2018: The Good, The Bad, The SaHD

So 2018 has come to a close.  It was a very unique year, especially for myself.  Again, ignoring the continued devolution of the United States, we will look to toys, video games, TV and movies for the good, the bad, and the SaHD.

Let us jump into the good first.  I played some really fun games this year, whether or not they actually released this year.  I finally bought Blaster Master Zero, and enjoyed it a lot.  Getting to the final dungeon was kind of dumb and easy to miss, but I still think the game is good.  Radiant Historia was re-released for the 3DS.  I loved the original release, so getting a slightly updated version was welcome.  It's still good, even if the added content feels superfluous.  Still, more content is more content.  Alliance Alive was another fun game I played and reviewed this year.  In a surprise development, Dissidia: Final Fantasy Opera Omnia is a mobile game that I actually really enjoy, and still currently play.  And yes, the name is total JRPG silliness.

So what was my favorite game of the year?  This year it was really easy to pick one: Octopath Traveler.  The gameplay is extraordinarily good for old school gamers, and the graphics are top-notch sprite goodness.  The character interactions are nice, but I would have loved to have a lot more of them.  The story structure reminds me a lot of Saga Frontier, which in this case is pretty good (the second Saga Frontier was terrible though).  It's not perfect, but was easily my favorite game purchased and played last year.  A very high recommendation for anyone that enjoys old school RPGs.

Now for the bad.  I previously enjoyed Recore, but the Definitive Edition upgrade was not good at all.  It was unpolished, and added things that the game just didn't need, except for maybe Violet, the tank.  She was only needed because they put in those mud areas.  Defenders of Ekron was not fun, and Iconoclasts looked great, but was very disappointing.  Disgaea, my favorite game, received a re-release, and showed just how far the series has come.  Unfortunately, it received none of those upgrades, and is just a heartbreaking, effortless, cash-grab release.  Sadly, even Monster Hunter World was a massive let-down.  I'm glad a lot of people like it, so the franchise can sell more, but it was not at all what I wanted from the series.  A few small steps forward, and a few big leaps back.

To top it off, one of the "best reviewed games of the year", Spider-man, Spiderman, how ever it is spelled, was not a fun game for me.  Traversal did not feel good at all, since you have to actually swing from objects and buildings to move.  Realistic, but not fun.  Prototype did this much better, and years ago.  Fighting is somehow worse.  It's very Batman: Arkham counter heavy, but leans way too hard on the timing.  It's just too unforgiving to be fun.  Again, this was done better by other games, notably the Assassin's Creed series, years ago.  Plus, the game is very front-loaded.  "Do this, now this, now this, here's how to do this, and this, and this!  Now, go do whatever."  It just wore on me after a few minutes.  So of course I end up winning a code for the deluxe edition...

The SaHD category is whatever kind of catch-all I want it to be.  This year I'll talk about a few toys.  The new Transformers line, Siege, is a lot of fun.  Nice new molds, lots of areas to plug in accessories/weapons, and special guys that you can pull apart to make into battle armor.  They've even made action effects that can plug into the various weapons.  The toys are great, but Hasbro's distribution is still awful.  While it should be a good thing that the new toys can't stay on the shelves, it's more from stores getting older waves way too late to properly sell them to collectors and fans, and not having the room for new things.  Well, and not getting more than one box of the new stuff.  I am still convinced they need to emulate the video game market to bring back toys to the mainstream, or at least turn some good profits.

Another toy that had a tumultuous first year was Mayhem Mekanics Unrustables.  I backed the kickstarter back in 2017, and received my figure last year.  It's really well designed and built.  It transforms from a robot to a rider and motorcycle, and boosts a good amount of weapons to play with.  Unfortunately, the makers had some problems with the factory producing their toys.  Outsiders might not know all that is going on, but it's surely a financial blow to a small start up company that had a lot of promise.

I was also extremely excited to finally be able to afford another 3rd party Devastator.  Well, in design, if not in name.  Fate and a cosmic event (having money and a 20% eBay flash sale), provided me with a decently-priced Constructor.  It is big, and looks awesome.  It does have faults, such as some scarily tight joints that shy me away from transforming it very often.  I really don't want to break such an expensive toy!  Even so, I am very glad I purchased it.

So that was a brief look at the ups and downs from 2018.  With a new job, I'm not sure how 2019 is going to shape up, but hopefully we will see you back here in another year to see what made 2019 good, bad...and SaHD.

2017: The Good, the Bad, and the SaHD

Man, looking at last year's post, I had some high hopes for 2017.  Considering the travesty that had taken place the previous November, I'm not sure why I thought things would be okay.  Anyway, let us start with the good stuff from 2017.

There were some really fun games released this year, so was hard for me to pick a favorite for the podcast.  Tokyo Xanadu was a lot of fun.  I didn't know what to expect going in, but the combination of story/characters that I liked with some fun action-RPG gameplay made it one of the best games I played this year.  Similarly, I had a blast playing Killing Floor 2 with my friends.  There were a few other good games, like Monster Hunter Stories and Disgaea 5 Complete, too.  Even though it released last year (but in 2017 on PC), World of Final Fantasy is a wonderful game.  I bought and played it on the Vita early in 2017, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to fans of Final Fantasy.

As much as I rightfully dislike Nintendo, the Switch is a great system.  Easily their best one since the Super Nintendo.  It's what the Wii U should have been, in my opinion.  While the battery isn't the best, I play it most often in portable mode.  For slower games, I can even lay down on my bed, prop the screen sideways on my nice stand, and hold just the joycons in my hands for the ultimate lazy experience.  If we could get some visual novels on the system, I'd be even happier.  TV mode is also good, where I use the Switch Pro controller for things like Fire Emblem Warriors.

On the Transformers front, we had some really good releases this year (if you could find them).  Titans Returns brought back the headmaster gimmick, where the head transforms into a little robot.  Triggerhappy and Topspin are solid and fun figures.  They both turn into different spaceships that I'd love to see in a shmup-type game.  Masterpiece Megatron also debuted this year, and although I got a KO of it (in my defense, the official is hard to get and way too pricey), it is a wonderful figure, and a good one to display for my collection.  The transformation is pretty crazy, so I don't think I'll be doing it too often.

For the record, The Last Jedi was pretty good, too.  There were some things I didn't agree with, but it was enjoyable.  More importantly, my wife liked it (she's the huge Star Wars fan of the house).

Now for the bad.  There's an elephant in the room, and it has tiny hands, bad hair, and is a complete douche.  So, obviously, the worst thing is the state of my home country, the United States, but we will try to focus on other things.

Gaming wise, Drive Girls was a big miss.  The idea was fun and quirky, but the gameplay just didn't add up.  Bad decisions, boring enemies, and unexplained combat mechanics all dragged it down.  Metroid: Samus Returns had some fun elements, but was again a disappointment (the melee counter was way too prevalent).  Breath of the Wild, while an okay game in its own right (small inventory and weapon durability are two things I hate in games), didn't feel like a Zelda game, and deserves to be here, too.  The Nintendo love train gets way out of hand.  I think every one of their releases saw a month of massive Twitter hype, and it got old fast.  The only consolation was that it would drop off completely the next month.  Remember ARMS?  Yeah, me neither.

However, the worst gaming-related thing was what happen with Gazillion and Marvel Heroes Omega.  I got review codes for the starting bundles, and tried the game out.  I really enjoyed it, and played with not only my wife, but one of my other friends as well.  Gazillion then closed down, but the servers were supposed to be up until the end of the year.  Turns out, they just left them up that week, and shut it all down.  None of the actual workers for the company got their severance or accrued vacation pay, either.  I'm sure the a-hole that ran the company (into the ground) was well compensated at the expense of everyone else, though.

For Transformers, the big negative was distribution.  There were several figures that just didn't get wide enough releases.  While normally the first waves are overstocked and later waves under, this year felt even worse.  Besides the fact that "the normal" should exist like that, even the second wave of things barely hit stores.  The movie line was especially bad.  I'm assuming that the movie didn't really catch on had something to do with it, but also decisions about the toy line itself were terrible.  It was just loaded with repaints or re-releases of figures from the previous movie.  There was a Barricade in the first wave, and it was the only new deluxe mold for a bit.  I never saw the Cogman figure in stores, and I only saw one report of two figures anywhere in my state.  The few good figures didn't last long on shelves, assuming they were even there.  I'm glad I got Nitro the first time I saw him, as it was probably the last!

For the new year, I am definitely excited to play Monster Hunter World.  The demo showed me that the game hasn't really changed that much, but I could easily do without following the monster's tracks with my bloodhound firefly.  I'm still undecided what system to get it for.  I might have more people to play with on the PS4, but I want to support companies that actually release stuff on the Xbox One.  Plus, the XB1X enhancements (if they do them) would look amazing.

I'm hoping for some good sales on some of the stuff from 2017 that I don't have yet, and a few more good review games for the Switch.  The new Transformers line, Power of the Primes, should be in full swing soon.  I'm sure the distribution will still be a mess, but I'm going to try and get the few figures I'm really interested in.  I'll again hope the QC gets better than the previous two years.

Fairune (3DS): the Good, the Bad and the SaHD

The Good:

The game is a pretty fun adventure game, reminiscent of the first Legend of Zelda, except you walk into enemies to defeat them.  You take damage as well, but only if the enemy gives experience (which they only do for about 2 levels).

The Bad:

While there is no real penalty for death, you have to walk all the way back to where you were, which is sometimes more of a pain than an actual penalty.  Also, there are a lot of puzzles, and it can be a pain in the butt to figure them out, assuming they actually have clues.  Some require you to walk off the screen at random areas you wouldn't know about.  One near the end requires the touch screen, which was not used at any other part of the game.  Gah!

The SaHD:

I paid a dollar for the game, and it took me about 2.5 hours to beat.  It was fun and worth the price.  There are a few extra things I can still do, like get the secret items and monsters for the collection.  There's even some speedrunning achievements.  Trouble is, I'd have to start a new file, since I'm stuck where I saved at the end.  I wouldn't immediately go back to the game, but maybe at some point in the future.

(Fairune was purchased from the 3DS E-shop)

Senran Kagura: Estival Versus (PS4) Review

Finally...the girls have come...to consoles!  Sorry for that rock-solid intro, but I'm almost as excited to finally review the game than I am of it being available on a home console for the first time.  Senran Kagura: Estival Versus takes place after Shinovi Versus, and is in that continuity.  (Don't get me started on that...)

Much like its predecessor, Estival Versus is a 3D action game where the girls have been summoned to a tropical island where the dead reside.  In order to go home, they much participate in the Bon Festival, and destroy their opponents' festival platforms.  Besides being an excuse to have the girls in swimsuits (I'm not sure the game needed and excuse...), the platform destruction is worked in to the game, and we get to meet Ryona and Ryobi's departed sister.  Story scenes this time around are less narration by the characters and more interaction between the characters.  Most times it's not as deep as the other (no, seriously, there is really good story in these games), but they deal with some good themes.

Each stage is a battle where you have to fight some enemies of various types, and usually fight another character (or multiple) as a boss fight.  The square attack is used for your normal attack string, the end of which usually has a launcher.  The triangle button is your signature breach art, and you can hold it for a block-breaking attack.  X button is jump and the circle button is dash.  Unfortunately, there is a big downtime at the end of a dash where you cannot move while the animation finishes.  It really slows down the action, but I suppose it is a balancing thing for the versus modes.  Being stuck in a slow animation is still not fun, as much of the action feels slower than previous games in the series.  Some can be canceled by jumping, dashing or blocking, but it's a pain to deal with in the first place, since other games in the genre aren't near as egregious.

The girls can also transform into their shinobi forms when you have at least one super meter.  The transformation animations are more involved this time around.  The shinobi form gives you slightly different attacks, and multiple air dashes to continue combos.  You also gain access to your super arts, which can be devastating when used correctly.  Instead of transforming to the shinobi form, you can shred your own clothes and go into "frantic" mode, which increases your speed and damage, but lowers your defense.  You also have access to new attacks and your super arts in this mode.  Of course, during battle both your an your opponents will get their clothing torn, and finishing them off with a super can completely strip them, complete with balls of light covering their parts (which I honestly prefer to the chibi faces and streak of light).

While the basic combat is mostly the same, they added a few new touches.  The girls can run up walls now, and preform a diving attack while doing it.  There are bomb items you can pick up and throw at enemies for various effects, like freezing or poisoning them.  My favorite bomb is the puppet one that gives you a pilot-able mech suit for a short time.  They have also added a friend on some missions.  You can use them to bust you out of a combo, continue yours, or team up for a flashy mid-air combo attack.  While this is a step in the right direction, I'm still hoping for an actual tag mechanic or even -gasp- couch co-op.

My favorite addition to the series is the location KOs.  Called "creative finishes", these are like stage fatalities, but with covered nudity ("conveniently placed apostrophes") instead of gore.  If you finish your opponent near certain areas of the stages (denoted by a sign with a "!" on it), they will be stripped and be launched into the environment for some more humiliation.  Several more have been added through patches to the Japanese version, which are included in the US release.  While most of them are location-based, there are three that are tied to specific costumes available from Ayame's store.  Those won't shred like normal, but offer a unique finish animation.

The story is presented as a long, single narrative where each stage has a set girl for you to use.  Once you have completed a level, you are free to do it again with any of the unlocked shinobi.  I like the single narrative aspect of the story presentation, but there is still some problems with being under-leveled.  Later on in the story it will bump a character's level up to 10, which does help.  As you make your way through the story, you will eventually unlock the extra (non-DLC) characters. It's a pretty long story, will 8 days having 5 or so missions each (usually one per school/group of shinobi).  Half the missions aren't very hard, but the ones against multiple girls (of which there are many) can be tricky.

The AI is about the same as it has always been, where it likes to attack the moment you are within range, or zip around you while you are trying to hit them.  In the final stages, it seemed that I would be assaulting them, and then I would just get hit.  Or, they would recover from me hitting them before I did.  Yikes.  They seem less prone to break out of your air combos, but probably because the button mashing mini-game from Shinovi Versus is gone.  While the AI doing these things might be them taking full advantage of the game's systems, I don't think it's what they should do on an "easy" setting.  It's true that I only failed a stage once or twice, but it had frustrating parts nonetheless.

Each character also has a mini story that becomes available as you destroy the festival platforms in the story.  Each story stage shows how many platforms there are, so it is easy to see where you missed them.  The "Girls Heart" stories open in a weird order, but you can see how many platforms you need to unlock them.  There are five stages in each one, and some dialogue in the stages that furthers the short stories.  They are pretty fun, a great way to get more experience, money and a nice picture at the end.  They can be pretty humorous, too.

Like Shinovi Versus before it, there are multiplayer modes in Estival Versus.  Hence why the word "versus" is in the title.  The modes have been expanded a bit since last time, and one addition in particular I actually like.  There is Point Battle (try to get the highest points by killing enemies), Understorm (collect panties that drop around the arena), Capture the Bra (it's a flag), Queen of the Hills (destroy platforms), Walker Battle (fight in the mechs), Shinobi Deathmatch (self explanatory) and Shinobi Survival.  Of the actual versus ones, Queen of the Hills, is the best, simply because it has team creative finishes.  I really like Shinobi Survival, because it is co-op against waves of enemies.  It's a great place to get experience for characters, but doesn't seem good for money.  You can do it by yourself, but the score won't upload, which is fine.  I'd love to play it with my friends if any of them get this game.  It's worth noting that the versus modes can have up to 10 people on the PS4 (only 4 for the survival mode), and 4 players max for the Vita version.

As a fan of the Senran Kagura games, I was happy to finally see one on a console, and Estival Versus did not disappoint.  The story is long and involved, but there doesn't seem to be as much exposition as previous titles.  There are some balance changes to the characters that I'm not too fond of, but it doesn't ruin the experience for me.  Multiplayer modes have returned (meh), but have added a co-op survival (nice!).  The AI can still be annoying, but the game overall is very fun.  Not one I would play around the kids, though.

____________________

The Good:

Same fast-paced, ninja stripping action, now with environmental humiliations and more characters!

The Bad:
The CPU opponents.  They can easily move out of the way of whatever they want, shrug off as many hits as they want, and hit you out of just about anything.  Fun!

The SaHD:
I'm glad some of the characters I really like using haven't been nerfed.  It seems like every game they tweak the characters, which usually results in some becoming terrible.  Katsuragi still hasn't recovered from the first 3DS game, where she was great...and now is not.  Haruka has been tooled with and is somewhat better, but still not good.  Ryona fell far from the previous game where she was top-tier, and Mirai somehow got worse.  Sadly though, I think newcomer Hanabi is the worst character.  Hopefully them make her more usable in a future game.

I'm still gunning for the platinum in the game, time permitting.  I only need to finish buying everything in the store and I'm good!

Score: 8.8/10

(Review code for Senran Kagura: Estival Versus was provided by the publisher.)

Trulon: The Shadow Engine (PC) Review

I will admit that I had not heard of Trulon: The Shadow Engine before its PC release.  Once I saw it was an RPG that used a card system in its turn-based fights, I was interested in trying it out.  As a fan of both collectible card games and role-playing games, I have enjoyed the other mashups I've tried.

Repeat readers of my reviews may know that I love sprites and 16-bit looks to games.  Trulon pulls it off very well, and even has some nice animations.  The way the characters move and animate is really cool looking.  When you activate a card, it shows a more close-up view that reminds me of the pre-battle animations in Pokemon.  There are a few different attack animations based on which card you use.  It would be nice if all the different types of cards got unique animations, at least for the party members, but having as many as they do is nice.

When battle starts, you are given a few cards (called Tactics) from your character's deck on the bottom left side of the screen.  The bottom right side has a wildcard and the standard attack (these will replenish).  Every time your turn comes up, you will draw another card.  You can run out of cards in your deck, but will always be able to use a wildcard and the default attack.  To use a card, you drag it to the target.  The animation plays and it shows the damage done (or other effect).  Simple and it gets the job done, but there is strategy involved in when to use certain cards, as they may allow more cards to be played, or affect attack and defense.

Your party members can also equip up to three items to boost their stats or give other effects.  Many are typical "give x HP, Str, etc.", but some will give bonuses depending on cards used during combat.  At a certain point in the game, it will randomly assign cards as an "Assault Tactic", noted by the lightning bolt on it.  The equipment pieces that affect these can be very useful, giving you a small heal, stunning opponents and more, just for using the right card.  It's easy to switch equipment, which is good since it pays to play around with your loadout and figure out what is most effective for your playstyle.

Admittedly, battles are harder than I thought they would be.  I usually wipe out the weaker enemies first, then the stronger, but most times the opposite seems more effective in Trulon.  Some enemies can do a lot of damage, and you need to eliminate them fast or have a cards that mitigate the threat.  Part of the difficulty is due to the card-based battle system.  You might have the right attacks for the situation, but you have to have them in your hand to be of any use.  It adds a random element to the battles that I'm not too fond of.  I prefer reliability in my RPG fights, but the card system is still fun.  At least if you lose a fight, it puts you back right before that, so there isn't a whole lot of pressure, just some wasted time.  At least you aren't severely punished for something that is largely out of your control.

On the world map, in a town, or exploring a dungeon is done by clicking where you want to go.  The world map doesn't always point you in the right direction, but the areas aren't too big so you shouldn't get lost much.  While moving around it, there are also random locations of interest.  While these are mostly fights, there are some that are just items.  The player is free to skip these, and can even walk out of them if you don't like the enemies present.  In dungeons, the enemies sit around at various places, so you can see what you are going to fight.  They don't really respawn, either, so you will have to fight on the world map if you want to grind.  Grinding isn't really necessary if you are careful about what cards and equipment you carry into battle.

The story is interesting enough, but the game is a little on the short side for an RPG.  There's even an achievement for beating it in under 5 hours if you are so inclined (this would be best to do after a first run).  The save system in the game is not ideal for me.  I looked through the menus to find a save option, and even scoured the town, thinking the game may use old school save points.  Nope.  The game saves when you exit it, and automatically at various points.  While not my preferred method of saving, I didn't have the autosave mess up on me, which really helped me out when I had a soft-lock bug while playing.

Trulon: The Shadow Engine is a pretty fun, but short, RPG.  The card-based fights is the game's biggest strength, making it very unique.  It is also its biggest weakness, making the fights much more random, longer and more difficulty than they have to be.  Either way, I had fun guiding Gladia and her compatriots on their adventure.

_____________________

The Good:
I really like the character animations.  The card-based fights are innovative and unique.

The Bad:
However, they (the card-based fights) are also too random.  Many times I know I have the card I need in my deck, but I don't have it in my hand, making the battle take longer than it normally should.

The SaHD:
Sometimes going back to a previous area would cause dialogue scenes to replay.  While that did help me get two of the achievements, that should probably be fixed.

(Review code for Trulon: The Shadow Engine was provided by the publisher)

Bravely Second [Demo] (3DS): the Good, the Bad and the SaHD

The Good:
Meaty demo that gives you a good taste of the final game.  Once I understood how to use it effectively, the "One More Fight" mechanic is great.  It's free and you can easily play it for 8 hours+!

The Bad:
The second to last boss fight is brutally hard.  Even harder than the final boss of the demo on the hard setting.  Ugh, such bad memories.

The SaHD:
I'm glad that there are bonuses to transfer over to the full version, but some of them are really tedious, like filling out the beastiary.  You have to fight each non-boss monster something like 100 times.  Yuck.  The bonuses are nice, but not worth seeking out in the demo, unless you are killing time until you can get the full version.

(Bravely Second [Demo] was obtained as a free download from the Nintendo E-shop)

Battleborn [Beta] (PS4): the Good, the Bad and the SaHD

The Good:
I can't overstate how much I appreciate that there is a story that can be done solo or co-op.  I'm bad at the competitive portion of most games, so I like having a fun option for people like myself.

The Bad:
The game is fast paced and hectic...I didn't always know what was going on.  Plus, the story missions were pretty hard.

The SaHD:
I tried one round of the versus.  I was on a team of low level people (1-5), and our opponents were very high level (20-50+), so it was really unbalanced.  There was a vote to surrender only 4 minutes in, and it just seemed to instantly pass without me even getting to vote.

Yeah...I'm definitely interested in checking out the campaign levels, but will likely not put much time into the versus modes.  The game felt very much like a fast-paced Borderlands, which isn't a bad thing.  Just one I would have to get used to.

(Battleborn [Beta] was obtained as a free download from the Playstation Store)

Project X Zone 2 [Demo] (3DS): the Good, the Bad and the SaHD

The Good:
The demo showcases the combat, which I still really enjoy.  Plus, you get a bonus in the real game for completing the demo.  UP TO 10 TIMES!  That's crazy (crazy cool), and I want more demos to do things like that.

The Bad:
Skipping all the talking is a chore.  The start button will skip a small section, but you still end up having to mash it to get through it all.  This isn't a problem the first time through, but it sucks after the second time.

The SaHD:
The game tells you the enemies get harder if you go through again, but it does so each time you go through, which I didn't know.  The enemies were actually a threat during my 9th and 10th cycle.

I'm really looking forward to the full version, since I loved the first game.  I didn't get a review code, so I'll have to buy it at some point.  This kind of works out, since I prefer to have any Nintendo software in physical format (their digital system sucks).

(Project X Zone 2 Demo was obtained as a free download from the 3DS E-shop)

Lords of the Fallen (Xbox One): the Good, the Bad and the SaHD

The Good:
The environments, the enemies and some of the armor designs are really nice.

The Bad:
Pretty much everything else.

The SaHD:
This game really reminds me why I don't like Souls games.  I don't like the controls (they are awkward and wonky), hit detection just doesn't seem really good and the game loves to punish you for stuff that isn't your fault (though some of it is).  They just aren't fun to me.

(Lords of the Fallen was obtained for free as part of the Games with Gold promotion.)