Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Kannagi no Mori Samidare Tsuzuri - Review

Since the switch ver is digital only here's the PS Vita box art instead.
 Genre: VN.
Developer/publisher: Matatabi.
Platform: PC/Vita/Switch.
Official Site: https://matatabi.tv/kannagi/
VNDB: https://vndb.org/v22311
Release date: 22-2-2024.
 
I saw they released a switch port of Kannagi no Mori and since I did play the other two
Matatabi games I decided why the hell not? there's not many otome games I am interested
in nowadays and besides for some reason it is only 3300 yen which honestly
is a steal for like two games, but after playing I think the price suits it just fine.
I ended up finishing 4 routes while playing FF7 rebirth because at times I just
wanted to peace out and Kannagi no Mori was perfectly suited for that.
 
KnM was originally a PC game split into parts... ah so matatabi tried that sort of thing.
Thank god they later made a ps vita and now a switch port so you can enjoy it in one place.

Pro's
- Decent enough plot, compelling characters.
- Has relaxing vibes despite it having a sad tone at times.
- Art is pretty good. 
- BGM is relaxing... perhaps a bit to much.

Grey Area
- One route could seem really short but its long if you do all routes.

Con's
- Slow start, has some slight pacing issues.
- Switch port is bugged, if you want to save/load you have to use the touchpad
as the little text prompt thingy was unresponsive when you select yes for various things.

The OP movie was nice, I was instantly drawn to atleast two characters!
but this is not the type of movie i'd watch always every time I booted uup the game.
Sure its nice but after a few route I had just seen it... also it is a bit long.
 
 One thing I really liked was the art style of this game, not every character may have
drawn me in the same way but I really like the colours,style and vibe it gives off.
The cg's had plenty of variation that were good at showing the characters expressions
and the overall count of them was mostly even across all characters.
The voice cast are all A++ veterans so it was nice to hear them again as well.
 
System was just standard stuff and it wouldn't be worth commenting about
but some menu's were broken like it would ask me to save so i'd press yes
but nothing happens! the only way I could save/load was with using the touchpad.
MATATABI is at it again amirite? why is it always something omg but honestly
it was only slightly annoying and can easily be fixed by touching the screen
whenever you had to make a choice or save/load the game.
 
Story is Mizuki always could see things other people couldn't and was told to keep
it a secret from the only family she had. Things begin to change when she
sees her dead mom on a rainy night which is when dead people appear.
A man then leads Mizuki to a village to meet her grandfather... who turned ill
and now Mizuki is forced to manage his work which deals with spirits and their problems.

KnM is a slower-paced game and the music was soothing, so soothing that I got sleepy.
The early game was so relaxing I can't decide if this is good or bad, i'll go with good
since the vibes were so nice that Nao and Souta quickly grew on me.
Idk if it was because this was the first part or i'm not really that interested in the two initial
love interest but at times I did get a little bored due to how slow Youko-kitan can be.
I was more interested in Asahi... which may be why I had a hard time!

The heroine wasn't too bad, I found her fairly normal, at first she doesn't really
have the confidence to continue her grandfathers work which is understandable.
I liked how Asahi helped her grasp how she could help people. Didn't seem easy.
Compared to the last otome I sat through this felt much more normal
and I didn't really find much that made me go wtf! sadly that also meant
it was a lot less entertaining and less excitement due to being mostly nonbiri.
Like the scenes weren't always that engaging and it was really situational if it was
which isn't bad perse but I am just glad there were no routes that were a dumpster fire.
NGL Shinonome brought most of the entertainment early on.
Story generally focuses on helping spirits overcome their trauma and save them
so they don't become evil spirits. Due to the setting, I probably would only recommend
Kannagi no Mori if you like school-themed otome games with otherwordly stuff
and like slower-paced games that grab your attention slowly. I say it can be slow but it
also didn't overstay its welcome since I found the routes itself to be fairly short.

Decent story yes but overall while it can seem light-hearted the tone of it all still
had a very sad feeling to it. The very last route of this game gave me nothing but sadnesss.
I did like the character interactions and there were some funny scenes!
wish there were more of that but it wasn't that type of game.
Comedy was mostly used to lighten the mood which was why its great.
The pacing can be a bit slow but overall it was enjoyable, whenever Shinonome
was on screen there was never a dull moment.πŸ˜‚ I didn't really like the first half of this game
but there were moments it hit home so it wasn't all bad. It generally just was a comfy read!
 a little melancholic yes but it fits in with the theme of the game for there to be underlying sadness.
7.7/10
It was just good, not bad but not great. Unlike Matatabi's other games
there weren't any minigames or landmines either which is a plus. I'd recommend
Kannagi no Mori if you don't mind short but slower-paced games, The scenario had impact
in many ways, some subtle & some that hit a lil harder. This otome game is also great
if you're tired of controversial stuff and just want to mostly have a good time while also
getting served a decent enough plot with a well written heroine.
 
I think I preferred the latter half of the game Ryuuji over the first half Youko
simply for the fact it touched upon the underlying plot more. Its like Youko was extremely
standard in terms of otome games and more like a prologue of sorts.
Ryuuji is like hold my beer! ups the stakes and just delivers the plot better.

As for playorder the game is split into two parts with the last route in each part being locked.
So my play order ended up being like this:

Youko Kitan / part 1: Nao > Souta >Ichimaru.
Ryuuji Kitan / part 2: Hinata > Asahi > Shinonome.
 I can't really recommend anything other than Youko first and Ryuuji second.
The game does have a fail-safe that even if you were to do Ryuuji first you'll be okay
but if you get it on vita/switch and want to see all routes, best to start with Youko.
Maybe switch Nao/Souta or Hinata/Asahi around to suit preference
before the 3rd route of each part, there's not much else to it.

Spoilers are after the jump, there are some shoddy summaries as well as my favorite cg's.
 

Saturday, March 23, 2024

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - Review

 Genre: RPG.
Developer/publisher: Square Enix.
Platform: PS4/5.
Official Site: N/A
Release date: 29-2-2024.
 
With the exception right at the beginning I generally liked the story and it was fun
exploring the world, they added a lot of detail to where there was none in OG.
I mostly played this game in the evening whenever the switch was charging
which is why this game took me a whole month to finish.
 
Pro's
- Decent enough plot I guess...
- Nice to explore the world, a lot more detailed.
- I liked it when Cloud told Yuffie to STFU at one point.
 
Con's
- One too many minigames and gimmicks. Quantity over quality, most (but not all) were awful.
- Padding, pacing issues and thus ends up overstaying its welcome.
- Retry from current battle or this battle? the wording on the game over screen was poor esp in ch14.
- Gongaga & Cosmo Canyon are the worst areas to explore, in this essay I will...
---
 
Story is... mostly loyal to the OG FF7 except they're adding in elements
that weren't there before but I already knew that because of part 1.
What is really awful is that all these changes don't even really seem to matter???
The prologue of the game had me in confusion noises but then it was mostly
same as OG. They got rid of the stupid CPR minigame which I am grateful for
but instead we got a rhytmn game to impress Rufus. ' -' 
Could've done without the dolphin minigame too but it was cute...
 
I know OG FF7 had minigames as well but this game really went overboard and added even more.
For the first parts of the game it really felt like I was doing anything but the main
objective because it was just that bloated but then again they extended the midgard part
from 6 hours to 30 hours in the first remake so not sure what I was expecting. /Shrug
So now you get 40+ hours of disc 1 while the original PS1 release
was only 30ish hours as a whole. That's a world of a difference amiright.
 
Replace Rufus with SE and Mako with Minigames and its a mood.
Atleast the character interactions were mostly great as well as this NPC's dialogue
because it has all the energy that I had when I was done with this game.
 
Its not like I disliked everything, I did enjoy seeing certain parts remade.
Like Barret in a sailor suitπŸ˜‚ as well as a prettier& more detailed world.
So despite my complain-no-jutsu it wasn't all bad... in fact I had fun with it!
its just way too bloated which made the game overstay its welcome
hench why when I was nearing the end I just didn't like it all that much.
 
I still tried to do proto relics and clear up sidequests in chapter 13 but each area
had such a laundry list of things to do which was also mostly the same
and just repetitive so I had to limit what I engaged with. At the very least
there's always something to do so FF7 rebirth is one of those rare games
that can actually last a while if you want it to. However at the end of the day
IMO this game ended up being just fine, not great but it ain't awful either
its just that there are a lot of questionable design choices.
I'm not really sure if I want to play the 3rd remake because of this game mostly.
 
FF7 rebirth makes me appreciate the original with how simple and to the point it was
yet in the remakes they padd it out so much that I end up running out of steam quickly.
Also let's not forget the fact they make it seem like they're gonna change things
but then are like lol nope. They only make it more complicated than it really is
or try to make everything more epic while also making it longer than it needs to be.
**Gonna add to this that without part 3... I just don't know what they even want to do anymore.
6/10
 No thanks, for now I am done with the FF7 remakeverse because I think
they all just took a piss on it at the end just how this chocobo is able to float.

More rambles and complain-no-jutsu after the jump... but I think I have already made myself clear here.

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Utakata no Uchronia - Demo Impressions

 Genre: VN.
Developer/publisher: Broccoli/Licobits.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://licobits-game.com/uchronia/
VNDB: https://vndb.org/v40519
Release date: 14-3-2024.(Demo) 11-04-2024. (Full Game)
 
Since I wasn't in the mood to play as Red and Barret in FF7 rebirth
I took a few hours to check out this demo!
I haven't really done a demo impressions/review post in ages and I didn't even know
UtaChro was going to get one! which is good because I was a little on the fence.
 
I only tried out UtaChro to see what it would be like! and also kinda as a vibecheck.
I know things could always turn out different in the full game but whatever
who cares if you only end up liking 1 love interest or route!

UtaChro is developed by a bunch of ex? otomate staff and broccoli/TIS creation.
I like RiRi's art but overall it reminded me more of Piofiore and not Yunohana.
Backgrounds were pretty detailed in showing the environments, art in general was good.
Music? no complaints. The OP definitely catched my attention more and I liked listening to it!
sadly I couldn't find the OP on youtube yet to link here.
 
The demo had the common route & was definitely good for introducing the setting and characters.
The heroine Hinagiku is an Ojou-sama who is good natured...maybe a bit pampered
she gets treated like a princess and earned that nickname, lol.
Yashiro seems to have amnesia and they go around trying to jog his memory for a bit, doesn't
really work out yet. Tsuyukusa bumped into them, he knows Hinagiku and thinks Yashiro
is too close already, oh jealous are we? Tsuyukusa was pretty chill so whatever I guess.
The demo ended after you meet Yori but for the most part its just too early to tell
where any of it was going, romance was definitely not a focus atleast not at this point!
not a lot of fluff yet as well, I figured out from my two-ish hour expedition that UtaChro
is a scenario driven kind of game with romance not really being a focus.

Interactions were good and  it had a decent sense of humor too. Overall it seems UtaChro
 is more or less something like Piofiore but with a bit of steampunk! I kind of liked it?

Not really route impressions but I wrote a little about the love interests?
not all seem to have a lot of screentime in the demo so there's not much after the jump.

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Matsurika no Kei Tenmeiin Iden - Review

Intertwined Bloodlines.
 Genre: VN.
Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/mk/
VNDB: https://vndb.org/v47009
Release date: 29-2-2024.
 
Matsurika was the only upcoming otome game from otomate that I was still interested in.
It has a lot to do with the artstyle and a fantasy setting which just really drew me in
as well as a comfortable seiyuu cast with familiar voices that I like.
If this is gonna be my last otomate game... they got me good!
 
This game released on the same day as FFVII rebirth but at the same time
I mostly ended up playing this first because I just missed playing an otome game
and I wasn't in the mood for Final Fanfiction 7 which I only really ended up playing
on and off if the mood striked or when switch was charging which is actually perfect for it.

Pro's
- Well rounded routes, mostly easy to follow the story.
- Compelling characters & OK heroine(considering her situation).
- Gorgeous artwork and fitting soundtrack for that chinese feel.
 
Grey area:
- CeroD for a reason, there's quite a bit of sexual themes and not just suggestive.

Con's
- Long, especially if you do all routes.
- It can be kind of frustrating if you'd like to do the routes of Enrai or Fey since
they basically need all other routes be done but locked for a reason.
- NTR (bad ends only).
 
 
This game had some pretty high production values and good art direction from the CG's to
the backgrounds and sprites they were all gorgeous. Did I mention the cg's were animated as well?
I doubt this game was the product of a year they worked on this for a while
the artist truly outdid themselves not many otomate games have multiple sprite.
It has a great soundtrack that fit the setting/mood. The OP was great and listened
to it almost everytime I booted up the game. The ED's was pretty good too.
The menus were nice as well, it wasn't busy like say cupipara and just easy on the eyes.
The system was standard stuff however I could not find the skip to the next choice option
which ended up being touch pad only which I barely use, it didn't work properly.

Matsurika has a lot of chinese influences as well as the classic four lords.
At first I had a hard time understanding all the lore and it wasn't very clear where
any of it would go, there was suspense and intrigue, it got better eventually when
I got to know the characters! i'd say the end of the common route was a little
frustrating in light of certain developments. Other than that it still has a nice
sense of humor and the character interaction was pretty great right of the bat.
**Once I got into it the story was not particularly hard to follow/grasp.
I'd say the heroine Naaya was decent at best, she can be reserved but also show courage
to go off to another town on her own despite a certain someones protest.
Naaya has a lot of potential but due to the setting can never reach it, she can be stubborn
as well but eh she goes through a lot and doesn't even know wtf is going on
so I can't be too hard on her, she doesn't deserve that and her options are limited.
**I mostly liked her because she was kind but it seems most people don't like
 passives heroines and they only want pro-active ones, Naaya shined only on rare occasions.
 
Despite being an old timey game I didn't find it boring, it only became more interesting
as it went on but it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows there were secrets being kept.
There were twists and turns, at times I wasn't even sure what was really going on.
**It all did managed to fall into place at the end.

Common route wasn't too long, it serves its purpose to setup everything in relaxed manner
however the end of the common route was a little disturbing, the mood whiplash
at the time bothered me. It was at that moment the dumpster catched fire
and in some routes it goes out but in others it never really went out till the end.
Especially you Ruwo.
The story did generally flow well, it had slower moments but I didn't find the pacing
to be that bad. I think it was overall better than in say Tsuitsui.
Individual route was of decent length there's plenty developments good and bad.
If you combine them all then this game is pretty long. I did like that the final route was
not a combination of all but instead something that connects all dots, for better or for worse.

However I would like to emphasize that this game is very old fashioned and
the values of marriage or morals simply don't work in today's world. If the reader
can get past that and accept it then I think this game is much more enjoyable.
Most love interest's are nice enough that I could understand why the heroine
would stay with them because where else would she go? If you hit rock bottom
and someone extends their hand would you not accept it? I would.
 
The story wasn't very nice to the heroine but some love interests were, others did
need more time to grow on me but it was hard to dislike most of them.
Ruwo's route was pretty much the ongoing dumpster fire which was entertaining it its own way
but Zebenera was much more relaxed? it was also more connected to the overall plot
which made me super interested in Bicorn. Bicorn was the route that I thought was really good
and was able to truly present its story beats to its fullest. However it felt
a little longer but atleast Bicorns character got his full development.
I thought Seirin's route was a little boring but even that managed to make itself interesting
it just had one moment were I was like WTF this is awful but Seirin was the saving grace
unfortunately that route was riddled with politics so it took me longer to get through. Seirin route
is probably also another reason for ceroD because most routes except Enrai were... tame.
Meanwhile Fey sits in a corner somewhere waiting for the player to do all routes
and Enrai is mocking him. Wait I am getting off-topic.
All in all without any plot spoilers Matsurika no Kei was a well-rounded otome game!
however one must be willing to accept that in today's world its values no longer work and that
is okay because this is a work of fiction based on myth's and fantasy set in the old world.
The scenario was good, with multiple endings that suit the story/character.
A decent attempt at world-building and of course likable love interest
along with gorgeous and consistent artwork as well as a fitting OST.
-
If I had to ask myself the question of what do I want in an otome game
then Matsurika ticks off some flags of yes this is what I look for.
Not everything may have been my cup of tea nor is it perfect but it doesn't need to be
i'd much rather play an otome game that isn't afraid to have bad things happen
than something that railroads me to a happy end where the choices don't even matter.
**I generally liked most happy ends, they all had good conclusions.
Of course this game still has some classic problems like not every route being as relevant
 but it is handled really well that each route is refreshing and each love interest's situation is
different making it exciting to do all routes. One of MnK's problems is the restrictions
on routes but those are there for a reason. Its still better than not having any at all. I do not
consider the MC being on the passive side a problem at all considering the setting & situation.
-
Also I was reminded of ken ga kimi when I played this game and I think there's some similarity
I specifically liked how there's multiple outcomes good and bad but they all suited the character
plus the routes were all so well rounded that if it didn't get a FD then you still get a full experience.
Turns out a scenario writer of KgK worked on this game. I suppose they still got the magic
but they also worked on CupiPara which has a completely opposite direction of MnK.
This really shows their talent as a writer, playing this game made me realize I am not that
burned out from this genre, and the last one just left me craving for more balanced games.
8.5/10
(I end up dropping it sligtly because of Fey's route... because its unfinished.)
 
Do I recommend Matsurika no Kei?  yes I do but it is difficult to recommend
if you can't stand values and morals that don't work in today's world.
The developers really outdid themselves in crafting up this game, I still can't
guarantee this game will be everyones cup of tea but honestly? it was a solid
historic fantasy otome game, a journey worth taking if you like those genres
**however Matsurika no Kei is not for the easily offended.**
Its a mystery if it will get localized but taking everything in consideration
there's a possibility of this game staying unlocalized. edit: Idk how well
this did in japan but lately I think any otome game has a decent chance.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 I wasn't sure which route to go for so I went for one of the two characters
that were there since the beginning, I followed my intuition which led me to Ruwo
as Fey and Enrai were both missing from the affection screen during my first play. 
There's not a lot of options in the first play so I think Zebenera is the safest
but Ruwo is the easier choice since he is there from the start.
At one point I wanted to put Ruwo upside down into a trash can. Take that as you will
but its best to experience it for yourself, you're in for a trip.

Enrai is locked till Ruwo, Zebenera and Seirin are done.
Fey is locked till Enrai is done.
Bicorn unlocks after one route is finished however I personally do not
recommend doing his till you have atleast done Zebenera.
TFW it is easier to get into masked guy's route than the poster boys...... 🀑

My play order: Ruwo > Zebenera >Bicorn > Seirin > Enrai > Fey.
I think my own order flowed well enough that  I could recommend it as well.

Recommended order: Ruwo / Zebenera > Bicorn > Seirin > Enrai >  Fey.
This game is just restrictive as there's not much choice than to do the poster boys last or
bicorn if you forgot. Its probably for the best if you do Seirin later due to Enrai being locked
but that is just my personal opinion as I did find Seirin route to be very good at explaining things
Bicorn's route glossed over in favor of half-truth's and giving other things more depth.
 
I will be writing about the routes in the next section but this game is best going in blind.
Knowing too much ruins the suspense so I recommend not reading further if you don't
want spoilers. Also trying to write about the routes turns it into a Wall'O Text
because they are pretty long, again spoilers are after the jump.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Final Fantasy VII remake intermission - review

 Genre: RPG.
Developer/publisher: Square Enix.
Platform: PS4/5/PC.
Official Site: N/A
Release date: 10-6-2021.
 
I ended up buying the twin pack deluxe edition with FF7 remake 2 on ps5 by accident because
there are too many versions. While I played the original remake on ps4 I never played intergrade
aka the PS5 version that has this intermission. So while waiting for remake part 2/rebirth
I ended up playing the Yuffie DLC! this review is pretty short because well this DLC
was short so there's not much to talk/write about but I still wanted to anyway.

Pro's
- Fun side content.
- Decent enough plot that doesn't overstay its welcome.

Con's
- Short, feels like there's a missing gap between chapter 1 and 2.
- DLC was about Sonon+DoC references and not about Yuffie.
- Can skip this DLC and miss absolutely nothing.

 
 More rambles after the jump. I suppose there be spoilers cuz I rambled about Sonon.

Saturday, February 10, 2024

Granblue Fantasy Relink - Review

TBH I think Grindblue Fantasy fits a lot more..
 Genre: RPG.
Developer/publisher: Cygames.
Platform: PS4/5/PC.
Official Site: https://relink.granbluefantasy.jp/en/
Release date: 29-1-2024.
 
After the last disaster I sat through, GBF relink would by my next game as there wasn't
anything else I wanted to play/get. I mainly picked this because I heard the story
wasn't too long and a fantasy setting and pastel-ish colours just felt right for my mood.
I''ll say it straight up my enjoyment of this game was like 50/50 but it was mostly good
some aspects just were not for me.

A thing to note is that Granblue Fantasy was originally a gacha/browser game and also one
of the very few that has like a 10+ years and still running even surviving the P5 collab curse.
Unfortunately I couldn't get into that game but it has its charms I saw that much.

Pro's
- Decent enough story.
- Awesome boss fights.
- Variety in playable characters with unique playstyles.
- Exploring is rewarding, variety of chests & map size is comfy.

Con's
- Terrible entry point, wastes no time introducing the main crew.
- Short, endgame is a grindblue fantasy fest.
- Fate episodes can seem cheap in trying to tell a story of a character.
 
I did play the demo and honestly that did not sell me on the story/characters...
you'll probably be fine since fate episodes exists which gives a little backstory to everyone
but sadly they expected you to already know GBF to some extend. I ended up watching
season 1 of the anime because I don't know this series and it did sell me a little better.
The anime actually had sakuga animation if you don't know what that means, its moments
were the animation is notoriously better. All this also reminds me a lot of the situation with the hamefura otome game cuz that game also wasted no time to introduce anyone
in great detail so the more you know the better.
TL;DR this game just didn't do much else other than being one more adventure with Gran&co.
It was epic at times and this had really high budget I also appreciate the effort they put into
the game since the party AI is much better than in most games.
Ultimately this game just fell kinda flat to me idk why. Maybe I am not enough
of a fan to enjoy this game as were my thoughts during chapter 9, it also felt like a lot
of story beats were repeated/reused and were a bit cliche maybe it was that
or they were just playing it safe or being too by the book which kinda put me off.
Didn't help that they put character stories as mini visual novels that... are super short
speaking of short the story was short too and then all you're left with is grindblue fantasy
which is boring if you don't have any friends that can play with you to make it easier or more fun.
There are also a lot of playable characters but most don't add anything to the main plot
I kinda disliked that, sure they have their own story but there's almost no time to tell them here.
-
There's one final thing that I didn't like, characters would talk as they walk
or during battle and even would drop lore in there, needless to say I wasn't able to pay
fully attention to that. Near the end of the game Id would talk of his past which honestly
should have been a cutscene, my field of vision simply cannot pay attention to all that is onscreen.
Having to attack,dodge and run takes quite a bit of my attention already and I play on normal/action.
One ear in and out the other if you catch my drift. The final nail was this game
commited the cardinal sin of rolling the credits and then going but one more thing!
Meanwhile I am like then don't roll the credits yet if its not over? >:(
 -
I will say I ended up walking away from this game in a better mood than with fate/remnant
and that probably says a lot, me being salty about how they added an extensive post-credit epilogue
but hey! atleast it wasn't DLC cuz during the credits I was like oh no... what if its DLC???!!
Rest assured GBF relink is actually a complete package. Its just that I think the epilogue
would be better if they incorporated Id's fate episodes into it instead of turning it into
a monster hunter fetch quest and collecting Rolan's notes before doing the same thing
we did in chapter 9 which leads to the realization of oh my god! Rolan is the true heroine!
GBF is a series with a ton of charm and I think the characters carry it a lot but this game
sort of desensitizes the player because at the end of the day it just wants you to grind
for this or that to be as strong as possible and you ain't getting the final epilogue scene
if you don't plow finish SOMEONES to do list. Now I hope you can understand
why I am 50/50 on this game. Turning my ps5 on and seeing skybound heart
will take 40 mins but then 2 hours pass and I have to go to bed did not help at all.
Mr fix-it dude except you're on cleanup duty.
 
I still recommend this game if you like grindy games with epic boss battles
and are already familiar with the series in general.
6.5/10
More ramblings after the jump but I have pretty much said enough here already
but my final thoughts exist to get my thoughts out a bit more.

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Lost Judgment - Review

Man...
 Genre: Action/Adventure
Developer/publisher: Sega
Platform: PS4/5/PC.
Official Site: N/A
Release date: 24-9-2021.
 
I wasn't really sure what to play but then I just wanted to see Yagami,Kaito and Sugiura again
instead of Kiryu-chan so we're doing another generation gap to try & do some more
detective work in Kamurocho! Since the judgment games are best played blind
i'll try my best to not talk too much about the general plot... except for some things
I felt like I had to mention however I won't be discussing the general plot as a whole.

Pro's
- Decent enough plot.
- Substories were generaly better than in judgment, finding squirrels was fun.
- A whole new district to explore besides ye olde kamurocho.

Grey area:
- Game deals with some pretty heavy themes involving suicide/harassment and bullying.

Con's
- Awful pacing, goes on too much about the same thing for too long.
- The keyword thingy and/or using a variety of tools can feel like busywork.
- Most investigation parts were not interesting and were pretty forced, the biggest offender
being at the end of the final chapter, like come on that killed the flow.

The story this time... is like some random season of some detective drama and
honestly after finishing it really felt like it could have been a tv show too.
Right of the bat we're on the case of a guy that tried scamming a girl out of her money.
It was all a ruse from the get go like the guy was one of those typical con artist setting a girl up
with a debt to they have to pay it off in some establishment by selling themselves.
Luckily for the girl she found the right detective agency for the job to get to the bottom of it.
Then we go to an all new district the (ga)ijin-cho which leads us to a case about highschool bullies
and it did not get much better from there since there is a gang active in the ijincho district too.
Ah yes because afterall the judgment games are a yakuza game in disguise! with political twists.
Honestly this was one of the few moments I laughed the other one was Sawa scolding
Yagami for picking fights in the gym and him reverting to a highschool boy.
This game had rather hefty material right in the opening hours from the above to a case
about bullies, I had to keep taking breaks during that cuz it was almost too much.
I'll admit it was fairly interesting but it had some pacing problems
like one moment you're doing a substory to further the mainstory.
I think they should have branched it better but I guess it couldn't be helped
and oh well for the sake of the case I go pass your test I guess.
Atleast in this game they actually used the markers properly so I wasn't getting lost.
    I got a little de-motivated at that part and just closed the game for the day... in the middle of it.
They like also loved to switch chapters in the middle of a cutscene the worst offender
was from ch2 to ch3 I was like really? you really gonna switch chapters like that...

Love how this game tells me to go do something but 5 steps later this happens & I cause a traffic jam.
 
This game really isn't much longer than the average RGG game though its somewhere
between 20-25 hours depending if you get distracted by side content.
Most chapters are fairly short but chapter 10 was quite long compared to most other chapters
I wouldn't be surprised if that is where people drop this game cuz that is also the point
where the game throws in its mental gymnastics and wtf is even real justice?
Honestly I start to wonder why I didn't just drop it but yea if I am in like ch10
which is almost at the end then i'm gonna see it through cuz I got hooked by the story.
Maybe I need to change... but I am the type to see things through if I am far enough anyways.
 
Gang's all here!
That aside I was happy to see Yagami, Kaito and Sugiura again as well as Tsukumo
which I sorta forgot about but he had a real glow up or so to speak.
The character interactions were pretty great and the first subquest was actually funny.
I still remember how the subquests in the original judgment didn't really grab me
but it seems they learned and made them more fun! Yagami's inner dialogue
was also pretty funny this time but it seems like he was complaining a lot actually.
Unfortunately I didn't really enjoy having to find most subquest in this installment
cuz it was all such a busywork so I only focused on a handful that caught my eye.
 
Graphics wise it looked great but I think thhe lightning at times may have needed work
when like the sun was setting it tended to look significantly worse.
The above screenshot isn't really good at describing it I just thought it was funny.
They may also need to work on the water textures... I was not impressed.
Music was generally pretty good, OP was not my style but I will say
it fit the theme of the game and Kuwana's character very well.
 
Nottu dissu shittu againu...
You know I think the story may be fine though but yea it just didn't really grab me
as much as the first game so that's that maybe it was because of the material being heavy
but if I had to be honest it wasn't that but the overall pacing just felt off and in the end
it felt like it was all over the place with the forced substory introducing a new mechanic
and substories being a pain this time to find too. By ch4 I got a general picture
but they kept revealing more layers of the onion and I was like uh sure now what.
I failed to understand why we frequently needed to kill time or do literally anything else...
their is a major bug in ch6 where it could softlock your game if you triggered
a specific school substory with the robotics club, it is fine anywhere else.
TFW: Get told to do literally anything else but also can permanently glitch yourself.
Accidentally roasted Hoshino-kun...πŸ˜‚

In terms of substories I remember really enjoying running into them in Y0 or Yk1 but they were
hard to find here in lost judgment, since they are locked behind some keyword BS which
ultimately turned me off from them which is such a shame cuz the handful I found were funny.

I did like how we had a whole new district ijin-cho which I jokingly keep calling gaijin-cho
because I was kind of getting tired of just kamuro-cho, it was also bigger than the osaka? district
Majima was placed at in Y0 so there was plenty of new sights to see.
Too bad the substories were a pain to unlock this time... there can be so much fuzz
unlocking keywords or special tools to find stuff it all can be a hassle.
Battle wise it was a lot better and the health bar no longer can get broken Yagami's moves
felt cooler this time around as well but other than that it was more or less the same.

Final Thoughts?!
No better image to describe how I feel about this game in general. 
TBH I think the story was pretty good but at the same time can be a complete
mental torture due to the story elements about bullying and harassment.
There were times I wanted to give up the only reason I tried to finish the story was to get
to the bottom of it but it wasn't really a fun ride. Like at all. The story also tried to pull some
mental gymnastics near the end and I was like I'm so tired during the court scene in the final chapter.
Also I knew Kuwana was full of *** the moment he started vaping like a hippie.
Its okay though I still love him and he is single handedly my favorite character in this game
or more like Kuwana carried this game really hard, I mean it when I say this.
Of course I liked seeing the characters again and some substories were fun but I just
wasn't enjoying myself. I disliked the constant need to interrupt the mainplot
to introduce a new mechanic and actual substories being buried behind keywords
and you can't even randomly trigger them anymore (only some).
The characters kind of did feel one note and never really did anything surprising
its like they had a role and that was it, which is why the only one I really liked was Kuwana.
Yagami could have a bunch of things to say but the only word that comes out is Sawa.
Due to some of the above it felt like the mainplot was dragging on
plus it in general feeling like a can of worms and then you eat it too (ew).
I had to force myself to finish this game, I did not really have this problem with the original.
I believe there were some serious pacing issues as well as most of the investigation scenes
not being really interesting, they didn't make me feel like I learned much most of the time.
The worst offender was the one in the final chapter which was action packed
but then it had you... have to figure out a route and select random objects which
completely killed the flow of it all. That actually made me frustrated. 
I also missed finding random cats during investigation segments and this time
they made them harder for some reason or like they want you to look really hard
for some reason or examine something twice over. Meanwhile this dragged it on for no reason
since there isn't even a proper checklist of what to look for, you just click random things
or examine something twice over or else you can't proceed. I didn't feel smart looking
around cuz there was barely anything to find either. >_>;
I will add to this that I did really enjoy finding some of the squirrells when I got into that
and I feel like it filled the hole of not being able to find cats like in the previous game.
Just a kiss and make up already moment except not really.
 It makes me wonder how many people actually dropped this game around
ch9/10 and never finished. Like I remember I enjoyed pulling of the layers of the mystery
onion in the first game but with lost judgment I had to force myself to do it.  The character
interactions also weren't that fun & there were only a handful of moments I laughed including
Yagami getting scolded by Sawa or not being able to look Kuwana in the eye that one time.
As is with most RGG games the story was too heavy for there to be any fun which was reserved
for substories. I mostly ended up playing this game when I would watch a tv-show before bed
so I only played it when I had nothing better to do or watch which is why it took me a while to finish.
7.5/10
I guess that is one whole point less than what I gave the original huh?
Who are you, you are not Yagami. Yagami wouldn't let this happen /s.
 
So all in all this game was a drag for me despite the battle system being an improvement
and no more mortal wounds (yay). The story was as interesting but it
had some pacing issues and I nearly lost my patience at times.
Basically for me Judgment has a better story and Lost judgment has better gameplay.
This game made me want to curl up in bed instead of actually playing it... does this say enough?
The story at its core wasn't even half bad... but idk the way it was presented made it such a drag
and wasn't enjoying it that much. I also stopped doing substories during the main story
since I felt I would lose the excitement and the flow of it if I lingered too long to do random stuff.
I will say that the ending of this game was much better than the last game I played and it was
actually satisfying in rounding everything up. Also while I could be wrong about this
but I am pretty sure the theme song of this game was about a certain character
being fed up and taking matters into his own hands. My takeaway is that this game
wasn't about Yagami it was about Kuwana. That's why its called ''Lost Judgment''.
I kinda do wanna play the Kaito files someday cuz he's a bro but i'm not sure when...

Would probably only recommend Lost Judgment if you don't have anything else to do
and want to see Yagami and the gang again. Or perhaps want to play every RGG game out there
but be advised this game carries some heavy themes and may be a tough pill to swallow
especially if you have dealt with similar things. What's next? not much but I am kinda
in the mood for an otome game so its either waiting for Matsurika no Kei or Granblue Fantasy relink.

Thursday, January 4, 2024

Fate/Samurai Remnant - Review

 Genre: RPG.
Developer/publisher: Koei Tecmo/Type Moon.
Platform: PS4/5/PC.
Official Site: https://www.koeitecmoeurope.com/fate-sr/
Release date: 28-9-2023.
 
I wanted to play this sooner but since it released the same day as Ys X it ended up
being backlogged for the fact that it seemed like it was a pretty long game.
In december this game also got an update with easier/harder difficulties as well as more
servants being playable in a rematch mode which was enough incentive for me to prioritize
it over other games that I still wanted to play, something like now or never I guess? 
Sadly I can not talk about this game without spoilers so uh you're warned right here I guess.

 
Pro's
- Good story & well written charactters(Most of them).
- Takes a while to get going but it does explain everything making it accessible to newcomers.
- Decent graphics and fitting bgm.
 
Con's
- Basically need to play the game like twice(or thrice without proper saves) to get the full picture.
- Hyper armor is a thing in this game.
- Half assed endings, lacking a proper epilogue.
- MC's personality (not that he had much) takes a 180 on NG+.

Oh hey I remember that Fate/stay night anime also starting like this!
Incase you were wondering, no you do not need to watch any anime or read any VN
as Fate/Samurai Remnant is a stand alone entry with its own story in a different time period.
Which makes this game very accessible if you've never watched or read anything fate related!
I should probably put a warning here or something but this game while fiction is quite
realistic about what old timey japan was like as well as... what it means to be a samurai.
---
I consider myself fairly acquainted with the series as I have watched a few of the anime over
the years, this game did an outstanding job at making sense of the lore of the series.
Due to that the prologue took me 2-3 hours to complete... by 30 hours I was
in chapter 5, its quite obvious to me that this game has VN roots since the scenes could be
on the long side and if you add digressions aka side stories its even longer.
It even has a story branch and multiple endings so be prepared to play it atleast twice
and then reload for the final ending. (There's also a joke end but we don't talk about that one.)
You'll be able to find a guide through google for sure but it is generally recommended to do todoroki/yashiro aka rat route first and then snake route on 2nd play along with the NG+ ending.
 
Just doing one route especially rat will probably leave you unsatisfied and it is definitely worth
to do another playthrough as IMO snek route was generally better than rat.
There are plenty of new scenes available giving further context to either characters
or lore while going for the other ending so despite it being a trainwreck it wasn't all bad.
---
If I had to rate the endings it would be Snek > Greg > Rat > 3rd end.
At first I didn't really understand why Snek end just cut Iori out of the picture
but the 3rd end explains it very well and the dude is just dead inside at that point.
Idk this game is missing some sort of true end but I guess Iori's a deadbeat samurai 4lyf
that is if you make the morally correct choice and not pursue something for personal gain.
---
 
While playing the game I generally did like the MC Iori but that kinda changed after the 3rd ending
and now I just can only see him as a deadbeat samurai. Also Iori and his servant Saber weren't off
to the best of starts they would often buttheads early on and while they could work together
to some degree another Master and a rogue servant had to explain all of the basics of
the ritual to Iori. As you can see the story is very slow due to that.
Iori was mostly indifferent and just really wants what's best for the town
so he actually got mad at his servant for destroying a bunch of shacks.
As some NG+ exclusive scenes turns out... Iori is actually a bit of a maniac too
and not much better than your typical ronin he's just more nice about it??? idk how to explain.
If Welkin was one of my favorite protaginists, Iori was one of my least fav's.
Well... Iori and Saber just didn't trust each other very well in the beginning but it did get better.
Because trust doesn't always come so easily and besides I did enjoy their interactions
as well as some of the other characters and the rivalry between masters.
Saber is kind of like a brat, cocky and also a glutton... but does have his heart in the right place.
Also Saber is often described as a woman but I thought she was a guy or like femboy.
Doesn't help that they refer to themselves as boku. >_>; Oh well enough about that
Saber didn't really act like a woman and the game actively shipped him
with someone because of actual history so I am like anything goes amiright.
That explains a lot, no wonder things turned out like they did.
Other masters that I liked was Zheng Chenggong and his servant Archer but honestly
depending on the route Chenggong was like the least developed character in the game. Archer
was great but also underdeveloped which is sad cuz Chenggong and Archer had good chemistry
and were voiced by Maeno Tomoaki and Ono Kensho! too bad plot was rude to them.
I didn't really like Chiemon but Okamoto Nobuhiko did a good job voicing him
and making him really intimidating. His servant was eh... fitting to say the least and despite
not liking him I understand why he did what he did, he's had it up to here like fuck dis shit
meanwhile Lancer is like please accept my affection you are worthy of love and Chiemon
is like no but she will follow him to the depths of hell anyways. How bittersweet.
Takao Dayu was okay but I generally am generally mixed about Yui Shousetsu
who even after the snek route I still feel indiffirent about, mostly cuz they were lowkey
giving shipping fuel at the end but also did nothing with it.
Also this game went too far back with history so some things were lost on me like
Iori's servant saber real identity and everything related to him. I had to google some names
and god I nearly cried like oh no, no no since they sticked to the facts.
A servant even joked about it that it is okay if you don't know who he was... lmao.
 
Literally half of this game in a nutshell.
The story and pacing was pretty slow but had it been any faster I would be overwhelmed?
so I am actually somewhat glad they took their time and I could re-familiarize myself
with the fate universe but I will admit that it felt like it was dragging itself out
and the characters had no idea wtf they were doing or someone got in the way
and oh damn gotta go back to base cuz tired and hungry.
Saber is a glutton...
Fate Samurai Remnant was like a game of cat and mouse and while at times fun
and interesting it ultimately overstayed its welcome and I didn't even enjoy the
final chapter, at this point I was about done with the last minute shenanigans.
Moving on the first playthrough ending only brought a sense of relief that it was over
it didn't really wrap itself up properly only setting the player up for round 2.
Well honestly by this point I was like uh what in the fresh hell? it took me 30+ hours
and I don't even get a decent epilogue and yet you want me to play it again?
Ok sure but give me five to recharge. I realized that at this point the only thing I really
liked was the general turn of events and of course the characters. Except
Chiemon&lightning horse. These two got on my nerves so much I kid you not!
Anyway there were plenty of fun character interactions and the story was unpredictable
that you wouldn't know what was really going on which I really liked kept things interesting.
Also because I know fate already I knew who Boss was but in this game he was a rather annoying
side charactter and mostly used as comic relief, I remember he was a bit stuck up
in the anime series by ufotable but not as bad as in this game.πŸ˜‚
Woah hey there greg, no spoilers please!

TL;DR
Its a good game if you like to be challenged by the gameplay and if not there's always the newly
added easy difficulty so you can just enjoy the story and the like without worrying of performing well.
Iori did not have much of a personality and most of the other cast just stood out to me
more than the protagonist itself including Iori's servant Saber.
I did like the story,characters and the unpredictability of it all while exploring old-timey japan
and the game had a good sense of humor but yea I just have a few gripes with it all.
Iori definitely grew stronger but everytime I faced enemies with shields it seems like that wasn't
the case. By the end of the game I was kinda done with the recycled enemies, there's NG+ exclusive
mobs but they are just supersized versions. I think occasionally enemies with shields are fine
but not every boss-like enemy. I wanted to like Fate/Samurai remnant more but yea...
I think I liked more than enough and it just kinda overstayed it welcome.
Dodging or countering was the only thing I felt like I was good at, breaking shields was a chore.
Still had shields not been there battles wouldn't last as long either maybe it is ok after all.
While I played on normal I briefly lowered the difficulty for NG+ but realized
it became too easy and actually switched back since I kinda missed the thrill of the fights.
((What am I doing to myself?!))
Me after every single battle.
I guess this post is kinda long but this game was long which just leads me to ramble
about the characters a bit and this was only the opening section, whoops.
It may seem like I am kinda mixed and perhaps I am... but it was still
an okay game with a good story and cast, over and out.
 7/10
 
More rambles after the jump i'll just be talking a bit more about the gameplay experience
and characters but the above should be good enough of a TL;DR.
You can skip to my final thoughts to get another gist I guess?