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 as
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 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!
