In the Name of Unicorn I choose You!

[TL;DR: The Heart of Unicorn]
Reflecting on my 140-hour journey, many criticisms I had about the game felt like mere nitpicks.
It’s clear that what began as a casual interest blossomed into a memorable gaming experience that has earned a special place among my favourites.

Yes it’s story trope-filled,yes it’s not a masterpiece in storytelling or anything , But the presentation,diverse cast ,regions just makes me love the game more.
Side stories felt more personal and short.
I felt like the game knew what its story and strength lied at.
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Throughout my 140 hours with the game I was surprised by how much the game kept my attention and kept providing something to look forward to.

Unicorn Overlord is Vanillaware showcasing peak gameplay innovation with engaging characters, customizable gameplay, and addictive mechanics,
It’s their commitment to elevating the TRPG genre.

[Story]
The Story goes for a grand, multi-country scale fantasy war fable, rather than a politically charged, morally ambiguous narrative and as such may not meet everyone's expectations.
In assessing a story, it's important not to fixate on whether it adheres to common themes or tropes. Instead, we should consider its overall quality and how effectively it achieves its intended genre and tone.

It delivers a good story especially accounting for how it’s structured where we can have so many characters and gimping our team or denying a certain area even for story may severely could’ve affected the gameplay which showcase their dedication to delivering an immersive and well-rounded game.


[Side Stories]
The side stories transcend mere optional content;
There are over 60 characters to recruit and each with their introductions,themes,story and fantastic voice acting

They are essential components that intertwine to create Fevrith's rich narrative.
These Individual glimpses introduce potential allies, offering players a distinctive and personalised view of the kingdom's diverse inhabitants.

The side quests really feel like the heart of the story, fostering emotional connections and delivering memorable experiences that drive the game forward.

[Gameplay]
I really think they nailed the combat and hope that they do at least something from it’s combat system later down the line,


1.)I really really liked how they managed to keep the gameplay engaging enough even till near end of game
You start the game with being able to house 2 units in each 3 squads, through earning honors you can ultimately have 5 units max in 10 squads.
There are tactics which if you have fine control over to fine tune each ability trigger on your
Preference.
Initially though the tactics may seem to not be that complex it quickly ramps up as more and more units and abilities are unlocked,

2.)I really appreciated how the game doesn't shy away from giving you actually powerful equipment which makes so always look forward to next big equipment ,then coming up with a squad to make it’s optimal use

[Difficulties of Combat]
A note on how i played the game->I only used the uniques(aka not hired mercenaries, unless a unit class was available to be hired that i have not still recruited which only happens in case of Gryphon rider and Wyvern Knight)
I found that not using mercenaries really compliments the gameplay and makes you actually think about your units not not just put multiples of “strongest” classes in one unit and you can’t just put Shaman or Knight in every unit and plough through the game.


1.)I found the difficulty of the game overall challenging and fun.
But do understand how some can find it too easy and may think it was the game's fault but I think some responsibility of making a game, challenging and fun falls on the player too as in maybe restricting certain items , mechanics to make it enjoyable.



2.)Now the sad part is the colosseum , why you ask?.well it shows just how technical and hard the combat of the game can become if only the enemy units are actually given Proper
Equipment and have at least Tactics set and shows what happens when battle forecast is not available to you

3)Now coming onto the problem that is battle forecast ,
Which essentially tells you the outcome of battle will be,
And it updates based on changes made though your unit's position/tactics.
so you know you can just switch units positions/tactics per encounter, hence change the hit/attack RNGs and get a desirable outcome reasonably well, to this you may say
“well then just don’t change your position, problem solved roll with whatever rng you get”
But changing and adapting to the enemy's strategy is the core part of what makes combat so good ,
I want to change my position in the unit not because the battle forecast told me so but because I saw the enemy units and thought about which of my unit’s positions/tactics is the problem.


TL;DR battle forecast doesn’t teach weather the changes you made were simply because it was good for your unit placements or it was good in that scenario only

4)Not Being able to choose specific unit in tactics sucks(in game you can only choose ‘prioritise unit’ not ‘only choose this unit’,
This problem starts to get more erogenous as we start to move from 4-5 units per squad because up until that point you could’ve used full column>back row/front row to atleast reliable buff a particular character but this stops working on 5 units as we now have atleast 2 units on front row


These issues affect the enjoyment of the otherwise meticulously crafted tactical RPG gameplay.

Yakuza 4 - "You Gotta Go Balls Out"

Part-1 ||Shun Akiyama|| Whatever she did, RGG won't show to you
Started on a good note , Akiyama was a really likable character for me at first but him making a rape joke on hana then telling a mother who was along with her kid and who just excaped an abusive relationship to work in red light just put a bad taste in me, though the argument came be made that it's a product of its time and rape joke reflects it's age and he was just testing if the mother was determined enough to really go through the test or not.
next onto the plot mover that is
on to Lily aka Yasuko , RGG just can't write good female character.
We're always told about her being femme fatale but every scene she is completely bland, the game establishes that she kills by seduction but every time we see her she's completely bland ,
We never see her actually using any manipulation or her skills/personality,even for generating money in club ,we only hear about it never shown .
Her Character really falls flat ... anyway we hand her 100 million move to another character.

Part 2 Regrets? Can't say I got none. I regret every life I took.
Good Character stuck in really really bad section of game .
seriously fuck you saito.
I love getting stun locked and fighting this agile bitch with this dump truck of a character.
We escape with help of our best buddy hamazaki and yeah just happens to land on beach of Okinawa.
The fight with Kiryu was amazing.
Then after an awkward scene with haruka ,we reach city and here pace just halts to the ground.
After meeting with kido then florist then fighting Coliseum,we get an really emotional speech from the man himself.
This Scene Sold me on Saejima.
After meeting Sasai and weirdly this emotional moment is immediately followed by mini game aka sodachi ,
i found it used way too much dialogue to convey what little it wanted
Going back to hideout with such a banger music playing we fight Minami then Majima himself ,who was really hard but kinda fun.
and......end of Saejima section.

Part 3- A cheap way to cop out
playing as a cop was odd really for me.
tanimura's combat and substories really didn't interest me.now as part of finding about his
dad's death we try to talk to yasuko but she's dragged off to docks we save her then
exposition happens then we use meet up with katsuragi , who reveals he was the one behind
the hit. we then go The Forbidden Room this was the first time i felt the game just
didnt have much to tell with chapters ending quickly and trying too hard to justify their
length.next we meet akiyama then mishima then we get the "Japanese police can't shoot"
which to be fair with so many guns around the everyone must have become so dumb.though
i kinda like boat chase .
now with problem with Sugiuchi Boss fight - let's see for tanimura we have a character
who's strong point are parry and grapple which both have HEAT MOVES attached. we'll
whats the problem ? umm Sugiuchi just denies grapple and parry(when in heat mode).
now next we get the whole rubber bullets reveal ,now this has been fairly discussed so i
just mention my main gripe with it which are
--->the problem is not in bullets being of rubber but the way they were used mainly
Katsuragi’s plan relying on all other 18 people getting knocked out AND
only waking up AFTER Saejima left AND
him being the first to wake up so he could finish the job.
To me it felt like attempt at taking away complexity of saejima. It's like RGG can't have
protagonist be bad/ moraly grey.
The thing is i don't dislike tanimura but feel like game did'nt
do enough with tanimura maybe exploring little asia would have been great.
apart from what little we learn from substory the main story itself uses tanimura as an
pathetic excuse for exposition and details about what little mystery the game thinks it
have out we end this part.

Part 4 - Enter the Dragon
In another one of convenient coincidence ,hamazaki begs kiryu to go to save kamurocho
now we just happen to meet Yasuko in front of police station then from
Yasuko perspective two random strangers ask her to accompany them to a safe place ,without
giving any proof of whomsoever they are and this seems safe right?
next as kiryu we fight saito ,mandatory fuck you saito ,now this was so far the hardest batlle for me.
and just as i thought about character redemtion arc and bring intrested in how's game gonna handle
hamazaki ,beep boop he dies a cheap death.
after learning abot yasuko backstory then after telling him "what if your brother is already dead though, would you take your life!?"
sit here and don't make a mess ok bye!.
next majima gets arrested we learn about d̶a̶i̶g̶o̶ fuckup-o and Munakata.
then we have a rad fight with akiyama and tanimura.
now the group is at serena , akiyama dumbass as he is just tells about how he kept all money
without any lock . even though it's inline with akiyama character its just felt way to dumb moment.
next we set up a trade with the devil katsuragi ,using the file as leverage.

after fighting an entire skyscraper filled with Ueno Seiwa clan members reunion with saejima what happens? well it happens off screen
this imo for me was, what story was hinging on and then it just happens offscreen
kido shoots katsuragi,who is then shot by arai

[37 hours || 70% completion || Immortal Difficulty]

Absolutely fantastic game!
A definite must-buy for anyone who loves metrodivanias or enjoys platforming and intense combat

[Short Summary]
The strength of game lies in it's bosses, puzzles and platforming design which is better than some of the best in the genre.
Metroidvania as a genre have so many aspects to them and some people like certain aspects more than others.
Despite some issues with the game, I still believe it's a fantastic overall experience.
The extensive accessibility options make it enjoyable for players of varying skills,
allowing everyone to enjoy the game on their own terms.

[What I Loved]

-The Bosses were fantastic really well designed and the required use of your abilities in them

-Accessibility options is one of my favorite thing about this game,
option to retry,the difficulty options, screen cap as a marker ,option to be guided,not having to mash to unfreeze,showing interaction prompts.

-The controls are responsive and feel great.

-Platforming is fun and has a lot of great challenges.

-Combat has a great amount of depth for the genre.

-All the abilities were enjoyable, providing a smooth and responsive experience, and they were appropriately utilized for both exploration and combat.

-The puzzles were enjoyable and never felt overly tedious or overly complicated.

[ General Criticism ]
1)The Art Style, Story, lore texts, and Characters all felt quite generic. It's not necessarily bad,
but there need to be something more captivating to grab my attention
I must say that I really appreciated how the story never obstructed the gameplay,
even if I wasn't entirely enjoying it.
It didn't overstay its welcome or attempt to convey a depth beyond what it was presenting

2)I found the music to be somewhat forgettable. While it serves its purpose, it simply blends into the background, often going unnoticed

3)When it comes to platforming, failing at one section results in a complete reset,
requiring you to start the entire sequence anew.
It the management of checkpoints in between could be improved for a more seamless and fun experience


[ Gameplay | Combat and it's Difficulty ]
1)There aren’t enough enemies, like i am actually surprised how sparse enemies were
and the ones that are there, just get destroyed, even on immortal difficulty
I enjoy the combat thoroughly but it isn’t quite hard or meaningful enough
and punishing.
||Basically You mow them down or you get killed in a few hits, you never get into
that loop of killing enemies ,dodging where you can feel the tension building
The game makes me long for more pressure||.
also I don’t think the damage sliders would help this.

2)I've frequently found myself resorting to killing sargon on traps multiple times
Just to warp back to the last save.In my opinion,the act of killing yourself to cross the map is really bad and a big design flaw.
To address this, I would suggest that the game should either allow traveling to fast travel points,directly from the trees
or
provide the option for free teleportation from and to trees once you receive the task to collect constellations

3)The map is well-crafted and easy to follow, but it gives off a pre-explored map vibes ie certain parts of the game map are revealed without the player having to physically visit those areas.
that dampens the thrill of exploration and After reaching around 70% completion,
my only choices were either to painstakingly explore every corner of the map or resort to using Google for guidance
Even when I make the effort to explore, the rewards just aren't motivating enough


[Bosses]
1)My BIG problem with the the boss fights particularly >!vahram!< fights is the fancy animation sequences.
If you happen to miss a dodge or parry, you're stuck in a 10+ second animation of the boss dealing damage..
While the game's animations are undeniably impressive, having to endure these sequences repeatedly, especially when I'm already being punished with damage, feels unnecessary.
It disrupts the flow of combat and takes me out of the immersive experience.

2)Given the game's intriguing range of abilities and movement and the option for instant boss retries,
I was left with a desire for a higher level of challenge in the bosses' mechanics.
I was looking for a tougher and more engaging experience to make the most of the game's potential.