Story: You are the Last Castoff, or more accurately the latest castoff. You’ve fallen into a world that has been shaped by a man known as the Changing God. That is the name given to him by the residents of the plane that he has helped shaped over the last few millennia. The Changing God never stays in the same body for very long and due to a flaw in the process he uses when he jumps into the newest body he has created a new personality is awakened in the body he leaves behind. Something went wrong when your creator jumped bodies this time leaving you plummeting into the atmosphere of the planet below and only our enhanced body saved you. You wake up to no memories and two people chattering at you about castoffs. The only clue you have about what you need to do is fix the machine you broke when you landed. At least that is what the ghost in your mind told you before you woke up and also there is something called the Sorrow that has infected your mind somehow and really wants to wipe your from existence. Your journey starts in Sagus Cliffs. Will you continue the legacy of the Changing God or will you create your own path? Game play: Normal isometric RPG controls and UI. The Tides system is what sets this game apart a little. Tides affect the way options are presented, so if someone doesn’t like you they may make the bad option sound like the good option for example. The game uses a pool system that can be used to affect various interactions in the game. Want to nudge a conversation a certain way? Use might or intellect to convince a the person your talking too to see things your way. Want to grab something without being seen use the speed pool to grab it. Careful though if you get into a fight you might not have points left to give you the edge you needed. Graphics: Good enough to bring the world to life. Sound: Gets the job done. Verdict: If you like stories where choices matter check this one out.
This was a fun Fire Emblem like. Buidling a powerful army to cut through the opposing armies makes it worth playing through the game, especially if you like tinking with the different classes to ge the highest squad rating you can. The sound track is great and the controls are fine. They upgraded the character portraits, I just wished they had fixed soem clunky writing the game has. Story starts off strong but kina falls flat toward genericville towards the end. A little bit of a rewrite could have kept it going so whats going on at least makes more sense about why characters are acting like they are. Still a fun tactical game and worth a play or two.
While the plot isn't covering new ground the story is presented in an interesting way. It's somewhire between written like a 90's RPG and a modern day RPG. The game is well written though and I didn't feel the need to smack too many of the main characters upside the head. My only complaint with the story is I wish the developers had provided a little more interaction and exploration of what I'll call the "Original Hero Group" and the backstory of what led to this story's crisis and some more details about some of the characters that wander through the main group. The game play is pretty standard JRPG. The developers did provide plenty of secrets too find and areas to explore (Don't forget to check all clocks), along with puzzles to solve and such. The combat is pretty standard also. The only complaint I have with both the combat and the puzzles is that after a point they can both become a grind. Even if you play by the games rules when it comes to the combat, battles can become a slog. I'm guessing the developers knew this as they put in a couple of "assist" items that make combat skippable except for story events. As far as I could find it's not possible to skip puzzles beyond save scumming. Looking at you Dark Catacombs / Prison Escape. It also feels like the developers planned a bit of a larger game but had to lop some pieces off or the game existed in a differnt form at some point and pieces couldn't be translated to a stand alone game for some reason. Monsters drop monster pieces but there doesn't seem to be a place to use them in crafting as far as I can tell for example. Considering the price and length definetly worth taking a look at if you are in the mood for a well written throw back JRPG.
I found this to be a pretty fun dungeon crawler. The story is interesting enough, even if it does poke fun at itself here and there, and for the most part the characters are interesting if a little one note. I liked the choice the supporting characters, for the most part, are older and have lived a life before finding themselves in their current situation. The graphics in the game are good and the sound is decent. The game has the control scheme of a modern dungeon crawler and the keyboard and mouse can be used or if desired a controller. Gameplay is the usual explore, fight monsters, and find stuff. There are plenty of secrets to unearth in the game. There is also a bit of crafting in the form of potions that can be found. The game also has various tools that can be used to interact with the enviroments. Buffs and debuffs do matter in this game. If you don't use them, for the most part, then the game will be difficult. The only execption to this is that some of the boss fights are simply endurance tests with RNG thrown in. Even if the right abilitis are used sometimes the game just decides that you are going to have to reload no matter what you do. It can be annoying but it doesn't happen too much. If you like fantasy dungeon crawlers give this one a look.
I found this to be a fun little historical based game. The story weaves in actual historical events with the adventures and misadventures of Alfie Banks as he makes his way through the Roaring 20's. There is a lot of detail in the game, even though it can seemed rushed, and it does set the tone well. The puzzles aren't too hard, though there were a couple of bang my head against the wall ones. It's an oddball story, set in a time and place that isn't often visited by video games. Definitely worth checking out if you like point and click / adventure games.
Summary: In a long ago war between the Humans and Daemons, the humans lost. In order to create peace and teach the humans a lesson the world was split into 4 areas using a Great Barrier. The beast folk of the world were given reign over the humans and Daemons ruled over all. The great barrier has stood for over a thousand years and prevents the humans from organizing. Or so the Daemons thought. The humans have started to come together via various guilds that govern a small but growing resistance looking to overthrow the Daemons long rule. Time Played: About 50-55 hours. Graphics: Cartoony, but they are well done and give the game a semi-unique look. Control: Work like they should. There are some quirks in the menu system that can be aggravating when trying to switch formations or change the party around. Gameplay: It is a standard RPG with a few mechanics that may not be apparent at first if you are not paying attention. If you want to get the most out of this game then it may be worth reading up on it / look at some of the guides out there. The short version is this: -Character growth is tied to equipment not levels. Characters randomly gain HP, SP, and new weapon abilities from battle. Battles are only guaranteed to produce AP and Money. -Most characters can learn any ability, but spreading points around to more than one weapon skill will make a weaker character as it can take a while to learn new abilities that way. Pick one and then focus on the support skills to decrease the use cost and increase the learn rate to unlock the best abilities. Use the second weapon slot for final strikes. -The Guild System is useful but unless the player wants to go through the trouble of collecting a lot of guild members it mainly serves as a buff / debuff system in battle. Having a full coverage of guilds can make some battles easier. All in all a fun and interesting JRPG that has a few quirks. Worth playing if you like the genre.
Played: 20 - 30 Hrs Class: Berserker (Other classes are: Mage, Engineer (Fighter), Outlander (Rouge) Mods: Torchfinal and Torchfinal addon. ( Note on mods... most of the popular ones on nexus don't seem to work with the newest version of this game for some reason, which some mod creators note on their pages. I'm guessing synergies still does but I did not use that one.) Story: Not much depth to it. One of the hero's from the first game went bad and now you gotta carve your way to where he is and put a stop to his plans to "Save The World". Gameplay: Standard diablo clone. Wack monsters, get loot, level up, rinse and repeat. The best part of this game is that process. The combat is very satisfying once your character gets some levels and decent equipment. Once the abilities get strong enough most monster don't fall over, they evaporate. The developers did a great job showing how much of power house your character turns into. Sound: Good. The sound effects deliver the sizzle, pow, zap of combat well enough. Control: You click, it evaporates. What else is needed? Standard Diablo Clone controls. . Graphics: Very detailed and has held up well due to the "cartoonish" type of graphics used. This is a 10 year old game at this point though so it is not super high res, still looks good though. Some of the armor and weapons can look "samey" Overall: I've had this game for a while and just never got around to it. I beat grim dawn and I see where some of the people that worked on that also worked on this and on diablo. They have a similar feel in some areas. What they really nailed in this title though is the combat flow. Once you get in to battle it just works. The enemies go flying and the whole area is painted a pretty new shade of yellow, green, red, black, etc and once the dust settles and the fires go out there is usually some new shiny stuff to equip and skill points to assign. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a fun ARPG.
Play Time: 5-6 Hours (completed) Gameplay: Light Adventure / Horror / Walking Simulator. You play as a toddler, so in that sense you are limited to what a toddler might be able to do. Most interaction involves picking things up, climbing to get to a higher position or dragging things so you can get to a higher position. You can crawl, toddle, or toddle / run in this game. You can also hold Teddy. Even the darkness fears Teddy. Graphics: First person, Pretty good, almost seems like this was meant for VR at some point. Does a good job of portraying the chaotic mix of dreams and memory.. the way a dreaming child might remember things. Sound: Good. Communicates the spooky pretty well. Control: Good, for the most part. There is some wonkiness when it comes to seeing where your character is especially when you are looking down or holding the teddy bear. Story: Young child, or someone older remembering a traumatic child hood event, wakes to find that that their house has been taking over by something that seems to want to do them harm for some unknow reason. The player must guide the child through a world that has been become twisted between memory and reality in order to find the truth of the child's strange trip into dream land. My Thoughts: This game isn't what I though it was. It started out as what I thought it was apparently but the developers switched it up at some point and it took me awhile to get to it. So it goes. None the less, while this is not a Soma or Amnesia it's still a decent Light Adventure / Walking Simulator game more in the vein of Gone Home / The Vanishing Of Ethan Carter. The story doesn't spell itself out until the end but I imagine that most people will "get it" relatively early. The presentation was interesting enough for me to play through to see how it ended. So if you are looking for a decent story to play through give this one a look.
Story: Cairn, a world plagued by the ever consuming forces of darkness and death. Many empires have fallen on this world in the hopeless quest to defy the natural order of things. Most have only succeeded in begging for what they once hoped to avoid. Like most lessons though, time passes and people forget the terrible price that is often paid by others to write history. The greatest empire the world had ever seen opened a rift into the realm of spirits, allowing an endless horde of malevolent entities through in the event that became known as the “Grim Dawn”. Almost overnight the empire fell and humanity was decimated, leaving only a few scattered settlements of survivors that had not been possessed or mutated in a world that has become a battle ground for demons and spirits. You are, or were, one of the victims of what might be the last mistake humanity ever made. You were saved for only one purpose: To help push back the endless dead and give humanity a fighting chance to get through the apocalypse. Whether you drag them or carry them is up to you. Graphics / Sound: They look good to me. The Boom, Pow, Zap of powers going off are done well, the monsters explode in a satisfying way and if you zoom in you might notice some surprising details in the environment. Controls: Standard for this sort of game. Works well with a controller. Presentation / Story: It’s a ARPG so...Standard. The story is done well and is detailed if you dig around for the text logs. If you like ARPG’s / Diablo then give this game a look. It’s grim dark world is interesting, even if the story is a little loose as far as a END… mostly I’m guessing for expansions or sequels. Took me a bit to get the right build. Combat was always fun, if a bit repetitive once I got to be high level. Plenty of ways to make it harder though. All in all a great ARPG.
In this saga you take on the role of 4 different adventures in 6 different time periods in the underground kingdom of Avernum. The story takes the players from Avernum's beginnings as a place where criminals and those who didn't fit in the empire above were sentenced to live out there lives in exile to a flourishing kingdom on the brink of collapse from a mysterious plague that is destroying it's food supply. The stories can range from fleshed out narrative that tells the player to go here and do this to a more open world approach that tells the player about all the problems and leaves it to them to figure out how to fix things. The thing about all these games is that, for the most part, it can be as bare bones as the player wants or as full as the player wants, depending on how many main objectives and side quests the player wants to do. Just want to take out the big bad with the minimum amount of questing done go for it, game won. Want to solve all the worlds problems and take out all the big bads go for it, game done when you say it's done. The second approach will give the player a lot of content to wade through. Almost to the point where it becomes a slog if the player tries to do everything in every game. Game play is basically what you expect from games like this. You control 4 different adventures and you level them up by doing quests and fighting monsters with the end goal being take out the big bad. As the games progressed it felt like the focus shifted a little bit from exploring to trying to make the combat a little more interesting. So the huge areas that are present in the first game get zoomed in by the time you get to the later games. The combat encounters also seem to increase as the series went on with with there being a attempt to focus on character abilities instead of whacking everything with fireballs and swords. Not a bad thing necessarily just noticeable. In conclusion, great games if you like old fashioned Crpg's.
