Kai no Kiseki Farewell O Zemuria - Review

Genre: RPG.

Developer/publisher: Falcom
Platform: PS4/5/PC.
Official Site: https://www.falcom.co.jp/kai/

Release date: 26-9-2024.

 

Alright feels like its almost tradition for me to play a falcom game in september every year...

and I kinda feel old when I realize i've been at this for over 10 years.

There's a lot to think about but I tried to go into this game with very little expectations

but honestly it was hard, it seems falcom really pushed this a certain way and tried to get

old fans to come back for it because it promised a lot.

 

**I feel like I need some permanent disclaimer that this is just a blog where I ramble

about games I play, a place to write some thoughts on the wall.  If you don't like it

then close the tab, you can always play it yourself and form your own opinion.**

 

Pro's

- Rean route and Kevin's route were great.

- Grimgarten is kinda fun actually.

- Storywise it really delivered... and a lot of things makes sense now.

 

Con's

- Van's route was a slowburn and just boring compared to the rest.

- Maybe not make characters unplayable in grimgarten if they joined up prior.

- Gameplay balance is weird; its either easy or made to make your life miserable.

- 

 Anyway on to the game itself! it is structured similarly like reverie and there's a new and

improved marchen garten but with a twist if ouroborous decided to mess with it. OK I guess...

its like snake gang improved the original. Whenever I had to go in there for the story(early on)

 it wasn't really interesting. Some of the events may've been amusing in there, however it still felt

like it was but an after thought. It seems they can't let go of gacha mechanics so that's there as well. 

Grim Garten is just a grind dungeon where you can freely decide who to play as but sadly there's

some exceptions depending where you are during the story. I am grateful to the gacha gods for

gifting me Risette's black dress and some accesorries as well as Rion's bath towel.😅

Combat is pretty much the same as the kuro games except with improvements

so I won't be going into that, newly improved so it doesn't get stale I guess.

 

In terms of graphics the game looks great, they seem to take a different approach with scenes

at times; to try and make it more movie-like. Falcom sure has improved with this.

Music was pretty good, I loved the OP and I always listened to it when I booted up the game

except for when I took a short break to do whatever like chores. The final dungeon theme

this time was amazing and I loved it, like you just knew this was it!

 

I liked how everyone was covering each others eyes in this scene LMAO.

 

Things I enjoyed were mostly the little things like character interactions as shown above 

and it was great  when the main story actually progressed but depending on the route

I found it varied heavily and not every route was as great as the other.

Some parts were a bit of a slog especially early on not much happened.

Dog aggro is serious business, Van's a real magnet.

The prologue was kind of exciting but things calmed down quick for a bit  in chapter 1, honestly

it was like a reintroduction to everything I still knew & then some. I know my memory is not

great but its not that bad, I struggled to keep playing during those parts. I know all games

have their boring or slow moments but at times it could seem they focus too much on small

matters to stall or kill time till something happens that requires immediate attention

till then you focus on doing random requests so Van doesn't go out of business

which is what most of Van's route felt like which was not great.

 

Damn he wastes no time... huh?

 

It took me 50-60 hours to finish the game and the reason for that was mostly

because I did side quests so chapter 1 took me like 15 hours, maybe i'm slow but when

I closed the game I saw the completion at 40% in ps5 menu I was shocked because not much

of note had happened really, thankfully it picked up from then on in the different  routes.

If I had to rank them it would be Rean > Kevin > Van.

Hello good sir, this is a no smoking zone.

I did however stop doing sidequest during ch3, because I felt like it was time to get back

on track with no distractions. Had I skipped sidequest ands just focused on the plot then...

I think I would be done a lot sooner. 

 

TL;DR while I don't think Kai is a bad game, it can be very enjoyable however I think

Van route just spins it wheels for too long while we get big reveals elsewhere till we finally

get the bang for our buck with Van but at that point it is the end which sure was something.

I'll recommend this game to long time trails fans but if you're new to the series

this is not the place to be, there's lots of games you could try first but Kai is not one of them.

More ramblings after the jump but there's some complain'o-jutsu

but I feel like I should get it across that I generally enjoyed the game!

 

Ys Memoire The Oath in Felghana - Review

Title screen not much so have one of these images you unlock for clearing the game?

Genre: RPG.

Developer/publisher: Falcom
Platform: PS4/5,witch.
Official Site: https://www.falcom.co.jp/ysf/.

Release date: 22-5-2024.

 

With not much games of interest coming out and to take a break from otome games

I decided to get this game instead. Ys Felghana is also another ys games I never played

so now only VI and Seven remain unplayed.

V does not count and/or doesn't exist, remake it falcom... it deserves better. 

 

Pro's

- Fun boss fights (some annoying ones). 

- Exploring is rewarding, plenty of goodies to find in each area.

- Great OST.

 

Con's

- Ending feels a bit rushed.

- Short, its replayable but lacks an optional boss or reason to grind to lvl 60.

 

More rambles after the jump there's not really any plot spoilers in this post

but I did write somethings that bothered me, its all pretty minor.

 

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.

 

Kuro no Kiseki 2 Crimson Sin - Review

Lol, they buried Aaron...

Genre: RPG
Developer/publisher: Falcom
Platform: PS4/PS5.
Official Site: https://www.falcom.co.jp/kuro2/

Release date: 2022-09-29.  

Okay its that time of the year! unfortunately while I greatly looked forward to this game

I did not enjoy it as much as I had hoped! first of all this is a direct-sequel to kuro no kiseki

so I don't recommend starting with this game. Sadly when this game launched

there was a bunch of drama Llama due to chinese streamer that rushed the game

and finished it in a day or so and a lot of fans were disappointed.

After playing it myself I can sort of understand why!

I will say this here, I tried to be positive but this game is far from perfect

this is not one of those cases where sugar coating it is gonna make it better.

Anyway if you don't like what you're reading close the tab and

go play it for yourself and form your own opinion.

There won't really be many plot spoilers in this post, though some notes

about random scenes but nothing with full context.

Pro's

- Story has an interesting enough premise and it is good as a direct-sequel.

- Rion and Celis are goat, Nadia and Swin are cute little angels.

- BGM was good, tho mostly boss fights.

- Fishing minigame is back and better than ever.*

Con's

- This game does very little for the trails series as a whole.

- Dumb bad ends with time travel gimmick yet no consequences for it.

- We hardly visit any new areas.

- Characters get too careless and OOC in a way that does not fit.

- Minigames for the sake of having them.

I'm going to start with the things that I liked!

I loved spending more time with Rion and Celis and learning more of them

they're also Bergard's disciples/students and they go way back. Sadly Bergard couldn't

be around much in this game but these guys have our backs most of the time, especially Rion!

I liked the scene where Celis kicked a door and Rion went like oh my that's quite sturdy isn't it?😅

or the one where Rion covered Celis's mouth as she was about to spout obscenities.😂

I Need more cheeky guys like Rion in my life...

 Someone at falcom may have been a Eugeo fan though as Rion's S-craft is quite the reference!

and well he ended up being like a true bro too so... hmm!

Cuz Bergard isn't present at all in this game and I wish Rion/Celis replaced him in full

but they ended up being more or less guests that join at fixed times.😭😭😭

A timeless classic...

 Nadia and Swin are also back and they're so cute and sweet, most scenes were fun with them

also plenty of fun moments with the cast in the game, it wasn't all bad.

Okay you may be like what does this have to do with any of the plot? well it doesn't

the plot is mostly about the eight genesis, Quatre also gets more development

as his backstory was actually pretty big and could definitely not be told before.

Unfortunately this game may have been about the eight genesis but it did a terrible job

at even explaining wtf they even are... instead we get an entire chapter full of bullshittery

but hey just in case anyone misinterprets this sentence i'll add that atleast it wraps it all up

pretty well and there was a reason why garden master wanted the dang things... and why red grendel exists. So even if this game does nothing for the series as a whole it is good as a sequel.

Elaine has a nice ass.

Sadly I thought Elaine would have more presence but more often than not it felt like Swin

was the second protagonist and she was even sidelined for a whole chapter.

Haha atleast Elaine's final connect event was kind of nice, super fanservicey but uhm

while that is nice its also nothing definite regarding her relationship with Van.

 

Van is a good MC, kuro 1 has showed that but in this game he and the crew have

gotten careless, add into the fact the dead ends are just shock value

its like they tried to turn this into a visual novel! Maybe trails becoming a VN

wouldn't be so bad, perhaps this way they could actually finish the story as a whole. /s

As for Shizuna... she was cool as always but yet again this wasn't her game!

also I didn't really like her costume this time cuz it looked like she robbed a store 

and was caught in the act when going for the pants.😂

 

Anyway if you expect Kuro no Kiseki 2 Crimson Sin to make big progress for the series in general

then drop those expectations cuz you ain't gonna get it! but as a sequel or fandisk to Kuro 1?

yea it is good in that sense but it also doesn't do too much for any of the cast.

In short, Kuro no Kiseki 2 can be a disappointment *if you expect to much in the grand scheme of things.

 

More rambles after the jump, edit: I won't force anyone to read any further as I can sound

kind of harsh, cuz despite loving parts of it I did not enjoy the game as much and actually

expected more of it. Please note that I do not think this game is that bad...

if you really don't like what you're reading then I urge you to play it for yourself

maybe you will like it more than I did! thus my score of enjoyment overall

is a 6/10 this is my personal rating for the game.

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Kuro no Kiseki - Review

Box art is kinda lame so have one of the title screens(they change every chapter)

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

Release date: 2021-09-29.  

I wasn't sure if I should write a post about this game as I usually avoid falcom games.

Kuro no Kiseki is the latest installment in falcom's trails series

its a series famous for its over-arching story, characters and worldbuilding.

I'll try to refrain from touching any main plot points and when I do there's a huge warning

though there are some screenshots but without any context! I don't think the ones i've posted

ruin any aspect of the game that hasn't already been touched upon in prerelease info.

So if you want to go into this game blind with only basic info

then I do suggest to not read past the jump break.

Edit: apparantly falcom has released a patch exactly 1 month after release

that fixes some of the many problems at release(why do I feel like a beta-tester now?)

as well as make Van's scraft better and add some art work with Shizuna during final chapter!

I think its nice and shows they care about the game in the long run before moving to the next project.

So keep in mind my issues with say performance may not exist anymore...

 

Pro's/What I liked:

- Main cast+side.

- Overall plot and decent ending.

- BGM.

Con's/What I disliked:

- Most of the villains.

- Performance issues.

- A part of the last chapter.

 

 

OP movie, I think I watched it everytime I boot up the game

but you gotta wait a little on the title screen before it plays.

Kuro takes place in the Calvard republic, with a new MC and cast.

There are some returning characters as per usual but there role was minimal not to say 

they don't do anything, depending on L.G.C alignment a certain returnee or other character

at some point might even help you. This game can be pretty dark, focuses a lot on grey areas...

anyway its an alright start to a new arc but perhaps might have been better if it was a little shorter

overall I still liked it though! 7.5 out of 10.

 

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