2023 in review

 Time for another one of those year end posts where I go over all the games I played!

with a small blurb about them. I probably played more games this year but I also deleted

my twit back in september cuz it was a dumpster fire rolling downhill and well

if the only thing I am missing out on is fanart then so be it. There's other ways

to keep up with game or other news, it is okay to be late or miss something

and not always be up to date to the minute something was announced.

So I can say with almost 4 months without it that its not necessary.

 

 

Majestic☆Majolical

 Hmm... I thought this was fine, it had some old school otome game vibes

from a bunch of years ago but it also wasn't that special. Still a mostly good time?

it kind of reminded me of the things I loved and hated from older otome games

so at the same time it was also a nostalgic meme trip.  My favorite routes were

Mitsuki and Shell... idk what that says but I do recommend to get the switch version

since it adds a route for the butler which greatly expands upon the original story

and without it the PC version might look unfinished.

~

Bustafellows.

 Its as good as everyone says it was, Crow best boi! and Teuta was a pretty good heroine.

The story and cast was excellent, high production values and good music.

What else is there to say about it? I hope they localize the sequel but its been radio silence...

so I am getting kind of worried Pqube or whoever else didn't pick it up at all.

~

Yakuza 0.

 Oh boy, while I enjoyed the scenario this definitely wasn't my type of game

and I am still unsure if I will follow Kiryu's adventures in the future.

I bought it on a sale but this game can be a lot of fun and there's a lot of content

to explore so you can easily get hundreds of hours out of it if you enjoy managing

hostesses or buy up the whole kamurocho as well as follow side stories. Speaking of

most of the side stories were pretty fun in this game and worth going out of the way for.

The story was not my thing but it wasn't bad at all since it was interesting to see where

any of it was going and boi there were a lot of twists and turns. I also remember

loving the hell out of Majima though! Kiiiiiiiirrrrryuuuuu-chan

~

Yakuza Ishin!

 This was a spin off with various Yakuza characters in an old timey samurai drama.

Due that it is also the main reason why I played zero before it so I was a little familiar

with some of the characters counterparts. I didn't know all but I had a good time with it

and enjoyed it more than zero. Maybe it was the gameplay but the samurai style

was more enjoyable than what you had in zero which was just a brawler or if

you're Majima you get a bat too but this is Ishin which only has Ryota!totallynotKiryu.

I also really liked exploring old-timey japan and it had a decent story as well so that's that.

~

 

FFVIII remaster. 

This was mostly just me wanting to play the one ps1 FF game I never finished

and it was on a sale... it had a fun cast of characters but I had trouble getting in to it

due to the overcomplicated combat system that is actually quite simple.

By the end of the game I locked myself in a loop of hitting every enemy for 9999 with darkside

and just using recover to heal hp if needed. The whole junction system is just to raise stats

from whatever spells you have drawn and its so easy to completely break this game it is not funny.

Story wasn't bad but eh... hmm just decent I guess? its not terrible though

if I look back I mostly remember Laguna being an idiot and Squall being so emo

while Rinoa is trying to break through his shell which was cute I guess.

~

 

Atelier Ryza 3.

 Hoo boy, am I glad this game exists because if gust ended it with 2 then and there

I'd just be disappointed. This was a solid conclusion to the ryza series

but idk how to feel about that key system which was a pretty useless addition

for the most part and I can count on one hand the times it was useful in combat.

100%ing the game was soul-sucking because you had to get rare keys which is all rng

there also was no optional boss like usual so yea after all the fun character events and the

story is over with you're stuck with... dumb stuff and an empty world with almost 0 challenges.

Honestly I just recommend the ryza series for the story, characters and... not much else. 

~

Judgment.

Yagami the cat detective.

 I bought this game on a sale since I wanted to try another game set in the yakuza universe

but isn't related to Kiryu's saga. What I got was a solid detective mystery starring detective Yagami.

The only thing I didn't like was that I had to go to the  damn sewers after every major battle

because your health bar would get broken and the only way to repair it was to visit some

shady doctor who was also the only way of getting recovery items. Blegh! other than that

it was an interesting game with a solid plot and cast. Maybe I will play its sequel some day

but the broken health bar thing really wasn't a fun experience atleast to me, so I was

glad to hear Lost Judgment did not have that!

~

Tsuitsui.

 This was... a lengthy otome game about a lucky princess and a bunch of unlucky knights.

It seemed like it would be a rom-com but instead I got something like

a game of thrones/the dragon prince the otome game version.

Not that there weren't funny moments but it was just... a type of story showing

what it is like to be a princess in a monarchy and it not being all sunshine and rainbows.

Sadly the hidden route was pretty much the only good one in terms of both story and romance

so by the time I finished it I could barely even care anymore about the other love interests

which really makes them look like they were unlucky afterall. Mister hidden love interest

gets all the love and possible the best ending in the entire game, LMAO.

~

Digimon Story Cybersleuth complete edition.

I played this before FF16 came out cuz I was bored and I was like well I did

always want to play a digimon game since I liked  adventure 1&2.

Note; I only played the original not the new version that came with this edition.

I'll say that it was mostly okay, maybe a bit repetitive? story was nice

and it did kind of make me nostalgic but overall it was too bloated

and I didn't enjoy the grinding of having to digivolve and then dedigivolve to get

to some specific digimon. I get that the main cast of the animes also did this but

in a video game I think they should have increased the stat you get from this cycle more.

Another thing that annoyed me was the blatant copy&paste of certain boss areas so it was

blatantly obvious to me they had a budget which they already used for other environments.

Oh well... I had fun for the most part and it was a good way to kill some time but other

than that probably would not recommend unless you really want to play a digimon game

and/or love this series a lot. I didn't write a full review of this game but this says enough tbh.

~

FF16.

 Ugh... where to start? I thought the story was good and the characters solid

but man it was all so dark and dreary! too depressing! I swear it was so heavy I

had to force myself at times just to see where the story would go and at times

I had to take breaks cuz it was just too much. The end result wasn't the happiest

but it was still good. Idk what to say about it tbh. I hoped they would do a DLC

that would go into leviathan the lost or some sort of epilogue story with Jill&Torgal

but if they don't do anything then I will probably not go back to this......

~

9rip.

 This was an otome game with an occult mystery and a little bit of light horror

but despite the latter I still enjoyed it since each set of routes was unique

and there wasn't much overlap despite their being 9 routes.

My fav probably was Koyou it also wasn't that long so my attention didn't wane as much

as it did with Tsuitsui. It was a pretty balanced otome game that sticks true to its theme

without going off the deep end or trying too hard to only have happy ends like raditale

as there were a variety of endings for better or for worse, Suppose this was my fav otome of 2023.

~

 

Atelier Marie Remake.

 This was a fun atelier game but also a bit too simple (and short).

So once I got all the endings I wanted I ejected myself into orbit

which reminded me of what I did with Atelier Rorona which I would recommend

instead since the story in Marie was pretty barebones and the goals too easy.

Rorona is just a better game, its not as easy but... atleast you will have to try.

I know from a story perspective it all makes sense why Marie is easy but hmm...

I'd only recommend Marie if you want to see what the first atelier game was like

and the short answer is not much but gust had to start somewhere!

~

Radiant Tale Fanfare.

 I basically only got this for Liyan and I regret nothing... Jinnia's new route was good as well.

However the afters weren't that good and I didn't like how depressing some of them were

like Vilio's. I was like otomate really?! you had one job and you did this? meh.

I did like Ion's after and Zafura but idk they were lacking and weren't as fun

as the two new routes which I really enjoyed and Liyan is my best boy!

~

Shuuen no Virche Epic Lycoris.

 This was a bit of a dud to me, look I wasn't the biggest virche fan

and while half the afters were good epilogues this game suffers from inequal treatment

so if you were a Mathis or Lukas fan its like a big middle finger if you like them.

I know that it is difficult for Virche to end up being truly happy and I feel that

the writers struggled at times with the afters, it is so bad that the real fun or fluff

is hidden away in a special section for side stories. So only Adolphe,Yvess and Scien

got decent after stories of what I expect in FD while Lukas and Mathis bit the dust.

Ankou's route was still nice but it was too long since they wrote it from the very beginning

of the original and while it had some twists and turns nothing was truly surprising since

some villains will not change but I did enjoy the interactions Spinnel had with Cappuccino.

Honestly this FD was only really worth it for Ankou, Adolphe, Yvess and Scien...

also it is kind of obvious the original artist may not have fully worked on this

some of the cg's had really odd angles or had errors like Ceres having a big nose.........

otomate was definitely at it again here and using copy cats to get the game out in a year.

~

Scarlet Nexus.

 I bought this game on a sale a while back and played the two routes with a break between them.

It had a solid story and a great cast of characters, combat was fun but it took a while to get

used to which never really happened for me they threw too much at me in the beginning

it was confused black guy.jpg with me. Still by the end I did not regret playing twice

and I even did Karen DLC episodes which made me only think about him and Alice

plus how similar Karen and Alice are to Ankou and Ceres... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa~

~

Ys X nordics.

 What can I say but that I really enjoyed my time with this entry despite

being a bit on the fence about it prerelease. Its basically my fav entry next to Dana!

The game could feel a bit slow at first especially the ship parts but the more crew you

get the better your ship gets too. And it wasn't at all clunky like I thought it would be.

It was nice to get to know the NPC's as well, there were only two playables

but in terms of story it made sense why it is like that. All in all a pleasant surprise!

~

Baten Kaitos Eternal Wings & the Lost Ocean.

 Hoo boy, this was a bit of a mixed bag to me.

The story at first seemed not much special but it did pick up and came together pretty well

by the end, however whatever character interaction there was felt kinda flat to me.

Jokes were few and between but there was some humor at times.

This game just suffers from old game is old problems with annoying puzzles 

or long boss fights as well as a very original combat system. The only plus is the gorgeous environments and the inclusion of the guardian spirit which is also you the player

who helps the characters, the whole card based system is just you offering them suggestions.

Overall it might be good if you're a patient gamer and just like old games

but idk I had some trouble getting into it all since it took a while to get going.

The game has a certain nostalgic feel to it that makes me think of older FF games as well...

I don't think it was that bad or anything but it sure was original. It just wasn't for me.

I do want to play origins one day so perhaps maybe? but not any time soon

mostly cuz they didn't come out at the same time and well I learned

my lesson ages ago to not play game sequels/prequels back to back.

~

Witch on the Holy Night.

This was a pretty good VN and I actually got kind of addicted to it!

I did have some gripes with it but its nothing major and can pretty much

recommend it to any visual novel fan unless you don't like nasu for some reason.

The visual style was also very unique and I loved the art as well, the only real downer for me

was that the text displays over the sprites instead of a text box but I got used to it.

So yea I enjoyed it and wish there was a part 2 or something but alas it does not exist....

~

Yakuza Kiwami.

 Well this game was a breeze to get through what I mean by that, its pretty short.

While I did end up liking Kiryu more, the story felt kinda flat and didn't grab me as much

maybe it is because this was the first ever yakuza game and I can accept it as an origin story

or this is how it all started.(even tho the made a prequel later down the line) Combat was

pretty good, Majima was annoying but I still love him somehow. He's just a big dork.

The only thing I really disliked was how that they would have story markers

but then suddenly stop using them and leave you to go figure it out yourself this happened once

in the beginning with the stupid npc and then again after meeting Haruka. Its like the game

suddenly treats it as a substory and they couldn't be bothered to put a marker on a shop or hospital.

For a remake of the original I think they should have done a little better.

Overall it was just okay, my favorite substory was Bad-Ass-Dads the rest was mostly

like damn 10 years in the joint makes you a prime target for getting scammed huh?

Also I didn't like how there were a bunch of substories that could have been main story

they were even fully voiced with proper scenes and all! meanwhile chapter 6 be like

focusing on side characters like Takashi and Date-san. This made me go huh?

but I guess they didn't have too much to work with so it is what it is.

~

 

Tales of Arise Beyond the Dawn DLC.

 Hoo boy! have you ever seen a series/movie,read a book and were like man that was

a whole load of nothing? this DLC addition falls into that category for me.

So while it was nice to see the gang again it was so obvious they didn't have that much

material to work with and the budget to even do anything proper so we didn't even

end up seeing much new, there weren't any unique bosses cuz they were all recycled

from the main game except 1. We also had to relearn skills again and reforge weapons

cuz this is a small indie company who couldn't implement a proper takeover feature.

I will applaud them for trying cuz I liked Nazamil as a character and empathized with her

but at the same time just don't think this was necessary and a case of too little too late

cuz this game is 2 years old. Let this be a lesson for other developers to not go

recycle factory just for a tiny little new story while the gang gets together again.

Recycling is okay sometimes but this was overkill, whether this was a lack

of creativity, budget or time remains unclear but its easy to figure it was like that.

Honestly what Bamco did here with Arise makes Kuro no Kiseki 2 look great

and if I compare it like that it really is better even if that still has its own set of issues.

Honestly at this point aka 2 years after release I expected a new tales of game and not a 20 hour

DLC with recycled assets and a story about a character that isn't seen anywhere else.

Atleast Tales of Graces F added lore about Sophie and such but this? it didn't do much of note

other than introduce a random character and it didn't even let Alphen finish his line to Shionne

cuz they probably ran out of budget and we already know what happens with them from the credits.

All in all this DLC episode was wasted potential...

~

Valkyria Chronicles.

 This was basically my last game of the year that I managed to finish and man am I glad

I played it because not only did it wash off whatever the above was it also had

solid romance in turbulent times. Sure the gameplay could be a bit challenging and a time sink

but the rest was mostly A+ and  I have very little complaints which is mostly about

RNG being RNG and sidestories being easy to miss if you progressed to far

cuz they got stuck between old chapters and it was such a pain to flip through the book

to find them that the only one I did was that beach episode and one about Alicia baking bread

but for that last one it was the end of the game and couldn't be bothered with ones that had stages.

All in all it was a good game but due to playing with jpn voices at the same time

it also led to a bunch of code geass jokes and can't help but wonder if it was inspired.

I mean what if Lelouch was completely evil, evil enough to not give a shit about C.C

and tell her to die. Also Faldio being literally Suzaku I just can't anymore. Rofl.

~

As you can see I have played a variety of games this year while also branching out

and trying something new like the yakuza series. I still have a long way to go with that one

but all in good time! In terms of otome games not much interests me anymore and I think

I really am at the point where I will depart from the genre unless an upcoming release

still catches my eye so uhm I guess Matsurika no Kei is the only thing that even sparks

my interest so its just back to playing RPG's or something. A big mood for me this year

would have been to work on your damn backlog instead of adding one more game to it

and I did just that! but I think I am going a bit too fast thru it so I will slow down.

---

Also yay Cupid Parasite FD got announced already for an english release!

nothing yet for 9rip or tsuitsui at time of writing this but aksys has plenty

on its plate that announcing anything too early wouldn't work well for them.

 

As for other note worthy news it seems there won't be a kuro no kiseki 3 either and they're

going with kai no kiseki instead while also giving it some gloomy title making it seem

like its gonna be the end. Idk trying to get their old fans to buy their game since

they lost quite a few sales after the erebonia arc and Kuro just couldn't make miles but yea

Kuro probably didn't do well enough so they will try something else to keep fans attention

well I guess that's what you get when you try to keep fans to come back for 11+ games

some will just say no, its enough I can't keep up with this series and stop/take a break.

Falcom also want to pour out more than one game per year and idk about that...

its really wait and see with falcom since i'm such a grandma shaking me cane after kuro 2

nearly burnt me out, i'm really at the end of the rope with them. As for gust I won't bother

with their new gacha as I have 0 faith in them making a lasting one but if they make

a new console game or try something else in that regard like other IP then I am game.

However I will be more laidback next year since it feels like I am doing spring cleaning

on my backlog which is great to keep busy but at the same time I also need to take it easy.

Happy 2024!

Valkyria Chronicles Remaster - Review

I got the game digitally but have the boxart since its pretty nice.

Genre: RPG.
Developer/publisher: Sega
Platform: PS4.
Official Site: N/A

Release date: 17-5-2016.

 

This was yet another game I got on a sale and decided this was up next in my backlog.

Wait its all sega? always has been. I did try out valkyria revolution once which I also

bought on a sale but I couldn't get into it? i'm pretty sure it was the story-telling perspective

that put me off. Oh well here I am trying to give the valkyria series another try!

I don't think there are any main plot spoilers but I do discuss some stuff

so it is not completely spoiler-free but hey this game is from 2008

so if you haven't yet played it or have plans don't read!

Pro's

- Good story and cast of characters.

- Nice artstyle and fitting BGM.

- Figuring out and completing the fights gives a sense of victory.

Con's

- Survivability can at times be too RNG dependant, leading to needing to savescum.

- Can't skip prebattle scenes or fastforward enemy turns.

- Easy to miss sidestories if you purchased them later since they get placed alongside older chapters.

 

Storywise I liked the beginning, tis a story about war which isn't fun and it is serious, still

it was easy to feel and understand SOME of the characters as the story progressed.

It was also quite realistic and at times a little unpredictable, yet sometimes

it is also a little predictable in a good way. Due to that I was easily hooked.

Unfortunately as the game went on the pacing was too fast and ended up spending more

time in battles so by the time and important event happened related to a character all

I was like wtf are you serious? just like that really?! This game does the bare minimum

to flesh out its characters if you don't get the sidestories as early as possible AND go

back to read them since they get put between old chapters which was pretty bad design.

Maybe it was a me problem since the only thing I grinded for was the penetration order

which needs sniper rank15, most money went into weapon/tank upgrades so yea I didn't

get most side stories till way later when I had money to spare. Fun beach episode but that was the

only one I could read normally, the bread episode was nice but by then it was the end of the game.

Also forget getting any scenes with NPC characters they get nothing at all and you basically

gotta headcanon it yourself which I dislike. The only characters I actually cared for

were Alicia and Welkin, also Faldio I guess? Isara,Rosie and Largo grew on me

but they were just kinda there and part of the team.

I felt really bad for Selvaria and Maximilian was just a massive jerk and that's putting it nicely.

They tried to pull a pity card on him by giving us some last minute backstory but that was

too little too late and honestly I felt more about Faldio than that stupid jerk.

Imagine Lelouch telling C.C to die, yea I went there. I basically convinced

myself that this guy was Lelouch at his utmost worst which is a lot.

The Code Geass jokes don't end here because LMAO @ Faldio.

Honestly I do like this game, good story&cast and the gameplay is interesting and finishing

the game or certain battles did gave a sense of victory and the ending was very good

but you know it is also too much RNG so I find myself having to save too much

just to make any decent progress, chapter 17 was a complete nightmare for me.

Let me explain...  a unit can dodge and survive the turn but also could get Ko'd.  Basically

nothing is guaranteed, units can miss point blank range but on the retry just score x3 times

in a row and there is nothing like a probability to hit, proficiency is random too

which can either lead to having the best time ever or the worst. Also metal allergy?! 

is that even real? or suddenly getting moody that you can't even do anything are you serious.

I'm all for a little randomness and can deal with the proficiency stuff but at times all I wanted

was to take out a heavy tank and I know I could but it keeps missing till suddenly

rngesus said yes, you will hit the tank and it will explode. I know good positioning can

change the outcome of the turn too but man so much trial and error I am tired.

I hated how saving/loading was literally the only way I could get shit done

suddenly I miss the utawarerumono series that just had turn-redo.

So once again old game is old despite it touching up on the graphics.

I don't regret playing this but man... it was exhausting trying to figure it out the right tactics

especially with my pea brain and making many a mistake. Its easy to say its not for everyone

but hey I still tried! and had some fun while stepping away from it all with

a sense ofvictory which is better than nothing or only a relief that it was over

like with a certain DLC that came too little too late!

More ramblings after the jump but I basically just summed up the best and worse

incase you don't want to skip to my final thoughts.

Tales of Arise Beyond the Dawn DLC - review

Atleast they made new camp menu images...

  Since Bamco decided to a very belated DLC episode/expansion for Tales of Arise

I did have some mixed feelings since it had been so long BUT since

I really liked the main characters I decided to just get it anyway!

Honestly it was really nice to just see everyone again...

I remember the ending of the original made me really warm and fuzzy

so I was kind of apprehensive at some story set before the end credits.

 

If I had to be really honest I am not really fond of DLC this late after the launch

of a single player RPG. I basically thought Arise was done... yet here we are!

this felt so weird and so out of left field that at this point i'd expect a new tales of

to be announced and not a DLC for a two year old game, wtf bamco?!

 

Pro's

- Fun character interactions.

- Decent story about Nazamil.

 

Con's

- Recycled bosses and hardly any new ones.

- Half the stuff doesn't even carry over from the main game, so relearn/reforge etc.

- No proper epilogue for Alphen's busywork.

The story mostly focuses on a girl named Nazamil, I had a soft spot for her quickly...

she has been through some shit alright and she is also a kid still so I couldn't

be too hard on her. Some aspects of the story like the rifts between the Dahnan and

Rena peoples were kind of cheesy and predictable... but cheesy is how I remembered

my tales of arise so I didn't mind it that much. I personally loved the skits

and character interactions which was basically what pulled me through the DLC

after I initially put it on hold till I felt like I wanted to see the gang again.

More rambles after the jump, I won't be detailing the plot much but there are screenshots.

Yakuza 1 Kiwami - Review

 Genre: Adventure/action.
Developer/publisher: Sega
Platform: PS4/pc.
Official Site: N/A

Release date: 29-8-2017.

 

I decided to continue working on my backlog and decided its back to yakuza

to follow the adventures of Kiryu-chan! I casually added Y1&2 kiwami to my backlog

from a psn sale after finishing Y0, since I thought why not? why should I not

try to make my way through the mountain of yakuza games? however I won't be doing

a marathon and will go through it when I think the time is right to visit Kamurocho again.

Since I don't like brawlers I played on easy from the start with gore set to mild

hmmm? seems this is becoming a tradition! Also most of my screenshots

are funny things from sub stories or Majima in general.

Pro's

- Good for an ''origin story'' of the first ever Yakuza game but not much else.

- Majima is annoying but also a delight.

- Plenty of optional content like minigames and substories.

- Combat was good, I actually used brawler stance more in this game compared to Y0.

Con's

- Why the hell did certain substories explain main plot threads? like hello

mainstory is there for a reason???

- Game has story markers but also randomly stops using them in the middle of it all.

- Pretty short compared to Y0.

This review isn't really spoiler free as I did kind of sum up the game in my final thoughts

so you're warned! the rest is just rambles and my experience of the game!

Witch on the Holy Night - Review

Title sceen not much so uh have the box art of the limited run???

 Genre: VN.
Developer/publisher: Type/moon.
Platform: PS4/5/Switch.
Official Site: N/A

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v777

Release date: 08-12-2022.

 

Since BK1 was a bit of a mixed bag I decided to get Mahoyoru as my next game

since I didn't really feel like playing anything else and just want to relax and read!

I wanted to try something different again from the usual otome stuff I sit through.

and Mahoyoru was one of the few options available. I won't post much screenshots

and they're all from before chapter 5 since PS4/5 cuts off capture from that point

so its probably best not to share anything past that point.

 

Pro's

- Good overall plot and great cast of characters.

- Art is gorgeous and bgm fits the mood/tone of the scenes.

- Fun optional sidestories that give side characters their spotlight.

Con's

- Slice of Life scenes can seem like it drags on at times.

- UI can take a bit to get used to if you prefer text boxes.

This game is by the makers of fate/stay night and shares the same universe

but you don't need to read that first or anything and can dive in here just fine

as the story itself has nothing to do with fate and is self-contained.

There are 0 choices in the main story as well so you can just enjoy it without stress.

For some reason they made an optional gag scenario with choices but you can

always use a guide for it if you need it. 

 

TL;DR I thought it was a good VN, some of the characters could

be a bit insufferable but ya know they're teens? most of the time it was just Aoko anyway.

Sadly it seems this game does kind of cut itself short and that they wanted to do more

but haven't gotten around to it, that aside it still was pretty well-rounded & the end was nice.

Can pretty much recommend it to anyone if you like visual novels in general.

More rambles after the jump but its just a little more detail of my experience with the game.

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean - review

 Genre: RPG
Developer/publisher: Bamco/tri crescendo/monolith soft.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: N/A

Release date: 14-09-2023.

 

So I decided to get Baten Kaitos remaster for the switch, this contains two games eternal wings

and the lost oceans + origins. I will be playing eternal wings and the lost ocean first.

Also disclaimer: this is all just my personal opinion that got formed while playing the game, it could differ from yours and that is fine we all can't like or agree to everything. This review is relatively

spoiler free, I won't really go into the story at all but I did joke about it at the end of the post.

Pro's

- Interesting world/setting and good story from part 2/disc2 onwards.

- Good BGM.

- Nice QoL features like no encount/1hit KO and auto save.

- Peak boss design because someone in a dev meeting dropped the P word.

Con's

- Story doesn't pick up till later and most characters can seem pretty bland cuz of it.

- Long battles, especially boss fights if you don't know what you're doing.

-Time consuming item change system, also annoying how some degrade when in fact they're just cards.

 

Final stats b4 heading to final dungeon, I skipped some sidequests cuz I couldn't be bothered anymore by the end of it I was lvl 70 cuz the final boss was annoying I bet he hated Avocados and Tea.

 

IMHO it was OK at best for a game from 2005, I did think it was a little cliche and i've

seen it somewhere before and the only really good thing was the lore and environments.

Most of the characters were bland, humor was few, far and between which is a disappointment

cuz character interactions are a necessity in rpg's for me! it also has this whole go collect four/five?

thingitis and the biggest offense is how slow this game is in the first half. Then the second half 

fully kicks in after a certain event and I hate to admit how I was blindsided by it, there were

some things throughout as hints but you'd probably wouldn't think anything of it

and well the game sort of keeps doing it like that.

A timeline of my enjoyment of the game would be like:

Beginning: Ok... Eh.. oh... eh.. OH... meh... eh... oho ok..:End.

Literally this game in a nutshell.

This game has a habit of baiting you with interesting tidbits but never actually letting you get

to know the characters till way later, Xelha is the biggest offense at this since she is the one

with the most potential but also who are you?! all will be explained in due time

but this game can test your patience. I wish there were more character interactions too

there's not much romance either but maybe Xelha liked Kalas? i've played many rpg's and BK1

in terms of romance is almost non-existant so by the end it all felt so flat? like okay that's how it is?

the narrative didn't carry it well enough even though characters did care about someone in that way.

I was not amused that I had to find this all out post final boss along with some other small twist...

Sooo I suppose they had other issues on their minds and honestly a lot of the characters

felt closed off even though they're friends.

 

Next the combat while it seems interesting is slow and boss fights often drag on 

due to having bad hands of cards which you use to attack,defend or heal.

It was neat how the player had a role as guardian spirit but... I just don't get why we have

to play out our turns with cards, it just felt so weird to be suggesting things to the characters.

I think my favorite character was Lyude since I sympathized with him, seconded by Kalas

since he wanted no part in taking on the whole empire LMAO which was such a mood early on

but idk about him in part two that is when I just said whatever mate suit yourself.

Xelha grew on me in part two and ended up being my favorite but everyone else

was pretty much whatever. I understand they already went above and beyond trying

to make this game different in many a ways but at the same time make these design decisions

that could make it delve into kusoge territory when its story/narrative is far from it.

Baten Kaitos Eternal Wings certainly had potential but it just was not for me and often wish

I moved on to play something else but by that point I hit the halfway point so I was like okay

let's just gooooo. The only way I'd recommend this game is if you really like to take your time

to get the most out of the combat system and just like slower paced rpg's or just like old games

in general! This game is not perfect but you can get something out of it and the plot does get better

so hang in there I guess? its just blergh old game is old and it has old game issues despite

some QoL improvements that're there as last resort which I definitely used at times.

6.5/10

An rpg with a lot of potential but it is old and it has old game problems.

More ramblings after the jump. Its just more detail of my experience with the game

and some screenshots as well as my final thoughts. Nothing important I haven't said.

Ys X Nordics - review

Genre: RPG
Developer/publisher: Falcom.
Platform: PS4/5/Switch.
Official Site: https://www.falcom.co.jp/ysx/

Release date: 27-09-2023.

 

I decided to just preorder this game last minute like a week before release

yea I was that on the fence about it. Ys games are mostly standalone

and don't really require order of play with the exception of 1 and 2

but those are bundled together nowadays.

The protagonist Adol's adventures are based on real life journals but falcom likes

to just do whatever when they make a new game so one moment

you got Adol at his oldest and the next he is young again.😂

So... if this game sparked your interest in the series its okay to start here!

Its not like falcom's gonna knock on your door if this is your first ys game...

 

Pro's

- Interesting story and a great cast of characters.

- Amazing Soundtrack.

- Fun boss fights.

- Smooth gameplay, no lag or anything on PS5.

 

Con's

- Its easy to gravitate towards combi mode and forget... regular skills exist.

- Confusing spheregrid-like system.

 

In short, I quite enjoyed my time with Ys X despite being on the fence about it prerelease.

it was hard to grow tired of it, even if some end game dungeons got longer

like the last game I played, it was still fun to try and find every chest, quest or

mow my way through the raid/strongholds. I liked the story as well I think

it is out there with Ys VIII. My only gripes would be with the orbment grid

or that I gravitate too much towards combi mode that I forget regular skills exist.

Combi mode just feels too good to be honest. Its a good game and I'm glad I played it!

If you can get past the fact there are only two playables and the graphics

being rough in certain areas then you're in for a good time! I believe falcom

really gave it their all with this game. I'm still pretty fatigued when I think about trails

but if falcom takes their time making their games and not rush them out year after year

then it'll be okay, idk how long this game took them but they deserve a very pat on the back.

9/10

 

More rambles after the jump, there won't be any plot spoilers in this post

i'll share a few screenshots but nothing with further context.

This game's story  is best experienced going in blind.

 

Scarlet Nexus - Review

 Genre: RPG
Developer/publisher: Bamco.
Platform: PS4/5/PC.
Official Site:

Release date: 25-06-2021.

 

I bought this game on a sale a while ago, this goes on sale quite often

and for that price I couldn't say no! since I wasn't sure what to play

till something else interested me I decided to work on my backlog

before adding more to it and honestly it feels better to look at what

you have instead of adding one more game to it from yet another sale.

 

I'm mostly positive about scarlet nexus, while I had a few minor gripes here and there

I enjoyed this game a lot more than the previous dumpster fire that I sat through! 

Pro's

- Good story and great cast of characters.

- Bond episodes are fun and definitely worth doing as you play the game.

- Combat was good but can get repetitive...

- BGM.

Con's

- 80% of the scenes are told like skits, it very obvious they had a budget.

- Late game dungeons were too long and felt different from the pacing early on.

(Its like they finally paid their dungeon designer or something...)

 

This game has two scenarios with different MC's and from what I read before playing

you're basically forced to play it twice for the full picture, I decided to start with Yuito

first since that's who everyone seems to recommend. It takes place in a post-apo

setting about a bunch of kids that're part of a gaurdian corpse that protect citizens

from weird creatures. Not a lot of things made sense at first but as I played

through the game most of my questions were answered! and when I finished

for some reason I didn't feel the need to go through Kasane's route atleast not right away.

 

More rambles after the jump. I don't think there are any real spoilers in this post

atleast not those that are about the plot, I do talk about the characters a little but nothing major.

Shuuen no Virche Epic Lycoris - Review

Genre: Visual Novel.
Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/virche/fd/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v38067
Release date: 07-09-2023.

 

Only reason I even got this FD was cuz I wanted more romance with Ceres and the guys

since... the original game was lacking a lot in that area. As well as not giving one major

character a route which was a great injustice which this game seems to want to remedy?

 

OP movie URL cuz they apparently disabled embedding...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIJLuh_JA_8

 

Pro's.

- Side stories are nice.

- Nice after stories for Yvess, Scien and Adolph.

- Great for Ankou fans.

 

Con's 

- A giant 🖕 to Lukas fans.💀

- Some CG's are nice but they're spread across too many different scenarios... afters feel barren

some also have awkward angles or weird face shots and I am like what is this?!

- Some afters just plainly lack any fluff or fun content.

- With the exception of Ankou's route everything was pretty short.

---

 

There's side stories with all the main characters and then there's the usual after stories

as well as a new side end that takes a spin on the original route from the first game.

There's also a route for Ankou, however you can't do it till you complete the Drifter story.

 

Also it seems they took encore literally and it is not going the be the fun kind and more in line

of what the original game was like. Lukas's left me traumatized and I cannot handle it

so I skipped the other encores. What is even worse is the encores are like 3/4ish hours

with the same experience while the emotion/after stories are like like 1/2 hours at best.

I was quite disappointed with atleast 2 of the afters as well. Ankou's route is by

far the longest and i'm pretty sure it was 8-10 hours in length... hoo boy!

 

The writers apparently said no, you can't have nice things and some characters apparently haven't suffered enough, so here's more despair, Ankou included. Yea I know virche wasn't exactly

a normal otome game but come on, I thought this was a FD but it didn't seem like one, even less

than raditale's. Also while some cg's were beautiful they sometimes had awkward angles

and really nice moments between the characters were hard to find especially in the afters.

So I found it hard to find anything memorable in the after stories, the only ones

I even remotely liked was Scien Brofist's cuz hurrdurr and Adolph.

For Ankou's route they had a nice prequel story called Drifter which unlocked Ankou

and the route was pretty enjoyable albeit very long, this but this game is 

pretty much for him alone and everything else is there as a bonus. 😂

Now for the thing I am most disappointed about, it is the severe lack of fluff and/or fun

content in the afters... cuz unless you're Adolphe,Scien or Ankou they had to give that to us

via a side story and its just sad they couldn't do better for the actual afters.

 

I don't know if I should recommend this game unless you're a big Ankou fan

and are OK with some of the other guys not really getting much else but a few crumbs!

I'm sorry I really tried to like things in this game but I could barely find it...

most of the time I was just bored, missing even the interactions with Jinnia and Liyan.

All the fun stuff were put into side story -interlude- as well...

I guess that not everything has to be truly happy but I just found most of the afters lacking

if only they didn't bother with encore and focused more on the afters cuz it really

feels like they divided their attention too much leaving some other areas to be desired.

 

Idk what score to even give this FD on one hand an 8/10 just for Ankou seems a bit much

but a 5/10 or lower could make this seem like a kusoge... so I guess a 6.5 or 7/10???

cuz hey atleast half the guys had a nice after story! as wells as Ankou being a great addition.

 

My play order was: Lukas > Mathis > Science Brofist > Yvess > Adolphe >Drifter > Ankou.

The only good thing about this play order for the FD is that the afters will gradually get better.

Spoilers after the jump as I will be writing about the character/routes etc!

so you've been warned!!! if you don't want spoilers then don't proceed further!!!

**Ended up fixing some mistakes or adding some stuff but this post won't be edited anymore

and ain't no way I am touching encore more than I already did.

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Radiant Tale ~Fanfare~ - Review

 Genre: Visual Novel.
Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/radiant_tale/fanfare/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v42433
Release date: 31-08-2023.

 

Okay so Otomate decided Radiant Tale needed a FD and since I sort of liked the game

and they added a Liyan route I decided to get it! also it seems like Raditale FD releases

really close to Virche's FD, not even a week apart! 😱😱😱 I didn't realize this

till I was in the middle of Vilio's after and was like no rush right?! 😅

Good thing is this game wasn't that long... phew.

 

Pro's

- Enjoyable FD to compliment the original game!

- Gorgeous art and fitting music.

 

Con's

- After stories have choices but they don't actually matter.

 

 

As this is a fandisc it will have after stories for the main guys and 2 new routes for Liyan and Jinnia

which take place after the common route normal ending of the original Radiant Tale.

After and IF stories are roughly 3-4 hours in length, which honestly was enough as it never

did drag on long enough to overstay its welcome and most of them remained short&sweet.

I did set a good pace for myself and got through an after in a day so I spend

a good week on this which is pretty good value if you ask me but it all depends

how much time you have to want to set aside to sit back and read a little.

 

System is pretty standard as per usual, however I didn't understand why there were choices

in the after stories, said choices seemed to be there for the sake of it. Like congratulation Ion

or telling Ion that he was cool. I'm like... why bother at this point? there's no need for choices

if the outcome doesn't change or there is no dictionary or different scene to collect.

There being choices made much more sense in the new routes...

since there are normal ends but those give no CG.

Art is as gorgeous as ever and Usaba Kagerou and Miko have returned to grace us with more of

their insanely pretty art! Music is fitting enough and I did not have any complaints.

Honestly with most of the after stories I was pretty satisfied and I even ended up

liking certain characters more than I did in the original game which was really nice.

The after stories also further went into matters so yes if you loved the world view and lore

you'll be in for a treat for sure. So I can definitely recommend Radiant Tale to fans of the original

who can't get enough of it! The new routes may depend on tastes of who you were more

interested in. Its good they got routes because I sure was thirsting after one of them back then.

 

However I do think the afters could be either a hit or a miss... in my opinion it felt that

some of them didn't really had a good enough plot, I liked Ion,Zafora and Radie's...

but I had some issues with Paschalia and Vilio's afters and didn't enjoy them as much.

Both IF stories with Jinnia and Liyan were very enjoyable to me so there's that!

Anyway that is just my two cents and I still recommend Raditale FD if you really liked the original

since this is an amazing FD to compliment a good otome game!

9/10

For play order I mostly followed the same order I did in the original with the new routes last!

since this is a fd the order doesn't even matter I just decided this for myself

you could only do your fav's and skip any you don't like too...

Ion > Paschalia > Zafora > Radie > Vilio > Jinnia > Liyan.

 

The non-spoiler babbles end here and from here on i'll be writing about the afters etc!

and sharing my favourite cg's. So be warned there will be spoilers after the jump.

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