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htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary is a gorgeous game and exudes an indie charm that complements its plot, but the countless brutal deaths and obscure puzzles only serve to frustrate. Even with the option to change the control input to the analogue sticks the gameplay is still very tedious and flawed. On a plus note, the game does suppose the use of PlayStation TV, even if you happen to own one this game will probably not improve in any way over its handheld sibling.
Unfortunately, when all is said and done, NAtURAL DOCtRINE simply doesn't provide an enjoyable experience. A difficult game like Dark Souls will reward patience and show steady improvement of player skill in-game progress, but this is purely hard for the sake of being so. It's too frustrating in today's busy age to spend 45 minutes at a time on the same mission, failing to make any progress for hours. Mid-mission surprises happen too often and the game's design only makes their appearance frustrating rather than tense. There's no saving halfway through a mission, a problem that's sure to annoy Vita purchasers. I haven't finished the main campaign, although I would estimate I'm over halfway. In-game timer reads around 20 hours – although this doesn't include the hours of gameplay lost to rage quits.
I can’t recall having ever played a more repetitive, tedious, chore of a game than Trillion: God of Destruction. The only way I feel that I can describe the game is that somehow the developers went ahead and made a game based on a first draft concept without fine-tuning any of its components even once. It’s a real shame that Idea Factory and Compile Heart’s good reputation has been marred by this monstrosity.
There is a reason to buy Dark Rose Valkyrie. Play it so that you can see the investigation segments, put that system into your own game and create the world’s next Danganronpa.
There is a game based on this same part of history that you can buy that lets you move around a big map, fighting enemies, building armies and doing everything that Dynasty Warriors 9 tries to do but better. It was called ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII’ and it came out two years ago and was made by the same company. Do yourself a favour and buy that instead.
I’ve become a huge fan of dungeon crawlers in recent years and Experience Inc has certainly had a hand in my growing love for them. Having played some of their previous titles in Demon Gaze, Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy and currently Ray Gigant (expect a review soon) I’m a little underwhelmed by Stranger of Sword City. The gameplay is solid but seems overly hard and needlessly punishing to players. Stranger of Sword City feels like a game that's definitely geared more towards the hardcore players. The story, visual and audio all appear very plain compared to their previous titles for me and it’s a real shame.
Grand Kingdom boasts some gorgeous artwork and a very unique battle system but somewhere along the lines, it decided to overcomplicates itself. The first couple of hours of the game can seem like an eternity when you have to read through essays on each feature within the game. First appearances can be deceiving and what feels like a lot of content quickly turns into a linear and repetitive system. That said the game has a really unique and enjoyable battle system that alone makes for a fun time. Once you’ve navigated through all the text dumps the game does become more enjoyable but also repetitive. If you’re interested in the strategy element of the battle system then it’s worth checking out but I don’t think the game will have any long term appeal.
Romancing Saga 2 is an odd entity that has some really interesting and unique features but it’s so basic when it comes to the story, look and controls that it’s more like an RPG lite and feels very mobile freemium type game. Of course, I can’t compare this with the original having not played it but as far as this mobile port version goes I can’t recommend it at its current price point.
Certainly the most fun Senran Kagura game available in English but there are too many other games that do not come with Estival Versus' negatives to warrant recommending it, unless you really want the video game equivalent of watching a raunchy anime while it is still censored for TV.
The game is an enjoyable experience, with the focus on flying action being a welcome change from the usual Japanese games we get to enjoy in the West. It would have been an improvement if the touch screen was utilised for the flying controls in some way, though, rather than just aiming with the circle pad. I played on 3DS, which is a decent option, but I recommend you try the game on Wii if possible, in order to make use of the control scheme initially intended by the original developer.
MeiQ isn't the best Idea Factory International game I've played, but it isn't quite the worst either. It may just be because I'm not as familiar with this type of dungeon crawler as others maybe, but I found my time with it to be tedious, with barely any reward to be found, and my enjoyment itself being sparse and limited solely to the battles. This title may be the first Idea Factory International title I've played and hardly enjoyed, but I still look forward to playing their next title.
While Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters Daybreak Special Gigs does a lot right, it really does have too many negatives to warrant a total recommendation. It is a game that would be used to fill in a dry spell between other similar urban fantasy games, and it is certainly a unique experience once you actually teach yourself how to play it.
Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization is, to put it bluntly, a little disappointing. I was expecting a lot more from it and the promises of improved combat etc… nothing really feels like it’s been changed all that much. Sure, it looks nicer and the maps have a lot more going on, but overall it just feels more of a chore to play than the enjoyable and fun Lost Song. Hollow Realization is far from a bad game it just didn’t resonate with me or meet my expectations, unfortunately. If you’re a fan of Sword Art Online and enjoyed Hollow Fragment and are looking for more of the same, then you’ll enjoy Hollow Realization.
Touhou Genso Wanderer is still easily the best ‘Mystery Dungeon’ style game you can buy in English right now with a far better combat system and a great sense of humour. It is just sad that the game seems to take every opportunity to stop you from getting to that fun, by either making movement far more complicated than it needs to be to unusual localisation decisions. These are things that just get in the way of a game that has been released at an incredibly competitive time of the year. With loads of other games also coming out that will be demanding attention, Touhou Genso Wanderer needed a bit more polish than it got to stand out.
Overall, I found Mask of Deception to be a slow affair with big chunks of the game being text-based and the battle sections few and far between. I’ve played a few other VN’s in the past so I knew what to expect but I wasn’t expecting it to be that text-heavy. There were moments where I’ve set the text to autoplay, and I’ve not touched the controller for a few hours. The battle sections are very enjoyable to play, although at first, they can be quite confusing to understand. Mask of Deception isn’t a bad game, the story is very enjoyable, blending in humour and seriousness very well, and the artwork along with the background music are some of the best I’ve seen in a Japanese game.
Black Clover: Quartet Knights regardless of its faults is an enjoyable game that features a nicely fleshed out single-player campaign and chaotic but immensely fun online 4v4 battles. It’s unfortunate that the online is let down by a lack of players, but the game does its best with AI-controlled characters, albeit unbalanced ones.
Operation Babel: New Tokyo Legacy, it has to be said, is essentially just more of the same. When the only feature that I can talk about as a good improvement is the fast-action option during battles, then you know not much effort has gone into this. It’s still a solid Dungeon Crawler RPG and if that’s all you’re looking for or you want to continue the New Tokyo Legacy story, then look no further but don’t expect anything more than just average.
Despite the story and character development being quite praiseworthy, there are unfortunately too many negatives that kill those positives. Though it is not a bad game, it is not something I would personally recommend other than for fans of urban fantasy visual novels. If someone is able to own the game, might as well play it.
I’m a little disappointed with Final Fantasy Explorers not because it’s a bad game but I feel that it could have been better with the addition of even a tiny bit of story. Lack of plot aside the game actually has some great features like the job system and it's crafting, let’s face it who doesn’t want to dress as Sephiroth while kicking ass as a Dark Knight or Dragoon. Multiplayer is clearly where the developers imagined this game to be played and it’s definitely where you’ll have the most fun. Given all the negatives, I still have the urge to continue on, there’s a solid basis to the game just not much more than that.
Samurai Warriors 4 Empires is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it’s the same great 3D hack and slash action you’re used to, with more options to busy yourself with. On the other, it’s the same hack and slash action you’ve played before, with more options than may be necessary. This title itself is a solid addition to the series, but franchise fatigue could see Koei Tecmo's Warriors falling on their own swords.