#love how they expanded on the random dungeon dialogue from 5

[bluesofberries]

junpei do you have something you'd like to share with the class

[lazzledazzler]

Lazzle's Rune Factory 5 Review

Alright so here are my thoughts and experiences with RF5! This is a big boy so buckle in earthmates...

Obviously this review will contain spoilers, read at your own risk.

Initial thoughts upon playing...

Great opening! I enjoyed the jazz music~ I did feel like it leaned a bit more towards the male player though. It definitely feels like a rune factory game. It's familiar, and controls are easy to get accustomed to for the most part. The mold is there and rf5 doesn't stray too far from its predecessors which is comforting for veterans. That being said, I'm not going to pull any punches and will critique this game harshly. Keep in mind as updates for the game are released not all things discussed in this review will be as relevant overtime!

Let's hear some thoughts on...

The story/plot. The plot is enjoyable overall. I'm not crazy about the whole Seed organization thing but it was a neat idea. They address the Sechs Territory and it is confirmed that the game takes place some decades after RF4. But by the end of it, I didn't feel like I really accomplished anything because it felt like I barely did anything really. Also they left a lot of stuff unanswered. I'm not even sure I understood the message they were sending, if they were trying to send a message at all. The main story is too short, and it doesn't involve enough of the townsfolk. You're basically doing everything yourself in secret the whole time and the townsfolk barely know what's actually going on. Out of the love interests, Lucas plays the largest part in the story, followed by Priscilla and Scarlett. The story feels targeted at male audiences--at least that's how I felt. You, the player, have a larger role in the game, much like in RF3 and I was glad to see this. As of right now there are only two arcs. Praying for DLC 3rd arc...!

Protagonists. The latest protagonists to join the crew of Earthmates are...decent. Their designs are nothing special unfortunately, though I appreciate Alice's more than Ares's. Appearance-wise they lack personality and creativity. Personality wise I am pleasantly surprised with how sociable they are. They're not exactly quick witted and sassy like Lest/Frey were in rf4, or as endearing as Micah in rf3, but they have a certain realness to them that makes their reactions to things believable. I'm certain Xseed will see to making them a bit more sarcastic in their localizing efforts, so let's all look forward to that. Overall though, while I appreciate their mannerisms, they don't really measure up to all the previous amnesiacs we've grown to love over the decades.

Characters. Overall I enjoy all the characters introduced in Rune Factory 5! I feel like there is someone for everyone in this game on some level. The voice acting was pretty good for every character. The designs are very much Rune factory. Like OG runefa, compared to rf4 ( 4 kind of strayed from their usual style) which I like. Characters still have their own signature quirks that you find endearing. Although I would have liked to see more variety? Like we've had mermaids, univir, half monsters, vampires, etc in previous titles but rf5 only gives us the usual (half) elf, dwarf, and then a succubus (physically she doesn't have unique features aside from the ears and heart eyes), and some were-people. I was hoping for something more unique to really give that classic runefa vibe.

Dungeons/Battles. I'm pretty split on this one. On the one hand, the dungeons have more depth due to the 3D aspects. They've included more contraptions that are very fun to see even if they aren't executed that well. So I'm grateful for that. On the other hand, the dungeons are insanely short imo. It doesn't take long at all to get to the boss. The puzzles are also pretty subpar and few compared to RF4. Fighting monsters is similar to the other games. You can lock on now but I only use it when I'm trying to use my Seed Circle. The lock on feature is actually counter-intuitive and makes it harder to dodge. Weapon mechanics have shifted a bit. There’s a feature that makes you invincible to damage if you time the R button dash correctly. Axes and Hammers are significantly slower than in older games? Like. I thought I was in slow motion it was so slow. Lances are also harder to use as well? I'm questioning my sanity here. I don't know if it's a bug or intentional either.

Farming. Not much has changed from previous games mechanics wise. They added new types of special crops which is neat. The camera view changes to overhead when you go near your fields though, and it can make you dizzy/uncomfortable. It actually makes it a bit difficult to see at times so I wish there was a way to adjust the angle. If you are tilling corn or dried weeds to improve the soil, you need to place them separately if you don't want to use the entire stack. Otherwise, it will till the entire stack on the land if you place them all down at once. The flower shop is unlocked late in the story. Weird thing to do considering you need flowers to make medicine. Not to mention the fact that you wont have access to the fertilizer that increases defense against typhoons? During typhoon season? Thinking emoji...

The town. I have to say Rigbarth's design is poor compared to Sharance, Selphia, etc. It's too big and it takes too long to get around. Everything is too spaced out and there aren't enough warp points to make it easier on players. I don't want to walk an entire mile up a hill to talk to one person and then walk all the way down to the beach to speak to another. It doesn’t really feel like a ‘town’.

OST/BGM. Music was good, though nothing really stood out to me where I'd go "damn this slaps" or something. I think they might've had some old soundtracks from rf2 or something because it felt really nostalgic at times.

We need an exterminator. (Bugs Bugs Bugs)

Marvelous, I don't know how to tell you this buuut...your customers are NOT your testers. When you release a game, you need to make sure it's not littered with glitches because customers don't enjoy dealing with them and will drop the game!

Here are some of the types of glitches I encountered:

Crashing. Game would randomly crash or freeze and close at any moment. Sooooo frustrating! Sometimes you get lucky with the autosave feature, but the autosave only activates every morning at 6am in your room and then when you warp to a dungeon level/floor. So when you're in the middle of your daily tasks in town and it crashes, you have to start all over. Marveloussss no one enjoys losing their progress in a game I promise you that much.

Lag. The dialogue bar is seriously slow, especially after loading your file. Crafting/Cooking screen lags. When you press the Y button to skip through dialogue it lags like hell. Pretty much after every time you load the game will lag, the audio will lag if you're in a battle, everything is just. so. slow.

Repeating dialogue. So if you close your game entirely (or if it crashes) naturally you'll reload your file to continue where you left off. There's a bug that will cause all NPCs to repeat the last dialogue that occurred from whatever plot related thing you did last. So for example, if the last thing you did in the story was unlock Ludmilla, everyone in town will naturally have some dialogue about her. But even after seeing all this dialogue and even saving, if the game is closed and reloaded you'll have to read all that dialogue again from townsfolk. It got really annoying after a while.

Monster taming. One time I tamed a monster but once I named it and hit 'ok' the monster never showed up in my barns? Just. gone. Okaaaay then...? Additionally, I expanded one of my monster barns but all of the monsters I tamed wouldn't appear in the added room. You get 4 monsters for each room but the monsters I tamed would show up in the original room. Meaning I had like 7 monsters in one room! I tried to bring them into the newly added room but they would just warp back to the other room. Sad.

Pond Glitch. I fished in the pond located in Sasayaki Forest and left the fish I caught but didn't want laying around the water's edge. If you leave fish around the pond's edge and go to sleep, the next morning you will be teleported to the pond and trigger the fairy dialogue as if you had thrown all of the fish into the pond??? So the dialogue of her telling you she wants 'X item, not this!' will trigger over and over for all of the fish you left at the water's edge. RIP.

Party member Bug. I had Martin in my party and I made him leave. Then when I went into my monster barns to get a monster pal to join me instead it showed me Martin's portrait???? Also I've encountered a bug where I can no longer ask anyone to join my party for some unknown reason. The R &L button prompt was just gone when I reloaded.

Errors. When cooking or crafting, the dialogue box shows up sometimes...

Typos. Random average typo here and there. Not a real biggie but there is one instance where the heroine will use the japanese male pronoun "boku" instead of "watashi" which really convinced me that this game was completely intended for men lol.

Let's talk about Pros

The good stuff. The stuff that makes you all warm and fuzzy inside.

Plot Advancing. Now I'm gonna put this as a pro because I'm certain the average player will enjoy this even though I do not. There are now markers on the map to show you where to go to advance the plot. This is all well and dandy, but it also made the story less appealing for me because you don't need to go around town and speak to residents for clues or assistance to advance anything in the story.

3D Graphics The 3D models are all amazing. The interior designs of the houses/buildings are also incredibly detailed and realistic.

Collecting items. Now there's a feature that will allow you to collect items into your inventory just by walking over them. This is pretty neat and welcome for the most part. Once the item is sparkling, you can walk over it and it'll go into your rucksack automatically. This also makes lumbering and mining go much faster. Yay!

The miraculous L pocket. Now you can customize the categories that appear in your L pocket by going to the rucksack tab in the menu. This is a super neat feature that makes things easier on players who want to manage their items in a format that suits them.

Weapon/Tool Toggling. You can now toggle between your equipped weapon and tool by pressing the left or right buttons on the trackpad.

Collecting lumber/material stone. Oh lord this is probably the most welcome improvement moving forward from the previous game. You can now put all of the lumber and material stone from your inventory into its storage at once. This also applies to fodder for tamed monsters. Well done Hakama.

Autosave. This feature is a welcome addition to the series. The game will save your data every morning and every time you enter a dungeon. Autosave has really saved my ass a few times when I made a huge error in judgement so I'm incredibly grateful for this feature. And it doesn't save over your actual save file--there's a separate autosave file at the very top. So if you messed up something but already saved on your main file, you can still salvage your mistake by reloading the autosave! I just wish it activated a bit more often sometimes.

Warping. Now we can warp to each level in a dungeon as well as certain places on the map in town. It's pretty convenient for the most part.

Increased party members. Now you can have up to 3 members in your party! Hooray! Party members act more intelligently than in older games. Scarlett can use the Seed circle to assist you in fights. I think she also tosses healing potions at you occasionally. So far, no one has tossed a dish at me if I haven't eaten like Kiel and Clorica did in rf4. But I have been hit by a failed dish (from reinhardt?) and a healing potion (from scarlett). Scarlett, Priscilla, and Reinhardt are the most helpful when dungeon crawling in my experience. Some of them however, (looking at you Doug) don't shut the hell up with their one line of dialogue they have and repeat it constantly.

Seed Circle. This neat feature allows you to capture monsters. By charging it and releasing you can capture monsters for the bounty system or add them to your party temporarily. If you throw it without charging it, you can stun monsters in place momentarily or grab things from far away. When stunning monsters, it can also give you the monster's drop item occasionally. Unfortunately it uses a lot of RP so it can be difficult at times.

Combo attacks. This is a neat feature that I appreciate and use often for boss fights. They do some serious damage so it's good to save them for the bosses. The actual cutscenes aren't that impressive, and feel kind of subpar when you get down to it but I think it's a start in the right direction.

Farm Dragons. I'm listing this as a pro although I really just see it as a new feature. Farm dragons have fields on their backs that you can place monster barns on and farm on. Giving them certain crystals will give your fields boosts in certain criteria, like length of growth, soil quality, you get it. I personally don't use the crystals because I couldn't give a shit lmao I have men and women to woo here. But if you're into this kinda thing then it's a pro.

Storage. When opening your storage box, fridge, etc. you can actually hit the R & L buttons to switch between ALL of your other storages. Looooove thissss. Great addition. So much faster to put items away in their respective places.

Crafting/Forging. Now we can also use the R & L buttons to alternate between the different weapon types/accessory/gear types instead of having to exit the menu and going back in each time you want to make something different.

Cooking. More recipes have been added. Yay!

Days are longer now. More time to get shit doneeeee ayyyy

Fishing. They've added many more fish to the game! Now the player will shout something when you get a bite, making it easier for you to hit B at the right moment. Nice. Also if you fail or press B too early, the fish doesn't vanish most of the time. Also nice. There is now a feature to fish with another person's assistance. Once a day you can investigate the sign near the fishing station and someone might offer to lend you a hand. Press the B button at the right moments on the slider and you can get a rare fish that can't be caught normally.

Monsters. New types of monsters! Love the designs. Even the monsters that are the same but just have different skins are really neat. They look great in the 3D format too. You can even ride with up to two people on certain monsters! Some bosses had awesome designs while others...were bad.

New Types of Furniture. The carpenter store has a wide arrange of furniture you can buy for your home. It also has wallpapers and stuff which is really neat. Though unfortunately you can't even sit on some of the furniture so that's a shame.

Events. Now there is a system where events are triggered by approaching an icon on the map. This is probably an improvement to RF4's randomized system, though personally I found it annoying because it meant that I had to see the events before I could just enter a building normally. Sometimes I just wanted to get shit done and not have to read through walls of text for someone's love event when I just want to buy something.

Voiced Lines. The protagonist seems to have more voiced lines, as do other characters. Good!

Let's talk about Cons

Not including glitches. Oh boy. So many cons. Where do I start?

Dialogue. Probably the most notable con in the entire game. The dialogue is drastically minimal in comparison to previous games, especially rf4. There is probably a quarter of the amount of dialogue compared to rf4's insane amount of content if not less. Townsfolk repeat themselves. Often. Too often. Am I playing Harvest Moon? Originally I thought it was because the dialogue is randomized, but I think it's actually because more dialogue is unlocked as you raise townspeople's FP. Despite this, there's no linear build up where you start off as acquaintances and eventually become very close like in rf4 because of how sporadic the LP/FP is. Townsfolk don't even talk to each other. One of the greatest perks about runefa is the conversations townsfolk can have with one another. Residents randomly gathering in small groups to talk about anything. Previously you could add someone to your party and sometimes a dialogue will occur if you speak to the right person at the right time with that person in your party. This is nonexistent now. The only time they do this in rf5 is during the festivals. But, it will only trigger if you have unlocked all the characters in each marriageable lineup and they can't be in your party. The residents will talk about one another but that's pretty much it outside of town events. They got rid of all the minor dialogue that occurs too. Trying to sleep in someone's bed while they're right there? They wont comment. Inspecting objects in stores while the shopkeeper is present? Wont say anything. Take a character with you to a dungeon/boss fight? Their lips are sealed. Where's my sense of community? :(

FP/LP This ties into the dialogue issue. The rate at which LP/FP increases is sporadic as hell. You can go from 1FP/LP to 4FP/LP just by giving a gift sometimes. I wouldn't even speak to people and their affinity increased by like triple for no reason. Then it increases by like 2% for the longest time. Argh!!!

Graphics. I don't consider myself very picky when it comes to graphics. I don't really mind that the foliage and scenery are at the level of a ps2 game at best. I tried playing on my television initially, but the lag and camera operability was too much so I fully switched (haha puns) to handheld. One thing that sucked is that I literally cannot tell the difference between medicinal herbs, antidote grasses, and green grasses without the captions because the graphics are so indistinguishable. So when you're trying to pick up multiples of those items by holding the A button, you're just randomly walking over anything green in the hopes that you'll get the right ones...

Lack of Sound Effects. Something I noticed is they got rid of the sound effects that will play when you complete a puzzle or add someone to your party. When you try to brush a monster there's no sound for the '♪' they make when you successfully brush them. So it was hard for me to tell if I had actually brushed them or not. I was a bit saddened by the lack of cute sounds.

Too much free range. From the very beginning of the game, you're allowed to go pretty much wherever you want when leaving town. It was too easy to stumble into high enemy level territory without knowing, so when I was like level 5 so I got KO'd immediately.

Artwork. The portraits seem to be lower in quality somehow. Runefa has always had shitty portrait art imo but this time it's even worse. Many character's eyes looked fucked up. Though the 3D models are insanely good for mostly every character except Terry. Terry's 3D model looks Terryfying and I prefer his portrait.

Festivals. They've added some new festivals. Some I enjoy. Some not so much. They changed the format of the eating contest. It's horrible. Good luck with that one.

L pocket + R button? They got rid of the feature that lets you skip to the other end of your items when opening the L pocket by pressing R button. I really liked that feature because it made it faster to reach my items so I was bummed that they got rid of it.

Gotta go fast. Now when you speak to someone, it doesn't 'stop time' as you might say it did in previous games. So people are still moving about as you speak to someone, making it harder to catch up to people! Annoying!!!

Catch and release? Not in my farming simulator! Say goodbye to being able to toss a fish you caught back into the water. In fact, say goodbye to tossing anything you don't want anymore into the water. Now you just have an army of fish flopping on the ground around you. And with the auto pick up feature, they're probably going to end up in your inventory anyways once you try to move. There are still certain ponds with fairies that you can toss stuff into, but you'll have to deal with the fairy harping at you for giving her something she doesn't want.

Shop Hours. Oh god. The shop owners don't even open their stores at the correct hours? It says open at 9am. If you speak to them they won't open their store until like 9:07??? But Priscilla and Lucy will show up to work their part-time jobs at around 8:30am and you can buy stuff through them before 9am. So the actual shop owners (for the bread shop and general store) are pointless usually. Additionally, if the store is empty (but open) you can no longer add a shopkeeper into your party and then enter their store with them to buy things from them. Why. Just why. When you want to buy something that only a specific person sells (Only Hina sells fish, only Heinz sells misc items) you have to wait for them to finally decide to work in their own store. Wonderful.

Monster Item drops. Maybe I'm crazy but the monster drops are seriously a lot harder to get than in previous games. Especially boss drops. It's almost impossible to get the rare drops now. I don't even want to try anymore. And as far as I know, the only place to buy monster items is through Heinz, but his items are actually misc. items, not specifically monster drops. So you'll be lucky to check his store (whenever tf he decides to actually work) for any monster items you might want instead of farming for the drops. Sighs.

Difficulty. This game is too easy. There is little to no challenge whatsoever. I had to increase the difficulty setting to hard mode and it was still too easy. I beat it at level 139, never once did I need to grind or level. In fact, your character levels up way too quickly for the pace of the story. I had zero trouble with any of the bosses and even the final boss was a breeze. Quite sad. Though because I am not new to the franchise, it's likely that newcomers would have some trouble in the later parts of the story.

Fishing cons. Idk how you fck up fishing but they sure did. You have to stand further back now because the pole is so long that you'll miss the fish you're aiming for. In fact, it's seriously hard to aim period. You'll end up recasting more often than not. Fish come in the various sizes but they don't seem to have the darker or faded characteristics that can indicate whether it's a rare fish or not. The graphics make it hard to tell. The pros that i've already mentioned are welcomed but it doesn't negate the fact that I do not enjoy fishing like I did in previous games.

Mining/Lumbering Cons. You can no longer strike three times consecutively when mining/lumbering. This sucks lol. Even when you upgrade your axe or hammer, powering up the tool does nothing for getting wood and material stone--it only expands the area of your strike. So it takes longer to get wood/stone from stumps and rocks now since you have to strike the full 9 times but it's not too bad. It's also harder to aim now as well so that's also unfortunate.

Seasonal Fields? Kiss them goodbye! That's right, there are no seasonal fields in rf5 because devs are insane! You instead have the farm dragons that seem to look seasonal based on the fact that they are designed after elements like earth, water, and fire. But no, these dragons are simply extra fields for you to use. Here's a spoiler: you're not going to use those fields. You're just not. They're kinda useless unless you're obsessed with farming. Now you have to grow your crops out of season like the sad farmer that you are.

Farming cons. Seeds no longer tell you how long it takes to grow the crop. Why. As of June 29th, they fixed this with an update. But I still had to play the whole game without it so fuck you marvelous. The joystick is really sensitive? So when you're trying to use a fertilizer or something on your field you're likely to place it on the wrong 4x4 tile, wasting your fertilizer. So it’s best to hold down the R button when farming. Also the crops look uglie as hell.

Sleeping and warping cutscenes. Just like in rf4 there's a cutscene when you go to sleep that can be skipped easily by pressing A. In rf5, there's a cutscene to sleep and a cutscene when waking up. It takes a bit more than a second to skip these scenes so it gets annoying after a while. Warping is this new feature that replaces our beloved escape spell. Overall I appreciate the feature but I hate it for two reasons. One: there's an annoying ass cutscene for it each time you use it that could be much shorter. And Two: townsfolk now use warp even when inside the town. In previous games, someone exiting your party in town would just manually run to wherever they need to be. So you could easily chase after them if you need to talk to them or give them something. Now, party members use warp regardless of where you are at the time. So say you have someone at 7 hearts and you want to try confessing to them. You would have them join your party, save your game, and then have them leave your party and immediately speak to them and confess before they can run off. If it doesn't work you reload until it does. In RF5 this wouldn't work anymore because they will warp. Now you would have to save, run around town trying to find this person and hope they accept the confession. Otherwise you'll have to play hide and seek again because reloading your file will randomize the resident's locations (if they are not working in a shop)!!!! I often just waited until a festival day because then they will be at the plaza for most of the day and it has a warp point there.

Crafting/Forging/Cooking. They've removed the feature where you can press Y on the ingredients in the menu to add more of that particular item. I miss this feature :'(

Lacks incentive. There is no trophy room from my knowledge. The final dungeon that is meant to be like the sharance maze/rune prana isn't that hard to beat for skilled players and is only 20 floors. After you beat the main story and this dungeon there's not much else to do really.

Request Board. Unlike in rf4, you need to make sure you have accepted requests before you complete them or else it will not count. Previously, you could complete all sorts of tasks and Eliza would still recognize your work even if you accept their request after the fact. ie, shipping goods, harvesting crops, etc. So make sure you don't harvest your special crops before accepting the request it's for!

Return of the "Loli" Dragons... Yeah you read that right. We got more dragons in children's(???) bodies with skimpy clothes. I don't know anymore????¿¿¿

Can't marry the Milfs or Dilfs. Tragic.

Still no homo. Grow up Marvelous.

Reverse Proposal? Reverse Uno card-- Laid low by the patriarchy. You now have to buy the double bed and craft an engagement ring to propose to your man if you're playing as Alice. Marvelous this isn't what we meant when we said we wanted equal rightsssssss This can be seen as a pro if you're a softhearted babey who doesn't like rejecting bachelors' proposals because you feel bad :'( But this is a con for me because I don't want to spend money and materials on a double bed dammit!!!

Misc. Still can't stack dishes or fish. There's no green elemental fairy???All the other elemental ones are there except the green one? why??? Still can't tame the giant Wooly. Some bosses that have insanely awesome designs cannot be tamed and makes me wanna eat glass.

Let's talk about Love~

Relationships. We want them. And half of us only play these games for them. I've only played as the female heroine so far but I'll be updating this review as soon as I finish with the bachelorettes as the male hero.

Confessions

As usual, we must raise the love points of our beloved to 7 hearts before we can attempt to date them. However unlike in rf4, if you fail at a confession once, you will need to raise the LP up an entire level before you can try again with any chance of success. It's imperative you save before attempting a confession now.

Love Events

Each love interest has two love events that must be seen before you can date them. They're reminiscent of older game's style but I felt they could have been a biiiit more interactive or so? Or involved the town a bit more for some of them.

Dating

Once you get your honey to be your bf/gf, you get to choose the nicknames as usual. Then you can go on dates. The first three (non-festival) dates are actually events. You need to see all three events to get married.

Marriage Event

The final event you need to clear before you can marry your sweetie. In my honest opinion, so far for the boys, these events were rather disappointing. They lacked the drama and angst that sort of 'test' the love between the two when compared to rf4. Also this is a huge con for me personally and a minor spoiler but there are no special cutscenes at the end of the marriage event like in rf4. Instead, the cutscene takes place during your actual wedding. I was saddened by this because it took away the depth from the marriage events and the actual character? As it is just a cut and paste type of thing instead of an original cutscene for each person. They lack individualism this way. Also it kinda felt like a way for devs to avoid gay relationships and cut corners :^/....sus.

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes...

Children!!!!!! This is actually one of the coolest additions in the game. Just like in rf3, you can have up to 3 children again! Your first child will resemble you, and you will have the option to choose its gender as well as its personality. There are 6 different children, (3 boys and 3 girls), all with different hairstyles, mannerisms, and seiyuus. Your answers will determine which child you get. A year after your first child is born, you will get the option to have a second child. You'll end up with twins, both resembling your partner. You won't get to choose the genders (it will be a boy and girl) but you will get to choose the personalities once more. The children all have canon names too and each kid is incredibly cute. And of course, you're still able to take your kid with you in your party~ ...Though you can only take one kid with you at a time.

So is RF5 good?

Yeah it's a fun game! My theory is that Marvelous forced the devs to release the game earlier than they were ready for, and that's why it's so lacking. But that doesn't mean it's not worth playing! I'd rate it 3.5/5 stars hehe. Not nearly as good as RF4 (full stop 5/5), or RF3 (4/5) but enjoyable nonetheless. I wouldn't recommend it as a first game to play from the series for newcomers though, I feel it's best for vets who can overlook all the cons thanks to loyalty and nostalgia. By the time it’s released in the West, the bugs should all be dealt with too.

So! Definitely buy this game! We want the series to continue and we want RF6 to be better than this--and hopefully Marvelous will make sure of that next time. If you're not a picky person I think you'll enjoy rf5 a lot. If you're like me and have high standards then, well, still pick it up and let it run its course. Then dust off rf4sp and cleanse your gaming palette >;^)

[entergamingxp]

Persona 5 Royal Review — This Palace’s Treasure Gleams Even Brighter

March 17, 2020 9:00 AM EST

The long-awaited Persona 5 Royal is finally upon us, with tons of new content and gameplay overhauls to create a more robust experience.

Persona 5 Royal is the upgraded version of the immensely popular JRPG that originally released in Japan back in 2016. With this definitive edition of the game comes a variety of new changes which include two new characters and Confidants, a brand new semester and Palace that culminates in two new endings, new gameplay mechanics, and reworked dungeons and boss battles.

There are also a variety of new minigames, gameplay balance fixes, expanded character scenes, and so much more. While it might still share much of the same DNA as the original Persona 5, Atlus has packed P5R full of new content that is sure to delight newcomers and veterans of the original with a far more robust experience.

“Atlus has packed Persona 5 Royal full of new content that is sure to delight newcomers and even veterans of the original with a far more robust experience.”

Royal starts off with a bang as it brandishes two of its biggest additions in the prologue. The protagonist, codenamed Joker, ends up using his grappling hook to reach a new area of the stairwell during his chase scene. Afterward, he encounters a mysterious and masked young woman, who wields a Persona, and aids him in battle. She departs just as abruptly as she arrived — with parting words hinting at her relationship to him — and Joker continues on his way.

Following this opening, we delve into the story proper: a tale of high school students who band together with the help of a cat-like ally named Morgana to dive into the hearts of rotten adults. Known as the “Phantom Thieves,” they slowly become infamous both online and in the real world and are soon pulled into a much greater and more sinister plot.

While the main premise from the original Persona 5 remains intact, it soon becomes apparent that the story has been tangibly altered due to the added presence of the two new characters. First is the mysterious girl, Kasumi, whom we met in the opening. The second is the psychologist Maruki, brought in by Shujin Academy after the infamous events of Kamoshida occur. Both newcomers are as interesting and nuanced as the rest of the main cast and it’s clear that plenty of effort went into reworking both the general writing and the spoken dialogue to ensure that they fit in with the plot seamlessly.

Both characters even receive their own Confidants (Faith and Councillor respectively), giving the protagonist time to cozy up and learn more about their backstories and motivations. I found their Confidants to be engaging, funny, and well-written, particularly Maruki’s, as his methods of counseling mirror how real-world psychologists and psychiatrists’ sessions run. There’s even a tangible perk for ranking up their Confidants. For each level, Kasumi awards the hero with a 5 HP increase while Maruki provides him with a 5 SP increase. But even ignoring these benefits, the quality of writing alone places them as two of my favorite Confidants, only beaten out by Toranosuke Yoshida.

Just as Kasumi and Maruki are intertwined with the protagonist, they’re also deeply connected with each other. This all comes to a head during the new semester and final Palace, which spirals into an emotional reveal and conclusion that contrasts well with the beautiful aesthetics of both the dungeon itself and the true final boss designs. Without going into spoiler territory, I found the resolution between Kasumi, Maruki, and Joker to be wholly satisfying, if not somewhat predictable.

Receiving some much-needed love is the ever divisive Akechi, as his entire Confidant route has been completely overhauled. As a result, his route is slotted in at a different point in the story to go along with more screen time and importance in the bonus sections of the new endgame content. While my opinion of him is still rather lukewarm, I found myself appreciating his character more due to these improvements.

“Both newcomers are as interesting and nuanced as the rest of the main cast and it’s clear that plenty of effort went into reworking both the general writing and the spoken dialogue to ensure that they fit in with the plot seamlessly.”

The main cast also shares in the glow of additional screen time. Throughout the game, there are new holidays featuring brand new cutscenes and voiced dialogue, new conversations that lead to special team-up moves being unlocked, new portrait artwork giving each character a more dynamic range of expressions, and a third tier of Personae that are unlocked during the new semester (similar to Persona 4 Golden), among other features. Even the last party member, Haru, receives slightly better treatment, though her late introduction to the Phantom Thieves still hurts her overall development.

The infamous scene at the end of the drug trade investigation in Shinjuku has also been altered in the English version of the game. The two gay men, who in the original attempted to sexually harass and assault a teenager (AKA Ryuji), have had their dialogue changed to instead mistakenly believe that he’s into the drag scene because he’s been standing around their club and attempt to help him out. While not perfect in its execution, it’s a far more genuinely funny scene than the one in the original Persona 5 and is much less painful to watch in action. Not to mention, it’s a very natural change that fits much more nicely; if you weren’t aware of the original scene, you would be hard-pressed to notice any difference.

Gameplay gets plenty of fixing as well. Each dungeon has been reworked to incorporate the grappling hook mechanic, which at first feels limited due to its fixed uses. Players will find that the hook not only serves as a far better way for Joker to traverse through each Palace but also lets you access brand new areas where Will Seeds can be found. Each Palace contains three seeds and finding them all unlocks a special accessory that, when equipped, allows that party member to permanently access a certain useful skill.

Then there’s Showtime, the brand new super moves that are unlocked throughout the main story via conversations between two teammates. This allows for two party members, whether in the active or backup party, to team up and unleash a Showtime attack that deals massive damage to the enemy. Though incredibly fun to watch and even more useful, they’re extremely powerful and destroy the balance of each battle as they’re much stronger than All Out Attacks. Luckily, they’re optional, so you can simply ignore them when they crop up.

Boss battles have also been revamped to either provide more of a challenge or to better connect them with their respective Palace. For instance, Kamoshida’s battle now involves two new “slaves” that help him set up his special attack. Madarame’s battle features a new stage, and Kaneshiro’s fight now requires that you toss away an item to avoid his most powerful attack. While small changes, they make each boss feel more fleshed out and memorable from a gameplay perspective. Though, my one complaint is that the connection between the Palace boss and their corresponding story arc could have been stronger and made more personal, resulting in a more compelling conclusion.

The side quest dungeon, Mementos, sees its fair share of upgrades as well. The dungeon portions have been expanded and the randomized floors are often much larger in size, lending itself to more exploration. That said, why couldn’t they change the music sooner? Only the later sections of Mementos play an excellent remix of the main theme. Most of the dungeon is still filled with that unfortunate, bland track that’s stuck on an infinite repeat, which is personally disappointing to me, especially considering all the enhancements to the dungeon design itself. The brightest spot in the host of changes comes in the form of a strange young boy named Jose who appears before your party the first time they venture into Mementos. This is the same boy from the Thieves’ Den.

“While small changes, they make each boss feel more fleshed out and memorable from a gameplay perspective.”

Jose opens up a special shop that sells battle items based on the number of flowers you collect for him within the dungeon. And if you located special stickers scattered around platforms, you can use them to change gameplay properties inside Mementos which can lead to more rewards from battle, higher encounter rates, and so on. It doesn’t hurt that Jose is adorable and his shop UI is literally the most gorgeous thing you will see in the game (considering how polished the UI is in general, this is extremely high praise).

Even the Velvet Room hasn’t been spared from improvements. One of the major new features is called Challenge Battles. By speaking to the wardens, you can fight foes using your current party to aim for the highest score by dealing as much damage as possible. You’ll receive a reward from the wardens based on your score and because you won’t get a game over if you lose, it’s a fun and low-risk challenge.

Another added mechanic is the fusion alarm status, which occurs randomly after defeating enemies in a Palace. When fusing during this time, any resulting Persona will have greatly boosted stats and a chance to pass on new special skills. The downside is that fusion accidents are much more likely, which can result in wildly different and sometimes disappointing results. Despite the clear drawback, it’s a great mechanic that injects some much-needed excitement and vibrance in the otherwise monotonous grind of fusing.

Personae themselves — both with Joker and the other playable characters — have been upgraded with a brand new feature called Skill Traits. In Royal, each Persona possesses a unique trait that grants certain abilities, such as decreased SP cost for skills under a certain element or increased potency for spells that have a single target. These special traits can also be passed on just like regular skills and can also be passed on during fusion, allowing for even more customization options. Their general existence, especially skills that cut down on SP cost, are so useful during dungeon runs that I found myself wondering how I managed to traverse Palaces in vanilla P5.

It’s also worth mentioning here that another major change to Royal sees Morgana cutting back on the number of times they make Joker go to bed early, which has a tremendous effect on how quickly players can rank up their parameters. Even on days in which venturing outside isn’t possible, you can still engage in a multitude of tasks that raise your social stats. For instance, in my own playthrough, by the middle of July, three of my stats were already rank three and the other two were rank four.

More minigames make their debut in Persona 5 Royal and not only are they a welcome break from the intensity of the main story, but they also provide players with gameplay advantages.

The Thieves Den is an example of the former as it lets players use collected P Medals, the currency of this base, in order to purchase artwork for your gallery, soundtracks, and trophies depicting major story events to decorate said base with. You win P Medals either by obtaining awards or by playing the card game Tycoon with your party members. I’ve spent so much time playing Tycoon that it often feels like its own separate (albeit much smaller) game and the enthusiast voice work and expressions from the characters really immerses you in the experience of sitting back and playing a fun round of cards with your friends.

The last minigame comes from a new district that Ryuji opens up, called Kichijoji. The area itself, bustling with tons of eateries and shops selling unique wares, is the largest explorable location in the game. It’s also home to the Darts and Billiards lounge, which features a darts game reminiscent of the one from the Yakuza series in that it utilizes the motion controls built into the DualShock 4. The darts minigame is fun, fairly easy to master, and best of all, it can be used to rank up a team member’s Baton Pass. The higher the rank, the more benefits that party members will receive whenever Baton Pass is used in a turn, which includes dealing more damage and HP/SP recovery.

Graphics have been noticeably upgraded in Persona 5 Royal as they’ve been optimized for the PS4, resulting in a crisper look to the character models and 3D environments. PS4 Pro owners haven’t been left in the dust either, as there’s a 4K setting to choose from.

There are also several new music tracks in Royal and for the most part, they’re quite enjoyable, particularly the new battle theme. That being said, I wasn’t too impressed with the true boss theme; while a great track on its own, it lacked the weighty presence and punch that a final boss theme should have.

“If you never got around to playing vanilla Persona 5, then Persona 5 Royal is now the perfect starting point.”

If you never got around to playing vanilla Persona 5, then Persona 5 Royal is now the perfect starting point. Filled with a plethora of new story and gameplay content to go along with all of the DLC from the original, this is without a doubt the definitive edition.

However, what if you did sink over 100 hours into the original? Then the question becomes, how much did you enjoy Persona 5? Because make no mistake, even with all the shiny new things included here with Royal, this is still Persona 5. That means you will absolutely be playing through the same 100 hours of the base game since no effort has been made to fix one of the most egregious issues of the original: its pacing. First time players discovering each twist and turn will most decidedly find Persona 5 Royal exciting and fresh. However, veterans may have a difficult time staying engaged the whole way through, even with all the bells and whistles.

Regardless, for an updated re-release, Persona 5 Royal is certainly worth the price of admission for newcomers. And if you enjoyed the original and are eager to jump back into the fray, then there’s certainly more than enough new content and improvements to justify a second purchase.

March 17, 2020 9:00 AM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/03/persona-5-royal-review-this-palaces-treasure-gleams-even-brighter/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=persona-5-royal-review-this-palaces-treasure-gleams-even-brighter

[recentanimenews]

You Owe it to Yourself to Check Out SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions

You’ve probably never heard of SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions, but it has a history. Back in the days of the Super Nintendo, as Final Fantasy defined modern role-playing games for consoles, Akitoshi Kawazu and his band of stalwarts created the SaGa games. The first entry for the SNES, Romancing SaGa, featured an open world and eight characters to choose from. In 1992! Only one year later, Romancing SaGa 2 let you play as multiple generations of an imperial dynasty whose strength and capabilities evolved systemically based on the player’s decisions. These games came to feature dynamic difficulty scaling, multiple outcomes for quests, battles that de-emphasized the conservation of health points in favor of all-out brawls.

  This experimentation came with a kind of woolliness that you would never find in a Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest game. Stories of random encounters bolstered into demigods by the player fighting too many battles, final bosses that required advance knowledge to defeat, entire questlines that your character could be locked out of by earning too many hit points or making a choice in the wrong place at the wrong time. These stories kept me away from Kawazu’s games for years, fearing that they would be too opaque for me to understand. These fears are not unfounded! It was that opacity that led the SaGa games to gradually disappear, remembered only by hardcore fans and games historians.

    Compared to the SaGa games of old, Scarlet Grace: Ambitions is shockingly minimalist. Instead of eight characters to choose from, you have four. The world is large and open, with plenty of opportunities to go off the beaten track. But the world map is the only physical map that you can explore. Towns are presented in small and sparse menus, with just one or two people to talk to. Dungeons do not exist. Some events on the map will trigger dialogue, with a choice or two if you are lucky. Others may present you with the opportunity to fight in turn-based battles. That's the game.

  “Why,” you might ask, “would anybody bother to play something like that?” Would it change your mind if I said that I far prefer Scarlet Grace: Ambitions to the older SaGas I’ve tried? Romancing SaGa 2 and 3 are fascinating video games, but practically require an instruction manual and guide to avoid locking yourself out of the best bits. Even playing them on their own terms, travelling from town to dungeon and back quickly becomes tedious. By comparison, Scarlet Grace: Ambitions’ abstracted world map allows you to sprint from location to location without much trouble. The decisions you make on this map change the world with an immediacy that’s surprising even when compared to today’s more advanced three-dimensional video-game worlds.

    Let me tell you a story about how my character, the princess Urpina, found a boat. Adrift in an province ravaged by pirates, she and her friends cleared a nearby forest of monsters. Suddenly a swarm of bees came from the forest and crossed the nearby river. Where could they be going? Urpina fought her way through a monster-infested overpass to find a forest on the other side, which she cleared of monsters. A swarm of bees crossed the river once more, from the opposite direction. Urpina continued to explore the province, recruiting bandit royalty who joined because they were bored, fighting in ritual combat in a temple. It wasn’t until later that she returned to one of the forests, where the bees had left behind some honey. Honey that the nearby innkeeper wanted for the mead that raiding pirates desperately wanted. When the pirates came by, Urpina stole their boat. That was that.

  There is never a moment in this sequence when the player is told exactly what they need to do. Urpina does not need to find a boat to progress. Nobody says to her “if only I had some honey!” Snatching the pirate boat comes solely out of the decisions you make exploring that area, a happy circumstance of seeming coincidences the developers laid down like bowling pins. In a more elaborate video game, it might take ages running between forests to check for changes. Scarlet Grace: Ambitions shows you the immediate macro-impact of your decisions as they radiate like lightning across the map, terraforming the world around you. When it works, it’s amazing!

    This ethos is reflected in the battle system as well, which sharpens the already tricky SaGa fights of old to a bleeding edge. In older games in the series, things would just happen during battles—characters would learn new moves, enemies would do something horrific and unpredictable. Scarlet Grace: Ambitions maintains some of that randomness, with characters “glimmering” new skills at random just like in those earlier games. But there’s a greater focus on transparency, not just with enemy names being listed before an encounter but also with a constantly updating timeline at the bottom that lets you know what attacks enemies will be using, and roughly how powerful they are. All abilities draw from a single mana pool that slowly increases as the battle continues; as your options expand with each turn your opponents are given even more firepower with which to destroy you.

  Victory is born of both planning and careful improvisation. You might be tempted to eliminate a foe sandwiched between two of your characters, triggering a chain reaction of United Attacks that wipes out the opponent. But what of the wizard at the end of the timeline, slowly preparing to Call Lightning and obliterate your party? Do you spend a point on your Fencer to try and put the wizard to sleep, at the risk that the attempt is unsuccessful? It’s a system that mashes together Grandia’s timeline manipulation, Hearthstone’s mana economy, Into the Breach’s transparency and Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne’s sheer cruelty. The prototype sports car of JRPG battle systems.

  Of course, this is not enough for some people. I do not begrudge them this. After all, Scarlet Grace: Ambitions lacks so many of the things that folks love about the genre. Dragon Quest’s charming villagers and attention to detail. Final Fantasy’s cinematic setpieces. Shin Megami Tensei’s thick atmosphere. Persona 5’s lovable band of misfits. Yakuza 0’s vast neighborhood of sidequests and minigames. The English version of Scarlet Grace: Ambitions was gifted a fantastic localization by 8-4, which gives the world and cast compelling texture. But this remains a game where much of what makes a JRPG a JRPG is not there. If this bothers you, Scarlet Grace: Ambitions may not be for you.

    On the other hand: for the SaGa fans who have been waiting for this game on tenterhooks. For the curious fan of tabletop role-playing and B-games for the PlayStation 2. For those who want to be on the bottom floor of a future cult classic. SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions may be a game for them, or it may not be. But there certainly isn’t anything else in the world like it.

  REVIEW ROUND-UP:

+ Vast if abstract world to explore, with chances for genuine choice and consequence

+ Rock-hard and exciting fights

+ Hugely replayable, courtesy of additional features unlocked on future runs as well as player characters with different focuses and objectives

+ Great localization that fleshes out the world and cast with admirable economy

- Lacks on purpose many of the features fans of JRPGs expect, like towns and dungeons

- Noticable loading times, even if reduced from the Vita original

- Emphasis on transparency makes the moments when the game really does pull a fast one on you very annoying

  Are you playing SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions? What are your experiences with the series? Let us know in the comments!

---

Adam W is a Features Writer at Crunchyroll. While he waits for the new Etrian Odyssey game to be announced, he sporadically contributes with a loose coalition of friends to a blog called Isn't it Electrifying? Follow him on Twitter at: @wendeego

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[operationrainfall]

I’ve been interested in Reverie since another one of our writers reviewed it on Vita. It looked to capture the style of series I love like Earthbound and classic Zelda and hybridize them into a unique looking package. Thanks to the release of the Sweet As Edition on Switch, I took the opportunity to get some hands on impressions of the updated version. Was Reverie all that I hoped for, or was I too blinded by nostalgia?

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Though I didn’t play the original release, I feel I should gloss over the new features in this edition real quick. Here they are – Nightmare Difficulty Mode, a new Minigame, Quick Select Item Wheel, Stamp System (which is essentially trophies), additional NPC dialogue and updated sprites. I didn’t actually try the harder mode, since I feel that’s mostly for those looking to beat the game a second time, and I’m still working on the last couple dungeons. Likewise, I can’t attest to the updated sprites and additional dialogue. I did however encounter the stamps several times, and thought the new Minigame was fun. It involves shooting targets with your totally not a Nerf gun, to be awarded with a Feather (more on those later). Finally, the Item Wheel was very handy, though I didn’t initially know it was new. It takes a mere press of the shoulder buttons to bring it up, and another to equip the selected item.

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With the new features out of the way, now I want to talk about my direct impressions from the game. It starts out pretty charming, and sets the tone with a tale of woe that sets the stage for the supernatural events you investigate. I thought the Maori lore behind the game was interesting, though I felt perhaps more could have been done to explore it further. It kind of struck me as a rough draft instead of a final published story, as it were. Nevertheless, there’s a lot of charm in the game. A lot comes from the SNES styled art, which brought back fond memories of Earthbound. Even more comes from the zany items you find. There’s the standard stuff like a projectile gun, but then there’s weirder like a yo-yo that stuns foes and a plastic beach shovel. Strangest of all is the googly eyed pet rock, which can be used to depress switches in puzzles. And it doesn’t stop there, either. While most foes are run of the mill animals or the occasional magical foe, the bosses are all nuts. The very first boss you face is a haunted dryer, and another is a living tombstone. Odd to say the least, but still charming.

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Less charming are the puzzles in the game. They start out fine, but get more and more complex as you progress. I hate when I have to look to FAQs and guides to get past an area, and I had to do that multiple times in the later dungeons. Worse is that the game doesn’t really tell you what items do. For the standard items, it’s pretty self explanatory. But for the more esoteric ones, a little more direction wouldn’t have hurt. That Pet Rock I mentioned earlier, for example, can be hit with your cricket bat and richochet off walls. I had zero idea that was possible, and as a result was completely baffled in one puzzle. While I don’t think most gamers need or want their hands held, a little clarity can go a long way.

Weirdest. Item. Ever.

Also, while I like Quick Select Item Wheel, it’s slow bringing up the world map. It takes a good couple seconds before it appears on screen, and that’s the case even if you don’t use the Wheel to access it. Considering how fast everything else goes, that’s a little annoying. It also frustrated me that after you collect a key item, such as a Boss Key, the game will lock you in place for a good 5 seconds. First time it happened I thought the game had frozen, but quickly ascertained it was the norm. Thankfully, there are things that ameliorate this, such as being able to save anytime, anywhere. Always a nice feature in games.

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That said, I like how the game gives you hints where to go, and lets you explore at your own pace. Sure you can tackle things in a linear fashion, but it’s fun exploring the island and looking for hidden nooks and crannies. One of the more important optional quests is finding all the feathers on the island so your grandparent will make you a Kahu (i.e. cloak) to protect yourself with limited invulnerability. It’s also fun just doing random things, such as the Minigame I mentioned earlier, or playing a faux arcade game to earn another feather. For a relatively small game world, it doesn’t feel that way.

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All in all, I think I can safely recommend Reverie: Sweet As Edition. It’s far from perfect, but despite the annoyances there’s a charming game here. The nods to games of the past don’t diminish the quality of this game, and it never feels overly derivative. Most of the time it exudes a quality of island zen that is pretty unique. Sure, I would have liked more content and perhaps more story, but I can’t complain too much. If you’re nostalgic for the SNES games of yore and want something fun and different to play, you can’t go wrong for only $12.99. Here’s hoping Rainbite gives us a sequel set in the same universe to expand on the things the game does best.

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IMPRESSIONS: Reverie: Sweet As Edition I've been interested in Reverie since another one of our writers reviewed it on Vita. It looked to capture the style of series I love like…

[echoslammin]

Yuletide 2018 Letter

Dear Yuletide Author,

I’m Echoslam on AO3. Thank you very much for checking out this letter! 

General Information:

Likes: Any kind of AU, romance, friendship, introspection, worldbuilding, smut, canon-appropriate pop culture references, humor (all kinds - comedic situations, witty dialogue, running gags, memes, etc. Seriously, if you’ve ever wanted to experiment with bizarre crack, I’d be happy to be your guinea pig). I also *love* metafiction and nods to quirky game mechanics and canon in-jokes.

DNWs: Body waste kinks, poly, bestiality, non-canon incest

Most of my favorite works tend to be character studies and fluffy romance, but I definitely enjoy darker stuff as well, if that is your thing. Feel free to ignore my prompts and go with your own ideas! If there's a story you've always wanted to write, please have at it, and let me share your enthusiasm. I'm a huge fan of all of these games and am just so excited at the thought of reading fic for any of them.  

Links by Fandom:

Heroes of Might and Magic III Girls' Frontline The Secret World Liar! Uncover the Truth Liar! Office Deception Liar! Scheming Socialites

Heroes of Might and Magic III - Any Character 

I just about had a heart attack when I saw this in the tagset - I've loved HoMM since I was a kid, and III is my favorite in the series. Truly, the turn-based strategy game of my heart. I loved all flavor text in this game, especially the snippets of lore on the heroes and their backstories. If you're writing about any of them, I'd love all kinds of details - from their army composition to the spells and artifacts they have equipped.

Prompts:

Lorelei and Synca relationship development, whether as friends, enemies, or lovers. Since their specialties are harpies and manticores, respectively, how does that work out in combat? Technically, you couldn't have multiple heroes on your side of the battlefield until HoMMIV, but how would these two interact if they were fighting together?  

Anything based on the story campaigns. Maybe missing scenes from Dungeons & Devils or a "bad" ending for Long Live the Queen where the Nighon forces are victorious?

Detailed description of the siege and takeover of an enemy stronghold or the development of a new township.

One of the game mechanics that I always found interesting was how, when you open a treasure chest, you have the option of taking the gold or "distributing it to the peasants" for experience. Is that really how it works? What is the peasants' view of the heroes in this game?

少女前线 | Girls' Frontline - Any Character

Another wonderful surprise in the tagset! I just started playing GFL this year, and I've found it extremely fun and addicting. I actually found the plot very engaging, and the armory of T-Dolls is irresistibly cute.

Prompts:

I love the idea of a gift exchange between members of the Anti-Rain Squad. Maybe someone gives M16A1 a bottle of her beloved Jack Daniels?

Orchestra AU! Just...anything based on this picture would be amazing.

Anything focusing on team dynamics, especially if you want to incorporate references to game mechanics (different T-Dolls and their buffs/active skills, etc.) Or hurt/comfort after an intense firefight.

You know how T-Dolls are made of sugar, spice, and everything nice a combo of manpower, ammo, rations, and parts? How exactly does the factory utilize those resources? What do they even do with all those meals ready-to-eat?

Coffee shop AU starring Persica (the woman loves her caffeine).  

The Secret World - Any Character

One of the best MMO experiences of my life. TSW combined so many things I love into one game: an awesome modern setting, dark humor, and an incredible story with amazing characters. I play the Legends reboot from time-to-time, but I prefer the original version and still like to play on the vanilla server (kind of fun having an entire MMO to yourself, heh). I've also played the tie-in game, The Park, and really loved that as well.

I was fascinated by all the narrative details in this game, like the lore honeycombs and ambient story telling. If you could incorporate that into your writing, that would be fantastic.

Prompts:

Long ago, on the TSW forums, someone mocked the idea of a schmoopy Sonnac/Geary romance as a terrible idea for a fic - I want to read that story! Whether you want to make it complete crack or be serious about it, I would love to see something develop between these two. Maybe they go on a date for tacos at Dante's stall? Or maybe Geary tries to troll Sonnac somehow, and he plays along until the last minute...and then snark ensues.

Issue #5: The Vanishing of Tyler Freeborn is my favorite for a reason: filthy NPCs. I would love to know what filth-infected versions of Geary and Sonnac would be like.  

Anything Moose/Andy. This is the romance I was waiting to see blossom, but alas, it never did. What happens when Andy finally catches on to Moose's crush on him? How about rescue romance or rides on Moose's chopper? Pining on Moose's end, requited or unrequited, would be good, too.

I love the world of this game so much, especially the urban areas (the faction hubs, Fusang, Tokyo) and New England. Would love to read anything about a bee of any faction exploring and going on missions, their opinion of their handler, etc. Please do go into excruciating detail about your bee's gear and abilities, because I'm all about that. What are there primary/secondary/auxiliary weapons? Which NPCs are their besties? Tell me everything!  For the record, my main was a Lumie that chose not to side with the Dreamers, but I'd by happy to read about any faction/alignment.

I adore faction rivalries, and the ones in TSW were just awesome. Whether it's old school Templars vs. Illuminati or you get the Dragon involved somehow, I just love witnessing all the contention. Seriously, you could just write 1,000 words of back-and-forth trash talk, and I would absolutely adore it.  

ダウト～嘘つきオトコは誰？～ | Doubt ~Usotsuki Otoko wa Dare?~ | Liar! Uncover the Truth - Any Character

Since last year, I’ve become a huge fan of this mystery/romance app with its feisty heroine and the quirky Liars she has to unmask before finding her Mr. Right. If you’re interested, I maintain a sideblog dedicated to it over @whoistheliar​ as well as a random screenshots blog: @liarscreenshots. (Warning for spoilers at both links).

All of the characters in this game,"Mr. Right" included, have their own imperfections, and it feels like half the point of this game is giving you the opportunity to navigate your feelings about certain character flaws. I love how MC isn’t a blank slate and is very much her own character. She can be quite a mess at home and has a lot of insecurity about her humble background, seeing as she’s originally from a small country town (IIRC one of Joe’s side stories mentions that she’s from Akita prefecture).  

I definitely enjoyed the sequel stories, but I'm more fond of the main route of the game. Shipfic revolving around MC is something I would love to see, but I would be open to other pairings as well, especially between secondary characters. I would also welcome gen or friendship fic.

Prompts:

I loved the multiple endings you could unlock at the end of every chapter and the insight they gave into each Liar's backstory. Anything expanding on those would be great, especially the True or Love endings. I really enjoyed seeing POV from other characters besides MC.

Love triangles are my guilty pleasure, and I would definitely enjoy reading a situation where MC has to choose between two of the Liars and/or Mr. Right/Ayumi. Would love it if things got Very Emotional.

I always like marriage/honeymoon/married life stories, and MC's occupation as a wedding planner complements that wonderfully. How does she get her love interests or friends involved? Are there wedding crashers? Will she serve takoyaki at the wedding??

In the main story, MC found out each Liar's secret before things got too serious, but what if the emotional stakes had been much higher? For any of the Liars, would MC react differently if she didn't find out the truth until after falling in love over a longer period of time? Basically, I'd like to see your take on a "Bad Ending."

So, after following this game for a while, it seems that other players have very strong opinions about the various Liars, so in case it helps you, here's a summary of my take on them:

1st Liar: SQUICK. SQUICK. SQUICK. Honestly, they seems like a very nice guy in all their side stories, but stil...squick.

2nd Liar: I find their profession very interesting, so I'm a bit biased in their favor, despite their true nature. Could see them with MC after getting a ton of therapy. They also definitely have some chemistry with the 9th Liar, lol.

3rd Liar: I can't bring myself to hate them; they're just too ridiculous. Side note: I really like Nanyami as a character.

4th Liar: Never forget the fountain pen!! This guy is a bit of a tragedy, so I do have some sympathy, but imo that slap from MC was well-deserved.

5th Liar: I think the fandom unequivocally regards this one as complete garbage, and for very good reason. Still, I have to admit that their side stories appeal to my morbid side (it's like they're in a bizzarro world where MC's personality is completely erased). Also, I do find their character design very attractive - I'm not proud.

6th Liar: Umph. Definitely in my top tier along with 7th Liar. In terms of sheer chemistry with MC, I think this guy wins hands down. I'd be up for both seeing them walk away from the issue that makes them a Liar or embracing it.

7th Liar: They made me cry buckets. I love them with MC so much, and the way they're always smiling through their pain just makes my heart ache.

8th Liar: Out of all of the Liars, I felt that #8 was the most outright malicious. I just wasn’t convinced by the ending of his Lover’s Route. I know he's damn attractive, but wow, that attitude...

9th Liar: I really feel like the 9th Liar got the short end of the stick in the main story. His interactions with MC kept getting interrupted by unnecessary drama, and it felt like they never got the chance to really get to know each other. Also, LOVE Rumi!

"Mr. Right": It seems that people are really divided on this one. Some see him as the most precious cinnamon roll, but people have also told me that he comes off as a creepy stalker. (I've seen him  get called problematic more than once). I’m pretty sympathetic towards him myself, but I’d love to see your own take on him, whether romantic and sentimental or super dark.

ダウト～オフィスは男女の嘘だらけ～ | Doubt ~Ofisu wa Danjo no Uso Darake~ | Liar! Office Deception - Any Character

I love the Liar! sequel every bit as much as the original game. You can bet that I’m super hyped that Voltage is going to be releasing Lover’s Routes for it in the future. Office MC was very no-nonsense, and I would like to see what she would be like in the process of falling in love, or even just getting a chance to let her hair down and hang out with her coworkers.  

Prompts:

Post-game or redemption story revolving around any of the Liars, with the exception of the 2nd, 3rd and 5th. Ideally, this would end on a positive note with them being able to have a reciprocal friendship/romance with MC.

Office Battle! I was so amused by the Star Wars parody that kept popping up throughout the story and how everyone seemed to be totally into it except for MC, who’s just completely out of the loop. Maybe one of the Office Liars tries to teach her about the series or something like an Office Battle AU that’s basically Office Deception in space?

Narration of some part of the game from James’ POV. I loved MC’s cat and found it hilarious how she kept spoiling him at home while being so disciplined at the office.

Liar! Commentary:

1st Liar: Honestly, I thought they were super cute, and I wanted to see them make some more Cactaur cookies for MC.

2nd Liar: What a tool. I have to admit, I was amused by them sucking up to MC for the rest of the game after being found out.

3rd Liar: I thought they were going to be my 7th Liar 2.0, but N O P E. I found their backstory a little amusing, but they're just so slimy.

4th Liar: A real sweetheart. I love that they become MC's right-hand coworker after their chapter.

5th Liar: Not a fan of Rat Face McGee, tbh. Wtf, dude.

6th Liar: I have a weakness for "falling in love with the mark" scenarios and really wanted see it work out with this Liar. I also loved the idea of them going on to work for Uncover the Truth's 6th Liar, as was suggested in their Dumbass Ending and one of the sidestories.

7th Liar: DEEP SIGH. I love them despite their self-centered/obsessive actions. Will always be a fan of them pursuing MC, whether requited or not.

8th Liar: I like their kink, lol, and their accusation scene was hilarious. I really wish their behavior had been less invasive.

9th Liar: Just like with 6th Liar, I like to believe that they really cared for MC at the end. I think they were a perfect "Final Boss" for Office Deception especially compared to the more one-note villains. They did some horrible things to get what they wanted, even putting the 8th Liar in the hospital, but I’ve always wanted to see something that shows some of their inner conflict once they realize they’re hurting someone that has actually become a friend to them.

"Destined Partner": They've grown on me a bit, but one thing that definitely put me off was how they threw the 8th Liar under the bus during their route. (Sure, tell MC they've got a dirty secret and don't clarify at all as to what it is...) Seems like they're hiding a spiteful streak.

ダウト～セレブは華麗に嘘をつく～ | Doubt ~Serebu wa Karei ni Usowotsuku~ | Liar! Scheming Socialites - Any Character

I almost mistyped the title above as Liar! Screaming Socialites, but honestly that would be a pretty apt name for this game, because wow, does this cast go off the rails. The chapters are shorter than in previous routes, and MC is a bit more passive. I was worried this was going to be too "Gossip Girl" for my tastes, but I actually really enjoyed this one, even if my heart did get stomped on once again. (Loved the hyper Eurobeat accusation music - it was like something out of Initial D).  

Prompts:

Ship fic with MC and 8th or 9th Liar. Love triangle maybe? There's so much that was left unexplored at the end of the game. Would MC abandon her lifestyle or try win her parents over? Something based on one of the love endings would be great as well.

I also adore the potential Liar that turned out to be MC’s true BFF through thick and thin. I love how they're both anime fans and their favorite shows are clearly based on Touken Ranbu and Land of the Lustrous. Also, what exactly was BFF doing to test the 8th Liar during that awkward scene at the mountain resort in the 7th Liar chapter? I really wanted details on that, but it never got explained.

Okay headcanon: Given the similar detailing on their dresses, I think Kyoko and Reina shop at the same place. What would an interaction between them be like? Would they dish about their respective MCs?  

Liar! Commentary:

1st Liar: I have nothing but pity for this poor kid. Definitely see them still being friends with MC.

2nd Liar: Ick. One of my least favorite among all the Liars. Would like to see them get some comeuppance for their actions.

3rd Liar: This one hurt. Would really like to see them redeem themselves. Maybe they were secretly attracted to MC the whole time and just wanted to get her attention?

4th Liar: I enjoyed investigating their elaborate lie, but as a character they really fell flat for me.

5th Liar: WOW. That escalated quickly. I have to say, the 5th Liars in these games are probably the best fodder for something grim and disturbing. I think the implied rape in the bad ending was the darkest point in the entire series.

6th Liar: It felt like, with this Liar, Voltage was trying to have their cake and eat it too. Like, "Oh nooo, they're so kinky!" *wink wink* I actually really liked them despite their being the token kidnapper.  

7th Liar: I hated the way this Liar was presented. Their friendship with MC was really nice, but then it just had to get ruined.  

8th Liar: MC’s rejection of them was devastating to me. They really won me over despite the nature of their lie, and I really believed it when they claimed their feelings were sincere. For someone who was supposedly trying to con her, they did a hilariously bad job of it - like, they never tried to pressure her when she was vulnerable and even set up this really over-the-top charade just to make her happy, only for it to be what gets them exposed. It's almost like they were setting themselves up to fail. I really need a Lover's Route...

9th Liar: Surprise plot twist! This Liar was set up for some really interesting development which...did not happen. Would have loved to have seen more of their inner conflict. I ship them with MC the most after 8th Liar.

"Destined Partner": Definitely cute, but I found them to be rather pushy when they brought MC over to their place. Also, what ever happened to the pet rabbit?  

Thank you so much for your time! Hope you have a great rest of the year and a wonderful Yuletide.