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!