Sunday, March 16, 2025

God Eater Resurrection - review

May as well share the best box art the game ever had...
Genre: action RPG.
Developer/publisher: Bamco.
Platform: PS4.
Official Site: N/A.
Release date: 29-10-2015.
 
Remembering I once played GE2 on vita I decided to get GE2RB on sale
which comes with a remaster of the original game. Its got updated models
 and difficulty rank 11-13 with an extra story and challenges but that's about it.
Oh yea scythes from RB are ported over as well but tbh they don't fit well.
It also doesn't feature the JPN audio for some inane reason. Like its an anime game
I can't fathom why they didn't include the OG audio.
Anyway 10 years ago I did play god eater 2 vanilla, I remember finishing it
and being obsessed with Julius but most of it didn't stuck in my memory at all.
 
Pro's 
- Stellar cast of characters.
- Story is OK but kinda barebones.
- Great soundtrack, this game had some good tracks.
 
Con's
- Bullet editing is nice and all but how about a proper tutorial?
- Blatant padding, especially in the burst segment of the game.
- No japanese audio, for it being an anime type of game bamco should feel bad.
 
Oh honey, you're the only one I really think about.
Story... well it is off to a fairly slow start? you start out as a rookie and slowly end up
fighting against different types of aragami the dangerous monsters
that roam around the world who forced mankind into hiding
and setup a specialized force aka fenrir to deal with them.
God eater and GE burst were also segmented games so rank 1-6 are OG and 7-10 are burst.
There's also 11-13 for yet another arc... but honestly I was about done with the game at that point.
Most of the fun scenes were in the first part of the game aka 1-6.
 I don't got much positive things to say about 7-10 part of storyline as it was rather dragged
out filled with random story missions with a bunch of side characters that added very little
to the ongoing problem. Almost everything was told through mission text which wasn't interesting.
Like oh Kanon might be sad but it wasn't really important...  It did nothing to padd out the game.
To make it worse there were not even cutscenes with them and if they did, only then did the
story progress. Maybe if there were scenes with the backstagers I'd be more invested but it
seems they had a shoestring budget. When it gets to the point again I'd say it was good
but yea a lot of the burst arc was pretty boring and some things
were never really explained either. Life just goes on. 
 
Basically this whole game.
Moving on, while playing through the game pretty much felt like a mission based RPG game with
a silent protagonist who's name apparently is Yuu kannagi but you can name him/her anything.
I named him Crow Armbrust because I am not very original.
The main characters of the game would definitely be Alisa, Soma as well as Lindou but we don't
talk about him much, no instead we spend time wondering wtf happened to him
while doing missions and watching drama unfold that relates to him among others.
Kouta or Sakuya would be the orbiters, important but on the supportive side.
There's also Kanon and a few others but they're like the outer senshi
and just exist to protect mankind another day.
Sadly I found the burst part of the game to be mind numbingly boring, sure we get
a hint at someone but other than that it was just aragami slaying business as usual.
Relatable.
 
As this only has eng dub, I say it was okay but it reminds me I prefer JPN voices
as ENG onces often seem like they try too hard. VA's I liked a lot would be voicing
characters like Tsubaki followed by her brother Lindou's. Kouta was annoying, Paylor
was still somewhat fitting for a nerd type of guy who spends too much time in the lab.
Kouta.... his character was okay tho its just his VA tries too hard and just sounds obnoxious.
I picked male MC voice 12 and I am just indifferent about it, don't like or hate it.
Alisa VA was okay... but Sakuya too but I have heard way too many times elsewhere...
and not in the fun seiyuu kind of way, i'm sorry they tried there best.
I didn't like Ren's eng voice though it sounds like someone trying really hard
to sound younger that its almost nails on chalkboard. Even Shio sounded better.
I loved Soma's eng VA though! more often than not his tone of voice hits just right
with the dialogue. His voice really carried his emotion and when he's pissed he really is.
Well he certainly doesn't minch his words.
 
Moving on to the gameplay part I guess?
Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if people dropped this game, whether it was due to the slow
start of the story with boring missions to go along with or the difficult to get a grasp
on gameplay system. Looking at the PSN trophies they get to rare very quick, most people
don't even seem to get to difficulty 3. They probably already played it on PSP
and were like nah not doing this shit again or just gave up.
Personally the gameplay got better once I realized its better to hit it once or twice
than do a whole whombo combo on an aragami. Still the enemies are very aggressive
and just playing a little would tire me out quickly so I only played in short bursts.
Atleast some of the dialogue was funny.
Later missions had 2 to 3 boss aragami's in the same mission...
so if they were meeting up too early I had to restart the whole mission
since things would just get too chaotic. Sometimes I'd get lucky and one
would mind their own business but there were definitely a few tough missions
like a charged borg and a quadriga just to name some cursed combinations.
Also two Yaksha's and a Ravana in part 3 made me take a break from this game.
 
Random NPC has hilarious dialogue for no reason...

Anyway I think I could only enjoy this game by playing it in short bursts
the way the story is presented its easy to remember what happened too
but scenes were never that long, due to this originally being a psp game.
Its literally decided to be whipped out for 30+ minutes and then stop
my longer sessions were about 2 hours but by that point i'd get tired.
 
Obligatory group pose.
  Overall this game seems fun but it gets repetitive quickly.
I was actually bored of it by chapter/difficulty 9 and it dragged a lot as well.
It has a stellar cast of characters and great music but that's about it.
The story is basic and feels flat, people shit on the anime but it can't
be any better if the source material wasn't much either.
The OG GE story(1-6) was IMO decent but burst just felt like an extension filled out
with blatant padding cuz if you get to the point it wouldn't even last 2-4 hours.
I'd recommend this game to those that like hunting/survival games and don't mind grinding
the same monsters over and over, whether its for material or the story itself.
 6.5/10
Yea its 6.5 because of the characters really...
Only thing God Eater Resurrection did was make me a Soma fan. Easily best boi.

More ramblings after the jump but i've pretty much said all there's to say.
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Wednesday, March 5, 2025

Fuyuzono Sacrifice - review

Genre: VN.
Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/fuyuzono/
Release date: 26-2-2025.
 
I honestly wasn't sure whether or not I was going to get this but two weeks before
release I thought on it, the regular edition cover art was nice and I kinda
liked the setting of it? sadly I noticed the price was steep and it really
seems otome games or new games in general have become luxury products.
I sure was nervous buying it at such a steep price, still I liked the setting
and heroines outlook of wanting to decide her own destiny, so I bought it.
 
Pro's
- Great cast of characters.
- Each route has unique ways to solve the key problem in good or tragic ways.
- Lot's of sweet/cute scenes with the LI.
-  Beautiful artwork.

Con's
- Short and doesn't have much substance.
-  Can be a bit cliche or cheesy.
- The final LI has barely any presence outside his own route.
 
 
Art was gorgeous, I loved the fantasy look and soft colours.
Seiyuu seems to be a mix of ones I know and then some I am not familiar with.
Music was pretty fitting but nothing wowed me, I liked the theme that played on the main menu
and the OP song was good too, definitely stuff i'd let play when I boot the game up.
 
Story well I am just gonna say I had 0 expectations, my first impression was that its
rather basic, the heroine had only a short amount of time before it would be her
doomsday aka the day she was going to be wed to the god of winter.
The story itself was easy to follow, there was not a lot of infodumping and it flowed well.
The worldbuilding itself was solid and have no complaints on it.
The LI were interesting so it was still fun to see what was gonna happen or learn more about them.
The prologue and common route are short and to the point...
Fuyuzono definitely won't take you eight common chapters to get to a route!
Oscar's route started out comfy but I couldn't help but feel a little sense of dread
over the heroine's upcoming fate as the bride of the god of winter. 
 
Something I absolutely loved was at times there was a  change in POV enabling you
to see things from the perspective of the love interest. The heroine had no sprite in
the bottom left but she did appear on screen if there was a perspective change which was nice.
The pacing was okay, it wasn't that slow I was getting bored, still this was also not
a long game either. I'd say its perfect if you're tired of longer games.
 
The game seems to encourage multiple playthrough's since I keep getting extensions
of the very first scene in the game the more routes I completed which was a nice touch.
 
Characters
Oscar... I liked him a lot but I think that's pretty much because of his personality.
His route was pretty much focused on his character but didn't touch upon all plot threads
because that was sacrificed for the romance. I thought Oscar was pretty great
despite that and this man is willing to go very far if need be...
Elias route felt like it was good for introduction due to him explaining a lot
about the legends surrounding the gods. It wasn't too focused on romance
but it did take babysteps towards that so it wasn't bad. While it was also focused
on his character, I think they over did it with the angst in some part near the end.😓 
Still I think Elias needs an honorable mention because he also was a stellar supportive character!
Dylan was an amusing character, if I had to recommend one route from the game
to anyone it would probably be him. That's mostly because the relationship
started from zero instead of already being friends.😄
Besides there's definitely an audience for guys like Dylan...
Regis was quite likable, but his situation was more complicated than I'd thought
and this game has some really dark undertones that tend to get glossed over.
Like we can see some of it in Dylan's route but in his own that isn't part of the main issue.
For a poster boy he wasn't too bad but romance wise it felt kind of similar to Elias
where they went from acquantance to friends to lovers but with Regis... it was
very obvious he liked Laeticia from the start. I guess its okay not everyone
has to be so curt like Dylan or the friendly guy everybody knows like Oscar.
Regis route also felt like it was the main one and the rest didn't quite compare.
Hiver probably stood for hibernation because he just doesn't exist outside of his own route.
Regis hinted at him but did so in a way that made me full of dread... and I almost 
skipped out on doing his route, but I persisted for the sake of the conclusion. I liked his story
but yea I couldn't fully get into the route of a character that crawled from under a rock.
 
I guess Fuyuzono Sacrifice was solid, depending on what you come here for.😅 The name
of the game suggest tragedy but the synopsis hinted at seize your own destiny kind of thing.
So it could be a miss if you come here for the former, for me the best ends were satisfying
however there are tragic ends and they can be kind of sad, atleast I thought Oscar's was.
I don't recommend this game if you hate cliche's and cheesy stuff or you have high standards
and want to be blown away by stellar writing cuz while its solid I wouldn't say it was stellar.
I think this game is best for those who have very little experience with the otome genre
and/or don't mind any of the above and just want a short&sweet otome game.
---
Personally I didn't have much in the way of expectations nor did it absolutely blow me away
but it was a pleasant experience. I loved the medieval-ish fantasy setting, I didn't think it
was ever that deep in terms of plot, it had the basics down to a T
but due to the short length isn't able to explore its own setting fully.
I liked all love interests a normal amount, they didn't do much to upset me
but Oscar was definitely my favourite, my apologies your highness.(Regis)
Its not as lengthy like trouble magia or an ero novel in disguise like honey vibes and while
there are bad ends they are not great in numbers. Romance wise there's not going to be
a lot of time to begin with due to plot elements but there's enough to build
a connection between characters... though its easy to say it could seem rushed.
At the very least it didn't overstay its welcome which was a good thing.
Still I want to say otomate should've done better because it seems like they're in a hurry
and not taking their time. You know if this game had like one more chapter for every route
there probably would have been enough but instead we're left with
a snowflake that falls unto your hand and just melts away quickly.
7/10

My playorder: Oscar > Elias > Dylan > Regis > Hiver.
Only the last route is locked till you do all others, I might recommend Elias first due
to being good with introduction and it doesn't throw you into a whirlwind romance like Oscar.
Though if you care about the plot i'd save Regis for before the final route.
Play order I recommend:
Oscar / Elias / Dylan > Regis > Hiver. 
I don't think it matters too much who you pick with the first three so its pick your poison.
 
There's still some spoilers after the jump cuz I blabbed too much on hiver's part
and rambled some more about the characters while sharing some fav cg's.
So if you want to play this game best stop reading here!