I got a chance to check out JAST’s release of Ninetail’s Gears of Dragoon: Fragments of a New Era. This is actually the second game in this series, but you need no knowledge of the first to enjoy this one. I had a blast with their two VenusBlood releases, so I was pretty stoked to get my hands on this one. It plays a bit differently, being more of standard RPG with dungeon crawling, but I figured the story would be fantastic like the other releases. Let’s see if this one met my high expectations for it.

The story begins in a city called Carnas, a city of magical wonder that hides a secret underneath its busy streets. There lies the Dragonshaft, many tunnels filled with mechanical relics of the past. Machinery is considered taboo in the very magical society of Carnas, so the city’s ruling class are not impressed when powerful machines of the past are unearthed. The two factions live in a general state of peace, but there is always tension under the surface.

A young man named Rustar is an exceptional prowler, people that explore the depths of the Dragonshaft. He is different than most others in the fact he can use both magic and machinery, most can only use one or the other. His late father passed down to him a special key that is said to lead to the Sage’s Treasure, and would grant him a single wish. Having little luck, he soon encounters another young adventurer named Percy. She has a key just like his, and the two decide to team up to seek the treasure together. As the two dig deeper into the Dragonshaft, they will discover more about their world than ever before, and find some great friends along the way as well.

I have to say, I really enjoyed the story of Gears of Dragoon: Fragments of a New Era. It is pretty basic and goes how you would expect, but the characters really give this one a lot of personality. I played the Machine Route for this review which gives most of the focus to one group of girls, while the Magic Route will do so for the other. Ashley was by far my favorite girl here. A songstress tsundere dragon girl, I was like a moth to a flame. She is the main heroine in the Machine Route, but you will also spend time with the cute catgirl, Kay, the amazing scientist, Chris, an adorable machine girl, Sheirrah, and the leader of the Machine Faction, Echidna. Each of these girls were interesting, and no matter which one you choose to spend your time with, you will be entertained. Though I do wish Sheirrah would’ve gotten a bit more time. A mecha obsessed machine girl that is chunni as hell, that’s just a win!

Before we delve into the gameplay, let’s talk a bit about the graphics. The dungeons look pretty plain, but each area is well represented. From dark caverns to hellish lava filled craters, each area looks great. The artwork for the various enemies looks great as well. I do wish there were more varieties of enemies, but there are enough here to get by with. The boss monsters all look great. These beasts look every bit as fierce as they are, and are nicely detailed. All of the CG work is great here as well. There are plenty of good H-Scenes for each girl, and most of these are pretty vanilla outside of some that occur when you lose certain boss battles. I was good with this since I got plenty of crazy scenes while playing VenusBlood, so this was a nice change of pace.

Now let’s dig into the gameplay here. You will begin by taking on various quests that will have you explore the dungeon and battle various monsters in turn based combat. This is all very basic RPG stuff, but honestly I found it a lot of fun. You will have to equip each of your party members with some great gear in order to survive the monstrous bosses the game throws at you. Equipment will not only boost your stats, but it will also give better elemental attack, better defense against certain creature types, or status aliment immunities. That last one is very important because the RNG here can really screw you over at times.

Equipment can also be upgraded at your base, provided you have materials and some upgrade points. As you probably guessed this will raise the stats of the item, but I rarely used the upgrade points for this. The upgrade points can also be used to add magic stone sockets to your gear. These stones are very helpful since they add buffs and status protections to any weapon or piece of armor they are attached to. You will obtain these from the dungeon at mining points, or sometimes as random drops.

When you complete story quests you will be given some gold, guild points and a heart stone. Gold is always helpful in an RPG, and makes the world go round here. You will need that for gear and consumables, as well as upgrades. The guild points will give you various effects depending on which one you choose to spend your precious points on. The Fighters Guild will give you a damage boost with every rank and the shop will get better items. The Thieves Guild give you a full map of the dungeon without you having to find it, if your rank is higher than the dungeon’s. The Priest Guild will reduce incoming damage and let you regen a bit more health and MP while walking. Lastly, the Mages Guild nets you some better magic stones for your gear and the ability to craft new ones as well. I personally pumped a lot into the Mages Guild to start with, since the status immunities the stones can grant you are a lifesaver in battle, but the choice is yours.

Lastly, let’s talk a bit about the heart stones. These are required to view the heroine events in the story. There will be some for each girl in the common route as well as the two branching ones. The Machine Route requires less of these than the Magic one, so you should probably do that one first if you want to see everything both have to offer. You can always use the casual mode option to skip all the dungeons the second time around if you just want to focus on story, or either of the no encounters options if you want to speed along the second route a bit. Add these with the different difficulty options that allow you to casually skip battles or play a hardcore grindy RPG, and you have a very customizable game. I feel like this is an excellent way to do a game like this, since you can tailor it to your play style.

Gears of Dragoon: Fragments of a New Era is another fantastic release from Ninetail and JAST. The story is great with a ton of interesting characters, the dungeon exploration is a lot of fun for us old school RPG fans, and the game can be adjusted to fit the play style of almost anyone. Throw in some of the best CG work I’ve seen in a long time, plus a great soundtrack, and you have one of my favorite releases of this year. I wish the RNG had been a bit kinder at times and the game would tell you when there was CG scene for losing a battle, but these are very minor things. This game is worth every bit of the $34.99 price tag, and I hope JAST brings over the previous game in this franchise since I enjoyed this one so much.

Review Score
Overall

Game was provided by the publisher for review.

The post REVIEW: Gears of Dragoon: Fragments of a New Era appeared first on oprainfall.

I was a huge fan of FURYU’s Crystar when it released back in 2019. I said many times that I felt it was the most underrated game of the last generation. When a spiritual successor was announced, CRYMACHINA, I was very excited to get my hands on it. I’ve spent around 16 hours with the game and completed the main story, so it’s time to share my thoughts. Did the game meet my very high expectations? Let’s find out!

CRYMACHINA follows the story of a young girl named Leben. She is on her death bed, dying from a mysterious disease that is slowly wiping out all of humanity. As her life fades to black, she hears a voice saying she has been chosen. She awakens to find herself in a strange world greeted by a young robotic girl named Enoa. This world is named Eden, and it is run totally by machines that seek to restore humanity by creating “Real Humans.” Laben encounters two other girls like her, Ami and Mikoto. Together they all set out on a quest to become these “Real Humans.”

The story here is really amazing. There are quite a few twists and turns, which I expected from this team, but I think this one may pack more of an emotional punch than Crystar. Watching all of the girls get closer as they struggle, and just their general interactions, will make you care for them almost instantly while wanting to learn more about this world. As you collect the personality data that is obtained from the fallen bosses, you will learn about their backstories as well, and some of these will really give you a gut punch. This is some top level storytelling, and I’m glad to see this team delivered once again.

Graphically, CRYMACHINA looks amazing. The game takes place in a cyberworld and it very much looks the part. Each stage has that very “Inside of Computer” feel to it, and the enemy models are all fantastic as well. They look like Decepticons that have gotten a big ass buff. The boss enemies are even more impressive in their scope and scale. I think the lighting in this game is what really makes it pop though. The girls in their cyber bodies glow in distinct places giving them this really awesome mechanical vibe, and the environments glowing in blue and red hues, gives them even more of that techno feel. The PC version I reviewed ran very well, never dipping below 60 FPS on my 3050 laptop or 144 FPS on my full rig with a 3060. There are some options you can tweak if you’re running on lower end systems that will probably get this one to run very well on any decent machine.

I love the soundtrack in CRYMACHINA. These techno style tunes with amazing vocals really immerse you in this post apocalyptic world, and give a lot of the characters’ scenes a lot more emotion as well. It’s very rare for me to love every song in a game soundtrack, but I have to say, every track here is pure gold, and I would rank them among some of the best I’ve ever heard. The game only features Japanese voice acting, but these actors really give all of these characters a lot of life. Their performances will make you care for all of these girls right off the bat as you follow them down this crazy adventure.

The core gameplay of CRYMACHINA is that of a third-person action title. You will move along a set number of stages, defeating the boss monsters to advance. Along the way you will find secrets, such as more powerful enemies, documents with coordinates to face even greater foes, and treasures. These treasures include things such as, new equipment, auxiliary weapons and chips. You will also gain EXP to level up the girls and some EGO to spend on other upgrades as well.

Most of the stages in CRYMACHINA are pretty short, but I feel like this works to the game’s advantage since you will want to defeat each boss more than once to obtain all of the memories. I do wish the game would give you at least some EXP and EGO for defeating a previous conquered boss, but alas, that’s not how this works. At least there are plenty of challenging bosses to seek out as you find more documents and explore this virtual world further.

The girls each have four pieces of equipment. These include a weapon, head, body, and waist armor pieces. You will have to go through all of the ones you’ve obtained from personality chips and through treasures, to figure out which ones work the best for each girl. The ones you don’t need can be exchanged for EGO which you can use to upgrade the girl’s individual stats, or the combat support program Enoa can use. Upgrading this is very important as you progress, since it grants more uses of healing, more EXP, better results from your auxiliary weapons, and upgrades your ultra powered Awakening Mode. When you activate this, you will not take damage for a short time and your damage output will increase. Upgrading it will grant more uses on each stage, bigger buffs and a longer activation time.

Lastly, let’s talk a bit about the auxiliary weapons and chips. Each girl will have one of these weapons equipped on her right and left side. They come in a variety of forms and rarities. As you might guess, the rarer ones are usually much better than their lower tiered counterparts. Each one of these will be able to equip a number of auxiliary chips. These will grant these powerful weapons their skills. Some of these chips will be powerful attacks, while others may give stat boosts or protective buffs. These are activated by simply tapping the L and R triggers in battle, and you can get even greater effects from the skill in the EX slot when the conditions for it are met. Some of these will be things like do a perfect dodge, or stun enemies, and others are as simple as just having a foe at a certain range. There is a lot of customization here, and you will have to play around to see what works best with your play style.

I had a lot of expectations going into CRYMACHINA, and I am please to say it exceeded every one of them. This is one of the best games I’ve played this year, and I loved every minute of the 20 hours I spent with it. There is a bit more post-game stuff I can take on in the form of some really tough bosses that I will very likely be working on after this review goes live. This game has an amazing story and solid action. This is something you don’t find everyday in gaming these days, so I feel fans of RPGs and action games will find a lot to love here. I feel it is well worth the $59.99 price tag. If you haven’t played this or Crystar, do yourself a favor and check them both out as soon as possible. You might just find two new favorites, just like I have.

Review Score
Overall

Game was provided by the publisher for review.

The post REVIEW: CRYMACHINA appeared first on oprainfall.

I’ve finally finished my playthrough of Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless and it’s time to share my thoughts on it. I had mixed feelings about the last entry due to way too many features being automated, the lacking difficulty, and the damage numbers being pumped up for no reason, which was very annoying. I was really hoping this latest entry would fix some of these issues, so let’s dig in and see if this was the case.

The story here follows a young rich otaku girl named Pirilika. She is obsessed with the Bushido life style, so she travels to a group of Netherworlds called Hinomoto in order to experience this culture first hand. To her dismay when she arrives, the Bushido culture has been long suppressed due to the rise of the evil shogun, Demmodore Opener, and his magistrates. She soon encounters a young samurai named Fuji who agrees to help her, if she pays him a large sum of cash. His daughter, Ao, has caused much destruction in this Netherworld, and he has to foot the bill. He agrees to help her recover the legendary Seven Founding Weapons and overthrow Opener in order to restore Bushido to these lands.

I have to say, I enjoyed the story in Disgaea 7 quite a bit. It had a lot of that Disgaea humor and charm I’ve come to expect after many years of playing these titles. The new cast of characters were interesting, and their interactions with each other were a pure joy to watch. I felt this crew just had a much better vibe than the one from the previous title. This felt like a return to form for the franchise, and that’s a great thing.

Graphically, Disgaea 7 retains the 3D art style found in the last game. While I know this is divisive for some long time fans, I’ve liked it quite a bit since the last game. I think the models here look a bit cleaner with a few more details, so they look better than ever. The environmental details look great like they always do, and the character portraits and CG work is top tier as well. I didn’t run into any issues while reviewing the PC version for well over 40 hours. I got 120 FPS pretty consistently across both my machines with some dips here and there that really had no effect on gameplay. This is a quality PC port from NIS America.

Not much really changes in the sound department in these games. The characters do have some new quirky voice lines as they go into battle. The Signboards are still my favorite with their monotone “Oh.. I died.” The music here is mostly that whimsical Disgaea music we have all grown to love over the many years of the franchise, but there are few more somber tracks thrown in for those emotional moments. Overall, everything here still works great, and there really was no need for them to mess with a working formula. My only real complaint is they never voice the the lines for the DLC stories. I feel like at around 60 bucks for all the character pack stories, NIS should foot the bill to bring back some of the old actors for these. It would add a bit more value to them for the money.

The gameplay in Disgaea 7 is very much a back to basics approach. This is exactly what the game’s director, Shunsuke Minowa, said was one of the main goals, and they certainly achieved this. I feel like this was the right call as this felt much more like a Disgaea title than the last game did. Lots of the features from Disgaea 6 do return here such as the Juice Bar, Auto Battles and more, but they all feel much more refined this time around. The random item worlds return, and there are a tons of ways to customize the over 40 classes at your disposal with weapons, accessories, armor and passive Evilities skills.

This doesn’t mean new stuff hasn’t been added here, as well. Two new classes have been added: the Maiko and the Zombie Maiden. The Maiko will put all of the male enemies at a great disadvantage with her variety of skills, while the Zombie Maiden will power up all your other units on the field when dying. The other big new addition is Jumbify. This will become available once the meter is filled, and one of your party members will grow huge for three turns, allowing them to do massive damage to enemy units. Each of the unique characters and classes give different bonuses to the rest of the field when they are Jumbifed as well. These can range from stat boosts, to being able to avoid attacks from higher ground. The enemy units can use this skill as well, so you have to keep a balance. Do I deploy my big unit now and try to wipe them out, or save in it in case they decide to use one of theirs against me? This adds a new layer of strategy to the game and I felt it was a great addition. Unique characters in the game will also have a Hell Mode. This is a unique skill linked to their weapon that will give them access to overpowered attacks and other buffs. The DLC characters get some really crazy ones. These won’t be needed for the main game, but they are very helpful when taking on some of the much more challenging post game content.

Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless is very much a return to form for the franchise. It improves on the last game in almost every way possible. The story is great, the characters are some of the best the series has seen in a long time, the combat is fun with some new classes and features that add a lot to the experience, and the overall feel here is just better. It took me around 40 hours to finish the main story and some of the extras. If you want to explore everything this title has to offer, it will easily take 80 hours by the time you min-max your stats and get everything ready to take on the post game challenges. The DLC pack for the characters and their extra stories is a bit pricey, but honestly unless you are a huge fan of the franchise, they don’t add much to the overall package here. You get plenty of bang for your buck at the base price of $60. If you’re an old fan of the series questioning whether or not to purchase after the dicey release of Disgaea 6, don’t hold back here as this is a much better series entry. This one is also very welcoming to newcomers, so if you ever wanted to try out a Disgaea title, this is the perfect place to jump in.

Review Score
Overall

 

Game was provided by the publisher for review, but the extra character and story DLC was purchased by the reviewer.

The post REVIEW: Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless appeared first on oprainfall.

Last month, I had the opportunity to try a preview build of the latest game in the Fate franchise, Fate/Samurai Remnant. After my short time with the game, I was impressed with the taste I had of the game’s story, characters, and combat. Now, I’ve had the opportunity to play through the full version of the game. Was Fate/Samurai Remnant able to meet the expectations I set for it, or did the full game dispel any positive feelings I had from the preview build?

Fate/Samurai Remnant takes place in 1651 Edo, Japan and follows Miyamoto Iori, a student of the famed swordmaster, Miyamoto Musashi. After a run-in with a powerful Servant, Rider, and their Master, Yui Shousetsu, Iori finds himself dragged into a conflict known as the Waxing Moon Ritual. He, alongside his Servant, Saber, must now navigate this contest, battling powerful foes and making allies along the way. Will Iori and Saber be able to protect the peace in Edo while contending for the Waxing Moon, or will this ritual consume the city in the flames of conflict?

I enjoyed my time playing through Fate/Samurai Remnant’s story. The game did a good job explaining how the Waxing Moon Ritual came to be and developing some of the characters involved in the conflict in my first playthrough. The story gave me genuine moments of shock and awe, but there were also some moments that may have been a bit predictable, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. Rider’s True Name reveal and Iori’s showdowns with certain characters probably stuck with me the most. Iori and Saber, being the stars of the show, had the most development throughout the game. Iori became not only a competent Master, but he grew to be a powerful swordsman, capable of holding his own against monsters and Servants alike. Saber grew to care about Iori and the city he lives in, and soon saw Iori not as a weakling that needed protection, but a capable partner. You also come to learn the motivations of the other masters, such as Zheng Chenggong and Takao Dayu, and I really sympathized with them. Unfortunately, there are some characters that didn’t receive as much development as others, like Chiemon and Dorothea. For these characters, I was given some background info, but I never really learned what their motivations were. What did they want to wish for?

Earlier, I specifically mentioned my first playthrough Fate/Samurai Remnant and its story. This is because at certain points in the main story, there are decisions that you can make that will change the direction of the plot. For example, there are two locations you can go to, but you only have time to go to one of them. So, while I am disappointed some characters didn’t get as much development as I would’ve liked, their development may actually be in the routes I didn’t choose. Having a branching story gives the game much more replay value, and while I didn’t have time to do a second playthrough before writing this review, I am looking forward to seeing what occurs in the paths I didn’t choose, and learning about characters I didn’t learn much about in my first playthrough, such as Rogue Saber. I’m also interested in seeing if the game’s ending will be affected if I choose different options. A helpful option that unlocks after you complete the game for the first time is the Completed Story section in the main menu. This gives you percentages on how much you’ve completed of each chapter and optional Digressions. So, if you want to make sure you’ve seen everything there is to see, you can always go back and check this section.

Speaking of Digressions, these are optional side stories focusing on characters involved in the Waxing Moon Ritual. While I call these optional, I highly recommend doing them so you can get the most out of the story. These Digressions can take place in the past or present, and can help develop not only the main cast, but also characters who don’t get much screen time in the main story, such as the Rogue Servants. So if you want to get closer to characters such as Rogue Rider, make sure to do their Digressions. They also show you events leading up to characters meeting Iori and Saber in the main story, which may only be mentioned in passing but not elaborated upon if you just play the main story. For example, Iori runs into Berserker at a crucial part of the main story, and Iori questions why she’s there. Well, you can find out exactly how Berserker got there if you play the Digressions. You want to find out how Berserker met Takao Dayu? You have to play the Digressions. Not only will Digressions help flesh out the story more, you can also get some nice rewards too, such as currency and items. This is also the only way to unlock a Rogue Servant’s True Name and Noble Phantasm, so if you want to get the most out of them in battle, you have to play the Digressions. There’s a time limit for how long you have to complete certain Digressions, but the game gives you a helpful notification if a Digression will go away if you continue the story. The name of the Digression will also be colored in red to show you which one will disappear, so you can focus on those. Of all the Digressions, I enjoyed Rogue Ruler’s (Boss) the most as it gave me a good chuckle every time because of how ridiculous he is. 

A helpful section I touched upon in my preview of Fate/Samurai Remnant is the Logbook. This will document all the information you’ve compiled on the characters in the game as well as some terminology used. Again, this is fantastic, as there are a lot of words used that may confuse people new to the Fate universe, so it’s helpful to read through it. The Logbook also contains some information not spoken about outright in the main story, such as background information on Masters, and information on Servants after their True Name is revealed. I will say you should be careful reading the entries for one of the characters. You’ll know which character as they are related to Saber. I found one of the entries for this character spoils Saber’s True Name, before it is explicitly revealed to the player in the main story. So, I would just be careful reading about any entry or character relating to Saber, everything else should be fair game.

Fate/Samurai Remnant has four major gameplay portions: preparing at home, exploring Edo, combat, and Spirit Font Conflicts. When at home, you can help Iori prepare for the perils of the Waxing Moon Ritual. You can rest in bed to restore HP, maintain your swords, carve statues, choose which Rogue Servant will accompany you, and renovate your mage workshop. Maintaining your swords starts a simple minigame, and you can get an EXP bonus depending on how well you do and what materials you use. So, if you do it perfectly and with the best materials, your EXP bonus can be increased by 20% and for eight battles, which is very helpful. Carving statues is a way to not only gain some EXP, but it’s a way to make some good money as well. You can take the statues you create and sell them to the Boss at Babyloni-ya for a good chunk of change. After a certain point in the story, your home will be where you can choose which Rogue Servant will accompany you. So, make sure you have your favorite one accompanying you before you go out to battle. Renovating your workshop can give you permanent buffs (increase your Valor Gauge fill rate, increase Affinity Gauge fill rate, etc.), give you more options at your workshop (ability to upgrade your sword mountings, option to craft gems, etc.), give you benefits when exploring Edo (decrease price of goods at shops), and even give you the ability to switch out your Rogue Servant outside the house. Unlocking these benefits will cost a good amount of materials and currency, so make sure to save up!

Once you’re out in the town, you can purchase materials and recovery items, stop minor squabbles between townsfolk, fight monsters and ruffians, pet your favorite cats and dogs, and complete Local Trials and Commissions. You’re not limited to staying in Asakusa, you can open the Edo map most of the time and go to a different district if you want, unless the story limits you at the point you’re at. Stopping squabbles and petting animals both help fill your Affinity gauge, but only petting animals will restore some of your health, so you know which one to do. Local Trials are objectives you can complete in each Edo district that can be completed for currency and materials. These are relatively simple to do, such as defeat a certain amount of enemies or pet a dog or cat a certain amount of times. Once you complete all of them, you get a Town Completion bonus, which is even more currency and materials. Commissions are like Local Trials, but they’re not limited to specific districts in Edo. So you can make progress on these no matter where you are in Edo, and they usually give much bigger rewards than the Local Trials. I do wish there were one or two more minigames to break up all the action, some that need a little more input from the player, because stopping squabbles is way too easy. I think they could’ve added a fishing minigame in here, since you’re allowed to visit ports in the game. It’s not a big deal, just a minor nitpick.

Combat in Fate/Samurai Remnant is an action affair. You can use regular attacks with the square button, heavy attacks with the triangle button, jump with the cross button, utilize Valor Strikes with the circle button, and dodge with the R2 button. The L1 button allows you to expend Gems to use spells or switch Iori’s current Sword Style. The R1 button accesses the Servant menu and allows you to use Affinity techniques and switch out with Saber, or your chosen Rogue Servant, if the Substitution gauge is full. Saber’s gauge and the Rogue Servant’s Substitution gauge are separated, so you don’t have to worry about choosing one over the other. Valor Strikes are similar to Musou attacks, in that you expend the Valor gauge to perform a special attack which wrecks all the foes around you. When controlling a Servant, the Valor gauge turns into the Noble Phantasm gauge, which in turn changes the Valor Strike into a Noble Phantasm. You can only utilize a Noble Phantasm once you find out the Servant’s True Name, so make sure you do Digressions for those Rogue Servants! I thought it was interesting how Iori could change up his Sword Style to fit the combat situation. My favorite Sword Styles were the Water Style, which emphasizes speed, and the Fire Style, which gets stronger as your health goes down. I found combat to be fair, with a mix of easy fights and those that will challenge you. Most of the challenging fights will involve enemies that have a Shell gauge. These gauges prevent you from dealing a lot of damage to a foe unless it’s broken. This can make these enemies a bit tanky, but it isn’t too bad if you’re patient.

In order to make fights easier, you can obviously level up, but you can also spend Skill Points you accumulate to unlock buffs and abilities for Iori and your Servants. These buffs can include increasing your damage against Servants and monsters, increasing your Shell gauge depletion rate, and even unlock an ability which revives Iori after getting KO’d once in battle. If you don’t have enough Skill Points to unlock an ability, you can spend items, such as Skill Jewels, to gain points needed to get the ability. Other than unlocking nodes in the Skill Tree, you can also change Iori’s Sword Mountings. You can change four different aspects of your swords, and each will give you different benefits depending on the mounting used. Benefits can include things such as healing your HP after defeating an enemy, increasing your damage against Servants, etc. You can upgrade your favorite mountings at your workshop, so you can keep using your favorites as the story goes on. Also, your mountings actually change the appearance of Iori’s swords, which is a very nice touch.

You know you’re about to enter a pretty important battle if a Spirit Font Conflict starts. In Spirit Font Conflicts, you have to make your way usually from Asakusa all the way to your destination in a certain amount of turns, all while taking, and defending, Spirit Nodes from your opposition. Taking specific Spirit Nodes will give you buffs, such as increasing your attack. You can also work alongside Rogue Servants you’ve bonded with throughout the story to make the Conflict easier. You can also split off Saber from Iori, effectively giving you two or more units to take Spirit Nodes with. If you run into an enemy in the same node, this starts a battle. You have an optional time limit to take out the enemies within, and if you defeat them within the time limit, you get extra rewards. If a Conflict is ever giving you difficulty, you can utilize a Support Mystic Code, which can give you different benefits, such as transporting to a node under your control or giving you additional actions within a turn. You can also click the right stick (R3) and ask Gramps for advice if you’re really stuck. What I liked about Spirit Font Conflicts is if you run into an enemy with Saber or a Rogue Servant without Iori, you can control them with no limitations. This is a good opportunity to really let loose and smash your foes. I don’t have a problem with the time limitation when controlling Servants normally, as it adds an extra challenge to battles, but sometimes I just want to wreck foes with reckless abandon. Honestly, Spirit Font Conflicts were a bit too easy for my liking on Sword Fighter (Normal) difficulty. It would’ve been nice if you needed to put a little more thought into moving your units, but the game tended to hold your hand throughout the process.

Continue Iori’s quest for the Waxing Moon on page 2 ->

The post REVIEW: Fate/Samurai Remnant appeared first on oprainfall.

When XSEED Games first announced Silent Hope, I wasn’t really impressed with it. I thought the game looked like a pretty bog standard dungeon crawler with some crafting and farming shoehorned into it. Looks can be very deceiving when it comes to games, so when I got an opportunity to check it out, I jumped on it. Let’s see if this game is as plain as I first thought it was, or if it was more than what I was expecting.

The story here follows a peaceful kingdom that was hit with a great calamity. The people became disheartened and started to lose faith in the king. They felt he was only out to protect his daughter, the princess, and the others close to him. The people became violent and things fell into chaos. The king used a powerful spell to seal everyone’s voices away. Then he hurled himself into the abyss without saying a word to his daughter. The princess, broken with grief, cried until her river of tears encased her in a giant crystal teardrop. Years passed by, and the chaos of that day was long forgotten, when suddenly, seven bright lights emerged from the abyss. These seven lights are the heroes that had answered the princess’ cries for help. Her hope now rests with these seven heroes as they explore the abyss to find out what happened to the king, and why he had sealed their voices away.

Silent Hope‘s plot is pretty basic, but I found it enjoyable. It was interesting to see the story unfold as you progressed through each layer of the abyss. It was like watching a good mystery unfold as you found out exactly what happened in this kingdom and the king’s motivations. There is a bit of a post-game story as well, and I haven’t finished all of that as of the writing of this review. But, I’m curious to see how all of it plays out.

Graphically, Silent Hope looks good. The heroes all have lots of details on their character models. The different classes you can unlock have distinct looks, and I love that all weapons have a different look. Each one of these are unique, and it’s a real joy when you find a legendary drop that not only looks amazing, but is totally badass. Each layer of the abyss is from a different event in the kingdom’s history, and they are designed to look the part. You may be at a festival on one layer and a harsh winter in the next. Monster designs look good, but they probably could’ve done better with more variation and less recolors. However, I thought the boss designs were great, with lots of details. The PC version I reviewed ran great in resolutions up to 4K, and I had mine running at 120 FPS with no issues.

In the sound department, Silent Hope is pretty solid as well. I loved the dungeon themes quite a bit. I found myself humming along as I slayed every monster in my path with extreme prejudice. The game features both an English and Japanese dub, and I found both of these to be pretty good. You will hear the princess’ voice mostly, since, well, she is the only one with a voice in the game. Though you may discover more as the story unfolds.

The gameplay in Silent Hope is what you would expect to find in your average top down dungeon crawler. You go through each level, laying waste to your enemies while picking up memories to make weapons, and materials to craft them with. You will also find seeds to plant crops to make food dishes with. These dishes will provide you with important buffs as you traverse the many floors of the abyss. Defeating monsters will not only drop materials, but Magistones as well. These stones will not only give your equipment some buffs, but will change the element of your attacks and defense too. This is very important, as it will give you the advantage over enemies of the opposite type during your time in the abyss.

The materials you gather in the dungeon will have to be refined in order to use them to craft weapons. You have two shops in your hub that will do this for you, but it will take some time to get things ready. Players can start the process before entering the abyss, and the work will continue while you explore. This is the cheapest method of doing this, and it will save your precious runes for upgrading weapons, growing crops, and other needs. If you’re in a real hurry, though, you can spend runes to get these materials instantly, or the precious Sands of Time you find in the dungeon. These are pretty rare, so you should save them for hard times. You can do this with crops and food items as well, if you’re in a real hurry to have yummy food in the dungeon.

Lastly, let’s talk a bit about the seven heroes. Each one of these heroes is a different class of fighter. They are pretty much your standard RPG affair with a Fighter, Mage, Archer and so on. I did think it was neat that they gave you a heavy fighter and a more nimble one with a shield. The farmer was very unique as well, having a pitchfork as a weapon and some lighting quick attacks. You would think this wouldn’t work, but it really works out well. Each of the heroes has two other classes that you can unlock as the game progresses, and each one will grant you three more skills to slay your foes with. These skills are, of course, your standard attacks, but some are helpful buffs as well. These skills will upgrade with points you gain as you level up the characters. I really loved the archer class more than I thought I would. There is something oddly satisfying about raining bombs down on your enemies and watching them pop. The only real flaw I found here is sometimes, you will get mobbed by the monsters and end up with a few unfair deaths due to being stun locked. This is pretty rare, and since you only lose a few items, it’s not that big of a deal.

Overall, I had a great time with Silent Hope. The combat is fun, the story is interesting, and I felt like the dungeon crawling was fair with a good amount of checkpoints on your way down the abyss. The music is very good, and the way they work the voice into the actual story is very unique and something I’ve not seen in my many years of covering games. I feel like fans of dungeon looters will have a great time with this one at the $39.99 price tag. There is a lot to love here with the solid gameplay and loads of different weapon options to keep players busy for hours. I’ve spent over 30 hours here and still have the post-game to go. Casual players shouldn’t be afraid of this one either, as the normal difficulty is pretty fair and easy to get into. Now, if you dare challenge the harder modes of the post-game, that is a different story, but that just adds more value to this great title.

Review Score
Overall

Game was provided by the publisher for review, and no in-game purchases were used.

The post REVIEW: Silent Hope appeared first on oprainfall.

Back in 2012, Japan saw the release of Nayuta no Kiseki, an action RPG spin-off in the Trails franchise. Unlike other entries in the franchise, the game was not set in the continent of Zemuria, meaning past games released had no bearing on this title’s story. As a fan of the franchise, I was at least familiar with Nayuta no Kiseki’s existence, and was interested in playing it at least once. But I realized the difficulty in this due to the game being a Japan PSP exclusive and having no overseas release. However, something happened that finally gave me a chance to give this game  a try. Nihon Falcom decided to remaster Nayuta no Kiseki for modern platforms, and NIS America surprisingly announced that they would be bringing this remaster to overseas fans for the first time as The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails. How would an action RPG spin-off in this famed franchise fare? Would the story be as strong or complex as others with the Trails moniker? I enter this brand new land with these questions in mind.

The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails starts as two young men, Nayuta and Cygna, return to their home island of Remnant Isle for summer vacation. As they start to re-acclimate to their hometown, a strange tower ruin falls from the sky and lands on the coast nearby. Being the adventurous lads they are, the two of them explore the tower. At the top they run into an unconscious fairy and two strange men: one clothed in black, the other armored with a greatsword. The two strangers take an item from the fairy and leave, and Nayuta takes the fairy home to recuperate. The fairy is named Noi, and she hurries back to her homeland to chase after the man in black. Nayuta and Cygna follow her and find the mystical land of Terra, the land Nayuta knows as Lost Heaven. The two young men must now help Noi retrieve the four stolen Master Gears and help restore peace to Terra. 

Nayuta’s story is pretty straightforward. You gather items and try to save the world, all while trying to understand the motivations of Zechst (the man in black) and his right hand man. As you play the game, you can probably make a good guess on how the story will unfold, and some of the twists you can see coming from a mile away. There were some revelations that intrigued me, but none that really blew me away. I will say there is nothing wrong with the story being simple and straightforward. Sometimes, I like to pick up a game and not think too hard about how a story will unfold, I just play. And not being related to other Trails games actually helps The Legend of Nayuta, as you won’t have to play multiple games to understand the plot or characters involved, making the story easily accessible to newcomers and veterans alike.

I did like the main cast in the game. Nayuta is curious, loves to learn, and is a good-natured young man who grows considerably throughout his journey; Cygna is Nayuta’s best friend and an older brother figure with tremendous sword skills; Noi is Nayuta’s guide throughout his adventure and comes to accept humans through her experiences with Nayuta and his friends; Eartha is Nayuta’s doting sister and a great cook; Lyra is a childhood friend of Nayuta and has a hard time relaying her feelings to him; Creha is a kind and mysterious girl Nayuta meets in Terra who opens up more as she spends time on Remnant Isle. I personally liked Nayuta and Noi the most in this story. Nayuta goes from a boy just curious about an unexplored land to a young man with the conviction to do anything to save his friends and loved ones. Noi goes from despising humans to enjoying their company and loving the world they come from. The two of them also make one heck of a team, much of their success being attributed to their trust in each other. I also found a soft spot for the NPCs on Remnant Isle. They’re like one close knit family and care a lot for each other, and seeing them band together in times of crisis was a sight to behold.

Gameplay is mostly split between two sections: preparing on Remnant Isle and exploring Terra. On Remnant Isle you can purchase new equipment, items, and cook delicious food to bring with you on your adventure. In addition, you can take on handyman requests from the Remnant Isle residents. These quests reward you with mira (currency) and other items that are helpful for your journey. In addition, you can also learn new sword skills and gain special equipment from Master Orbus, but this requires accomplishing certain things in Terra. But best of all, you can get a dog for Nayuta’s house. Not only is it just comforting to have a dog, Nora will bring you collectibles occasionally after you return from Terra. Who doesn’t want a good doggo in their lives?

In Terra you explore four different continents, all featuring different monsters and environments. This is where the bulk of the gameplay takes place. Each continent is split into multiple stages, and each stage has three goals for you to accomplish: clear the stage, collect three big crystals and all treasures, and another optional objective which differs in each stage. This last objective can range from not getting hit a certain amount of times to defeating a certain number of enemies. You can gain a maximum amount of three stars per stage, and these stars are added to your Swordsman Training Book. If you gain enough stars, you can learn a new sword skill from Master Orbus to help you on your journey. So, while you can progress the story by just clearing the stage without doing the optional objectives, it’s recommended to try to get more than one star per stage so you can unlock new skills, which in turn will make your journey much easier.

Combat takes place in the land of Terra most of the time, and unlike other games under the Trails banner, The Legend of Nayuta features an action-based combat system. You perform attacks with the circle button, dodge with the triangle button, and jump with the cross button. The square button is used for Noi’s Seasonal Arts (magic). If you played a game in the Ys series, like Ark of Napishtim or Seven, then you’ll have a pretty good idea of what you’re getting into. In addition, you can unlock Gear Crafts for Noi, which are special abilities that can help you in combat and exploration. For example, the Gear Shield can nullify enemy attacks and let you run normally over difficult surfaces such as lava. Utilizing Gear Crafts drains the Craft gauge, and if it runs out, Noi will become incapacitated for a short amount of time, preventing you from using Seasonal Arts and Gear Crafts. The combat system wasn’t too complicated, and I found you could get through fights pretty easily on Normal difficulty. I enjoyed hacking through foes and blasting enemies with Noi’s Arts, it was pretty satisfying. However, it may have been too easy at times, even boss fights. I found I could win most of the time without thinking too much. Another complaint I have is that new skills were locked behind completing stage objectives and not leveling up. It’s kind of ridiculous you have to unlock the ability to guard, that seems like something that should be available from the beginning of the game. I understand it’s a way to motivate players to do these objectives, but I found it kind of annoying at times. Another thing that happened to me is that enemies would be able to hit me even though I was on a higher, or lower, platform than them. If you saw the height differences, you would think there’s no way an attack would hit, but it does anyway. This wasn’t just a negative, though, as I could also take advantage of this to damage foes. You could call it a double edged sword.

Exploring stages in Terra also involves a plethora of platforming. You have to do a lot of jumping and running to get through these stages, and sometimes you will have to backtrack and redo a stage to finish all the objectives. This is unavoidable, as there are times when you’re too early in the story, and do not have the needed Gear Craft to get to a treasure chest or big crystal. This was a minor annoyance, but still frustrating all the same. Most of the platforming wasn’t too difficult, just needing some good timing to get through.

Nihon Falcom always delivers when it comes to a game’s soundtrack, and The Legend of Nayuta is no different. I appreciated how the stage music progresses as you get further in the story, it gets more epic as you continue your journey. The boss music is stellar too, matching the monstrous foes you have to face at the end of each continent. It would’ve been nice if each of the continent bosses had their own unique music, but that’s not a huge issue. The event music ranged from somber in the sadder scenes to ominous in the more serious scenes. I have no complaints there. The opening and ending themes were also quite good, Kanako Kotera did a great job singing both.

Continue Nayuta’s journey on page 2 ->

The post REVIEW: The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails appeared first on oprainfall.

As I stated in my preview a while back, I’d never played a Rune Factory title until I decided to take this one for review. I had no idea what to expect going into this, I didn’t know if the farming would be too complicated, if I would enjoy the combat or if the story would be something I could get into. I’ve spent over 30 hours with Rune Factory 3 Special, and I have my answer to all of these questions. So let’s see how my first experience with this franchise went!

The game begins as a young girl named Shara is dragging a collapsed monster into the village. Her grandfather is very upset she has brought a monster into their home, since monsters and humans haven’t gotten along in a very long time in this world. She is very keen on helping the poor creature out, but the next morning the monster has disappeared! He transformed into a young man, and of course with any good RPG our protagonist has amnesia. The young man has no idea how he got to this town or that he can transform into a monster. As he leaves the house he encounters a red haired girl who is very quiet and named Raven. She is in front of a huge tree they refer to as the Sharance Tree. He attempts to talk to Raven but to no avail when suddenly, he sees Shara. She takes him to the heart of the tree, and explains he will be staying there for the time being. The tree hasn’t bloomed in a very long time. He will soon discover the mystery of why this tree hasn’t bloomed as he quests to recover his memories and more.

I have to say the mainline story here feels a bit thrown together. It’s interesting to learn about this world and why humans haven’t gotten along with monsters in a very long time, but everything plays out exactly like you would expect. It seems like an afterthought to the stories of all the game’s amazing Bachelorettes and other residents of the world. From Collette’s obsession with food to Pia and Sakuya or Sophia’s backward talk, everyone here is very interesting and I loved learning about them. The newly added Newlywed Stories will unlock once you complete the game, and features a cute after story for your new wife. These are pretty short, but include some new animations, and I thought Raven’s was especially cute since she was my girl of choice here.

Graphically, Rune Factory 3 Special looks great. The characters have a lot of detail and the little emotes that appear over them as they converse with each other add a lot of personality. There is some Live 2D work when the characters are talking as well that I feel really gives them more life. The monsters have unique designs as well and a good amount of variety. The dungeons found here each represent a different season, and the graphics very much reflect this. Vale River is the winter dungeon and is full of ice, while Sol Terrano Desert is blazing hot like the summer we’ve had in my neck of the woods. Shields and Weapons all have different looks as well, and I really loved some of their designs.

I think this game has one of the most soothing soundtracks I’ve heard in a long time. The comfy home theme is great and you will catch yourself humming it hours after you stop playing. The themes for each of the four seasons are great as well, and they really fit the vibe of each one. The summer theme is really upbeat and warm, which is a stark contrast to the winter theme that is much more laid back with a much cooler sound. The game is voiced in both Japanese and English and I think both casts do an excellent job of giving these characters life.

I had never played a Rune Factory game before, so I didn’t know what to expect in terms of game-play. What I found here was one of the most laid back and comfy games I’ve ever played, but with a surprising amount of depth. It’s pretty much left to the player how they want to spend each of their days. Players start out each day with a certain amount of RP (Rune Points) and every activity you do will consume some of these. You may want to do some farming, you may decide to crawl the dungeon, or spend the day crafting. The more you do each activity your level will increase, and this will decrease the amount of RP consumed by doing each one. You will also gain RP and HP as your overall level increases.

I didn’t do very much farming during my play-through, as I made most of my money crafting items since it was pretty easy to gather any materials you need in the dungeons, and that helped me build up my craft and smithing skills quickly. I was able to make better equipment for myself and do more upgrades to the weapons and accessories I had as well. Though if you want to go the farming route, recruiting some monster friends will help you greatly. You do this by giving them gifts in the dungeon and if you give them something they like, they will join your team. You can have them do chores on the farm, or have them help you in a tough dungeon. Just be sure to take care of them by brushing them and feeding them plenty of yummy fodder.

The combat here is done in a top down fashion much like the the classic 2D Legend of Zelda games. You have a few different types of weapons to choose from. These include a one handed sword and shield, axes, spears, two handed swords, rods and duel blades. Each one has a very different fighting style and special moves you can obtain by leveling up your skills. In addition to all the weapon types, players have a variety of spells at their disposal as well. These include attack spells, buffs, healing spells and some that will let you escape battle altogether. I mostly stuck with the healing spells and double blades, but there is no wrong way to go here, and I love how much variety this gives in making your character fight exactly how you want them to. In addition to all that, you can transform into your monster form and do combat as well. As a Wooly you only have some punching attacks, but you’re very fast and do a lot of damage. Some of the lovely Bachelorettes can accompany you in dungeons as well, but be aware they start at level one, so you will need to help build them up.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time with Rune Factory 3 Special. I can see why people love this series; its laid back game-play is welcoming but it has enough depth to keep you coming back for more. I had a blast figuring out the best items to give all the Bachelorettes, seeing their reactions to them, and watching their stories unfold. The combat here is a ton of fun, and I can certainly see myself wanting to take on the extra dungeons and challenges at some point down the line. The game is well worth the $39.99 asking price, and I think any fan of the series should jump on this day one. If you’ve never played one of these games you should give them a chance. I didn’t think this would be up my alley, but I was mistaken. I look forward to checking out Rune Factory 4 Special sometime in the near future.

Review Score
Overall

Game was provided by the publisher for review.

The post REVIEW: Rune Factory 3 Special appeared first on oprainfall.

I am always up for a visual novel filled with cute romance and plenty of sweetness, so when I saw that Sugar Sweet Temptation was being localized I knew I wanted to check it out. I loved the character designs right off the bat and after looking at very deary games not too long ago, I was ready for something much more lighthearted. Let’s see if these adorable girls can bring the sugary sweetness I am looking for.

The story revolves around a pastry shop called Folkroll. This shop is known for making the best cakes around, but the owner has fallen ill and the shop’s future is very much in question. On the magical night of fairies, the chef’s granddaughter, Meru, and her best friend Kōri make a wish to save their shop. Soon after a stranger with amnesia appears, and the girls decide to take him in. They grow close to him quickly, and as it turns out he is a patissier, so he decides to help the girls save the shop from being shutdown by the mayor. They do just that, and now we will see how his daily life progresses with each of our three heroines.

I really loved the overall story here. It had a good amount of comedy mixed in with some more serious notes and some very heartwarming moments between the protagonist and the girls. The side characters are very important to the story as well, since they show just how close knit the town of Fueya actually is. Everyone there is like family in this snow covered town, and this makes it feel very warm and welcoming. I also loved there was lots of lore surrounding this town from the Night of Fairies to the wish granting diamond, which you will learn about as the story unfolds during our heroines’ routes.

The common route here is pretty short and most of the story unfolds during our heroines’ routes. Each girl is very unique: Meru is very childish and almost like a puppy dog. She is the granddaughter of the Folkroll’s chef, and she loves sweets. Kōri is always scolding her to keep her in line like and old sister despite being around the same ago. Their interactions are priceless and provide much of the comedy found within the game, but also some very heartwarming moments as well. Overall I felt Meru was just a super sweet girl that you couldn’t help but fall in love with. This route is the most comfy of the three by far.

Chocolat is the daughter of the president of a large company who has come to take over Folkroll; however, after eating one of the protagonist’s cakes she decides to help the shop out. She wants to become a patissier herself, and is quite knowledgeable about baking in general. Her and the protagonist help each other out often during her route. She also loves history, and she wants to learn all she can about Fueya and its mysterious history, including a wish granting diamond. I thought her route was pretty good, even if it ended suddenly. While most of the girls’ H-scene are pretty vanilla, one of Chocolat’s gets pretty spicy due to an accident with a collar.

Kōri lives and works at the Folkroll. She decided to live there since it was very close to a school she wanted to attended. She is a very shy girl who wants nothing more than to help our protagonist regain his memory, since she thinks he should return to his family. Her route does dig into some darker topics than the others, and it reveals more of the lore surrounding the town. I would suggest playing her route last so the story flows better, even though I consider her route the canon route. She is the best girl as well, but that’s my bias talking!

There are no choices in Sugar Sweet Temptation that affect the overall story, other than which girl’s route you choose. The only impact from these choices will be different variations of H-scene CG you unlock. Each girl has at least three H-scenes and the CG work here is amazing, just like all of the artwork in Sugar Sweet Temptation. The backgrounds look amazing, the character sprites are detailed and give off a range of emotions. I liked the artwork here so much I want to check out the two Amairo Chocolata titles as well since the artist worked on those as well.

The music in Sugar Sweet Temptation isn’t anything special, but it does set the mood for the game nicely. The game mostly has a comfy laid back vibe and these tunes help you feel that. There are some more somber tracks for the game’s more emotional moments and I felt those worked great as well. The real credit in the sound department should go the voice actors for our heroines. They all did an amazing job bringing these girls to life and making you instantly fall in love with them. Some of the best character work I’ve heard in a long time.

Sugar Sweet Temptation isn’t a deep visual novel that will have you pondering many of life’s crazy questions for hours, but it is very much comfort food for those looking for a laid back sweet experience. That’s not to say there isn’t plenty of substance here: the routes here cover topics like following one’s dreams and figuring out exactly what makes you happy in life. I feel like we all should take more time to search for these answers rather than delving into darker areas of life. The game will set you back $24.99 and will take you about 12 to 15 hours to cover all of the content offered here. Players opting for the Steam version will need to download a patch to access the H-scenes, and you could fully play this one without them, but I feel like you wouldn’t get as much out of it, especially in Kōri’s route. I have no issues recommending this one to fans of laid back visual novels or those looking to spend some quality time with some cute girls. You will find this sugary sweet purchase well worth your coin.

Review Score
Overall

Review copy was provided by the publisher.

The post REVIEW: Sugar Sweet Temptation appeared first on oprainfall.

I’ve always been a huge fan of Final Fantasy Tactics. It’s still one of my favorite games, and anytime a game comes out that looks like it could be similar to it, I jump on the chance to check it out. Arcadian Atlas certainly fit that bill with its pixel art style and stage designs, so I was stoked to dig into this one. The question is, could it live up to the heights of one of my favorite games of all time? Let’s find out!

The story begins as the kingdom of Dantalion is about to lose their beloved king, Tirgan. The queen, Venezia, is about to ascend the throne and have absolute rule over the kingdom. This is despite the king deeming his two daughters from his previous marriage as his heirs to the throne. The older daughter, Lucretia, decides to start a rebellion to take the throne away from her evil step mother. Her younger sister, Annalise, is thrown into exile. This civil war will divide many people, including our two heroes, Vashti and Desmond. These two lovers end up on opposite sides of the war, and will be faced with many choices just to survive.

The story here is pretty well written and they flesh out the characters enough that you do care what happens to them. This is great since choices you make throughout the story will effect how some scenes play out and how characters react to each other. A lot of the lore and surrounding events are told through text stories found in the taverns. I thought this was a really good way to build this world, and it did help me get more invested in the story, though I think doing some of those as cutscenes would’ve been more effective.

I think the stand out feature in Arcadian Atlas is the graphics. These classic pixel art character designs just look amazing. Yes, they certainly do scratch my nostalgia itch, but lots of games in this style do that and very few are this quality. The animations are smooth, and the characters even have some facial expressions to drive home the emotion of the story. The environments are nicely done as well with plenty of details across the many battlefields you will encounter on this journey.

I feel like the soundtrack here could be a divisive thing for some folks. It’s done in a jazzy style and I would’ve never thought this would fit in a medieval fantasy game like this, but I would be wrong. In fact this may be one of the best soundtracks I’ve heard in a game like this in a long time. I honestly just wish there was more of it. While the battle and boss themes are nice, throwing a couple more of these great tracks in the mix would’ve greatly enhanced the experience.

­The gameplay in Arcadian Atlas is pretty much what you expect from a strategy game made in that Final Fantasy Tactics style. Combat is grid based with smaller battles rather than the more large scale ones you see in Fire Emblem, for example. Most of the time you will deploy five characters, but on a few maps they will give you an extra fighter to help slay your foes. You will not gain Exp from combat; instead, each character that participated in the battle will be given one skill point. You can of course use these on the skill tree to gain abilities and buffs to make your party stronger. After you gain so many points, you can promote your characters to a higher class. These are pretty limited since each base class only has two to choose from, but given that this is a 15 hour game, it proves enough variety to keep the combat fresh.

At towns you can buy new equipment at the item shop, and of course having the best gear will make your life much easier. You will need to check these every few battles to see if new items have arrived. At the tavern you can listen to the latest world building chatter or take on some special contracts. This is the only way to level up your characters outside of the main story battles. You will gain some extra gold and rewards as well. Lastly, you can visit the recruiter if you’re looking to take on new party members. They will start at the level of your highest level character, so if you’re looking to try out a new class this is the best way to do so. This is also helpful when you get a six member battle, since you mostly use only five and the last would be very under leveled.

Overall I have to say, Arcadian Atlas is a pretty good game. The story is interesting, the graphics look great, the OST is one of the best I’ve heard in a long time and the combat is fun. I feel like the lore of the world could’ve been fleshed out a bit better, but this is only a minor gripe. There are a few balancing issues present here as well, but the developer is working on hotfixes that really will address most of what I encountered. Even though this is a quality release, I feel like it’s a bit pricey at $29.99, but when it’s on sale, fans of Strategy titles should pick this one up. While it’s not perfect, there is plenty here to love.

Review Score
Overall

Game was provided by the publisher for review.

The post REVIEW: Arcadian Atlas appeared first on oprainfall.

Back in 2016, XSEED Games released one of the first Touhou games I’d ever really sat down and played through. The name of the game was Touhou: The Scarlet Curiosity, and it was touted as being a hybrid of a Bullet-Hell game and an Action RPG, which I thought was a bit crazy at the time. I ended up loving that game, and it’s probably what got me into checking out the official and fan games in the franchise. So, when I got to check out Touhou: New World, which comes to us from the same developer as Scarlet Curiosity, I jumped on it. Let’s see if I love this release as much as the previous one.

The story here beings as Reimu and Marisa discover the barrier between the outside world and mystical world of Gensokyo has been breached. Our protagonists end up in a world outside of their own, and soon encounter a girl named Sumireko. She is obsessed with Gensokyo, and ends up traveling back with our two wayward protagonists. This of course is not without incident, as both worlds are now thrown into chaos. Reimu and Marisa will have to solve the mystery here, and put this incident to rest.

I thought the story here was pretty good, and the localization team did a pretty good job giving these characters we know and love a lot of personality. There is nothing here that is gonna blow you away, but the story keeps the game moving along and is interesting enough that you will want to see how it all plays out. I was pretty interested to see which characters would be included here, as well, as I progressed.

Graphically, Touhou: New World looks pretty good. The world is nicely detailed with many of the different environments around Gensokyo being represented. These include the human village, ice caverns, Hell and many others. While the character models and enemies aren’t very detailed, they have a ton of style. This was the case in the previous game, Scarlet Curiosity, and I think it looks great here as well. Scenes with dialogue have some well done character portraits too. I didn’t see any real performance issues running this on my PC. There are some graphic options if you need to adjust things for your rig.

In the audio department, you will find some remixes of your favorite Touhou tunes here. Each stage has a wonderful theme, and the boss music is top notch, as you would expect. The sound effects here are nothing to write home about, but they get the job done. There is no voice acting here, which may be a bummer for some folks, but I don’t really mind the lack of it, personally.

The gameplay here hasn’t changed much since the last game. You run through stages, beating up enemies with normal attacks and special moves until you reach a boss. These special moves will level up the more you use them, and the enemies will drop a variety of equipment. As you would expect, this equipment will have a great impact on your stats, depending on which ones you equip. Some will give you more life, while others may get you better drops or increase your critical hit rate. How you build either protagonist is completely up to you. Completing both normal missions and side missions will earn you Power Stones that you use to upgrade your base stats or give yourself some more heals in battle, so be sure to use these wisely.

I felt like the boss fights in this game were a bit easier this time around, or I’ve just gotten better at dodging the Bullet-Hell. Either way, each boss is a very unique fight with different attack patterns and specials for you to navigate. You can also guard against striking attacks, and doing so perfectly will slow down time, allowing you to blast foes with your overpowered spell card, or use the time to heal up if things are going south.

All in all, I enjoyed my time with Touhou: New World. It had the same fun gameplay as the last game, the soundtrack is top notch and the story, while nothing amazing, is good enough to keep you interested. I would have no issue suggesting fans of Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity to pick this one up, you will find more of what you love here at the cost of $24.99. If you haven’t played the previous game and are a fan of Action RPGs that do something a little different, I think you should check this one out as well. You may just find it’s your first step into the bottomless pit of Touhou.

Review Score
Overall

Game copy provided by the publisher.

The post REVIEW: Touhou: New World appeared first on oprainfall.

As most of you know, I’m a huge fan of Onigokko! I loved the amazing characters and upbeat romcom story of the game when it released a while back. I was very happy when I learned that JAST was bringing the follow up fan disc to the West. I’ve had a chance to sit down with it, and now it’s time to share my thoughts. Let’s see how things turned out for Keisuke depending on which of the amazing girls he chose.

The fan disc is divided up into five routes, one for each of our heroines and an all new Aoi route for the imouto lovers. I thought the Aoi route would just be very silly with a lot of fluff going into it, and while there was some of that, it had more depth than I expected. Seeing Akari act all cute with Keisuke was a lot of fun, since this a very different side of her character than you saw during most of the main game. Kana is reunited with Suzuka, who now has her very own body. This leads to very cute story of how the three get very close going forward. Otome’s story is the shortest one, but it’s filled with a lot of heart as she talks about making her very own picture book. The two discover what makes them happy in the end. Last but not least is my favorite, Kureha. She has spent some time away from the island recovering from the effects of the previous story. She is told she must not love Keisuke, cause if her feelings get out of hand, there will be grave consequences. The two struggle not to love each other, but this didn’t last long, and it lead to some very interesting interactions.

There is plenty of amazing artwork in the Onigokko! FanDisc. Most of the character sprites are the same as the main game, but they have added a few new chibi cut-ins that are very cute. There is some new CG artwork of all the girls here, and plenty of new, fully uncensored H-scenes here as well with the same quality as last time. These are all well written and make up the bulk of some routes here, which I don’t think is a bad thing since this is an addition to the main game.

The soundtrack here is mostly the same as last time, and I feel like all the tracks fit the mood and story very well. The voice actors did an amazing job reprising their roles as these characters. They really brought these characters to life once again, and helped me feel the emotional impact of some of the game’s more touching scenes.

It was pretty much a given I was going to enjoy my time with the Onigokko! FanDisc, but this actually came out better than I expected. I felt very satisfied with how all of the routes ended, and the Aoi route was far better than I ever thought it would be. The game lasts about 10 hours and is well worth the $19.99 price tag. This is a must own for folks that played Onigokko! You will love spending time with this amazing group of characters again, and if you haven’t played the amazing original release, you should do so before picking this up, since it has major story spoilers.

Review Score
Overall

Game was purchased by the reviewer.

The post (18+) REVIEW: Onigokko! FanDisc appeared first on oprainfall.

Author’s Note: This review may contain minor spoilers pertaining to past Trails games and Trails into Reverie.

The Trails series is known for its overarching story across multiple games. In 2010, Trails from Zero started the Crossbell arc which follows Lloyd Bannings and the Special Support Section in Crossbell State. In 2013, the Erebonia arc began with Trails of Cold Steel, and followed the journey of Rean Schwarzer and Thors Academy Class VII in the Erebonian Empire. These two storylines and groups of characters, seemingly unrelated at first due to the differing regions they take place in, found themselves connected to each other as their respective plots continued. Every beginning has an end, and these two stories are no different. The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie brings these characters together once more in order to bring their current journeys to a close. This was one of my most anticipated games of this year, but did it live up to my expectations? Was Trails into Reverie able to bring these stories to a satisfying conclusion?

Trails into Reverie takes place after the events of Trails of Cold Steel IV. The Great Twilight was put to rest thanks to the efforts of Rean, Class VII, and many other individuals involved. Life seems to be returning to normal, and Crossbell State looks like it will finally be able to achieve independence. Unfortunately, things do not pan out this way as Crossbell is once again occupied by its former Governor General, Rufus Albarea. Lloyd Bannings and the Special Support Section must once again rise up to take back their home from their oppressors, so that they may finally be free and truly independent. But, that is not the only story unfolding in this game. There are two more characters which this game follows: Rean Schwarzer and the mysterious “C.” Rean’s story deals with the aftermath of the war and his investigation into Prince Olivert’s disappearance. “C’s” goals and motivations are a mystery. They appear to be on the side of Crossbell State but at odds with Rean’s group. Who is underneath the mask? Are they friend or foe? Three different trails to follow, but where will they lead?

Even though there were three different storylines to follow, I found Reverie did a good job of handling them. I liked how each route had a different goal and cast of characters, so things always felt fresh whenever you would change stories. The different routes work off each other too, as some plot points that may be a mystery in, say, Rean’s route, can be explained if you switch to C’s route and play through his respective path. It was interesting seeing the game through these different perspectives and really helped flesh out the plot more. The way they connected major events to past games was intriguing as well, especially those from Trails to Azure and Trails of Cold Steel IV, though I won’t go into detail on those.  It also did a good job of developing its main cast, specifically Rean, the SSS members, and “C’s” crew. Out of the new characters, I liked Lapis the most. It was quite adorable seeing her curiosity of humanity and how she changes as she hangs out with “C,” Swin, and Nadia. There are a ridiculous amount of recruitable characters in this game, more than 40! It was great seeing not only the Erebonia and Crossbell characters gather, but also some of the Liberl crew as well. But, even though there are a lot of characters, I never felt overwhelmed. Reverie managed to handle the sheer amount of characters better than Cold Steel IV, in my opinion. Trails into Reverie’s plot managed to keep me hooked throughout the duration of the main story. It was interesting, the characters were varied, and some of the revelations were at points mind blowing. I personally enjoyed Rean and “C’s” routes more than Lloyd’s, but all of them were interesting.

Lapis is a treasure.

The game also has story summaries for the past two Crossbell games and the past four Erebonia games, so veteran players who may need a refresher can look through those via the main menu. It also includes a novel, which shows the background of two of the new characters: Swin and Nadia. Unfortunately, if I had to choose something to complain about, it’s that at times the story could be predictable. For example, you could probably guess the identity of “C” before that reveal comes about. Other times, a reveal could have me scratching my head thinking, “that’s kind of weird.” Also, seeing as how this game is an ending to two long storylines, it is not kind to newcomers. Yes, maybe you could get away with just reading the game summaries and then playing, but I feel the story loses its impact if you do that. I really can’t recommend this to new players. If you want to play the minimum amount of games, I would say you could play the Cold Steel games and then read the in-game summaries of Zero and Azure. But, nothing beats playing all the games. Despite those criticisms, the story was still a joy to experience and memorable, and I love seeing characters redeem themselves after past transgressions. 

Speaking of changing stories, this is facilitated through the new Trails to Walk feature. By pressing right on the directional pad, you can choose which route you want to play. So, if you ever got tired of one route, you could change over to a different one and continue from there. It also locks you when you get to a certain point in the respective path, so you don’t have to worry about spoiling the other routes by going too far. From the Trails to Walk menu, you can also access one of the other big features in Reverie, the Reverie Corridor.

The Reverie Corridor is an otherworldly dimension in Trails into Reverie where the characters from all three routes can meet and mingle. Those who played Trails in the Sky the 3rd will notice the similarities between this space and Phantasma, though there are more activities to do in the Reverie Corridor. Here, you can train your characters in the dungeon stratums, play minigames, experience events separate from the main story known as Daydreams, and even go fishing! So, if you ever feel overwhelmed in a boss fight in the main story, you can go enter the Reverie Corridor and level up some more. The Corridor also locks how high you can go based on story progression, so you don’t have to worry about getting too overpowered. Enemies and treasure chests can be respawned by resetting the Corridor, and this also changes up the maps as well, making for a fresh experience each time you go through. I didn’t need to reset the Corridor as one foray to each stratum’s depths was enough for me, but I can see it being very useful in Hard or Nightmare difficulties. You can unlock minigames (other than Vantage Masters and Pom! Pom! Party!) through Red Sealing Stones (which can be obtained through the dungeon stratums). Minigames can range from shooters like Magical✩Alisa LS to really chill ones involving hanging with the cast at the beach. These are a nice breather from the dramatic tension of the main story. I was really impressed with Magical✩Alisa LS though, it was actually pretty fun, and it was like watching a magical girl anime. Daydreams can be unlocked via the use of Blue Sealing Stones, which can be found in the same way as Red Sealing Stones. You may notice characters speaking about events you have no idea about during the main story. Well, these events can be seen through Daydreams. I did not play all of the Daydreams as I have not unlocked all of them, but the ones I did see were good, and some relevant to the main story. For example, one of the Daydreams explains how Rixia meets the duo of Swin and Nadia, something you would not know about if you just played through the main story. In addition to these, you can also unlock power ups for your party through the use of Phantasmal Shards. Phantasmal Shards can be obtained by completing objectives in the dungeon stratums, while some can be completed outside of the Reverie Corridor. Power ups include increasing your Assault Gauge and BP gauge, making your journey through Zemuria easier. The best part about the Reverie Corridor is you can access it almost everywhere in the game, so if you need a breather or want to train, it is there waiting for you. I have no criticisms for the Reverie Corridor, it’s just a really helpful and fun addition to the game.

Gameplay in Trails into Reverie is very similar to what was established in Trails of Cold Steel III and Cold Steel IV. Combat is turn-based with options to Attack, use Orbal Arts, Crafts, Items, and Brave Orders. But, there is one major addition to the system, and that is the United Front. If you have five or more members in your party, this feature can be utilized. There are three types of United Fronts (UFs) at your disposal: Attack, Arts, and Heal. These UFs can not only deal damage to your opponent, but also provide buffs to your party and restore your BP gauge. These can help turn the tide during a tough battle, and I certainly used it when a boss seemed to be getting the upper hand. Using a UF takes up a segment of the Assault Gauge, but the gauge can be restored naturally in battle after depletion, so there’s no need to worry about not having access to the feature after emptying the Assault Gauge. Battles gave a sufficient challenge on Normal difficulty, especially against bosses. However, regular fights can get mindless and easy once you figure out your party layout and get used to the system. But, that doesn’t stop the combat from being good. The combat was already solid in Cold Steel III and IV, but the extra polish just makes the turn-based gameplay even better.

Graphically, Trails into Reverie looks good. I enjoyed seeing some locales from the Crossbell games finally fleshed out in 3D. Especially Armorica Village, as the old village looks very beautiful with the new paint job. Many of the character models are reused, but I enjoyed their designs from past games, so this wasn’t an issue for me. Some of the new models, like for Garcia Rossi, were well done and captured the essence of their drawn art well. There were times when some aspects of a model would flicker, but it was very slight, not a huge issue, but I thought I should point it out. The enemy designs look good, ranging from adorable Poms to horrifying devils from Gehenna. My favorite enemy designs belonged to the final bosses though, they looked so cool! I also have to bring up something else I noticed. The 3D models in Trails games look nice, but their movement always looked clunky to me, especially during cutscenes. However, there were a select few cutscenes where the movement was unbelievably smooth and fluid, making me wonder if this really was from the same game. And then I remembered an interview I read featuring Falcom’s President, Toshihiro Kondo. He mentioned Reverie would be the last game using the PhyreEngine, and they would be using a new in-house engine going forward, and that some scenes from Reverie would utilize this engine. Considering how smooth those scenes were compared to other parts of the game, those scenes must be utilizing the new engine. If this is what new Trails games will look like going forward, the future is looking very bright for the series, because those specific cutscenes were very nice.

Walk the trails and continue on page 2 ->

The post REVIEW: The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie appeared first on oprainfall.

It’s been a while since I took a look at Guilty’s first entry in the Nightmare franchise, Nightmare x Sisters – Sacrifice of Lust-Hell, but the time has come to look at the follow up title. This one is called Nightmare x Onmyoji – Paradox of Forbiddance, and you will see a new face in a cute schoolgirl named Kuon, but our favorite sisters are back as well. Let’s see if this is another quality nukige like last time.

The story here follow a young onmyoji named Kuon. She has been raised by her father since her mother passed away at a young age. He has taught her the ways of expelling demons and other evil beings from this world. She is a very shy girl, and though she is on the library committee, she doesn’t interact with her fellow students, but that changes when a new girl enters the school. A girl named Setsuna, who is an exorcist, has just moved into town, and the two of them hit it off instantly. Setsuna and her sister, Yuka, who you may know from the previous game, are seeking the help of Kuon and her father to deal with some evil spirits. Her father is reluctant at first, but after seeing them all work together, agrees to the task. He leaves town to seek advice from a contact, and of course both Setsuna and Yuka are captured by a different sect of the same group as last time, once again. Kuon soon ends up in their clutches soon after, and now the girls must endure much abuse and have great willpower if they wish to escape.

Much like last time, this is pretty much what you would expect from a quality nukige. The story does keep you engaged enough to see what happens to these girls in the end. Just like in the previous games, if you don’t like forced sex or group activities, this one is not for you. At least they didn’t use alphabet letters for each different guy and instead went with numbers. Yeah, there are that many in some scenes. At any rate, the writing is quality here, and there are plenty of details in the numerous H-scenes, and the characters’ personalities shine through as well. I think Kuon is my favorite now for sure, even if some really bad things happened to her.

The artwork here is pretty outstanding. All three of the girls are drawn with lots of details, and if you wanna see the story with the girls completely in their undies or in the buff, you can even strip these away at any time you choose with a click of the mouse. The fantastic Live2D H-scenes make a return and are just as good, or better, quality than last time. There is even a nice playlist feature where you can play each scene in any order you like after viewing them during the game. This is a nice touch, and something I’ve not seen very much of in games like this.

The voice actors in Nightmare x Onmyoji – Paradox of Forbiddance do an amazing job this time around as well. They do a great job giving the girls personality, and make the H-scenes have a lot more impact. I would certainly suggest a pair of headphones for those not wanting to share the girls’ sexual misadventures with their friends and neighbors. The sound effects are nothing special, but they get the job done and add some more spice to the over-the-top nature of the these scenes.

All in all, Nightmare x Onmyoji – Paradox of Forbiddance is a good release for those who like this kind of content. The art designs and animations are all very well done, and It will give you around six hours of hardcore nukige action at a $29.99 price tag. This may seem a bit steep, but I feel like the game is quality enough to deserve this much coin. However, if you’re not into forced content or like more fluffy sex stories, this likely isn’t going to be a good fit for you.

Review Score
Overall

Game was provided by the publisher.

The post (18+) REVIEW: Nightmare x Onmyoji – Paradox of Forbiddance appeared first on oprainfall.

Can you find love at the end of the world, even knowing it’s destined to be tragic? Lkyt., the latest Boys’ Love title from parade, pits this question against the grim backdrop of a never-ending war against supernatural demonic creatures in a small seaside nation secluded from the rest of the world, weaving a haunting tale of heroism, pride, and duty against overwhelming odds.

We join our hero, Tasuku, as he heads out into the barren lands of the Seaside Nation with his small band of warriors to perform routine checks of the barriers their countrymen have erected to keep demonic entities named Hollows at bay. The Hollows most often take the form of wolves, but their oozing black mass corrupts and kills anything it comes into contact with, and being attacked by them means almost certain death, as they will hunt anything living without rest. The people of the Seaside Nation have one defense – magic. Not only can the Seaside Nation’s magic make them stronger and faster in battle, they can also concentrate it to purify wounds inflicted by the Hollows to stave off the corruption that literally turns living things into dust. Even with magic on their side, however, the people of this secluded country have been waging a lopsided war of attrition for centuries, and the Hollows are growing stronger as the Dark Reign – a period of particularly heavy Hollow activity that occurs every thousand years or so – draws near.

With the Hollow threat increasing, Tasuku finds himself in illustrious company — Takeru, the son of the Seaside Nation’s emperor and likely next in line for the throne; Ango, the Seaside Nation’s strongest warrior; Yael, a talented swordsman from the Desert Nation who’s thrown his lot in with people not his own; and Towa, the divine being who protects the Seaside Nation with his holy powers. Each of these men have various reasons to continue fighting against the inevitable and are burdened with their own demons, but can they find salvation with Tasuku despite the long odds?

I really enjoyed the story here. It’s dark and heavy at times, but the characters are all well-written, and Tasuku himself brings a bit of levity to the situation despite being a generally serious man himself. His unwavering sense of duty can seem grim, but he isn’t at all, exuding a positivity I found charming. He understands he’s likely going to die in the fight against the Hollows, but he’s accepted that inevitability and simply wants to do his best with the one life he’s been given. That tenacity plays off the other characters quite well, and you can’t help but root for Tasuku to come out of every scenario hale and whole. I particularly enjoyed his interactions with Yael, the apathetic and sardonic outsider. The two could not be more opposite in personality, and yet I found it lead to some of the best moments as they came to understand one another, overcoming a cultural gap that didn’t exist with the other love interests.

Speaking of love interests, the H-scenes here are all really well done, with some absolutely superb sound mixing. The CGs are uncensored and the art looks pretty good. The character designs in general are just top notch here, honestly. As someone who is not a fan of body hair, I was super appreciative of that being a toggled option for the CGs, as well. There’s a decent variety of scenarios, so you won’t ever get bored, either.

I would be remiss if I did not talk about the music. Lkyt. has one of the best soundtracks I’ve heard this year. I would sometimes open the game just to sit and listen to the music. It has just the right amount of moody, uplifting and melancholic pieces, and the opening song is a certified banger. As I noted earlier, the sound design is also just really well done, from the satisfying clangs, roars and general melee sounds of combat to some exquisitely squishy sex scenes, listening to this game is just a delight. The voice acting here ranges from pretty good to excellent, and I’m particularly happy that Tasuku is voiced, as I love when the MC isn’t silent. His actor does a fantastic job, to boot.

As a fan of BL, I had a great time with Lkyt. I haven’t finished all of the routes yet, but I’ve put about 20 hours in and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. The art direction is gorgeous, I love the character designs, the world building is interesting, and I’m a fan of the themes of inevitability and defiance. Yael is by far my favorite of the love interests, but there’s enough variety here in personalities and body types to appeal to a wide range of readers. I would absolutely recommend grabbing this one; it’s well worth the $45 USD price point.

Review Score
Overall

Review copy provided by the publisher.

The post (18+) REVIEW: Lkyt. appeared first on oprainfall.

Being a big fan of Fairy Fencer F when it released years ago, I was pretty excited to see the series was getting a brand new entry. The new game is called Fairy Fencer F: Refrain Chord, and this time around Idea Factory decided to go with a more strategy based game. Sting was in on the development here, so I felt this would be a quality title going into it. Let’s see if it met my expectations.

The story here is all new and follows our favorite group of Fencers and Fairies as they journey to resurrect the Goddess. In order to do this, they must collect the Furies scattered about the world. Furies are weapons that contain the very essence of the fairies that inhabit this world. The group will soon encounter a strange pair of women known as Muses. Their names are Fleur and Glace, and one seems to have the power to save people with her song, while the other can brainwash them. This encounter will move forward the destiny of Fang and his friends in ways they couldn’t imagine.

I have to say, I had a blast with this crew once again. Fang is just such an ass that he is lovable and the rest of the cast plays off him very well. New additions to the cast, such as Fleur and Rinne, add new flavors to the mix and I really enjoyed learning about them as the game progressed. The writing here is very witty and mostly light-hearted, which is something I have sorely missed in gaming lately. Eryn was still my favorite, and she really shined here just like the last time around.

Graphically, Fairy Fencer F: Refrain Chord is very average. I don’t mean that in a bad way, as all of the character and monster sprites are nicely detailed. There is just nothing that really makes them stand out either. Environments look great and are well represented. The attack animations are smooth and there are still some great transformation scenes when you Fairize, and for special attacks as well. I think the character artwork and CGs are the standouts here. It’s been a while since this many have been featured in an Idea Factory title, so this is a nice change. As for PC specific features, there isn’t a lot here. You can run the game in resolutions up to 4k at 60hz, and the performance is fine. My crappy laptop was able to run this one, so it should work fine on most hardware that isn’t just old as the hills.

One of the best parts of the game is the soundtrack. This is one of the best OSTs Idea Factory has done in a long time. All of the Muses’ vocal tracks are fantastic and when they get mixed together in combat, some of the combinations are great as well. The combat tracks are all top tier and get you pumped for a fight. I was really glad they kept the song for the transformation scenes as well, it just wouldn’t have been right without it. All of the Japanese voice actors from the previous game return to reprise their roles, and new additions to the cast are fantastic as well. There is no English dub this time around, but for me this was no great loss since I think the Japanese cast was better anyway.

The gameplay here is pretty much what you would expect from a game in this genre. Town serves as your home base and from here you can shop, take on quests or view events with the various party members. After completing some of the story you will be able to use synthesis in the shop to create new items such as potions, armor and accessories. Completing quests will give you various rewards such as gold and other useful items. Your quest rank will increase as you complete these, level up Fairies and do the world shaping. This is where you plant your various Furies in the ground in search of treasure. This will give you important materials for synthesis, unlock new dungeons and you may even find a Fury or two. The area you can look for treasure in will expand as your quest level increases.

Combat here is your basic grid based strategy game. You will move your units about the map using skills and abilities to dispatch your foes. Characters will earn points to unlock new skills as you use them in battle, or level up with EXP as well. Each party member can equip a sub Fairy to gain access to even more skills. As a Muse, Fleur has a special role in battle. While she won’t be walloping enemies with her microphone, her songs will give the party various buffs while she sings. She will be able to sing for a few rounds before needing a recharge, and during those turns you can choose to extend the range or intensify the song effect. Using this properly can turn the tide of battle in your favor quickly.

While Fairy Fencer F: Refrain Chord is a very basic strategy game, I had a lot of fun with it. I know this is mostly because of these characters and the setting, but I think this would be a great starting point for newcomers to the series as well. The combat is fun, graphics look nice and the music is exceptional. I played about 40 hours to get an ending on this one, and there are more things I have left to explore. I feel like this one is well worth the $49.99 asking price; it may not be anything fancy, but it’s good food for the fans.

Review Score
Overall

Review copy provided by the publisher.

The post REVIEW: Fairy Fencer F: Refrain Chord appeared first on oprainfall.

It’s honestly a special time to be alive. Resident Evil as a franchise was such a cultural phenomenon back in the day that it is extremely difficult to really detail its influence. While a mixture of themes and implementations of classic horror movies, Sweet Home, and Alone in the Dark, it made a massive impact on how horror games would be developed for the following decade following the original 1996 release. Here, there was so many new developments on how to develop a horror game. Normally, franchises only do this once in their lifespan. Yet somehow, in 2005, Capcom did it again with Resident Evil 4, perhaps the most well-known game in the series. While focused on moment to moment decision making over thinking for the long haul in previous titles, it led to new development strategies for more action-oriented horror games. After all, it influenced a genre favorite, Dead Space. In some way, it’s extremely funny that both games received their respective remakes this year, with Dead Space coming out first. I haven’t play Dead Space’s remake, but I heard marvelous things about it. What I did play is, of course, the remake of Resident Evil 4.

It’s interesting since right after the original game’s release, the series sort of went into a bit of a lull considering the reception and decisions made in Resident Evil 5 and 6. Even with decently regarded releases like both Revelations games, the series never really hit that peak it did before. Even Resident Evil 7 didn’t have that same staying power for ages to come, despite the switch to first person. All of that changed when the Resident Evil 2 remake launched. To this day, that game is one of the most well-regarded horror games of the modern era. While it has shifted fixed camera angles to over the shoulder, it did so with the intention to spruce up the detail of many areas in the game as well as make enemy encounters more dynamic. If anything, it was to fully realize many of the concepts of the original. Mr. X is much more of the pursuer he always was meant to be and the “zapping mechanic”, where doing things in one scenario would affect the other, was much more clearly present, albeit at the cost of less deliberation. It is just a shame that the original game isn’t readily available on modern systems.

That said, there came a new question. If they were going to remake the later Resident Evil titles, how were they going to do so? The third game’s remake had a scuffle particularly due to being a different development team and more aggressive corporate management, despite still solid fundamental game mechanics. The game’s design was much more setpiece to setpiece with less time for the player to relax, especially since Nemesis became more like Mr. X from the original second game – ironic, considering his purpose to begin with. However, there were rumors and talks about Resident Evil 4’s remake coming along for years. Even going by release dates, the remakes for the second and third game were 2019 and 2020 respectively. So having a three year gap did alleviate some concern. Interviews before release also helped, talking about how they were trying to keep as much in as they reasonably could. Things were looking more and more astonishing by the moment. With that preamble over with, since I am starting to be late for bingo, I suppose it is time to really get into grips what makes both the original and honestly the remake such stellar experiences.

First things first, the premise of the original is well known by now. US Secret Agent goes to a remote part of Spain to find the US President’s daughter, where he encounters people infected by a parasite who really want him to join their cult. That is essentially the premise and the original relished in it. The idea would make for a banal horror novel or movie, but the context of a video game makes it extremely memorable. Seeing infected come right for you neither like a zombie or regular person really expanded on the capabilities of the moment to moment gameplay. Once night comes over, the las plagas parasite occasionally bursting out of an otherwise defeated enemy added a new layer to the general experience, with both scripted and random plagas making one prepare for the potential at all times.

It’s interesting since a lot of people don’t really call the original game scary at all. There is truth to it, after all. The game is full of utter nonsensical scenarios with voice delivery that really chews into the situation at hand. Yet that small amount of tenseness remained, though not because of long term decision making. Managing your positioning, resources usage during the given moment, handling Ashley when she was around, and trying to adapt to changing circumstances gave the game a new kind of tenseness that wasn’t in previous titles. While the previous games always gave you plenty of ammo, managing your restrictive inventory space and having to plan ahead can make one wary during the journey to the next part of the game. Here, due to the mixture of a less restrictive inventory but without the storage box, you always were making decisions moment to moment, which in turn adds a sort of mental stack that can pile very quickly. Dread quickly seeps in as you make more and more bad decisions. It’s unique and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

As such, the remake takes this into mind and dials it up to 11. Also implementing a couple aspects of previous remakes such as weapon bloom, free movement, and knife durability, the moment to moment gameplay captures so much of what made the original stellar to begin with. Ganados are much more aggressive as well as have a much higher pain tolerance, especially on higher difficulties, no longer always staggered by a single shot even to the head. This makes combating enemies even more frantic, compared to before.

However, this brings forth a new defensive option in the form of parrying. New to the franchise to my knowledge, you can now deflect attacks via timing your melee attack. In some way, this seems to be an expansion of something you can technically do in the original, where you can swing your knife and stop hatchets and crossbow bolts. There are two versions of parrying: a normal one and a perfect one. A normal one simply stops the attack but sometimes an enemy will continue their assault once more, as well as damage your knife. A perfect parry, however, can stagger enemies, allowing you to melee QTE them like normal. A well-timed parry also damages your knife less. The fact that a perfect parry still decreases the knife’s durability still means you don’t want to go around and parry everything, especially since certain attacks like Dr. Salvador’s chainsaw damages the knife heavily. As such, it’s still encouraged to just get out of the way or interrupt attacks.

There is another way to defend yourself against attacks – normally it applies to grabs – and that is to duck. That said, I found this method to be unreliable and still opens you up for further attacks. The fact that unarmed ganados can both punch you and grab you to either choke or restrain doesn’t help matters. In fact, they can even chain from a punch into a grab. Thankfully, you can pull out your knife in order to quickly escape. That is, with the sole exception of when a ganado restrains you from behind. Truth be told, this easily makes unarmed ganados the most dangerous enemy in the game, especially when a boss-type enemy such as Dr. Salvador is around who can instantly kill you. Since the village is filled with this type of ganado by default, it can make the beginning up to the castle surprisingly perilous on higher difficulties, where knife and ammo conservation really comes into play. Once at the castle, however, the amount of unarmed ganados decreases substantially.

Speaking of ammo, it’s noticeably tighter than the original. Unless you are doing certain challenge runs or speedrunning, even on professional you can have an extremely large amount of grenade, shotgun shells, and rifle rounds. As such, the better and more thorough you were, the less stringent ammo conservation was. In the remake, the amount of shotgun shells, grenades, and rifle rounds especially on hardcore and higher feels much more scarce while just plentiful enough with both the added simple crafting system and normal drops to get you by. I remember I could have like five to six flash grenades at once during playthroughs of the original, whereas I never went above three to four in the remake. As such, this creates a lot of focus on getting the most you can out of resources.

It’s a nice contrast compared to the original, truth be told, that helps the remake stand on its own. It’s two ways to make a very challenging experience that rewards playing into all of the mechanics of the game rather than relying on one at a time. Sure, weapon bloom isn’t as precise as the laser sight and ganados not always staggering via headshots can be a hurdle to overcome for fans of the original. The laser sight method in the original rewards mastery of both positioning and getting very quick shots in a timely manner to stagger enemies for a melee QTE that in turn gets crowd control and invincibility frames to get out of a bind.

Realistically, the reason why there is weapon bloom and not every headshot causes stagger is perhaps to allow those who played the previous remakes to transition well into the much faster, moment to moment decision making that is Resident Evil 4’s gameplay loop. You can always stand still to allow your handgun crosshair to become smaller to allow those same long distances shot that could be done in place of the rifle. It just takes longer to do, compared to before where you can take crack shots swiftly if you mastered the laser sight even with the Red9 without the stock. Thankfully, via the merchant using spinels, you can get the laser sight for the starting handgun and punisher pretty early, allowing those who really want the laser sight to fulfill that desire to make swift and precise handgun shots at long distances. As such, this makes it both an actual upgrade and a game style change, while still allowing differences between those two handguns and the other handguns. The fact it is gained via the merchant also allows the Red9 to have a place in the no merchant challenge for the game.

Even las plagas received changes, where the mechanic of them taking over the host in a last ditch effort of survival is introduced at the very beginning of the game. The first ganado Leon kills is taken out during the cutscene but right before leaving the basement, he comes back down with the plaga barely taking over via a small gap in the neck. Later on, you can see bodies squirm, indicating the plaga is taking control, yet also allowing you to finish it off either with a knife prompt or just shooting the head a couple more times. The fact this happens during combat, as well as the normal plaga types sprouting spontaneously once it becomes night like before, really makes one pay attention to what it is going on at all times. It also serves as a neat way to introduce the concept during the initial day time chapters. Graphically speaking, it’s fantastic that blown off limbs and torsos shows parasite strands protruding out, really selling the idea that these people are infected with a hive mind of a parasite.

Take a deep dive into graphics and gameplay on Page 2.

The post REVIEW: Resident Evil 4 (2023) appeared first on oprainfall.

I have always been a huge fan of the Atelier franchise, and I was very excited when Koei Tecmo announced the final chapter in the Atelier Ryza series. This is the first time they have ever kept the same Alchemist as the protagonist throughout an entire series, and with the title Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & The Secret Key, I just knew this was going to be a great conclusion. I’ve spent over 70 hours with the game and I’m ready to share my thoughts. Was this the epic ending I was hoping for or did it fall flat? Let’s find out!

The story begins as Ryza and her friends set out to investigate a new set of islands that have appeared near their hometown. These islands are dubbed the Kark Isles, and not knowing if these islands were a threat or not, they set out to explore them. They soon discover ruins with a huge gate. Just as Ryza approaches the gate she hears a voice in her head say to reach the Code of the Universe, and a strange key appears in her hand. The group will now set out on a new summer adventure that will lead to the very roots of Alchemy.

Overall I loved the story here. I’ve gotten to know these characters over the course of the previous two titles and seeing more of them was pure joy. Stories leftover from previous titles were wrapped up along the course of this story, and the new characters were a lot of fun as well. Dion is the hot headed youth who just wants to prove himself to his village. Him and Lent have some parallels, so seeing the two of them interact together was a lot of fun. The hardworking Federica is from the crafting city of Sardonica. There she is the deputy union head of the craftsman union. There are two factions there, glasswork and Fairystones, that are at odds with each other. Federica is caught in the middle as deputy union head and is trying to get the two sides to compromise. She learns a lot about the world on her adventures with Ryza and the others. She has some really cute moments thrown in here as well. Lastly we have a new Oren party member, the adorable Kala. Don’t let her small stature fool you, she is a very old lady with vast power and knowledge. She seems to have knowledge of both the gate and the “Code of the Universe.”

Graphically, Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & The Secret Key is a slight step up from the last game. The models look a bit cleaner, and the PC version has more options for texture filtering. There is an issue with Depth of Field being too strong, and they did address this issue with a patch. I don’t know why anyone would ever use that. You buy hardware so games look good running at decent framerates, not to have everything look like it has gasoline rubbed on it. Anyway, the new environments are richly detailed and really give you a great sense of depth for each area. The character models look outstanding with tons of little details you will notice if you look close. The enemy models look great as well, though I do feel like they could throw in a few new types to spice up the action next time around. They did, however, do a great job on the boss monster models. They are big and badass and will make you wonder if you are gonna come out on top the minute you see them.

The soundtrack here is what you would expect from Gust. Every song here is done with quality and you will likely want to listen to them over and over again. The new battle themes are light and fluffy like the others in the series, and the overworld themes really get you into the mood to explore this vast world. The ending theme, “Travelers,” gives this crew a fantastic send off and is one of my favorite themes in the franchise already. The voice actors you know and love are back to reprise their roles and they do an amazing job. The game is only voiced in Japanese with no English dub, but I think this series just works better this way.

The gameplay here has changed a little from the last time around, but most of the basic combat and synthesis features are still here. Combat is still real time with the great combo system from the last game. They have added some new tactical moves that can be done, such as performing more combos and the new Key system is a big addition. You can extract keys from the enemies in combat. Their health will have to be at a certain level, and the type of key will depend on the blank key you used. These keys can be used for a variety of things: open doors on the field, during synthesis for bonuses, at certain gathering points and in combat for various buffs. As you would figure, the more rare the key is you created, the better the effects will be. Using ones with great effects during a battle you are struggling with can really turn the tide. Synthesis works exactly like it did the last time around, but using the keys can boost your items in various ways. This makes it easier to create some truly powerful gear, accessories or consumables quickly.

This time around Gust has gone with an open world approach. You can basically explore each of the huge maps at will, barring making a few items here and there to progress. There are plenty of map markers on each map, so it’s not tedious to travel around using fast travel. These markers also help a lot in completing the various quests the game has to offer. There are a few different types of quests found in the game. Random quests pop up on the map all at once, and have you doing things like make X item or slay X group of enemies. You can totally ignore these if you wish, but they do offer some great rewards. Normal quests are exactly what you would expect and then there are the World Quests. These quests will offer a distinct story for each region and while the rewards are not as straightforward as the other quests, they do have a nice pay off.

At the end of the day, Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & The Secret Key is everything I could’ve hoped for. It’s a fantastic end to this amazing series, the gameplay is fantastic and I love this cast almost as much as the Arland crew, which is quite a lot. I would love to see them revisit Ryza someday as she takes an apprentice just to see how things changed down the line. This game is worth every penny of the $59.99 price tag and I would highly suggest everyone check out all of Ryza’s titles. They are all amazing in their own ways, topped off by this truly amazing final chapter.

Review Score
Overall

Game was provided by the publisher.

The post REVIEW: Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & The Secret Key appeared first on oprainfall.

When MangaGamer announced they would be releasing the follow up to How to Live a Healthy Hentai Lifestyle I was pretty stoked. That was the most of over the top Nukige title I’d ever played and I was very curious if this sequel, How a Healthy Hentai Administers Public Service, could match the seer absurdity of the previous release. Well I’ve put about 16 hours into this and finished all the routes, so it’s time to share my thoughts. Let’s dig right into this.

The story here follows a young man named Jin Sintani. He had a rough childhood due to his package being a huge size. A pervert came upon him and took his virginity. This made him realize his huge wang was a gift. In this world, being a pervert is considered a good thing, since they help relieve the public of their urges and thus crime is reduced. Not much is out of bounds here, and sex can occur anywhere with about any sort of kink your mind can come up with so long as both parties are consenting. Jin soon graduates sex school and is now a fully fledged sex officer charged with keeping the people of Vaginville satisfied. This is gonna be a hard job, but someone has to do it!

The characters here are just as wild as the girls featured in the first game. The Chabrier twins were the first route I experienced here. A very cute petite girl and an angelic trap. The sister was very tsundere by the end, and their mom gets in on the action in the sub route as a big futa. Next I decided to take on the newbie officer, Hiyori’s route. This one was mostly about Jin helping her to become a better officer while looking for a group that hates perverts called the PRUDE. They brainwash perverts into becoming normies; what a horrible fate! There are too many other routes here to go into but each of the girls are very interesting with plenty of kinks covered.

In the end this game doesn’t take itself too seriously and you shouldn’t either. Much like before, I had some serious thoughts about how we view sex in society, but mostly I was either laughing or saying “Damn that went a bit further than I expected!” That being said, I was very entertained during each of the several routes found here. Keep in mind, though, if you are not into extreme fetishes this one may not be the game for you. While there isn’t any Guro here, there are plenty of group activities and some watersports, among other things.

The artwork here was done by the very talented Butcha-U, and is fully uncensored for this release. There are tons of H-Scenes, and lots of amazing CGs to go with them. These scenes are highly detailed and really bring out each fetish they are attempting to portray. The character art is fantastic as well; all of the girls look great, and the different uniforms they designed for this series are very creative. The backgrounds are nicely done as well, but there isn’t really anything special about them.

Much like in the previous title, I wouldn’t call the the music here anything special. It gets the job done and the intro is pretty catchy. The voice acting here is top quality. These girls do a great job bringing these characters to life with a range of emotions. The H-Scenes are very well done, the voice actors really get into these, and I certainly would suggest a pair of headphones if you don’t want to share their glory with your friends and neighbors.

Overall I had a blast with How a Healthy Hentai Administers Public Service. The characters here were just as interesting in the last game and there was even more of Butcha-U’s amazing art. While this is one of the more expensive Nukige titles at $44.95, I think there is enough meat here to justify it. There are a lot titles in this genre out there, but very few of them reach the quality this title offers. Folks looking for a wild ride that features tons of different kinks should snag this one up ASAP.

Review Score
Overall

Game was provided by the publisher for review.

The post (18+) REVIEW: How a Healthy Hentai Administers Public Service appeared first on oprainfall.

It really has been three years since Nioh 2‘s release, hasn’t it? Time seems to fly when suddenly Team Ninja’s next escapade just released in the form of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. This time, rather than building on the foundation they set with their previous dark fantasy titles, we are back to a fresh start. Cutting down on some of the random loot elements as well as iconic stance system, Wo Long aims to mimic that acrobatic and skillful feel of Chinese martial arts. Coupled with magic, the player will deflect enemy attacks in order to survive against both warriors and demons.

The story follows the main protagonist, an unknown militia soldier during the Yellow Turban Rebellion. After suffering a grievous wound, they are mended back to health by a blindfolded boy  they just rescued. From there, they cut down bandits and demons before defeating Zhang Lang, one of the leaders behind the rebellion. However, before they can escape from the battlefield, the blindfolded boy’s divine beast is stolen by the Taoist in Black, seemingly killing both him and knocking the protagonist into the river. After regaining consciousness, the protagonist goes on ahead, meeting many of the officers of the era and teaming up with them to destroy the Taoist in Black’s machinations.

From here, the game plays around the events that both historically happened and were added in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel, such as detailing how Zhang Jiao’s wizardry stems from the misuse of elixir and qi and the events behind the imperial seal being found by Sun Jian. In turn, even if you are familiar with both the novel and history, there are some great takes for the purposes of the story. Just like Nioh, Team Ninja tries to paint most historical figures in a more positive light with a couple exceptions, like with Dong Zhuo. After all, the overall idea is how most of the officers want to rebuild peace so the people can be safe and sound. I still share similar sentiments with the silent protagonist in this title like in Nioh 2’s though, where I wish they had more emotional engagement.

As for the actual gameplay, this is where Team Ninja made numerous changes. The version of stamina here is spirit, where you don’t lose any by throwing out normal attacks. Instead, you start at neutral spirit, usually gaining positive spirit by connecting normal attacks and deflecting successfully. Deflecting is like an initial dodge, though attacks connecting with your invulnerability frames neutralize them entirely. Hitting the deflect action swiftly again will cause you to initiate a proper dodge, used to create distance from the enemy. You can even deflect via a dedicated weapon switch that can neutralize attacks, though, in my experience, the window for this is much smaller.

In contrast to gaining spirit, you lose spirit by using martial arts, wizardry spells, or deflecting without neutralizing an attack. These can bring your spirit into the negative, where once the negative spirit side of the bar is full, the next attack you block or get hit by will put you in a winded state. These same rules apply to opponents, where if they are winded you can do a fatal strike for massive damage. If you have positive spirit, you can use all of it in a spirit attack, akin to a strong attack in Nioh, where it gains hyper armor, inflicts a large amount of max spirit damage on enemies, and even becomes unblockable. Using spirit this way also applies to fatal strikes, causing them to do even more damage. Even if you don’t have any positive spirit, martial arts are unblockable for enemies.

In order to encourage the usage of deflect, all opponents have access to critical strikes that are unblockable but if deflected, you cause a large amount of spirit damage, both immediate and max, as well as gain a moderate amount of spirit. If you apply an element enough, you also stagger and inflict spirit damage as well. While you do a decent amount of damage via normal and spirit attacks, the depletion of enemy spirit is the primary way to cause damage in the game, due to how much punishment fatal strikes do. In turn, combat turns into a game about managing spirit, both for the player and the enemies.

For other changes to the formula, the player can now jump in order to scale the environment. There is a surprising amount of exploration to be had in the levels, thanks to the increased amount of verticality. Due to the ability to also perform fatal strikes on enemies that have not detected the player either from behind or above, you can tackle situations as you see fit. Funnily enough, the double jump’s kick has a non-damaging hitbox, increasing the utility of the jump even further. Stretched across the level, there are spots to place major and minor battle flags in order to mark your progress.

In addition, placing battle flags and defeating enemies raises your morale up to 25. Overall, this applies when your morale and an enemy’s morale has a significant difference between the two. The higher the difference, the more statistics like damage and spirit damage are impacted. Typically, this is used to soft-gate pathways or bonus loot. If you explore most of the level, you will actually have significantly higher morale than most enemies. Even bosses have their morale capped at 20.

As for what there is to find in these levels, it really is only the battle flags, side quests that relate to the hermits of Tianzhu, and a placid panda-like demon that you drop equipment at to get an accessory. Otherwise, you are mainly finding equipment and consumables, as well as defeating enemies to gain genuine qi, which is effectively experience. Considering the actual level design, it would be nice if there was slightly more to find; however, it’s also inoffensive as to not be an issue. It helps that the weight on the influence of item rarity has been decreased. Equipment base stats are no longer influenced by rarity, only the amount of special properties they hold.

Character progression also received some changes. Truncated down to five primary stats, you have wood, fire, metal, earth, and water, the five aspects of Taoism. Each stat has particular secondary stats it affects, such as fire decreasing the amount of spirit martial arts use. Investing into stats also unlocks more of their respective wizardry spells. These spells provide buffs, area of effect, and more. Wizardry also has a negation side system where one element beats another, thereby neutralizing their effects. This isn’t something to plan around but is an extra layer to the game. There are also the divine beasts, gained at certain points in the story. These are similar to guardian spirits in Nioh, providing passive bonuses. Once their gauge is full, you can unleash your divine beast to rapidly apply an element and do significant damage, along with a lingering form of their element. Alternatively, you can also unleash your beast to provide a passive buff for you and your allies that cannot be neutralized, as well as imbue your weapon with their element.

So, I mentioned martial arts. How does one even get them? Well, they aren’t tied to stats. They aren’t even tied to a skill tree, which has been done away with barring the basic tree for wizardry spells. No, they are tied to weapon drops — as in they are random in what you get. Many specific weapons do get their unique martial art, particularly those that belong to the sets of other characters. Barring that, you don’t get a choice in what you get. Thanks to the fact that you get, at most, two of them at a time based on item rarity, this means the player’s moveset is lacking, to say the least. One chain of attacks, two spirit attacks for doing a spirit attack by itself or cancelling a normal into a spirit attack, four wizardry spells at most, and two martial arts. This isn’t a lot to work around with, so barring spells, character progression begins to stagnate significantly after a certain point.

This isn’t like Nioh’s extensive amount of moves per weapon type, all of which is tied into three stances or even stowed away. Sure, you can still equip two melee weapons, but that only means you have an extra attack set and two other martial arts. It doesn’t help that weapon types can pull from the same pool of martial arts, like with the polearms, dual weapons, and single swords. Combined with the inability to cancel martial arts or wizardry spells regularly at any point in the animation, this can make any attack with a long duration unappealing, limiting the desirable pool even more. Having played a vast majority of the game already, this is the biggest part that sticks out to me. In Nioh 2 and even Final Fantasy Origin: Strangers of Paradise, you are able to use commonly accessed resources in order to cancel all of your attacks and chain them further. This made moves with longer durations more appealing to use, as you can minimize the risk behind using them, especially if you space well. In general, it also allowed you to have a more defined kit.

While Wo Long does have martial arts that have utility like an attack that then sends you flying back to create distance, the fact you are only allowed to have so few limits the skill ceiling. The skill ceiling’s limit is also apparent since there is not a single attack in the game you can’t deflect. You can deflect everything, even though you can’t block everything. As such, the mental stack becomes surprisingly minimal, basically only looking out for critical strikes or attacks that might break your guard due to spirit loss. It isn’t like Sekiro where there are some attacks you cannot deflect, instead having to either avoid or stomp the opponent’s weapon to destabilize them further. It’s why in my experience I haven’t used the jump’s ability to avoid attacks or affect enemies since there really is no reason to. The award for deflecting is gaining spirit and a slight amount of spirit damage to the enemy. As such, I’m practically only encouraged to use that exclusively for defensive purposes barring combining it with blocking for option selecting.

In retrospect, I wonder if this is a compromise to make PvP manageable. Invasions are implemented, most likely thanks to one of the producers being from Bloodborne. Nioh 1 had PvP after an update, but due to the combat system not being designed around it initially, there was genuine insanity when it came down to it. You can even turn off invasions, just like Bloodborne. I do believe this is an aspect best done away with, as Team Ninja’s action RPGs are at their best when the skill ceiling is fairly high. It doesn’t help that humans and demons operate under the same spirit mechanics, unlike Nioh where yokai ki was actually different from normal. In Nioh 2 specifically, once a yokai’s ki was depleted, they were staggerable from all attacks, only going down once their full ki gauge was reduced to nothing via yokai skills in order to be grappled. This was coupled with the confusion status that prevented a yokai from recovering their ki at all while in effect. Due to the lack of both such things, you are forced to go back to neutral after a fatal strike to just repeat the process again.

It’s telling since in Nioh, even though there were unblockables there as well, there was more to look out for. Due to the fact that a dodge couldn’t neutralize an attack entirely, you were encouraged to position yourself to just get out of the way of very active attacks. This in turn made you care enough about spacing and positioning in order to really optimize your gameplay. Coupled with yokai skills in Nioh 2 that made you invulnerable to grabs during the animation, you had a decent response pool for defensive purposes. Here, while defense is stronger, it is monopolized by one action. It got to the point where once I unlocked more side missions that had you fight the other officers, I started to just deflect their critical strikes towards victory, especially when it involved two on one or even three on one fights. It doesn’t help that I really only died in boss fights due to critical strikes, since many of them have strong tracking, large area of effect, or even both. As such, unless your dodge afterwards saves you, it becomes deflect or take a large amount of damage.

To be fair, it does remind me of Nioh 1 in a number of ways; inability to use a resource to cancel anything beyond normal attacks, basically only two defensive options in the form of dodging and block, which was often combined anyway, and longer duration attacks being harder to use were all flaws in the original game. I wouldn’t be surprised they adjusted a lot of the issues in another game styled like Wo Long. If anything, the best of both worlds seems easily achievable thanks to having the blueprints already available. While it is possible to cancel normal attacks into martial arts or Wizardry spells as well, I would like if there was some way to cancel martial arts or spells at any point of the animation using a resource.

For other aspects of the game, the character creator was fine tuned even more. It essentially keeps everything from Nioh 2 but it hosts more options to subtly tweak things. UI is also relatively good; everything was placed well and large enough to easily recognize on a peripheral glance. The gauge for divine beasts can be easy to forget but once full, it glows exceptionally bright so you know it is available regardless. My only issue with the UI is that, unlike previous games, consumable items are displayed one at a time. As such, instead of having four mapped to four buttons like a D-pad, you have to switch between them one by one. That said, it was nice to have two separate slots for throwing weapons in addition to your two ranged weapons, where the extra utility is appreciated.

Graphically speaking, it is a bit better than previous games in Team Ninja’s action RPG line up. Character and demon models look even sharper, where even props seemed to have been touched up. Animations, from the looks of it, seem to be rigged better, with less snapping into place, despite different body sizes. Some specific animations I prefer in earlier titles, like the running animation, but that comes down to taste. Overall, it is nice to see the studio’s animation department is still in top form.

What did get a significant glow up was the game audio. Sound effects are even cleaner than ever before, with a distinct punch at that. Deflect is rewarding by the sound alone, you can hear the impact upon a blocked attack, and demon groans and roars exude the menace they should exhibit. The soundtrack was also quite enjoyable, reaching many of the same heights in previous titles. They have moved away from the more subdued tracks used for outside of combat for more distinct area themes. I prefer these personally, but Nioh 1 and 2‘s ambient music was something that should be recognized as well. Music used for combat is as great as ever, however, really putting into place the scale of battle that takes place. In terms of voice-acting, they have included three languages: Japanese, English, and Chinese. The option for Chinese was actually very nice, due to the setting.

However, on PC the engine runs somewhat chunky. I am not sure why but it seems to only default to low spec settings after launching the game despite my machine being able to handle it. At high settings, there were instances of shadows flickering in and out and even the program shutting down. Even at low settings, a small amount of subtle shadow flickering happened and has closed while loading between stages. It’s odd to me since both PC releases for Nioh 1 and 2 were perfectly fine, even if they came out later. Apparently, mouse control is also broken on PC, though I do believe this game is played best on a gamepad regardless. The console release will most likely be best until further notice.

Otherwise, the game runs very well. In my experience, there was only one oddity that happened after vaulting over a ledge, where my character got stuck behind a shelf. Even then, it was easy to get out. There weren’t even any quirks in regards to the system itself. From the looks of it, every aspect of the game essentially operates as intended, barring the PC specific issues. Considering the tendency for games to have a fair share of noticeable bugs and glitches, this is quite an achievement. It definitely helps the game had testing from both the studio and public thanks to the pre-release demos meant to refine the game.

Overall, I am in a very strange spot with Wo Long. I wouldn’t be surprised that most of my comments about the game are not something to be concerned about for a vast majority of players. After all, the skill floor has been raised, even if the skill ceiling has been lowered. In turn, you would have had to play Nioh 2 at a sufficient enough level to even notice some subtle differences. This is the main thing that would cause my viewpoint to differ from most, since I loved the nuance with the stance and ki game systems. As such, I personally felt underwhelmed in a game that wasn’t, strangely enough, disappointing.

As such, I will put it like this. If you are looking for a game for that feeling of martial arts and feeling untouchable once you get deflection down, this is the game for you. Even if you like to have games with nuanced use of game mechanics and deep character building, the combat feel of Wo Long is still something it does exceptionally well. If nothing else, this is a good way to branch out into the older titles, despite it having a higher floor to overcome. At full price or not, it is hard to not at least respect what the developers offered.

Review Score
Overall

Review copy provided by the publisher.

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It’s been a couple months since overseas fans finally got an official taste of the Crossbell duology, and it did not disappoint. The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero impressed me with its solid story, memorable characters, great turn-based gameplay, and outstanding soundtrack. And now, the conclusion to the duology is close at hand. Was The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure able to live up to the great success of its predecessor, or did it fall at that barrier? Could it possibly surpass Trails from Zero and reach even greater heights? It certainly has some big shoes to fill, so let’s read on and see how it did.

Trails to Azure takes place shortly after the events of Trails from Zero. The Autonomous State of Crossbell has a new Mayor, Dieter Crois. And the last corrupt Speaker of the Diet was replaced by the former Mayor, Henry MacDowell. With these two figures in power, Crossbell finally starts to see some much needed reforms. The Special Support Section (SSS) suspended operations after resolving the last big incident, so the members could all handle personal business. But now, the SSS is restarting operations with both new and returning faces, and it couldn’t have happened at a better time. Due to their loosening grip on the State, the two major powers, the Erebonian Empire and Republic of Calvard, are keeping an even closer eye on Crossbell. Add to that other unseen forces behind the scenes, and Crossbell is in as precarious a position as ever, maybe even more than before. Can Lloyd Bannings and the SSS protect Crossbell and the people most important to them, or is this one barrier that’s impossible to overcome?

To put it simply, Trails to Azure’s story is fantastic. There were so many shocking developments and twists and turns, it really blew my mind, in a good way. As you progress, it really makes you question certain things. Who can you trust? Who is the true villain here? What are their motivations? Do the ends really justify the means? These questions find their answers by the time you reach the ending, and it is one satisfying journey. I enjoyed playing through a story that wasn’t so easy to figure out and really makes you think. Not only that, the events that played out evoked emotions of shock, sadness, anger, and joy in me. A story that can really make you feel for the characters is one that should be treasured, and Trails to Azure did that. Speaking of the characters, they were not lost in the shuffle. The previous game gave each member of the SSS their time to shine, and Azure is no different. Randy gets much more development than he did in Zero, and new members, such as Wazy Hemisphere and Noel Seeker, also get events reserved for them. Even NPCs learn and grow as the story progresses, like Sully from Arc en Ciel. I also appreciated how they included some characters from the Trails of Cold Steel series this time around, but I won’t spoil for you who they are. And if you transfer your clear data from Trails from Zero, some of the game’s dialog changes depending on what requests you completed and who you chose for the game’s final bonding scene. This was a really cool touch and makes playing the previous game even more worthwhile. While I love the story, I do admit some of the cutscenes can run a bit long. This may bother those looking to get straight into the gameplay, but I was perfectly fine with it. With a thought provoking main story and characters that don’t get lost in the shuffle, you won’t want to put the game down. 

Gameplay in Trails to Azure is very similar to that in Trails from Zero. You complete requests (both mandatory and optional), complete main story events, and finish the end of chapter dungeon and boss. The Detective Point (DP) system returns and you get rewarded for how you complete certain requests or main story missions. You can possibly get bonus DP for how you answer questions, if you see certain events out in Crossbell State, and even for defeating certain bosses. Trails to Azure has one of the toughest (optional victory) boss fights I’ve ever contended with in the entire Trails series, so it was very satisfying when I took them down. Like before, I highly recommend completing the optional requests so you can net yourself some nice rewards and also add some world development.

Crossbell has many of the same locations you remember from Zero, but Trails to Azure also introduces some new areas for you to explore. You can visit the magnificent skyscraper that is Orchis Tower, traverse the thick flora of Knox Forest, and take in the mysterious landscape of the Lake Elm Wetlands. These are just a couple of the new locations available for you to explore. Again, you will have to traverse to the same location multiple times, but that is unavoidable due to the size of Crossbell State. You can only go to so many areas before you’ve seen it all. Azure introduces a new travel option, and that is the SSS’ brand new Orbal car. The car is available to you pretty early on, and it makes traveling that much easier. It is very similar to the bus in some respects, but it also has the ability to stop in areas that the bus can’t go, making it much more convenient. You can also upgrade the car with some nice attachments as you progress, including things that can fully heal your Health Points (HP), Energy Points (EP), and Craft Points (CP). Once you get these upgrades, it makes completing requests and battles that much easier. Of course, you won’t have access to it all the time, but when you do, it’s a valuable tool. High speed mode makes its return, so you can still zip through Crossbell quickly on foot. While not a deal breaker, I still wish they had markers on the map telling you where requests are. It can be easy to miss requests otherwise.

Combat is pretty much the same in Trails to Azure as it was in Trails from Zero, and I still feel it’s a solid turn-based system, so you can read more in-depth about it in my Zero review. But, there are two major additions in Azure: Master Quartz and Burst. Master Quartz is something brand new that you can equip to each character’s orbment, and only one Master Quartz can be equipped to each character at a time. They are available in seven different elements, and each one raises a character’s stats in different ways. In addition to the stat boosts, the Master Quartz can also grant a character temporary buffs at the beginning of battle, or in the middle of it depending on if certain conditions are met. Master Quartz can help narrow down what type of role you wish a character to take in battle. For example, the Force Master Quartz (fire element) raises the character’s strength (STR) by a good amount, so it’s great for DPS. As you use Master Quartz in battle, it slowly gains EXP. With each level, it increases the stat boost and the effects of the buffs. Once a Master Quartz reaches level 5, you unlock the ability to use the quartz’s Master Art. These are powerful arts that cost a ton of EP, but can help easily turn the tide of battle. Force’s Master Art restores 50 CP and also increases your attack and craft power by +150%, so that’s great if you need to hit something hard. Unfortunately, EXP raises so slowly for Master Quartz, that you most likely won’t be able to take advantage of Master Arts until the last chapters. I, personally, didn’t need to use them on Normal difficulty, but they may be useful on Hard and Nightmare.

The Burst gauge appears once you near the end, or as the game likes to put it, the climax of a given chapter. You can raise the gauge by damaging the enemy, and once it’s at max, you can activate Burst mode. Burst automatically pushes your party above the enemy in the turn order, heals your party of all status ailments, and lets you cast Orbal Arts instantly. So, this is great if you think you can finish off an enemy, or it can help you survive a grim situation. This is a great addition and it really helped me out in the tougher boss fights in later chapters. I didn’t really see any downside to this addition. Trails to Azure’s combat system is as solid as previous entries, and it even ups the difficulty from Zero with some rougher boss fights. So, those who are looking for a bigger challenge, you’ll love what you get in Azure.

Trails to Azure’s graphics look outdated, but the PC version does a good job of cleaning the models and environments up to make them more pleasing to the eye. There’s also a new Water Shader option available, and it really spruces up the look of some bodies of water to make them more reflective. However, it also causes a weird visual bug. If you’re talking to someone by the water and they have a reaction emote or a thought bubble, it looks like it blends in with the water, it even gets wavy too. There is a character event near the Mishelam Wonderland pier, and this is where the bug is most noticeable. It’s not a game breaking issue, but if you want a more stable visual experience, I suggest turning that option off. There is also a story cutscene that had a weird visual glitch in the background. The scene in question involves riding an animal with the scenery passing by as the animal runs. As the animal runs, I believe the background is supposed to loop and start over. However, at points it looks like the background stutters or cuts strangely, and then keeps going again. Again, not a game breaking issue, but it is jarring if you notice it. Many of the character designs I loved from the previous game make a return in this, but there are new characters, and some returning characters also got makeovers this time around. Wazy dons a much cooler outfit sporting a scarf; Noel’s outfit combines that military aesthetic with something casual. Of all the new character designs in the game, I liked Rixia’s the most. Her new outfit looks both sexy and badass, a lethal combination. There are many recycled enemy designs in this game, but there are a couple new ones, mainly for mechanical foes and the bosses. I do wish there were even more new enemies though, but I’ll take what I can get. All in all, the overall designs were good, but more enemy design variety would’ve pushed the envelope even further.

Get over that barrier and head to page 2 ->

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