mustangaf
Pretty game, good OST, story and gameplay felt good for about 50% of it.
Everything looked so interesting, the post-apocalyptic setting, the demons (as always, thank you SMT), the characters and their conflicts... Up to the half of it. After that, I could notice how things mostly felt surface-level in the story department, it almost felt offensive. Not to say there was no development, because they managed to write some pretty interesting things, but it mostly falls flat for me. Without spoilers, the ending stretch is the biggest offender. By some SMT-Fallout fusion, you get to pick your faction by simple choice, not with some hidden requirements like some other SMT titles. Oh and the choice is pretty interesting, some good stakes and sides... that end up being extremely shallow, underdeveloped, with some endings shafted for others, which disappointed me immensely after getting excited for its concept. After dropping the game at the 90% mark, I went to youtube to watch the cutscenes that led up to the ending, and I couldn't stand how boring and stall-y it was. Unbelievable, considering what we had in the start, the game's general themes and my next point.
The gameplay. I love SRPGs and was excited for a SMT in that style, but it wasn't satisfactory. I can see how this is all very personal, but the strategy is not in the grid/map gameplay and decision-making, it's in the demon fusion and character builds mostly. I hated it. Sometimes I had to spend HOURS fusing stuff, and it made me feel like dying, so I dropped it. The challenges the game presented felt boring to tackle (not because I was too strong, mind you), I just wanted it to end.
Maybe I should have played the first DeSu (they say the story is better) or just give up on SMT altogether considering how I hated the fusion in this one.
All in all, this is the game that felt the most like a SHARP downward slope in my enjoyment in the last years. Just played the main campaign, not the brand-new Tetragrammaton bullshit or whatever it was called.
Everything looked so interesting, the post-apocalyptic setting, the demons (as always, thank you SMT), the characters and their conflicts... Up to the half of it. After that, I could notice how things mostly felt surface-level in the story department, it almost felt offensive. Not to say there was no development, because they managed to write some pretty interesting things, but it mostly falls flat for me. Without spoilers, the ending stretch is the biggest offender. By some SMT-Fallout fusion, you get to pick your faction by simple choice, not with some hidden requirements like some other SMT titles. Oh and the choice is pretty interesting, some good stakes and sides... that end up being extremely shallow, underdeveloped, with some endings shafted for others, which disappointed me immensely after getting excited for its concept. After dropping the game at the 90% mark, I went to youtube to watch the cutscenes that led up to the ending, and I couldn't stand how boring and stall-y it was. Unbelievable, considering what we had in the start, the game's general themes and my next point.
The gameplay. I love SRPGs and was excited for a SMT in that style, but it wasn't satisfactory. I can see how this is all very personal, but the strategy is not in the grid/map gameplay and decision-making, it's in the demon fusion and character builds mostly. I hated it. Sometimes I had to spend HOURS fusing stuff, and it made me feel like dying, so I dropped it. The challenges the game presented felt boring to tackle (not because I was too strong, mind you), I just wanted it to end.
Maybe I should have played the first DeSu (they say the story is better) or just give up on SMT altogether considering how I hated the fusion in this one.
All in all, this is the game that felt the most like a SHARP downward slope in my enjoyment in the last years. Just played the main campaign, not the brand-new Tetragrammaton bullshit or whatever it was called.
Very engrossing story, loooooved it.
The Flow chart is a godsend and made it much more enjoyable than the original 999 to play through.
Its themes and reveals always made me go hog wild, from start to finish (kinda hard to write this shit without spoilers lol). The escape room sequences are also pretty enjoyable puzzles. One of my new favorite games ever.
Could do without the horniness though.
The Flow chart is a godsend and made it much more enjoyable than the original 999 to play through.
Its themes and reveals always made me go hog wild, from start to finish (kinda hard to write this shit without spoilers lol). The escape room sequences are also pretty enjoyable puzzles. One of my new favorite games ever.
Could do without the horniness though.
2020
Played until 1.4
Absolute GREAT exploration and world, with fight gameplay that can hold its on very well.
You know there's a but.
The story, with some quest exceptions, is trash considering what they have in setting and characters. I could feel something great in the bottom, like there were some nice writers in a basement somewhere struggling to make it come to light in a huge gacha that has money and player entrapment as its only objective. My props to whoever makes the maps though, they're great.
I'ts as a live service game that all its faults arrive (wow who could have thought!). The drip feeding, the stalling, the constant character/weapon banners as the only new content (and it is monetized in a shitty way), the barely-developed story released bit by bit, the psychological warfare to retain the playerbase (that's the worst part), boring events...
Kept an eye on the game for some patches and nothing could convince me to return. Honestly, I do not recommend.
Absolute GREAT exploration and world, with fight gameplay that can hold its on very well.
You know there's a but.
The story, with some quest exceptions, is trash considering what they have in setting and characters. I could feel something great in the bottom, like there were some nice writers in a basement somewhere struggling to make it come to light in a huge gacha that has money and player entrapment as its only objective. My props to whoever makes the maps though, they're great.
I'ts as a live service game that all its faults arrive (wow who could have thought!). The drip feeding, the stalling, the constant character/weapon banners as the only new content (and it is monetized in a shitty way), the barely-developed story released bit by bit, the psychological warfare to retain the playerbase (that's the worst part), boring events...
Kept an eye on the game for some patches and nothing could convince me to return. Honestly, I do not recommend.
Character design and sprites (?) are so full of charm, it's the best part about it.
The story is tightly written, the gameplay is fun and innovative even though it could use a hint system, great mysteries, all in all a great game.
What holds it back from a super high score are some very few chapters that have some kinda unfun sections, and the ending stretch disappointed me personally, although I know many people didn't think so.
Recommended! A great puzzle-story game.
The story is tightly written, the gameplay is fun and innovative even though it could use a hint system, great mysteries, all in all a great game.
What holds it back from a super high score are some very few chapters that have some kinda unfun sections, and the ending stretch disappointed me personally, although I know many people didn't think so.
Recommended! A great puzzle-story game.
In what concerns the kart racing, very fun, good and charming maps as well.
Has some mechanics that aren't immediate to learn that can make it way more fun too. However, that's also a problem: Good luck having fun in coop if your skill levels differ even 5%, as the most experienced person will just roll through everyone else like its a single player game with no other cars, or they will not give their all to make it fair and have a terrible time. So, as a party game, it kiiiiinda fails.
Because of that, in online play, you'll also just get rolled (if you pay the stupid ps plus, btw dont do it)
Also, if you play alone, the above problems persist, so they just make... the AI cheat?? They get a fucking huge speed boost to compete with you, if you are not already getting stomped or stomping omega hard.
By the way, FUCK OFF with that stupid store. I feel like a rat getting put in a test site, go to hell. I fear for the future.
Anyway, if you just want some kart racing experience and don't care about anything else, you can't go wrong. Very good at that. Also recommended if you want kids/extended family/people that haven't played before to have a good time.
Has some mechanics that aren't immediate to learn that can make it way more fun too. However, that's also a problem: Good luck having fun in coop if your skill levels differ even 5%, as the most experienced person will just roll through everyone else like its a single player game with no other cars, or they will not give their all to make it fair and have a terrible time. So, as a party game, it kiiiiinda fails.
Because of that, in online play, you'll also just get rolled (if you pay the stupid ps plus, btw dont do it)
Also, if you play alone, the above problems persist, so they just make... the AI cheat?? They get a fucking huge speed boost to compete with you, if you are not already getting stomped or stomping omega hard.
By the way, FUCK OFF with that stupid store. I feel like a rat getting put in a test site, go to hell. I fear for the future.
Anyway, if you just want some kart racing experience and don't care about anything else, you can't go wrong. Very good at that. Also recommended if you want kids/extended family/people that haven't played before to have a good time.
2021
A very interesting roguelike. Simple, complicated and challenging at the same time, the gameplay feels great and beautifully connected to the story premise, where the "hero" must "loop" around and rebuild a destroyed to nothingness world via his memories, which are the cards you place at the road. Managing the different cards and enemies, when it's not obvious what helps you and what doesn't constitutes a fresh challenge and makes the idle-battler part of the game strangely enthralling. Different classes that are actually very unsimilar and build variety are also well done (even though there's a class that's most obviously broken) and the tile interaction is, honestly, pretty genius. Making different landmarks and fulfilling the different enemy spawn conditions is interesting and makes sense with the compelling worldbuilding. Also there's a great pokedex-type book ingame where you can read all about the world and I love it.
Artistically, the soundtrack is VERY good, the artstyle is 10/10 for me with very pretty spritework and fascinating enemy designs. (and every single one has mugshots!) It's clear as day the amount of passion that went into it.
It's definitely a challenging game, although googling can help you if you're in a bind (I didn't personally do it and don't really recommend it, but I see how missing some stuff can destroy you). Also, it's a roguelike, but there's an end to it, and I personally don't see a motive to replay it like you would Slay the Spire for example.
Why the -0.5★ then? Well, sometimes it was stressing in a way that I do not enjoy, has some farming (even though it's temporary and still engaging) and it kinda has some hiccups at the ending. But, as a package? An absolute little bundle of passion, it makes me joyous that it exists. Let's go indie gamers (from Russia this time!) If you can see yourself having fun with the gameplay, absolutely give it a shot.
Artistically, the soundtrack is VERY good, the artstyle is 10/10 for me with very pretty spritework and fascinating enemy designs. (and every single one has mugshots!) It's clear as day the amount of passion that went into it.
It's definitely a challenging game, although googling can help you if you're in a bind (I didn't personally do it and don't really recommend it, but I see how missing some stuff can destroy you). Also, it's a roguelike, but there's an end to it, and I personally don't see a motive to replay it like you would Slay the Spire for example.
Why the -0.5★ then? Well, sometimes it was stressing in a way that I do not enjoy, has some farming (even though it's temporary and still engaging) and it kinda has some hiccups at the ending. But, as a package? An absolute little bundle of passion, it makes me joyous that it exists. Let's go indie gamers (from Russia this time!) If you can see yourself having fun with the gameplay, absolutely give it a shot.
Fun little puzzle game! Had a hard time getting into it at first, because the setting overall is kinda just there, but after I did, it was just puzzle after puzzle and I like it! The story also starts being just fine enough after a while.
Some exploration, puzzle accessibility (like where to find them) and especially Trunk minigames are a little rough, but it does get better later in the series.
Some exploration, puzzle accessibility (like where to find them) and especially Trunk minigames are a little rough, but it does get better later in the series.
Another AA game, and it's good but nothing special.
The new protagonist and Wright's characterization are controversial, I know and can see why, but I enjoyed it just fine while playing. Guess it's a personal matter. Also, it looks soooooo pretty on the 3ds.
There's a pretty bad case in here (if you played it I think you know which one it is) but the game is enjoyable nonetheless, and some moments made me fill with glee, as Ace Attorney does. I wholly enjoy the addition of Trucy and Klavier, and enjoyed some side characters a lot as well. Very worthwhile.
The new protagonist and Wright's characterization are controversial, I know and can see why, but I enjoyed it just fine while playing. Guess it's a personal matter. Also, it looks soooooo pretty on the 3ds.
There's a pretty bad case in here (if you played it I think you know which one it is) but the game is enjoyable nonetheless, and some moments made me fill with glee, as Ace Attorney does. I wholly enjoy the addition of Trucy and Klavier, and enjoyed some side characters a lot as well. Very worthwhile.
The first game was an unbalanced mess, but still fun. This one changed both of those things.
It's now sufficiently balanced and characters have their join times thankfully spread out, but it's not fun at all. Which is NOT a good trade. Random battles are the shittiest part, entering one feels like a chore, it's a trial and error rngfest (did we really need that many new elements to throw at the enemies?), especially after the first dungeon. As the battles require more of you, you also need to fuse more and grind more, and this is the SMT game(?) where I most felt like doing that was a waste of my time.
The story, frankly, kinda sucks. And it's so lenghty, with nothing interesting in it at all. The past persona games fanservice is absolutely not enough to salvage it. It barely is anything, since the characters are mostly flanderized and I wanted to tell them to shut up always. Worse than the first one, which wasn't even that good in that regard in the first place.
But well, what about the dungeon EO-style gameplay? Those were awesome in the first one! Well, sorry to say, but it's mostly gone. Their designs/ambience are still good, but they made them SO linear and uninteresting to explore with puzzles that were too easy that I just wanted them to end. That was the final straw for me.
I can see how there's people who would like this, but honestly, I recommend you skip it and play something else. And it's a shame because it could have been pretty fun with better gameplay.
It's now sufficiently balanced and characters have their join times thankfully spread out, but it's not fun at all. Which is NOT a good trade. Random battles are the shittiest part, entering one feels like a chore, it's a trial and error rngfest (did we really need that many new elements to throw at the enemies?), especially after the first dungeon. As the battles require more of you, you also need to fuse more and grind more, and this is the SMT game(?) where I most felt like doing that was a waste of my time.
The story, frankly, kinda sucks. And it's so lenghty, with nothing interesting in it at all. The past persona games fanservice is absolutely not enough to salvage it. It barely is anything, since the characters are mostly flanderized and I wanted to tell them to shut up always. Worse than the first one, which wasn't even that good in that regard in the first place.
But well, what about the dungeon EO-style gameplay? Those were awesome in the first one! Well, sorry to say, but it's mostly gone. Their designs/ambience are still good, but they made them SO linear and uninteresting to explore with puzzles that were too easy that I just wanted them to end. That was the final straw for me.
I can see how there's people who would like this, but honestly, I recommend you skip it and play something else. And it's a shame because it could have been pretty fun with better gameplay.
2017
Very fun and very charming, feels great to play. Honestly that's all there is to it. Had a blast!
2020
I found the puzzle style (sokoban I've heard) to be extremely dreary, I hated it. The rest is, well... showcasing demon girl art, so have fun if that's your thing. The artstyle is good at least.
Thank you devs for the auto-win option, I didn't have any fun with it past the tutorial and just wanted to see the ending.
For a free, 1h game, i guess this is okay? Not my thing at all though.
Thank you devs for the auto-win option, I didn't have any fun with it past the tutorial and just wanted to see the ending.
For a free, 1h game, i guess this is okay? Not my thing at all though.
2012
Bad. The presence of pokemon doesn't help at all by the way. Grindy, unexciting, repetitive, barely strategic battles with annoying world map management. Some nice tracks but it's all very repetitive, and some straight up suck.
The story doesn't exist. After noticing how dull the gameplay would be, I dropped the game and watched the ending sequence, which supposedly was the high point in the narrative. Well it sucks too. Felt like a bad action movie.
Also, never been more disconnected to a fictional setting. "No I don't want to conquer everything. Okay okay I'll do it if it's fun, it's just a game anyway. This sucks, at least we'll learn more about the other feuds right? I mean they're each based on a pokemon type, that's cool. Their culture? Nothing, just some shit maps? Go to hell then."
I guess there's a postgame (don't google it if you want to keep your sanity, but it's pretty much playing the game again 10+ times) that appeals to Japanese history buffs, but I can't comment on that. History nerds I love you btw.
The story doesn't exist. After noticing how dull the gameplay would be, I dropped the game and watched the ending sequence, which supposedly was the high point in the narrative. Well it sucks too. Felt like a bad action movie.
Also, never been more disconnected to a fictional setting. "No I don't want to conquer everything. Okay okay I'll do it if it's fun, it's just a game anyway. This sucks, at least we'll learn more about the other feuds right? I mean they're each based on a pokemon type, that's cool. Their culture? Nothing, just some shit maps? Go to hell then."
I guess there's a postgame (don't google it if you want to keep your sanity, but it's pretty much playing the game again 10+ times) that appeals to Japanese history buffs, but I can't comment on that. History nerds I love you btw.
2018
Very, very, very good! Play it here: http://exitcorners.com/
A pleasant surprise of a game. As a visual novel, its story doesn't disappoint at all. Without spoilers, all I can say is that it's great, the characters are well-written and the pacing is good (it grabs you!). Its themes are sometimes a bit philosophical, and I was pleased to discover that the in game discussions around them aren't shallow or condescending at all.
The puzzles are well integrated and the hint system is awesome, where you talk with your fellow game participants (it's one of those death games VNs ala 999 btw) and try to solve the puzzles with their help. It feels very natural and provides as many or as few hints as you need. I have yet to see a better one in any other game.
Of course, it's not perfect, (some few hiccups with the story and some puzzles) but come oooon. Play it!
A pleasant surprise of a game. As a visual novel, its story doesn't disappoint at all. Without spoilers, all I can say is that it's great, the characters are well-written and the pacing is good (it grabs you!). Its themes are sometimes a bit philosophical, and I was pleased to discover that the in game discussions around them aren't shallow or condescending at all.
The puzzles are well integrated and the hint system is awesome, where you talk with your fellow game participants (it's one of those death games VNs ala 999 btw) and try to solve the puzzles with their help. It feels very natural and provides as many or as few hints as you need. I have yet to see a better one in any other game.
Of course, it's not perfect, (some few hiccups with the story and some puzzles) but come oooon. Play it!
2015
Was a bit late to the party on this (deltarune being good convinced me to play it) and got to it quite spoiled already, so that may have skewed my perception.
Anyway, it's good. I was very bored until the second boss even though the characters were endearing. After that it thankfully gets quite fun, both the gameplay and the rpg-style dungeoning/towning. Especially liked how varied and crazy the NPCs were (my favorite is heats flamesman and the guy that sells burgers) and the ost, of course. Disliked how much you had to walk around sometimes as it didn't feel atmospheric for me.
The story was good, but nothing that great imo apart from some moments that I quite liked. Its more serious/meta themes also didn't really do it for me, but were fine. Remember though, I was quite spoiled.
Did a pacifist run and saw the neutral ending and the pacifist one right after, and that's what i recommend on doing. Genocide sounds interesting but I'm not up for the challenge lol
Anyway, it's good. I was very bored until the second boss even though the characters were endearing. After that it thankfully gets quite fun, both the gameplay and the rpg-style dungeoning/towning. Especially liked how varied and crazy the NPCs were (my favorite is heats flamesman and the guy that sells burgers) and the ost, of course. Disliked how much you had to walk around sometimes as it didn't feel atmospheric for me.
The story was good, but nothing that great imo apart from some moments that I quite liked. Its more serious/meta themes also didn't really do it for me, but were fine. Remember though, I was quite spoiled.
Did a pacifist run and saw the neutral ending and the pacifist one right after, and that's what i recommend on doing. Genocide sounds interesting but I'm not up for the challenge lol
2018
Good premise and pretty, but ultimately disappointing.
In short, there's way too much (bad) strategy and RNG in what could have been a cool role playing fantasy exploration experience. I do not like the design philosophy for this one at all, with random shops, punishing fights and everything being time restricted in a way that makes the difficulty not enjoyable most of the time.
It's not necessarily a roguelike, but you will be making run after run on some 4 or so different campaigns. By the way, failing at these campaigns feels HUGELY bad (which is, in my book, the greatest mistake a run-based game can make), time wasted, barely anything new learned and a feeling of not looking forward at all to the next try. Besides, the classes are kinda unbalanced, there's some spells that are a must (and that will always feel bad in any game ever) and picking a lesser class kinda feels like throwing. This is all on normal difficulty by the way. On easy it feels kinda boring, but at least it becomes an okay casual experience.
There's some good in it though, discovering the game feels exciting, shame it doesn't last. After the cool first 7 hours or so, I barely felt anything even when completing campaigns. A huge shame, as the classes are interesting, the random continents, the quests, the feel of it, and more. I guess I could see people enjoying this a lot.
But a there's a saving grace! With a friend or two, joking around and stuff, it gets way better, fun enough for some respectable hours before the bad parts settle in. I'd give it 3,5 stars with friends, 1,5 stars without (2,5 as a midway point).
So that means: ABSOLUTELY NOT RECOMMENDED if you are going to play alone. God, that sounds awful. Play something else, go read a book. With friends, give it a try if everyone is up for it.
In short, there's way too much (bad) strategy and RNG in what could have been a cool role playing fantasy exploration experience. I do not like the design philosophy for this one at all, with random shops, punishing fights and everything being time restricted in a way that makes the difficulty not enjoyable most of the time.
It's not necessarily a roguelike, but you will be making run after run on some 4 or so different campaigns. By the way, failing at these campaigns feels HUGELY bad (which is, in my book, the greatest mistake a run-based game can make), time wasted, barely anything new learned and a feeling of not looking forward at all to the next try. Besides, the classes are kinda unbalanced, there's some spells that are a must (and that will always feel bad in any game ever) and picking a lesser class kinda feels like throwing. This is all on normal difficulty by the way. On easy it feels kinda boring, but at least it becomes an okay casual experience.
There's some good in it though, discovering the game feels exciting, shame it doesn't last. After the cool first 7 hours or so, I barely felt anything even when completing campaigns. A huge shame, as the classes are interesting, the random continents, the quests, the feel of it, and more. I guess I could see people enjoying this a lot.
But a there's a saving grace! With a friend or two, joking around and stuff, it gets way better, fun enough for some respectable hours before the bad parts settle in. I'd give it 3,5 stars with friends, 1,5 stars without (2,5 as a midway point).
So that means: ABSOLUTELY NOT RECOMMENDED if you are going to play alone. God, that sounds awful. Play something else, go read a book. With friends, give it a try if everyone is up for it.