FiniteForever
2022
To consider Chained Echoes as a "hidden gem" would be an understatement and does not do this game enough justice to show how much this title was under appreciated. After finally getting around to 100% this game even though I beaten this last year. I still consider Chained Echoes should've been contender for "JRPG" of 2022. It's just a shame it dropped at the near end of 2022, so it was under a lot of peoples radar. Many who have played it though, those people would agree that Chain Echoes beautifully pays homage to JRPG genre, where influences/easter eggs in a measured way, never allowed them to overshadow the game. Although in my opinion, this game felt like an anniversary to every great JRPG title over the decades and condense every idea that made those series great, into one game.
From the town building system that similar to that of Suikoden. To the names of characters, combat system and star level up system that shares resemblance to Chrono Trigger and Wild Arms. The game also uses some inspiration from Final Fantasy 6 & 12 for it's NPC designs, location designs and the reward system (reward board). Hell, even one of the post-game secret bosses (that's a Kickstarter reward design btw) shares inspiration of Seymour from Final Fantasy X, although it's probably paying homage to Chel from Okage: Shadow King.
As a die hard Xenoblade and (more importantly to my life growing up) Xenogears fan, I can not forget to mentioned how much I absolutely love the OST that give me a sense of reminiscence, especially when you enter in Rohlan Fields for the first time, heavily reminiscent of Xenoblade's plains in design and music. The Flower Fields of Perpetua seem to be strongly inspired of Satorl Marsh (one of my favorite locations) from Xenoblade as well. Let's not forget when you're roaming around the vibrant/uniquely different locations, Chain Echo also has pick-collectables, although unlike for Xenoblade series. These pick-ups are not necessarily important towards level/gear progression, but they do unlock "special deals" from merchants that will sell you bundles that can be a variety of things, like material, items and weapons that can help alleviate the burden on your wallet when buying gear or upgrading said gear. So there's less incentive to actually grind but more encouragement to explore because of it. Which this game does an exceptionally good job "trimming the fat" by not having you to grind at all or as much. Unique Monsters are also present in this game too, some of which require a bit of RNG to spawn, but overall. Most of them spawn under certain condition that are never a hassle to get them to spawn, which is a huge plus.
What really caught my attention however, is how insanely similar the main characters/story points are from Xenogear. Right off the bat, the game starts off with the annihilation to a city and death of many people that feels similar to the destruction of lahan scene at the very start of Xenogear. That has Glenn (one of the main characters) over the course of the story, overcome the trauma and repercussion over his action that was out of his control and learn acceptance from it. Even to go far as to contemplate suicide. Despite the high-spirited/vibrant sprite-art aesthetic, this game does not shy away from darker tones that doesn't try to use edgy tones just for the sake of going "look at how dark this is, ain't it gritty?!!" but to have a realistic tone to the story. If you're a huge Xenogear fan, as you progress towards act 3 & 4, you'll really see how similar the plot points are to that game. You might even spot which one of the main character shares some resemblance to Elly as well.
Even back 2022, playing this was such a breath of fresh air. A combination of both traditional JRPG and modern quality of life implementation that made it such a joy to play through to the end. For example. You can retry battles right away without going back to a save point, run away from battles instantly and without fail and you can retain your super meter so you can easily farm limit breaks or whatever if you're having a tough time with a fight. Starting with a full super meter in every boss encounter so you don't need to run around for 10 minutes getting monsters to beat you in the face to build it up.
Aliment afflicting is so damn good and does what I wished most games does with status effects. By removing RNG. Each time you inflict an ailment, they gain a resistance to that ailment. Resistance (in this instance or from equipment, items, etc.) means that you avoid that many instances of the ailment. So, the first time you inflict Blind, you need to do it twice to inflict it again. Then three times. Then four and so on.
Since ailment effects are also predictable (Blind status means if an enmy does a doing physical attacks, they WILL always miss) means you can completely plan your actions. It also means you can hold your guaranteed blind/silence/inact attacks until you KNOW you need to avoid something. It's completely predictable and you can use it to your advantage.
During the game's development, the one thing that really had me overly excited to point of considering Chained Echoes a spiritual successor to Xenogears, was the Mecha battle system but it does indeed do some things that differentiate it from Xenogear's gears/fuel system, and that's "gear switching". A system that plays together with Chained Echoes overdrive system. Once you're in a mech, you have options to switch between three modes. Gear 1 lets use skills that consume less "MP" and reduces your overdrive meter, but Gear 2 consumes more "MP" but does more damage, as a result though, it increases your overdrive meter. While switching to Gear 0, disables you from using skills at all but it replenishes your "MP", not only that but doing this reduces the amount of damage you take greatly if you decide to defend. So you have a complex system of planning out when to go "all out" but also finding the right time to conserve "MP" and defend against team wipe moves while playing a constant tug-of-war with the overdrive meter that determines how much damage/heals you can dish out. Some people may hate this system or some will love it, but I absolutely love that more thought was put into the mecha combat than it just being attack/defend. It's a nice change of pace from the hectic and at times, nerve racking ground combat.
On that note, ground combat uses a sort of FFX-esque/Octopath Traveler CotC switching system where you can switch between front and reserve party members during battle. With characters and their abilities all feeling fairly unique, they all serve a defined roles which incentivizes team work and synergy around the implementation of the Overdrive system (located at the top corner of the screen during combat) that works like a thermometer for abilities, warning players when they overdo specific actions you'll not only deal less damage/heals but you could suffer even more damage as a result. The goal of Overdrive is to balance turn-based combat and encourage players to diversify their attacks by not brainlessly spamming OP skills. It's a really creative and a engaging system. Added by the fact that you regain full life after every battle, the gameplay is balanced around. So it removes the incentive of having to save money for HP/MP items outside of battles like most JRPG. So it always keeps back-to-back combat engaging at all times. By far one of the most creative JRPG combat system of recent years.
Love it or hate the game (for it's ending), Chained Echoes was clearly made by someone who truly loves and understood the genre. I'm grateful that I backed this game years back and got to play something like this in my lifetime, if you're a hardcore fan of the genre (or Xenogears), absolutely give this game a try. It's quite the experience.
From the town building system that similar to that of Suikoden. To the names of characters, combat system and star level up system that shares resemblance to Chrono Trigger and Wild Arms. The game also uses some inspiration from Final Fantasy 6 & 12 for it's NPC designs, location designs and the reward system (reward board). Hell, even one of the post-game secret bosses (that's a Kickstarter reward design btw) shares inspiration of Seymour from Final Fantasy X, although it's probably paying homage to Chel from Okage: Shadow King.
As a die hard Xenoblade and (more importantly to my life growing up) Xenogears fan, I can not forget to mentioned how much I absolutely love the OST that give me a sense of reminiscence, especially when you enter in Rohlan Fields for the first time, heavily reminiscent of Xenoblade's plains in design and music. The Flower Fields of Perpetua seem to be strongly inspired of Satorl Marsh (one of my favorite locations) from Xenoblade as well. Let's not forget when you're roaming around the vibrant/uniquely different locations, Chain Echo also has pick-collectables, although unlike for Xenoblade series. These pick-ups are not necessarily important towards level/gear progression, but they do unlock "special deals" from merchants that will sell you bundles that can be a variety of things, like material, items and weapons that can help alleviate the burden on your wallet when buying gear or upgrading said gear. So there's less incentive to actually grind but more encouragement to explore because of it. Which this game does an exceptionally good job "trimming the fat" by not having you to grind at all or as much. Unique Monsters are also present in this game too, some of which require a bit of RNG to spawn, but overall. Most of them spawn under certain condition that are never a hassle to get them to spawn, which is a huge plus.
What really caught my attention however, is how insanely similar the main characters/story points are from Xenogear. Right off the bat, the game starts off with the annihilation to a city and death of many people that feels similar to the destruction of lahan scene at the very start of Xenogear. That has Glenn (one of the main characters) over the course of the story, overcome the trauma and repercussion over his action that was out of his control and learn acceptance from it. Even to go far as to contemplate suicide. Despite the high-spirited/vibrant sprite-art aesthetic, this game does not shy away from darker tones that doesn't try to use edgy tones just for the sake of going "look at how dark this is, ain't it gritty?!!" but to have a realistic tone to the story. If you're a huge Xenogear fan, as you progress towards act 3 & 4, you'll really see how similar the plot points are to that game. You might even spot which one of the main character shares some resemblance to Elly as well.
Even back 2022, playing this was such a breath of fresh air. A combination of both traditional JRPG and modern quality of life implementation that made it such a joy to play through to the end. For example. You can retry battles right away without going back to a save point, run away from battles instantly and without fail and you can retain your super meter so you can easily farm limit breaks or whatever if you're having a tough time with a fight. Starting with a full super meter in every boss encounter so you don't need to run around for 10 minutes getting monsters to beat you in the face to build it up.
Aliment afflicting is so damn good and does what I wished most games does with status effects. By removing RNG. Each time you inflict an ailment, they gain a resistance to that ailment. Resistance (in this instance or from equipment, items, etc.) means that you avoid that many instances of the ailment. So, the first time you inflict Blind, you need to do it twice to inflict it again. Then three times. Then four and so on.
Since ailment effects are also predictable (Blind status means if an enmy does a doing physical attacks, they WILL always miss) means you can completely plan your actions. It also means you can hold your guaranteed blind/silence/inact attacks until you KNOW you need to avoid something. It's completely predictable and you can use it to your advantage.
During the game's development, the one thing that really had me overly excited to point of considering Chained Echoes a spiritual successor to Xenogears, was the Mecha battle system but it does indeed do some things that differentiate it from Xenogear's gears/fuel system, and that's "gear switching". A system that plays together with Chained Echoes overdrive system. Once you're in a mech, you have options to switch between three modes. Gear 1 lets use skills that consume less "MP" and reduces your overdrive meter, but Gear 2 consumes more "MP" but does more damage, as a result though, it increases your overdrive meter. While switching to Gear 0, disables you from using skills at all but it replenishes your "MP", not only that but doing this reduces the amount of damage you take greatly if you decide to defend. So you have a complex system of planning out when to go "all out" but also finding the right time to conserve "MP" and defend against team wipe moves while playing a constant tug-of-war with the overdrive meter that determines how much damage/heals you can dish out. Some people may hate this system or some will love it, but I absolutely love that more thought was put into the mecha combat than it just being attack/defend. It's a nice change of pace from the hectic and at times, nerve racking ground combat.
On that note, ground combat uses a sort of FFX-esque/Octopath Traveler CotC switching system where you can switch between front and reserve party members during battle. With characters and their abilities all feeling fairly unique, they all serve a defined roles which incentivizes team work and synergy around the implementation of the Overdrive system (located at the top corner of the screen during combat) that works like a thermometer for abilities, warning players when they overdo specific actions you'll not only deal less damage/heals but you could suffer even more damage as a result. The goal of Overdrive is to balance turn-based combat and encourage players to diversify their attacks by not brainlessly spamming OP skills. It's a really creative and a engaging system. Added by the fact that you regain full life after every battle, the gameplay is balanced around. So it removes the incentive of having to save money for HP/MP items outside of battles like most JRPG. So it always keeps back-to-back combat engaging at all times. By far one of the most creative JRPG combat system of recent years.
Love it or hate the game (for it's ending), Chained Echoes was clearly made by someone who truly loves and understood the genre. I'm grateful that I backed this game years back and got to play something like this in my lifetime, if you're a hardcore fan of the genre (or Xenogears), absolutely give this game a try. It's quite the experience.
To this day, I still dont know what drove me to play this game to near death when I was a wee baby.
I guess the aspect of being able to leave out your mech was appealing to me and it being Mechassault inspired. Looking back now, I probably wouldn't play it again, those puzzles man. sudders
I guess the aspect of being able to leave out your mech was appealing to me and it being Mechassault inspired. Looking back now, I probably wouldn't play it again, those puzzles man. sudders
Ahhh how I'm reminded of the good ol days when PS1/PS2 era RPGS were at their most peak.
As a long time Steam Ocean Fan I was pleasantly surprised to hear that the series was alive and still kicking but SO2 out of all titles in the series would be getting the (Octopath) remake treatment. Hesitant at first, knowing how companies and studios like to make shoddy remakes/remasters as a mean to make a quick buck but boy howdy was I disproven. Square is a lot of things but if there's one thing they get right now of day, it's trying to bring old titles back from the dead one last time for a new audience Legend of Mana, Live A Live, SaGa Frontier Remastered, Tactic Orge and Romancing SaGa are such examples (still holding out hope they'll bring Xenogears back from the dead).
Just like the additional dimension that the elder cousin Tales series is known for, SO2 is a party based action JRPG that takes place in a 2D space all the while happening in real time. With the remake rendition, triAce truly went above and beyond to bring in a whole host of new changes like complete 3D backgrounds, revamped 2DHD sprites and a plethora of QOL changes like adaptable spell animations that no longer take hours to cast, combat revamps, no enemy encounters, new enemy systems.. fishing?!
SO2R also has an in-depth item crafting system as an extension of its skill system that gives you plenty of room to create many items you wouldn't otherwise be able to access through regular game play or access powerful weapons early if you put the time into leveling up your skills and experimenting with combining items together. Plus, along with the deep leveling/specialization systems, it makes up for a meaningful way to refine your party, becoming more self-sufficient the further along you get. This complements some battle encounters that are deeper than many other RPGs on the market, always keeping you on your toes if you ever decide to foolishly to speed blitz the game without paying attention to the game mechanics. Since replayability is also a defining factor because of the different paths throughout the game, there are multiple difficulties that can ramp up the challenge if you so crave it (do be warn, if you see any dragon that's about to cast dragon breath, back the ♥♥♥♥ the away please!) and as part of triAce tradition, Star Ocean 2 features a pretty extensive post game that will really test your knowledge on the game's various systems.
Not only that but throughout the game, the events you see, the choices you make and the people you take into battle with you will start to cause characters to build affinity toward your player character and for each other. Not only does this open up more side story events, but plays into the game mechanics as well, such as, characters get enraged if someone they care for falls in combat. As a result of character pairing, each possible pairing also has multiple possible endings based on the pairing's affinities for each other, leaving you with a so much possible ending combinations.
It should also be noted that I applaud the team for trying to appease both old and new fans with fully voiced Japanese and English characters with the ability to pick two separate Japanese tracks that are recorded by the voice actors from not just the original PS1 release but the PSP version as well!! You also have the ability to freely swap between from the original OST or the newly arranged OST, all of which are remixed by the main man himself, Motoi Sakuraba, who composed the original soundtrack.
Truly a fine display of what a remake SHOULD be, modernizing old time classics with QOL improvements but not completely removing its identity on what made them enjoyable to begin with.
For new fans, welcome, enjoy one of the best Star Ocean games in the series and one of the most underrated JRPGS.
For long time fans, finally, we are eating good today. T-T sniffles
As a long time Steam Ocean Fan I was pleasantly surprised to hear that the series was alive and still kicking but SO2 out of all titles in the series would be getting the (Octopath) remake treatment. Hesitant at first, knowing how companies and studios like to make shoddy remakes/remasters as a mean to make a quick buck but boy howdy was I disproven. Square is a lot of things but if there's one thing they get right now of day, it's trying to bring old titles back from the dead one last time for a new audience Legend of Mana, Live A Live, SaGa Frontier Remastered, Tactic Orge and Romancing SaGa are such examples (still holding out hope they'll bring Xenogears back from the dead).
Just like the additional dimension that the elder cousin Tales series is known for, SO2 is a party based action JRPG that takes place in a 2D space all the while happening in real time. With the remake rendition, triAce truly went above and beyond to bring in a whole host of new changes like complete 3D backgrounds, revamped 2DHD sprites and a plethora of QOL changes like adaptable spell animations that no longer take hours to cast, combat revamps, no enemy encounters, new enemy systems.. fishing?!
SO2R also has an in-depth item crafting system as an extension of its skill system that gives you plenty of room to create many items you wouldn't otherwise be able to access through regular game play or access powerful weapons early if you put the time into leveling up your skills and experimenting with combining items together. Plus, along with the deep leveling/specialization systems, it makes up for a meaningful way to refine your party, becoming more self-sufficient the further along you get. This complements some battle encounters that are deeper than many other RPGs on the market, always keeping you on your toes if you ever decide to foolishly to speed blitz the game without paying attention to the game mechanics. Since replayability is also a defining factor because of the different paths throughout the game, there are multiple difficulties that can ramp up the challenge if you so crave it (do be warn, if you see any dragon that's about to cast dragon breath, back the ♥♥♥♥ the away please!) and as part of triAce tradition, Star Ocean 2 features a pretty extensive post game that will really test your knowledge on the game's various systems.
Not only that but throughout the game, the events you see, the choices you make and the people you take into battle with you will start to cause characters to build affinity toward your player character and for each other. Not only does this open up more side story events, but plays into the game mechanics as well, such as, characters get enraged if someone they care for falls in combat. As a result of character pairing, each possible pairing also has multiple possible endings based on the pairing's affinities for each other, leaving you with a so much possible ending combinations.
It should also be noted that I applaud the team for trying to appease both old and new fans with fully voiced Japanese and English characters with the ability to pick two separate Japanese tracks that are recorded by the voice actors from not just the original PS1 release but the PSP version as well!! You also have the ability to freely swap between from the original OST or the newly arranged OST, all of which are remixed by the main man himself, Motoi Sakuraba, who composed the original soundtrack.
Truly a fine display of what a remake SHOULD be, modernizing old time classics with QOL improvements but not completely removing its identity on what made them enjoyable to begin with.
For new fans, welcome, enjoy one of the best Star Ocean games in the series and one of the most underrated JRPGS.
For long time fans, finally, we are eating good today. T-T sniffles
2020
I can't believe Dragon Age origin got a worthy successor. T-T
Once in a blue moon you'll come across a game that captivates many people to jump onboard into gaming again, but..
To captivate THIS many people who not only never played a tactic/strategy game in their life but from a CRPG no less, is truly a sight to behold and Baldur's Gate 3 is those rare beholds.
Granted, Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't do anything revolutionary, but Larian Studios is stepping up once again and doing what many AAA studios now of day are lacking when it comes to games of this genre, in-depth player choice. Give us freedom to think outside the box, multiple routes that drastically change the pace, choices that matter. Persuade or manipulate people to sacrifice themselves (jim jones style), pillage and destroy a village, killable children?? Larian Studios did not hold back on the sheer absurdity/brutality of choices you can pick from, this goes hand and hand with the overall grim-humor nature of Baldur's Gate 3.
That's not to say this game doesn't have it's flaws, because it definitely does.
Terrible A.I pathing and player targeting. Many times an enemy would squeeze between two tiles or stand above/beneath a platform and due to how targeting works, when I want to cast a projectile spell instead of being able to highlight the target marker over an enemies head, the target marker would tend to lock-on to the platform above/below them. Even worst, the pathing insist I should go all around a building to attack an enemy that's directly in FRONT of me. Sufficed to say, I do not like the idea of having to fight with the camera/control for something mundane as targeting and walking. Although it's not game-breaking, just the inconsistency to stay accurate is rather annoying.
The games combat is center around DND 5a rules (I dont have much experience with modern DND) so NEARLY every approach in this game revolves around dice rolls, in which could make or break it for most players (especially early game) who dislike tabletop RPG rules. In my opinion, its the worst gaming mechanics for long playing hour games, because they are built for helping with creating a narrative experience (in the case of DND, with a wargaming feel). Boardgame rules most of the time can be bit of hot or miss, if ported from tabletop because they are made most of the time for 1 to 3 hours of play. The game would have been much more interesting and with much more tactical depth if they had used the aesthetics of dnd, but used digital gaming mechanics. In DND you roll your own dice, and (depending on the DM) you might know the target you need to roll to land an attack. That is a gigantic difference from having a very disheartening low percentage and just having to sit through "MISS MISS MISS MISS MISS MISS MISS MISS" especially in early levels combat.
Also with many choices of this scale to choose from, comes a plethora of issues such as broken quest-chains that can either stop you from completing quests entirely, missing NPCs that aren't present in locations they should be at or turning-in/stealing items that can trick the game into spoiling events that happen in the near end of the game but like all things bad with BG3, a lot of those issue stems from ACT 3 most of all. Unlike ACT 1 and 2, where you can plainly see Larian Studio put a lot of effort into polishing the story/performance, I truly believe this game should've stayed in the oven for a bit longer or at least, just enough where they could've polish ACT 3 quest-lines and the overall performance issue.
*SPOILERS**
Hell, there were times where it really seems like the story must've been written by two different teams. Like one team really loved Throne of Bhaal and wanted it to be canon for BG3 and another team glossed over the story and didn't understand it all the while trying to capitalize on nostalgia baiting by injecting old cast members into the story just for the sake of it. Also, there are a few plot points that contradict the events in ToB given the major plot point for that game was to kill every bhaalspawn, yet the dark urge is just here, a bhaal chosen for that matter and at no point the story explains how they got hereand from what I understand, WoTC pushed the Bhaal spawn story to be implemented in BG3, in line with the other games and this was Larian answer to that.
*END OF SPOILERS**
Glaring plot-holes aside, ACT 1 and 2 are beautifully well crafted with encounters that are fairly well designed with loads of good story elements, fun social rolls and ways to avoid combat (even though the XP is MUCH lower). You have a fun and interesting way to play.
Just like what Larian did with Divinity: Original Sin 2, I'm 100% certain alot of my complains (such as tying up loose ends and clarifying a few things with the story) will be remedy with a Definitive Edition that will include a lot of cut content, a new rework battle system, new story routes, and possibly include locations to explore??
In my honest opinion, as of now, I would highly recommend waiting a bit longer till the devs iron out a few performance issues (for ACT 3) and bugs related to some questlines breaking.
They're are still in the middle off including a few more endings, quests and many QOL changes, hopefully (they include the Outer City location in the near future) some characters will get a REAL ending that ties up their journey, because some of the endings are so underwhelming and leave on a weak note that it may ruin the overall experience for some people. due to the lack of choices you gave to pick from leading up to these endings.
Regardless, Larian deserve the huge amount priase for sticking to their promises also going above and beyond to making a REAL and authentic RPG experience that gives the player what they want.
P.S: How can Warklock be the biggest easymode-class when Rouge and (most popular/meta class) Paladin players spamming smite, exist lol?! Get Real.
Once in a blue moon you'll come across a game that captivates many people to jump onboard into gaming again, but..
To captivate THIS many people who not only never played a tactic/strategy game in their life but from a CRPG no less, is truly a sight to behold and Baldur's Gate 3 is those rare beholds.
Granted, Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't do anything revolutionary, but Larian Studios is stepping up once again and doing what many AAA studios now of day are lacking when it comes to games of this genre, in-depth player choice. Give us freedom to think outside the box, multiple routes that drastically change the pace, choices that matter. Persuade or manipulate people to sacrifice themselves (jim jones style), pillage and destroy a village, killable children?? Larian Studios did not hold back on the sheer absurdity/brutality of choices you can pick from, this goes hand and hand with the overall grim-humor nature of Baldur's Gate 3.
That's not to say this game doesn't have it's flaws, because it definitely does.
Terrible A.I pathing and player targeting. Many times an enemy would squeeze between two tiles or stand above/beneath a platform and due to how targeting works, when I want to cast a projectile spell instead of being able to highlight the target marker over an enemies head, the target marker would tend to lock-on to the platform above/below them. Even worst, the pathing insist I should go all around a building to attack an enemy that's directly in FRONT of me. Sufficed to say, I do not like the idea of having to fight with the camera/control for something mundane as targeting and walking. Although it's not game-breaking, just the inconsistency to stay accurate is rather annoying.
The games combat is center around DND 5a rules (I dont have much experience with modern DND) so NEARLY every approach in this game revolves around dice rolls, in which could make or break it for most players (especially early game) who dislike tabletop RPG rules. In my opinion, its the worst gaming mechanics for long playing hour games, because they are built for helping with creating a narrative experience (in the case of DND, with a wargaming feel). Boardgame rules most of the time can be bit of hot or miss, if ported from tabletop because they are made most of the time for 1 to 3 hours of play. The game would have been much more interesting and with much more tactical depth if they had used the aesthetics of dnd, but used digital gaming mechanics. In DND you roll your own dice, and (depending on the DM) you might know the target you need to roll to land an attack. That is a gigantic difference from having a very disheartening low percentage and just having to sit through "MISS MISS MISS MISS MISS MISS MISS MISS" especially in early levels combat.
Also with many choices of this scale to choose from, comes a plethora of issues such as broken quest-chains that can either stop you from completing quests entirely, missing NPCs that aren't present in locations they should be at or turning-in/stealing items that can trick the game into spoiling events that happen in the near end of the game but like all things bad with BG3, a lot of those issue stems from ACT 3 most of all. Unlike ACT 1 and 2, where you can plainly see Larian Studio put a lot of effort into polishing the story/performance, I truly believe this game should've stayed in the oven for a bit longer or at least, just enough where they could've polish ACT 3 quest-lines and the overall performance issue.
*SPOILERS**
Hell, there were times where it really seems like the story must've been written by two different teams. Like one team really loved Throne of Bhaal and wanted it to be canon for BG3 and another team glossed over the story and didn't understand it all the while trying to capitalize on nostalgia baiting by injecting old cast members into the story just for the sake of it. Also, there are a few plot points that contradict the events in ToB given the major plot point for that game was to kill every bhaalspawn, yet the dark urge is just here, a bhaal chosen for that matter and at no point the story explains how they got hereand from what I understand, WoTC pushed the Bhaal spawn story to be implemented in BG3, in line with the other games and this was Larian answer to that.
*END OF SPOILERS**
Glaring plot-holes aside, ACT 1 and 2 are beautifully well crafted with encounters that are fairly well designed with loads of good story elements, fun social rolls and ways to avoid combat (even though the XP is MUCH lower). You have a fun and interesting way to play.
Just like what Larian did with Divinity: Original Sin 2, I'm 100% certain alot of my complains (such as tying up loose ends and clarifying a few things with the story) will be remedy with a Definitive Edition that will include a lot of cut content, a new rework battle system, new story routes, and possibly include locations to explore??
In my honest opinion, as of now, I would highly recommend waiting a bit longer till the devs iron out a few performance issues (for ACT 3) and bugs related to some questlines breaking.
They're are still in the middle off including a few more endings, quests and many QOL changes, hopefully (they include the Outer City location in the near future) some characters will get a REAL ending that ties up their journey, because some of the endings are so underwhelming and leave on a weak note that it may ruin the overall experience for some people. due to the lack of choices you gave to pick from leading up to these endings.
Regardless, Larian deserve the huge amount priase for sticking to their promises also going above and beyond to making a REAL and authentic RPG experience that gives the player what they want.
P.S: How can Warklock be the biggest easymode-class when Rouge and (most popular/meta class) Paladin players spamming smite, exist lol?! Get Real.
2023
An inferior version of the Etrian Odyssey Untold games but damn does it feel nice to have an official steam release. Also reworking the map creator to function seamlessly on non Nintendo DS system and having a auto map feature, already makes this better than having to set up an emulator. Transitioning from controller to mouse works flawlessly as well when you want to draw on the map, its almost like they had the steam deck in mind when making this "remaster". I don't think its right of Atlus to charge this much for such a old game but if you're like me, who's been dying to get back into the series after wasting many hours playing every Etrian Odyssey game on the DS back in the day. Then you wouldn't mind the price point. It's a solid HD port.
Side note. Medics in EO1 were the only time they truly embody the "I'm a healer, but..."
Aim for LV10 Immunize and LV10 ATK Up.
If you know, you know. ;)
Now please release a "remaster" version of Etrian Odyssey 4, Untold and Nexus. Better yet..
Make a new Etrian Odyssey game already!!! SMT and Persona has gotten enough love as is!
Side note. Medics in EO1 were the only time they truly embody the "I'm a healer, but..."
Aim for LV10 Immunize and LV10 ATK Up.
If you know, you know. ;)
Now please release a "remaster" version of Etrian Odyssey 4, Untold and Nexus. Better yet..
Make a new Etrian Odyssey game already!!! SMT and Persona has gotten enough love as is!
got to play it since someone leak it 2 weeks early lol, the ninjas cant stop the yo ho life.
That ending has the right amount of closure that I needed. Also, I could feel taka passion of xenogear breathe in this DLC and Im happy for it.
Grew up playing Classic Megaman, Megaman X, Megaman Zero/ZX, Megaman Legends and Mega Man Star Force, but..
The one series that left the biggest mark in my life, would be Battle Network.
I still own every physical copy of MMBN and not having to rely on my Gameboy Advance or set up a Emulator to play "nearly" every game in one pack is a blessing.
Not only that, but official trading, PVP (goodbye GBA Link Cable, you will not be miss), access to Patch Cards (no E-readers required) and NA region finally gets official access to the Boktai chip set to boot?! It was worth the wait.
Out of all the legacy collections, we Battle Network fans are the ones that are truly eating good.
....Im so proud. T-T
The one series that left the biggest mark in my life, would be Battle Network.
I still own every physical copy of MMBN and not having to rely on my Gameboy Advance or set up a Emulator to play "nearly" every game in one pack is a blessing.
Not only that, but official trading, PVP (goodbye GBA Link Cable, you will not be miss), access to Patch Cards (no E-readers required) and NA region finally gets official access to the Boktai chip set to boot?! It was worth the wait.
Out of all the legacy collections, we Battle Network fans are the ones that are truly eating good.
....Im so proud. T-T
2023
A "silent" protag surrounded by Gothic (maybe even Cosmic) horrors that creep in the darkness and you must outwit them with (i-frames) tools, various weapons and guns. All the while conserving ammo.
Due to the lack of hand holding this games gives you, it is a requirement to actually use your brain when navigating each location and attempting to clear puzzles.
A rare thing to experience in this day and age.
It's basically Vampire Hunter D: CrossCode Edition, and I find that pretty badass.
Due to the lack of hand holding this games gives you, it is a requirement to actually use your brain when navigating each location and attempting to clear puzzles.
A rare thing to experience in this day and age.
It's basically Vampire Hunter D: CrossCode Edition, and I find that pretty badass.
1998
Square keeps bringing back old titles as remasters, yet they refuse to bring this back from the dead. The world needs to know xenogears existed!
This is basically a Dreamcast port of Vampire Chronicles (that was lock to the Japan region), but for the psp. Only difference is that, instead getting to choose the fighting style from all five Darkstalkers/Vampire arcade game. You only get only get 3 options, Darkstalkers, Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge, and Darkstalkers 3. Which is all you need really. Vampire Hunter 2 and Vampire Savior 2 were lock to Japan only.
With that said...
Its baffling how every time Capcom makes a new "fighter collection". They always have separate titles from the series but they should trim the fat and just port Chaos Tower or at least make a definitive edition already. Literally the best of all worlds and rather having to pick a specific title to play a character you like. You can play EVERY character under one game with Chaos Tower and you get to pick which play style (out of the 3 Darkstalkers/Vampire games) you prefer. Also, the soundtracks from all 3 games changes based on what play style you choose. Only thing that stays the same is the selection screen, arcade levels and character endings are all from Vampire Savior 2(JP).
With that said...
Its baffling how every time Capcom makes a new "fighter collection". They always have separate titles from the series but they should trim the fat and just port Chaos Tower or at least make a definitive edition already. Literally the best of all worlds and rather having to pick a specific title to play a character you like. You can play EVERY character under one game with Chaos Tower and you get to pick which play style (out of the 3 Darkstalkers/Vampire games) you prefer. Also, the soundtracks from all 3 games changes based on what play style you choose. Only thing that stays the same is the selection screen, arcade levels and character endings are all from Vampire Savior 2(JP).
2014
"This is where your story begins..."
Words that echo in my head when I think of this, one of Sony greatest masterpiece, but much like the psp vita. Sony gave up on something that had potential to be something even greater. They sacrificed gamers happiness over conserving their own wealth.
And in a way, ironically...
....this story came to a close before it even began.
Shame most will never get to experience this gem and the platform this gem was intended to be played on, but for those of us that have. As Long As We Remember, am I right? T-T
Words that echo in my head when I think of this, one of Sony greatest masterpiece, but much like the psp vita. Sony gave up on something that had potential to be something even greater. They sacrificed gamers happiness over conserving their own wealth.
And in a way, ironically...
....this story came to a close before it even began.
Shame most will never get to experience this gem and the platform this gem was intended to be played on, but for those of us that have. As Long As We Remember, am I right? T-T
2019
official eng translation never btw
2022
Taketh thy art, raiseth thy bon'r, sweaty haste headlong and plunge deep into thy enemies!
Square on the ov'rwhelming hoards. F'r thee shall doth m're than butting heads and raising the dead!
Art thee eft to crosseth swords?
Vampire Survivors push forward the roguelite auto-battler genre, that's starting to over saturate with copy cats, but out of those copy cats. There's of the few enjoyable and unique games that stand out from the rest, Boneraiser Minions is one of them. Personally I like this more than Vampire Survivors. Wonderful retro OST, charming 8-bit artstyle, in-dept/engaging mechanics and more importantly. It's skilled based that doesn't just require directional movement.
Good variety of classes to pick from, nice "outfits to choose from, different game modes, with alot of content for a cheap price tag and it still gets frequent updates!
For a game that was created by a solo dev that stays in touch with their community.
I highly recommend trying out this game.
Boner.
Amazing linear stage-based game, that pays homage to the likes of Ninja Gaiden, Hagane, and Shinobi.
The formula to how you go about doing each stage and gaining power-ups is similar to the MegaMan games. Although this game is a lot more forgiving compared to those games I just mentioned.
Skills that let you find secrets, power-ups with minor invincibility. Even with checks-points between sub-bosses and main bosses in each stage (so no worries if you use up your continues, you’ll be able to get right back into the boss fights). Most of which have a very little move-set with telepathic moves that are easy to read, although that’s not to say it’s a bad thing.
A game of this nature may be very enjoyable if you’re the type who likes doing 100% speed-runs or want something that’s less stress inducing than the Mega ManX/Ninja Gaiden games (or worst.. MegaMan Zero 1 rank system sudders). I dare say it makes a good entry point for someone who want to test their skills on a retro-inspired 2D platformer for the first time. Give it a shot, it’s very short, has kick ass cyber ninjas and it's enjoyable.
Also do yourself a favor, play this with the CRT filter on.
This game does the CRT effect beautifully, makes me wish it was set on by default (like Steel Assault).
The formula to how you go about doing each stage and gaining power-ups is similar to the MegaMan games. Although this game is a lot more forgiving compared to those games I just mentioned.
Skills that let you find secrets, power-ups with minor invincibility. Even with checks-points between sub-bosses and main bosses in each stage (so no worries if you use up your continues, you’ll be able to get right back into the boss fights). Most of which have a very little move-set with telepathic moves that are easy to read, although that’s not to say it’s a bad thing.
A game of this nature may be very enjoyable if you’re the type who likes doing 100% speed-runs or want something that’s less stress inducing than the Mega ManX/Ninja Gaiden games (or worst.. MegaMan Zero 1 rank system sudders). I dare say it makes a good entry point for someone who want to test their skills on a retro-inspired 2D platformer for the first time. Give it a shot, it’s very short, has kick ass cyber ninjas and it's enjoyable.
Also do yourself a favor, play this with the CRT filter on.
This game does the CRT effect beautifully, makes me wish it was set on by default (like Steel Assault).