There seemed to be no Topic for this...
Well, perhaps you have recently played a game or maybe not so recently ago and you want to share your opinion on it. Did you think it was a good game? Were there aspects you liked or disliked about it? And maybe you would or wouldn't suggest this game to others.

[Wii] Tales of Symphonia - Dawn of the new World/Knight of Ratatosk

To be absolutely honest, I did not like this game. And I still don't like it, although I have yet to finish it.
While the music is pleasant to listen to, being mostly composed of remixes from Symphonia, the new battle music sounds somewhat non-fitting in the general genre of Tales games. It sounds more like something that should be approaching the Guitar Hero games rather than Tales of games.

The story sounds interesting at first, but the entire premise of the journey - and 80% of what the protagonist Emil is talking about - is all about "Lloyd is evil!" and anybody who knows a single thing about Lloyd from Symphonia knows that this is a terrible, terrible plot device that has a very obvious 'twist' to it. Otherwise, the game focuses on Centurions which are sort-of-but-not-really Summon Spirits and basically feels like they are rewriting the entire idea of the world that was built up in Symphonia.

The graphics took the cel-shading from Symphonia and advanced it. I guess you'd say the characters' art would now look designed similar to the character shading from Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword, although the colors are darker and more toned down. The world map has now changed into a literal map where you merely point-and-click to the location you want to go to.

Concerning the voice acting.... well, the great news to previous Tales of Players is that the skits are now voiced, even in the localized version. However, I personally think that the majority of the voices do not fit.
The new characters' voices - Emil, Martha, antagonist Richter, party pet Tenebrae and, those two, Alice and Decus - have decent voices. They, in general, fit the personalities they have to portrait.
Sad news is that, aside from Cam Clarke for Kratos (who has a total of 2 minutes worth of screen time), none of the old voices for the Symphonia cast have remained. They all have new voices and let me tell you, they just miss and miss and miss with every one of them - except, maybe, for Genius. Now that Genius is 14, a slightly lower voice makes much more sense for him.
Collet and Zelos previously had energetic and cheerful (in Collet's case) or careless (in Zelos' case) voices, the kind where they can switch from up-beat to slightly brought down and make it work. The new voices sound bland through and through - Collet has lost her bubbliness, while Zelos' voice actor sounds bored. He can't even pretend to sound excited when seeing the beautiful, ample bosomed Shihna.
And that last part was what made the majority of Zelos' character in Symphonia.
Regal now sounds too high, as if they had castrated him prior to development.
Is it really too much to ask to even attempt to get similar sounding voices if you can't have the old ones?

The battle system is similar to Tales of the Abyss' and includes Free Run and AD Skills. However, I find the Free Run in this game to be very choppy. I also have moments where I attack enemies and the strikes either miss the opponent completely or the character is not reacting in time.
The only two permanent party characters are Emil and Martha - the rest of the group is filled up with either the old Symphonia cast (who come in at certain levels and do not gain EXP themselves, also their level cap is level 50) or monsters. Similar to Final Fantasy XIII-2, you have two human party members and then can form pacts and subdue monsters to fight for you, all with their own element and such.
....Oh and cooking in the game is no longer applicable to the humans. You will only cook for your monsters now and, even then, mostly just to have them evolve like Pokémon to their next levels.

Sidequests in this game are incredibly scarce - I haven't noticed anything and looked them up. There seems to be three in total. While I agree that having a ton of sidequests that are extremely easy to miss like in Tales of the Abyss, having a lack of sidequests is also a bad idea.
And remember the costume titles that are present in almost every Tales game? Especially the ones in Symphonia? Yeah, those don't appear here. Yup, Emil and Martha are basically grafted into their clothes and will never change out of them. Hope you like their outfits!

Would I suggest this game to others?
Mh.... well, if you wanted to enter the Tales of Games and not want to know about what is going on in Symphonia, I would say you could play Ratatosk and pretty much enjoy it. But if you are a seasoned Tales player, you'll find yourself finding references to other Tales games - which are quite fun to do - but mostly you'll compare it to all the others and will notice its many shortcomings.

Overall, in terms of a Tales Of Game, I'd give it.... 3/10
As a general game, probably a 7.5/10

C-A

P.S: tl;dr? Allow me to say it like this... you know those people who complain that Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword feels like it's not a 'proper Zelda game'? Knight of Ratatosk is basically this for the Tales Of series.

---

Hitman Absolution

It's a horrible Hitman game in the sense that a good majority of the game has you sneaking past guards to reach a door. There are a couple of missions where it gives the classic formula of assassinating targets, and making them look like accidents. However, the scarcity of these missions is due to the terribly cliche narrative that has 47 take care of a girl in order to redeem himself. It's a failed attempt at trying to characterize a character who never really needed a personality in the first place.

Gameplay wise the game is decent. Firearms have more power and feel smoother to use than in the previous games. Stealth comprises of hugging corners rather than using the disguise system the series is best known for. The disguise system is easily the most unbalance thing of the game. Here you have a concept where NPC's of the same group have a small feeling that you aren't a part of their group. IE: Cops generally knowing their co-workers. This system is unique and interesting, but poorly implemented. Sometimes the disguise system doesn't make sense. How would an army of mercenaries be able to distinguish a white bald male wearing sunglasses from another bald guy with sunglasses? Or how about SWAT team members being able to know 47 took the place of one of their buddies? Masks don't work in the game, and it's a rather glaring flaw in the game.

My save got corrupted halfway through the game, and I have no motivation to go back to finish the game.
I give it a 6/10.

Assassin's Creed III
Man.... This game was such a let down. I've played about 3 hours of it, and I got to the part where Connor's done a few Patriot missions. I got extremely bored with the game. Connor is such a boring ass character I got sick and tired of his personality that I've lost all motivation to play the game again. AC was one of my favorite franchises, and even though it had a rough start with the first game I still felt that Altair was a more interesting personality than Connor does.
I won't rate this game since I haven't played enough of it.

Tales of Graces F
I loved Vesperia to death, and so I recently got a PS3 just so I could played Graces and the upcoming Xillia. Graces combat system was a definite change from Vesperia, and at first I thought I would never grow to like it. However, after extending my capacity to extend my combos I found myself having a blast cancelling dashes into more artes to keep enemies in hit-stun. Switching from A-artes to B-artes was a great way to hit all the weakpoints of an enemy where I could then restore my Chain Capacity to keep the combo going.
The combat system of Graces is fantastic.
Now then. Let's get to business.

The story and characters in this Tales game are the weakest I've ever played. I've dabbled enough in Symphonia and Abyss to know that the characters develop enough to become likeable.

But in Graces, Asbel Lhant is probably the WORST Tales protagonist I've ever seen. He's your stereotypical knight character that wants to protect everybody. He constantly complains that he needs to get stronger so he can protect things, but when he can't protect things he's complaining about how he hasn't gotten strong enough .
Asbel's idiocy combined with his stupid as hell ideal really drag down the story. If not for the combat system, I feel like I wouldn't have been able to get through this game. It's THAT bad. I don't know how many times I've had to hear the words "friends" and "friendship pact" over the course of the game.

---

Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception

It's alright, got the usual things you'd expect of an Uncharted game, pretty visuals, an indiana jones story and most importantly the amazing setpieces. Yeah for the most part the set pieces are amazing, the ship scenes are possibly my favourite levels in the entire series. That said I feel the story in this one isn't quite as strong as the others. I heard they planned the setpieces first and just built the plot around it and while the character's feel good (I especially like Cutter) and there is a good dynamic between Sully and Drake about the concept of retirement basically the villains and plot feel a little underwhelming, the supernatural twist isn't anything special and is brought in too late to really feel cohesive.

So it's ok but not the best Uncharted.

---

WHOOOOOOOOP! FINALLY A TOPIC WHERE I CAN GIVE MY TWO CENTS ON SOMETHING!

But the only videogame I can think of reviewing right now is Sonic DX...otherwise known as Sonic Adventure.

I used to love Sonic as a kid, he and a lot of the other characters were my heroes, along with Mario and the other protagonists from the mushroom kingdom. But when I was, 15, I stopped playing the games and ditched the fandom. But now that I am more mature I decided to give Sonic a second chance. (And now I realize I ditched the Sonic fandom for selfish, stupid reasons) I decided to play Sonic DX to help me rekindle my once strong love for the series. Sonic DX is one of the Sonic games that is considered a "good" Sonic game, and I will admit that this game is quite good, but it's not perfect.

In this game you can play as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Big the Cat, and one of Dr. Eggman's robots E-102 Gamma. But you start off only being able to play as Sonic. This game is a free roaming 3D game, which is refreshing, it's not that type of Sonic game where you play stage by stage in order by a list, but in order to progress through you need to complete the required action stage by finding the action stage in one of the 3 adventure fields. As you progress through the story and meet the other playable characters, you get to play as them and be able to see the story from their point of view. And speaking of story, the story is simple but it's really great, with intense moments and moments that will probably make you tear up. But the cutscenes have weird animation and awkward english dub moments. :( But still, I wish more Sonic games had stories like this, and for a plus, I actually CARED for Sonic and Amy's relationship in this game. In this game it really did seem like Sonic had a crush on Amy but he refuses to make advancements because he doesn't want to get hurt. (seeing how she always gets in trouble.)

The action stages differ depending how you play as. If you're Sonic, you have to complete a stage by running really fast to get to a capsule or Chaos Emerald. If you play as Tails you have to get to the end of an action stage before Sonic. If you play as Knuckles you need to collect three fragments of the Master Emerald. If you play as Big you must go fishing and catch Big's jumpy friend Froggy. If you play as E-102 Gamma you have to complete a certain task for Dr. Eggman. But for me, the worst character to play as is Amy. She only has three action stages and all you do is get to the end of a stage while avoiding a powerful robot constantly on the chase, and once you get to the end of the stage you grab on to a giant ballon to finally be free of the annoying robot. (Because somehow a giant ballon keeps the robot from shooting the girl down.) Also, playing as Big is a bit difficult and nerveracking at times. And for negatives, sometimes dying in the game feels like the game's fault and there are sometimes glitchy camera moments.



But besides that, this game has plenty of replay value, since you get to play as 6 different characters and after you complete story mode for a certain character there are missions you can complete and unlockables to unlock. And let's not forget the ever adorable Chao Garden. (I thought Chao Garden was better in Sonic Adventure 2 though.)

I give this game a 4/5. Go get this game, don't be turned off just because it's a Sonic game.

Pros:
~Play as 6 different characters and see the story from their point of you.
~Overall story is adequate and isn't over the top. There are heartwarming and tearworthy moments.
~Lots of replay value and unlockables.
~Chao Garden.
~Controls are annoying at some points but otherwise good.
~3D roaming enviroment.
~Action stages aren't repetitive.
~Soundtrack?

Cons:
~Awkward English dub moments and weird animation. Graphics and background are decent.
~Playing as Amy kind of sucks, she might as well not have her hammer or the warrior feather.
~Playing as Big can be difficult and nerve racking, it requires lots of patience.
~Sometimes dying in the game feels like the game's fault.
~Glitchy camera moments.

---

Wow, people still are going on about this? What makes them think this isn't a proper Zelda game? To me this game oozes Zelda.

---

Should try Sonic adventure 2 then, it's awesome. Though hearing it sounds like Sonic actually has romantic feelings for Amy makes it sound like fanfiction to me. Amy is terrifyingly delusional about Sonic (she wished to grow up to look more mature for him), so Sonic is right to keep running and keep her at arms length.

---

I also have no idea why they say it doesn't feel like a real Zelda game to them.
I suppose, maybe they are talking about all the sidequests being fetch quests - although so were tons of sidequests throughout all Zelda games. Or perhaps the lack of an "Overworld" or that the Sky is terrible as an overworld.
Well I can shoot that argument down by using logic - the Goddess put Skyloft above the clouds to be a safe haven to humanity. Do you really think that, with a war going on below and she probably injured terribly, would have the time to bring up other islands filled with fun and adventure as well?
Yeah, I didn't think so....
Oh no, how dare I bring logic into a videogame?

[PSP] Blade Dancer: Lineage of Light

I got this game for my PSP years ago and never finished it.
Actually, when I got to a Tower or so, pretty early on in the game, I gave up. And I can tell you why, it wasn't because the graphics were bad. They were actually quite good. The music wasn't too memorable except the opening melody....

But the worst part is the gameplay and the controls.
The Controls - you have to hit Triangle every time for everything before you could do something. Go through a door? Hit Triangle to target the door and then press X to go through it. Enter or Exit a building? Triangle-Target and then X. Talk to somebody? Triangle-Target and then X.
Goddammit, that was already a good reason to stop this game.

Another thing is, this game has no pause function! If you want to pause the game, you can't just open the menu. Nope, you have to actually shut your PSP off, because the menu doesn't pause the game and monsters will attack you.

Speaking of battles, it was turn-based. I don't mind that at all. I still enjoy turn-based RPGs (mostly FFVI, FFVII is just not to my liking) and here it was okay. The great thing was that you got healed fully after every battle.
Which, of course, ended at times with my using a potion on a perfectly healthy party member....
Oh and your weapons have a health gauge - the lower it goes, the more brittle your weapon is until it breaks. And you have no idea how to create your own weapons or strong enough ones in the first place, so good luck with that.

Sidequests are the typical fetch quests. You know, get me 5 Snake Teeth or something like that. And they were repeatable. Oh and remember, after every single mission or plot advancement you have to go back to the first city you got to!
Okay, some time after the first boss fight you get to this half-city thing that seems kind of Ghostly, so that's a bit better... but you still have to return there to go on...

What's the story?
Fuck, I don't remember. It was about this guy who dreams to become a hero. And he has this dream of a chick who grows out of a flower looking for a hero or for somebody to help her. And... I don't know, suddenly there's this stuff about an ancient war and... uh, I think a Black Knight was also mentioned.
It wasn't explained very well, so I couldn't get into it.

And no, I do not suggest this game to anyone.
I suppose there are other Blade Dancer games, maybe they are better or maybe they are worse, I don't know. I just know that I did not enjoy this game very much, nor would I suggest others to play this game if they expect to have fun.

As a game, sadly, it gets 4/10 - the Opening song saves it from a rating of 3

C-A

---

I haven't even completed Sonic Adventure 2 yet ._. It's far more difficult and there are no adventure fields. (Boooo!) For story mode you either play as team hero (which only let's you play as Sonic, tails, and Knuckles despite Amy hanging around.) or Team Dark. (Where you get to play as Shadow, Rouge, and Dr. Eggman.) And in order to progress through the story is to play action stages in order for each team. To get to Chao Garden which is so much better in this game, you need to get a Chao key either by free playing one of the action stages or by story mode. The story did keep me on the edge of my seat as kid, I kept on wanting to see what would happen next to the characters. The voice acting is probably the best in this game and the controls are nice and smooth. And the soundtrack is sex to my ears. Seriously! After hearing Knuckles' theme I'm actually interested in listening to old-ish rap.

---

I was racking my brain for something but all I've been playing lately is N64 and SNES games, and I really don't think I should be another one after 322663257 people who reviewed Super Mario World.

When I overcome my laziness, I might share my two cents on LA Noire or 007: Goldeneye Reloaded.

---

I can give a mini review for Dragon Quest 9 for the DS.

The story of this game takes place in a world where there are humans and celestrians. You start off as a celestrian, and celestrians have the easy life. All they must do is help out the humans and collect benevolessence and send it to the World Tree in hopes that the tree will grow fyggs so the celestrians can return to the Realm of the Almighty. Things go well for you until the home of the celestrians suddenly gets attacked by unknown light beams and you fall down and lose your angel wings and become a human minstrel.

Now, if you want character development, you won't find it here. But, you do get make your rpg characters from scratch. The vocations you can get early in the game are theif, martial artist, knight, mage, and priest. You can even change your vocation later in the game. I think the graphics are great on nintendo DS standards and I love seeing the animations of me and my team members attack monsters, grinding in the game doesn't feel like a drag to me. Although trying to get enough money for fancy powerful weapons and armor is a pain in the neck to me. The story is dark and sad and I felt sympathy for the NPCs.

Now for negatives. The thing that annoyed me the most about this game was the bloody soundtrack. Music keeps on being reused in this game and it's annoying. The dungeon theme is extremely depressing, after hearing it for too long I had to mute my nintendo DS whenever I got to a dungeon, they could've at least thought of a nice theme for the volcano dungeon. And if you play RPGs you know recolored enemies show up...but in this game there are also recolored boss fights. Yes, recolored boss fights.

I give this game a 3.5/5. I guess I would only recommend this to hardcore RPG fans.

Pros:
~Make your own RPG characters and choose their vocations
~Battle animations are great
~Great graphics
~Adequate story

Cons:
~Soundtrack is just terrible
~Trying to get enough money for weapons and armor is annoying
~Recolored boss fights
~If you desire character development, you won't get it here

---

DQ9 was the first Dragon Quest game I've played, so I thoroughly enjoyed it. I do agree the soundtrack was frustratingly bad, I can't count the number of times the happy songs got too obnoxious for me to bear.
I really enjoyed the character customization in this game. I liked how armor actually changed what you looked like, and the different classes that you could unlock allowed for more playtime.

Honestly, I didn't care for the story since it wasn't even that good but I'll forgive it since my Berserker pretty much thumped everything in his path.

---

DQ9 is the first Dragon Quest game I played as well. ^-^ But due to the flaws in this game I'm terrified to pick up another ._.

---

IX is kind of the oddball in the Dragon Quest series, it's sort of a cross between traditional Dragon Quest and an MMO.

I loved it, but maybe IV, V, and VIII would be more up your alley. They all have great casts, IV has probably the best villian in the series, and V has the best story out of the ones I've played hands down. Just be ready for random battles.

VII is supposed to be good, too. There's a 3DS remake coming out in Japan soonish, but no word on an English realease yet...

---

Thanks for the advice.

---

PC: Hatoful Boyfriend (はとふる彼氏)

A dating sim game that was first thought up as an April Fool's joke, but the production was continued and a demo version, and finally a full version, has been brought out. And anybody who hears what this game is about is always wondering if somebody is yanking their chain. To put it simply, in this game...
You date pidgeons.
You are a human girl who dates pidgeons.
Seems like a weird game that is pretty weird to play, right? Definitely. But let me elaborate.

The Story takes place in 2188 AD. Due to a virus that appeared years ago, birds have begun to become more intelligent and now are as intelligent as humans and live alongside them. The player controls a human girl called Tousaka Hiyoko - name can be changed - who is the only human attending the world-famous St. Pidgeonation's school, a school for gifte birds. Basically, the point of the game is to get one of the eight potential birds' endings like in any other dating sim. And you'd better... or else.

A little note, before starting the game you are told that the birds have voice actors although the game is not voice-acted. It's more like a way to tell the player to imagine the voices when talking with one of the birds. Same goes for the IPCSS - a hologram-like program that allows the player to see a human-version of the bird they are meeting upon being introduced to them. A neat little feature, probably to ease players into the idea of dating birds, but the game makes it clear... they are birds.

The Characters of the game focus on the eight potential birds you can date in the full version and the player character. There are some other characters, but mostly they're unimportant, actually... however, these are them.

Tousaka Hiyoko - the player character, a human girl who attends St. Pidgeonation's. An orphan and hunter-gatherer who loves eating udon and apparently cannot sit still in class, unless she has eaten red meat. Is apparently not a very clever or charming person... has only three parameters.
Wisdom: 1
Health: 800
Charisma: 5

Ryouta Kawara - a Rock Dove. Takes care of his mother and takes multiple jobs. Has a weak stomach.
Has been friends with Hiyoko since he barely hatched from his egg.

Sakuya Le Bel Shirogane - a Fantail Pidgeon. Heir to the Le Bel name and half-brother of Yuuya.
Is rather stuck-up and takes high pride in being a 'pureblood/purebred' bird. The president of the student council, self-named.

Yuuya Sakazaki - also a Fantailed Pidgeon. Sakuya's half-brother, he helps out in the Infirmary. A very flirty kind of guy.

Nageki Fujishiro - a Mourning Dove. A very quiet bird that spends a ton of time in the library. He's shy and... is not the most upbeat guy. (Obviously, he's a mourning dove!)

Oko San - a Fantailed Pidgeon. Captain of the Track Team and runs faster than he flies! Obsessed with pudding. (The absolute comic relief character)

Kazuaki Nanaki - a King Quail. The homeroom teacher of class 2-3 and a very skilled genius in math. However, he can fall asleep at any moment with his eyes open.

Dr. Shuu Iwamine - a Chukar Partridge. The doctor of the school and spends most of his time in the Infirmary. According to the rumors in the school, he's super creepy and should be avoided...

Anghel Higure - a Luzon Bleeding-Heart. Only appears in the full version of the game, not the demo. The eccentric bird from class 2-2 who seems to have hallucinations about grandeur. Believes he is a fallen angel and that Hiyoko is the reincarnation of a deity called Edel Blau.

The routes are generally very easy. There are elective days where you can up one of your parameters and the rest of the game is all standard-set days you'll replay and with only a few differences, depending on what little 'club' you choose to join and which bird you are after.

Speaking of routes, eventually you get an option to play the Bad Boys Love Route.
How to unlock the BBL Route? Eventually, upon starting a new game, you will have the option to Live A Normal School Life or Fulfill An Old Promise, the latter leading you to the BBL Route. Actually, the BBL Route option does not lead to the BBL Route immediately. The game plays identical to any other route beforehand, but halfway through, you'll unlock it.

A demo version of The BBL Route was put into the demo version, so I will not feel bad to tell you about the BBL Route. However, I will only tell you about the stuff that was shown in the demo version.
The BBL Route starts about mid-way through the game.
You know immediately, because the text box will now be purple instead of blue, have the words Hurtful Boyfriend instead of Hatoful Boyfriend at the bottom and you will be playing as Ryouta. It's a typical day in school, but Ryouta realized that Hiyoko is not there. Eventually, Nanaki asks Ryouta to grab a cardboard box full of papers from the staff room and bring it to the classroom. Seeing blood on the box, the box gets opened and inside is... Hiyoko's head.

The BBL Route is, in my opinion, the best part of the game.
It steers very fast from the cooky, weird and goofy parts of the game and instead becomes creepy, terrifying and tense. I already had a screenshot of something in the BBL Route that just creeps me out in another thread, and that thing is just part of it. The route tells us more about the various birds and really shows us their depths.

The Negative Aspects about the game? Call them pet peeves, but I had a few and they are small... the little note jingle played after each scene, when not in BBL route. It seems a bit too loud for my taste or it's just part of the game's weird charm...
The backlog feature. Maybe I'm using it wrong, but it doesn't seem to be working.
The pictures to collect are not that great, although what to expect... it's a pidgeon dating game... although I guess I would've liked some scenes-in-the-game-depicted-with-their-human-appearance.
Another small thing I didn't like is nothing in the game let's me see certain scenes of a route at any point. I have to replay tha game to get to that scene, which is rather annoying if you have to gather footage for a video review. (Like I'm doing - and I am not looking forward to going through the BBL Route a third time to do so...)
Speaking of third-time-of-BBL-Route, there is an epilogue to the BBL Route that you see once you have gotten all the normal route endings for the birds. I won't spoil the epilogue, but I thought it was... kind of unnecessary.

Do I suggest this game to other players? Definitely.
Whether you want a game that is so weird it'll make you laugh, makes you wonder what the hell the developers were thinking or just to see what the BBL Route is about... play it.

Overall, I'd give it a... 7/10, mostly for humorous parts and the BBL Route.

C-A

---

Ooh, I'm a pro at these! (Do keep in mind I do these a bit differently then people would expect) I'll choose a game that isn't an RPG:
The Munchables for the Wii
Story: The story is simple: You are a munchable, a creature without arms or feet that eats anything. All day you eat an endless supply of food from magical piles of colored poop. But one day, space pirates come and steal those piles for some reason(not clear until the end of the game). Now these pirates look like food, so you, either a boy or girl munchable, most eat your way to the end of the game!

Gameplay: How do you beat the game? By eating. This eating increases your level, which makes you bigger and bigger. eat enough, and you can also transform into something cooler/cuter depending on the munchable you choose. Now, some of the enemies are to big to eat when you first start a level, but all you have to do is eat enough to get big enough to devour them.

Graphics: It's a kids game(main enemies vegetables? Come on, how is that NOT being a kid influencer to eating vegetables...then again they do go through a world made of sweets...). Needless to say it's colorful, and looks great.

Controls: Analog stick to move, flick the wiimote up to jump, And B to charge, which splits big enemies into smaller versions to gobble up.

Music: Along with some nice happy tunes, when you battle a boss, it goes all punk rock on you. Awesomeness points there.

Likes: A lot to like! It's humorous!

Dislikes: A little short and a bit bland in terms to gameplay.

Rating: 4/5 it's a good game, but it does suffer from being a bit short, and having no real mix-up in the gameplay(they couldn't have timed missions to spice things up a bit?)

---

Animal Crossing: New Leaf

This game is life.

10/10

---

Agreed.

---

Heh. Hatoful Boyfriend. I've heard crazy things about that game. Also, I hear there are Umineko references in that as well. xP

---

The game is full of references. There are several Pokémon references, I've seen a reference to Princess Mononoke... there probably is a Umineko reference. I know there are probably dozen of references that I haven't gotten.

C-A

---

PC: Katawa Shoujo

Story
The player character is Hisao Nakai, an 18 year old student, who experiences a heart-attack one winter day when his crush Iwanako confesses to him. While in the hospital, the cause is found out: Hisao has Arrythmia, a heart-condition he's had since birth but has not shown itself until just then. This gives him a handicap severe enough that he has to move to the Yamaku Academy - a school specifically for handicapped students. Now equipped with 17-pills-a-day-to-take and a frown the size of Texas, Hisao enters Yamaku Academy. He has to adjust to his new surroundings, new view on life and new circumstances. And as any typical Dating Sim game, he has to find a girl to court.

Characters
Five potential girls to court and all have some of the more... well 'normal' handicaps that you find. Some of the handicaps in all the student body range from being painfully obvious, to figured out on a second glance or must be internal like Hisao's because otherwise there is no reason to be in this school. Yamaku, after all, does not take students who are suffering from 'only' a mental handicap.

Lily Satou (Blind)
Representative of Class 2-3 and used to belong to the Student Council.
Very polite and calm young lady.
Is best friends with Hanako.
Shizune's cousin and doesn't get along with her well.

Hanako Ikezawa (Burn Scars)
Very shy and timid person.
Spends a lot of time in the library or with Lily.
Very good at chess.

Emi Ibarazaki (Legs Amputee/Prosthetics)
Star of the track team, despite her handicap.
A very cheerful and upbeat girl.
Looks younger than she is.
Helps Rin out a lot.

Rin Tezuka (Stubby Arms)
Kind of an airhead girl, but good artist.
Paints with either her mouth or her feet.
Gives sarcastic comments, but doesn't get them herself.
(Fun fact, her last name is a reference to Osamu Tezuka)

Shizune Hakamichi (Deaf + Mute)
President of the student council.
A very stubborn and hard-headed girl, very ambitious and a workaholic.
Hates using pen & paper to communicate, opting for sign language.
Lily's cousin and does not have a good relationship with her.

Shiina (Mischa) Mikado (???)
While not an eligible girl, she is supremely important in Shizune's route.
Always with Shizune, serves as her sign language interpreter.
Is a scholarship student to Yamaku, learning to be a Sign Language teacher.
(It's still a fun game to guess what her handicap may be)

Graphics
Some of the graphics in this game are good, others are stunning to look at. The backgrounds in the game are, for the most part, simply photographs altered slightly and pasted in. Yamaku's exterior is actually all from Brown University. The characters drawn in are very nicely done, very smooth lines for the most part and great shadows and highlights in the right places, same with the facial expressions or poses changing. It is noticeable that Emi's lines are a bit more rough, mostly because her appearance was changed once more, shortly before release of the game.

The CGs in this game are absolutely breathtaking! Looking at the CGs you obtain in the game, they are just plain beautiful, it's just... they are wonderful to look at. It's really great art and definitely worth to look at. Especially certain scenes look just beautiful, like the image of sunsets during certain routes is just amazing to look at.

The game also features some short movie clips. The quality of the art isn't as great as the CGs, but still very nicely done and do just what the movie is supposed to show. These clips play once you have passed Act 1 and show you which girl's route you are currently on.

Music
Similar to the Art, I love the music in this game.
The variations for the various parts of the day are wonderful, I could listen to 'Afternoon' when I'm in a bad mood and feel much better after a while. When the scene currently playing demands a tense or dark theme, it plays, the scene demands a love theme and it plays and it just fits wonderfully. There's even a theme mostly used for when Hisao becomes intimate with one of the girls and even that is fitting. It isn't over the top, it isn't too cheesy... there are only two complaints I can think of.
'Fripperies' plays several times during the routes and I just don't like it. Mostly because it has a note that just prolongs and gets higher and whenever I hear it, it sounds to me like there's an alarm going off. Still, a carefree music used and fitting to some of the more mundane scenes.
'To Become One' the love-making theme, is used during an intimate scene which... I thought called for hilarious, goof-up music. Mostly because the scene was depicted and described as very awkward and not that enjoyable. But maybe the developers thought it fit the scene more.

I love a ton of the music played during the game. 'Letting my Heart speak' is the best track in my opinion, but when it comes to the darker themes 'Shadow of the Truth' and 'Cold Iron' are great. Actually, most of the tracks in this game I found very subtle and that was wonderful. It doesn't distract from the game, it has the overall theme and scene's message still playing and the music just underlines it a bit more.

Sex Scenes
Yes, this game has them. But overall... they aren't that bad. This game is actually far from tons of the other erotic games that involve sex scenes. There is no real male fantasy really made reality in this game, except for two. One of those was merely described vaguely in text and the other was done in a 'modest' fashion. It wasn't very thrilling or arousingly shown or described. Actually, three male fantasies are explored, but the third one is part of the above mentioned sex scene that I thought required the hilarious music. It was not written to be that great of an experience.

Majority of the sex scenes are written decently... descriptive enough that the player knows what's going on, but not written in a way that it's very arousing. At least to me, I thought it was nicely written and didn't really do anything for me. People might complain that some of them are written very... flowery. But it still fit, the gist of the matter is still explored.

And the sex scenes are actually pretty realistic. Certain scenes are supposed to be awkward, are supposed to be shown as not being very enjoyable to either of the participants and that is shown in both picture and text. I almost want to say these are some of the most modest sex scenes I have seen in erotic games.

For any player who does not want to witness the sex scenes, the game has an Option to Disable Adult Content which will let the game continue up until the sex scene begins, but then skips it in an... awkward fashion and the game continues afterwards. The awkward fashion of skipping... are random-ass pictures thumping a few times and, boom, the scene is skipped. Rather weird... but it does the job.

Routes
Each eligible girl has a route to herself and generally two endings - a Good and a Bad one, although some have a third or Neutral ending added to their rooster. The routes are mainly scenes that play out and sometimes Hisao has the choice of two or three options on how to respond to something or what to do. Even a small decision could lead to a different ending.

The routes are great. Each route you go through for the girls always shows you that the appearances are not what you think they are. Each girl has her own emotional baggage to carry around, whether it deals with their handicap or doesn't really. I actually began to care for the girls as I played through their routes and really felt for them when I got their endings, I cheered when I got the Good Ending or felt bad for them - and Hisao - when I got the Bad Ending.

Endings
As mentioned, each girl has at least two endings. The Good ending usually deals with them having come to terms with the emotional baggage they had, opening up a little bit or letting go of something that has held them back. It shows the emotional growth that can happen in a relationship, if done right.
The Bad endings are the opposite. The Bad endings are generally a result of what happens when Hisao - or the player - does not know how to deal with emotional baggage from his girlfriend, or even his own. Several of the routes have messages that are important to remember in a relationship.
The Neutral endings are... well, neutral. Parts of the Neutral ending might seem bad, others are nothing more than just life going on and dealing with it. They are kind of blink-and-miss, they generally serve no purpose. You don't even get a CG for them, only another scene added to your Library.
Personally, I rather like the Bad endings. I found them to be emotionally awesome, some are just such a nice punch in the face for Hisao/the player for failing at working on the relationship properly or not figuring out the things needed to make a relationship work. Actually, my two favorite Bad endings are Hanako's and Shizune's. Hanako's was amazing, definitely a surprise to anyone who might have got it by accident and by thinking that their way of picking choices in her route was the right way. And Shizune's was just such an emotional heartwrench for me, I saw that CG I got for her Bad ending and I felt terrible, I felt so sorry for her.

There is one ending that is considered part of the 'Bad Route'.
Basically, this is the ending that you get if you fail to impress any of the eligible girls until the School Festival starts or you started to impress a girl, but managed to push them away from you badly. There are several ways to fall into the Bad Route trap in Act 1 and I think it's great.
The Bad Route involves Hisao and Kenji, his anti-feminist dorm-mate, to go onto the roof of the school during the School Festival and get drunk as sailors. To be honest, Kenji was supposed to be the Gay Option, the Gay Route put into the game... sadly, due to time constraints, it was cut and he is only the Bad Route ending. I did find it hilarious, though, that the Bad Route/Kenji Route had To Become One playing at one point.

Overall
Amazing game, I just love it. This is a Dating Sim game that started out of a one-page idea created by mangaka RAITA and turned into a full game that you can spend hours on and keep you entertained. It really focuses a ton more on emotional stuff than other Dating Sim games I've played and that's just something I love. It's not a pure erotic game, it's not purely a wishy-washy-feely stuff and it's not just 'cripple porn' for those who haven't played the game, but just hearing about it makes them think it's that. I finished the game 100% and I wish I could have more to play.
Sadly, the two DLC characters were part of a April Fool's Joke and never inserted into the game. Ditto on the idea of scrapping Katawa Shoujo 2 and starting immediately on Katawa Shoujo 3, although that might be weird. But if done correctly, I guess Katawa Shoujo 3 could be cool, as long as it isn't a copy-paste of this game's story.

The game has an Extras section that has the Jukebox, Library, Gallery and Cinema sections in it, allowing you to unlock all possible Music pieces and listening to them. You will have to replay some routes a few times - or just Save/Load at the right scenes - to unlock all scenes in the game, and you can view those scenes again in the Library section. Minus the choice options you could pick during a route. The gallery is great to fill up and the movies are nice to look at now and then. Not to mention the sense of accomplishment of getting everything out of this game.

People say that Katawa and Hatoful are having a rivalry going, but now that I have played both games and finished them both 100%... I don't think they can be called rivals. The premise, idea and characters in the games are just so different and the experience you get from the games is also different, you can't really compare them. Katawa focuses a ton on emotional drama, realistic emotional drama. Hatoful, knowing its idea and all, is a lot more goofy and funny, but still has drama and thrilling parts. But those are only in the BBL Route and that just doesn't work to say the entire game is like that.

Score: 9/10
Play this game, it's great!

C-A

---

Thomas Was Alone


It's....well...its a lovely game. Being a indie game it is somewhat small in length unless you get stuck on some of the puzzles. However it is truly amazing what has been done with a bunch of characters who are simply shapes. There's so much characterisation and intensity in the few characters you do get. Also above all the music is utterly beautiful, moving, emotional and powerful. Sinister in one chapter too and it all comes together to make quite a great package.

It's also got quite the grandiose plot but in a game about jumping rectangles and squares this comes across as something even larger given how simple everything seems to be.

There's some problems if you aren't good at platforming and it can be slow moving every individual character around later on but it's definitely worth a look on Steam.

8/10.

---

I think I've played more of Animal Crossing: New Leaf in one week than most of my other 3DS games in the entire time I've had them...

I don't know that I would go so far as to say that, but I can see where they're coming from. First, in the game's defense, the creator was quoted as saying in 2008 that Twilight Princess was "the last Zelda game of its kind," so it being different from the previous incarnations is not totally unprecedented.

Skyward Sword is definitely a Zelda game, but compared to previous iterations in the series, it's not a very good one. Oh it's pretty good on it's own right, but you've got to look at what came before. The issue with Skyward Sword is that it fails miserably at the one thing that makes Zelda, well, Zelda. Exploration.

All great Zelda games are adventures into a fantasy world, where the plot unfolds as you move deeper about the world. Zelda games are not "open-world" per se (the plot is very linear in every one) but there's always this sense of wonder and discovery that Skyward Sword lacked. Their first big mistake was the incredibly restrictive "overworld", something that has been a facet of Zelda games since "The Legend of Zelda". The overworld is arguably one of the most important parts of the game, and helps with everything from the sense of exploration to really hitting home the gravity of the game's central conflict. Connecting everything seamlessly enhances the tone of the game so much better.

The "Hyrule" worlds are even worse about this. They're small and parceled up, so any sense of adventure you have is cut short because you've explored the whole map in 10 minutes. Getting from one to another is an incredibly jarring experience. Compare that to the Hyrule of Twilight Princess (arguably the best entry into the series so far), where you can spend endless hours searching Hyrule Field, Castle Town, Kakariko Village, and other just to find new things or hidden nooks and crannies.

Also, it doesn't matter if you can use "logic" to handwave the flaw away, it doesn't mean it's a good thing to have. Just because you can explain the problem, it is still a problem.

The lack of the overworld brings me into the largest problem with the game itself: it is incredibly linear, even for a Zelda game. When playing, I felt like I was being dragged from one plot point to the next. Everything is so jarringly disconnected, it's really hard for you to get into the flow of the story, and thus I felt no emotional attachment to the characters after the first hour or two (the one's you spend on Skyloft developing an excellent story arc).

The dungeons are hit and miss. Some were really challenging and really creative (Ancient Cistern, Lanayru Mining Facility) while others seemed like boring rehashes of older dungeons (I'M LOOKING AT YOU SKYVIEW TEMPLE). The bosses are arguably the biggest travesty of the game. While fighting Ghirahim is a fun use of the mechanics of the WiiMote, fighting him 3 times seems like a copout. Some are creative enough, but overall they're just BORING. And so few! Not to mention that they literally just copy and paste one boss as a minor enemy later in the game.

The things that stand out well about Skyward Sword are first and foremost, it's design. While I don't particularly care for the style (I prefer, again, the Twilight Princess style) I think the game's design is the best yet. The look of nearly every temple is distinct and epic, even if the temples themselves kind of suck. The Fire Sanctuary's look blew me away. The color scheme is bright, fantastical, and fun (a nice welcome change from the previous iteration, but also good because it's not as over the top as Wind Waker).

Despite what many people also say, the WiiMote controls are an excellent way of playing Zelda. They're intuitive and engaging, and make combat much more exciting. I also never had any issues with unresponsive controls.

Overall, (I guess this kind of turned into a review), Skyward Sword is a pretty great game with a gorgeous aesthetic design, but as an entry into the Zelda series, it suffers because of it's lack of exploration, restrictive story and gameplay, and unimpressive gameplay design.

---

Last edited by Percei on Fri Jun 28, 2013 8:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I love Twilight Princess, it shares #1 Spot for me with Skyward as my favorite Zelda game, but that doesn't mean its overworld was any better. Twilight Princess' overworld was extremely empty, they were basically just large expands of empty fields that connected to the Ordon/Faron, Eldin and Lanayru areas. There was no real charm to it, nothing that makes me really want to explore the entire thing.
I had the same problem with Wind Waker's ocean.
It was just pointless island after another pointless island. Yeah, some of them had Heart Pieces on them. Sailing all over fucking creation to get to that one island with a Heart Piece was still not a fun thing. And no, that teleportation song does not help. You still spend way too much time sailing. Apparently it's supposed to fuel your sense of adventure but... come on, staring at the blue sky and blue ocean for five minutes or longer until I get to my goal is not what I would call an adventure.



That just sounds like the same argument I get from those idiots on GameFAQs forum. You know, those... people... who exaggerate the small flaws in Skyward and make them seem much larger than they are. (Fi is not that annoying, people, and neither are the controls - I didn't have to recalibrate my WiiMote 'at least once each boss battle' and mine is used and who knows how old)



Translation, people should not try to compare Skyward to Twilight Princess or one of the previous Zelda games. Which is fine, I think most Zelda games shouldn't be compared - except the really early ones, especially Oracle of Ages and Seasons - mostly because each has something in it that makes it unique and comparing things that... basically can't really be compared just shouldn't be.

I don't want to sidetrack this topic into a different subject... I agree with you that the design and some of the dungeon designs are awesome, I find the Ancient Cistern breathtaking, I love spending every minute in that thing. Sadly, it always feels like I finish that dungeon too fast... the Mining Facility is the complete opposite, every minute I spend in there feels too long and pointless. Seriously, majority of the dungeon has you backtrack through the southern part of the dungeon until you finally do that one, long, cinematic stretch to the boss room in the northern part...
As for the characters, again, I agree. I disagree, though, that refighting Ghirahim was boring. His battles were my favorite, not just because I love Ghirahim, but also because he was pretty unforgiving at times. Not to mention his third battle is pretty different from the previous two.
But as for Imprisoned... yeah, that was a terrible developer idea and, in-story logic, I blame Zelda for that one.

C-A

PS: Actually, I think I will write a proper review for Skyward in this topic later.

---

You know of all those FPSs these days? They barely show any creativity, at least some of the games before it had a bit of creativity. Nowadays, we get the same thing everytime: Go through the levels, kill everything, get better guns, end. The only difference these days is how exactly you go through these things.

---

I'd say Deus Ex and Fallout are my favorite psuedo-FPSs.

---

Revised Persona 4 Review to come

C-A

---

Last edited by CatMuto on Mon Jul 29, 2013 12:46 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I didn't get to actually play it per se, since it's only recently been announced in America and god knows when (and if) it's coming to Brazil...

.. but I've finished watching and reading the hybrid Let's Play of Dangan Ronpa and I feel I'm qualified enough to give my spoiler-free two cents on it (or should I say, my two Monobear Coins.........................................ha......!!!)


What it's about


The game is about 15 high-school students, all of them with a "super" defining trait that sets them apart from the rest of the high-school population (super hacker, super detective, super writer, super wrestler), being locked down in what used to be a school, forced to spend the rest of their lives confined and in a communal lifestyle. The only way out is for one of the students to kill someone and, during the forthcoming "School Trial", manage to fool the others into blaming the murder on someone else; by doing so, everyone but the perpetrator is executed and he/she is free to go; otherwise, he will be solely punished in a fashion that reflects their trait. The initial stance of the students is, of course, to not go along with such rules and instead join efforts to find another way out. Monobear, the school's headmaster (and a robot, black-and-white, twoface style teddy bear), then, comes up with several "motives" to force people into murdering each other. You play as Makoto Naegi, a normal, uninterested/ing and level-headed guy (with some Marty Stu moments) whose trait is "Super High-School Level Good Luck", because he's been chosen at random from millions of other common high-school students to complete the group.

Basically, it's Phoenix Wright meets Battle Royale with a pinch of L.A. Noire.

Graphics

First of all, graphics: the game follows an anime-like visual novel style, and the art is very nice. All of the characters are depicted in interesting manners; simple, yet highlighting certain aspects that make them unique: be it on their bodies, hair, or clothes.
The backgrounds and locations are what you'd expect of a cartoon visual novel: 3D, approaching realism, but keeping that cartoon-ish aura that makes you realize you're not playing Farcry or anything. Many times the game mixes macabre and dark backgrounds with silly-cute infantile stuff, as if reflecting the mental unstability of Monobear.
My only issue with the graphics: since the game is rated 17-, blood is painted shock pink instead of red. While I do understand the reasoning behind not wanting to show deep red blood, I think "pinking" it kinda took it too far, to a point where it's almost difficult to take deaths seriously.

Sound

The music is fitting. Not so much as to call the sound crew the next Grant Kirkhopes or something, but at the marjority of times, it's fitting. Like PW, in Dangan Ronpa we have our cornered songs, our happy songs, our battle songs... And in School Trials, where we're all about shooting (literally) down faulty arguments, the sound effects really does the game justice. In this aspect, while I don't have any major compliments, I don't have any issues to point out.

Gameplay

As for the social/investigation part, no objections, since you're restricted to examining and talking. But the trial part...This is the part that got me at first. The game introduces you so quickly to so many different features at once, and so many "phases", that you get kinda confused and it's hard to get used to it. But once you know the way, it gets much more easy, and the game provides you with Skills (acquired via social moments) to help ease things up a bit.

Multiplayer

Nope

Replay Value

Since the game leaves many open spots for additional optional conversations and an array of presents you can give to characters (and another array of reactions you can get from them), you're probably going to have to beat the game a couple of times or reload a lot to 100% it. The amazing story of the game and the "Sequel Hook" ending are also probably enough to burn Dangan Ronpa into your memory and force you to dig it up and play it once in a while.





Overall Rating: 8,5/10

---

You should read SDR2. It's SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better than DR1. Like.... WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY better.

---

So I've heard. I'll get to it eventually, I'll probably wait for it to get to the LP archive 'cause I don't want to deal with the stupid paywall...

---

I'm glad to see a game I like finally cracked Cat's wall of scepticism...it's like we've turned a corner.

Also means I can share this awesome thing and it makes sense (contains P4 spoilers)

Also the PSVita's Golden version adds 2 new endings, one super super happy ending beyond the True ending, and a super super bad ending where you side with a villain.

---

You don't need to. There are some tumblrs that have already translated Chapters 4-6, oren is up to halfway through Case 2, and I think there's another tumblr that's translated Chapters 2 and 3. The issue is more finding them. xP (I can provide links if necessary.)

---

Oh please do! Thank you in advance!

---

This is what I recommend. Firstly, read all of Oren's translations on SA: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showth ... id=3522115 . Then, jump to the first tumblr (which is http://www.kuzuhiko.tumblr.com/masterlist ) Once you read all the updates there, you jump to the second tumblr: http://birdmanronpa.tumblr.com/masterlist

Hopefully that's helpful for you~

---

Thank you, really. It's gonna save me a lot of hassle and I can keep my DR fandom running~

---

No problems. Us AAOers have quite a lot of love for DR (you can tell if you've ever been there. xP) So, it's them who did most of the legwork into these links. xD

---

Eh, I like P4 but I still think that the Plot Twists are either super easy to notice or so super dumb, you wanna reach in and smack the characters. (Seriously, nobody picked up on that giant hint about 'that guy' having defeated Yamano Mayumi and Konishi but having killed That Other Guy I Will Not Name For Spoilers)

As for Golden, I might get it...
I'm glad that the costumes are not DLC, that's for sure. As for the added endings, Eh... ties into what I want to call the new character added in - Marie. Freaking imported Mary Sue. I would've liked the Golden Ending's picture without her in it. Although... my god Kanji!?

C-A

PS: Pierre, you could've sent that link before I played P4, too. Remember I knew all the spoilers.

---

Eh sure it was save to send to you before but I'm sure some little nuances make more sense after playing the game spoilers aside.

Also I think Kanji's new look in that Golden Ending Picture is just plain weird....

---

Eh, I didn't even recognize him until I did the checklist of characters. He looks... too normal. He had charm with his appearance in the game - a guy who likes art and is good at sewing? Dude, that is awesome! I know about Japan having certain gender ideas and all, but I would love a guy who can sew. (Means I don't have to) So a change to his appearance... meh...

Eh, even after playing the game, the comic wouldn't have been any different for me. I miss that guy repeatedly mentioning "By the way, I am not the villain! Just saying, you know." because that's what the majority of his text felt like later on...

O-oops, getting sidetracked again...

C-A

---