#mechanically it focuses on exploration and turn-based battles using each character's different abilities

[real-live-human]

What is bug fables

give me back my Fucking icon

[fitzefitcher]

faction conflict soapbox, pt. 2

school 2: I’m tired of faction conflict, in general

@alldepressednshit​ said: To be honest, it feels overdone. Also, it keeps getting sidelined by *insert world-threatining asspull* BfA could’ve been great if it was an actual civil war. Like a baron zemo type setting out to destroy the horde and alliance from within.

@ashyteg​ said: I wish we could all hang out and play hearthstone

@baenling said: annoying as fuck. should have been over in mists of pandaria. literally zero reason for the faction war to continue

@swampgallows​ said: i just like being a zombie lady with a conscience and an ability to be hugged by huge monster people who are my family and would never hurt me

Anonymous asked: I wish people would stop bickering over which faction is worse, admit both factions are problematic and stop trying to morally high road the other for faction pride.

Anonymous asked: Hi yes I have come to talk about Horde vs Alliance. Honestly I use to be a big fan of it back in the day. Two big factions, warring over resources that would occasionally have to realize there are bigger threats. Thought it was fun, had faction pride in grinding up PVP reps to be like: Yes FOR THE HORDE. I just think things took a big downturn in Mists. Before it felt kind of balanced, sure Garrosh was "bad" but at the time i thought: well Varian started the war back in Wrath. 1/?

Having the war break out across the continents when before it was sort of like a cold war with a few active fighting spots was cool! I didn't think the Horde was being portrayed as 100% evil! But after that... I don't think the Alliance has really been shown ever in the wrong or negative. And that's just fucking boring. Not to mention literally punishes half the player base for preferring one faction. The Horde has so much creative potential but they never use it. So really sours it. 2/2

so I think the core issue with this is probably less that the faction conflict itself is happening, and more that it's happening but without any sense or meaning, and that it's happening in such a way that feels extremely unbalanced on either side. faction conflict, when it's done well, can be an extremely rewarding and memorable experience.

 like, anybody that's played vanilla will tell you how fun an experience the scarab wall event was, and I myself remember how fun the thunder isle event was. and I think what worked for those events was that they were less like. Dark, Gritty War Conflict, and more played like a high school field day. Like there's certainly competition, and faction pride, but it's actually fun because it's more focused on Achievement than it is on Active Conflict. Like, people meme on the Argent Crusade Sponsored Renaissance Faire, but tbh that's some the most fun I've had with wow, and it ended being a really memorable experience for me and many of the people I was playing with at the time, in part because it was so light-hearted and silly and campy. in my opinion, wow is at its best when it leans into the stupid, silly camp, and that's why hearthstone has a better handle on warcraft and its characters than wow does lmao.

But I will acknowledge that this doesn't always work beyond just gameplay mechanics and overall experience- I love the argent tournament, but as a story, it's dumb as fuck, and at the time, felt extremely out of place for the wrath storyline. Like, we did naxx, then ulduar, and we were revving up to do ICC, which was (and still is, for the most part) regarded as one of its most serious story arcs, and it held a lot of gravity to it in terms of buildup, and the sort of consquences it would have afterwards. Whether or not those consequences were actually addressed afterwards are another issue entirely, but the point here is, ICC is an extremely memorable raid, and was very rewarding as an experience and story end (for the most part, let's stay on topic though), and it absolutely would not have worked if they had leaned into the campy silliness that worked for other things in wow. Here, the grim seriousness does work, because there was plenty of setup and payoff for it. like, even well before we get to ICC, or even wrath, there's buildup for the scourge starting in vanilla, and even in w3.

I think the wrath expansion in general was very very memorable, bc it was an expac where the stakes were pretty well-balanced in terms of alliance and horde content. like, the alliance's bone to pick with scourge is fairly obvious, and while the horde's was less so, the forsaken's was even more obvious, and there was planting and payoff of how the horde needed to go, both because the forsaken are their ally and this is their time of need, and that the scourge are a threat to everyone. truthfully, the alliance side of things I don't remember quite as well, but it was more staged as like, the alliance sort of acknowledging that Arthas (and that many aspects of the Scourge including KT and the cult of the damned) are very much problems that stemmed from the Alliance, and that they had a sort of responsibility to take care of it and make things right, even if they weren't necessarily Directly responsible for Arthas himself. So, there's equal setup in place for both factions, and equal stakes, even if they're not the same, and what faction conflict that does happen within the storyline has a setup and payoff. like, let's look at the wrathgate: a rogue faction of forsaken unleash hell on everyone at the battle of the wrathgate, whether they be scourge, alliance, or horde, and there are immediate consequences afterwards for each faction that feel engaging and meaningful. horde-side, you have to drive out the traitors that turned against your ally and retake one of your core cities, and alliance-side, you're taking immediate action against a faction that just completely fucked you over at a really key battle against a mutual enemy, a particular part of that faction that was already on thin fucking ice to begin with in terms of like. doing morally questionable, reprehensible things. and the ending, while daunting and honestly a little emotionally frustrating, neither punishes nor rewards either faction, and amps up the conflict in a way that feels realistic given the circumstances. And I think that this was really memorable as a questline, and as an expansion, because again, there was setup and payoff, but also, the prior two expansions weren't super focused on the faction conflict as much as wrath had started drumming up.

yes, there was conflict, obviously, but it wasn't so all-consuming as to make it tiresome or overwhelming or frustrating, and didn't feel particularly unbalanced or unfair. I think it should also be noted that faction conflict had never taken the spotlight so strongly in this way before, so it was this novel thing still being explored, and again, working off of things that had previous setup, felt like reasonable or realistic consequences, and above all, were balanced in what sort of story beats were being explored for either faction. wrath for the most part felt like a very natural, very organic step forward in the wow storyline overall, and while I don't agree with every decision made with it, particularly towards the end, I cannot deny that it was definitely one of if not my favorite expansion, and was extremely formative for how I engage with wow, and with stories as a whole.

all that being said, I think it's a fairly reasonable conclusion to draw that faction conflict in recent years has been souring the game for a lot of people, and I can't really blame them, as I, too, have a bone to pick with it. bofa in particular was pretty rough for a number of reasons, but I think the number one reason is how unbalanced it felt in terms of storyline for either faction. bofa imo sortof works as a synopsis for why Horde Bias(TM) is such a huge point of contention between horde and alliance, in that the horde faction spent most of the expansion losing characters, whether that be to character death or death of character development, watched their faction tear themselves apart for what feels like dozens of times now, and basically felt as though that the Evil label was being forced on them, and that they had no choice in the matter for any of this. The alliance faction, meanwhile, didn't really get much of anything. Kul Tiras isn't really as rewarding a leveling experience as Zandalar is in terms of the individual zone stories being strung together, the allied race factions they got didn't feel as fun or varied as the ones the horde got, and seemingly had no actions, issues, or consequences with any sort of serious examination. It's hard to have fun or get any sort of emotional satisfaction from a story that doesn't really let you do anything, and doesn't really show that your actions have any consequences at all, whether they be good or bad, and seemingly is spending all of their time and attention on the other faction. Like, the horde is suffering, and that suffering is definitely, wholly unfair, but the alliance seemingly isn't getting any sort of attention, at all. But because they're not constantly getting a bat to the head story-wise, horde players (including myself) just get really frustrated when accused of favoritism, because like. There is literally no benefit whatsoever to having blizzard's attention, when all blizzard does is take away everything you love lmao. This, I would say, is a matter of violence vs. negligence. Both are forms of harm, but they are radically different in terms of how they hurt you, and neither is inherently more hurtful than the other.

I think if I were to propose a solution to this, I think that the first step should be to pull back on faction conflict as a major component to the story, which they have at least partially. But I think the next step is to give a fairer distribution of attention to characters. Like, I complain about the Horde losing characters, and I'm not taking that back because it's True, but it would be remiss of me not to touch on the fact that, for how many dozens of characters the alliance has, the only ones who really get the attention are like. Human Males. In particular, Anduin. And if they're not Anduin, they're usually characters within Anduin's immediate peer circle. And then the characters that aren't human men and do get attention are usually ones that are getting shafted, somehow, or are getting painted as Wrong and Violent and Stupid for Disagreeing With Anduin- i.e., tyrande. And before Anduin, the only character that really got any sort of serious attention was Varian, which is probably why alliance players as a whole took his death so hard. It's hard not to feel some kind of way about losing a favorite toy when that toy is damn near the only one you functionally have lmao.

I know shadowlands as an expac has been pretty polarizing to people in terms of experience, but tbh I think this is a good step forward in resetting the stakes, and making things in either faction feel a little more balanced. I do think that the consequences of the conflict in bofa has to be addressed Eventually, and I'm honestly a little afraid of what they're going to do next, but this is alright for now.

[hello-there]

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[hilltopsunset]

4 Ways to Breathe New Life into the Pokémon Franchise

I love the Pokémon franchise. It’s because I love it that I truly want new installments of the game to feel meaningful, to make an impact, and to provide players with something new, different, and worth coming back for without relying on complexities that could turn away new players.

As I will talk about in a later blog post, Game Freak seems afraid to stretch Pokémon’s creative muscles any further; meaningful innovation has been petering out since the end of Generation IV in lieu of minigames like Pokémon Contests and Super Training alongside inconsequential time sinks like Secret Bases and Poké Pelago. While I do enjoy the inclusion of things to do outside the main storyline, these additional events and sidequests should not be the only significant additions to new generations of main-series Pokémon games.

The main attractions of recent generations have provided slight twists to gameplay with the addition of mega evolution and Z-moves, but these changes don’t fundamentally change or challenge the way players experience the game on a moment-to-moment basis. And despite the graphical and processing power of recent gaming devices, and even the long-awaited shift of the franchise to a main console, we are still getting the same low-effort and outdated battle animations we’ve been seeing since X and Y. We are continually denied a more genuine battle experience with Pokémon physically interacting with each other through animations that more appropriately suit each Pokémon’s unique identity.

So what can be done? Here’s a short but detailed list of 4 things I would like to see in a new Pokémon game, in no particular order of importance.

1.       Let the Player Character Be an Active Part of the Story

When has the player character ever been a consequential part of a Pokémon game? They never speak; they never have any personality whatsoever. They never experience any growth, regardless of NPC’s trying desperately to iterate how much the trainer has grown over the course of their journey. Certainly the Pokémon carried by the player character have some impact on the story, but the trainer?

Let them speak! Let the player character actually interact with NPCs in meaningful ways rather than just listening at all times. Give the trainer a personality of some sort. Don’t just slap a never-changing pleasant face onto the model regardless of tense, frightening, or sinister scenarios (I’m looking at you, Sun and Moon). 

Giving the player character a more active role in the story provides intrigue—as a player, it doesn’t feel compelling being pulled from one place to another; it’s not interesting when the only thing pushing me forward is NPCs telling me I need to get the gym badges, or stop Team Rocket. It would be much more interesting if the Player Character had some imperative reason to pursue these endeavors, rather than get involved simply because “it’s the right thing to do” or, worse, “it’s the ONLY thing to do.” I want to watch the character I’m controlling grow as a person and make choices that have positive or negative consequences on people they care about and the places they visit, rather than be a perpetual observer of events with no real stake in the game.

2.       Trainer Levels

Speaking of the player character, create a leveling system for them. There are so many possibilities for a system where the trainer more actively impacts gameplay. For instance, there could be a class system and each class can have unique skill trees that provide access to passive and/or active abilities that improve how the trainer interacts with the world throughout the game. It could be required to choose your path at the beginning of the game, or perhaps you can access them all throughout the game, but can only have one active at a time.

Here’s a list of example possibilities:

Explorer: The explorer class specializes in travel, as well as tracking and catching new Pokémon—this tree can be subdivided into those paths: Travel, Tracking, and Catching. This tree provides skills that assist them in accessing otherwise inaccessible locations, increasing encounter rates with rare Pokémon, and specializing in different types of Poké balls to improve catch chances. Experience for this class is gained through catching Pokémon, encountering rare Pokémon, and exploring (walking in new places, finding treasure, accessing hidden areas, etc.).

Combatant: The combatant class excels at offensive battle prowess through its three branches: Type Affinity, Commands, and Reputation. This tree allows a trainer to specialize in certain Pokémon types (up to 2) to improve their STAB damage. Eventually, you can get a skill that provides STAB for your specialized types even for Pokémon not of those types! You gain access to in-battle shout commands that provide momentary buffs to your party, like improving damage, resisting a big attack, or improving critical hit ratio. A strong reputation will allow you to avoid battle even with trainers who have caught your eye; and in battle, an enemy Pokémon may flinch due to your intimidating presence. Experience is gained by knocking out Pokémon, winning battles, using moves of your type specialization, and issuing commands.

Breeder: The breeder focuses on developing deep relationships with their Pokémon. Skills of this class can be divided into the Breeding, Bonding, and Healing branches. Through this tree, trainers can hatch eggs more quickly, improve high IV chance from newborn Pokémon, develop friendship levels more quickly, etc. Bonding provides Pokémon with beneficial defensive capabilities during battle, like providing a chance to survive an attack that would otherwise bring HP to 0, and having a strong will to resist abnormal status effects like paralysis and confusion. A Breeder’s knowledge of caretaking allows for healing outside of battle, and can even teach Pokémon how to slowly recover in-battle. Experience is gained through hatching eggs, developing friendships with your Pokémon (through feeding/petting, etc.), participating in Contests/minigames, and having Pokémon in your party with whom you have developed a close relationship.

The establishment of a class system like this, where experience is gained through different means relevant to each class, incentivizes players to participate in those aspects of the game, and provides extra rewards for players who already want to get involved. It makes the trainer feel like a relevant and impactful part of the team, rather than a hollow vehicle strictly used to lug the real heroes—your team of Pokémon—from battle to battle.

And for those who think the inclusion of such a mechanic would trivialize the content, I have several suggestions: first, they could easily make the game content more difficult to compensate. Second, they could mitigate the strength of these class skills during key battles like Gym Leaders, the Elite Four, the Enemy Team (Rocket, Galaxy, etc.). Third, NPCs (especially the aforementioned key NPCs) could have access to these skills as well. Remember, I’m asking for significant changes, and this would provide something new, interesting, and impactful.

 3.       Battle Animations

Update them. It’s that simple. Let Blastoise shoot water out of his water cannons rather than out of his face. Let Scorbunny run up to its opponent and give it a nice kick! Get rid of the old, outdated animations of a drawn foot—we now have well-rendered 3D monsters on gaming systems capable of handling the graphical processing necessary for this to happen. Give each Pokémon a more unique identity with their animations; make them feel like they’re actually in a battle with one another. It’s time.

I acknowledge that providing significant animation updates for the 800+ models is an enormous undertaking that would require a massive amount of time and manpower to make possible. To this I say: spend the time doing that rather than developing Dynamax or whatever. Spend the time on more significant animation development instead of wasting that time on another gimmick that isn’t going to significantly impact gameplay anyway.

To be honest, this point alone would be enough to convince me to buy a new Pokémon game.

 4.       Populate the World with Pokémon

I know that the Let’s Go series and Sword/Shield did this a little bit, and while it certainly wasn’t executed perfectly, it was fun running around and actually seeing all the Pokémon that inhabit it. Spawn rates in both games were often a bit too high, resulting in cluttered areas. Adding aggressive Pokémon would further enhance the immersive experience—being required to sneak around certain stronger Pokémon could be a really fun mechanic and provide tension; it was a bit too easy to avoid Pokémon in Let’s Go and in the Wild Area. While it was nice to get through Mt. Moon without encountering a single Zubat, imagine instead running through a section of the cave with a trail of 15 Zubats on your tail? Make me work for it a little!

Ultimately, I want to see Pokémon behaving more naturally in their habitats, and not just in sections of the world that I can’t get to. I want to run into a Caterpie hanging from a tree, or a Fearow fishing for Goldeen, or a Pikachu grooming itself. I want to interrupt Pokémon from their lives, not run into a giant gaggle of automatons circling tiny areas for no reason.

So there it is: a look at just a few things Pokémon games could include to make things more interesting and breathe new life into an aging franchise. These changes would require work, but any new game should—I would hate to see Pokémon continue the troubling trend of easy and/or insignificant content when there is so much potential to do so much with what they have.

With all that said, I do want to offer a bit of praise—Sirfetch’d and Galarian Ponyta are pretty awesome, and Galarian Weezing is perfectly ridiculous. But I ask that you keep in mind what your money is telling Game Freak when you purchase their games: it tells them that you don’t mind the severe lack of innovation and improvement. It tells them you don’t mind Scorbunny hopping in place as a giant, orange, human foot strikes its opponent. It tells them that you’re willing to fund their copy/paste animations from 6 years ago, their uninspired gameplay updates, and their ever-increasing focus on gimmicks and minigames.

As for me, I will continue holding Pokémon to a higher standard and hoping that, eventually, Blastoise will fire water from his cannons.  

[maxthommusic]

Persona 5: Strikers (Review)

Persona 5: Strikers is the best sequel/spin-off I can ever remember. Crafted so lovingly and with such great awareness, Strikers knows its strengths and plays to them incredibly well. However, whenever there is such ingenuity, less-than-stellar moments tend to stick out sorely and Strikers is not averse to this trouble. Yet despite it’s missteps, Persona 5 has received a strikingly fantastic sequel that rises above any qualms and will surely steal your heart along the way.

To get it right out of the way, my two least favorite parts of the game were the intro and the ending. The intro because if you’re a fan of Persona 5, it means you’ve probably not only played 100+ hours of the original, but you probably also sunk about as much time into Royal just last spring, too. With Strikers coming not even a year later, the exposition manages to drag pretty heavily. While the content is probably rich and engaging for newcomers, I have to imagine that’s not most players... Here I was again hearing about people’s hearts needing change and diving into the metaverse to alter cognitions-- I spent the first few hours going, “Okay, okay, I get it. Let’s go.” Especially with the tutorials, I found myself only half-reading them, being irked because it was a mix of, “This seems familiar, don’t I know this already?” and “But let’s just make sure...” I couldn’t escape the feeling that maybe I’d had enough Persona 5-- perhaps Strikers was a bridge too far... And as far as the ending goes-- well. I’ll let you decide how you feel about that one...

Nevertheless, when the game finally drives away from Shibuya and we’re off on the vacation road-trip Atlus marketed to us, things begin to light up. New locations, new music, new dialogs-- everything goes from stale to fresh in a flash. Even the combat begins to make more sense and the map layouts seem less convoluted. Something about starting the game in Shibuya just seemed stifling and I was elated to let my hair blow in the country wind.

A quick tip? Leave the Japanese voice-acting on. Not only is it top-notch, but the English VO leaves a lot to be desired simply from a production standpoint. It didn’t take more than 15 minutes for me to Google if there were any articles relating to the English actors doing their parts at home during COVID. I applaud the team for conjuring a way to get their voices in the game and get this thing out sooner than later in the time of COVID. But if anything makes me appreciate the ability to work and collaborate in-person, as a team, it’s Persona Strikers. The Japanese team certainly didn’t have to worry about a pandemic when piecing together this lovely roadtrip, so their performances are ultimately the superior way to experience Strikers. 

But aside from VO, it’s amazing how well the writers captured the voice of these characters in a world that factors in the reception of Persona 5. PStudio plays up the fan service and we get tons of moments worth smiling and laughing over. Sophia and Zenkichi, two of the biggest new characters, are total delights and are as welcome as Kasumi and Maruki were for Royal. Which, when you have an established cast that is so beloved and can still inject newcomers worth fawning over, that’s an achievement in and of itself.  

What really drew me to Strikers over and over was simply the ability to step into this universe and spend time with these characters again. The in-between moments where you would traverse a new city were some of my favorite gameplay elements. Seeing all the stores and buying new items was a consistent joy. Which is a great conceit: from items for battle to groceries for cooking, whenever you were out on the town, exploring a new locale, Strikers gives you a reason to check each and every stall. And the addition of “Requests,” mini-quests urged on by Phantom Thieves members and more, is a fantastic way to not only add replay value to levels, but also trigger side story moments, further propelling the notion of a carrot on a stick. The devs seem to really have an understanding for why want additional helpings of Persona 5 and they play up those strengths incredibly well.

Amazing though how we’ve come this far in the review and I still haven’t brought up the combat, no? The honest truth is that Persona as a musou actually makes perfect sense. In fact, plenty of times going through the game I thought to myself, “If Persona switched to this permanently I would have no qualms.” It’s not so mindless like a Dynasty or Hyrule Warriors and I found myself having to employ plenty of strategy to make it through. I died enough times to feel like I had challenges to overcome, but not so much that I couldn’t see a way forward. Even on the more obtuse maps, I employed a “just charge ahead” mentality, trying not to overthink the objective, and I usually came out the other end without much tribulation. Persona 5 Strikers is very focused on having fun and I surely got my helping. Each character has their own Arts to be mastered, giving everyone a different play-style. While I usually leaned on Joker, since he was the most balanced, in my opinion, the game does a great job of making you want to swap those characters because of their Personas. Part of the joy of jumping into a new Jail (read: Palace) was always running with the crew you wanted, then discovering the crew you needed based on the Weaknesses left to exploit. Everyone’s unique Showtime attack (read: Ultimate) adds extra flair to the presentation and overall it’s safe to say Persona 5: Strikers is a celebration of the Phantom Thieves through and through. 

There’s no denying how fun P5S truly is and I mostly found myself addicted to the gameplay loop. As mentioned, the beginning and end might be a drag for veterans (or not, depending your affection level for the franchise), and I even really appreciated that not all levels were created equal. Some are shorter than others and whenever the game didn’t overstay its welcome, I was overjoyed. While I’m all for a lengthy experience, I’m more for narratives that say what they need to say. Persona 5: Strikers manages to do this well, which feels like something worth mentioning since its predecessor is known for being incredibly long in the tooth. 

While it’s not going to be any sort of Game of the Year contender, not everything needs to be. Persona 5: Strikers is honestly as perfect a game we could have probably hoped for. My gripes with it are middling, at worst, and the things it does right are very worth celebrating. Strikers is focused on fun and serving its fan-base. If you’re in desperate need of a vacation with some best pals, Strikers delivers across the board. And to match that holiday-like sensibility, the musou gameplay pairs perfectly. Less pausing, more action, but plenty of strategy needed to mow down your foes. And for those in need of extra challenge, Strikers definitely delivers in the post-game goods.

VERDICT: Persona 5: Strikers is a must-buy for fans of the original-- so long as the gameplay mechanics sound right. While the fan-service is through the roof and the story does in fact continue the Phantom Thieves’ journey, you probably shouldn’t play a musou if you’re strictly into Persona’s turn-based battle system. Just be aware what you’re diving into-- it’s pretty easy to get informed. 

[bmaxwell]

Number 1: Darkest Dungeon

Ruin...has come to our family.

Every so often a game comes along that feels like it was made specifically for you. So it was with Darkest Dungeon. First off, the game’s art style is breathtaking, I’d never seen a game look quite like it. The heavy shading on the characters gives everyone a severe, mysterious look. The combat is turn-based, with the twist that skills and abilities are based on where the characters are standing in a formation. It invokes HP Lovecraft* and makes the emotional stresses of being sent into dangerous places to battle horrors and abominations into a gameplay mechanism. The music is great. There’s a cool, spooky narrator. There are a bunch of different classes, and a town hub to upgrade. Darkest Dungeon ticks...all of my boxes? Almost. Make the adventurers high schoolers who attend classes, form social bonds, and manage relationships during the day before fighting monsters at night and you’d have it. 

I’ve played several hundred hours of Darkest Dungeon, and I still rarely skip the intro video when I launch the game. 

The first time I saw the above video, I was immediately reminded of two things:

- Eternal Darkness, a Gameube game about exploring mansion of your recently-deceased uncle and discovering an evil book that has been passed down through the generations.

- Lurker at the Threshold, which was my first HP Lovecraft story.**

This is my kind of horror. I dislike blood and guts slasher horror, but I love cosmic horror. This is very difficult for most games to capture, a lot of Lovecraft-inspired games tend to be about fighting tentacle monsters with tommy guns. And Darkest Dungeon is about fighting cool scary monsters, but Red Hook implemented a system in which your characters will have to deal with the psychological toll that living through life-threatening encounters with unspeakable horrors would take on a person. 

It’s easy to boil this down to just another meter to manage. “Oh, this monster monster used an ability which inflicted 6 points of stress on my Crusader, he is only 13 stress points away from his limit.” Most games can be boiled down to their mathematical skeletons. This is where the game’s incredible writing, art direction, and voice acting come through. Combat actions are often accompanied by a line of dialogue written over a character’s head and/or a line from the narrator (the excellent Wayne June). 

For example, you encounter an enemy called a Madman - a fairly disturbed fellow in a loose straightjacket. One of his attacks his one of your party members, inflicting stress and a debuff. How this looks in practice is like this: this dude in an unbuckled straight jacket who has been holding his head in his hands suddenly points and screams something muffled with one hand over his mouth. One of your party member’s screams “I-I don’t want to die here!” and the narrator says “Gasping...reeling...taken over the edge into madness!” The imagination doesn’t have to wander far to picture this distraught man suddenly pointing at you and screaming something he can’t possibly know about you. This marriage of theme and mechanisms is something that makes video games special. 

As someone who has always enjoyed the math puzzle-like nature of turn-based combat, Darkest Dungeon managed to somehow feel both familiar and innovative. Having combatants lined up from left to right seems like such a simple thing, but it brings into a play a whole layer of strategic considerations. There are abilities that can only be used from certain positions, or can only hit specific ranks on the enemy side; there are abilities that push and pull, that lunge forward or fall back. On any given delve, you are choosing a party of four from 17 classes, each of which has an assortment of abilities to choose from. Early in the game you can kind of get by with whatever party you choose, but as the difficulty ramps up you have to really think about your party makeup before setting out.

Darkest Dungeon’s late game features a fairly brutal difficulty spike. Most of my plays of the game are me having a laid back good time with the game until I get my ass handed to me in a few Champion dungeons, then putting the game down for months before starting a new save. This understandably turns a lot of players away from the game. Shit can go wrong in a hurry. Shit WILL go wrong in a hurry. If the enemies focus on a specific character and/or get a couple of critical hits in succession, you can lose party members permanently, and those setbacks can be deflating. You can’t avoid bad luck, but you can mitigate it and plan for it. And overcoming an “unfair” challenge is exhilarating. 

One of the things the game does brilliantly is give you those hopeless situations and occasionally offer a beacon of hope. This is by way of the game’s stress and affliction mechanism. When a hero’s stress level reaches 100, they will either become afflicted with a negative trait such as Paranoid or Abusive, or they will become virtuous, gaining a trait such as Stalwart or Focused. This seems to be tilted in favor of affliction about 70/30. Either way, this event is accompanied by a line of text from the character, and a callout by the narrator. 

In the case of an affliction, things go from bad to worse. Characters will change positions on their own (a fearful character will move back in the formation, or a masochistic one might move toward the front) or skip their turn altogether (if they’re hopeless). Afflicted characters will stress the rest of the party out as well whether it’s by being mopey, or verbally abusive - a paranoid arbalest who misses a shot will say “WHICH ONE OF YOU BUMPED MY ARM!?” and so on. On the other hand, sometimes when hope seems lost a character will become virtuous. They will shout encouragement, grant buffs and healing and the such. 

The game’s other big source of drama comes from its death’s door mechanism. When a character reaches zero health, they do not die. Instead they are in a state called death’s door, which means that any damage they take while at zero health could kill them. This leads to every attack being accompanied by held breath and a tightly clenched asshole. The game’s design lends it so much personality and breeds so many memorable stories. 

As impressive as the game’s design is, it is matched by the game’s sound design. Stuart Chatwood did an incredible job with the score. The music is deeply unsettling, a low thrum while you make your way through poorly lit dungeons where traps lie in wait and horrors potentially lie around every corner. Distant howls and screams  help set the stage. The battles themselves are against pounding drums and upsettingly realistic sounds of blows landing and gasps and chokes. 

Wayne June’s contribution as the narrator cannot be overstated. He is the heart and soul of Darkest Dungeon. Hs voicework captures the game’s dark humor, hope, despair, triumph and everything between. I cannot envision this game without him, and was thrilled to learn that he has signed on for Darkest Dungeon II.

It’s a game of long odds, despair, determination, and triumph. As someone who lives with depression, the game probably means more to me and hits me differently than most. The idea of throwing yourself headlong into a situation that seems hopeless, falling into despair, then getting back up and going again means something to me. The game brought tears to my eyes the first time, when a hero hit their stress limit and became Stalwart rather than afflicted, I heard Wayne June deliver the line “Many fall in the face of chaos. But not this one. Not today.” 

Darkest Dungeon isn’t the best game ever made by any metric, but it’s my favorite. 

*I’ve managed to make peace with enjoying Lovecraft’s fiction while being aware of what a racist, xenophobic shit stain he was

**Technically more August Derleth than HP Lovecraft I know.

[blazehedgehog]

Everyone is seems to be talking to you on your opinions on the FF7 Remake. I barely know the FF series, TBH. However, going in a different direction, how would YOU change the original game to bring it to this day? Try not to consider the Remake, but the original game by itself. Always appreciate your stuff, Blaze! (Sorry for the poor english)

Well I hate to sound like a broken record, but I think the gold standard is Resident Evil. Both the original remake from the Gamecube era, and now Resident Evil 2.

Those remakes change a bunch of stuff! And add a lot of new content! Puzzle solutions are different, there’s new monsters to fight, they rework the layout of environments and add new areas to explore, and so on. In terms of Resident Evil 2, they also change up where some story beats go, like when you meet Robert Kendo or where Mr. X shows up.

But they keep it in the spirit of the original games. They say, “Here is what we were trying to do in 1998, but now better realized.” The shooting is better, the mechanics are tighter, the cutscenes are more cinematic and less goofy. But you can still point at them and say, “That’s Resident Evil.”

The problem is, after Final Fantasy 7, Square-Enix started experimenting wildly with what their RPGs are supposed to play like.

Like, Final Fantasy 8, right. They did away with weapon equips entirely. You have one sword for the entire game. Magic spells are now vacuumed up from special fountains or captured from enemies like Pokemon. There’s the overly complicated Guardian Force system with affinities and learned abilities and that whole mess.

Chrono Cross goes in the opposite direction and basically does away with experience points and leveling up. You only level up after bosses in that game, so you can’t ever be under-leveled for anything (but that means you also can’t be over-leveled for anything either, a key feature I like about JRPGs).

And it continued like that. Every new game felt like they were trying new ways to reinvent different wheels because they were out of ideas on how to improve the core turn based mechanics. So Final Fantasy mutated, and mutated, and mutated… until it’s become basically unrecognizable to me.

So what do you go back to? What has Final Fantasy ever been? Can it even be defined, outside of fashion model character designs and the vague concept of “swords?”

To be honest, I would have been fine if the Final Fantasy franchise had ended a long time ago. But I feel like, with the fact that none of the games have to be connected to each other, that gave Square-Enix a license to keep going well past the point of logic or sense. Anything can be a Final Fantasy now! Which also means Final Fantasy is nothing specific, not anymore.

If I were handling the remake, I’d use this as an opportunity to re-examine turn based combat and figure out what made it appealing. We’ve had a spate of games like that recently – again, we have Resident Evil. After Resident Evil 6 imploded for being too much of a summer blockbuster, Capcom was surprised by the sales of Resident Evil Remake HD, leading to Resident Evil 7 re-focusing on horror and giving us Resident Evil 2 Remake.

And then you have Doom 2016, which similarly backpedaled after Doom 3 went in a new direction.

“Back to basics” is in-vogue right now, so instead of pushing Final Fantasy 7 to conform to the example set by 15, we could go back and just give it a turn based battle system. You could say that “Final Fantasy 13 just had a turn based battle system, it wasn’t that long ago” – but you have to remember that FF13 released eleven years ago. It’s been a while.

If not that, if they’re really set on making it in to more of an action-based experience, then go all the way action. None of this “wait until your ATB meter fills up to access your inventory” weirdness. Making it this weird half-step between turn based and an action game is what bothers me the most right now, because it feels like the elements don’t fit together.

How you’d handle the story is a different subject, and one I haven’t thought about on a super deep level, because there’s a lot of story in FF7 to sift through and remember. But I can tell you right now I wouldn’t end it the way the current Final Fantasy 7 Remake ends, which is…

Lbh svtug gur tubfgyl ercerfragngvba bs “pnaba”, naq vgf qrsrng nyybjf Frcuvebgu gb yvgrenyyl erjevgr gur cybg sbe gur tnzr, naq va qbvat fb punatrf gur gvzryvar fb gung shgher ragevrf va gur Svany Snagnfl 7 Erznxr qb abg unir gb sbyybj gur bevtvany tnzr'f fgbel va nal jnl funcr be sbez. Nf va, gur ernfba vg'f pnyyrq “Svany Snagnfl 7 Erznxr” vf orpnhfr vg'f guebjvat bhg gur byq fgbel naq erznxvat vg gb or fbzrguvat ryfr. (spoilers, paste in to rot13.com to decode)

But really, my example is just “Do it like Resident Evil and Doom did it by making it like the old games, but still good.” I know that’s an incredibly basic appraisal, but that’s what I feel like. Because, like I said, what do you even go back to? Final Fantasy’s greatest consistency is its inconsistency. The primary thing it’s been good at… is that it hasn’t been good for me for a long time. 

I just wish it was, and the FF7 Remake was a great chance for that to happen.

[yummiestparrot]

HALO WARS 2 AWAKENING THE NIGHTMARE REVIEW

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Originally published on KeenGamer on 02/10/2017. Added here for completion.

The flood are back and more creepy than ever in the new expansion for Halo Wars 2. Featuring a new campaign from the perspective of the Banished, two new leaders, two new multiplayer maps and a brand new mode firefight terminus.

With the season pass content now over 343 have the audacity to release a separately paid expansion less than a month later! Forum room drama aside Awakening the Nightmare offers those willing to overlook the drama associated with the content an exciting new mix of single player and multiplayer goodness all in one package. Of course, the most exciting aspect of the content is the reintroduction of the Flood an iconic Halo adversary that has been far too long absent from the series. STORYThe story picks up after the events of Halo Wars 2 but from the perspective of the Banished rather than the UNSC. Straight away we are introduced to two brand new brutes Voridus and Pavium a pair of brothers looking to prove themselves to Atriox. We join them as they are being sent out on a salvage run to High Charity, Halo veterans will remember that the Covenant capital was taken over by the Flood in Halo 2 and later crashed onto the Ark in Halo 3. Supposedly all the Flood were wiped out and not believing in the rumours and legends Voridus cuts his way into the ship and awakens the ancient threat. The story never really develops beyond that point and follows a relatively straightforward narrative. You will follow Voridus and Pavium from the point of release to the inevitable fightback and conclusion. It's certainly entertaining if just a little uninspired but the dynamic of Voridus and Pavium being brothers does get some decent development throughout the 5 missions. We get to see more of the Banished and even a bit more of its leader Atriox although the role he plays is very small. Apart from a brief encounter with them on the first mission the crew of the Spirit of Fire are noticeably absent, with the threat of the Flood being released on the Ark and considering their history with the Flood from the events of the first Halo Wars game their absence from the expansion seems a little odd. But what the story sets out to achieve it does so. As with the main campaign, much of the story is focused on the actual tactics at play rather than finding out more about the flood or honing in on more character development for example. There are some brief cutscenes but most of the story is presented during the mission loading screens and via dialogue during missions. Those keen on finding out more can collect Phoenix logs to read from the campaign main menu. There are some genuinely interesting stories hidden within them such as a Brute captains final moments before being completely overwhelmed by the Flood... By the end of the expansion, it just about manages to be satisfying and does have a predictable but decent conclusion. However, as with the main game, it does end rather abruptly it feels like there needs to be more of a cooldown period before the credits roll. While the ending is satisfying there are aspects of it left very open-ended, the Flood are defeated but could easily be brought back and the ultimate fate of Voridus and Pavium is left completely in the air. GAMEPLAYThis is an area of the game in which the expansion well and truly shines. Of course, the biggest and most obvious addition to the gameplay is the Flood who come in a variety of different forms that well and truly mix up the gameplay. Infection forms, for example, will swarm your units and bases, let them get too close and they easily infect your infantry units turning them against you in battle, if you're not careful they can even infect your vehicles and air units. These infection forms require you to be constantly on the ball as a swarm of them can easily overrun your units and defences should you not be paying attention. They can also travel over any surface so they can scale cliffs and come at you from every angle. In addition to infection forms, there are combat forms, units that have been taken over by the flood and so take the shape of your infantry, vehicles and air units and in some situations, they have taken over UNSC units as well. There are also pure forms, such as tentacles that pop out of the ground and the towering juggernaut that acts as a Flood super unit buffing any units around it. The overwhelming nature of the Flood has truly been nailed here on one mission you'll be tasked with a fighting retreat where on the higher difficulties you'll be fighting for every inch of land in a desperate fight for survival, another mission has you having to do hit and run tactics to gain power while massive Flood bases attack your main base in ever increasing powerful waves. Do you risk keeping your troops out in the field to gain more power and leave your base vulnerable or focus on defence but risk an increase in the frequency and power of flood attacks? Another mission has you have no base building capabilities at all forcing you to make clever use of your available units and resources to complete the level in one piece. In conclusion, each of the 5 missions has something unique and exciting about it and each can take 40+ minutes to complete so there is some decent content to get through. Voridus and Pavium act as your hero units throughout the campaign and so their unique abilities and new units act an extra mix to the gameplay. This is, however, very limited and restricted throughout the campaign and so the gameplay mostly focuses on traditional Banished units and structures. The two brothers do however act as two new separate leaders so can be played in multiplayer, blitz and the new terminus firefight. Voridus focusses on rush tactics making use of a new mechanic infusion whilst Pavium has a far more defensive style that focuses on defensive tactics and economy building. Both leaders act as great additions to the now massive leader roster but do mix things up less so than other leaders have in the past. Grab a buddy and play as the two brothers together in 2v2 for a devastating combo of attack and defence. A new mode terminus firefight tasks you with defending a terminus from ever increasing powerful waves of Banished, UNSC and Flood forces. The mode can be played single player or cooperatively with 1 or 2 other players. The mode can be played with any leader so there is a tonne of variety in the way you choose to defend. Expanding to gain new bases increases your population count and opens up new turret slots, defensive walls can also be built to block, slow and damage. It's a very fun mode which is equally challenging as it is rewarding and there is always that constant drive to increase your score or make it to a higher wave. There are also two new multiplayer maps available to all players not just purchasers of Awakening the Nightmare. The maps of Halo Wars 2 are one of its weaker aspects and the two new ones do little to change this acting as variations on whats come before but they still add more variety and so are still a welcome addition nevertheless.  GRAPHICS AND AUDIOGraphics and audio wise its yet again the Flood that will be adding the most variety. From their grotesque visual design to chilling screams they make this campaign feel very different and distinct from what came before it in the main Halo Wars 2 campaign. Elsewhere the game looks and sounds the same as ever which for the most part is great. The design of the levels themselves is a little disappointing however what you see is nothing new from the rest of the game, this could have been a great opportunity to add some visual and audio variety such as a snow area or swamp. Instead, we get the very familiar pine forest environment for the most part and a not so visually exciting Forerunner segment. Even the two new multiplayer maps and terminus firefight map do nothing new here, which is frankly pretty disappointing. Voice acting wise Pavium and Voridus sound great, you'll be hearing from them a lot so thankfully the voice acting is of a decent quality. As with the main game, there will be times when you get treated to a Blur cinematic. This cinematics are of the highest quality as ever the folks over at Blur really know their Halo and so offer up yet another audio and visual treat for the senses but in total only about 5 minutes of cinematics are on display here. The expansion features a new soundtrack around 30 minutes of new suitably themed tunes to keep you immersed in the heat of the action. It serves its purpose well within the campaign but doesn't feature anything particularly memorable or special. CONCLUSION Where it matters most Awakening the Nightmare well and truly delivers and that's in the gameplay department. Fighting against the Flood in the campaign is undeniably great fun with each level offering something unique and new. For those brave enough Legendary offers a very distinct challenge. Elsewhere the new leaders make a fine addition to the multiplayer modes whilst terminus firefight offers a fun new PvE way to enjoy the game solo or with others. Story-wise it's very safe and by the books but this doesn't stop it from being enjoyable. It is, after all, a side story and not intended to be a direct sequel to the events of Halo Wars 2 or tie in with the rest of the Halo universe in any great way. That said there is potential for something far greater here and we'll have to wait and see if the events from the expansion are ever explored again. Audio and visually there is very little to be talked about but one can only wish more had been done here rather than just rely on the Flood units for more visual and audio variety. Overall the expansion is a great addition to the game for all the players that take their Halo seriously but even casual players have plenty to sink their teeth into. Personally, for the price, I think the expansion offers plenty and so is good value but for players who don't play much multiplayer the price to simply play the new story missions may not be worth it. Hopefully, this expansion will pave the way for more combinations of multiplayer and single player Halo content in the future. 

[kyndaris]

Oscillating between Stories

When it was first announced, I knew then and there that Nintendo Switch would be sitting proudly in front of my television. From the publisher that had tickled my fascination with games, I knew that it would be a delight to explore the diverging stories of Octopath Traveler. As news continued to trickle through, my excitement increased until finally I had into it in my hands. For one terrifying moment, I thought that it had been sold out at the JB Hi-Fi close to my workplace. Fortunately, luck was on my side and I returned home to slot the game in place.

Like many Japanese role-playing games of old, Octopath Travler uses a turn-based battle system. From the developers that brought gamers the likes of Bravely Default, it was hardly a surprise that there were barely any changes to the formula that has persisted for all these years. Octopath Traveler, however still managed to bring its own unique twist to the genre: a shield and weakness system. While it took some time to adjust to the new set of rules, I was able to quickly understand the mechanics and used it to my advantage. Breaking enemies became a regular occurrence as it offered up opportunities to deal critical damage as well as stun foes. In fact, it became an integral part to any strategy – particularly against bosses.

The soundtrack also proved to be a highlight, drawing on my memories from older titles in the Final Fantasy franchise. There was one instance when I was sure that a melody had been directly taken from the music I knew and loved, but it was still a thrill to listen to the new arrangements and compositions.

But the real stars of Octopath Traveler are the characters.

At the start of the game you are presented with eight unique stories and a choice. It took some time but I finally settled on Alfyn, the apothecary. While his story was fairly simple, it was tightly focused on his own self-discovery and what it meant to be a healer. I liked how Alfyn’s arc explored whether or not every life was worth living. It was a moral quandary that was reminiscent from Vampyr. In the end, Alfyn was able to find his own answer. Holding tight to the belief that had set him on the very path of becoming an apothecary: endeavouring to assist any and all that are in need.

Yet Octopath Traveler was not satisfied to simply allow players to finish only one story. There were seven others waiting in the wings and in my playthrough, it became a joy to recruit all of the other characters as I explored the world.

The next on my list was the surly thief Therion. Betrayed by his partner of old, Therion continued to ply his trade in the city of Boulderfall until he encountered a challenge he simply could not refuse. Stealthily, he infiltrated the local manor in the search for riches. But it was not to be. Caught and harangued into a deal, he was tasked to retrieve the precious heirlooms of the Ravus family. Suffice it to say, Therion’s arc involved rediscovering the ability to trust others and settling the matters of his past in a nice tidy bow before he set off for greener pastures.

Third came Primrose, the dancer. Her story proved to be quite intriguing. After suffering through countless setbacks and indignities, she managed to uncover a clue leading to the three individuals that murdered her father. Though somewhat cliché, I was enthralled from beginning to end as I tracked down all that had been involved – one of them having also been revealed to be Primrose’s childhood sweetheart. As with every story of revenge, it followed all the familiar story beats one encounters in such tales. Still, here’s hoping that the spark of hope as the arc came to close might be explored in a potential sequel.

H’aanit the hunter was the fourth character to join my motley crew. Skilled at hunting down the beasts and monsters of the world, she sets out on a quest to find her old master (and father figure) after he goes missing. However, their reunion proves to be less than happy. Turned to stone, he leaves a cryptic message to find an old seer. Once she does, she sets out to slay the monster, Redeye, as the only way to lift the curse of petrification. All the while, speaking in a mixture of Middle English and our current vernacular, with the suffix ‘en’ added to every second word.

Ophilia’s journey as the Flamebearer also proved an enjoyable diversion. When her adopted father falls ill, she takes up the mantle of Flambearer instead of her sister, Lianna. Her kindness and selfless nature served as a balm to some of the other stories with its uplifting message of sisterly love. It also helped serve as a case study on how different people handle and process grief.

Nearing the end, I followed the map clockwise and headed towards Atlasdam where Cyrus, the clueless scholar, resided. Taking the role of an investigator, Cyrus was quick to invoke my sympathies towards a Mr Holmes. Although a purveyor of knowledge, Cyrus lacked understanding in the ways of the heart. Still, it was fun to see the great professor bumbling through the confusing mess that is the realm of romance. And trampling over the young heart of his young student, Therese. Still, it was nice to see a game provide commentary on how knowledge should be handled.

Any merchant worth their salt understands the importance of supply and demand. Tressa’s story, however, allowed me see beyond the cold transactions of the everyday. Surprisingly, her path echoed the beats of most generic heroes in role playing games. In fact, inspired by the words of a journal that was gifted to her, she sets out on an adventure to see the world. By the time her journey ends, Tressa has become all the richer, not through coin, but by the experiences and people she has met along the way. This comes full circle when she passes the torch to another hopeful before returning home well-satisfied by her personal ‘treasure.’

Last but not least was Olberic. Having lost both monarch and kingdom to treachery, this mighty swordsman goes on a journey to discover why he wields the sword. Encountering the man that slew his king, he nonetheless stays his hand after a gripping duel and sets his eyes on the true mastermind behind it all. With his purpose renewed, he returns to the village that has become his second home – now able to move on from his past.

While the stories were all fascinating in their own right, like many of the reviewers out there, I was disappointed that they played out as stand-alone experiences for each character rather than being interwoven into a greater narrative. Though they might be members of the same party, none of the other characters participate in the cutscenes except in optional travel banter. These helped flesh out the relationships between them but ultimately left me craving more. I would have also liked Alfyn and Ophilia to find love, but once again my ship was thwarted as the two stated that they were more brother and sister.

Further research on the internet and one YouTube video later, I discovered that all of the individual stories were connected to a grander world-saving plot. However, after watching Journey’s End on YouTube, I was left feeling somewhat deflated about the true ending. Throughout my playthrough, I was able to construct a rough idea about the greater and far reaching threat of the sealed God Galdera from the hints scattered in each of the eight tales, ultimately, it felt as if Ophilia, Cyrus, Tress, Olberic, Primrose, Alfyn, Therion and H’aanit were bit players in another’s story. Namely, Graham Crossford and his son.

Disappointed, I left the end-game side missions alone. Besides, I had already sunk my seventy hours. Spiderman and Shadow of the Tomb Raider were already lurking on the horizon and my backlog was not going to finish itself.

One does have to wonder, though, that perhaps I should consider how I portion out my time. With a full-time job, it has become much harder to finish games. Instead of playing lengthy role-playing games that are my usual bread and butter, I could put that energy into other pursuits…

Nah. That’s never going to happen.

As my favourite NPC was wont to say: I am a one-woman army! Here’s to playing another hundred or so hours in the next rollicking open world. Come at me Assassin’s Creed Odyssey!

[4colorrebellion]

4cr Plays - Cosmic Star Heroine (Switch)

A secret agent, hackers, ghost detectives, slightly-too-friendly robots, and a galaxy-spanning conspiracy sound like the ingredients for a great weekend. They are also a few of the elements at the heart of Cosmic Star Heroine - an RPG from Zeboyd Games, the developers of Cthulhu Saves the World. 

Cosmic Star Heroine launched last year on PS4, PS Vita, and PC, and hits the Nintendo Switch today. I’ve been excited to try Cosmic Star Heroine - a homage to old-school Japanese RPGs, blending elements of Chrono Trigger and Phantasy Star - and the launch of the Switch version offered the perfect opportunity to sit down with it. Read on for my impressions.

The story of Cosmic Star Heroine focuses on special agent Alyssa L’Salle, a rising star in the Agency for Peace and Intelligence (*ahem*... the API). The API are a police force that maintain peace in a galaxy full of psychic bugs, ghost detectives, hyper-intelligent tentacled cats, and - of course - a looming rebel threat. Before long, however, Alyssa discovers that the API are developing mind-control technology, and that they are not the force for good that she was led to believe. On the run, Alyssa must figure out who to trust and find a way to take down API before they can conquer the galaxy. 

Of course, this is a tried-and-true plotline - the focus of hundreds of Science Fiction stories over the years. Fortunately, the creators of Cosmic Star Heroine know this as well, and aren’t taking the story too seriously. The game is packed with every reference and trope from the cyberpunk genre, but it is all tongue-in-cheek. The goal here is to send you out on a fun, exciting adventure, and they succeed quite well in accomplishing that. 

The characters in Cosmic Star Heroine are great. From Alyssa herself - an actual calm, capable woman of the type rarely seen in gaming - to Borisusovsky (er, Sue) - quiet, tough, with an excellent fashion sense - to Orson - a host detective straight out of film noir - the cast are charming and memorable. The high adventure feel of Cosmic Star Heroine is reminiscent of games like Chrono Trigger and Skies of Arcadia, lacking in moping self-doubt or deadly gravitas, and I genuinely had a great time working through the storyline. 

The pacing helps greatly with that feeling. One of my favorite things about this game is the breakneck pace at which you move through it. This is an RPG that actually respects your time. As much as I enjoy spending a hundred hours in a Persona game, it’s really nice to have something that lasts a perfect fifteen hours or so. There is no filler, nothing designed to slow you down. Cosmic Star Heroine has a few side activities and optional dungeons to complete, but the main focus is on a well-designed, well-paced central plotline. It feels brisk, and no mechanic overstays its welcome.

Cosmic Star Heroine is an RPG, so much of the actual gameplay consists of battles. You can see enemies on a field, so battles are not random. However, most battles are not optional. That said, once you defeat an enemy, it doesn’t return. In battle, each character takes a turn based on their speed - turn order is shown on the right side of the screen. Your main attacks consist of a series of seven abilities, which you can change outside of combat. Over time, each character learns about twenty abilities, so you have a lot of ability to customize each character. Characters can also equip various shields, which both boost your defense and grant additional abilities. You can change shields and choose the one that best compliments the native abilities of the character using it. You can also select a set of items to take into battle. 

The key twist of the battle system in Cosmic Star Heroine is that abilities are gone after you use them until either the end of the battle, or until you spend a turn recharging. Shield abilities and items do not recharge, but do return in the next battle. Rather than being there to frustrate, the removal of abilities introduces a lot of strategic depth. Many abilities work best when you plan the order that you apply them in. For example, some abilities do more damage near the start or end of the battle. Others build off of other abilities.  By taking away your ability to keep using one attack over and over, the game forces you to experiment. This means that you actually get to learn the battle system in greater depth than you might otherwise get to. 

It is also a lot of fun to play with different combinations of abilities and characters. Certain characters tend to pair very well, and you get a lot of opportunity to try out different strategies. In fact, this is another area where the excellent pacing of the game comes into play. Characters are introduced throughout the game, and you typically must use them in your party for part of the plot. Rather than relying on a set team the entire game, you are forced to work with certain characters. Again, this is actually fantastic rather than frustrating. This means that you actually have to learn to use each character, and figure out how to work them into the overall party. I didn’t like every character, but I had a blast figuring out how to best use them in combat. 

Visually, Cosmic Star Heroine affects a pixel-based aesthetic similar to SNES games like Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy VI. I often think that pixel art is kind of uncreative and overdone in modern indie games, but the art in Cosmic Star Heroine is fantastic. The sprites are detailed, and there are a lot of great touches, like how Alyssa’s hair moves when running instead of walking. There is a lot of personality packed into each facet of each character and the overall environment. The general art direction, heavily inspired by Blade Runner, is beautiful and does a great job of setting the overall tone. There is a huge variety of environments to explore - aiding the feeling of going on a grand adventure. The soundtrack also heavily evokes Blade Runner, and is a pretty good impression of Vangelis’ work.   

Cosmic Star Heroine is a brilliantly-paced, clever homage to old-school Japanese RPGs. I highly recommend it. I found it refreshing, fun, and better than most longer games that I’ve played recently. If you have a Switch (or PS4, Vita, or PC), then I absolutely recommend picking it up.

This review is based on a review copy provided by the publisher, Limited Run Games.

Developer Website

Nintendo eShop

[thequillsink]

Published by grimoireofhorror.com and The Banshee 16/06/21

With E3's first full online event coming to a close, we thought we would do a quick rundown of the treasure trove of horror games under development and set for release across the upcoming 2021/2022 period.

There were a plethora of horror themed videogames being advertised, from Triple A studios to small indie dev teams alike, coming up for release over the next year (bar any technical problems). Below we have more information about these upcoming horror releases.

Salt and Sacrifice

Salt and Sacrifice is the next game being produced and published by Ska Studios, it is somewhat of a follow-up to their previous 2016 cult hit Salt and Sanctuary (Without being called a sequel).

Salt and Sacrifice follows in a similar, souls-like style gameplay and an analogous art style. It focuses on on side scrolling action, heavy RPG elements and gigantic, terrifying monsters to battle against. Salt and Sacrifice is coming to PS5 and PS4 with a release window of 2022.

The Anacrusis

The Anacrusis is a four person co-op FPS developed by Stray Bombay, gameplay very much styled on Left 4 Dead's fast-paced zombie action.

Set on an alien spaceship, the game sees four players team up to blast through hordes of alien monstrosities in this '70s themed alien romp. The Anacrusis is set to be released 'later this year' on Xbox one, Xbox Series X/S and Windows.

Blood Hunt

Blood hunt is a new third-person battle royale game being developed by Shark Mob. The game takes place in Prague, Czech Republic and follows the Vampire: The Masquerade universe. The different underground vampire sects battle in the back alleys and rooftops for superiority whilst trying to avoid breaking the masquerade, calling in Entity strike teams.

With the use of firearms, melee weapons and special magical abilities, players will fight to see who is the strongest among them. This will hopefully breathe new life into the Battle Royale genre (especially with the promise of no pay-to-win services). Blood hunt will be released for free in late 2021 on Windows.

House of Ashes

House of Ashes is the third game in The Dark Pictures Anthology developed by Supermassive Games. House of Ashes is an interactive horror game similar to their previous titles Man of Medan and Little Hope. The story follows a small unit of soldiers as they discover a subterranean ruins and the horror they uncover.

The gameplay seems to follow the same formula as the others in the series, playing more as an interactive movie rather than a videogame. With the improvements in graphics, it will be interesting to see how this holds up to the previous games. House of Ashes has been given an October 2021 release on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One and Windows.

Back 4 Blood

Back 4 Blood is a four person co-op FPS being developed by Warner Bros and Turtle Rock. The game is being worked on by the same team as the legendary Left 4 Dead and is therefore a spiritual successor rather than a clone like so many others.

Back 4 Blood will have similar, horde killing action to its predecessor,  demonstrating an AI director who will control the difficulty level for a unique playthrough each time.  The game will be released October 2021 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One and Windows.  

Evil Dead: The Game

Evil Dead: The Game is a 5v1 online co-op survival game under development by Boss Team Games and published by Sabre Interactive. The game seems to be a sequel to the hit TV series Ash vs Evil Dead.

The gameplay seems comparable to similar titles such as Dead by Daylight and Friday the 13th, though from in-game footage, some new mechanics will be added and the visuals will be improved upon. Evil Dead: The Game is expected to be released some time this year for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4 Xbox One and Windows.

Elden Ring

Elden Ring is the latest game from developer FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco. FromSofware are known for their popular Souls series and Bloodborne games.

Elden Ring will continue the developer legacy of combining frustratingly tough combat, beautiful gothic landscapes and intricate lore to weave an engrossing, in-depth story with the help of writer George R R Martin. First being revealed at E3 2019, the game had slipped into obscurity with developers releasing no information afterwards until now. Elden Ring is said to be released January 2022 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One and Windows.

Rainbow Six: Extraction

Rainbow Six: Extraction is the latest in Tom Clancy's round-based counter terrorism tactical FPS developed by Ubisoft Montreal. The game was first announced in 2019, where it has gone through a name change since then due to the pandemic.

The game takes its ultra-realistic combat and pits your squad against a range of vicious alien creatures instead of the standardly vague terrorist threat. Featuring previous operatives such as Hibana, Ash and Tachanka, hopefully more info on other characters will be released in the near future. Rainbow Six Extraction will be released in September on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One and Windows and will feature cross-play between systems.

Broken Pieces

Broken Pieces is an action-packed investigative and adventure video game set in France. The game is developed by two person team Elseware Experience.

The game immerses players in the shoes of Elise, following an unexplained paranormal phenomenon, Elise is stuck, alone, in a time loop that inevitably forces her to relive the same day over and over. Broken Pieces has a very Silent Hill feel with a heavy emphasis on investigation and puzzle-solving. Broken Pieces is set to be released June 2022 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One and Windows.

Doki Doki Literature Club Plus

Doki Doki Literature Club Plus is a rerelease of the classic psychological horror visual novel developed by Team Salvato. Featuring hundreds of new unlockable HD images, six brand new side stories and twelve new music tracks being added to the game, there should be enough for new and old fans alike to look into this new release.

Doki Doki Literature Club Plus will be available at the end of June for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Windows.

Signalis

Signalis is a fixed-perspective survival horror developed by two person team Rose Engine and published by Humble Bundle.

The game is heavily influenced by the early Resident Evil and Silent Hill games (including somewhat low-poly graphics), but with an anime visual style that doesn't distract from the horror. Although the game has been in development since 2014, the pair are still not comfortable setting a release date but have confirmed the game will be released to Windows.

Ghostwire: Tokyo

Ghostwire: Tokyo is an action adventure horror game developed by Tango Softworks, known for their well renowned Evil Within series and published by Bethesda Entertainment.

The gameplay is very action orientated, exhibiting strong underlying horror element due to 99% of Tokyo’s population vanishing without a trace in just a single day. Those few that remained are then plagued by the “Visitors” who take the form of various Japanese yokai using first-person magic based combat. Ghostwire: Tokyo is set for release October 2021 to Playstation, release on other platforms is set for 2022.

Faith: The Unholy Trinity

Faith: The Unholy Trinity is a pixel horror game being developed by one man team Airdorf Games and released by New Blood Interactive.

Faith is a horrifying puzzle game inspired by MS-DOS and ZX Spectrum games. Including simple mechanics and very effective scares, this three chapter story, despite being short, will be a rush of nostalgia for old school gamers. Episodes one and two of Faith are available on Itch.io for Windows right now, Faith: The Unholy Trinity will be available on Steam soon.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl is the latest to be released in the first person survival horror series developed by GSC Game World. The game returns the players to 'the zone', the area surrounding Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

The upgraded graphics have completely transformed the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. world from GSC's previous game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat released all the way back in 2009.  Continuing with an overall supernatural overtone,  S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl looks to be a great edition to the franchise. The game is to be released April 2022 to Xbox Series X and Windows with rumours of other platform released later on in the year. Eldest Souls

Eldest Souls is a pixel art, souls-like boss rush RPG developed by Fallen Flag Studios and published by United Label. The Old Gods have unleashed a great desolation upon the world, turning farmlands to desert and rivers to dust. You, a lone warrior, must explore the vast, forgotten Citadel in search of the Old Gods. Your quest? To slay them all.

Eldest Souls take focus on the most difficult parts of Souls-type games, the bosses. Each one having its own unique challenge to overcome, and suitable rewards depending on whether you are victorious. Eldest Souls is set for release July 2021 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Windows. Vampire The Masquerade: Swansong

Vampire The Masquerade: Swansong is a story-driven RPG set in modern-day Boston, during an era where vampires have gone from hunters to being hunted. The game is being developed by Big Bad Wolf and published by Nacon.

Swansong's gameplay has still not been released but it is believed to be closer to the original games style of gameplay as opposed to Bloodhunt's battle royale style. The trailer has revealed one of three playable characters, Leysha, who is a member of the Malkavian clan. Vampire The Masquerade: Swansong is due to be released late 2021 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Windows.

Project Warlock 2

Project Warlock 2 is a retro first person shooter with a heavy pixelated graphics being developed by indie studio Buckshot Software and published by Gaming Company.

The game is a sequel to the teams original 2018 title Project Warlock. Similar to their first title, the game is reminiscent of early 3D pc shooters of the 90's such as Quake and Unreal Tournament, but has a heavier emphasis on the bit-crushed low poly graphics. This looks like an incredibly fast paced action horror which shooter fans should get a kick out of playing. Project Warlock 2 will be released for Windows, early access will begin in July 2021 with a full release set for some time 2022.

Death Trash

Death Trash is a post-apocalyptic cosmic horror RPG being developed and published by Crafting Legends. Humans left the planet Earth in search of the cosmos and settled on a brand new planet: Nexus. It is a mysterious planet filled with eldritch abominations and a deep lore for the player to discover.

The game is a pixel art, top-down roleplaying game where your choices can either make or break the game, showcasing the ability to befriend these creatures rather than just battle everything you encounter. Death Trash will be available for Windows in early access from late July 2021.  

A Plague Tale: Requiem

A Plague Tale: Requiem is a direct sequel to 2019's survival game A Plague Tale: Innocence both developed by Asobo Games and published by Focus Home Group.

The game will be a continuation of the prequel's story, following the struggles of Amicia and Hugo through rat-infested environments in search of a new home. A Plague Tale: Requiem will be available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Windows sometime in 2022.

Somerville

Somerville is an upcoming cell-shaded sci-fi horror puzzle/platform game developed by Jumpship .

Although the trailer didn't give too much away, the story seems to follow a family as they struggle to escape an unknown catastrophic event. The game looks incredibly akin to Limbo from the similarly oppressive landscapes and general feel. Somerville is set for release on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and Windows sometime 2022.

Replaced

Replaced is a 2.5D dystopian sci-fi action platformer developed by Sad Cat Studios and published by Coatsink. You play as R.E.A.C.H, an AI trapped inside a human body against its will, in an alternate 1980s America.

Including a mix of extreme violence, slick visuals and stunningly detailed pixel art style, the game is a feast for the eyes. Despite not technically a horror game, I had to include it in this list. Replaced will definitely scratch an itch if games like Death Trash raised you hype levels. Replaced will be released on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and Windows sometime 2022.

Pioner

Pioner is a first person survival MMORPG developed by Russian developers GFA Games. You act as a former operative who survives in a world after a technological disaster. A Soviet island isolated from the mainland by a large-scale technogenic anomaly. So, now you have two primary objectives: find (and rescue) your comrades while investigating the mystical MOGILNIK station.

The game seems like a fusion between the S.T.A.L.K.E.R series, the Metro series and DayZ. Players enter a huge open world environment, littered with supernatural creatures and disturbances. The game will have both PVP and PVE elements to gameplay as well as full character and weapon customisation. However, the trailer didn't specify a release date, it is hoped to be released around the start of 2022 for Windows (though this is liable to change).

Chernobylite

Chernobylite is a first person survival horror being developed by The Farm 51 and published by All In! Games. The game sees the player try and survive Chernobyl's harsh exclusion zone (sense a pattern here?), the new trailer has included a look at the heist it all builds up to—getting past an occupying military force to break into the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. You're there to find out what happened to your beloved Tatyana.

The game seems very similar to Bethesda's Fallout series in gameplay, setting and tone,  especially considering the inclusion of base building and furniture crafting for you and your crew to plan your heist in style and comfort. Chernobylite is available for PS4, Xbox One and Windows July 2021, With PS5 and Xbox Series X/S expected to be released later on in the year.

Red Solstice 2: Survivors

Red Solstice 2: Survivors is a real-time strategy survival game and the sequel to Red Solstice. The game is being developed by Ironward and Published by 505 Games. You control a squad of soldiers fighting STROL mutants on Mars, trying to help find a cure to save mankind and stop this virus in its tracks.

The gameplay is essentially a real-time XCOM game, mutants interchanged from alien invaders of earth. The game come with a single player and online 8 player co-op missions, allowing your friends to get deep in the tactical elements of the game. Red Solstice 2: Survivors will be available for Windows as soon as June 17th.

Mechajammer

Mechajammer is an isometric cyberpunk horror RPG being developed by Whalenought Studios and published by Modern Wolf.

The gameplay takes influence from classic 80's films such as Escape from New York and Robocop. Although there are strong similarities with other isometric RPG such as Fallout 1 & 2, that have their roots in TTRPGs. Mechajammer unfortunately lacked a release date in the trailer but will be released for Windows.  

Scorn

Scorn is a first person survival horror adventure developed by Belgrade and published by Ebb. The game is designed around the idea of ‘being thrown into the world’. You are isolated and lost inside this dream-like world based on the techno-sexual artwork of the amazing H.R Giger.

A 14 minute gameplay trailer was revealed during Microsoft/Bethesda showcase, displaying  foreboding, oppressive landscapes littered with highly detailed body horror and grotesque creatures. The game will require environmental puzzles to be solved to forward progression to the next horrifying area. Scorn is to be released on Xbox Series X/S and Windows some time this year.

RedFall

Redfall is an open-world first person shooter developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda. The quaint island town of Redfall, Massachusetts, is under siege by a legion of vampires who have blocked out the sun and cut the island off from the outside world.

The gameplay looks akin to Left 4 Dead, as well as a few other games being showcased this year, a mix of single player or four player co-op. What does differ is the special ability that each character has, from telekinesis to a robot companion to aid in the fight of the besieging vampire threat. Redfall is set to release mid 2022 for Xbox Series X/S and Windows.

Danganronpa: Decadence

Danganronpa is a series of horror visual novels developed by Spike Chunsoft and published by NIS America as early as 2010. The series is set around the affluent high school, Hope's Peak Academy. A group of lucky (or Unlucky) students are subject to a death game in order to graduate.

The games, originally released for the PSP and Vita, are now being released for the Nintendo Switch. Danganronpa: Decadence will bundle Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc Anniversary Edition, Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair Anniversary Edition, Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony Anniversary Edition, and Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp together as a physical copy or available separately on Nintendo's Estore set to release later this year.

Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water

Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water is a survival horror game developed by Koei Tecmo and published by Nintendo all the way back in 2014. Set in the fictional Hikami Mountain, a place infamous for suicides and spiritual happenings connected with local bodies of water. The story follows three different protagonists: Yuri Kozukata, who has the ability to bring people back from the shadow world into the real world; Ren Hojo, an author and friend of Yuri who goes to the mountain to research his new book; and Miu Hinasaki, the daughter of recurring Fatal Frame protagonist Miku Hinasaki.

The game is a remaster of the original game for modern and next-gen consoles with new costumes and photo modes that weren’t in the original, as well as updated visuals. Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water will be released for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Windows.

After The Fall

After The Fall is a four person co-op VR horror shooter developed by Vertigo Games. The game sees you and up to four other players battle a Left 4 Dead style hoard of zombies with special infected in a post apocalyptic world.

The main aim of the dev team was to have the game be compatible for all VR headsets on the market, allowing for the difference in quality and movement sensitivity. After The Fall will be released on the Oculus Quest, PlayStation VR and PC VR headset.

Inscryption

Inscryption is a narrative focused, deck building psychological horror developed and published by Daniel Mullins Games, developer of Pony Island and Hex.

Unfortunately, not much of the story was revealed, but this game looks deeply terrifying. Your only defence are the cards in your possession, each obtained through terrible means. Inscryption will be available some time this year for Windows.

Despite the lack of actual game play for some of the bigger, more anticipated games, I believe that this years E3 has some pretty interesting releases for the next year.

I, for one, am very excited for some of the pixel horror games being released such as Mechajammer, Replaced and Death Trash (I'm incredibly hyped for Death Trash). Although, some of the bigger titles like Vampire the Masquerade: Swansong, Back 4 Blood and Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water have piqued my interests.

At least, in some way, the return of E3 is some return to normality whilst still in the height of the pandemic. I am positive by next year, the quality of these events will improve and we can return to the high quality showcase of gameplay E3 is known to provide.

[doktorpeace]

Xenoblade Chronicles 2: An In Depth Review

I recently finished Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and I’ve got a lot of mixed thoughts on the game as a whole. I’m going to break these down in three ways and they’ll be of varying lengths. First I’ll discuss the Gameplay and its mechanics, then the game’s aesthetics, and then the game’s story and characters. I’ll give a general overview of each and then they will be broken down into Pros, Neutrals, and Cons. I’ve made it a point to try and avoid making references to direct spoilers, but there’s still a few in here, so bear that in mind. This is also by far the longest post I’ve ever made on tumblr, so buckle in. There’s sure to be a bit of overlap in each section, but I’ll try to stay focused. At the end of it all I’ll give overall closing thoughts. Alright, let’s start.

Gameplay:

Once fully realized to the player Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has a very enjoyable, flexible, and meaningfully expressive gameplay style, traits which are not often seen in combination with one another in JRPGs. The combat is fun, fluid, and has just a ton of customizability more or less from the moment you’re able to obtain blades. Racking up extremely large damage numbers is fun, trying out different gameplay styles is easy and satisfying, and the game maintains a good pace in terms of combat through the whole game. However, this isn’t without its drawbacks, the game has a few noteworthy bugs and mechanics that simply feel like afterthoughts. The game is also much much too slow in opening up to the player. The fact that I had a gameplay element introduced to me for the first time an hour before the final boss when it could have been present for almost a full third of the game is mind boggling as a decision. Overall, I consider the gameplay to be the strongest point of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 as in spite of its issues it’s a lot of fun, a real blast to play from start to finish in spite of its length. Pros: + Extremely customizable, any party member can be built to fit any role you need or want them to no matter how specific. + All of the game’s weapons are fun to use, with extremely satisfying hitsounds, animations, and gameplay differences. The fact they they control differently from character to character is also a great touch, allowing for further expression of each character’s strengths as some will naturally be a bit better or worse than others with certain weapons. + Expressiveness is a big part of this game’s combat, there’s no one correct way to play and the player is free to express themselves in a wide variety of battle strategies and styles, whether that be focusing on getting huge chain attacks, setting up combos that absolutely crush enemies but have tight timing, and exploiting weaknesses, there’s far more options as well and players are free to explore as many as they like. The game even encourages the player to try and cheese out enemies that give them trouble, with Blowdown and Knockback effects allowing players to knock enemies down from high places for huge damage or an outright kill. + Fun environments to explore with a reasonable amount of depth to them. The existence of field skills allows the game to make sure that most areas in the game give the player reason to come back to them for further exploration down the line. That said, the game’s environments are weaker than other Monolithsoft games having less depth and intrigue than either previous Chronicles game or Breath of the Wild, but they are enjoyable nonetheless. + With each Rare Blade having their own affinity chart to progress upon and unlock to make them stronger, the game has a good and consistent feeling of getting more powerful and progression even aside from the story. In my whole playthrough I only maxed out a couple Blades, but was always seeking out strengthening the ones I liked. + The player is free to use any combination of party members for the vast majority of the game, meaning if the player doesn’t like certain party members they are free to not use them anytime there are four or more party members available, which is most of the game. This includes the final boss fight, meaning players can play their way all the way to the end. + The game’s easier core mechanics mean that any combination of Blades, no matter how unfocused they may be thematically together, can clear any content the game throws at the player, meaning there’s never any pressure to simply play what’s best. Neutrals: [] While field skills allow the game to carefully piece content over time to the player to make sure they never get equipment too powerful or trip into enemies way beyond their depth (mostly), it also causes the game to lose a lot of the organic feeling of exploration both Xenoblade Chronicles and X had. Oftentimes I was excited that I had managed to find or get to a new area only for the game to effectively tell me to come back later which was always disappointing. This more rigid feeling was a negative for me, but could help players who are generally uncomfortable with open world/semi open world games’ lack of direction. [] While expressive and fun, the game’s core combat mechanics are deeply simplified from the previous two games. This makes the game as a whole much much easier. When paired with how quest experience works now it’s far too easy to get ahead of the game’s intended level. Regardless of even that the game’s strongest foe, a level 130 Boss, can be bested at level 75-80 out of a possible 99, which is a sad step down from the deep and complex postgame challenges the previous games offered players. Some players may find this easier gameplay preferable, while others might not.

[] The game opens up obscenely slow to the player. I am not exaggerating that in a 125 hour playthrough I had mechanics introduced to me at hour 100 and 124. Out of the game’s 10 chapters it takes almost half of the game to simply give the player access to the full set of basic mechanics, putting aside more niche or advanced ones. While this can help players often overwhelmed by deeper RPGs the rate is so slow that it could turn many players off, especially those who don’t like handholding. [] Almost every enemy in the game has about 20% too much health for their own good. It makes combat encounters near the middle of the game drag on much longer than they should, though early and late this isn’t an issue. Some players may not mind this but I often found it irritating. [] The load times are extremely fast across the board. While this can mean there’s a bit of pop in of the game finishing loading in textures for a bit after each load time between major locations I personally didn’t mind that. I consider the fast load times far more of a positive than the pop in is a bit of a negative, but I know some people might think differently.

Cons: - The existence of a Gachapon system in a singleplayer RPG is absolute inexcusable. 20/36 of the game’s playable Rare Blades, which form the core of the gameplay experience, are obtained randomly and there is no meaningful way to improve your ability to get them. In spite of the game’s claims that the Luck stat, Idea Stats (which are on a scale of 1-15), and Core Crystal rarity all affect the chances of getting Rare Blades, it never meaningfully mattered to me. There were at least a dozen times where I used a highest tier rarity Core Crystal, maxed out an idea stat for the type of Rare Blade I wanted, and had a good luck stat only to get a common blade with no point in being used. In my 125 hour run, in which I did a lot of the game’s optional content, I only obtained 18 of the 20 lottery based Rare Blades. While they came fairly easily for the first 10 or so, it slowed down severely after that, to the point where when only 3 are left I pulled well over 500 cores and only got one of the remaining Rare Blades I was missing. This is inexcusable and player unfriendly. The fact that there is no other way to obtain these Blades is obscene and frankly one of the worst parts of this game mechanically. - The above point, combined with the fact that the ability to reassign Blades to different party members is essentially limited to 3 for the average player means that if the player has consistently bad luck gettings Rare Blades that fit well on certain party members they may be stuck running strategies or layouts that they don’t find as fun or optimal. This is punishing the player for having bad luck, and is also pretty inexcusable. The Overdrive Protocol item should be rare, but not only 3 assured ones in a whole run rare. - The Salvaging, Cloud Sea Level, and Merc Mission mechanics are entirely unnecessary and only bog down the game. Salvaging is a way to make money quickly, but this game’s economy is so broken in favor of the player that there is no point in making use of salvaging except to obtain one Rare Blade which can only be gotten through it. Merc Missions meanwhile exist only to power up the blades Roc and Ursula, and is used by the Blade Wulfric to upgrade a field skill. They’re slow, require far too much menuing, and are not fun to do. All they are are busywork. Oftentimes the game will inject Merc Missions into the sidequests completely unnecessarily, which brings them to a grinding halt while you wait for an in game timer to countdown for anywhere between 5 and 30 minutes just to progress the sidequest you were on. This happens far too often and is entirely unnecessary and poorly designed. This is especially clear with the Rare Blade Ursula, whose entire progress is based on repeatedly performing 3 different merc missions literally dozens of times a piece, interrupting the player’s gameplay experience every 5-10 minutes ad infinitum if you wish to make her worth using. Given Urusla, Roc, and Wulfric are three of the game’s strongest blades it simply feels unfriendly for me to have to waste so much time on menuing busywork rather than exploration or combat to make them stronger. - For as tutorial heavy as the game is, there is no way to view tutorials after you’re shown them the one time which is frankly ridiculous because Xenoblade Chronicles 1 showed the player next to no tutorials but kept an entire booklet’s worth of them, including pictures, available from the menu at any time. - The lack of a bestiary is similarly weird and entirely a negative since Xenoblade Chronicles X had one, so it’s simply a step backwards to not have one this time. - The lack of an NPC affinity web means I as a player simply felt no need to talk to nearly any NPCs in this game. Most of their dialogue is pointless fluff anyway, since there was no mechanical incentive to relate the characters to others in the world like there was in the previous two games. Simply put there is no actual reason to talk to NPCs in this game, except ones that progress stories or sidequests, because the game doesn’t give you any reason to do so, nor does it meaningfully reward you with fun or interesting dialogue or lore. - The lack of a collectopedia, a staple of this series until now, negates the main reason for players to gather collectibles. Yes, they’re used elsewhere like in Pyra’s cooking or in refining Aux Cores, but those are largely extremely lenient and the player will likely never be without anyway. The existence of a collectopedia would go a long way to help this game’s collectibles actually feeling meaningful. - Rex is flat out broken compared to the other characters, I have not seen a main character in a game this poorly balanced since Robin in Fire Emblem: Awakening. Rex is not only objectively the best party member thanks to receiving an unnecessarily large number of special and unique traits, but by the end of the game using him is a crutch and I felt incentivized to not use him, not because I didn’t like him, but simply because he trivialized the gameplay experience. - Poppiswap is a very cute and fun idea in concept but horrifically executed to the point where there is simply no reason to ever use Tora over other party members, who do what he could do but better and with enormously less effort on the part of the player. - A few times I had Chain Attacks simply stop happening for no reason in the middle of choosing a move. This seemed to happen because a driver and blade got too far away from each other somehow, but the game should be able to account for and correct that. It’s a minor bug, but still extremely annoying when it came up. - I had the game straight up crash on me once. I’ve heard from other sources it happened to them more, but still keep that in mind and save fairly frequently. While this may seem like a lot more negatives than positives, I am entirely serious that the gameplay is overall much more good than bad and a lot of fun. The negatives are mostly just a lot of little things that are each worth noting rather than anything major individually, the Gachapon mechanic aside. Additionally, I praise the customizability of the game, but simply put the easier gameplay mechanics and customizability of each character feels more like compensating for the entirely luck based Gachapon mechanic than something meaningfully sought after. However, the end product is fun to play and for many that’s all that matters.

Aesthetics:

It’s no secret that this game’s visual style has come under fire and frankly I think it deserves that. This game’s very generic, moe adjacent anime art style is simply ugly to look at, and in spite of claims that it helps the characters be ‘expressive’ it entirely loses out on allowing the characters a more subtle and human level of expression present in the previous games. The characters faces often warp, unintentionally comedically, between expressions in very ugly and machinelike ways for instance. Even without getting into the nitty gritty of specific character designs being better or worse than others, the clash of Tetsuya Nomura’s fairly detailed characters who are stylized with a mix of realism and a more ‘anime’ look alongside characters like Rex and Pyra who simply look like they walked out of an anime like Love Live or Lucky Star is jarring to say the least, and it never gets better. On the other hand the game’s dubbing has come under fire for being low quality and feeling rushed, and while it is certainly not the best dub I have heard, a good many of the voice actors do very good work, though they aren’t all stars. However, the game’s sound design is simply amazing, while I personally don’t prefer this game’s soundtrack to the previous to it has some absolute stars and its sound effects for character’s attacks and special effects are similarly very good. Pros: + The soundtrack is astoundingly good, really it’s an absolute banger through and through with only a few weak tracks in the mix. This is to be expected of Monolithsoft, but they really delivered on this. + Particle effects are extremely good and diverse. Every single blade brings not only a unique body but also a unique combat aesthetic, with some like Dagas and Azami in particular being memorable and great to see in action. +The game’s animations in terms of its gameplay are very good. Monster, Humans, and Blades alike are all very expressive with diverse and meaningful movements that often convey not just an attack, but what its properties will have as well. It’s very addicting to see some of the bigger attack animations go off because of just how crisp and well done they are. + The environments are very beautiful, each area is completely unique from one another and they’re all pretty memorable, the only one I’d throw under the bus personally is Gormott for being a bit too generic grass world-y, but even it’s still very pretty. Really, all of this game’s environments and maps are very well realized visually. + Because of the clean particle effects and animations combat is conveyed very smoothly to the player, very little can catch you off guard and attack’s hitboxes are well sycned with their animations almost entirely across the board. Neutrals:

[] I would in fact say this game has more good and memorable character designs than bad ones, all things considered, it’s just that the bad ones are so unrepentantly bad that they massively overshadow what good ones there are. Designs like Mòrag, Zeke, Vandham, Roc, Brighid, Pandoria, and more are extremely memorable and fun designs but the fact that they share a stage with designs like Rex, Pyra, Zenobia, and Dahlia is an absolute shame. All memes and controversy aside there is simply no excusing character designs like Dahlia, not because this is a Nintendo game, but because she is visually repulsive to anyone with an iota of taste developed outside of the sphere of bad anime and fetish hentai. [] The camera in this game is very good and has a wide variety of options for players to make use of, however, it can still mess up and focus on the wrong thing during cinematic attacks or have simple clipping errors. This is minor and never bugged me, in fact it lead to some hilarious moments for me, but I know this could bother some people.

Cons: - Its aesthetics are unfocused. The visual design, sound design, and even its UI are oftentimes clashing and ugly. Comparing a game like this to one like Wind Waker like I have seen some do is frankly laughable. The reason Wind Waker has aged so immaculately is because of how focused and well realized its one single aesthetic is! This game cannot compare by any stretch of the imagination. - The english dub is held back by Rex, Pyra, and Malos being extremely weak, uninteresting, and poorly acted. In spite of being the main characters and the main villain we’re never given a good performance by any of them. They’re all boring and are by far some of the worst parts of the game’s dub. Other characters like Patroka stick out as well for never giving off the tone or emotion the situation calls for. Further, the dub is almost constantly out of sync with the character’s lips where this is not a problem with the previous games. It is clear this part of the game’s localization was rushed. However, all in all, many other dub voice actors are extremely good, but the fact that they are not the main characters means they are simply overshadowed by the poor performance of a few critical characters. Were Rex, Pyra, and Malos minor side characters this would not be a noteworthy negative, but it is definitely worth bringing up given they are who the plot revolves around for its entirety. - In terms of the game’s cutscenes, of which there are an overabundance, the character’s facial expressions often laughably jump from one expression to another when attempting to convey emotion. They also often move in a way I would more expect out of a PS2 era game, very stiffly and without any real weight. This is most noticeable when characters shift their head from one side to another or hang their head down in sadness, it’s robotic and unbelievable. Any alleged advantage this art style could have given in expressiveness and conveyance of emotion is entirely lost as many of the character’s featureless, blobby faces snap around in machinelike ways, making them come across more like automatons than actual people. This isn’t nearly as bad or prevalent with adult characters like Mòrag and Zeke, or anyone designed by Tetsuya Nomura, but it still crops up from time to time with them. However it’s nigh ever present with children or characters in the art style of Masatsugu Saito. Simply put, because of the poor animation and expresion the characters have this game lacks pathos in many cases. - It bears special mention that Rex’s voice actor is laughably bad at yelling or shouting. His attempts are screams made me laugh in moments that were meant to be serious and do not improve at all throughout the game. For how many screams he had to do you’d think he’d eventually get one out that was not worth making fun of but he just never hits the mark. - The game’s native sound balance is absolutely horrible. While the game does graciously allow for the player to customize it they shouldn’t be required to just to hear characters speak during cutscenes. - Including a combat narrator was a mistake and only detracts from one’s ability to become immersed in the game’s world and even its gameplay. Having a disembodied voice shout ‘Cool’ and ‘Blade Combo Level 3’ at you constantly is an extremely out of nowhere inclusion. Again, thankfully, the player is allowed to turn this feature off entirely but the fact of the matter is this Arcade Era feature has no place in a single player RPG in the year 2017. Simply put this game’s got a fairly large number of aesthetic issues, many more than I would expect out of any AAA game but especially out of Nintendo and Monolithsoft, though a lot of them simply come down to a lack of polish. Were this game delayed by 6 months to a year none of these besides the game’s primary art direction in regards to a few character designs would exist I bet. However, it’s clear this game was rushed to make it out within the Switch’s first year and it suffers for it. Compared to the polish of other major AAA games released this year, especially the absolutely immaculate Persona 5 which is the big JRPG this game needs to measure up to, this game is poorly realized aesthetically in basically every way except for its sound design which is a shame. Frankly, I expect better of Monolithsoft and this is unprecedented from them. When I can get more genuine emotion and investment and a better conveyance of real world expressions and movement out of the Wii era models in Xenoblade Chronicles than I can out of this game that’s a problem. I really, truly believe with another 6 months to a year of polish all around this game could have really had some great presentation but unfortunately right now that potential is held just out of reach.

Story, Writing, and Characters: I will say flatly and simply that this game’s story is by far the worst that Monolithsoft has ever produced. It’s boring, uninspired, hard to be invested in, poorly sequenced, and stars some of the absolute most plain jane characters I’ve ever seen in a major title. Extremely little is resolved in a meaningful way, the game is rife with cheap, C-List Shonen Anime tropes we’ve all seen a hundred times before, it’s cliched with no attempts at spicing itself up, simply put it’s bad and the only way to enjoy it is to not think about it or to somehow have not seen any of its tired tropes before. Even Xenoblade Chronicles X, for all of its story based shortcomings, presents a far better conflict and main protagonist than 2 could ever hope. That said, the writing is not all bad. Most of the game’s Heart to Hearts are lovely, they’re fun and great at developing the party members dynamics and them all as a cohesive unit. It’s a nice return to form more like Xenoblade Chronicles’ Heart to Hearts and a big improvement over Xenoblade X’s fairly barebones ones. The sidequests are mostly fairly mediocre however, which is sad given that’s something both previous games absolutely excelled at. I’ve mentioned Rex, Pyra, and Malos a few times in this review already, but it bears reiterating that they are all simply awful, uninspired, and boring characters and they are three of the biggest detriments this game has. Had this game starred Nia, Mòrag, or Zeke with Jin as its sole antagonist it would have been far better for it. More or less this game’s entire playable party aside from Rex and Pyra are strong, likeable characters, though all of the antagonists aside from Jin are transparent and laughable in their attempts to be taken seriously. With no depth at all and no development from any of them, how could anyone really care about this conflict? It’s truly a travesty because the world of Alrest is interesting and each of its Titans have enough intrigue and history and personality that I would have loved to have discovered more about them, however that’s not the case.

Pros: + Morag, Brighid, Nia, Dromarch, Poppi, Zeke, and Pandoria are consistently enjoyable characters which is good since you’ll see them all a lot. They are good enough to be worth pushing through this game’s otherwise generally horrible writing to see more of, because at least these characters are fun and interesting in the moment, and seeing them interact with one another in optional content is one of the best things this game has to offer outside of its core gameplay. + Heart to Hearts regain their depth from the first game and are almost all very fun and enjoyable. + Chapter 4 breaks away from the rest of the plot’s undeserved, overly self-serious, dreariness to present a more comical minor conflict that’s actually fun to follow and based reasonably in a conflict one can get invested in. Neutrals: [] Most of Chapter 3 is also quite good and revolves around Vandham, one of the best characters in the game, however the ending of the chapter is perhaps the single worst part of this entire game and I don’t say that lightly. The ending sequence of chapter 3 is a grand display of everything wrong with this game all in one extremely hard to get through sequence. [] The fact that some of the game’s writing issues could be solved with simple sequence changes shows there’s a bit more life to this plot than what one might think, but that’s not the product we received. [] Though perhaps not intentionally, Jin is an antagonist who is compelling because he is actually in the right of it compared to the main party for most of the game. However, his story arc is left completely unresolved and with almost all questions about him unanswered making one’s investment in him largely pointless. [] Many characters like Addam and Lora exist as set dressing for this world and are integral to the game’s story in some ways, but are ultimately fairly pointless as they are dropped without ceremony partway through the game with no resolution to their inclusion whatsoever. I wouldn’t even call this entirely a negative because at least the parts of the plot focusing on them in the past are far more gripping than anything happening in the present even though they are given to the player in fragments. [] Every single Rare Blade is given both a sidequest and a heart to heart dedicated to just them. While great in concept, the result is many of them just being weak or uninteresting. Most of the heart to hearts are good, but the vast majority of their side quests drag on too long, are poorly acted, and just don’t give a good look at the character in question anyway. It’s a very mixed bag.

Cons: - This is the case across the game’s map designs as well as its story elements, but all too often it simply does things to try and harken back to Xenoblade Chronicles 1. So many times I found myself thinking ‘Oh, just like in Xenoblade Chronicles’ while seeing things happen throughout this game. Rather than forge its own unique path and identity it merely takes beats from its predecessor, often sloppily and without realizing what made those things work in the first place. The result is a lot of flaccid attempts to seem cool or memorable that simply fall flat. - The game only takes time one or two times to develop Pyra and Rex one on one, together as a pair of partners and friends and elsewise relies on the player believing they have some unique, special, and immediately intimate relationship based simply on her being a Aegis and him being her Driver, something not present for any other Blade/Driver pairing nor for the other Aegis/Driver pairing in the game, rather than anything actually present in the game. The end result is them having no real chemistry for the entirety of the game, and then the player being expected to believe they’re in love at the very end out of nowhere in spite of them being little more than strangers in terms of how much they know about each other, even after this journey. Genuinely the player gets better chemistry and dynamics out of Nia and Zeke and Brighid and Tora, as well as several other sets of characters who are not the main focus of the plot. Each of these sets of characters have easily definable and fun dynamics between them, where Pyra and Rex are simply The Protagonist and The Nice Girl Who You Have To Protect. Even amongst the game’s heart to hearts, of which there are a great multitude and I performed several dozen, Rex and Pyra only get a single one that focuses primarily on them. Pyra has a stronger, more identifiable dynamic with Nia and Mòrag than she does with Rex and that’s pitiful. For comparison you frankly get a stronger dynamic between Shulk and Reyn or Elma and Lin in Xenoblade Chronicles and X within just a few hours than Pyra and Rex have all game, in spite of being the equivalent of those pairs. - In almost every single boss fight the game will interrupt the player’s progress to assault them with an unnecessary, overly long cutscene to explain why they’re actually losing this fight and every single one of them falls flat because of the horrible weakness of the villains and the corny, over the top shonen anime acting and set pieces. Once the phrase ‘My power allows me to move at the speed of light’ is genuinely and unironically used completely out of nowhere as an excuse for the player to lose even though you have at this point beaten this enemy before and if that isn’t by itself a display of bad writing I don’t know what is. Seriously, I cannot stress enough how much these story cutscenes during boss battles watch like shitty, bottom of the barrel anime rather than an actual video game. - The game’s attempts at humor almost universally are miss rather than hit, with three noteworthy exceptions being the Zeke Boss Fight segments in Uraya, Mor Ardain, and Leftheria. These moments were genuinely charming and got me to laugh, and really stuck out amongst the games otherwise poor attempts at comedy. The jokes almost all amount to ‘Haha, Anime am I right?’ with no substance and poor execution. Moments meant to be funny are often instead cringeworthy and make you want to turn the game off. - The game often kills off characters in a weak attempt at drama, attempting to add pathos to the story, however it only once gives you a reason to actually care about the character being killed. In that case, though, the character’s death is utterly pointless, and could easily have been avoided by the main protagonist simply using a power they had about 20 seconds sooner or a secondary protagonist using a power they had access to all the time, and simply didn’t use until two thirds of the way through. Every other death of a character falls entirely flat because the game simply offers no reason to care about the character who died, or because the character’s death is too sudden, or because the character's death resolves or advances nothing, or even because the character is plainly unlikable, and is often an excuse to avoid finishing character’s plotlines. This is best summarized in the fact that two characters exist in a single cutscene and bossfight and die by the end of it, though they are presented as significant for their brief existence. - In tandem with the previous point the game skips over a lot of very easy opportunities for meaningful character development in favor of nothing at all or conversations that ultimately aren’t significant. Two big examples that stick out to me are skipping Fan La Norne’s funeral and the Nightmare Sequences everyone experienced at the end besides Rex’s. - The story relies extremely heavily on the idea that withholding information from the player is a good way to generate interest and intrigue and the end result is a conflict that one cannot be invested in simply because they do not know anything that actually matters. Pyra, in spite of being introduced within the first hour of the game, has nothing of significance about her revealed to the player until the beginning of chapter 4, which will be between 25 and 40 hours later for a typical player. This means players have no actual ability to be invested in Pyra besides that she is who the player is playing as which is absolutely unacceptable. - Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is far too transparent for its own good in the broad strokes, with every single major plot event being easily predictable from hours in advance. In spite of it going out of its way to tell the player next to nothing at any given time, the plot is still easily predictable. It is horrible at hiding information from the player meaningfully. Anybody who you think will be a villain will be. Anyone who you think will be a party member is one. Anything you expect to happen absolutely will, unless it’s the actually interesting stuff. While this may seem antithetical to the idea that it leaves the player knowing nothing important for most of its plot, it is merely a testament to how uninspired the story is that the plot can be guessed so easily in spite of trying to keep the player in the dark as much as possible. - The game sets up a myriad of plot elements that simply go nowhere or are never brought up again, like the Urayan/Ardanian politics and conflict. Even some extremely important questions such as ‘Why did Pyra still have a body rather than just being a core crystal’, ‘Who is Addam’ and other, opting instead to handwave off many things that actually could use explanation with ‘That’s just how it is’. One of the most glaring is the existence of the Artifices, which the player is simply expected to accept are things that exist when they have no reason to whatsoever until literally the last hour of the game. While the game has an extraordinarily long exposition dump right before the final boss to explain the world of Alrest in truth it does next to nothing to explain the finer details of how anything in the setting works, leaving the player to simply have to accept that’s just how it is. Truly a far cry from Xenoblade Chronicles 1 which gave the player the ability to intimately understand the history, characters, quirks, relations between races and individuals, politics, and more of its setting. - The game’s final two chapters rely entirely on the player having played Xenoblade Chronicles 1 to get any significant connection to the story at this point, which is out of nowhere given the rest of the game has no such connection. This alienates player who have not experienced the first game entirely, and leaves veteran players wishing these connections were meaningful. This is because the game’s connections to Xenoblade Chronicles 1 are entirely lip service and serve no point other than to reference Xenoblade Chronicles 1. Nothing about any of these plot elements are intrinsically related to that game, and could easily be substituted for original content to help the game’s consistency. - This is a nitpick but the game extremely often uses very particular phrasing to refer to things. “This is my True Primal Power.” is an example that sticks out to me even now, yet none of these phrases actually are meaningful, nor are they ever used again. They are attempts to baselessly sound cool in a very juvenile way and are pointless, cluttering the plot with buzzwords that are truly meaningless. I genuinely and truly cannot stress enough at how bad this game’s plot is. It’s easily one of the worst plots in any game I’ve actually completed before and that deeply and truly saddens me to say. I wish I had more good to say about this game’s plot, I really do, but there’s just not really anything good to say. Some of the characters really and truly are worth it though. I adore Mòrag and Zeke and their existences are really all that let me push through this game. At the end of all of this, I guess all I really have to say is that even though I had fun with Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Zeke and Mòrag and a few others are among my favorite characters in the franchise now, it has left me profoundly disappointed in a way no other game before has. Xenoblade Chronicles 1 is my absolute all time favorite video game, and although this game was not nearly as bad as I was worried it might be it still was far worse than I had hoped it would have been. Having beaten the game and feeling the way I do now I feel that giving it a numerical score feels too cheap. If really pressed for one I might give this game like a 2 or 3 at best on a 10 point scale but that is far too simplified compared to how I feel. Nonetheless, I do have hope that the DLC campaign slated for fall 2018 is good. I think this game still has a spark of life and potential in it, and maybe that DLC campaign can deliver and make all of this worthwhile, but until then I cannot in my right mind recommend Xenoblade Chronicles 2 to anyone. To be a bit rude, the new anime art style this game has taken is deeply indicative of its quality. If you like shitty anime games like Senran Kagura, Disgaea, or Nitro+ Blasterz maybe this game will have something for you, but if you’re actually discerning in the quality of media you consume do not bother. Anyone calling this game a masterpiece is fooling themselves and committing a deep disservice to games actually deserving that title.

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[tie_index]Intro[/tie_index]

[dropcap]C[/dropcap]oming off the back of the infuriatingly mediocre The Caligula Effect on the PS Vita, Japanese developer, Furyu and SEGA/Atlus brings us The Alliance Alive for the Nintendo 3DS – a Japanese RPG with more to it than meets the eye.

It’s fair to say that I was more than surprised by what The Alliance Alive offered in terms of both story and gameplay and it’s a welcome JRPG title for gamers (like me) who don’t often enjoy turn-based titles, such as Final Fantasy or Phantasy Star.

[tie_index]Straight in with the adventure[/tie_index]

Straight in with the adventure

Some JRPGs can spend hours just starting the game, but thankfully The Alliance Alive wastes very little time presenting the main characters, introducing you to the world and the key plot points.

There is a unique hierarchy in the world: creatures called ‘Daemons’ are the ruling species, in control of the ‘Beastfolk’, who, in turn, dominate and supress the lowly humans of the lands. This hierarchy came about after the Daemons waged war against the humans and, being a superior species, won.

After the war, the world was split into different realms, with a magical barrier called the ‘Dark Current’ preventing humans from travelling to the different lands and only Daemons, who live high above the main lands have the ability to travel between the realms.

Our main story begins approximately 1,000 years after the war, in the town of Svalna, where we are introduced to two young characters, Galil and Azura. This part of the world is constantly raining with the blue skies of previous times just stories of legend (no, seriously), it is also here that a rebellion is forming against the Beastfolk ruling the land, with Azura’s father, Wyatt, at the forefront of the uprising in the region.

After the quick introductions to the story and a handful of characters, you are thrown into the game and sent out on an adventure, in part because Azura has heard tale of a painting of the mythical blue skies being hidden away in an ‘Ancient Museum’ close to Svalna. From here the story develops and throws out some pretty decent curveballs.

Ultimately your rebellion comes down to finding out how to dissolve the magical barriers across the world, defeating some particularly tough Daemons, Beastfolk and monsters, and forming an alliance with humans from the different realms.

[tie_index]More than meets the eye[/tie_index

While I was disappointed with Furyu’s previous title, The Caligula Effect, the game did have some cool features and I’m really happy to see the developer bringing them across to The Alliance Alive.

More than meets the eye

The Alliance Alive intrigued and entertained me more than I expected. From screenshots it’s easy to be deceived into thinking that this is a child’s game, but it’s complex enough to hold older gamers’ interest, while not taxing enough to be confusing or long-winded. It tackles its content with a lot of humour and also focuses on some darker undertones, while character interactions and developments are more entertaining than quite a few RPGs I’ve played.

Side note: There’s a really creepy/weird bit where you go into a house and talk to some kids and they basically tell you that their dad has been physically/verbally abusive since their mum left… WTF?

While Galil and Azura are possibly seen as the main heroes of the game, you are introduced to other groups of protagonists, from very different backgrounds and have a different look on the world, who ultimately find their stories/destinies converging with that of Galil and Azura.

One of these groups features a high-ranking Daemon, Vivian, her Daemon bodyguard, Ignace, and Tiggy, a human scientist, who are all working together to solve the mystery of the barrier separating the world. It’s through this party we learn that not all Daemons are monsters who want to dominate other species, but they want peace for the world.

In another group, we have two humans, Rachel a mercenary who has been hired by Gene, another human actually working for the Daemons. Gene feels there is no need to fight their rulers and does their bidding in a hope to bridge the gaps between their races. With Gene, there’s a begrudging trustworthiness with the Beastfolk, who do the bidding of Daemons and have to show respect for this lowly human working for the higher-powered Daemons.

A final group features a member of the Beastfolk race, Barbarosa, who has pledged his allegiance to the resistance, after Wyatt saved him. Barbarosa is often seen with Renzo, another of Wyatt’s friends and someone who helps to guide Galil and Azura, as well as fighting alongside them at times.

[tie_index]The alliance is alive[/tie_index]

The alliance is alive

As the story unfolds and the rebellion becomes a more crucial part of your immediate actions, you are tasked with expanding the reach of human contact throughout the realm. This involves setting up different guild buildings and recruiting new members to run each guild building.

The different guilds help you in combat in different ways, sometimes raising your defence and attack, or possibly lowering that of your enemies, or (with the Blacksmith guild) bombing your enemies from afar, doing massive damage. The more guild locations you unlock/build, the better the reach for this support is across the world map and the more likely you are to receive help in fights.

Plus, after the opening chapters in the game, you unlock various methods of transport, to help to move more quickly across the lands, or reach entirely new areas; such as a glider set of wings called an ‘Ornithopter’, an ark which lets you freely travel the seas Wind Waker-style. Or a giant rabbit that lets you hop across snowy mountains and a giant mechanical duck, which Tiggy uses as armour and allows the group to cross lava pools. There’s a couple of other methods of transport that I don’t want to fully ruin for gamers, but I can say I felt like The Alliance Alive felt like it had a small sprinkling of Skies of Arcadia and Panzer Dragoon Saga about it.

And there are certain points in the game where the player has to choose a course of action, such as getting involved in a dispute or holding back. Each choice can have different consequences later in the game, with some side characters possibly dying earlier on, or being spared to help with the rebellion at a later time. It’s not original, but a nice touch that gives players a reason to get involved with the characters’ and their plights.

[tie_index]Fight on[/tie_index]

Fight on

While I was disappointed with Furyu’s previous title, The Caligula Effect, the game did have some cool features and I’m really happy to see the developer bringing them across to The Alliance Alive.

The game does away with random battles, instead, as you run around the open world, you can see shadowy forms of creatures and enemies roaming the lands. This allows players to either run into the enemies and engage in combat or try to run past them. But if a creature notices you, they will take chase and should they catch up, force you into combat – but it is wholly possible to avoid most creatures.

The combat itself is a pretty traditional turn-based affair, although characters are not limited by different weapon classes. While they may have preferred methods of fighting, it’s possible for a magic-user to use and learn to fight with swords, axes, bows or spears. The more a character uses a weapon, the more special attack moves they will unlock, so it’s possible to master all weapon types, meaning that when you pick up or buy more advanced weapons later on, you can spread them across the team.

Also, as soon as a battle is finished, your characters’ health is restored – meaning you can safely explore with the knowledge that you’re unlikely to die from taking on too many fights one after the other. Of course, it’s still possible to die, and if one of your team falls unconscious during battle, their maximum health is reduced, until you are able to find an Inn or Guild and rest properly.

[tie_index]Cool feature, bro[/tie_index]

Cool feature, bro

Something I love is how the game gives you a ‘Final Strike’ attack when you’re losing a fight. If your team is low on health, or party members are unconscious, the remaining combatants have the opportunity to enter ‘Ignition mode’ – where they become engulfed with flames and can perform a super powerful attack, but it will destroy the weapon they are using.

This often led to some pretty exciting battles with bosses or particularly tough enemies. And while the Ignition attack would usually do enough damage to defeat your enemies, it was never guaranteed.

Another nifty feature is that you can fast forward battles – so once you line up your attacks with your party, you can see the fights speed by as attack animations are sped up. Not only that, every cut scene can be fast forwarded too – so if you really don’t want to spend several minutes reading text, then you don’t have to.

And while it does suffer from some of the limitations of the 3DS’ graphical abilities, the game looks stunning, with water-colour style artwork and each realm you visit looks equally imaginative and attractive.

One thing that struck me about The Alliance Alive is how well it keeps the gameplay flowing with the story and it rarely gets stagnant or feels like you aren’t making progress. Even though your mission sounds like it could be repetitive, the introduction of characters and the uniqueness of each new realm, means the game brings in more and more gameplay styles – keeping everything fresh and interesting.

[tie_index]Let down by technology[/tie_index]

Let down by technology

But while The Alliance Alive is a fun game, it’s not a perfect example of a JRPG. There are clear limitations from using the 3DS, such as no voice acting and characters lacking facial expressions, which is disappointing. Instead, the developers have used emotion icons to help show basic reactions during cut scenes and conversations.

Essentially, I can’t help but feel something more impressive could have been achieved on virtually any other platform.

Seriously, areas like this would have looked awesome in 3D mode… oh well.

Also, The Alliance Alive doesn’t make use of the 3DS’ 3D capabilities, except in a couple of menu screens. I spoke to SEGA about this and apparently quite a few developers are not using 3D anymore, because it gives them more power from the console when making games in 2D only. I can understand why it was done then, although one advantage of a 3DS is playing games in 3D without glasses, so it was a shame not experience the game in 3D.

But other than that, I can’t really fault the game. I can’t say it’ll set the RPG world on fire, but there’s really nothing wrong with it and everything it does right, it does really well!

[tie_index]Summary[/tie_index]

Summary

There are definitely better and more epic RPGs out there, but I really enjoyed my time with The Alliance Alive and cannot really fault it in any way. Yes, it’s not perfect, but most problems come from limitations of the 3DS, and none of them hamper enjoyment or gameplay. The fact is, the more I played, the more I found myself enjoying it – as the story and characters evolved.

The story is entertaining, as are the characters and their development. More than once I found myself excited to see what was going to happen next and I loved the way the different groups of protagonists allowed you to see the world and its lore from various angles.

Also, for gamers like me, who do enjoy RPGs, but don’t have hundreds of hours to spend on games, or the patience to sit through hours of opening waffle, The Alliance Alive is brilliantly accessible and sends gamers off on their adventure early on.

My only hesitation would be for avid JRPG fans, The Alliance Alive might be a tad too ‘light’ in terms of gameplay, but ultimately, it’s a good RPG for those of who want a fun adventure on a portable device.

Pros:

+ Lovely water-colour style visuals, with really impressive scenery in areas + Gameplay changes and evolves with the story, keeping players engaged + Good story, that develops and shifts as you progress + Love the intertwining stories of the main protagonists

Cons:

– Suffers from console limitations – No 3D mode? Boo!

Review: #TheAllianceAlive. @AtlusUSA takes 3DS owners on an enjoyable adventure Intro Coming off the back of the infuriatingly mediocre The Caligula Effect on the PS Vita, Japanese developer, Furyu and SEGA/Atlus brings us…

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New Xbox One Games for April 15 to 17

New Xbox One Games for April 15 to 17.

Journey to the Savage Planet: Hot Garbage – April 15

The planet of DL-C1 has it all. Tropical beaches, lovely views, toxic waste, and killer robots. There’s only one person who can handle a job this dangerous and that’s the person sitting on the closest planet… you! Lucky, lucky you.

Space Engineers – April 15

Space Engineers is a sandbox game about engineering, construction, exploration and survival in space and on planets. Players build space ships, space stations, planetary outposts of various sizes and uses, pilot ships and travel through space to explore planets and gather resources to survive.

Blind Men – April 15

As the nephew of a retired super villain, there's nothing Keegan wants more than to become one himself — and what better way than to join the League of Evil? All he needs to do is commit a crime to complete his application. Unfortunately, Keegan soon finds himself in more trouble than he could have ever imagined when his plans are interrupted by a couple of spies from opposing agencies. Pick choices that drastically change the story. Will Keegan’s plans be thwarted or allow him to be successful? Features: 2 romanceable charactersMultiple different endings depending on your choicesKeep the game as a cliché-filled parody, or turn it into a straight spy adventureOriginal catchy soundtrack

Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York – April 15

Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York presents the conflict between two vampiric factions: the traditionalist Camarilla and the fiercely independent Anarchs. It's a unique, atmospheric, single-player narrative experience, set in the rich universe of Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition. Choose one of three pre-defined characters and play as a Ventrue, Toreador or BrujahEach playable character offers a selection of powers (Disciplines), different ethical approaches to certain issues, and unique dialogue linesCharacter-oriented quests allow you to meet four unique NPCs: a Tremere sorcerer, a Nosferatu detective, a Gangrel of conflicted loyalties and a Malkavian multifoliate online personality with their own agendas. Win their hearts and minds and up to two of them will assist you in the finaleDepending on your choice of the Clan you will be able to see the events from a distinct perspective. One playthrough is not enough to see all the game has to offer!

Machinarium – April 16

An award-winning independent adventure game developed by the makers of Samorost and Botanicula. Help Josef the robot to save his girlfriend Berta kidnapped by the Black Cap Brotherhood gang in this classic puzzle platformer.

Save Your Nuts – April 16

Go nuts in this insane 1 to 8 players chaotic arena party game. Put your cooperation skills to the test over intense physics-based battles mixing casual offline modes and competitive Online matches. In Save Your Nuts, crafty squirrels organize a tournament to challenge other animals in a physics-based competition for the ages. Make daring plays alongside your teammates, grab food power-ups, and tackle your opponents to steal their nuts in this wild multiplayer-focused party game! Features: Couch Party from 1 to 8 PlayersOnline MultiplayerEasy to play but hard to masterReplayability with 3 game modes and 10 interactive environmentsCustomizable and complementary charactersAccessible, Cooperative and CompetitiveChallenging AI https://youtu.be/1sFHq3z4qsk

Cryogear – April 17

Cryogear is an passionately hand crafted Metroidvania inspired Pixel Art platformer with souls-like mechanics set in an open sci-fi world. Gameplay is driven by exploration and rewards curious, creative players with new items, abilities, and ever increasing possibilities. You take control of the newly repurposed clone G.3.4.R and explore your new surroundings, uncover its many secrets, and strive to unveil the mysteries of the ever present Emperor AI. Will you survive and thrive in this strange new world, or will falter and fail as the clones before? Only your skill and determination can decide G34R's fate! Cryogear combines a versatile platformer core with exploration, shoot 'em up and RPG elements to an entertaining new game experience. Explore a dangerous open world with over 50+ different regions to discover. The changing world is filled with obstacles, boss fights, different enemy types, riddles, hidden areas, minigames and loot for a unique rewarding exploration experience. Cryogear features a full-scale RPG inventory, combined with equipment, skill and crafting systems. Switch freely between active abilities and weapons during the action, which allows dynamic, skill-based strategies for every situation. While progressing through the game, you get introduced to different new abilities, weapons, and equipment to customize your clone to match your playstyle. Your clone G.3.4.R. is ready to boot up! A unique journey into the World of CRYOGEAR awaits you... Features: Run, jump, dive, fly, hack, freeze and slide your way through over 50 Sci-Fi themed areas with varying environments in your quest to uncover the mysteries of the Emperor AIUncover the truths and history of the world around you as you venture through destroyed cities, abandoned wastes and factories in a post-apocalyptic dystopian futureLava, Floods, Fire, Ice, Pitfalls, Epic Boss fights, a plethora of evolving enemy types stand between you and your goals.Use Psi powers to shield yourself from dangers and manipulate your surroundings or even your perception of time!Learn to master 4 vastly different weapons with their own unique strengths and weaknesses to overcome the various obstacles.Spend energy harvested from your fallen foes to gain new or improved abilities from 4 different upgrade trees.Search for hidden items, upgrades, and areas just waiting for those clever, lucky, or determined enough to locate them.Discover new armor, items, upgrades, and crafting materials as you explore.Use these items to craft a pair of helper drones, more powerful weapons, and spent consumables; or recycle them into energy to fuel faster development.- Multiple endings, branching level layouts, customizable character development, and the freedom to explore at your own pace and in your own way helps ensure that no two playthroughs are alike.- Speedrun and NewGame+/++ await to challenge even veteran players and extend replayability even further. A Casual mode is available to those who struggle or prefer a casual metroidvania experience. https://youtu.be/GUwV9VbJiiE

Sinkr – April 17

SiNKR is a minimalist puzzler. There is just you, hooks, pucks, and various contraptions you need to finish each level. Sink all the pucks to advance. Features: Handcrafted levelsVisual tutorial level for each mechanicNo scores, no timers, no distractionsResponsive ambient soundscapeNo in-game text, suitable for all languages

Sunless Sea: Zubmariner Edition – April 17

"LOSE YOUR MIND. EAT YOUR CREW. DIE. Take the helm of your steamship in a Victorian Gothic roleplaying game of discovery, loneliness and frequent death. Find your father’s bones. Determine London’s destiny. Defy the gods of the deep sea. Build up your story across generations of zailors who braved the sea and lost Real-time combat against ships and Zee-beasts, spider-crewed dreadnoughts and sentient icebergs Stray too far from civilization and your crew will grow fearful and eventually lose their sanity Upgrade your steamship with powerful engines, cannons and pneumatic torpedo guns Hire unique officers, each with their own story Discover the treasures the zee has claimed Choose a ship’s mascot Trade or smuggle silk and souls Sunless Sea: Zubmariner Edition includes the base game and the extensive underwater expansion." Features: Find your father’s bones. Determine London’s destiny. Defy the gods of the deep sea.Build up your story across generations of zailors who braved the sea and lostReal-time combat against ships and Zee-beasts, spider-crewed dreadnoughts and sentient icebergsStray too far from civilization and your crew will grow fearful and eventually lose their sanityUpgrade your steamship with powerful engines, cannons and pneumatic torpedo gunsHire unique officers, each with their own storyDiscover the treasures the zee has claimedChoose a ship’s mascotTrade or smuggle silk and souls

Freakout: Calamity TV Show – April 17

A top-down, dual-stick shooter inspired by old school arcade games and die & retry shooters. In a disturbed dystopia filled with mutants and killing machines, you’re the star of a reality show which might get a bit too real. Fight your way through the deadly enemy waves, join the revolution, and try to take down the evil Fizzy Corp.

Woodle Tree 2: Deluxe+ – April 17

This time a new menace is taking over the wood lands with a black substance that is absorbing life and energy from all living creatures. Will you be skilled enough to help Woodle in his quest to repel this enormous new evil force? Explore the wonderful lands and restore balance in this open world platform adventure. Read the full article

[entergamingxp]

Final Fantasy VII Remake — A Beginner’s Guide to Starting Your Adventure in Midgar

April 10, 2020 10:00 AM EST

Whether it’s your first or tenth time in Midgar, here are my recommendations for how to get started playing Final Fantasy VII Remake.

Final Fantasy VII Remake, much like the original JRPG released in 1997, is a game full of secrets, hidden tricks, and more to explore as you traverse throughout the various sectors that make up the sprawling city of Midgar.

The sectors themselves contain tons of people to interact with, quests to complete, and plenty of goodies to collect. Combat, meanwhile, hasn’t been spared the enhanced treatment. The ATB gauge-based action may seem daunting at first glance, but once broken down into its bare essentials, there’s a robust and layered system that can easily be conquered.

Note: While I’ve kept them to an absolute minimum, there are a few spoilers for Final Fantasy VII Remake here and there. Nothing major, but just keep that in mind as you read along.

Character Breakdowns:

Before we can properly delve into combat, it’s important to break down each character and how best to use them.

Cloud is your standard well-rounded fighter. “Battle Mage” would be the most accurate description for him, with a smattering of tank properties thrown in since he’ll be absorbing most of the damage on the front lines. When attacking enemies, remember to “AUPM”: Always Use Punisher Mode, which is his Triangle skill that alters his stance and greatly increases his damage output. His movement speed takes a huge hit in this mode, but the good thing is that the initial slash in his combo has him jump forward a great distance so if you’re too far away, you can take advantage and close the distance immediately.

Barret is the long-range tank of the group. He takes hits well and is the only party member who can hit enemies from afar with his normal attacks, special abilities, and Limits. His Triangle move Overdrive fires off strong projectiles from his gun arm. It naturally charges on its own, but you can help it along by hitting Triangle to boost his charges. His other moves tend to rapidly stagger opponents, so he’s excellent for putting pressure on foes and suppressing their attacks.

Tifa is a glass cannon or a DPS fighter. Basically, this means that she deals great damage while moving fast but can’t take many hits herself. She also needs a bit of setup to be at her most effective. Once you have at least one ATB gauge charged, activate her Unbridled Strength. On the first charge, her Triangle ability “Uppercut” becomes “Omnistrike” and a second charge using another ATB will give you “Rise and Fall.” Now make sure you’re in range before activating and you’ll deal a crazy amount of damage. Be mindful of your range because if you don’t judge it correctly and miss, there goes your gauge.

Aerith is an absolute magical beast. Make sure to keep her away from enemies while controlling her and enemy aggro focused on other characters, as she’s a long-range type but much frailer than Barret. Her Triangle ability Tempest can be used in short bursts for quick combos or you can charge it to deal way more damage. Her other abilities are Soul Drain and Arcane Wind. The former absorbs MP from foes, which means more casting without wasting Ethers. The latter allows her to doublecast spells as long as the buff lasts, and is especially fantastic for healing and elemental magic. She also starts out with Prayer due to the Prayer Materia, and over time it becomes an incredible source of full party healing.

Combat:

The general flow of combat is as follows:

Dodge or Guard attacks

Deal normal damage to fill ATB gauges

Target enemy weaknesses to better pressure them

Once pressure gauge is high, keep using stronger abilities to Stagger the enemy

When the enemy is Staggered, use strongest abilities to deal major damage

Heal when necessary

Keep in mind that this is not a normal action title, such as Bayonetta or Devil May Cry. As such, the controls are not as tight and certain mechanics you would take for granted (dodge isn’t omnipotent, no invincibility frames, attack animations are committed, etc.) aren’t present here. Some attacks cannot be dodged either.

The main goal of Final Fantasy VII Remake, therefore, is to control and attack long enough to fill ATB gauges, then unleash their moves through those gauges. Think of it as the original FFVII but one in which you can move characters in between turns and deal some damage, while mitigating damage from enemy attacks through guarding and dodging.

An important difference between vanilla FFVII and Remake is that once you hit your Limit, it becomes a separate command under Abilities and doesn’t require an ATB gauge to activate. This means you have the option to actually conserve it for later use. So make sure to save it for when the foe is Staggered for maximum damage and remember to time its activation, because you can miss a Limit and completely waste it.

Here’s another hot tip: as soon as you can, go to Options in the Main Menu and set Camera Distance: In Battle to 3. This gives you a much better view of the battlefield, which prevents most blindsiding by enemies. It’s also a good idea to play around with some of the other settings, such as the controls to toggle between enemy units and party members. Don’t be afraid to test out different options and see what feels more natural to you.

Enemy Strategy:

When fighting against Shinra troopers, take out the weak frontline fighters first as they have a habit of interrupting your combos. The attack dogs are fast and powerful but tend not to attack as often, so they can wait. However, if a battle starts with grenade or flamethrower firing MPs, take them out immediately. They deal tons of damage and will hurt your party badly over time.

Riot Shield Troopers are annoying to fight head on but can be taken out with a single Fire spell. Their stronger counterparts, Hunters, can be eliminated by repeated use of Fire magic, by countering after a Guard to knock them off balance, or by attacking them from behind if they engage other allies.

Shocktroopers and their variants are annoying, can dodge a huge chunk of attacks, and deal high damage. The best way to beat them is to wait until they start a combo, then immediately interrupt them and keep on the pressure until they’re Staggered.

Any machine is weak to Thunder magic, so don’t be afraid to pile on the spells. They’re especially effective in pressuring them, leaving them open for even stronger abilities. And while Barret focuses on attacking any hard to reach mechanical foes, party members can provide support by casting Thunder magic.

Weapon Customization System:

A feature new to Final Fantasy VII Remake is Weapon Customization. This allows players to take any acquired weapon and enhance them using SP, giving them abilities that strengthen character stats, add Materia slots, and work with Materia effects to produce better results.

The best part of this feature is that it doesn’t become a game of augmenting weapons just to toss them aside for “better ones” as you progress. You can keep modifying your favorites throughout the entire game, and if you decide to switch to something else later on, every weapon gains the same amount of SP, so there’s no need to grind SP for backups.

As you progress through the game, more sub-cores open up for deeper customization. At first glance it resembles the linear fare of Final Fantasy XIII’s Crystarium system, but fear not — you can absolutely skip enhances and even cycle between cores as you see fit. This means even more customization options depending on what direction you want the character to go into when choosing where to best spend your SP. Even better is if you screw up your allotments, Chadley can reset any weapon enhancements for a price.

Materia and What to Use:

The beauty of the Materia system is the ability to enhance a character’s natural potential. By incorporating equipment that compliment these Materia builds, the resulting synergy can grant even larger bonuses and better usage for your party members. Another benefit is that, unlike the original, Materia in Final Fantasy VII Remake doesn’t lower your stats so players can equip them with abandon.

A couple builds that work wonders for some characters is to combine First Strike ATB with Magnify and Haste. This means that potentially the player-controlled character can start off with nearly an entire ATB gauge filled, then allow them to cast Haste on multiple allies to speed up their gauge fills. Having First Strike ATB with Magnify and Manawall is another great combination to bolster defense early on.

And for Tifa, who’s already an excellent DPS, pairing two Luck Up Materias with her gloves that bolster critical hit ratio means even more devastating hits. Pair that with Chakra Materia for healing (based on how much damage you took in battle), and you’re looking at a completely self sufficient fighter.

Thunder magic is incredibly useful in this game, because there are plenty of enemies in the reactors and Midgar at large that are weak to it. Not to mention it gives you proper options against normal enemies that are too hard to reach, as well as later bosses who might jump out of reach or just have way too much HP to whittle down. So when you first can buy Materia in Chapter 3, take advantage of it and buy another. Later on, you can find at least one more in the field. Human enemies tend to be weak against Fire, making it another valuable element to have at your disposal.

Deadly Dodge is an interesting Materia that adds a bit of variety to standard combos. After a character dodges an attack, their initial counterstrike gets an added AOE effect. Many players would immediately choose to equip Cloud with this Materia, since he’s on the front lines and the character that would most likely see the most action. Combined with his Punisher stance, this means some excellent damage and crowd control. Despite that, I still have a hard time recommending the use of a valuable Materia slot for Deadly Dodge when his fighting style is better suited for countering after a guard.

Tifa, in my opinion, would be the perfect candidate for this Materia. Her overall damage output potential is much higher than Cloud’s and she is tailor made for her dodge-based counter style. Plus the crowd control option is something she desperately needs.

Parry (which lets Cloud attack after dodging while guarding) would be better suited for Cloud’s fighting style, since it gives Cloud another counter option tied in to guarding. Though you can also argue that Tifa would thrive with this equipped and it would provide players an incentive to guard with her more often, as well as give her an option for guard countering, Cloud already has this built into his natural moveset.

Minigames:

There are tons of minigames in Final Fantasy VII Remake; some are merely a fun way to progress the plot and others are optional games that must be unlocked or discovered. They’re not only fun, but a great way to win special prizes if you do particularly well.

The Darts minigame can be found in the Sector 7 Slums inside Seventh Heaven as soon as you first get access to the bar. Learn how to play well enough to beat Wedge’s high score in the Leaderboard (you’ll need to finish a game using less than eight darts). Before the main party departs for the Sector 5 Reactor mission, speaking to Wedge again after the cutscene in the bar prompts him to reward you with a Luck Up Materia.

In a side mission before the Sector 5 Reactor mission, you will engage in motorcycle battles in both the Corkscrew Tunnels and the Midgar Highway.

During the Sector 5 Reactor mission, there’s a switch minigame that has the party trying to time switch pushes to unlock doors. One is required for story progression, while the other is a bonus minigame that nets items pilfered from the Air Buster.

The Sector 5 Slums has a minigame in which you destroy as many blocks as possible for a high score, with higher block numbers requiring stronger attacks.

The Sector 6 Slums offers several minigames, with two of them accessible in the Gym — squats and pullups — and the last being a rhythm game during the events at the Honeybee Inn. These get you some pretty nice prizes, including rare Materia. There’s also a waterpump minigame between Aerith and Tifa.

There’s another minigame in the Collapsed Expressway in which you manipulate robot hands to move Aerith around.

As you play through FFVII Remake, here are some general tips to keep in mind:

Tackle pretty much any sidequest you can in the various sectors. Not only are enemies from most of them a great way to grind levels and polish your skills, but the rewards and money really goes a long way. This is especially vital in Sector 7 in the beginning of the game, as Cloud is noticeably low on Gil. After a few missions, you’ll be able to afford an Iron Bangle, Items, and extra Materia.

Most side events and minigames are missable, meaning that after a certain amount of time, you no longer have access to them. The best policy is to do them as soon as they become available.

If you hear random music blaring, be on the lookout for either an Item shop or a vending machine. Either one will be sure to sell a special track for your collection. A lot of these are missable, so it’s best to buy them on the spot.

Discovery is a feature that lets players investigate certain curiosities in the field by going off the beaten path. Sometimes they can alter future events, and other times you get access to Materia and other items. But they’re always worth checking out, as the rewards are often highly valuable.

While in Sector 7, make sure to speak to the woman by the Monsters Defeated sign, near the Weapons Shop. She’ll give you items based on how many monsters you defeat.

Constantly stay on the prowl for treasure chests and Shinra boxes. Treasure chests are a great way to collect tons of healing items and they tend to be tucked away in random corners and dead ends. Once an area is secured, make sure to check it over thoroughly.

The best weapons for Cloud, Aerith, and Barret are ones that prioritize magic enhancement (such as increased Magic stat bonuses, more MP, etc.) and possess multiple slots for Materia. Tifa should be equipped with weapons that prioritize her Attack, Defense, and Luck.

Pay attention to your health. You have tons of it, so it’s easy to lose track until you’re suddenly in the red. But making sure to heal often way before you reach that point is imperative and will greatly increase your chances of survival when facing powerful bosses.

Once you meet Chadley, complete his first and second Battle Intels to get access to the Auto-Cure and Wind Materia before leaving for the Sector 5 Reactor mission, which can be done while completing other sidequests. The former is useful for designated healers, while the latter gives you access to another element. The third and fourth requests can be completed during the Sector 5 Reactor mission, and those give you great Materia rewards as well.

Make sure to have the Assess Materia equipped at all times, as it provides genuinely useful information about enemy weaknesses and how best to take them down.

Once you beat the game, you’ll have the option of selecting chapters to replay through. Use this opportunity to farm both experience and AP. There are tons of ways to do so (such as here and here), and can help you level up your characters to their full potential.

Remember to practice and experiment as much as possible!

Final Fantasy VII Remake is available now on PS4.

April 10, 2020 10:00 AM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/04/final-fantasy-vii-remake-a-beginners-guide-to-starting-your-adventure-in-midgar/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=final-fantasy-vii-remake-a-beginners-guide-to-starting-your-adventure-in-midgar

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Kill La Kill The Game: IF Review In Progress - Partial Life Fiber Synchronize

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/kill-la-kill-the-game-if-review-in-progress-partial-life-fiber-synchronize/

Kill La Kill The Game: IF Review In Progress - Partial Life Fiber Synchronize

Aside from a manga adaptation, Kill la Kill The Game: IF is the first expansion to the story of 2013’s Kill la Kill, the hit anime series that put Studio Trigger on the map. Kill la Kill IF captures the unique fighting styles of the main cast of characters from the anime in arena battles, while also delivering some enjoyable missions to tackle in the single-player campaign. It doesn’t manage to deliver a balanced competitive landscape, but there is a delightful collection of rewards to work towards in Kill la Kill IF–supplying a satisfying incentive for replaying the single-player content.

Kill la Kill follows Ryuko Matoi, who transfers to Japan’s prestigious Honnouji Academy in hopes of finding answers to her father’s murder. Her only clue is half of the giant scissor used to kill him. Honnouji Academy is run by fascist student council president Satsuki Kiryuin and her closest allies: the Elite Four. Students at the school wear Goku Uniforms, each providing enhanced strength and superhuman abilities. Realizing Satsuki recognizes the scissor blade she carries, Ryuko attacks and demands answers, only to be ultimately trounced by the president’s underlings. After escaping, Ryuko stumbles upon a sentient sailor uniform who gifts her with god-like magical girl powers when it feeds on her blood. Now much more powerful, Ryuko swears to defeat the entire student body of Honnouji Academy and gain the answers she seeks.

Kill la Kill IF is a “what if” scenario, asking, “What if Satsuki was the protagonist of Kill la Kill?” The hypothetical is explored in the game’s campaign extraordinarily well, putting forth the theory that Satsuki may have been the brilliant mastermind behind the anime’s entire narrative from the very beginning, tragically refusing the spotlight she wants because she believes her plans for a better world will work out for the better if Ryuko is the main hero. It’s a fascinating addition to Kill la Kill’s lore, and it provides plenty of incentive to see the game’s two-part campaign all the way through.

Combat in Kill la Kill IF is pretty easy to pick up, with your staple combination of close-range, long-range, aerial, guard-break, and special attacks. There’s also a rock-paper-scissors-style clash system that allows you to buff yourself if you’re lucky enough to win. Though every character controls the same, each has a completely different specialty and unique playstyle. Masochistic Ira Gamagoori becomes more powerful by whipping and damaging himself, for instance, while petite Nonon Jakuzure excels at shooting her opponent from a distance and manipulative Nui Harime relies on decoys to overwhelm her opponents from multiple angles. Though the roster does offer a diversity of playstyles, there are only eight options to choose from at launch. That’s a pretty small pool for a fighting game–disappointing given how massive Kill la Kill’s cast is. This is slightly offset by the alternate costumes that change how certain characters attack, but the adjustments aren’t enough to make the variants feel like brand-new fighters.

Exciting though the colorful combat may be, it also feels lopsided with no reliable means of defending yourself. Every fighter can block and dodge, but both moves are pretty slow so it’s fairly easy to just overwhelm opponents with aggressive close-range characters. Once caught in a combo, there’s only one way to recover, and that’s using a counter burst–a move that uses up half of your special attack meter. You have to deal out or endure quite a few hits to fill up the meter, so you can’t regularly rely on having a counter burst at the ready. And if you are caught in a combo and you don’t have that 50% of meter to burn, you just have to wait until your opponent stops attacking you. As a result, juggling can be a pretty big issue against difficult AI opponents or advanced players that know how to pull off the game’s longer, more devastating combos–which can lead to unfair and unfun matches.

Despite the issues with combat, battles in the game are wholeheartedly Kill la Kill, and they’re typically glorious fun as a result. Characters yell out the name of their special attacks–some with barely contained rage and others with malicious glee–in epic battle cries, each one animated in a cel-shaded rendition of Kill la Kill’s over-the-top style. The most powerful blows land with an impact, slowing down the action just long enough for you to understand the recipient is about to be very hurt. The addition of the luck-based clash system feels right at home too, giving you a last-ditch effort to maybe make a comeback–randomly screaming during a battle and luckily finding a deeper well of strength is extremely Kill la Kill. Sure, the lack of a reliable counter system means winning in these battles is less about skill and more about who can press the attack buttons more quickly, but that doesn’t change that most matches are still explosively epic, full of silly puns, and just enjoyable to play. This is especially true for most of the battles in Kill la Kill IF’s campaign.

There are a variety of obstacles to overcome in the campaign as the game offers more than what’s usually expected from arena fighters. Though there are still traditional one-on-one fights, Kill la Kill IF’s story mode is a mixture of various mission types. The most interesting ones take advantage of the constantly shifting alliances in the narrative. One battle has Satsuki, Ryuko, and Nui all fight in a three-way free-for-all, for instance, and another sees Satsuki go up against the brain-washed Elite Four in a one-on-four fight. Wave-based battles against a horde of enemies are thrown into the mix, too. The variety keeps the campaign from getting stale.

Though these types of missions offer a welcome change of pace for an arena fighter, they’re also held back by Kill la Kill IF’s traditional mechanics and features. Most arena fighters don’t need a mechanic to specifically focus on one combatant or a feature to alert you when an off-screen target is about to attack, as fights are pretty much exclusively one-on-one. In Kill la Kill IF’s campaign, where you occasionally fight multiple enemies at once and the only way to remain focused on a character is to stay near them, the absence of any such mechanic or feature is far more noticeable. It’s tricky to stay focused on the fighter you want when you and your opponents are being smacked around the arena, and it’s frustrating when you’re in the midst of a combo and you don’t know whether you need to suddenly dodge or block because you’re about to be attacked from outside your field of view.

Outside the campaign, Kill la Kill IF offers Practice and Versus modes, as well as a horde challenge and figure posing gallery. Given the risque nature of Kill la Kill, it’s a nice surprise that the figures’ available poses aren’t all that leery, though the offering of shots you can produce is a little sparse. The gallery feels tacked on as a poor replacement for a photo mode, which is a shame given how gorgeous many of the characters look while in motion. Offline Versus works without issue; however, as this review in progress is going live the day of Kill la Kill IF’s official international release, we haven’t had adequate time to put the online version through its paces. We’ll update this review once we do.

Both the Japanese and English dub anime voice actors reprise their roles in Kill la Kill IF, so you can enjoy whichever cast you prefer (it’s something a lot more anime games should do, frankly). Unfortunately, the English dub doesn’t perfectly match up in certain animations, so there are quite a few moments where characters are technically done speaking but their mouths keep moving. It’s no deal-breaker, as both sets of voice actors do a great job once again bringing their respective characters to life. The voices aren’t the only sound from the anime to make it into the game either. Songs from Kill la Kill are regularly intermixed into the originally composed soundtrack, including fan-favorites “Before My Body Is Dry” and “Sirius,” augmenting every battle and emotional moment with the same epic sensations as the anime.

The voice actors and soundtrack provide the biggest motivation to keep playing Kill la Kill IF. As you complete the story and win matches, you’ll unlock in-game currency that you can use to buy songs and special recorded messages. The messages that seem to be from the characters’ perspectives are an absolute delight, like Satsuki providing words of encouragement to those living in “this cruel world,” but most are from the voice actors themselves–Todd Haberkorn (Shirou Iori) teasingly relaying congratulations for beating the game, for instance, or Carrie Keranen (Satsuki Kiryuin) revealing just how much it meant to get a chance to do voice work for Kill la Kill again after nearly five years. It’s all phenomenal content–ranging from hilarious to heartfelt–which provides plenty of incentive to keep playing and earn more in-game currency.

Kill la Kill IF is clearly designed for fans of Kill la Kill who are looking for more ways to enjoy the characters, music, and battles of the anime series. Each fighter behaves as they do in the anime, and the excellent voice actor rewards provide a nice incentive to keep playing even after you’ve mastered every character. However, as a fighting game, Kill la Kill IF doesn’t deliver the expected harmony of offense and defense. And though campaign battles that are beyond the one-on-one formula are an awesome addition, the traditional arena fighting game mechanics aren’t designed to adequately handle multiple opponents. The campaign’s startling revelation is a fascinating turn of events for Kill la Kill’s story, though, creating a new and intriguing interpretation of one of 2013’s best anime series.

Source : Gamesport

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Top 5 Upcoming RPGs Of July 2019 (Shadowbringers, Warlocks 2, and More!)

The post Top 5 Upcoming RPGs Of July 2019 (Shadowbringers, Warlocks 2, and More!) appeared first on Fextralife.

Welcome to the Top Upcoming RPGs of July 2019! In this series we highlight the Top 5 RPGs for the upcoming month. In this edition, we’re going to take a look at each of the titles, talk a little about each, and then explain why we think they deserve to be on the list. So join me now and find a mixture of some hidden gems and old favorites given a shiny new coat of paint.

Top 5 Upcoming RPGs Of July 2019

Last month we had the return of Igavania in Bloodstained Ritual of the Night which took our top spot with its challenging gameplay. This month we see a new expansion, an indie title and some tactical RPG action. Let’s get into the month of July.

Honourable Mention: Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers

Release Date: July 2nd Platform: PC/PS4 Developer: Square Enix Publisher: Square Enix

This month’s honourable mention goes to Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers expansion. The story unfolds with your own character venturing to face the Garlean Empire. Things get a little more gritty as you take on the role of the “Warrior of Darkness”. With a new expansion comes a new max level cap, Shadowbringers comes with a level cap of 80, that’s 10 levels higher than its previous.

Shadowbringers will also be gaining new beast tribes and new primals. But that’s not all, nine new dungeons as well as new 8 person and 24 person raids will be coming also. A new feature called “Trust” system will also be added meaning players will be able to run dungeons with NPCs, so you can take on dungeons on your own if you so wish.

There is also New Game Plus mode which allows players to take on previous content with their current characters.

Shadowbringers will be releasing on July 2nd for Playstation 4 and PC.

5. Dragon Quest Builders 2

Release Date: July 12th Platform: PS4/Nintendo Switch Developer: Omega Force/Square Enix Publisher: Square Enix

Combining a sandbox game with action role-playing Dragon Quest Builders 2 is the sequel coming this July. Although an alternate storyline it is still based on the Dragon Quest story, as it follows as if the villain from Dragon Quest II still lived on. The tale follows a more party focused narrative through the experience of friendship. Playing as an apprentice builder you will need to prove yourself as true builder. Combat the Children of Hargon, who worship destruction!

This title blends the JPRG genre with block building aspects similar to that of Minecraft. It has it’s own progression similar to what is found in classic RPGs. You can team up with up to four players online to collaborate together. Rather than the turn-based gameplay found in the main series, Builders offers real-time action, choose from different weapons to defeat enemies and bosses with hack ‘n’ slash mechanics.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 releases for Playstation 4 and Nintendo Switch in North America and Europe on July 12th.

4. God Eater 3

Release Date: July 12th Platform: Switch Developer: Bandai Namco Publisher: Bandai Namco

Coming to the Nintendo Switch this July is the next instalment of the series God Eater 3, it follows events of a sudden mysterious life form that begins its uncontrollable quest to consume life on Earth. It’s insatiable appetite and quick ability to learn, makes it the deadliest foes you could ever face, they have been given the name Aragami. These beasts only leave destruction and misery in their path. In order to fight back, individuals known as God Eaters wield special weapons powered by Oracle Cells, these are the only known way to stop the Aragami. But this is not the only battle brewing, a fight between light and dark is wearing thin.

God Eater 3 combines action combat with abilities to dive, use burst arts, plug-ins and more. Use skill install which allows you to equip God Arc skills for your chosen weapon to increase health points, slash attacks or speed buffs with these items. A new passive skill has been added called Acceleration Trigger, which strengthens a players resolve giving the upper-hand during opportune moments.

God Eater 3 will be released for Nintendo Switch on July 12th, 2019.

3. Warlocks 2: God Slayers

Release Date: July 8th Platform: PC Developer: Frozen District Publisher: Fat Dog Games

The sequel to the original Warlocks title, Warlocks 2: God Slayers features a brand new story. Playing as a Warlock, players will face gods who have been angered by the destruction of the horde of shadow monsters. It is up to the order of Warlocks who now challenge those gods who have betrayed them, and it is time to dethrone them.

An action-RPG hack ‘n’ slash with humorous pixel art design, which allows you choose from 5 different Warlocks. Team up with friends with up to 4 members total   online and local co-op. The title brings 40 types of different enemies to fight, while using your own unique abilities dependent on your chosen Warlock. Enjoy a comical narration while exploring extensive maps with plenty of randomly generated loot in this metroidvania inspired title.

Warlocks 2: God Slayers will release on PC on July 18th.

2. Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden – Seed of Evil

Release Date: July 30th Platform: PC/Xbox One/PS4/Switch Developer: The Beared Ladies Publisher: Funcom

The XCOM inspired Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden also drew its inspiration from the Swedish tabletop RPG of the same name. It released at the end of last year culminating its own community of fans. It combines stealth and combat into a RPG strategy. With a cast of wonderfully quirky animal mutant characters, the adventure takes place in a post-apocalyptic world.

Seed of Evil takes place where the game left off, bringing news maps and a new challenge for the group of misfits. A new playable character will be available to help assist challenges, going by the name of Big Khan, a moose with two new mutations Ground Pound and Flame Puke. There also seems to be something rather strange going on, what Big Khan calls “Pod Ghouls” who are replacing the original Ghouls with copies.

Mutant Year Zero: Seed of Evil expansion releases on July 30th on PC, Xbox One, PS4 and Switch.

1. Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Release Date: July 26th Platform: Nintendo Switch Developer: Koei Tecmo Publisher: Nintendo

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is a tactical RPG that lets players choose to teach at one of the three houses at the Academy, which has many formidable students. Taking up the role of professor you must shape the student’s academic lives between taking on turn-based battles, full of strategy and twists to overcome. The title is set in a new world called Fódlan, where the Church of Seiros holds great power over the land and its people.

There is quite a large central hub, and plenty to do as teacher which includes interacting with students and using the new calendar system. You can even interact with students from the other houses and have the opportunity to recruit them.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses lets you take on the role of an adviser where students act as your troops. How you interact with them will effect how they will perform in battles. You can customise your troops with distance and close range attacks and taking part in battles will level up your battalion. Its up to you to order how these battles play out.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses launches on the Nintendo Switch on July 26th 2019.

That’s a wrap for the Top RPGs of July. Did I miss your favorite July release? What games are you most looking forward to this year? Please let us know in the comments below.

You can also check out the Top RPGs of June 2019.

So, do you want more? If so, you can find more Top RPGs for 2019 here.

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