Written as an occasional Ys enjoyer: I went into it purely on instinct and enjoyed this game a whole lot! Ys IX is a delightful experience even if the player hasn't covered the entire series before it. While the story does reference events from the previous games, it isn't necessary to have played the entire series to enjoy Monstrum Nox' story and gameplay. From a technical point of view, no objections. The HUD is constructed well, the controls are tight and responsive. Special praise for the love keyboard/mouse got, many games treat us keyboard users as non-existent. Menu navigation is sometimes a little "slippery" due to somewhat imprecise scrolling with the wheel. Didn't come across any bugs. Visually, the game is a treat. Expressive, vibrant and colourful character designs and pleasant environment. The slightly matted background elements make interactable objects, characters and enemies quite easy to spot which greatly aids exploration. And that's important because exploration is this game's main hook. The numerous traversal options (Monstrum Gifts) make moving around Balduq and its immediate surroundings VERY fun. And what would an Ys game be without plenty of monsters to whack? This time, Adol can do that with up to five more companions, though 3 at a time, which you can hot-swap between. Each character comes with their own fighting style and set of skills, so pick whoever you like! Adol is also not always mandatory, so you can freely combine between 6 characters. Combat comes in 6 difficulties, so pick whatever you're comfortable with. Sound and music? It's a Falcom game, both their series are known for the captivating musical numbers. The story is a collage of events from a wide span of European history laced with the supernatural and divine. Serves the purpose of holding everything together fine. ONE gripe I had: keyboard commands HAVE to be remapped, as some keys are assigned multiple functions by default. Final rating: 9.2/10.
I'll keep it short and sweet. There's a lot of goodness for the senses. Unless you hate anime style visuals with a passion, the game looks pretty good even with the level design being a little too "blocky". But then again, most metroidvania are like that. The OST is really pleasant. But the best part of this game is the combat. Unlike most in its genre, Frontier Hunter features a LOT of cool and stylish special moves which hit hard and aren't hard to perform. If you're really good, you can even do combos, but they're not mandatory at all to complete the game. It's not really on the difficult side. You can hot-swap between up to 3 characters, each with their distinct play style, weapons and armour loadout, health and mana pool. Exploration: There is maybe too little need for backtracking unless you're farming ingredients for crafting. Nothing particularly new in terms of traversal options. For those craving a challenge, there's a special area where you can challenge bosses with increasing difficulty. Or you can get creative and try completing the game with your starting weapons or other handicaps. The game's unique gimmick is the Magic Core system. Defeated monsters drop stat-altering magic cores with occasional passive bonuses which can be slotted into your gear. Conclusion: a solid 8.5/10
... into a delightful blend of a cyberpunk visual novel and piping hot mech action. As the opening sentence says, this is a game with visual novel segments and intense action segments. Since whether you like what you see and hear or not is subjective and it's rather easy to check out for oneself, I'll mostly talk about the gameplay, which deserves a LOT of praise. The action segments are incredibly well done and ease the player in rather gently, but don't be fooled, the kid gloves come off soon enough and you won't get anywhere with button mashing. The tutorials are there for a reason, as is the practice mode. Use them or you WILL NOT be able to progress the story. There is actually a pleasantly surprising depth in the combat. Combos, heat management, paying attention to your surroundings, they all matter. The save button is your friend, as in the final third of the game, you are looking at a lot of action and you can save between encounters. The game makes auto-saves too, but it's ill-advised to rely on them alone. If you did poorly in a sequence, it's best to load at a point where your mech's condition is the best possible. Also, you may want to customize it a bit differently if your setup doesn't seem to work out. There is a humble selection of customizations at the beginning but it starts expanding rapidly around chapter 9 or so. The visual novel part is mostly kinetic, but a few choices are there. Bear in mind, it's not just your choices that determine the endings you'll get, outcomes of certain battles do as well. So be sure to be on top of combat skills. Routes unlock as you complete them, that's another thing to keep in mind. The story is not exactly for the faint of heart. The themes are very adult, despite the tropey school life sections. And speaking of adult... there is a community patch for some steamy scenes. A little browsing is enough to find it. All in all: plug in that Neuro-jack and dive!
I won't waste people's time with a wall of text: give this game a hard pass. Unlike in the first game, the player seems to be constantly outnumbered and outgunned. The numbers heavily favour the AI enemies on ALL accounts: the hit chances, the unit count and the raw unit stats. Your Wanzers pack a lot fewer items, shields are not nearly as reliable as in Front Mission 1 and artillery is practically useless. Sure, it was almost too convenient in Front Mission 1, but now that firing it costs a MASSIVE amount of AP, it favours the AI, who is mostly sitting around in wait while the player has to advance, which leaves them not enough AP to use missiles. The game is simply being cheap in terms of difficulty. Stick to Front Mission 1 and hope that 3 will turn out better.
I picked it up to kill the wait for some other games and heard it was hard. Well, it is. There's the fun kind of hard, but this game isn't. The good: It's pretty and the OST is good. It controls well. That's it. The bad: The difficulty is not the fun kind. Starting with area 3, the player is forced into a form good ONLY for sniffing out secrets. It's terrible in combat, it's terrible in terms of mobility. And the area is saturated with flying enemies which have to be hit with frame-tight precision or can't be retaliated against at all. Grounded enemies in turn kill you in 2-3 hits. Bombservice games are hard. Momodora games and Minoria are tough as nails. But you know what they give you that this game doesn't? Proper tools to move around and FIGHT BACK. 3.5/10. The era of quarter-munchers is over, developers. Ghosts and Goblins belong in the past, and so does this game.
In a starved genre such as the turn-based mech games, every old or new entry is rather welcome. As this is an acclaimed franchise, I thought to give it a go and enjoyed the demo on Steam. What said demo did not prepare me for was the true hardship of this game and the player's worst enemy... but before we get to the criticism, what's to like about it? If you like to fiddle around with unit customization but find Battletech too complicated, this game has you covered. Plenty of options despite offering "only" 4 modules (body, left and right arm and a pair of legs). There is a multitude of ranged weapons and artillery options. There's no shortage of elements to try out. Gameplay is mostly straightforward and intuitive, although the usage of items like mines and chaff is kind of difficult to figure out. Most weapons can only attack in cardinal directions of the Wanzer, not diagonally. This kind of works in the player's favor, as they are usually less in number than enemies and it's harder for the enemy units to dogpile on yours. Mission objectives seem to offer standard variety: eliminate all enemies, destroy certain object(s), eliminate/assassinate specific unit... But after several mission, your worst enemy appears. No, it's not enemy Wanzers and their numbers, it's not the dreaded RNG... it's the financial aspect of this game. Your Wanzers' raw stats are of crucial importance and you need the best possible parts and items for missions after the first few ones. And your budget is quite tight. Now, if the game was more generous with salvage and/or mission rewards, that wouldn't be a problem, but it's NOT. If you can't field top of the line Wanzers, can the run and start a new one, if you have the patience. And outside the main missions, the meager rewards from arena fights are the only earning option. All in all... I cautiously recommend this title.
Well... I had high hopes and I can say that the game is not a huge disappointment... but has a few glaring flaws. But that's for the second chapter. 1) The good: The game's sense of humor and the pop-culture references are amusing and the dialogue of the dysfunctional party is a refreshment from the usual perfect synergy. The mechanics are interesting and set the game apart from other similar titles. Sound, music and visuals are pretty nice too, so the game is generally pleasant to the senses. 2) The so-so: UI elements could use to be a little bigger, but it's nothing earth-shattering. Also, the scarce loot and coins motivate the player to search every corner of the map, but there's not much to explore. 3) The bad: I know the game was supposed to be a challenge, but at a certain point, it becomes outright punishing. Spoiler alert! I am mostly referring to the 4th floor, the goblin-infested one. The mechanics work completely against the player. Keep your party closer for much needed buffs, it gets pummeled by DOT-inflicting AOE attacks. Scatter them, they get surrounded and backstabbed to oblivion in no time. Not to mention getting sniped from a very safe distance behind a wall of grunts. Conclusion: It's an excellent game if you are generally loved by luck in life or enjoy punishingly difficult challenges. For everyone else, okay at best. Final verdict: 6.7/10
After having played the grandiose "Trails in the Sky", I have developed certain expectations from RPGs of that kind. "Ara Fell" surpassed them. Young, spunky Lita is as lovable as a protagonist can get, and the others don't fall behind. And while Adrian, Seri and Doren are written pretty by the book, they are written well. And it's not just the party members. It's a pretty nicely built world. The story is also mostly by the book, but once again, executed quite well, with a few plot twists and turns, to keep the player invested and interested in it. The music and visuals are simple, yet very lively and vibrant. Two things however REALLY stand out in a very good way. For one, the fun riddles and puzzles (to Lita's dismay). The other thing would be the difficulty. The excellently balanced Normal difficulty is truly a god-sent. It can be completed with no grinding whatsoever and it asks of the player to think their moves through. Each won battle felt like a reward, each loss like a lesson. And as an aside, I personally like the rather modest range of special skills. Nothing too flashy and flamboyant, but they get the job done. The leveling system is pretty transparent and straightforward. Potentially helpful note: Agility becomes an extremely important stat after chapter 2, neglecting it is a VERY bad idea. A wholehearted recommendation for this game.
