot of blood and gore if that is something that bothers you.
Tomb Raider for the PS3 follows the adventures of Lara Croft before she was a dual pistol wielding, badass archeologist, to when she was a... single pistol wielding, slightly less badass archeologist. This is an origin story of sorts for the iconic character. On an expedition with a small team including her friend Sam and a famous senior archeologist, Lara and co. are searching for Himiko, an ancestor of Sam's and previous Sun Queen of the Island of Yamatai. Lara's instincts tell them to head in to the Dragon's Triangle, an area of strong storms, in order to find this Himiko. After some convincing, the crew agrees.
Fortunately Lara's instincts were correct. The Island of Yamatai and Himiko were indeed where she thought they were. Unfortunately the strong storms cause a crash landing on this island. This leads to the crew getting separated and trying to find a way to escape. There's more to the island than it seems, however, and escape might not be so easy. Lara Croft must face angry wolves, a crazy cult, and supernatural storms in order to get herself and her crew away from Yamatai.
Tomb Raider is an action-adventure game where you control Lara Croft and watch her go from scared and uncertain to determined and strong. This involves shooting enemies, rock climbing, crate burning, shooting more enemies, rope climbing, falling down stuff and barely surviving, shooting more enemies, enjoying some story, upgrading your stuff, and continuing to shoot enemies. You'll gain a variety of equipment on your adventure including a pickaxe, a pistol, a shotgun, a rifle, and a bow and arrow (my favourite). You'll get a few other things and you can upgrade your equipment as you find salvage and as the story progresses. You'll also gain skill points to give Lara some skills such as stabbing people with arrows or shooting them in the face. Also quick time events. Be ready for those.
The game progresses at a pretty even pace and slowly introduces to you new concepts and equipment to use so you don't easily feel overwhelmed. The game also auto-saves quite frequently so dying is not a huge problem as you can just restart and try again. These things may not be as good for the hardened fan, but if you're new to the series and the genre, this is a very good introduction game as it has a smooth learning curve and isn't very punishing, allowing new people to try it without getting frustrated. With that being said, your skills will definitely be tested in the later part of the game as you'll be faced with increasingly difficult puzzles and more challenging groups of foes. While the game is mostly linear, there are certain areas that allow for wider exploration and you'll often be able to fast travel to previous locations in order to collect new stuff with your upgraded equipment. There are a ton of collectables hidden all over the island for you to try and find, and these add some atmosphere and lore to the game.
Overall I enjoyed Tomb Raider much more than I was expecting. It isn't really my genre of choice since I'm not very good at them and don't have the best reflexes or stealth skills to be successful. As I said though, this one is very beginner friendly and I never found myself frustrated or overwhelmed. It provided some freedom in terms of how I would upgrade my stuff and what weapons to use, but it also guided me along new gameplay mechanics at a pace I could keep up with. While some areas still challenged me and I died (a lot), I was able to quickly retry and improve, which was nice. I really enjoyed exploring the island and finding collectables. There was a good variety of different areas to explore and the story was pretty interesting. The characters interacted in a way that felt natural and believable, and Lara grew as a character in a subtle but substantial way that I appreciated. I will definitely try the new Tomb Raider when I get a chance and I had a lot of fun with this game, more than I thought I would.
Verdict:
LIKED IT
Tomb Raider/Uncharted cross-over.
Make it happen, powers that be.
If My Heart Had Wings (Steam)
http://i.imgur.com/TjVJvs5.jpg
Note: As should be evident if you know me at all, this is the all ages version of the game. If you want the adult version, I'm sure you can find it, but I personally will be unable to comment about the uncensored content.
This is a visual novel about high school kids who share a common goal: To soar high in the sky. Aoi, our male protagonist, has recently had a biking accident. Figuring it's time to remove himself from the old environment of his bicycling club days, he moves back to his childhood hometown. His mother, having a sense of humour, signs him up to be a dorm mother for an all girls dorm. Coincidentally, one of the dorm residents is a young woman in a wheelchair named Kotori that he met upon returning to town.
As Aoi is re-familiarizing himself with the town and his new school, he discovers a garage housing a glider and a mysterious and beautiful young woman. Turns out that this is the "Super-repeat student" Amane, who has purposely failed her classes so she can stay behind and complete the glider in order to accomplish her missing friend's goal of soaring above the clouds. The best chance to accomplish this goal? A special event called the 'Morning Glory', something seen in a photograph left behind by the soaring club of old. Aoi and his friends join Amane in trying to complete the glider and achieve their dreams of soaring above the clouds.
This visual novel has choices once in a while that will help determine which romantic route you pursue. There aren't actually very many choices, ranging from 4 to 6 total depending on the route, and most are quite obvious if you wan to pursue a particular story. It should be noted however that some routes need to be completed in order to unlock other routes. There is also a "bad" route if you fail to romance anyone, which is more just an abrupt ending if anything.
There are some translation issues, unfortunately, especially with the Ageha route. While most of the routes can be understood with only some issues here and there, the beginning of Ageha's route, the first third probably, is an absolute mess. With that being said, if you stick it out past that point, the translation mostly cleans up to the point of being understandable again. There's an auto option where the text will continue automatically, there's a skip option which will skip all previously read text for getting to the other routes faster, and there's also a gallery where you can view some scene images.
Characters:
(Ordered from favourite to least favourite)
http://i.imgur.com/SRDFEiH.pngAgeha: Aoi's childhood friend, she is very playful, sociable and outgoing. Originally part of the robotics club, Ageha takes an interest in the machanical side of building a glider. Her story deals with letting people get close because she fears losing them.
http://i.imgur.com/b7iGMk8.pngAmane: Despite being afraid of heights, Amane works hard to build a glider that can soar above the clouds in order to see what her friend wanted her to see. While she is a genius, she lacks social awareness and comes off as naive and goofy most of the time.
http://i.imgur.com/HEbm1kv.pngAsa: the older twin sister of Yoru, Asa is an average girl in a superior family, making her struggle with inadequacy and failure issues. She's very sweet and sociable.
http://i.imgur.com/z4XjMtt.pngKotori: A young woman in a wheelchair who feels alienated by everyone so she tries to act smug and superior to save face. She finally lets her guard down when she stars working towards her dream to soar high in the sky.
http://i.imgur.com/uwn0LlI.pngAoi: A young man who returned to his childhood hometown after a bicycling accident. Takes on a lot of responsibilities as club member and dorm mother. He likes teasing people and is sometimes easily embarrassed.
http://i.imgur.com/vmJPQQt.pngYoru: The younger twin sister, a genius who hates wasting her time. She struggles to relate to people but is very attached to her sister. Her story involves trying to learn to let her guard down and experience life.
Overall I very much enjoyed this visual novel. It really kept me interested and I would often have to force myself to stop reading to go to bed or do something else. The visuals are stunning for a visual novel, the characters are likeable and have their own interesting stories, and there's a very strong cast of secondary characters as well that I really liked. The VN has a really nice sense of humour and very rarely takes itself too seriously. You'll also get to learn a lot about gliders. Like... a lot. If that's your deal. Probably my favourite part though was how each of the girls did not just revolve around the main character, but each had their own friendships and relationships with each other that had nothing to do with him. It was more of a story about this students with some romance thrown in more than it was a romance story with some other stuff thrown in. I obviously enjoyed some routes much more than others, but on the whole I thoroughly enjoyed it and I will definitely be reading again in the future.
Verdict:
LOVED IT
Ooh well I'll definitely have to pick this one up now. A good galge is always fun to read. That group picture already has a nostalgic feel to it even though I haven't even read it yet =P
Too bad about the translation issues though. They always feel so unnecessary.
Story:
Time and Eternity is about a boy named Zack and a girl named Toki who are soon to be married. He's a perv, she's a pretty princess, all is well in the Kingdom of Kamza. Except not really because on their wedding day they find themselves under attack by assassins! If that wasn't odd enough, it turns out that Toki actually shares a body with another girl named Towa. Also she can control time to a certain extent.
So after those bombshells, Toki goes back in time to six months before the wedding to try and stop the attack on her wedding. Unfortunately in the process, Zack ends up in the body of Toki's pet baby dragon, Drake. Then there's the matter of Towa who "takes over" Toki's body sometimes, and why they had hid this from Zack. Toki, Towa, and Zack (now in Drake's body), soon learn that saving their wedding may not be as easy as they had originally hoped.
Gameplay:
In this game you take control of Toki and Towa (but only one at a time, more on that later). As you walk through the maps, a meter will fill beside your map. When it fills, you will enter a battle. In this game, there will often be multiple enemies in one battle, but only one will be fought at a time. There's an icon on the lower right hand side of the battle screen which will show how many enemies you face as well as enemy HP, SP, and Type (which determines weakness). Once one enemy is defeated, another will appear until they're all defeated and the battle ends. There are a few things to take in to account in battles. First you can attack long range with a rifle or close range with a knife. You select your distance by pressing the left analogue forward or backwards to get in position. From there you press O to attack. Attacking will build up your SP gauge (as will a few other things) and with SP you can cast spells and skills. Spells and skills are set to the Triangle, Square, and X buttons and the cost of each will be displayed (50 SP, for example). You'll want to make good use of your spells and skills if you don't want battles to take forever. You can also guard by pressing L1, and dodge by moving your left analogue stick to the side.
You'll need to pay attention in battles or you'll have a hard time. Each enemy has a specific attack pattern. Learning this pattern will teach you the right time to guard, dodge, attack, and cast spells without them being interrupted. Later on in the game, with some enemies, you'll need your timing to be near perfect if you don't want to have a hard time. There's also another key feature to this game. Upon level up, you'll switch between controlling Toki and Towa. While they are largely the same to control, they do have differences in their stats. Toki is better at long range combat and fire and earth spells, while Towa prefers close range combat and ice and lightning spells. They'll gain many of the same skills but also a lot of different ones. Skills and spells are learned by using "Gift Points" GP, which will teach them new spells and skills when they level up. They also require Toki and Towa to be at a specific level before they can be learned, but considering levels come more easily than GP, that usually won't be an issue. Note that earning GP earns it for BOTH girls and not just the one you're currently using. So they'll always have the same amount of GP to be used for both girls. It is not divided either, 20 GP is 20 for both. The same goes with equipment. Buying one weapon or piece of equipment means it can be equipped by BOTH girls. As the game goes on you'll also unlock time spells which you can use to rewind, speed up, or freeze time while in battle. There's also a different style of battle that you'll encounter but it only happens three times in the game so I won't cover it here.
A major part of this game is sidequests. These are usually fetch quests or go here to defeat X monster. Quests give a ton of GP compared to battles so it's definitely something you'll want to pursue. Quests are also generous with GP in that they'll reward you for almost every stage of the quest instead of just upon completion. Maps will be marked with icons to show where quests are available, where they can be completed, and so on. Heart events can also be found in different areas and at home, some of them which are specific to either Toki or Towa. Picking the right options will lead to an increase in affection for one girl or the other, which will come in to play later on. Levels are very easy to earn in this game, which is good for when you need the other girl for heart events and the like. Even monsters 20 levels behind you will still give out a decent amount of EXP.
World:
This game's world map is just dots over areas to select where you want to go. Pressing Square will show you all available areas as well as icons indicating if there are quests (minus the home city, you'll need to enter there to see if there are quests). You select where you want to go and it will bring you to a dungeon type area where you walk around, battle, collect treasure, etc. Kamza, the home city, has its own mini-map where you select dots on the map to travel to them and once again, pressing Square will show where there are quests or events. There are some variety in the maps although some are just slightly different versions of the same maps. The areas themselves however, are usually quite beautiful.
Characters:
(In no particular order)
http://i.imgur.com/ecTDHa1.pngToki: The Princess who is able to somewhat control time. She's very sweet and considerate, if not a bit naive.
http://i.imgur.com/HXcVtvw.pngTowa: The other soul inhabiting Toki's body, she's much more no-nonsense and introverted, but still very caring.
http://i.imgur.com/NkwM4So.pngZack/Drake: I'm using the picture of him in Drake form because otherwise he looks dumb. A huge pervert who hits on anything that has boobs, but he does care for Toki and Towa and wants to protect them.
http://i.imgur.com/HxXPb3h.pngEnda: Friend of Toki and Towa, she's a very odd but also upbeat and positive girl.
http://i.imgur.com/HiEYdQz.pngReijo: Reijo is super rich, you guys don't even know. She also sports a rather holier-than-thou attitude, but is still a good friend most of the time.
http://i.imgur.com/AE6ORjF.pngWedi: Another friend, wedi is also the wedding planner. She talks to spirits and can't walk 3 steps without falling on her face or off a cliff or something.
http://i.imgur.com/Coeczz1.pngRicardo: Makes terrible cakes and really wants Toki/Towa to marry him.
http://i.imgur.com/RUaL1xK.pngMakimona: A woman with about 100 odd jobs. Not so great with romance.
Overall:
This game is a bit hard to place. It has some really awesome things and some really terrible things, and I guess it balances out to kind of... average in a weird way. On the plus side, the game is gorgeous, and there are sidequests galore which helps you level up at a good pace with the main story. I enjoy the concept of two people sharing the same body and how that works out. The gameplay is pretty unique and, I'm not gonna lie, I actually found it a ton of fun. The story was alright and it actually threw a plot twist at me that I wasn't expecting. I also quite liked both Toki and Towa and I found the ending rather touching. The humour was hit or miss; some of it was clever and showed the game could poke fun at itself, while some of it was just cringeworthy or overdone. Zack, our leading man, was very annoying, and most of the side characters fell pretty flat, although they did get some development. The character gestures don't match the vocals and are all over the place, the dialogue usually felt pretty unnatural, there are a bunch of plot holes, the home music is the most ear grating thing in the world, and be prepared for panties shots thrown in your face at every opportunity. The game could also get very repetitive and it felt rather... small. While this certainly wasn't a great game, or even that good of a game, objectively I would call it pretty average. If you want to try out something new with some great visuals and a unique style of gameplay and you think you can deal with the negatives I listed, give it a shot. If not, you're not missing out on too much and it should just be skipped. In the end I did have fun with it though and I don't regret my time spent on it.
Verdict:
IT WAS OKAY
I don't think I'd ever bother to play through it, because it looked a bit repetitive, but it did have some unique or more creative gameplay bits here and there.
Little Big Planet is a cute little platforming game in which you control a small Sackboy (I call mine Lady Sackboy) around some mostly 2D levels to reach the end goal. While this is the basic premise of the game, there are a few other things to enjoy such as Sackboy customization, level creation, and online play. You'll also be able to collect stickers and materials to use in your level designs.
The game starts out fairly easy with the first area being dedicated mostly to tutorials. There are a total of eight "areas" which each contain three levels, except for the last one which contains four. Each area also has its own little mini-story to tie the levels together, and generally the last one will tie in vaguely with the new area you'll explore. Each new area also provides new looks in the beginning to help your Sackboy fit in with the environment if you so choose. Completing levels also earns more cutomization options, as well as completing certain challenges within the levels. There is a difficulty spike at around the halfway point, but overall the game is not too challenging.
Levels also contain stickers and other such things for you to find, which adds to the overall replayablility. Your level score is also displayed at the end, so you can go back and try to beat your record if you so choose. On top of the typical running and jumping that is present in most platformers, Little Big Planet also uses a grabbing mechanic in which your Sackboy... well, grabs on to things. This is used to swing from one place to another, to hold on to something moving, or to pull or push things to move them. This adds a bit of puzzle mechanics to the game, especially when trying to push and pull things to get to hidden rewards. You can also move slightly in the backgrounds and foregrounds sometimes as well.
Another aspect of the gameplay is creating your own levels. You can use some base templates or make your own. The game then provides you with very detailed tutorials on how to make your levels, which you can then name and share if you so choose. You can also play online and play other people's levels once you finish Little Big Planet's short story mode. The level creation was not really my deal so I didn't do much and can't comment too much on the specifics.
Overall Little Big Planet was a cute and sweet little platformer. I had some trouble with the sudden difficulty spike, since I'm not so great with platformers, but I overall had fun with the game. It was cute, I liked the customization options, and being able to make your own levels is a neat little idea, even if I didn't personally enjoy it. The levels were pretty creative and fun and the game had a good lighthearted feel that I really liked. I didn't really like how short the story was though and I really didn't like that you needed up to 4 people playing with you to get all of the collectables. I'm not a social gamer so I didn't like being penalized for that with stuff I just couldn't get. So it was a fun game and I enjoyed my time with it, but it wasn't my favourite.
Verdict:
IT WAS OKAY
Ah it feels like it's been such a long time since I played these games... I liked LBP2 a lot more than LBP the first, but both of them were pretty fun.
*Note that this game has a large amount of sexual content and some foul language. Steer clear if these things bother you.
Story:
Senran Kagura: Estival Versus is a game about high school ninjas with large breasts that defy the laws of physics. Are you still there? Because there's more. The girls from the different ninja schools and groups have been gathered together in... I don't know, we'll call it an alternate dimension where time flows differently and they are reunited with past loved ones. The young shinobi are entered in to the Millenium Festival? What is it exactly? Well it takes a while to find out, but what they do know is it has something to do with sending the deceased who have regrets preventing them from passing on. They also know that a demon of sorts will attack their world soon. In the meantime, they need to destroy each others platforms in eight days in order to win the festival and gain the rank of kagura, a highly esteemed position.
Gameplay:
Senran Kagura: Estival Versus is a beat-em up, in which you take control of one of our large-breasted ninjas and fight off other large-breasted ninjas. The game takes place over eight days with several stages, generally between five and eight, on each of those days. When first starting a stage or level, you'll need to use the story chosen character, but you can return at any time to repeat the level for better scores, to break unbroken platforms, or just replay the section of the story. When replaying the levels you're free to choose any available character. There are also a few side missions to do, and each character also gets their own unlockable personal story that contains five stages. These stories are unlocked by destroying platforms in the story stages.
There are a few gameplay mechanics for this beat-em up. You press square for a weak attack, triangle for a strong attack, O to dash/run/follow, X to jump. Combine these for added moves that unlock as your character levels up. Each character also gets three levels of special attacks that consume scrolls. L1+square is the weakest, using one scroll, L1+triangle is the middle, consuming two scrolls, and L1+O is the strongest, consuming five scrolls and only being unlocked when a character reaches level 12. In order to use the special moves, one must first "transform" in a Sailor Moon-esq transformation sequence. But, you know, with more boob. Transforming consumes one scroll and restores your life to full. Leveling up also restores your life to full and fills all of your scrolls. Scrolls are also obtained by defeating enemies, smashing breakable objects, attacking, and being attacked. You can guard with R1, perform combo moves with other teammates (if any), and enter a special high attack/low defense mode.
Aside from the beat-em up action, there are a few other things to do. You can purchase outfits and accessories and customize your characters. You also unlock more stock as time goes on for further customization options. Once you've completed a characters personal story, you'll also unlock their hairstyle for free use on other characters. You can also play the lingerie lottery which... wins you more lingerie. About 120 sets, collect them all! You can also purchase music, movies, and images with in-game currency, and you can set a favourite character to do some menu voice over work. The game takes in to account clothes ripping in fights, which alters stats, or you can visit the options menu and turn it off, like I did. If you're on the opposite end of the spectrum, you can grope at the ladies and pose them for pictures!
World:
This game actually has a wide-range of nice looking locations. It's a shame some of them are underutilized, and a lot of the same areas get reused. Areas are often highly explorable, hiding platforms away for you to find and destroy for unlockable stories. You can wall climb and jump, a necessity to get some of these platforms, and many areas have a lot of detail in them. As an added... uh, bonus, certain levels contain special zones that, if you defeat a character in it, will show you a special ending where the defeated lady flies out of her clothing and in to some compromising and suggestible pose.
Characters:
(Ordered from favourite to least favourite. Note that 4 characters are not included because they are either unlockable or not involved with the story, so I didn't get as much time with them.)
http://i.imgur.com/u1qvunG.jpgHibari: Part of the Hanzo group, Hibari is very sweet and light-hearted. She fights mostly with her own body and can grow to many times her size before stomping on foes.
http://i.imgur.com/2TN9apl.jpgYumi: Leader of the Gessen shinobi, she is very reserved and quiet, but also a very serious leader. Attacks with fans and ice.
http://i.imgur.com/kEJ74CT.jpgMurakumo: A member of Gessen, she attacks with a sword and hatchet. She wears a mask, which gives her confidence, but when she loses the mask she has trouble functioning.
http://i.imgur.com/CJiR5GR.jpgAsuka: Leader of the Hanzo academy group, she has a big heart and refuses to set it aside. She duel-wields blades and is a speedy hitter.
http://i.imgur.com/gBIAdTm.jpgYomi: A member of the Crimson Squad who attacks with a giant sword. Hates everything rich, or anything she views as an unnecessary luxury.
http://i.imgur.com/3cWHQxF.jpgHanabi: One of the three shrine maidens helping run the festival. Attacks with a giant hammer and explodes when she thinks too hard.
http://i.imgur.com/5D3AEun.jpgHomura: Leader of the Crimson Squad, she wields six blades at a time. Hot headed but very passionate.
http://i.imgur.com/oGCuvvP.jpgRyona: A member of Hebijo academy, she fights like a figure skater and uses two guns. A huge masochist.
http://i.imgur.com/cIOup3s.jpgYagyu: A member of Hanzo academy, Yagyu attacks with a parasol and can summon a squid. She has strong feelings for Hibari.
http://i.imgur.com/SbuMj6q.jpgIkaruga: A member of the Hanzo academy shinobi, Ikagura is from the upper class. She has a a strong sense of honour. She also plays BC Mask, a superhero that she performs as for children's plays.
http://i.imgur.com/vEZA0CX.jpgMurasaki: A shut-in member of Hebijo who is rather shy and scares easily. Sister to Imu.
http://i.imgur.com/RnI4DPp.jpgMinori: A member of Gessen, she is very happy-go-lucky. Loves sweets.
http://i.imgur.com/PAW83kZ.jpgHikage: A member of the Crimson Squad, Hikage is very snake like. She claims to have no emotions.
http://i.imgur.com/VEFIpkf.jpgShiki: A member of Gessen, she speaks like a "valley-girl" and enjoys blogging. Uses a double sided scythe as her weapon.
http://i.imgur.com/20EiOFI.jpgImu: A member of Hebijo, she has strong feelings for Miyabi. Older sister to Murasaki.
http://i.imgur.com/sGTu02H.jpgHaruka: A member of the Crimson Squad, she attacks with a weird floating robot. Enjoys tormenting others, is very smug, and also makes very questionable "medicines".
http://i.imgur.com/yUdZD9p.jpgRenka: One of the three shrine maidens helping run the festival. She's a very blunt and straightforward person and hates all things girly.
http://i.imgur.com/IQ13a31.jpgMiyabi: Leader of the Hebijo Academy group, she is very serious and fights for evil. Feels insecure about her age, for some reason.
http://i.imgur.com/tAN8jGj.jpgKafuru: One of the three shrine maidens helping with the festival. Hates people talking down to her, has quite a potty-mouth, and attacks with two water guns and a dolphin.
http://i.imgur.com/kfeQnFy.jpgYozakura: A member of Gessen who punches things... really hard. Has a bit of a temper on her and likes things to be neat and tidy.
http://i.imgur.com/7QkxGCk.jpgRyobi: A member of Hebijo, she attacks with a large gun. She misses her deceased older sister and is a huge sadist.
http://i.imgur.com/b6kNIrN.jpgMirai: A member of Crimson Squad, she attacks with an umbrella/tommy gun contraptions. Feels insecure about herself and lashes out.
http://i.imgur.com/lbANNDr.jpgKatsuragi: A high spirited young woman from Hanzo academy. She attacks by kicking. Loves boobs. Very molesty.
Overall:
I didn't want to like this game. I hate the boobs everywhere and the sheer amount of ridiculousness that happens with them when a character moves slightly. I hate the blatant and overt fanservice, the over-sexualization of characters, some of whom are supposed to be quite young. The success finishes being rewarding you with nakedness. That stuff bothers me. But it is a game with an all female cast and dress up, and a reviewer I trust said it was fun, so I said I'll try it. And despite my skepticism, I actually really liked this game. It was incredibly fun. It plays smoothly, there's a wide variety of characters for different styles, the dress up is pretty great. The story is absurd but later on when it gets serious, it can actually be really touching and well told. While the game is incredibly absurd with the fanservice, it can laugh at itself and I found myself very amused by a lot of the personal stories and how fun they were. It also has much more variety in levels and much more stuff to do than I had anticipated. If you're a fan of beat-em ups and shameless fanservice, I do recommend this game. If you like dress-up and female characters, as I do, but don't like fanservice... well, it's your call. You can turn off clothes tearing and put them in more modest outfits, but the fanservice is a pretty inescapable part of it. It looks great, it plays well, and most importantly, it's fun. The game is just so much fun to play. And so, in spite of myself, I ended up really liking it despite all of its issues.
Verdict:
LIKED IT A LOT
You might want to try the two on the 3DS, they're a tad more serious. They only have the girls from Hanzo and the Crimson Squad though. The characters, for one reason or another, are the main reason you're there.
Yeah, i don't think I'd ever be comfortable trying this ^^;
(Amusingly enough, Jonathan in my avatar seems to be enjoying himself)
I do actually plan to try more of the games! It's a shame they'll be missing some of my favourite characters though, but oh wellQuote:
Originally Posted by Vermachtnis
That's so accurate it hurts.Quote:
Tomb Raider for the PS3 follows the adventures of Lara Croft before she was a dual pistol wielding, badass archeologist, to when she was a... single pistol wielding, slightly less badass archeologist.
And now that you played the first one, you already played the second. Just imagine this, but with more fighting, and more painfully tedious puzzles. Though to be fair painfully tedious puzzles is what Tomb Raider is all about, so I can't even be mad.
Yeah, about Tomb Raider Reboot:
Far too much gore. I'm already sensitive towards any of characters dying. Add in a fairly realistic metal pole impaling Lara through the neck, or a tree branch impaling Lara through the abdomen... yeah, no, no no no no.
I watched Mr. Carny play the game, and he failed the very first QTE and died. I feel like the time limit was too short on some of those, he failed them quite a few times. And the combat, goodness so much fighting. The final section of the game is basically a massive melee that lasts forever. Not very tomb raider. The original games had only a bit of combat with stunning tomb design, but tombs are relegated to 'optional' status. Fighting is very much at the fore, and I really didn't like that.
And I'm with Fynn about the ninja boob game; I'd feel uncomfortable just playing this game in case someone walks in.
Note: This game contains a lot of swearing, sexual content, and some blood, gore and of course, large amounts of violence.
Saints Row: The Third is about a gang called the 3rd Street Saints. They now have their own media empire including a clothing brand and energy drink and have a movie in the works. At the beginning of the game, in a bank robbery gone wrong, the Saints have one of their own seemingly killed and end up in the city of Steelport. There, they'll have to contend with a group of gangs organized together under the banner of "The Syndicate", as well as the military itself when Steelport decides to get tough on crime.
Saints Row 3 is a lot like the previous GTA games I've played, but with a lot more of a sense of humour about itself. The dialogue is usually pretty funny and there's just a ton of silly, ridiculous stuff going on. There were zombies at one point, I don't know. It is largely open world, you have Steelport to explore at your leisure. There are the main story missions to do, split in to 3 different acts. The first is linear and serves as a tutorial to the game, and the others are more open, offering more missions to do in the order you want.
Besides story missions there are also activities scattered about and more get unlocked as you progress. These include destroying stuff with tanks, going through a sort of shooting gauntlet for a demented game show, committing insurance fraud by ragdolling yourself in to things, and a few others. You can also take on assassinations and vehicle thefts, as well as just some general challenges like traveling a certain distance, doing stunt jumps, finding collectables, etc. Your custom made character does level up by earning reputation points. You also earn cash which can be used for guns, properties, and upgrades to your characters and gang.
The game does have a decent amount of customization. You get to make your own character, male or female, and there are several clothing stores scattered about ranging from normal to comical. You'll also get to customize your homies, your weapons, and your vehicles. You'll unlock more as the game progresses and as you level up. You'll also get calls when in the city to complete mini-challenges like surviving for a certain period of time or taking out x amount of enemies. And of course you can steal cars, put on some tunes, and run over innocent pedestrians. You will have law enforcement and other gangs to contend with though.
There is also a co-op mode if you aren't a friendless loser like me and a few other modes to explore as well as some DLC levels if you wants some more gameplay. I did not get in to any of that stuff though so I will be unable to comment.
Overall I had fun with this game. It was a bit vulgar for my tastes in some parts, especially the opening, but I did like that it had a sense of humour about how over the top and ridiculous it was. There was some good voice acting and some genuinely funny scenes. I loved getting to make my own character and that I got to make a lady character especially. There was a good variety of clothes, cars, and weapons, and I enjoyed a few of the activities like the Tank Mayhem. There was also some good music. On the down side, the world felt kind of small and I would have liked more buildings to go in to to explore. I also would have liked more gang and crib customization. There were also a few glitchy spots here and there but nothing game breaking. I also ran out of stuff to do by the end and just found myself finishing up the story with no breaks in-between. But I did have a lot of fun, I do plan to replay it in the future, and I would like to try the fourth installment!
Verdict:
LIKED IT A LOT
I want to play these at some point just for the humor alone.
"Anyone shot need a lawyer?"
Story:
Atelier Sophie is about a young alchemist named Sophie (shocking, I know), who discovers a mysterious talking book one day. Why does the book talk? It doesn't know, it lost all of its memories. Don't worry though, Sophie is on the case! With the help of her friends and her new talking book, named Plachta, Sophie begins to learn more about alchemy and how to restore Plachta's memories. Plachta also tells of a special alchemy cauldron that allows anyone to use any kind of alchemy, something that might help the developing Sophie to become a great alchemist like her grandmother.
Gameplay:
Atelier Sophie shares a lot of similarities to the two previous Atelier trilogies. The game focuses largely on crafting items, battling RPG style, and gathering ingredients. Unlike most games in the previous two trilogies however, Atelier Sophie does not have any time constraints. Instead the player is free to play at their own pace. There is a date system in place, but it is to indicate monster spawning, ingredient spawning, character events, and other such things. The character will be given goals to complete, which usually involves restoring Plachta's memories by discovering certain alchemy recipes.
Synthesizing is a big part of the game. This time, Sophie learns alchemy recipes by completing certain conditions. These range from fighting certain enemies, or exploring certain areas, to synthesizing specific recipes or completing certain character requests. You will be given a book to view which will indicate how one can obtain an alchemy recipe. More recipe clues unlock the more you do. Once you get the idea for the recipe, you will be able to synthesize the item. To do so, you select the appropriate ingredients and mix them in a pot. This game has a puzzle like aspect to it, where you try to raise certain attributes by the placement of your ingredients. You'll also obtain different cauldrons which grant different bonuses. The game will generally progress to the next level once you've found a specially marked recipe.
Battles take place in turn-based RPG style. Characters get their turns to act and can do things such as use skills, attack, or use items. In this game, everyone can use items, but other than Sophie, there are only certain types of items each character can use. Some can use healing items while others can use attack items. These are synthesized. You can also synthesize weapons, accessories, and equipment. Items will need to be "equipped" on your characters before they can be used, and only 5 can be equipped per character. In battle, you'll be able to switch between defensive and offensive modes, which will allow characters to block attacks or use follow up attacks. There is a gauge that fills up as actions are taken, and high gauges allow for more character supports. Four characters can be brought in battle, although all are available to you after recruitment when adventuring and can be switched outside of battle at any time.
A few others things can be done outside of synthesizing items and battling, you can also explore, gather materials for your synthesis, accept and complete requesys for money, socialize and explore the town, build character relationships and give gifts, do character requests, and customize Plachta once she obtains a new body by deciding her outfit and stats.
World:
There is only one town in this game but it has multiple areas to visit and many shops and characters to talk to. Outside of that, you'll travel the world map via a series of dots from one location to the next, sometimes picking up perks or fighting battles along the way, until you arrive at your selected destination. Then you will be brought to the area where you can gather and fight monsters. Some areas have multiple maps to explore. There is a good variety of locations but the map is not very large.
Characters:
(Ordered from favourite to least favourite)
http://i.imgur.com/YcCM1bF.pngCorneria: A.K.A. Cory, she can replicate any synthesized item for you. She is trying to find out more about her past. Shrinks when she works too hard.
http://i.imgur.com/JmldJfb.pngSophie:A kind-hearted young alchemist who wants to use alchemy to bring joy to others.
http://i.imgur.com/eeeAYVf.pngJulio: A traveling swordsman who wants to learn more about alchemy. Has a strong sense of duty.
http://i.imgur.com/TarOzsN.pngPlachta: A talking book that forgot most of her past. Sophie helps her to regain her memories and get another body.
http://i.imgur.com/pXLHcWH.pngLeon: A top class clothier, she is very passionate about what she does.
http://i.imgur.com/7wY3LxO.pngFritz: A former mercenary, he is now a doll maker. He loves dolls with an unnatural passion and puts on puppet shows.
http://i.imgur.com/5lEambn.pngHarol: Technically a clock-maker but doesn't have much of a passion for it. Pretty melancholic.
http://i.imgur.com/QgnJyRj.pngMonika: Sophie's friend, she's a good singer and takes everything she does very seriously.
http://i.imgur.com/XID3JA2.pngOskar: Sophie's friend, he can talk to plants and often skips out on work.
Overall:
I did quite enjoy Atelier Sophie. It had a good story that really kept me invested, and it reinvented the wheel enough to keep things fresh. The battles felt a bit like a step back at first, and they are pretty simple, but they're still pretty fun. There were a lot of nice locations and I liked the new synthesis method as well as the new way to find recipes. I was very pleased with there not being a time limit again as it let me explore more freely and experience the game more without the stress of a deadline looming over me. Pure story was probably one of the most interesting to me personally out of all of the Atelier games I've played. However, it isn't the most story heavy game and a lot of the character stories are entirely optional. The cast was pretty alright, nothing bad but nothing special. The world looked really good but did feel a bit small. I would have liked more towns and a wider area to explore. I was super happy with being able to change outfits, even though it was pretty minor. The biggest complaint I have about the game though is how short it is. If you just focus on the story it is incredibly short but if you're like me and try to do most of what's available... it's still kind of on the short side. Half of my play time was doing completely optional stuff and purposely stretching it out, and I didn't like knowing for most of the time I played that I could have ended the game whenever I wanted. But overall a strong game and I would also recommend to people who've wanted to try a recent Atelier game but aren't sure where to start.
Verdict:
LIKED IT A LOT
Note that this game is a sequel to 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors, and as such contains spoilers. This review will also contain minor spoils. Avoid both if you plan to play 999 first and I encourage you to at least get caught up with the story of 999 before playing this game.
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward (which I will now simply refer to as VLR for convenience sake) is the second game in the Zero Escape trilogy. Nine people have been abducted and are forced to play a nonary game. This game has a specific set of rules which, if broken, will result in the player(s) getting penalized. What does that mean? Death. Each player has a watch stuck to their wrist. It tells them how many BP points (more on that later) they have, how long until important doors open, and, most importantly, will kill them should they break any rules. The game seems to be orchestrated by a mysterious figure known only as 'Zero', who is apparently one of the nine players. Who is it? I guess you'll have to play the game and find out!
The goal of the game is to reach 9 BP points. If someone has 9 BP points, they can open the number 9 door and escape to freedom. However, only people with 9 BP or above may exit and the door will only remain open for 9 seconds. How does one gain 9 BP? By playing the Ambidex Game! There are two groupings of people, solos and pairs, which changes after each round of the ambidex game. These people need to pair up to enter special doors. In these doors awaits some puzzle solving in order to open a safe. Opening the safe allows them to leave the room as well as collect special cards that allow them to play this ambidex game. During the ambidex game, players must choose to either 'betray' or 'ally' with the solo or pair they teamed up with. Depending on the vote, they will either gain or lose points. If they get 9 points they can leave. If their points drop below zero they die. No pressure, right?
The game has two main sections, novel and escape. During the novel sections, you will mostly be reading along with the story, visual novel style, with choices to be made here and there to affect said story. During the escape sections, you will engage in different forms of puzzle solving in order to unlock a safe, get a key to leave the room, and gain ambidex cards to play the ambidex game. If you go above and beyond in your puzzle solving, you can also unlock 'secret' files, which give a bit more insight in to the story. In each escape section will default to 'Hard' difficulty, but can change it to 'Easy' at any time if you need the extra help from your teammates. This will affect which type of secret file you can unlock though.
Not to worry if you can't complete a level on Hard right away, this game provides a handy flow chart of the story. From this flow chart, you can travel back to any previously visited section of the game, try the puzzles again, and make different choices for different outcomes. This can be done at pretty much any time, so when you want more of the story, you won't have to start all over or keep many different save files. You can also view items and files, and the game provides a memo pad for you to keep track of important information if you need to.
Characters:
(Ordered from favourite to least favourite)
http://i.imgur.com/GQOq4oH.pngLuna: A kind, soft spoken woman who seems to have some experience in the medical field.
http://i.imgur.com/3q7iWyr.pngQuark: A happy and positive young boy.
http://i.imgur.com/ijDrjLc.pngSigma: The player character, Sigma has a weird tic about cats, counts a lot, and hits on women at inconvenient times.
http://i.imgur.com/xgp6GK7.pngPhi: A mysterious young woman and the first to be paired up with Sigma. Seems to be keeping secrets.
http://i.imgur.com/JGXwzDS.pngK: A man stuck in some weird suit, he claims to have amnesia and can't remember who he is.
http://i.imgur.com/NgxOuvi.pngAlice: A woman with superb mathematical skills who has some family issues she needs resolved.
http://i.imgur.com/jLwem4b.pngTenmyouji: An older and somewhat gruff man.
http://i.imgur.com/orzIr28.pngClover: A rather odd bird who participated in the previous two nonery games.
http://i.imgur.com/cPd8tQB.pngDio: An arrogant and loudmouthed man who always seems to look out for number one.
Overall:
I tried 999 twice and both times I didn't get very far. I just didn't like it. I'm terrible at mysteries and puzzle games. But for whatever reason, I decided I would go ahead and give this one a try. And it really surpassed my expectations. The puzzles were much more approachable and the game was presented in a way that made it easy and engaging for me to follow. I really wanted to see what would happen next, to understand what was going on. There's some really well done foreshadowing thrown in there and the story is told in such an excellent way at certain points. It flows extremely well and I enjoyed how they used player input as a story telling device. I liked the visuals and Luna has quickly made her way to one of my favourite video game characters and really gave me something extra to be excited about and care about. Some of the puzzles were still a bit frustrating for me, but overall it wasn't too hard. With that being said, aside from Luna I didn't particularly like most of the characters (although I didn't dislike most of them either) and the very ending sections kind of fell flat for me instead of becoming a big "wow" conclusion as I would have liked. That is just personal opinion though and it may have all held more weight if I'd played 999 rather than reading the gist of it to get caught up. Overall though I would recommend to puzzle, visual novel, and mystery fans if you want to give it a try. It's very approachable and tells a story in a really great way.
Verdict:
LIKED IT A LOT
Such a good game. I really loved the whole theme of 'ally or betray' and with the technical improvements over 999 it was quite the joy to read. Its only major flaw is the lack of a satisfying conclusion, and it looks like that's about to get rectified in five days =)
I strongly recommend Root Double if you're looking for something similar, by the way. It has a stronger cast of characters though there's no one quite as pure and kind-hearted as Luna =P
Flower is a short and rather unique gaming experience in which you control the wind and a flower petal. The game has six levels plus a credits level. You start at the "main menu", which is a windowsill looking out over a city. As the game progresses there will be flowers beginning to bloom along the windowsill, and selecting one will bring you to that level. You start with one and more unlock as you finish the previous one. The scenery through the window will also change to reflect your progress.
Once in a level, you control the wind and the starting flower petal by moving your controller. you can turn and increase or decrease your elevation. Simply hold down a button, pretty much any button, in order to speed up. You'll go around collecting petals from other flowers. Doing so will activate little mini-scenes and checkpoints, generally by brightening up the environment and allowing you access further in to the level. Different flowers also generally represent different things or have different effects, such as illumination, an elevation boost, or simply by marking the path towards your destination. They also each have their own distinctive tone when passing through them, which adds to the music of the level.
The levels do follow a narrative as the player slowly approaches a big city. While the game begins already quite bright and cheerful, day soon turns to night, and an open field of grass and flowers becomes a city full of protruding metal contraptions. I don't want to spoil the progression too much as it is best to experience it, but slightly different gameplay is added as you go on, with former impassible barriers becoming one more thing to bring light and beauty to.
While short, I did rather enjoy my time with Flower. It's a game you can easily play in an evening and for me personally it's a great mood booster. At one point it evokes a mood of fear and helplessness for me, but then it's followed up by bringing hope and happiness. It makes me feel like things can be overcome after a rough patch. While it started out a bit "oh this is pretty", it's really in the second half that, for me, it started resonating much more. Because the game only has a loose narrative, no dialogue, and mostly conveys its story through visuals and music, I would say a lot of it is up to interpretation and the experience probably varies from individual to individual. The controls were a bit annoying to me as I'm not a motion control type of person, and it certainly isn't a heavy, action packed, or deeply involved game. But if you're looking for a neat little experience with some great visuals and have a few hours to spare, I would definitely give it a try!
Verdict:
LIKED IT A LOT
Monster loves you is a short little adventure game in which you play as a... monster. Born from the vat, your little monsterling will grow to a child, an adolescent, an adult, and possibly become an elder. Or maybe he or she will just dissolve back in to the vat, depending on your choices.
This game is mostly a read, make a decision type of deal. In each stage, you'll be given a set number of days until you advance to the next stage. Then you'll pick a little bubble which will lead you to a short text adventure of sorts. You won't really know what it is until after you've decided and you won't get to do them all before moving on to the next stage. You will be given prompts and ways to respond to whatever the event is. Depending on what you decide, you'll gain or lose some points in your stats.
There are a few stats to improve such as kindness, bravery, ferocity, cleverness, and a few others. These influence the kind of monster you have and what will happen to them at the end of their lifespan. In adulthood and beyond you can also gain reputation points, and throughout the game you can also gain another special stat depending on your events and choices. If you achieve Elder status, you'll also be able to influence monster/human relations and will get points for that as well. You'll also get accomplishments for different endings.
This game is rather short and is good to pick up here and there when you want to spend a little bit of time on a more lighthearted game. It's also pretty approachable for children if you have kids that you think might enjoy it. There is some replay value in trying different things and getting different accomplishments. Some of the possible events will also change from playthrough to playthrough.
I enjoyed this game. The only issue I encountered was that I couldn't open this game directly on the Steam library menu and instead had to go through local files. I don't know if it was an installation problem or what, but it did prevent my progress from being updated through Steam, although I still have the save file and everything. Other than that it was cute and fun and worth the short time spent with it, and it's good for just spending a few relaxing minutes with. It is on the short side and rather simplified, so don't get this looking for something deep and complex. In the end I did have fun with it, but it was nothing amazing.
Verdict:
LIKED IT
*Note, this game contains a lot of uhh... adult content. Let's leave it at that.
So in my quest to expand my gaming repertoire, I decided to play a full-on dating game. I enjoy playing matchmaker in G rated games because romance is cute, but I've never actually had an interest in the more adult ones. So why not, I said, and gave this game a try!
HuniePop is a dating sim/puzzle game in which you play as a dude or a lady and try to pick up chicks. Your characters is apparently pretty hopeless in the romance department though, but not to worry, the scantily clad love fairy is here to help you!
In this game, there are 8 women initially available for romancing and an additional four are unlockable. The game is split in to four periods of the day: Morning, afternoon, evening, and night. The time will only progress once you move from one girl to the next, making conversation and the like. Different girls have different schedules. As you talk to them, you can get to know them by asking questions like where they work, what their hobbies are, how old they are, etc. They'll also ask the questions back to you occasionally to see if you've been paying attention. They'll also ask you some personal questions, and answering to their liking will earn you more "Hunie", which is used to upgrade your stats for the puzzle aspect of the game.
Aside from talking to them, you can also give them gifts. Ones they'll like are marked with stars and hearts, and giving them gifts can reward you with new hairstyles for them. They have a hunger meter which will deplete the longer you talk to them, and you'll need to feed them to keep their attention. I can't speak for all women, but this is pretty accurate for myself, honestly. Or you can go talk to some other ladies and return later to talk to her some more. You can also give them alcohol at night which makes them more open to affection but I never did that so I can't comment too much.
You can also ask the girls on dates. After each successful date, the girls will gain a heart (up to 5), which will award you more hunie and monie. Depending on the time of day you ask them out, you'll go one one of three different dates, which will give you another outfit for them. After the first few dates they will send you uh... increasingly erotic pictures. After four successful dates, asking the girl out at night will result in an overnight visit, IF YA KNOW WHAT I MEAN!! (I mean sex time). There is some nudity, mostly of the upper region, but you won't actually be watching the deed or anything like that.
The dates are a kind of Candy Crush-esq type mini-game. There are different tokens that represent different stats (romance, talent, etc), and each girl has a specific stat she likes the most and dislikes the most. These can be leveled up with your hunie stuff. There are also three special kinds of tokens that have extra purposes, such as allowing the use of a gift on a date for benefits, or restoring turns. There will also be broken heart icons which are to be avoided at all cost. The date is won if you fill up the point bar before running out of turns. Winning the date also awards you with cash (I wish) for buying more gifts and stuff.
Characters:
(Ordered from favourite to least favourite)
http://i.imgur.com/kkgmI3I.pngBeli: A yoga instructor, she's a somewhat spiritual person and feels slightly insecure about herself. Very kind.
http://i.imgur.com/9njjShw.pngKyanna: A single mother and hairdresser, she's not afraid to stand up for herself but wants a bit more stability in her life.
http://i.imgur.com/cA5u0mB.pngLola: A flight attendant, she's pretty confident and likes to live life to the fullest. She's also very passionate about sports, especially tennis.
http://i.imgur.com/UniwkjS.pngTiffany: A college student, she's very sweet and open-minded, but she doesn't get along well with her family.
http://i.imgur.com/wQww7DE.pngAiko: A college professor who doesn't take her job too seriously, but instead prefers activities like napping, gambling, and sleeping. Very direct.
http://i.imgur.com/Du1mlou.pngKyu: Your special helper fairy, she's very crude and brass and swears a lot. Not shy in the slightest.
http://i.imgur.com/5H0sASK.pngJessie: A heavy drinking, flirtatious porn actress who isn't shy about the flirting.
http://i.imgur.com/TEKPWMv.pngNikki: An antisocial shut-in who works at a cafe, but spends most of her time brooding. Likes video games.
http://i.imgur.com/Evnxj5H.pngAudrey: Audrey is a uh... loud person who enjoys insulting others, drugs, and feeling superior to you and everyone else.
Overall the game was more fun than I expected. I'm pretty sure you can romance however many of the women you want on one save file without consequence, but Pumpkin don't roll that way so I dunno. The characters definitely fit in to some stereotype cliches, but I was surprised at how natural some of the conversations felt. I was also impressed that the game had a diverse cast of romance options and allowed you to play as a girl. With that being said, some of the text was not changed properly to suit the female character, but overall it was changed appropriately. The dating game was pretty fun. Beli was awesome. So um, I guess if you enjoy this type of game, it might be worth a check out. It does get a bit repetitive, but I had fun with it. It was pretty alright.
Verdict:
IT WAS OKAY
Story:
Fire Emblem Fates splits in to three possible paths depending on who you decide to side with. Your Avatar character (default name of Corrin, male or female), has grown up in the Kingdom of Nohr. However, as it turns out, they are originally from the rival Kingdom of Hoshido. In the Birthright path, Corrin decides to side with the more peaceful nation of Hoshido, their birth family, after seeing some of the dark things Nohr is capable of. The rest of the game centers around trying to defeat King Garon of Nohr in order to bring peace between the two nations.
Gameplay:
This game is a strategy/tactical RPG. It is divided in to chapters, and you'll gain more units as you progress. Each map has a certain amount of these units/characters that can be deployed, and some have mandatory characters that need to be used. In Birthright you can also scout for challenges in order to do some extra grinding on maps you've previously completed. Different maps have different win conditions, such as 'defeat the boss' or 'route the enemy'. Some maps will also give you items, or additional characters if you fulfill the requirements. The game also has several difficulty settings, including Classic or Casual which decides whether characters defeated in battle die or not, and a new Phoenix mode that revives characters in battle on the next turn.
Different unit types have different strengths and weaknesses. Before confirming an engagement between your unit and an enemy, an estimate of how the battle will go down will be displayed for you to make your decision. As your characters gain levels, they can also change classes or 'evolve' in to a higher class with the right items. In battles, you can pair two units together, and they will sometimes completely negate a hit for their ally. Or you can simply have two units next to each other for a support attack. Both will raise compatibility between certain characters. More on that in a bit. The battles are divided in to player and enemy turns, and character units can be used in any order during the player turn. Once they have acted though, they cannot be used again until the next turn, unless you use certain support abilities. Outside of battles, you can also equip upgraded weapons on them once their weapon compatibility increases from use.
Aside from battles, there are a few other things that can be done. You're given a castle and as the game progresses you can add and upgrade buildings and shops. This includes a few fun things like the lottery, battle coliseum, cooking, and a hot spring. As your characters fight together, they will gain affinity and will sometimes unlock support conversations which can be viewed outside of battle. Their support ranks will increase, and some characters can even get married and have kids, which can then be recruited in to your army thanks to time shenanigans. You can also visit other people's castles, and do castle invasions if you want to.
World:
There is a world map but you won't really be exploring it. You'll simply choose or be given a destination and then do battle on the smaller area maps. You do get to freely walk around your castle though and customize it to your liking by rearranging buildings and changing the theme and music. There is good variety in the battle maps to keep things interesting.
Characters:
(I will only be listing some of the important characters, not all of them, and in no particular order).
http://i.imgur.com/xwcXuFf.pngCorrin: Male version also available, Corrin is the protagonist/customizable player character. Born in Hoshido and raised in Nohr, s/he must decide who to fight with. Very soft-hearted and caring.
http://i.imgur.com/e71GbqH.jpgRyoma: Eldest brother of the Hoshido family. Very stern and upfront, but also takes care of others.
http://i.imgur.com/eebIruS.jpgHinoka: Eldest sister of the Hoshido family, she's very open and caring but also takes things rather seriously.
http://i.imgur.com/iXfSEqX.pngTakumi: Youngest brother of the Hoshido family, he has a strong distrust for Nohrians including the Corrin at first.
http://i.imgur.com/ctwXG6J.pngSakura: Youngest of the Hoshido family, she's very shy and introverted, but cares very much about her siblings.
http://i.imgur.com/NeYkzgU.pngAzura: A somewhat mysterious woman who can sing a very powerful song.
Verdict:
Birthright took a while to get in to. It didn't give me the same excitement as Awakening did. But I very much appreciated the Phoenix mode as I'm terrible at strategy games and difficulty was my chief complaint with Awakening. However, about 2/3 of the way in, I really got in to it and could barely put it down. I'm not sure why it took so long, it might be because Fates is intended to be experienced via all three storylines, so it takes a while to get to know everyone and the whole situation. The ending sections were superb. I also loved the matchmaking, as expected, and enjoyed being able to customize my own castle. The cooking was fun. Some of the characters were blatant expys, which I guess is the point, but I would have liked more unique characters as well. The story was pretty good, I liked having to make such an important decision, and with grinding I put in nearly 60 hours, meaning this is a full game in and of itself. It is a bit bummer I have to pay more to get the other side of the story, but as I mentioned, this game can stand on its own if it needs to.
Verdict:
LIKED IT A LOT
*Note that it's hard to explain some of this game without spoiling anything, although I'll try my best, so if you prefer to enter games blind, I recommend skipping this review (until after you've played, of course ;p).
(SPOILER)
Also note that I have only completed the pacifist route and have done none of the other routes, so I will be unable to comment on them.
Long ago, humans and monsters lived together. Eventually there was a war, and the humans sealed the monsters underground, where they are now trapped. Our protagonist, having ventured up the mountain of no return, falls in to the underworld and the land of monsters. This is where our tale begins. Controlling the human character, you will venture though the land of monsters, looking for a way to return home. The impression you leave on their world will be determined by your actions.
This game has two major aspects, which is puzzle solving and battles. As you make your way through the underworld, you'll be faced with a large number of puzzles to solve, so brush up on those skills. Outside of battles you'll also be able to talk to NPC's, shop, and take on a few mini quests here and there. Save points restore your health as well and they can be seen as shiny star looking things on the map.
In battles, there are a number of things you can do. You can fight enemies, which will reward you with EXP, levels, and money. The aim when choosing to fight is to click at the exact right time when your "line" hits the center. It'll make more sense if you see it. Depending on your success, you will do damage. The other option is to "act". By doing this you can check info on your opponent and engage in numerous actions depending on the foe, such as talking, hugging, joking, etc. The goal of the act is to get the enemy's name tag highlighted in the colour of your choosing, which will indicate that you can go to the mercy option and 'spare' the enemy. This will usually reward you with money, but you will get no experience. When the enemy attacks you, whether selecting fight or act, it will play out as a sort of bullet-hell mini-game where you usually have to dodge projectiles. There are a few other battle elements, such as special coloured attacks, that will be explained as you go along. You can also use items in battle and try to flee from the mercy option.
As you go along, there will be various location changes, such as 'Ruins' and 'Waterfall', that change up the scenery, opponents, and NPC's. You'll meet some characters along the way who may help you on your journey and even give you their phone number if you feel like calling them up for a chat. There's also some excellent music to be experienced in many of the locations that you find. Backtracking to view more events or go visit previously visited areas also becomes more accessible as you continue with some quicker transportation options.
Overall I would say this game is a slow burn. It was quirky and fun at first but things didn't really pick up for me until towards the end when the story really starts to unravel. The story itself is incredibly creative and touching, and it's told in a very charming and delightful way. I also quite like the sense of humour Undertale displays, and I like quite a few of the characters that you run in to. I appreciate the presence of choice available in the game as well, making it feel like your actions actually mean something and you aren't just walking along a scripted path. It makes you think more about your actions. On the downside, I wasn't a fan of the graphics, although I appreciate it was a small team that did the project. I also had a very hard time with the gameplay because I am not good at bullet hell style games. This led to a relatively short game being stretch out over a long period of time as I kept dying and getting discouraged. Overall though, I would definitely say it was a unique and enjoyable experience and I would recommend it if it seems like your thing.
Verdict:
LIKED IT
Planetarian is a short visual novel about an unnamed Junker living in a post-apocolyptic world after a great war. Toxic Rain continues to fall without end, and all that awaits the few human survivors is struggle against the elements, lack of resources, and the dangerous mechs that lay in wait for anyone who crosses their path. But our protagonist soon finds companionship at the Planetarian in a destroyed city.
The Planetarian is where he meets Hoshino Yumemi, a robot whose job it is to serve the guest at the stargazing establishment. She takes great joy and pleasure in introducing everyone to the starry sky via a projection machine named Miss Jena. As it turns out, Yumemi activates for one week every year, and has been doing so for the past 30 years despite everything that's happened in the outside world. Seemingly oblivious to the real reason why she isn't getting any customers, she and the Junker begin to bond as he helps her fix Miss Jena so she can show him the starry sky that he's never seen.
This is a short visual novel with no choices. You will simply be reading what is presented on the screen and scrolling at your leisure. You can also change the font for better reading, and of course save and load when you want to. The game also gives you a chapter index on the save/load screen so you can quickly return to the beginning of any previously read section. Upon completing the VN, you can also view the CG and music galleries from the title screen menu.
Overall I enjoyed this little VN. It was very short, but I enjoyed the quirkiness of it and I think they told the story of Yumemi the robot in a somewhat fresh way. Instead of making her entirely human as we see in many stories, you are still made aware of the fact that she is a robot and only capable of so much. This doesn't take away from her character at all, but I feel it rather adds to it as you begin to care for her for exactly who she is. The music, while nothing to write home about, did fit the setting a lot. It wasn't the prettiest visually, although that's kind of the point, and certain moments were certainly impactful because of it when they introduced more colour in to the world. It managed to be very touching for such a short story and if you like VN's and have a few hours, I would very much recommend it.
Verdict:
LIKED IT A LOT
Warning: This game and the review both assume you've played the first game and so both the game and the review will be packed full of spoilers for Tales of Xillia. If you haven't played the first Tales of Xillia and don't like spoilers, I'd advise you to play that one before undertaking the second one.
Story:
Following the conclusion of Tales of Xillia, Rieze Maxia and Elympios are in the delicate position of trying to learn to live together. A young Elympion man, named Ludger, is about to begin a job as a cook after failing yet another test to enter the flourishing Spirius company in which his brother works. After meeting a strange little girl by the name of Elle, Ludger ends up in the middle of a terrorist attack, where he finds out that his brother has more going on than he thought.
Thanks to the experience, Ludger is recruited in to Spirius as a special agent. His job? To destroy "fractured dimensions", alternate realities that shouldn't exist. With the help of the original Tales of Xillia cast, Ludger must find out more about his job at Spirius, the fractured dimensions, his brother, and the lost little girl named Elle.
Gameplay:
This game plays very similarly to Tales of Xillia and many of the more recent Tales games. You bring up to 4 characters with you in to battle of which you control one. You attack by pressing X, which charges your TP. TP allows your characters to use artes (this game's version of magic), by pressing the O button along with pointing the analogue stick in a certain direction. As you progress, you'll be able to assign artes to other commands, allowing you to use more abilities in battle. By pressing a directional pad, you can link with another party member, which allows for linked attacks when your link bar fills. You can also use items in battles, defend with Square, and set a variety of skills outside of battle on to your character which grant a variety of benefits in battle and out. Allium Orbs are used to learn new skills and artes as well, and they can easily be equipped and unequipped from any character you choose whenever you want. As you accumulate points by having it equipped, you will be alerted when a character learns something new or upgrades an arte.
Unlike in the first Xillia game, Ludger will be mandatory in your party throughout the whole game and your other characters can only be swapped in towns. Aside from the game being divided in to chapters, the supporting cast also gets their own side stories for you to explore if you wish. During most main and story missions, you'll have mandatory party members to accompany you. Also by linking Ludger with certain people, and choosing certain dialogue options, his relationship with them will increase which grants items and skills. Aside from that, you'll also have a mountain of debt to pay off (yay), be able to accept requests for money and rewards, and find 100 lost cats and dispatch them on item seeking missions.
World:
In Xillia 2, you'll be revisiting the areas present in the first game. You'll explore Rieze Maxia, which has many diverse areas, and Elympios, which looks mostly the same. You'll also gain access to a few new areas, although there aren't very many. So if you liked the world of Xillia, you'll like this one just fine. You'll also be exploring fractured dimensions, which are a one time only deal, but they allow you to view the world in a different way. As usual there are treasures scattered about, giving you something to search for as you explore the areas (not to mention finding kitties).
Characters:
(Ordered from favourite to least favourite):
http://i.imgur.com/zI6D7Lc.jpgElize: Starting to overcome her shyness, Elize is now in school and making friends. She's doing better in her life overall, but still struggles with knowing how to make difficult decisions.
http://i.imgur.com/rzPzkSM.jpgLeia: Leia has since moved on from nursing and is trying to make a name for herself in journalism. Still as spunky as ever, but she has a lot to learn when it comes to how to do her new job.
http://i.imgur.com/lFbgxKa.pngRollo: Rollo is a fat cat belonging to Ludger's family. He helps find items and other cats.
http://i.imgur.com/JM7k50N.jpgRowan: He now has responsibilities as the Prime Minister of Rieze Maxia and is an integral part of the peace talks between Rieze Maxia and Elympios.
http://i.imgur.com/4NhqHbm.jpgGaius: Still as serious as ever, Gaius now occupies the position of King of Rieze Maxia. He can't get a hang of the whole technology business though.
http://i.imgur.com/CZNKKdD.jpgJude: Since the end of the last game, Jude has been hard at work researching how to get humans and spirits to coexist in peace.
http://i.imgur.com/sLQCp9y.jpgLudger: Our mostly silent protagonist, his first day on the job is wrought with difficulties and he finds his life forever changed.
http://i.imgur.com/WAFJTLb.jpgMilla: Went on to become the new Maxwell, Lord of Spirits. But is this really the Milla we know?
http://i.imgur.com/7pY222l.jpgAlvin: Trying to clean up his life, Alvin is attempting to make a name for himself as a salesman.
http://i.imgur.com/42YT5Yr.jpgElle: A young girl who got lost after her father was attacked. Promised to go to the land of Canaan, which is said to be able to grant any wish.
http://i.imgur.com/pswMzCn.jpgMuzet: Trying to relinquish her previously evil ways, Muzet still struggles to fit in among the humans.
Overall:
So did you play Tales of Xillia and think, "Man, this would be so much better with millions of dollars of debt and an annoying kid?" No, I'm joking, but seriously, I quite liked Xillia 2. I wasn't as impressed with it as when I first played it, but it was a solid game that held my interest the entire way through. I really liked having the character specific stories, although I wish they had more variety in who accompanies these characters in their stories. The kitty dispatch was adorable and useful, and it was nice to see the cast again after what they'd been through. I liked all of the characters and the game did a good job, as most Tales game do, of allowing each to have their development and turn in the spotlight. On the other hand, having so much focus on Ludger and Elle felt rather odd and out of place, and the way they added details to the original story makes me wonder if they just expanded on the lore, or if they changed too much. The original Xillia is definitely the better game, now that I've had a chance to play both twice, but this one is worth your time if you liked the first one and want to catch up with everyone again.
Verdict:
LIKED IT A LOT
Note: I have only received the "Normal" ending of the game, which excludes an entire chapter. As such, I will be unable to comment on the final parts of the game until I go back some time in the future and complete the True Ending.
Double Note: There is a lot of sexual content and foul language. Be warned if that's an issue for you.
Triple Note: Ar Tonelico Qoga is the third game in the Ar Tonelico trilogy. You don't have to have played the first two to play this one, but you will miss some details, so do your research or play the others first.
Story:
The game begins with our protagonist, Aoto, when he stumbles upon a Revytail (magical song girl), named Saki, being chased by the big bad army. A man who had vowed to protect her lays dying as he asks Aoto to protect her, and Aoto, being an RPG hero, agrees immediately. This leads to a whole mess of situations when he and his friends meet a second Revytail named Finnel and somehow manage to get sucked in to the middle of a conflict between what essentially amounts to a human faction and a Revytail faction. How it turns out is up to you.
Gameplay:
Ar Tonelico Qoga is an RPG. You gain up to six characters throughout the game, three of which are used as your primary battle characters, and the other three are kind of backups. While your three main fighters will always be present in battle (unless story events dictate otherwise), you can only control one at a time. You can switch this from the main and battle menus at any time. You can only have one backup Revytail character in your party, however, and who you choose will decide the rhythm, music, and possible support abilities during the fight. It's also your job to protect them from harm in battle. They also have other forms, so to speak, to add some more variety.
In battle you press Square to attack, and the goal is to attack with the rhythm of the music (which will be displayed for you). Doing so will raise your Revytail's Burst gauge, which will allow for added abilities such as raising attack or defense, or increasing the amount of healing your Revytail gives out. These support abilities can be set to your liking. When you attack on beat enough, you'll be able to Purge your Revytail (which involves stripping them, for some reason), by pressing one of the assigned shoulder buttons and shaking your controller. You can unleash a Revytail attack with the X button, which will do more damage depending on their Purge level and Burst gauge. You can also open the battle menu with Triangle and do special attacks when available by pressing Square plus a directional button.
Outside of battle you can craft items, customize your heroines to a limited degree, shop, and go in to your heroine's "soulspace", which is a very intimate system wherein you dive in to their subconscious in order to form a stronger bond with them. This will allow for higher Purge levels, but costs DP (Dive Points), which are obtained in battle. You can also find conversation topics around towns, or by doing certain things in battle, which gives you additional conversations to view.
World:
The Ar Tonelico Qoga world manages to be both big and small. There's not a huge amount of areas or towns to visit and the towns are pretty small overall and offer much of the same stuff. Some of the dungeons, however, stretch on for good chunks of time and have very convoluted pathways and routes to sort yourself through. You'll also be doing a lot of back and forth. While there's a decent amount of variety, you'll be seeing a lot of the same stuff. One the bright side, the game offers you a bar that changes colour depending on how likely you are to get in to a fight, and depletes after each. Meaning that while you're navigating some of the complicated maps, you can rest assured that eventually you won't have to do battle anymore. If you want to restore the bar? Just leave the area and come back!
Characters:
(I will not be listing all characters because of spoilers. No particular order)
http://i.imgur.com/BwUBCyO.jpgAoto: Our protagonist who has dedicated himself to protecting the maidens he just met five minutes ago.
http://i.imgur.com/5VxJaMQ.jpgSaki: A Revytail. Very shy and soft spoken. Also she can turn people in to cakes.
http://i.imgur.com/77ufLWs.jpgTatsumi: Aoto's friend who tries to take the more logical approach to situations.
http://i.imgur.com/U3gPHMG.jpgFinnel: A Revytail who has a strong interest in Tatsumi. Very clumsy and quick to upset.
http://i.imgur.com/NpelaM6.jpgHikari Gojo: A reliable doctor of Revytology, he has friends in all of the right/wrong places.
Overall:
Ar Tonelico Qoga isn't really... a good game. But it isn't a bad game either. The writing is amateur, some of the voice acting is awful, and the amount of uncomfortably sexual scenes is just cringe worthy (especially when paired with the bad voice acting). The areas get repetitive, the gameplay isn't great, and the characters are all rather cliche. The story is alright. But despite all of these faults, the game is still quirky in a charming way. It's like that puppy who may not be the cutest, but watching him fall over his own paws is still kind of aww worthy. The battle system is interesting and I like how the music and rhythm change depending on the character you use. The crafting system is nifty, as is finding the talk topics. There are some visually very nice looking areas and, while I don't love any of the characters, I didn't dislike them either. I also liked that the story took a "both of these sides kind of suck but some of the people don't" approach to things instead of having a clearly good and clearly evil side. So if you can look past its faults and want to try a quirky, rather average RPG, then it's worth checking out.
Verdict:
IT WAS OKAY
I got that game because I loved the first two, but it was kinda eh. I never finished it.
Note that this game deals with a lot of more adult themes.
This game is sort of a life simulator of sorts. When the game starts, you will choose who to "have a drink with" and offer a book deal to, and the character you choose will be your character for the rest of the game. The girl I picked drank brandy, so I named her Brandy, because I'm clever like that. After you select your character, you will be choosing a romantic interest from a second set of characters. Same sex pairings are also available and some dialogue and things will actually change to reflect your relationship.
Fast forward a year and things aren't going so great for you. That book deal is kind of falling through, you're late on your rent, you don't have much going on, and, worst of all, your lover left you. They left you! And to top it off, they sent you an invitation to their wedding in a month. Now it's up to you to find a way across the country within that month in order to see your lover again and maybe even try to win them back.
That's essentially the story of the game, although it's split up in to smaller chunks of story. Like when you change towns, you'll generally have new, specific objectives that you can approach in a variety of ways. The main underlying objective is generally to get money or a ride to the next city or town. How you do that is generally up to you. Do you get in to some shenanigans or maybe illegal activity to get more money, or do you work at the temp agency jobs for a small salary? Do you pawn precious items, or keep them like you promised? These decisions, and there are a lot of them, shape the narrative of your personal story.
Your character also needs to eat and sleep, eating costs money and sleeping might unless you choose to sleep outside in certain cases. A lot of the jobs you work also serve as long, repetitive mini-games that probably feel as dull as some of these jobs would in real life. Things like planting seeds, making tofu burgers and steaks, etc. There are also some video games within the game (or knock-off versions anyway) that you can play when you want a change of pace.
Overall, it was an okay game, but it fell short in a lot of ways. I like much of the freedom you get in how you approach things, and how some things do genuinely change based on character, romantic interests, and choices, making the game a very different experience from one person to the next. Which is great! However, it's also rather depressing playing a character who struggles every step of the way for a goal that you might not even care about, because there's no option to move on from your ex and build your life back up like a healthy person. So instead you lead your character down a destructive path while dealing with others who have drug addictions, marriage issues, gambling debts, and other such issues that just kind of make it a heavy experience. While it's not a bad thing, the story can sometimes get in to extreme and silly dilemmas that don't make you think but instead just feel depressing and annoying. It's got some cute features like the creators appearing in the game, some funny moments, and some of it does feel very genuine and real. But the mini-games get dull, the story is depressing, and it doesn't feel like there's enough pay off for putting up with all of the flaws. If it sounds interesting, it's pretty cheap so it's worth a try, but in my opinion it fell short of what it could have been.
Verdict:
IT WAS OKAY
Heavy Rain is an adventure game/interactive movie centered around a mystery. You play as four separate characters as they attempt to unravel the mystery of the Origami Killer. This murderer is known for abducting children and leaving them to drown in the... heavy rain. During the story, another little boy is kidnapped, and you must rush to find clues, complete trials, and find the boy in the few days you have left before it's too late.
Being an adventure/interactive movie game, Heavy Rain is very narrative driven. You'll put yourself in the shoes of the different characters throughout the chapters, walk around, interact with things, and go through many a quick time event. You walk by holding down R2, and you'll get prompts as you go along to move your left analogue stick in any number of directions, or to press a specific button, hold a button (or several) or to mash a button. These can also be required during quick time events, so make sure to familiarize yourself with the gameplay. You can also switch to motion controls if you prefer. It can feel a bit awkward at first, but the game does give you ample opportunity to learn in low-stress situations.
Note that your actions do have an impact on the story. Some characters can die if you make wrong decisions or fail quick time events. This will impact some chapters and some of the overall narrative of the story, as well as if you rescue the little boy or not. The four characters are: Ethan Mars, depressed dad, Norman Jayden, a profiler from the FBI with some high tech gadgets, Madison Paige, a woman who gets wrapped up in the case for some reason that you find out later, and Scott Shelby, a private detective also on the case. You'll encounter other side characters as well during the story, but you won't really have direct control in the same way as the main four.
Overall it was a pretty alright game. I liked what it tried and the mystery kept me guessing. I also felt the pressure of my decisions and the time I took with them and it would certainly get my heart rate up. The setting was neat, and I enjoyed having my actions mean something. With that said, there were a lot of faults. The voice acting was usually pretty terrible, and the result of button inputs was not always clear, leading to making some decisions I didn't want. The characters were generally pretty one dimensional with the exception of Norman, I found, and they decided that Madison was usually best in her underwear or in other sexually compromising situations. It was a short game and I think an interesting play, it also had some feels moments and a good mystery. If you have some time to spare for something on the lighter gameplay, more storytelling side of things, I'd give it a try. It was alright, not a waste of my time, but definitely nothing great.
Verdict:
IT WAS OKAY
Note: Both this game and this review contain heavy spoilers for Bravely Default. If you have not yet played Bravely Default, avoid both until you have!
Story:
Bravely Second picks up not too long after the end of the first game. It starts in the heat of the action with a new threat, called Kaiser Oblivion, kidnaps Agnes. A new hero by the name of Yew must band together with his friends in order to rescue her. On his way, he meets with some familiar faces, such as Edea and Tiz, and also meets another strange girl claiming to be from the moon. As the story progresses, you'll meet some old friends/enemies, and be asked to solve some moral dilemmas for them. You'll also meet some new friends and enemies, including the bad guys who are trying to help Kaiser Oblivion in his nefarious plans. It's up to Yew (and you) to save Agnes, stop the Kaiser, and show your friends and enemies that there's more than one way to happiness.
Gameplay:
Bravely Second plays very similar to Bravely Default with a few tweaks. The Brave/Default system returns, in which you can save up moves or spend them for several actions in a row. Job classes old and new make an appearance, although this time you'll have to make some touch moral choices to decide which ones to get when. It does play in typical turn-based RPG fashion, with you and your enemies taking turns in battle, depending on your Brave Points, and of course different jobs have different skills, equipment, strengths, and weaknesses and can be changed any time outside of battle. As the jobs level up, they'll obtain new skills and abilities, and you can equip a secondary job command as well as use support commands from other jobs for more customizable parties.
One of the main new features, is the One More Time system in battle. If you complete the fight in one turn or less, by pressing L1 you can immediately go in to another fight, retaining the same HP, MP, and BP. You can continue this trend for as long as you complete the battle is one turn or less, and once you no longer can, or you choose not to, you'll be awarded extra exp, jp, and pg depending on the number of fights you completed. This makes grinding a much quicker and smoother process. You can also assign quick commands for auto-battles, turn battles off or raise the encounter rate, and a few new shortcuts have been added.
In addition, there's a new mini-game where you make stuffed toys for points, which can be used to improve your equipment for higher efficiency, and traded in for pg (money). There's also rebuilding as in the first game, which also includes another mini-game of sorts where you defend the space you're rebuilding.
World:
The world is divided in to three main parts: Dungeons, towns, and overworld map. In dungeons you will battle monsters and traverse mazish locations, generally ending them with a boss fight. Towns are where you shop and socialize and rest after that dungeoning. And the overworld map is where you travel between these locations, also fight fights, and generally explore. Bravely Second retains the same gorgeous art style, and you'll be exploring old and new locations alike. Your destination will be marked on the overworld map with a yellow exclamation point, and sidequests will be marked with a blue exclamation point.
Characters:
(In no particular order)
http://i.imgur.com/G8yptx0.jpgYew: A young man and one of the three cavaliers of the Crystal Orthodoxy, he is naive in many ways, but generally wants to do good and holds steadfast in his conviction to rescue Agnes.
http://i.imgur.com/2HZJ0PW.jpgEdea: Making a return from Bravely Default, Edea has grown both in rank and in wisdom. She's become more of a leader, although she's still a big eater and has somewhat of a short temper.
http://i.imgur.com/QXqfSFI.jpgMagnolia: A French speaking girl who claims to be from the moon, she has a special mission to defeat strange creatures known as Ba'al.
http://i.imgur.com/xIvEglG.jpgTiz: Back from the brink of death with terrible hair, Tiz has become much more confident while retaining his caring side.
Overall:
I enjoyed Bravely Second much more than the first game, so much so that I'm considering giving BD a second chance. The storytelling is excellent and ties in well with both the world and gameplay, and I found it to be much more subtle and less heavy handed than the first. I liked the new characters much more than I expected to and really grew to care for them throughout the journey. There were some great new job classes as well, and the game was made much more accessible with the new grinding system and an easy mode that was actually easy. There are difficulty settings for those who want more of a challenge, but I was glad to enjoy what this game had to offer at a pace I could keep up with without feeling overwhelmed. The locations are gorgeous as usual, and I found it to be improved in almost every way. The main negative for me is that it's easy to get burned out, which is similar to the first game, and I once again don't enjoy the nearly forcing me to be social in a game I don't care to be social in. With that being said, if you were a fan of the first, definitely give this one a try.
Verdict:
LIKED IT A LOT
Tomoyo After is a visual novel and sequel to CLANNAD. This story takes place if Tomoya pursued a relationship with Tomoyo, and follows their life starting shortly after that ending. You can play this before CLANNAD, I suppose, but you'll not understand many of the references. This VN does have choices for you to make along the way, which can lead to several endings. There is a "Best" ending if you make the right choices. There is also a completely optional side game called Dungeons & Takafumis, which is a small and rather cute little strategy game if you want to give that a whirl.
Newly working Tomoya is having a great relationship with his new girlfriend. She stays over, cooks and cleans for him, they tease each other and laugh and frolic as the young couples do. Unfortunately, Tomoyo's younger brother likes to show up unannounced and catch them in embarrassing moments while making himself perfectly at home. And oh yeah, a girl also shows up who demands ice cream and likes to make terrible jokes and also hang around like she owns the place. But wait, that's not all! Turns out that Tomoyo and her brother have some family drama when a little girl is brought to the house who is an illegitimate child of their father!
Yes, this does sound like a soap opera, but luckily is told better. Tomoya and Tomoyo agree to watch this little tyke, named Tomo because of course she is, to help prevent family drama after Tomoyo's brother, Takafumi, took drastic measures to keep the family from falling apart. Raising a child is a big responsibility though, and soon they have to make decisions about what's best for her. The story also deals with the personal stories of some of the side characters as well.
Characters:
(Ordered from favourite to least favourite)
http://i.imgur.com/yAYVUBW.pngTakafumi: Tomoyo's younger brother. He's goofy but kind and very open towards those he cares for. Big in to computers and the creator of Dunegons & Takafumis.
http://i.imgur.com/ApJIu43.pngTomo: A friendly little girl who was abandoned by her mother and brought to live with Tomoyo and Tomoya.
http://i.imgur.com/yHbsdSk.pngTomoyo: Tomoya's love, she's a very headstrong and determined person, but also very caring and much softer this time around.
http://i.imgur.com/QAairSq.pngTomoya: Our protagonist, a man who accomplishes anything he sets his mind to, but is also very goofy and not very serious until he needs to be.
http://i.imgur.com/HB5nS04.pngKanako: An old friend of Takafumi's, she's very bossy and loud and also really loves ice cream.
Overall I enjoyed this visual novel. I didn't like it as much as I did CLANNAD or some other VN's, but it was definitely worth my time. It had many feels and, although I jokingly said it sounds like a soap opera, it's very well told and has a good sense of humour about itself as well, which I really enjoyed. It made me laugh out loud a few times, so I had a lot of fun with it. Dungeons & Takafumis is also quite fun. It's definitely not to the standard of an actual Strategy RPG, but for a side game in a visual novel, it's very well done and worth checking out if you think it might be your deal. While it had its faults, it was a nice, touching story with a mostly likeable cast of characters and I enjoyed my time spent reading it.
Verdict:
LIKED IT
Ah man, Tomoyo After. I really love this game. I guess it helped that Tomoyo was already my favorite CLANNAD heroine, but geez the story of this game hit me hard. Even harder than After Story. A must-read for people who liked CLANNAD, as far as I'm concerned.
This is a short visual novel offered for free on Steam. Our young protagonist, Toma, has never felt like her own person. Ever since her name was "stolen" from her by her aunt in naming her cousin, Toma has felt rather cheated in life. Named after her grandfather, Thomas, she wonders what her life would be like if she'd had the beautiful name given to her cousin instead. Because of this insecurity, she tends to shut herself off from others and prefers the company of graves in the cemetery to most real people. Aside from her best friend Hattie.
While skipping school one day, Toma meets a mysterious girl by the name of Emmeline Burns, who tells her the sad story of how she and her family all died on the same day many many years ago. She also shares the story of herself and a young woman named Cornelia. The two were in love during a time where it was even less appropriate and accepted than it is now. They don't let this stand in their way, however, and pursue their romance as best as they can before the tragic incident that ended Emmeline's short life.
Hearing the story, Toma realizes that life is short and that, no matter her name, she is her own person. Her own person with a history of people with many lives and stories that have shaped her to be the person she is. With her newfound courage, Emmeline might just take the first step in telling Hattie how she really feels.
As I mentioned, this is a very short visual novel. I got through it in a bit over an hour. Because of that, the story doesn't go as long or as in depth as I think it could have, but it is very nice quality for a free game. The art, while not perfect, suits the setting and is still pleasing to look at. The story is very good and touching, with a nice cast of characters, and could become something great if fleshed out properly. I would love to see that in the future and would happily pay the money to read it if it should happen. There's good use of language and setting as well. It was a cute romance story, a very nice short read, and it's free so you have nothing to lose if it sounds interesting and you want to try it.
Verdict:
LIKED IT
Message Quest is a short adventure/puzzle game available for reasonably cheap on Steam. In it, you play an outside force trying to help a lazy young man named Feste. Feste, you see, is one of the people who's job it is to travel across worlds and deliver "The Call", calling heroes to action to save the day. Feste, however, is extremely lazy and incompetent, but he's the only one left to do the job. That's where you come in!
Your job is to help Feste accomplish his task. This includes dragging him where he needs to be, solving puzzles, doing battle, or a few other odds and ends. Most of the gameplay is puzzle driven. You'll put pieces together with increasing difficulty, find hidden objects, bridge dimensional rifts via puzzle solving, etc. If you want some small puzzles to help get your brain working, these is the game for you!
Aside from puzzles, you also have dialogue choices. Interestingly, you can select dialogue for BOTH sides of the conversation, which makes discussions very easy to lead towards the tone you want and most enjoy. In some cases, you'll have to select every question and respond to it, but overall there's some good variance in what you can do.
The last aspect is the battles. There aren't many in the game, but you'll be given four battle options to choose from and a description is present on each so you know what you're doing. Some require cool off periods, or give buffs, etc. It's actually fairly challenging in that you don't just mash the same command to win most of the time, and things like buffs are very helpful.
Overall I enjoyed this game. It was funny and quirky, the stained glass-esq art is very nice to look at, and there's some good sounds and music in there. It was fun to play and easy to pick up or stop as needed and didn't require much time either. It's good if you want something to play here and there with some puzzles and a more lighthearted nature. It's nothing great, but it's good for what it is.
Verdict:
LIKED IT
The Walking Dead is an interactive adventure game in which you take control of a man named Lee. When our story begins, Lee is in the back of a cop car making idle chitchat with the police officer, when suddenly all hell breaks loose, because zombies. As he's running from the awful situation in front of him, he meets a young girl named Clementine, whose parents were away when the incident happened.
Lee and Clementine travel together, trying to find her parents, or even just a safe place in this new, unsafe world. On their travels they'll meet and say goodbye to many people, some of which is dependent on your actions. In essence, this is a story about a man trying to take care of a young girl in a horrific situation.
Being an interactive game, most of the gameplay comes in the form of choices you have to make. Some choices have a time limit, which varies, and saying nothing is also an option in most situations. How you respond to things and the decisions you make will have some effect on the narrative. Sometimes it will only be a change in dialogue, and other times it will determine your companions. It will also shape people's impressions of you.
Aside from dialogue options, you'll also move around, examine things, use things on other things, shoot things, or other such actions. Most of this is done by pointing and pressing a button, although occasionally you'll need to mash a button, or hold a button. Like dialogue choices, many of these events are on a timer, so make sure you're paying attention for any quick time events. This is a largely narrative game, don' expect high action because the periods of action are pretty minimal. This game spans five episodes and supposedly will have an impact on Season 2 (although I haven't checked it out yet). You may also get the 400 Days DLC, which adds a few small side stories to playthrough as well.
Overall I really liked this game, much more than I was expecting to. I won't list characters as to not spoil anything, but I found them to usually be fairly well written and believable. The moral choices were great and it really had you explore some of the things that might happen in a disaster scenario and the difficult choices that might need to be made. It was really touching and at time heartbreaking, and I couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen. It was a game I didn't want to put down, and I'm excited to try season 2. I really wasn't expecting to like it too much seeing as how I don't like the show, but it was actually really excellent, and if these interactive adventures are your cup of tea, I would highly recommend it.
Verdict:
LOVED IT
Glad you enjoyed it, I sometimes like to think you're the Lee to my Clementine, Pumpkin! :zombie:
Muramasa Rebirth takes place during the Edo period in Japan and follows two separate stories. One is the story of Momohime, who has her body snatched by a vengeful rōnin. The other story follows Kisuke, an amnesiac hero. Central to the plot are "Demon Blades", Samurai blades that lust for blood and force their wielders to go on killing sprees before driving them insane.
You can play through both stories simultaneously or in whatever order you choose. When starting up the game, you get to choose difficulty and story, so you can rotate between the two stories if you wish, or play one after the other, or whatever order you prefer. There are two difficulty settings, and completing the game on the harder setting will unlock an even harder difficulty (not that I would know firsthand).
In this game, you'll control your protagonist through different maps, fighting off enemies like Samurai, Ninjas, demons, and the occasional evil pheasant. Exclamation marks will appear when a battle initiates. Pressing Square will attack, X will jump, Start will open the menu. In battle, you can also guard by holding the Square, and deflect projectiles by pressing Square at the right moment. You can also use the arrows in conjunction with Square for additional attacks, and holding and then releasing Square will allow you to use another attack that is effective for breaking Samurai blades. Pressing O will unleash special blade skills. Pressing the down arrow will use an item.
As you deflect, guard, and use your blade skills, their "HP" will deplete until they "break". When your blade is broken, you're much more susceptible to damage. Pressing Triangle will switch to another blade. You can have up to three blade equipped at a time, along with one accessory. Different blades play slightly differently and have different skills. As your other blades are sheathed, they will restore themselves slowly to be used again. Collecting souls by defeating enemies, or finding them in the environments when outside of battle, will also help to restore them.
Outside of battle, you can also cook items to be used for healing in battle and out. There's a fullness gauge and more food cannot be consumed until the bar has depleted. There are also items you can buy that do additional things. You can also buy maps and recipes from vendors, eat at restaurants to restore health, and rest at hot springs. There are also challenge caves with a recommended level to tackle if you choose. You can also forge blades using souls and other points you gain from using restorative items. These are on a "tree" like system, so the stronger ones cannot be forged until you have enough points, have forged the blades before them, and sometimes have unlocked story event blades. You'll be given a large map, as well as smaller maps, and the game will always point you in the right direction to progress the story. Treasures will also be indicated on the map, and barriers will be up that cannot be crossed until certain bosses are defeated.
Overall I did really like this game, more than I expected to. As you can tell from the write up, it's a very gameplay heavy game, and the story is more of a background. Speaking of backgrounds, this game is absolutely gorgeous. Some areas are repetitive, but you probably won't even care because almost every scene is a work of art. The game itself is a bit slow and repetitive, but picking it up to play for a half and hour to an hour at a time is both engaging and relaxing. It's also not incredibly long, especially if you only do one story. So if you're looking for a beautiful, gameplay focused experience to pick up and play in short bursts, this game is definitely worth it. It manages to be simple and complex in pretty much every aspect, and I very much enjoyed my time with it.
Verdict:
LIKED IT A LOT
That IS a prett game! :O Reminds me of Odin Sphere!
They're both made by VanillaWare.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fynn
A Link Between Worlds is a spiritual successor of sorts to A Link to the Past, and takes place further in to the timeline. As I have not played ALttP (YET), I won't be able to comment much on what the similarities and differences are.
In this game, you take control of a young hero named Link (please, try to contain your shock), as he essentially tries to save Hyrule and Princess Zelda. You see, there's this fellow named Yuga who is going around sealing the seven sages in to paintings. While trying to stop him, Zelda also suffers the same fate, and Link... well, instead of being stuck, he can now merge in to walls and shimmy around on them unless there's an obstruction.
Using his newfound powers, Link is able to go through cracks (teehee) that he finds throughout Hyrule in order to enter the mirror kingdom of Lorule. Unlike Hyrule, Lorule is not doing so great and is overcome with darkness. This is where Yagu resides and where he's hidden the seven sages that need to be freed.
If you've played a Zelda game, you'll probably be pretty familiar with the gameplay in this one. You go around attacking things with your sword, finding rupees, breaking people's jars and cutting grass, etc. You can find heart pieces, four of which make a heart, and full heart containers to up your life. Your equipment can also be upgraded, and you can play a few mini games and look for some cute little critters in exchange for item upgrades.
There are some differences from the average Zelda game. The first was mentioned in that you can now merge with walls. This is integral to a lot of the puzzle solving that you'll need to do throughout the maps and dungeons. Secondly, items are rented from a dude who takes over your home to open up shop. If you die, he takes the items back and you'll need to go rent them again. Later on, you can also outright buy them for a higher cost.
As usual, dungeons are a large part of the game. You'll enter quite a few in your journey, each of which requires specific items. ALBW goes back to the Zelda routes by being an overhead view without the ability to jump, and also in allowing more freedom of progression. You can tackle most of the dungeons in any order you want to, and the game doesn't really hold your hand as far as telling you where to go or what to do. It just gives you a list of destinations and lets you figure out the rest. Whether that's a positive or a negative is up to you.
Overall I really liked this game, more than I was expecting to. I actually prefer more direction in my games, and this one kind of leaves you on your own past the beginning sections. This did lead to some frustrating moments where I got stuck, but I actually found myself liking the freedom of deciding what I was going to do when, and at what pace I was going to progress the game. While some of the puzzles were frustrating, they were pretty fair and did a good job at making sure you thought things through and became familiar with your various gadgets. I also enjoyed the story, especially at the end, and it was a very nice game to look at. The item rentals made me nervous at first, but it wasn't unmanageable by any means, and the dual worlds to explore was a neat idea. So yeah, if you enjoy Zelda games, definitely give this one a try!
Verdict:
LIKED IT A LOT
Read Only Memories is a cyberpunk point and click adventure game. It takes place in San Francisco (Neo-SF) in 2064, where robot companions and devices are common place. Neo-SF is a bit on edge, however, because of all of the technology present in their lives. Some people, called "Hybrids", have augmented themselves with technology. Others view this as wrong and demeaning to humans, and go by the name of the Human Revolution to stop them.
You play a journalist (name and gender up to you) who is approached by a small bot named Turing. Turing claims to be the first sentient ROM, and he's in trouble. His creator, and your friend, Hayden has gone missing. Our little blue friend suspects foul play and needs your help in finding him and figuring out who kidnapped him and why. Along the way, you'll be encountering a coulourful bunch who may also help you find what you need if you play your cards right.
Since this is a point-and-click game, most of what you'll be doing is... pointing at things and clicking options. You can observe things, talk, use items, and touch, depending on what it is you point and click. You'll be given items and find some along the way to help you on your adventure, and you can interact with other things using certain items. There is of course puzzle solving, and it comes in a few different forms. There's also a mini-shooting game as well.
Talking is another big aspect of the game. Choosing to say or not say certain things can affect your story and who helps you or not. Choosing the order to do things in and who to place your trust in can also affect some of the story. This is a mystery, after all. The game is pretty easy to progress as most of the time you'll have your next destination marked on your map. You can also save or load at any time unless talking or in a scene. There are a few other quirky things to do here and there as well when you want a bit of a break from the story.
Overall this was an excellent game, and I liked it much more than I expected to. It starts off a bit slow, but it becomes very engaging and touching and does a good job of mood setting. I haven't played many point-and-click adventures and this one was pretty forgiving if you're new to the genre like me. There's a really good cast of characters and the game also has a pretty good sense of humour. It's good to play in small bursts or for a while if you're itching to see what happens next. Also, if you're looking for and want to support games with more gender and sexual diversity, I would definitely recommend giving this one a try if you want something story heavy. I was pleasantly surprised and very much enjoyed my time with it.
Verdict:
LOVED IT
I'm glad you liked A Link Between Worlds! I thought it was a fantastic entry. I actually completed it three times straight when I first got it. It was probably overkill as I've not had the urge to go back to it. Now I have a New 3DS I may fire it back up again!
Well this looks really interesting!
Man am I grateful for short games during school time!
Brothers is a story about... brothers. End review~! No, but really, these two brothers lost their mother, and now their father is ill. It's up to our two heroes to embark on a dangerous journey to reach the tree of life and return with his cure. This game has minimal dialogue, and what it does have is a made up language based on Arabic. This means that a lot of your journey will require you to question and use your imagination to understand the story fully.
In Brothers, you will control both brothers, usually simultaneously, using the left and right analogue sticks, and the L2 and R2 buttons. You can also usually rotate the camera with the L1 and R1 buttons. It is very linear and you will be guiding the boys down a set path with a few side paths here and there to explore. By pressing the left analogue stick, you'll move the older brother, and pressing L2 will allow him to "interact" or "act" depending on what's near him. The little brother controls the same but by using the right analogue stick and the R2 buttons.
You'll encounter a few minor puzzles that need solving here and there by learning how to use the brothers in tandem or playing to the strengths of one or the other. Little brother, for example, can fit in smaller spaces, whereas older brother has more strength for moving things. It is a bit awkward to control them both at once at first, but you'll definitely get used to it and it will feel more natural as you progress. You'll learn who to use and when and begin to pick up on the cues around you as to what to do next. And if you don't quite get used to it? No worries. Most of the time you can just try again at the exact spot you weren't successful.
That's pretty much the gist of the game. It's mostly about exploring the world with the brothers as they try to save their father. Their struggles and victories, the people they meet and the obstacles they face. There's not much combat per se, although you will encounter some not friendlies and need to defend yourself. A few of the puzzles might stump you for a bit, but it shouldn't take long to overcome them, and all in all, it's a relaxing, interactive experience instead of a more action-packed type of game.
Overall I loved this game. As I mentioned, it's very short and low stress, so it's nice to play when you just want to decompress with something touching and yet engaging. It's also short enough that replaying it will probably feel like going back to a movie you enjoy, rather than feeling like you have to commit a long period of time to replaying a very linear experience. The environments and sounds are gorgeous and it all fits together cohesively to tell a story and build a world without needing to rely on dialogue. Also, get ready for some feels because there will be much feels of both the good and bad kind. So if you want to try playing a touching little adventure game about the bond between two brothers, absolutely give this a try.
Verdict:
LOVED IT
Eternal Senia is a short, free-to-play ARPG. In it, you play as the protagonist, Senia, who has entered the Tower of Eternity. She is looking for her 'sis' Magaleta, a sister of the Church. The Tower of Eternity provides the power of Eternity, a power that can grant any wish. However, in exchange for using this power, one can never leave the tower. Will Senia find Magaleta in time, or will she succumb to the curse herself?
If you've played an old school Ys game, the gameplay in this might feel rather familiar. You attack by simply "bumping" or walking in to enemies. It will do damage to them and they will do damage to you in the process. HP and MP restore over time, so sometimes you just need to watch where and what you're bumping in to. There are also abilities that can be used with the Q, W, E, and R buttons as you unlock them during the story. These use MP and generally provide benefits such as group attacks, or a stronger attack while avoiding damage. Two of these skills can also be used to great effect outside of battle.
In addition to combat, which is a major part of the game, you can also craft and upgrade your equipment and level up your abilities. When an enemy is defeated, they will generally drop a crafting resource. Each area of the tower offers new lines of equipment and weapons to be crafted using the item drops. Certain mini-boss type enemies will drop special items for the higher levels of equipment. The highest level items of that area require just enough special gems that you'll only be able to craft exactly one of each by defeating mini-bosses, so spend your resources wisely. You'll also find books which will up your stats permanently (you can use up to 4 of each type), and pages. When you find 4 of the same pages, you'll make a book. You upgrade your abilities by simply spending the points gained from defeating enemies.
The game isn't very long, and there are only three major dungeon areas to go through, plus a beginning tutorial section. At the end of each section, before the boss fight, you'll find three quest givers. By defeating a certain number of each type of monster, getting the best equipment for the area, and finding all of the chests, these three will give you additional rewards. Be aware that fighting and beating the boss will move you on to the next level with no way to return, so make sure you do all of this while you can (if you care).
Likewise, each area has a "bonus" dungeon area that will help you find some higher level crafting resources and ends with a mini-boss section. The rooms before the boss section in these are randomized but can also give special treasure chests and are a great way to grind. The monster count in here doesn't seem to count for the quest, however, so you'll need to fight the enemies outside of this to complete those quests. These bonus dungeons can be done as many times as you want before leaving the area. Save points in this game also act as transport markers so you can quick travel to other areas of the level.
There are a total of three endings, all of which are pretty bittersweet. The way to determine which ending you get is decided very close to the end of the game, so you can just make some extra saves and not have to worry about restarting the whole thing to get the other endings. Which one is the "best one" is probably pretty subjective. In addition, by completing a small survey linked at the end of the third ending, you'll unlock a code to do some bonus dungeons, but I haven't done that myself yet. Eternal Senia also has difficulty settings for those who want a challenge or a more easy going time of it.
I'm consistently impressed with free-to-play titles on Steam, and this one is no different. It's pretty short, not the most complex, and the translation is... well, awful. But it has a lot of heart, a sweet story, and is very fun to play. If you want a touching little story with some fun, old school Ys style of gameplay, absolutely you should check it out. And I mean, hey, it's free. I would easily have payed money for this game so it's very easily worth the price of free. It's not the best game you'll ever play but it'll be worth the five-ish hours of your time, and I would love to see a more fleshed out and better translated version come out in the future.
Verdict:
LIKED IT
Story:
Golden Sun follows the story of a young adept (essentially a magic user) named Isaac. His peaceful village living is interrupted immediately as the story begins with the sacred mountain going a bit crazy. A while after this, Isaac and his friends Garet and Jenna head on up the mountain to investigate with their scholarly old friend. There, they find Jenna's brother who seems to be working for the "badguys". The badguys are using the four elemental stones to light the matching lighthouses and presumably bring about bad things. Also, they kidnap Jenna. Isaac and Garet then set out on a journey across the country to stop the baddies and find out why their old friend has turned to the dark side.
Gameplay:
Golden Sun is a JRPG. You walk around dungeons, towns, and the overworld map. Dungeons and the overworld will lead to random battles. Here, you can attack, use items, defend, and all of that normal JRPG good stuff. The magic in this game is referred to as "Psynergy" and it works in a bit of a unique way. As you travel, you'll be able to collect "Djinn", which represent one of the four elements (Mars, Venus, Mercury, and Jupiter). From there, you can assign these Djinn (up to 7 of each flavour) to your characters and "set" them. Doing so will change the character's stats, available psynergy, and job class. Mix and match to find out what works best for your team, or just keep everyone with their natural elements, it's up to you!
The Djinn also serve another purpose in battle. You can use your Djinn to perform additional attack and support skills. However, doing so "un-sets" them from your character. This will add a little elemental notch to the battle, depending on what kind of Djinn you used. These little elemental notches can be used to "summon" for a very strong ability. The more Djinn you use, the stronger the summon options available to you will become. However, when you un-set your Djinn by using them in battle, all of the skills and stat bonuses they gave your character will be removed. They'll also need a cool-off period after being summoned before they can be set again.
Outside of battles you can socialize, shop, do some bonus dungeons later on, and a few other things. At one point there will be a carnival/casino where you can gamble and play mini-games. Certain Psynergy can also be used outside of battle to help you find hidden places and secrets, and you'll even gain the ability to read mind if you choose to.
World:
The world is, overall, rather small since you're only exploring one country. It doesn't really feel small though and you'll have a variety of places to visit over a decent period of time. It's also pretty open at certain times in terms of where you can explore and in what order, and it rewards exploration by giving you hidden stuff like Djinn to find. Most of the game also allows you to backtrack and go back and visit previously visited places when you have new Psynergy to try out or new things to report.
Characters:
(In no particular order)
http://i.imgur.com/8kkQAzm.pngIsaac: Our mostly silent protagonist, Isaac is a Venus Adept on a mission to save the world and find his friends.
http://i.imgur.com/1SXy38F.pngGaret: Isaac's BFF, Garet is a Mars Adept who is usually rather rash, although he means well. He also really wants to rescue his friends.
http://i.imgur.com/xNU3Z3R.pngIvan: A young Jupiter Adept on a rescue mission of his own. He can read minds and is a very smart and level-headed young man.
http://i.imgur.com/PETT2az.pngMia: A Mercury Adept, Mia is very sweet and kind-hearted and comes on your journey to help save the world.
Overall:
I really enjoyed Golden Sun. It was rough around the edges in a lot of ways and was pretty short for an RPG, but it was cute and very fun. I really liked the Psynergy system and experimenting with it to see what I would get out of my characters. The summon system was a neat double-edged sword that made me think through my boss plans beyond just spamming my best moves. The battles, while not the most engaging, were fairly entertaining. I loved how the magic system is integrated so well in to the story and the game. Instead of just having people who can use magic and never mentioning it, it plays heavily in to the narrative, and you even get to use it outside of battle for extra function. The story was interesting and makes me excited to play the second part, and I liked the characters pretty well, even if it was a small cast. It was also just super adorable. Overall I had a lot of fun with it and would recommend JRPG fans give it a try.
Verdict:
LIKED IT A LOT
I have decided that for now I will not be updating this thread for a good while. I'm actually working on some top games lists in different genres and would like to take a break between writing reviews for this and writing reviews for that. Thanks for reading :D
Alrighty, looking forward to it~ :)