sourmilkncereal
2015
This review contains spoilers
Finished playing Evenicle after 119 hours. What a journey it was. I mainly got it as a Senren Kagura fan. Nan Yaegashi did the art. I miss both his artwork and Senren Kagura over the years. Evenicle kinda fills that void. So yeah to be clear I liked the idea of it being a JRPG with Nan's art more than it being a hentai game with Nan's art. This is actually my first full on eroge game I've played. Full warning I’m gonna talk spoilers. Mostly because what is the likelihood someone is actually gonna buy a porn game after me talking about it? Probably low but I will say if you end up remotely interested at any point then just stop reading and play the game. Also it’s a porn game so disclaimer duh sex stuff is gonna be talked about. I mainly want to talk about things that stood out to me story and and characters wise. Oh and here's is a collection of funny or amusing screenshots I took. Some are NSFW https://imgur.com/a/klgLMmw
Basically the premise of the game is you got our protagonist Asterisk but you can call him Aster. He wants to fuck and marry his totally not blood related twin sisters but the only way to do that is to become a knight. Aster says he got so horny with the thought of being a knight to get wives that he swam to the city from his hometown. And the game makes it clear it was a long distance. He becomes a knight in chapter 1 btw. Chapter 1 is mostly world building but I wanna talk about that later. The game has 7 chapters with seven deadly sins like theming to it. Chapter 1-5 are mostly episodic while the last two chapters became more serious in taking down the world ending evil pretty typical JRPG stuff. The main villains of the game are called “Snake Crest” and chapter’s 2-5 has you taking down a member of Snake Crest while the last 2 members focus on chapters 6 and 7 . They're all cartoonishly evil. Like it is over the top how evil they are. Chapter 2 talks about envy and political corruption. Chapter 3 is about greed and corporations being evil. Chapter 4 is probably the darkest chapter it covers gluttony with that Snake Crest member being a cannibal. And chapter 5 is technically about lust but it isn’t handled like you’d think. Chapter 5 Snake Crest member wants to revive his dead daughter causing a zombie outbreak. Lastly Chapter 6 and 7 I won't spoil because I don’t wanna completely ruin everything. The main story isn't mind blowing or anything but it is quite fun and engaging throughout and sometimes that all a game needs. It goes above and beyond in making you actually care aside from the porn.
Part of what makes this game special in my opinion is the world building and lore. Pretty much anything you might have a question about the game actually addresses. It’s surprisingly fleshed out making it really interesting. The world of Evenicle is entirely based upon religion and society functions and operates following the rules of the goddess “Mother Eve”. The “Evenicle” is basically this world's Bible. The rules humans must follow is 1 you can not kill and 2 monogamy only Mother Eve hates polygamy. If you break the rules then you get branded an outlaw and get a black ring that you never lose even if you chopped off all of your fingers. You basically lose human rights and literally become ex-human and get kicked out of society. Outlaws also lose the ability to create from the Earth have cows? They die. Have a farm? You can't make crops anymore. What sucks about this situation is that having sex automatically makes you married. So if your an innocent women that got kidnapped and gang raped by outlaws that counts as having multiple partners meaning the rape victim also becomes an outlaw against there own will. Something that is kinda funny about these rules however is that there are several loopholes. Anal sex, blow jobs, and boob jobs “don’t count”. There's a race in this universe known as Kalars there sorta like succubuses where they need semen to live. They also only produce female babies meaning if a human fucks a Kalar that also “doesn’t count”. If you're a knight in this universe and you can rise through the ranks and you can have up to 10 wives. A strong knight means strong kids. Knights are also granted permission to kill. There’s a lot more to the lore as well. There are 6 regions and you often get let know of the current political situation in each region and there’s a character named Towa that explains the back story of each region whenever you enter a new one. It’s explained who wrote the Evenicle and it’s explained how humans and monsters came to be. I can probably mention a few other things but by now you get the idea. Again, it goes above and beyond for what is mostly a goofy porn game. It’s just surprising how much effort there was when they didn’t really have too. And while the lore isn’t really anything crazy it is well thought out and interesting.
Now I wanna talk about characters but there's too many characters I’ll just go over the main five plus one side character. Aster is the protagonist. He’s a hero! But he doesn’t really care about being a hero. He’s just a horny boy that wants to stop evil and fuck girls. Aster is absolutely goddamn hilarious. He’s a pretty simple character and is ultimately just a self insert wish fulfillment, power fantasy. But the blunt and out of pocket shit he says makes him quite possibly one of the funniest protagonists I ever seen. Then you got the first wife Ramius. She is also a knight. She is competitive, kinda dumb, a bit of a meathead and loves porn, sex, food, and sleeping. Ramius is a pretty funny character despite being hot because of previous loner personality she’s considered scary to the average person. Not only that but her older brother convinced her that she's not cute. There's more to her but all I gotta say is just love her character and she says pretty funny things throughout the game. Then you got the second wife Riche. Riche is a princess and is the childhood friend of Ramius. Riche is the straight man of the group and usually stops situations going too outta hand. She is probably the least interesting of the main 4 imo but still very likable. Then you got the third wife Gurigura who was engineered to be as moe as possible. Gurigura is a loli character she plays into the “imouto” archetype and has an unspecified age. And I really like this character. She is adorable. She has a pretty tragic backstory of being an orphan then being trained at a school where they didn’t care whether she lived or died. Not only that but she lived homeless and starved for most of her life. Despite having a sad backstory though she is always happy and upbeat. She’s also really strong and consistently guides the rest of the party throughout the regions. Gameplay wise she also gives you a map, lowers the encounter rate and auto wins trash mobs. I also like how she uses “boku” for her I’s and says “onii-chan” for Aster and “Onee-chan” for the other wives and while I understand people finding it gross the juxtaposition of a loli type character saying absolutely perverted things I also find pretty funny. And something I do wanna say about Gurigura is that she the one that's takes the initiative Aster was reluctant to fuck her cause he didn’t want to take away her innocence. In another hentai scene they also joked that “it feels immoral”. So at least they're self aware. The last wife is Kathryn aka best girl. Kath is an anti-social, shut in, tsundere, super genius, inventor that loves doujins, manga, Yu-Gi-Oh, and ordering things from Amazon. And she is amazing. That’s all I got to say. I just find her really funny and surprisingly relatable. It’s hard for me to choose a favorite but it’s definitely between her or Ramius with Kath probably getting the slight edge. And now the last character I wanna talk about is a side character named Natal. This game has a ton of side characters 6 of which Aster marries there all likable to some degree but not as interesting as main 4 because you don’t spend as much time with them. What I find interesting about Natal is that she doesn’t get with Aster. Not only but she has it rough. She got anally raped by a tentacle monster, got raped a gyaru named Millet who brainwashes her, she got raped by a green monster and gives birth to said green’s monster baby. She falls madly in love with Aster but he’s to dumb to notice, her parents don't care about accomplishments despite being a knight, and she becomes a drug addict and goes completely bonkers randomly raping men. I pity her that oujisama got it bad. In the final chapter there's a side quest with her. The resolution was that she made a full recovery and is no longer addicted. Her family disowned her but was adopted by the King and Queen. She was unable to say she loves Aster but hopes someday she can. Aster is still too dumb to notice her feelings for him, Aster forgives her for the crimes she did but she doesn't forgive herself and is now gonna work on building her reputation back. Natal is a good side character. Goes through a lot. And I like the fact she doesn’t end up with Aster. Overall personally I just adore the cast there super charming, and have great chemistry. Voice acting is also great even outside the lewd scenes. The characters interactions is one of the best parts of the game it's filled hilarious writing as well as surprisingly wholesome moments.
I touched upon the hentai scenes and well there's a lot. I don’t wanna talk about them too much, mostly because I just ended up skipping most of them anyway. I realized when playing. I just wanna play the game, not fap! Like getting aroused is more than enough when playing a game. But anyway I do wanna mention what kinda tags you would seeing in them on the top my head theirs rape, gang rape, NTR, mind break, guro, lolicon, tentacles, monsters, incest, and threesomes. There are a lot of vanilla and consensual scenes. But plenty of gross degenerate scenes too. A lot of these more darker sexually violent scenes feel kinda out of place and create some pretty jarring tonal whiplashes especially since the game has such a cutesy aesthetic and always cracking jokes. Because of this a lot of the hentai in this game imo is pretty hit or miss but if you're the type of the person that can fap to anything then uh yeah there ya go. Personally I'm just glad allows you to fast forward scenes even if it has unread text. Making it mostly a non-issue but I can understand if others can't overlook it. The game is simultaneously filled with wholesome shit and fucked up shit.
Anyway holy crap I gotta end this at some point. I did cover most of what I wanted to talk about but not everything but I really should wrap this up. I think the game is an interesting experience overall because if I think about it, as a visual novel I think it's pretty good but it's not a peak visual novel. I don't think it's nowhere near as good as something like Witch on the Holy Night or Little Busters. As a JRPG it's pretty mediocre. The battle system has good ideas but it's too brain dead easy most of the game with only boss fights being fun battles. Dungeon design is also too simple and not all that interesting. When it comes to hentai aspect I think it's hit or miss most is vanilla so I don't mind but the nasty scenes are pretty nasty. Strangely enough though combining all of these aspects together makes it a unique experience that I mostly love heh. Like as a piece of hentai media I think it's the greatest thing I ever experienced from there. I feel like with Evenicle I finally "discovered" what I've been wanting outta a hentai for years. I kinda went over it already but the game just genuinely shocked me with it having decently a written world with lore and charming characters. And that's what I like about it. It's more than just a goofy porn game to get off too. It has that too. But it's surprising to me with just high effort it does kinda elevate for me in just being a mediocre JRPG or mediocre visual novel. I see this game as a kinda difficult rate cause as far as a hentai story goes it's like everything I ever wanted from a hentai. Judging from that point of view it's like an easy 10. But I can't help think like objectively as visual novel is more like a 7/10 and as a JRPG is more like 6/10. I guess I can say I land at a 8/10 overall but even that doesn't feel right cause I think the cast is better than most JRPGs. I guess the final note I can end is that I personally loved it a lot like man, I'm gonna miss these characters and I seriously feel empty after finishing the game. I think it's a solid game with an incredible main cast but it does have issues (especially tonal issues) that would most likely vary depending on your tastes.
Basically the premise of the game is you got our protagonist Asterisk but you can call him Aster. He wants to fuck and marry his totally not blood related twin sisters but the only way to do that is to become a knight. Aster says he got so horny with the thought of being a knight to get wives that he swam to the city from his hometown. And the game makes it clear it was a long distance. He becomes a knight in chapter 1 btw. Chapter 1 is mostly world building but I wanna talk about that later. The game has 7 chapters with seven deadly sins like theming to it. Chapter 1-5 are mostly episodic while the last two chapters became more serious in taking down the world ending evil pretty typical JRPG stuff. The main villains of the game are called “Snake Crest” and chapter’s 2-5 has you taking down a member of Snake Crest while the last 2 members focus on chapters 6 and 7 . They're all cartoonishly evil. Like it is over the top how evil they are. Chapter 2 talks about envy and political corruption. Chapter 3 is about greed and corporations being evil. Chapter 4 is probably the darkest chapter it covers gluttony with that Snake Crest member being a cannibal. And chapter 5 is technically about lust but it isn’t handled like you’d think. Chapter 5 Snake Crest member wants to revive his dead daughter causing a zombie outbreak. Lastly Chapter 6 and 7 I won't spoil because I don’t wanna completely ruin everything. The main story isn't mind blowing or anything but it is quite fun and engaging throughout and sometimes that all a game needs. It goes above and beyond in making you actually care aside from the porn.
Part of what makes this game special in my opinion is the world building and lore. Pretty much anything you might have a question about the game actually addresses. It’s surprisingly fleshed out making it really interesting. The world of Evenicle is entirely based upon religion and society functions and operates following the rules of the goddess “Mother Eve”. The “Evenicle” is basically this world's Bible. The rules humans must follow is 1 you can not kill and 2 monogamy only Mother Eve hates polygamy. If you break the rules then you get branded an outlaw and get a black ring that you never lose even if you chopped off all of your fingers. You basically lose human rights and literally become ex-human and get kicked out of society. Outlaws also lose the ability to create from the Earth have cows? They die. Have a farm? You can't make crops anymore. What sucks about this situation is that having sex automatically makes you married. So if your an innocent women that got kidnapped and gang raped by outlaws that counts as having multiple partners meaning the rape victim also becomes an outlaw against there own will. Something that is kinda funny about these rules however is that there are several loopholes. Anal sex, blow jobs, and boob jobs “don’t count”. There's a race in this universe known as Kalars there sorta like succubuses where they need semen to live. They also only produce female babies meaning if a human fucks a Kalar that also “doesn’t count”. If you're a knight in this universe and you can rise through the ranks and you can have up to 10 wives. A strong knight means strong kids. Knights are also granted permission to kill. There’s a lot more to the lore as well. There are 6 regions and you often get let know of the current political situation in each region and there’s a character named Towa that explains the back story of each region whenever you enter a new one. It’s explained who wrote the Evenicle and it’s explained how humans and monsters came to be. I can probably mention a few other things but by now you get the idea. Again, it goes above and beyond for what is mostly a goofy porn game. It’s just surprising how much effort there was when they didn’t really have too. And while the lore isn’t really anything crazy it is well thought out and interesting.
Now I wanna talk about characters but there's too many characters I’ll just go over the main five plus one side character. Aster is the protagonist. He’s a hero! But he doesn’t really care about being a hero. He’s just a horny boy that wants to stop evil and fuck girls. Aster is absolutely goddamn hilarious. He’s a pretty simple character and is ultimately just a self insert wish fulfillment, power fantasy. But the blunt and out of pocket shit he says makes him quite possibly one of the funniest protagonists I ever seen. Then you got the first wife Ramius. She is also a knight. She is competitive, kinda dumb, a bit of a meathead and loves porn, sex, food, and sleeping. Ramius is a pretty funny character despite being hot because of previous loner personality she’s considered scary to the average person. Not only that but her older brother convinced her that she's not cute. There's more to her but all I gotta say is just love her character and she says pretty funny things throughout the game. Then you got the second wife Riche. Riche is a princess and is the childhood friend of Ramius. Riche is the straight man of the group and usually stops situations going too outta hand. She is probably the least interesting of the main 4 imo but still very likable. Then you got the third wife Gurigura who was engineered to be as moe as possible. Gurigura is a loli character she plays into the “imouto” archetype and has an unspecified age. And I really like this character. She is adorable. She has a pretty tragic backstory of being an orphan then being trained at a school where they didn’t care whether she lived or died. Not only that but she lived homeless and starved for most of her life. Despite having a sad backstory though she is always happy and upbeat. She’s also really strong and consistently guides the rest of the party throughout the regions. Gameplay wise she also gives you a map, lowers the encounter rate and auto wins trash mobs. I also like how she uses “boku” for her I’s and says “onii-chan” for Aster and “Onee-chan” for the other wives and while I understand people finding it gross the juxtaposition of a loli type character saying absolutely perverted things I also find pretty funny. And something I do wanna say about Gurigura is that she the one that's takes the initiative Aster was reluctant to fuck her cause he didn’t want to take away her innocence. In another hentai scene they also joked that “it feels immoral”. So at least they're self aware. The last wife is Kathryn aka best girl. Kath is an anti-social, shut in, tsundere, super genius, inventor that loves doujins, manga, Yu-Gi-Oh, and ordering things from Amazon. And she is amazing. That’s all I got to say. I just find her really funny and surprisingly relatable. It’s hard for me to choose a favorite but it’s definitely between her or Ramius with Kath probably getting the slight edge. And now the last character I wanna talk about is a side character named Natal. This game has a ton of side characters 6 of which Aster marries there all likable to some degree but not as interesting as main 4 because you don’t spend as much time with them. What I find interesting about Natal is that she doesn’t get with Aster. Not only but she has it rough. She got anally raped by a tentacle monster, got raped a gyaru named Millet who brainwashes her, she got raped by a green monster and gives birth to said green’s monster baby. She falls madly in love with Aster but he’s to dumb to notice, her parents don't care about accomplishments despite being a knight, and she becomes a drug addict and goes completely bonkers randomly raping men. I pity her that oujisama got it bad. In the final chapter there's a side quest with her. The resolution was that she made a full recovery and is no longer addicted. Her family disowned her but was adopted by the King and Queen. She was unable to say she loves Aster but hopes someday she can. Aster is still too dumb to notice her feelings for him, Aster forgives her for the crimes she did but she doesn't forgive herself and is now gonna work on building her reputation back. Natal is a good side character. Goes through a lot. And I like the fact she doesn’t end up with Aster. Overall personally I just adore the cast there super charming, and have great chemistry. Voice acting is also great even outside the lewd scenes. The characters interactions is one of the best parts of the game it's filled hilarious writing as well as surprisingly wholesome moments.
I touched upon the hentai scenes and well there's a lot. I don’t wanna talk about them too much, mostly because I just ended up skipping most of them anyway. I realized when playing. I just wanna play the game, not fap! Like getting aroused is more than enough when playing a game. But anyway I do wanna mention what kinda tags you would seeing in them on the top my head theirs rape, gang rape, NTR, mind break, guro, lolicon, tentacles, monsters, incest, and threesomes. There are a lot of vanilla and consensual scenes. But plenty of gross degenerate scenes too. A lot of these more darker sexually violent scenes feel kinda out of place and create some pretty jarring tonal whiplashes especially since the game has such a cutesy aesthetic and always cracking jokes. Because of this a lot of the hentai in this game imo is pretty hit or miss but if you're the type of the person that can fap to anything then uh yeah there ya go. Personally I'm just glad allows you to fast forward scenes even if it has unread text. Making it mostly a non-issue but I can understand if others can't overlook it. The game is simultaneously filled with wholesome shit and fucked up shit.
Anyway holy crap I gotta end this at some point. I did cover most of what I wanted to talk about but not everything but I really should wrap this up. I think the game is an interesting experience overall because if I think about it, as a visual novel I think it's pretty good but it's not a peak visual novel. I don't think it's nowhere near as good as something like Witch on the Holy Night or Little Busters. As a JRPG it's pretty mediocre. The battle system has good ideas but it's too brain dead easy most of the game with only boss fights being fun battles. Dungeon design is also too simple and not all that interesting. When it comes to hentai aspect I think it's hit or miss most is vanilla so I don't mind but the nasty scenes are pretty nasty. Strangely enough though combining all of these aspects together makes it a unique experience that I mostly love heh. Like as a piece of hentai media I think it's the greatest thing I ever experienced from there. I feel like with Evenicle I finally "discovered" what I've been wanting outta a hentai for years. I kinda went over it already but the game just genuinely shocked me with it having decently a written world with lore and charming characters. And that's what I like about it. It's more than just a goofy porn game to get off too. It has that too. But it's surprising to me with just high effort it does kinda elevate for me in just being a mediocre JRPG or mediocre visual novel. I see this game as a kinda difficult rate cause as far as a hentai story goes it's like everything I ever wanted from a hentai. Judging from that point of view it's like an easy 10. But I can't help think like objectively as visual novel is more like a 7/10 and as a JRPG is more like 6/10. I guess I can say I land at a 8/10 overall but even that doesn't feel right cause I think the cast is better than most JRPGs. I guess the final note I can end is that I personally loved it a lot like man, I'm gonna miss these characters and I seriously feel empty after finishing the game. I think it's a solid game with an incredible main cast but it does have issues (especially tonal issues) that would most likely vary depending on your tastes.
2007
As someone who has struggled to enjoy Final Fantasy games in the past this game surprised me in being a mostly delightful experience. Gameplay wise the game is basically just Final Fantasy 10 however it actually has a cast of characters/story I actually enjoyed and also a lot more memorable music then Final Fantasy 10. Dungeon design is also fun and the voice acting is actually good too. Lost Odyssey is unfortunately pretty linear but it has enough good elements to make up for it.
A big sticking point to me though is disc 4. I feel like towards the end game it has a massive difficulty spike with absolutely brutal boss fights and I spent a lot of time in disc 4 just grinding. I still largely the enjoyed experience of the game overall but it does dampen the game as whole.
Overall it's still a largely a good game and I think well worth any JRPGs fan time if you so happen to own an Xbox.
TL;DR version is basically I think this game is Final Fantasy but good
A big sticking point to me though is disc 4. I feel like towards the end game it has a massive difficulty spike with absolutely brutal boss fights and I spent a lot of time in disc 4 just grinding. I still largely the enjoyed experience of the game overall but it does dampen the game as whole.
Overall it's still a largely a good game and I think well worth any JRPGs fan time if you so happen to own an Xbox.
TL;DR version is basically I think this game is Final Fantasy but good
This game does the impressive thing of being one of the most boring anti-fun games I've ever played for the first half but having a surprisingly compelling and engaging narrative for the second half of the game.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a bloated overly long poorly paced game. With terrible game play annoying overly animations and clunky controls. I was so ready to give this game a 4/10 or 2/5. But the second half story really truly saved it to the point where it just didn't feel right to give 2/5 or 2.5/5. Which again is a pretty impressive thing to accomplished.
Which is why I will reluctantly rate it 3/5. I'm not sure I would consider it a good game considering the actual "game" part of the game is terrible but it does good graphics, a memorable story...for the second half, and some decent music too.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a bloated overly long poorly paced game. With terrible game play annoying overly animations and clunky controls. I was so ready to give this game a 4/10 or 2/5. But the second half story really truly saved it to the point where it just didn't feel right to give 2/5 or 2.5/5. Which again is a pretty impressive thing to accomplished.
Which is why I will reluctantly rate it 3/5. I'm not sure I would consider it a good game considering the actual "game" part of the game is terrible but it does good graphics, a memorable story...for the second half, and some decent music too.
Recently I got this game on the eshop for 30 bucks including the DLC since it was on sale. This is a game held off on buying because it digital only and 50 (+ another 10 for Lancer route DLC) dollars and considering the I heard wasn't that great when it launched I figured I would wait for a sale and that sale finally happened. I would say it's actually a little impressive looking, given the lame hardware of the Switch. But I guess the character models look so good cause it's such a small scale game. Either way I like the presentation I liked how the levels feel like an episode of the show it feels like I was playing a season 2. I feel like it looks true to Fate. It's probably the most accurate game I've played at least. Especially since stuff like Extella and the upcoming Samurai Remnant have there own art styles to make them stand out and be unique to there universes. And obviously it looks better then stuff like Unlimited Codes but that is a PS2 game so kinda unfair to compare it.
I will say though the more I played the more problems I noticed sadly which is a shame cause it had great first impression imo. The game has really bland directing in the cut scenes it's mostly shot reverse shot and gets quickly repetitive. What's also repetitive are the cooking mini games there only 8 of them throughout the game and theirs 80 total levels. The game also has like 15 recipes as well so that sadly makes not only the game play repetitive but so is the story telling. Also the cast is very limited with only 5 characters. So it's a shame to not see more characters like Rider, Archer, Taiga or Illya. There are only mentioned. Also the game takes inspiration from the visual novels with it having choice making and multiple routes each character has two routes. Making for a total 8 timelines in this game with 4 normal ends and 4 true ends. I don't understand this implantation cause the multiple timelines has no effect on the story whatsoever so it felt a little pointless. And baffling and I hate this YOU CAN'T jump around the in game flow chart without restarting the route and I just can't make sense of that. I also kinda wish the game wasn't limited to the Emiya house hold. I don't think the game needs like a playable Fuyuki City but like a 3D area of the market shown from the visual novels would have been cool. Why I can't go food shopping with my Fate waifu's smh. Also I wish the game had the anime's opening. You start it and it just straight to the main menu bummer. But I also understand the game was made to be a small scope game. I just think it's uh limited budget is apparent. Sadly no unlimited budget works here.
Do I hate the game though? Not really I think it has charm. It's a very cute and cozy game. I got to cook with Rin! Can't hate that. It captures the anime well given it's limitations. However the game is also sadly plagued with issues which is a shame cause I want to love it more. But it has problems that holds it back. That being said if this means any thing I still think it's way better than the Extella games.
I will say though the more I played the more problems I noticed sadly which is a shame cause it had great first impression imo. The game has really bland directing in the cut scenes it's mostly shot reverse shot and gets quickly repetitive. What's also repetitive are the cooking mini games there only 8 of them throughout the game and theirs 80 total levels. The game also has like 15 recipes as well so that sadly makes not only the game play repetitive but so is the story telling. Also the cast is very limited with only 5 characters. So it's a shame to not see more characters like Rider, Archer, Taiga or Illya. There are only mentioned. Also the game takes inspiration from the visual novels with it having choice making and multiple routes each character has two routes. Making for a total 8 timelines in this game with 4 normal ends and 4 true ends. I don't understand this implantation cause the multiple timelines has no effect on the story whatsoever so it felt a little pointless. And baffling and I hate this YOU CAN'T jump around the in game flow chart without restarting the route and I just can't make sense of that. I also kinda wish the game wasn't limited to the Emiya house hold. I don't think the game needs like a playable Fuyuki City but like a 3D area of the market shown from the visual novels would have been cool. Why I can't go food shopping with my Fate waifu's smh. Also I wish the game had the anime's opening. You start it and it just straight to the main menu bummer. But I also understand the game was made to be a small scope game. I just think it's uh limited budget is apparent. Sadly no unlimited budget works here.
Do I hate the game though? Not really I think it has charm. It's a very cute and cozy game. I got to cook with Rin! Can't hate that. It captures the anime well given it's limitations. However the game is also sadly plagued with issues which is a shame cause I want to love it more. But it has problems that holds it back. That being said if this means any thing I still think it's way better than the Extella games.
2002
I bought an Xbox 360 in 2023 just to play this.
I really enjoyed my time reading it and it was the most fun I had reading a visual novel in a quite while. It made me realize just how much I missed Nasu's unique writing. The characters are awesome too. Aoko, Alice and Sizuki are great and super likable and there banter is really entertaining through out. Hell even the side characters are fun too. The art to the visual novel is also gorgeous easily one of the best I seen from a presentation stand point it sometimes felt like it flowed like a manga which was really cool for a visual novel. The music is also awesome. I also loved the references to other Nasuverse stories while I'm not too familiar with Tsukihime I did catch the many references to Fate/ and Garden of Sinners which was awesome it felt weirdly validating and every time I noticed a reference it made gave me a stupid smile. Also after reading this visual novel I can now say...I will never look Touko the same way ever again. I don't wanna give too much spoilers though since I greatly recommend just reading it yourself.
But yeah top tier visual novel and I can not praise it enough. Nasu man...he makes me salty a bit, sits on a draft of this peak fiction for 16 years then takes another 10 years for translation then this man has audacity to say "oh yeah I want to this to be a trilogy". Why are you like this mushroom man!? D: While Witch on the Holy Night is great I fully expect no sequels would ever come. Also I'm a bit concerned about the UFOtable movie so far only one movie has been confirmed and I can not see that working without it feeling rushed and underwhelming. I really hope it will be a trilogy with Chapters 1-5 covering the first movie, 6-9 will cover the second and 10-13 will cover the third. Maybe throw in adaptations of the side chapters as OVA's for the blu ray releases that would be awesome. I really hopes that happens but who knows.
But in any case Witch on the Holy Night is awesome and I hope more people experience it. It makes for a good introduction to the Nasuverse but is also a rewarding read for long time fans.
But yeah top tier visual novel and I can not praise it enough. Nasu man...he makes me salty a bit, sits on a draft of this peak fiction for 16 years then takes another 10 years for translation then this man has audacity to say "oh yeah I want to this to be a trilogy". Why are you like this mushroom man!? D: While Witch on the Holy Night is great I fully expect no sequels would ever come. Also I'm a bit concerned about the UFOtable movie so far only one movie has been confirmed and I can not see that working without it feeling rushed and underwhelming. I really hope it will be a trilogy with Chapters 1-5 covering the first movie, 6-9 will cover the second and 10-13 will cover the third. Maybe throw in adaptations of the side chapters as OVA's for the blu ray releases that would be awesome. I really hopes that happens but who knows.
But in any case Witch on the Holy Night is awesome and I hope more people experience it. It makes for a good introduction to the Nasuverse but is also a rewarding read for long time fans.
2023
Zappy! My pumpkin seed. This game is fire...emblem. I'd say it was better than Three Houses at least for me. Fire Emblem Engage is an engaging game. The tone and story of telling of the game is akin to that of a Saturday morning anime while corny I don't mind the tone change and found the story pretty engaging. Not like the series is known for great story telling anyway so I don't mind. The characters are also pretty engaging it took me a bit to get used the new art style but I think there are some great unit's in here like best girl Yunaka, or other likeable characters like Panette and Rosado. Unfortunately though the game lacks a marriage system so the characters can't get engaged as far as I'm aware only the Alear can.
Anyway I think the gameplay and map design is some of the best in the series it's consistently fun and engaging and I enjoyed the fan service and call backs to past entries with the paralouge's some great remixes too! Graphically this also up there as one the best looking Switch games.It's engaging to look at and it runs great a huge upgrade from the muted visuals and inconsistent frame rate of Three Houses. After playing games like Pokemon Scarlet it's nice to be reminded that the Switch IS capable of decent looking games.
I can see why Three Houses fans hate the game. It's a Fire Emblem game. It's probably the most Fire Emblem game that ever Fire Emblem-ed. Making it extremely rewarding for hardcore fans that played most or all the entries. But maybe not as enjoyable if you're new to the series. While Persona elements found Three Houses are either gone or toned down to be optional.
The game does starts off a little slow but I think starting from chapter 10 the game gets really engaging and really fun. Overall I'd say this easily one of the best entries in the series top 5 at at least and also probably one of the best games you can currently play on the Switch. Hiya Papiya.
Anyway I think the gameplay and map design is some of the best in the series it's consistently fun and engaging and I enjoyed the fan service and call backs to past entries with the paralouge's some great remixes too! Graphically this also up there as one the best looking Switch games.It's engaging to look at and it runs great a huge upgrade from the muted visuals and inconsistent frame rate of Three Houses. After playing games like Pokemon Scarlet it's nice to be reminded that the Switch IS capable of decent looking games.
I can see why Three Houses fans hate the game. It's a Fire Emblem game. It's probably the most Fire Emblem game that ever Fire Emblem-ed. Making it extremely rewarding for hardcore fans that played most or all the entries. But maybe not as enjoyable if you're new to the series. While Persona elements found Three Houses are either gone or toned down to be optional.
The game does starts off a little slow but I think starting from chapter 10 the game gets really engaging and really fun. Overall I'd say this easily one of the best entries in the series top 5 at at least and also probably one of the best games you can currently play on the Switch. Hiya Papiya.
I'm sorry but this is not a good game which is a shame cause it has a lot going for it. The ost and sprite work is pretty good. The game offers a lot more story than you expect outta a 90s beat-em-up game which is rather neat. Meanwhile the added animated opening and manga segments are a nice highlight of the game.
What ruins the game is well the actual game play. The combat is just god awful it's feels stiff, slow, and just overall clunky and not very fun to play. It also doesn't help that the game makes enemies hit like a truck and also have more a lot more health you'd expect. This game also doesn't have any rpg elements so it's harder to cheese tougher segments. So this is a game beat-em-up in which the act of beat them up feels horrid to play, making the game surprisingly kinda a slog to get through. I think having some sort of rewind feature would have helped this game be more fun but it does not. There is a save state but that's it.
I got this game on sale for 10 dollars and now I will dearly miss those dollars. Just because a game is old doesn't make it bad. It's bad because it's bad. Even at the time of the original Japanese release the game had generally mixed reviews. As a fan of River City Girls and Kyoko and Misako I really wanted to enjoy this game but sadly it's a bit to dated for my tastes. Streets of Rage this anit.
What ruins the game is well the actual game play. The combat is just god awful it's feels stiff, slow, and just overall clunky and not very fun to play. It also doesn't help that the game makes enemies hit like a truck and also have more a lot more health you'd expect. This game also doesn't have any rpg elements so it's harder to cheese tougher segments. So this is a game beat-em-up in which the act of beat them up feels horrid to play, making the game surprisingly kinda a slog to get through. I think having some sort of rewind feature would have helped this game be more fun but it does not. There is a save state but that's it.
I got this game on sale for 10 dollars and now I will dearly miss those dollars. Just because a game is old doesn't make it bad. It's bad because it's bad. Even at the time of the original Japanese release the game had generally mixed reviews. As a fan of River City Girls and Kyoko and Misako I really wanted to enjoy this game but sadly it's a bit to dated for my tastes. Streets of Rage this anit.
My introduction to the series not the greatest game ever but I enjoy it for what it is. I like moe, otaku pandering and humor, the premise of the video game console wars but with cute anime girls is pretty amusing. To my understanding Re;birth 1 is actually a fan favorite. But I don't really agree with that I like the later sequels a bit more. I still think it's a decent game that's worth trying if you find the cuteness of it appealing. Fan service wise I never quite understood why people take such offense to it in Neptunia. The games are rated T and the fan service is overall pretty mild and not as over the top as Senran Kagura. Personally I like most of the characters, Although ironically Neptune herself probably least favorite of the main 4. Noire, Vert and Blanc are likable though and I enjoy Compa and IF as well. The battle system is pretty mindless and overly grindy sometimes, but I find it pretty cathartic and relaxing and I like that it's like a hybrid of turn based and action rpg. Overall it's not the greatest game ever or anything but sometimes it's nice to enjoy an average low budget game such as this.
2022
Game isn't for me. Is just that the point of the game, what it goes for doesn't really appeal to me and it messes with the JRPG formula in ways I don't find very fun, which I get why it does it doesn't mean I care for it. I will say I did like the music though it was pretty good. Graphically I find the HD 2D thing just "fine" does the job. I feel like I'm missing something when people call it amazing. I find it okay I don't really love it but I wouldn't say I dislike it either.
Battle system was fine it's sorta SRPG like though. It can be fun at times I'd give credit more fun ATB, but I found it weirdly unbalanced sometimes you could die in a couple hits but then other times you one or two shot an enemy. Making it not as enjoyable as it could be.
Dungeons in this games I found kinda bad I hated the ninja chapter which I found way to confusing to navigate through. I didn't really like the lab dungeon either in the near future chapter. Also the kung fu chapter made you multiple battles in a row. I found that kinda tiring. Towards the end of the game it got grindy as well which is not cool and ruins the mostly good pacing up til that point.
At times the game just made me wish this was standard JRPG. But I can understand someone liking the game if they want to play a JRPG that's a bit more unconventional just that for me it didn't really click. Also since the story is more of anthology that means you don't really get a chance to know the cast and by the time you do...the chapter ends. There mostly simple not very deep characters which is pretty typical of the era the game is from. Overall I just found it to be another mid Square game. I wouldn't say I hated game and I wouldn't even call it bad. But I certainly wont miss it now that I have it completed.
Battle system was fine it's sorta SRPG like though. It can be fun at times I'd give credit more fun ATB, but I found it weirdly unbalanced sometimes you could die in a couple hits but then other times you one or two shot an enemy. Making it not as enjoyable as it could be.
Dungeons in this games I found kinda bad I hated the ninja chapter which I found way to confusing to navigate through. I didn't really like the lab dungeon either in the near future chapter. Also the kung fu chapter made you multiple battles in a row. I found that kinda tiring. Towards the end of the game it got grindy as well which is not cool and ruins the mostly good pacing up til that point.
At times the game just made me wish this was standard JRPG. But I can understand someone liking the game if they want to play a JRPG that's a bit more unconventional just that for me it didn't really click. Also since the story is more of anthology that means you don't really get a chance to know the cast and by the time you do...the chapter ends. There mostly simple not very deep characters which is pretty typical of the era the game is from. Overall I just found it to be another mid Square game. I wouldn't say I hated game and I wouldn't even call it bad. But I certainly wont miss it now that I have it completed.
2022
Underneath the technical shortcomings is quite possibly the best mainline Pokemon game. It's just too bad it had to be released in what feels like an unfinished state.
2013
Well I just finished Killzone Mercenary, this was a lot of fun! First game I played in the series and it was cool. While the game isn't really anything special in the sea of FPS games out there as a handheld FPS game from 2013 it's pretty good and it's an really impressive game for the hardware and the time. I also like how the levels were designed. I never found them too easy or too hard, there were linear but also still gave space to move/look around. The game is also well paced with levels and overall campaign not being too long. I also like how the game scatters shops throughout a level. So you can change your load out or pay to reload/buy new gear, and every kill you do you get paid for it. Since the MC is a mercenary, he just cares about getting paid and he ends up fighting on both sides of the war. Story wise I wouldn't say it's all great it's fine nothing too special but it does the job. A neat game overall, kinda tempted to even try the PS3 games if there as fun as this game.
But yeah I enjoyed the game more than I expected. I can see why it's considered one of the best Vita games. It's a well made game. Worst thing about it is that the game isn't anything special but that doesn't make it bad. What makes it cool, is that's it's on the Vita! Also the frame rate can tank sometimes when things get busy on the screen, even with the overclocking I did. It wouldn't say it ruins the game. You can tell the game is really pushing the Vita to it's limits, I think that's kinda cool but also distracting. The game is essentially a PS3 level FPS game on Vita and while the game itself isn't mind blowing. It's mind blowing what the game managed to pull off on handheld in 2013. Kinda a shame the game didn't too well like most Vita games, it is a real showcase for the Vita. It's a fun game shows what could have been if people actually cared about the Vita. But instead it got turn into a low budget weeb machine. Now I feel even more bad for the Vita! D:
Anyway if I were rated it I'd give it like a 7.5. losing points for a mostly lackluster story, framerate drops, and not exactly being something mind blowing for FPS games in general. To be clear though still a pretty fun game!
But yeah I enjoyed the game more than I expected. I can see why it's considered one of the best Vita games. It's a well made game. Worst thing about it is that the game isn't anything special but that doesn't make it bad. What makes it cool, is that's it's on the Vita! Also the frame rate can tank sometimes when things get busy on the screen, even with the overclocking I did. It wouldn't say it ruins the game. You can tell the game is really pushing the Vita to it's limits, I think that's kinda cool but also distracting. The game is essentially a PS3 level FPS game on Vita and while the game itself isn't mind blowing. It's mind blowing what the game managed to pull off on handheld in 2013. Kinda a shame the game didn't too well like most Vita games, it is a real showcase for the Vita. It's a fun game shows what could have been if people actually cared about the Vita. But instead it got turn into a low budget weeb machine. Now I feel even more bad for the Vita! D:
Anyway if I were rated it I'd give it like a 7.5. losing points for a mostly lackluster story, framerate drops, and not exactly being something mind blowing for FPS games in general. To be clear though still a pretty fun game!
1998
Absolutely an incredible game that was a joy to play from start to finish easily one of the best games I played all year. Easily top 5 at least, great graphics for the time, full voice acting, a fun unique take on the ATB system. Chill but good soundtrack great atmosphere too, just a great game all around. Story wise it is a little weak with it being a simple revenge story but I will give it points for it being coherent unlike the rail shooter games. I feel like the game was generation a head of it's time. It's game design feels more like gen 6 era JRPG then it does a gen 5 JRPG. It's kinda hard to explain but I'd say Panzer Dragoon Saga is the kinda experience I wished Final Fantasy gave me. Panzer Dragoon Saga gameplay wise is mostly "okay what if Final Fantasy but you ride a dragon?" and I dunno but I find that a fun enough twist. It's really cool to fly a dragon during dungeon exploration and during battles. Anyway overall it's just great game that sadly time has mostly forgotten. Worth "learning to emulate" to play it.
2008
I figured that this game might of been a JRPG hidden gem that was stuck on Xbox, sadly that was wrong. This game is painfully mediocre at best. Awkward voice acting, dated facial animations, annoying real teal time menu and combat can feel a bit clunky at times as well. The story while has an interesting premise it is bogged down by poor writing making it not enjoyable as it could be.
I wouldn't say I hated playing it, it doesn't do anything outright bad however the game also doesn't do anything great to stand out among JRPGs. It's quite unfortunate really but to me this game feels it just exists so Microsoft can say that Xbox has JRPGs. Maybe a game like this is why the Xbox player base don't care for JRPGs much. Overall I'd say my experience with the game ranged from 4 to a 6 out of 10 but overall I'd say it's more of a 4. I wouldn't consider my time with game all that enjoyable. But at least it was short...only took like 20ish hours to finish it. If your a Xbox fan or new to Xbox starved for JRPGs I'd just say give this game a pass or buy it on a sale if your really curious.
I wouldn't say I hated playing it, it doesn't do anything outright bad however the game also doesn't do anything great to stand out among JRPGs. It's quite unfortunate really but to me this game feels it just exists so Microsoft can say that Xbox has JRPGs. Maybe a game like this is why the Xbox player base don't care for JRPGs much. Overall I'd say my experience with the game ranged from 4 to a 6 out of 10 but overall I'd say it's more of a 4. I wouldn't consider my time with game all that enjoyable. But at least it was short...only took like 20ish hours to finish it. If your a Xbox fan or new to Xbox starved for JRPGs I'd just say give this game a pass or buy it on a sale if your really curious.
I'm surprised how people said this remake is disappointment in comparison to the original game. It's perfectly fine and possible hot take but I'd say it's a little better than the orignal. Maybe all it's issues has been ironed out in patches I dunno. Or maybe it's because I played Xbox One version rather than the Switch version. I also didn't really notice any performance issues. The game has issues but the problems of the game are really the same problems of the original. It's a short game and the gameplay feels too vanilla in comparison to 2 and Orta. I thought graphical update looked great, while the original graphics have a retro charm to them the modern graphics is pretty nice to look at. I also noticed this remake has a couple minor changes that make it slightly less archaic. Easy mode actually lets you finish the game. In the original you can only play the first 4 levels. Each mode also gives more continues to actually finish the game the original was way more stingy with them. Aside from the game is pretty much a one to one faithful remake. And it's fun, Panzer Dragoon is fun, it also hurts my thumb but it's also pretty fun. I ended up doing like 5 playthroughs for easy, normal, and hard and 2 extra to get some missing achievements minus the 100 hour one. Anyway overall I recommend if it's on sale. It's a cool game that wont take much of your time. If you ever get the chance play 2 or Orta though those games are better.