Disgaea 1 Complete (Nintendo Switch) Review

Back in 2003, I saw an ad for the soon-to-release Disgaea: Hour of Darkness.  Since I liked strategy RPGs, and anime art, I decided to buy it when it came out.  Once I played it, my mind was blown.  There was crazy stuff I hadn't seen before in an RPG.  Crazy characters, wild terrain effects, and insane stats.  The levels went to 4 digits!  It was eye-opening to see this stuff after max level 99 and max damage 9999 Final Fantasy games.  It quickly became my favorite game, and its success likely fueled other RPGs increasing their own level and damage caps.

This should have been an easy review to write.  This is a re-release of Disgaea.  The first one.  My number 1 favorite game of all time.  It dethroned Final Fantasy IV for heaven's sake, which was no small feat.  All I should have to do is gush about how much I loved the game.  However, nostalgia can be a cruel mistress.

Is it the updated visuals?  Nope, those look crisp.  With the exception of the graphics and sound, the game is a fairly faithful recreation of its original incarnation.  And therein lies the problem.

The subsequent game added new things, changed some, and fixed things for the better.  Well, most times.  Still, there were plenty of quality of life changes that just made the core experience better.  None of that is present here.  There's no cheat shop, so leveling up takes more time and more grinding.  Money is more of an issue in the early game, as is fully equipping your people.  You don't get experience from healing, so healers fall behind.  High rank weapon types aren't balanced.  Heck, monsters only have the one type of weapon, so "too bad" if they need INT.

The item world is of course present.  Every item contains a random dungeon that allows you to power it up as you descend.  Still a great idea.  Levels aren't as small as they became over the years, and Mr. Gency's exits aren't as easy to come by.  No innocent farm or storage.  I will give the game credit for at least removing the geo panel from the exit square.  Now there should not be any floors that are actually impossible.  Also, the support innocents, like Statistician, seem to be higher starting values.  I don't remember there being so many, especially in values over 5, at the early stages of the game.

Some aspects of the Dark Assembly feel dated, too.  Since the cheat shop (regretfully) wasn't added, you have to use the council to increase or decrease monster levels.  Bribery is a huge pain, since each senator is an individual, not part of a group.  The percent chance of success isn't shown before the vote.  If you want to increase your counter attacks, you'll need the Dark Assembly, since there is no Character World.  No more promotion to increase your class' rank, you have to reincarnate for that.  Mentor and student isn't something that can be switched to benefit people, it's completely set at creation.  Just listing the stuff that should have been added to the "complete" version is kind of depressing.

Now, as much as I want the improvements from future games to be crammed into Disgaea 1, making a formerly great game incredible, I can see reasons why they didn't.  Maybe they wanted a 1:1 copy of the original, just with crisper graphics.  If that was what happened, I would still complain, but understand.  For better or worse, that's not what happened.  Remember the treant golems in the first game?  They were there, but now they're not.  Several enemy types were replaced with later iterations, likely because HD sprites of them already existed.  So I guess they aren't even pretending to faithfully recreate it, just do what ever is cheap and fast, consumer be damned.

But, we get Asagi.  I mean, she's been in other games before, but now she's...here.  And a Prism Ranger!  That's actually cool.  Not totally unique, because there was apparently a way to get one in the PSP version.  Still, it's a shame that those two things are the only things that were added.  Maybe it's my fault.  Maybe I expected too much after how great the re-releases of all the other mainline games have been.  How they get upgrades from new system mechanics, benefiting the player.  However, part of the blame is also adding Complete to the title, which implies something comparable to the last release that carried it.  Adding one and a half new characters doesn't strike me as a "complete" sort of thing, just a tiny gesture.

There is a silver lining through all of these dark clouds.  For all the things that should have changed, there remains one thing that shouldn't.  The story.  Disgaea 1's story is still the best the series has to offer, and it is completely intact.  I still think Laharl is wonderful, Flonne is ditzy, and Etna sucks.  The story for this game is wonderful, and was one of the reasons I kept playing it, despite how painful it could be.

Disgaea 1 Complete should have been a slam dunk.  Take the original characters and story, add the improvements from the past 15 years, slap in some new characters and battles, and rake in the praise and profits.  Sadly, that isn't what happened.  What we did get was a lazy port that tries to keep to everything original, except the things that would require doing work.  Despite the Complete moniker, it's barely different from the current PC offering.  If you have never played the original Disgaea, then it might be worth it to play the amazing story.  Otherwise, leave your nostalgia in the past...having your face shoved in its faults is a painful experience for the soul.  It's not a bad game, but it's a huge missed opportunity.  Just play Disgaea 5 Complete instead.


The Good:
Uh...it looks much better than the PS2 version.  I don't think some random item world levels are impossible anymore.  The plot is still great.

The Bad:
Disappointingly lacks the quality of life improvements from the last 15 years that really should have been added to make this game utterly fantastic.  I'm pretty sure I brought that up at least once or twice.

The SaHD:
Well I had already preordered the special edition from NIS, so it should be very easy to keep it sealed.

(Review code for Disgaea 1 Complete was provided by the publisher)

The Lost Child (Switch) Review

The Lost Child is NIS America's latest offering for the Switch, and is, I think, the first dungeon RPG on the system.   It sticks to several staples of the genre, but doesn't offer created characters.  Sorry, David!  It also boasts some good artwork, a nicely animated intro, and very unique monster designs.

The game flows much like other dungeon RPGs.  You find a new dungeon, explore it, beat the boss, and move on to the next.   There is a bit more to finding the dungeons, since you are a reporter.  Basically, you just have to talk to some people, so it still isn't super involved.  Moving to the dungeons is a bit strange to me.  You first have to leave your office (or shop), go to the world map, enter the place that has the layer, then the layer (dungeon) itself.   I eventually saw you can hit the R button to go to directly to the layer from the world map.  That's better, but still felt a little more cumbersome than I'd like

Dungeons are in first person.   As you move around, the map fills in automatically.  Thankfully there are shortcuts that open up, which allow you to move past explored floors quickly.  It would be nice if there was a quicker way, since there's only about one save point per floor, but it's at least helpful to have these shortcuts.  I would also like save points closer to the bosses.  Dungeons contain a fair amount of locked doors, which you need to find the switches for, and of course the occasional puzzle to solve.  There's not a whole lot in the way of gimmick tiles, which is a plus.

Combat is pretty simple, but has a unique mechanic that I'll explain in a bit.  Your party of five will face off against the enemies.  I'm not sure what the limit of opponents is in one fight, since I've seen it go as high as 15 or so.  While in most dungeon RPGs fighting more than five can be a pain, it wasn't too much of an issue in The Lost Child.  Most enemies cannot attack from the back rows, but you cannot hit them either.  Each member of the battle party gets one action per turn, and you can attack, use a skill, defend, or use an item.  Pretty standard stuff.

As mentioned early, the astral designs are very unique.  Some are outright creepy.  While the main character cannot use skills, if you kill an astral using the Gangour (his special gun), you will capture it.  Once I got the hang of the burst gauge and the gun’s damage, it was pretty easy to capture the astrals.  You can only have one of each though.  Once captured, you will need to spend a little karma to purify them, and they can then be used in battle.  Sometimes, special or rare astrals also require specific items before they can be purified, but you can still capture them beforehand.  Astrals can be freely switched between main and sub parties, but changing one from the stock will require a bit of energy from your tablet.  While the energy is limited, I haven't needed it much, and it fully refills when you leave a layer.

Your main characters will level up in the traditional way, by gaining experience from battles.  To level up an astral, you spend karma.  I really like this, since you can boost a new acquisition, or pump up your strongest party members.   They do have a max level.  When at that limit, you can go to the temple and have the astral's rank increased.  This resets their level back to one, gives them a tiny stat increase, and raises the max level.  Their appearance also changes, for better or worse.  Just make sure to save some karma after ranking them up, so you can boost them toward the level they were at before the change.  Ideally, I'd want a bigger stat boost, but I think the higher level cap is the main attraction to increasing an astral's rank.

Stat points are automatic (and set) for astrals, but you will have to choose which stats to increase for your main characters. Astrals also gain skills at certain levels. An interesting idea in The Lost Child is the”spirit scale”. This allows you to trade skills between astrals.  I like the idea, since you can theoretically move some good skills to the astrals you use most often, but I didn't do much with the system.  It's a scale, so the skills have to balance out in order to be traded.  It would take a lot of time to figure out what to trade to who so you could end up with a few killer sets, and I didn't feel much need to.  It would have made a few astrals better if I had invested the time necessary for working it all out, so it is something I would look in to when I have the time.

Your non-astral characters can equip different armor and weapons.   Most of these are found in dungeons, or unidentified enemy drops.  Selling excess equipment and items is the only way to make money, as killing the enemies doesn't give it directly.  At least they give out a fair amount of selling items.  I only really used the money to identify items, and didn't run out.  You can also get items from treasure chests, either on the field, or that enemies drop.  However, each chest is booby-trapped.  To open it, there are two meters.  The left is the danger meter, which fills as you are triggering the trap.  The right is opening the chest.  Attempting to open it, or using a skill, will increase one or both meters.  If you fill up the left one first, the trap is sprung and you suffer its effects.  If you fill up the right one, the chest is opened.  At first I liked this system, but after several hours, I grew tired of it.  It would be much better if you didn't have to do it for every chest, as it just wears out its welcome.

There game's difficulty spans from easy to hard. Most fights aren't that hard, but the enemy damage can be high at seemingly random times. Boss fights are more difficult. The first boss trashed me soundly. I did some grinding, came back, and was victorious. The subsequent bosses didn't feel quite as hard, so maybe I just got better at the game, or was diligent about leveling up my good astrals. When an astral dies, you have to re-purify it after the battle (it’s slightly different in R’lyeh Road). Game overs can be reversed by spending karma or money, but I usually stuck to reloading my last save.  I'm just that cheap.

Dungeon RPGs are a genre that have grown on me over the years. I enjoyed playing The Lost Child. The capture mechanic added something new to the formula, and I really liked the karma system for leveling up your monster party members.  Dungeon RPG players should give it a shot, unless you turn up your nose at not creating characters.  It's a fun game that might be of interest to RPG players looking to break into the dungeon RPG sub-genre.


The Good:
Easy to add new monsters to use in battle.  Leveling them up is also easy, ensuring new blood isn't the weak link.

The Bad:
I'd like more save points, or even quicker short cuts.  Those dungeons get long.  The treasure chest mini-game gets old after awhile.

The SaHD:
Some of those monster designs are a bit too creepy for my tastes.  At least they stand out!

(Review code for The Lost Child was received from the publisher)

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA (PS4) Review

While not a game series I talk about often, I do have a fondness for Ys III.  I played it way back on the SNES, when my friend bought the game.  I think I eventually traded him for it, but regardless, I remember it being hard but fun, and having cool artwork in the instruction booklet.  I haven't really played many other of the series, except some of Ys I and II on the DS...and Ark of Nepishtim.  Strangely, I don't recall much of either title.  Still, Ys VIII sounded interesting enough to give a try, and I'm very glad I did.

I'll say that the first impression of the game wasn't great.  It's a PS4 title, but the graphics don't seem to support that.  Especially the water.  This could easily be because it's also a Vita title, so I'll look past that.  Also, a game should not solely be judged on its looks, but they will and should play some part in the overall impression.

Ys VIII is an action rpg where you battle creatures and find other castaways on the deserted isle of Seiren.  Fights are in real time, and you will need to be quick on your toes to avoid getting hit.  Dodging at the right time will slow down time for everyone but you, allowing you some free hits.  Hit detection felt a bit off most times, with attacks hitting me before it looked like they should.  Still, there were plenty of times I pulled off the dodge.  The game is sometimes generous with it to, and enemies won't aim-bot you with their attacks.  There are times when they blatantly do so, especially the bosses.

The controls just felt a little off.  Attacking is done with the X Button, and jumping with the Circle Button.  I would have preferred them each moved one button counter-clockwise.  You can actually re-map most of the controls.  I thought this would help, but I think I used the default just enough to make switching not feel right either.  I ended up switching back, and just tried to get better.  I still made mistakes occasionally.  Maybe my brain is what's just a little off.

As you explore the areas, you also find materials and treasure chests.  Materials as used to trade for or make items, including weapon upgrades and armor to wear.  Sometimes you find a blockade that can be moved when you find enough people, which I thought was a pretty neat way to limit areas of the game.  Adol and friends also find adventure equipment as you wander around, which will help you reach even more areas.  I will say several of these were not stereotypical to me, like boots that let you walk on top of mud instead of sinking.  They are all useful in several places, so thankfully you can eventually equip more than one.  Even so, you might have to swap more than you'd like.

Besides the main quest, there are side quests, invasion battles, and suppression battles.  The side quests have time limits, but based on plot progression, not real time.  Still, it's best to do what you can as soon as possible.  Suppression battles are like small scale horde mode fights.  There are several waves of enemies, and you must defeat them before they can destroy the town gates.  While kind of fun, these fights are mostly optional.  Invasion battles are you going into an area to destroy monster nests.  You have to light torches and keep them lit to weaken the nests while you hit them.  They make sense in the context of the game, but still feel largely superfluous.

Ys VIII has its fair share of difficulty.  It starts off fairly easy, but steadily ramps up throughout the game.  There are a few annoying battles, usually involving a boss or the ancient species before you get special weapons for them.  Being an action RPG game, its content leans more toward the RPG side, offering many hours of playtime with lots of story and side quests to keep you occupied.  I'd say it's easily 35-40 hours for your first run through the game.

I wasn't sure I would like Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA when I asked to review it, but I'm happy that I did.  It's a very fun action RPG with fun exploration aspects.  It offers a good amount of content, too.  I'd recommend it to action and action RPG fans.  You'll find a lot of things to enjoy!


The Good:
Several characters to use, a big island to explore, many fights to be had, and lots to do.

The Bad:
Boss fights can be tiring, early fights against the ancient species are annoying.

The SaHD:
I really could have done without the murderer subplot.

(Review code for Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA was provided by the publisher)

Last Rebellion (PS3) Review

Last Rebellion was an RPG released several years ago for the Playstation 3, and was largely overlooked by fans.  It has a very unique battle system that may warrant more RPG players taking a second look.  The game star two heroes, Nine and Aisha, who end up having to share a body.  Therefore, while you play as both, you can only use one at a time.  This extends to both field exploration and battle.

Moving around the field is fairly standard, you move around from place to place, finding treasures and encountering monster groups that also wander the map.  Thankfully each dungeon has a special teleport point so you can easily backtrack to one (you will have to at a certain point in the game, too).  There are also save points, but sometimes they are a bit too far apart for my liking.  If you touch one of the monsters walking around, you will begin combat, and in battle is where the game sets itself apart from the competition.

Each monster has multiple areas that you can target.  A physical attack to any part will 'stamp' it as well as do damage.  If you attack the pieces in the right order, you increase your combo, which in turn gives more experience at the end of the fight.  The correct order for each monster is different and hidden until you attack a part in the correct order to show it.  Each attack takes 1 CP, and you can target each body part once per turn.  However, you can do this for each enemy.  This means you can do a lot of attacks in one turn, provided you have the CP for it.  Each turn refills a portion of CP, and it carries over between battles.  The other two ways to fill your CP is by hitting the special items on the map, or by using a magic spell.  Managing your CP is a constant struggle until later in the game.

Magic behaves differently, however.  Instead of picking a target, each offensive spell cast will hit whatever is stamped.  The more stamps, the more spells cast.  Since it only takes 1 CP to cast a spell, the general idea is to stamp many parts, and cast to hit them all again for cheap.  Each monster is susceptible to a different element or type of spell (fire, light, axe, arrow, etc.), and this takes more experimentation than finding the correct attack order.  However, magic usually isn't as damaging as just physically hitting them, even if you exploit a weakness.  So, it's just better to keep attacking, especially later in the game when you have a lot of CP, and use MP for buffs and heals.  You could also use it on debuffs, but like many RPGs, those are worthless to cast on enemies.

That's not all, though.  Since the plot revolves around things being brought back to life, enemies won't stay dead when they run out of HP.  Instead, they lie on the ground and must be sealed by Aisha to actually disappear.  Sealing also restores some HP.  Nine can use a similar function to absorb MP, but it will shorten the time an enemy stays down.  Unfortunately, when they get up, they are fully recovered, which is a bit much.  It is rarely a problem, since they stay down a few turns and it's easy to just dedicate a turn to seal what you can if need be.  Thankfully you don't need to seal bosses.

Last Rebellion is far from the most balanced game.  Fighting a group of 4-5 enemies can easily destroy you in damage alone.  If you hit an enemy's red number, it can cause them to go berserk and do more damage, which can change the battle from a win to a loss.  Also, while status ailments are near useless to use, they are devastating to suffer.  There are many flavors, but two basic types: take damage or can't act.  I don't know why there are several types that only do one of two things, but that's what's here.  True, paralysis does let you cast magic, but it's probably not going to save you.  Ailments unfortunately affect both characters at once, which is why you can get quickly wrecked if you suffer the wrong one.  If the enemy moves first, you are probably toast unless you out level them significantly.

On the flip side, racking up the bonus from combos will allow you to quickly out level enemies, to the point where they give little to no experience.  I've had several battles where I gain 4 levels, making me almost too strong for the rest of the dungeon.  I like being able to power up so quickly, but when it makes the rest of the dungeon a chore, even if you can instantly seal weaker monsters, it's not very balanced.

There's also not too many enemy models in the game.  So to populate the areas, you fight some palette swaps.  That's fine, and I understand that.  However, many of the palette swaps in Last Rebellion don't change much.  Maybe the eye color is different, or the model is slightly bigger.  It's hard to tell them apart...which is made worse by the developers putting them both in the same area.  For example, you might fight a lizard enemy, and there are two more kinds of that same lizard in the same dungeon, one might be a little bigger, and the other maybe a slightly different color.  Someone needed to go over it again and either spread them out, or make the differences more pronouned.

Being an RPG, I thought the game would be longer.  Last Rebellion clocks in at under 20 hours, and can be even shorter if you follow a guide.  It did feel a little short, but story-wise, I don't think the game could have been much longer without being obviously drawn out.  There's also no post-game stuff to do, only some late game optional enemies.  Bonus points for some of them being Prinnies, but that can't overcome the fact that there is no real replay value in the game.

It's not very long and has its faults, but I enjoyed Last Rebellion.  The unique mechanics where a nice idea to add something unique to RPG battles, but weren't quite balanced properly.  A little more polishing (or a sequel) would do wonders for the title.  It also looks dated by today's standards.  Still, I'd recommend RPG fans try it out if you get a chance.


The Good:
Unique battle system of stamping monster parts and unleashing magic on each stamped part.  Two characters, one body.

The Bad:
It's not balanced.  Multiple, faster enemies will likely destroy you, and you can out level a dungeon in one or two good fights.

The SaHD:
If you can't move, how can the characters switch places?  Is it to waste time or lazy programming?

(Last Rebellion was purchased by reviewer)

Criminal Girls 2: Party Favors (PS Vita) Review

Criminal Girls 2: Party Favors has come to western shores, and I am happy to see it happen.  The first game was fun and unfortunately mired in some misplaced fan backlash, so I wasn't sure we would even see the sequel come here.

The basic plot of the game is similar to last time.  You play as an instructor banding together a group of girls as they fight their way through hell to be reborn and cleansed of their sins.  This time, the girls died before committing their crimes, so they are, in effect, in purgatory.  They must still face their possible futures, and learn from their mistakes to grow as a person before they can be cleansed.  While it is a similar plot to the previous game, there are definitely enough differences that it doesn't feel like a retread.  Similarly, there are some similarities in the dungeons, but they do feel very different.

Combat is largely the same as it was in the previous game.  Since you don't directly control the party members, they will each have a suggestion of what to do in a turn, and you pick one of the four suggestions.  This time the attacks and characters are animated, which to me, makes it look a better.  The system works for the game, but isn't ideal.  Many times a certain skill the girls have would be the best, but you have to hope they suggest it first.  Thankfully, the game is smart enough to give you the "defend" skill when the enemy is charging up a powerful attack, or "heal" when someone is low on HP, assuming you have the skills and MP for it.  Other than that, most times you can't use the best power for the occasion, since it is up to a random chance that it shows up.  The more skills you learn, the harder it can be to get the one you want.  At least usually feels balanced enough, since you only really get one action per turn, not per girl per turn.

So what else does the instructor (you) do in battle?  Well, you can use one item and/or switch out one of the girls per turn.  Switching them out is very useful if one is out of HP.  Unfortunately, the item use is still a pain, since many times you will need to use more than one, and have to make the call on which would be more beneficial.  Both of those will cause new actions to be suggested, so there is some strategy to it as well.  A new system added to the game is the 'coach' command.  This will shout encouragement to the girls,  Their damage will raise or lower depending on which coaching option you choose.  I didn't often use this until the second half of the game, and even then it wasn't automatic for me to remember and use it.  The effect is has on the girls is substantial enough that you should take advantage of the system, especially on boss fights.

So how do the girls acquire their battle skills?  Well, it is by, uh, punishing motivating them in very suggestive ways.  Similar to the previous game, you will pick a girl and a method, then rub and poke the screen in various ways to...help them out.  Unlike last time, there is no more pink fog!  Some motivations will have another girl with your chosen one.  When you "motivate" them enough to level up, you can now choose one of two skills, either relating to "S" or "M".  Yes, the S&M that you are thinking of.  Any time you are at a camp, these can be switched, so you can try them out and pick the ones you like best, or whichever will serve you better in the current dungeon.  I do like this bit of customization, but there are a few skills where I would want both of them (or even neither).  Some skills are repeated among the girls, so it is possible to spread them out or even double up.  This also makes it easier to swap around which girls you use in battle.

It's usually not very hard to make your way through the various floors and dungeons of the game, but the bosses seem tougher this time around.  Even the first boss required me to grind a couple of levels before I could topple it.  Unfortunately, this tend continued through the rest of the game.  Every time I reached a boss, I had to stop and grind another level or two before beating them.  It didn't seem like I was missing some element or trick, but that I just had to be able to take less damage and dish more out, which you can only really get by gaining levels.

Even more unfortunately, this does add up.  The story takes about 20 hours to reach the conclusion, and at least a third of that was grinding.  It's a shame, because Criminal Girls 2 is fun, if sometimes unreliable, and the grinding really puts a damper on it.  Fans of the first game and those that dismissed the previous game's censorship should definitely check it out.  I'd also recommend it to people who likes quirky and unique RPGs.


The Good:
Improves upon the first game in nearly all areas.  No more pink fog!

The Bad:
Battles can take longer than they need if the girls don't suggest decent attacks.  Needing to grind to beat the bosses kills your momentum.

The SaHD:
The slime throwing motivation was oddly fun.

(Review code for Criminal Girls 2 was provided by the publisher)

Fairy Fencer F Advent Dark Force (PS4) Review

Fairy Fencer F came to US shores on the PS3 two years ago, but has received a face lift and new added content for its Advent Dark Force release on the PS4.  Besides looking better, the game has added some content to the original story line, plus two new routes for players to enjoy.  The party battle limit has also increased from 3 to 6 - a welcome addition in my book.

One of the newer story changes is in the first 10 minutes of the game, where a new dungeon has been added.  It also seems that the game has relaxed a bit on the missable quests.  You can still mess up an entire playthrough if you aren't careful, but it isn't as easy to do so as it was before.  My only gripes with the new additions is some of the dungeons are very dark, which strains my poor eyes, and how easy it is to miss the new routes.

To make your way through the game, you basically view an event scene (usually in the town), and then proceed to the next dungeon to beat the boss and further the story.  Dungeons are zones that allow you to run around, do some light platforming, find treasures (hidden and not) and battle enemies.  Enemies wander around the map, and if you make contact with them, a fight will start.  If you manage to hit them with your weapon, then you get a preemptive strike, allowing you to move first.  If they catch you from behind, or early on in your attack, then they get the advantage in the ensuing scuffle.  Each dungeon can have anywhere from 1-5 areas to go through, and most of them have a save point near where the boss battle occurs.

Battles have a lot in common with the game's Neptunia cousin.  When you character's turn comes up, they have movement and attack radii.  It can be tricky to move around some of the other enemies and characters to get to the fringes of your movement when you need to.  Normal attacks can only hit one target, but the radius is one of the stats you can increase, ending up with a very large zone to target an opponent.  Eventually, your characters will have access to a combo that allows you to set your attack strings, and you get three separate ones to boot.

To fill these out, you will purchase attack moves from different weapon types as you progress through the game.  You can mix and match as you wish, but each attack has a certain wait value, that will push off your next turn, so it might be in your best interest to not put on all the strongest stuff.  Plus, enemies are weak to some kinds of weapon attacks, so it is also not best to fill all three strings with your character's default weapon.  There are also launch attacks to allow you to air combo enemies, which are fun and also practical (since any breakable parts will take damage in the air, regardless of weapon type).

Next to your character's portrait there is a tension meter, which will allow you to Fairize.  This temporarily merges your character with their fairy partner, giving them awesome and impractical anime armor.  It also boosts their stats and gives them access to their super move.  It's a very good thing to get you out of some of the harder fights, and it seems to last longer than the original version.

The furies you get through out the game can be infused with extra powers with the Godly Revival system.  Each fairy has a rank, which determines what power set you can give it.  These will affect the character that equips it, but also can be used on the world map.  A fury can be stabbed into the ground, and provides its battle effects to whatever dungeons its area touches.  They have a variety of effects, from raising and lowering stats, giving extra money, or even changing what enemies appear.  The latter is very useful in getting certain drops or completing several quests.  It's a unique and cool system, but every positive or useful effect unfortunately also comes with a negative one.

Even knowing several things to do because of the PS3 release, it still took me over 50 hours to complete my first run through the game.  Granted, I was grinding for several hours to finish some of the quests so I could get better stuff next run, but it is still a beefy runtime.  While this encompassed a few changes, I still had not run into the new story paths.  At first, I figured I would need to beat the game once to make them available.

I was wrong.  You do have to repeat the first half of the game normally (about 10-20 hours into the game) before you can do the completely new story routes.  There is also zero indication how to get to these new additions.  I had to look up info on the Japanese release to see what to do.  I don't think it is too much to ask to have some indication to the player what you need to do in order to see this new stuff, since I'm sure many of the players of this were also fans of the original release.  We already have to do the whole game over again because we can't import our saves, so why try to have us spend even more time we don't have to?  Part of me thinks I should have seen this coming, given how the game likes to make things missable.

The new game plus the game has is very, very good, though.  It shows you what carries over, and even allows you to disable certain things if you so choose (I keep it all).  This makes subsequent runs much, much faster (I got through the first half of the game in 4 hours).  Plus, you can keep using party characters that you don't have access to.  This is important, since different routes have different usable characters.

Overall, I am very happy with Fairy Fencer F Advent Dark Force.  I liked the original release, and this is even better.  I like all the changes and new content (except for how dark some of the dungeons are).  I would say the game is worth it for JRPG players and fans of the Neptunia series, and any others that wanted to play it but waited for this release.  If you played the PS3 release, it is worth it to come back, unless you are unwilling to play the game over again.  At least you theoretically only have to do half the game over again to get to the new content.

The Good:
Advent Dark Force improves every part of the original Fairy Fencer F release, and even gives return players a good chunk of new content...

The Bad:
That you still have to put in about 15 hours to even get to, assuming you accidentally trigger the new routes, or look it up.  It would be nice if the game told you!

The SaHD:
Seriously, I would have liked to know...I ended up going through the game twice (65+ hours!) to get to the new routes.  At least I have the trophy for beating it on hard now.  Also, did Tiara get a new voice actress or am I crazy?


(Review code for Fairy Fencer F Advent Dark Force was provided by the publisher)

The Witch and the Hundred Knight (PS3) Review

The Witch and the Hundred Knight is a third person action RPG from NIS.  Players will guide the Hundred Knight, who was summoned by the very angry swamp witch Metallia, and carry out her will to spread the swamp throughout the world.

The graphics are decent, and the story scene character models look good.  Each different area is distinct from the previous one, and the enemy models all look nice.  The game is dual audio, and the English voices are pretty good.  Metallia does have a very foul mouth, which surprised me.  Suffice it to say I didn't play the story portions around impressionable young ears.  The music sounds like it belongs in the Disgaea games.  Upon first hearing it, my wife thought that the game was a Disgaea game until she saw it in action.

As mentioned before, the game starts with Metallia, the swamp witch, summoning the Hundred Knight to spread the swamp throughout the world, and with it, her power and influence.  The tutorial is pulled off really well, since you are a new creature and don't know what you are capable of until told to do things.  Metallia is a very unlikable character, but that's the point.  She is countered very well by her back-talking servant, Arlecchino.  The two make a very interesting duo, and there are even more strange characters to meet during the course of the game.

When I first saw the trailers for the game, I thought it was a mystery dungeon style game.  While it has very light elements of that, The Witch and the Hundred Knight is an action RPG.  The dungeons are not random, and there's not a massive amount of loot to gather in them.  Players control the Hundred Knight as he makes his way through each area, fighting monsters and making pillars bloom to spread the swamp.  You can set up to five weapons as your combo string.  It's helpful since you can cover all damage types, or just switch to take advantage of a particular enemy's weakness.  It's also fun since you can mix it up and make whatever combo you want.  Sure, you get bonus damage and grade for setting them in order of their damage die number (the weird symbol on their info page), but you don't have to.  While you can mash attack and make your way through a lot of the game, there is a lot of depth to the combat if you make use of it, and it makes the game easier.

One resource you have to manage while away from the swamp is Gigacals.  What are Gigacals?  Well, they represent the energy of the Hundred Knight, and are one of the elements borrowed from mystery dungeon style games.  Since he is a summoned familiar, he can only exist for so long away from Metallia's magic.  Uncovering the map, restoring HP and regaining stamina will all take Gigacals.  You will also lose a chunk if you run out of HP.  In that instance, you will be returned to the latest small pillar and lose some Gigacals and an item or two.  If you don't have Gigacals when you fall, you return to the witch's swamp and lose all items and 50% of the experience you gathered in the dungeon.  It's not the most strict, but it's another thing taken from mystery dungeon games to make the game more unique.  There's a few other things added, like facets, grade bonus, witch domination and mystical dodge to give the game more depth.  Facets are similar to job classes, and give different passive skills while grade can be used in a dungeon to increase different parameters.

There are a few different weapon types, like swords, magic staves and hammers, which have different damage types.  While you don't find massive amounts of loot during each trip, finding stuff and getting more from the bonuses will make the bulk of your item acquisition.  Stores sell things, but the price seemed absurdly high for what you get.  Some items sell for a lot too, so it's best to sell them off when near the limit.  Sadly, the limit of each usable item isn't that high, and you only know it when you hit it, and it's different for each item.  If you get one when at the limit, it is automatically discarded, which sucks since you just lose out on any money you would have gotten for selling it.  I'm not sure why that bothered me, since I didn't actually buy anything in the game, so I had no real use for the money.

Each different area is deceptively large.  At first it only takes a half hour to go through one, but it quickly starts taking much longer, especially when you take trips back to Metallia's hut to sell things or save your game.  With each chapter taking up to a few hours, the game is about 40-50 hours total in length.  I did have the game freeze on me twice, so taking the extra time in each dungeon to go back and save was well worth it.  At first I thought it was my system, since the install and loading of the game took longer than I would think, but it seems others have had the game lock up as well.  Hopefully it will get a patch like Disgaea D2 to fix it soon.

Trophies in The Witch and the Hundred Knight are pretty straightforward.  You get pretty much all of them just for making your way through the story.  There are three different ones for the three different endings, but creative use of saving can take a lot of the time out of those.  Unfortunately, the trophy list is hidden, but the only missable ones are for the endings.

The Witch and the Hundred Knight is a decent action RPG.  It borrows a few elements from mystery dungeon games to stand out.  It appears simple, but there is actually a lot more depth than one would think.  Very rarely there was a frustrating part, but overall the game was kinda fun and not too hard.  I'd keep impressionable young ones away from Metallia's mouth, though.

The Guided Fate Paradox (PS3) Review

Renya is a very unlucky man.  As The Guided Fate Paradox opens, he explains to us that he has never won any kind of contest or random drawing in his life.  So when he wins a local lottery that makes him God, it seems as though his luck is changing.  Or maybe playing God is not as lucky as it would seem...

The Guided Fate Paradox is a mystery dungeon style game where players must guide Renya and his angelic sidekick through wishes he must grant.  I like the premise of the game, even if it would be hard to fully describe to someone who hasn't played it.  Basically, you must go into a machine and battle through random dungeon layouts and fight a boss, all to get stronger and grant someone's wish.  The story is broken up into several wishes that are filtered through a machine and then hand-picked by the angels who serve Renya.  I actually think most of the plots were pretty good, as what was going on wasn't immediately apparent.  However, going through a dungeon the first time took a lot longer than it felt like it needed to, thanks to the numerous cut scenes.  They weren't bad, but really broke up the flow of playing, since you would get a lengthy scene for every new floor.  After going through a dungeon once for the story, I was amazed at how much faster the subsequent trips were.

If you don't know what a mystery dungeon style game is, don't worry.  The term refers to a game where dungeons have a set number of floors, but the layout of it all is random.  Rooms are uncovered on the map when you enter them, but the hallways connecting them always have a "fog of war" effect, limiting your visual distance.  I appreciate that they actually point this out and give a reason for it in the dialogue, which is part of the humor of the game.  Anyway, enemy, item and exit locations are also random.  I've gone through a dungeon several times and found new pieces of equipment that I hadn't seen yet.  So while it is fun to wander into a different experience each time, the randomness of each trip can be very good or very bad.

However, my favorite thing about the dungeons is that each one has a different gimmick to keep things fresh.  The first is pretty standard, easing the player into the style of game, but they quickly change.  There's one that has you jumping down to different levels and using a cannon to go back up.  Another is a sea floor, where there are no defined hallways, so you have to wander around to find the "rooms" on each floor.  My favorite is the level where each floor is a cube that you walk across, and walking off the edge rotates it accordingly.  It's a really fun one, plus the floors themselves are pretty short and you can make your way through it pretty quickly.

Movement through each floor is done one turn at a time, which equates to one action.  Enemies only move when you do.  If you take a step, the enemy will too.  If you attack an enemy, the enemy will also do their own action.  You have no time limit between actions, so you can take your time and plan what to do.  Special moves are dependent on what your equipment is, and takes a certain amount of SP to execute.  HP and SP are filled automatically as you walk around, and moving around drains energy.  If you run out of energy, you will start to lose health.  You can restore energy with different food items, and health with healing items if you need it restored quickly.  These kinds of limits are not as bad as they seem, since you usually find enough food, or the dungeon is over before it is an issue.  Some of the long bonus dungeons will be a lot harder unless you come prepared.

The boss fights are more like puzzles than a straight up fight.  You still have to fight, but there are tricks for how and when you can damage them.  They aren't too hard, although I did have problems with one that tasked you with protecting a knight while fighting off hordes of demons by firing cannons at them and knocking down ladders they were climbing.  Even so, the boss fights are interesting, since they also add something new each dungeon to spice things up.

Items in The Guided Fate Paradox have durability, but not in the way you are used to.  The item gauge fills up, not down, and when it reaches the top, the item will "burst".  While I loathe durability, I like this system because you can make weapons and armor stronger after they have burst.  Taking it to the blacksmith and paying some money will raise the stats of the item.  Also, later in the game burst equipment can be combined to make stronger pieces of equipment.  However, that isn't the best part of items bursting.

When the item bursts, it will give you a tile that can raise the stats of your characters.  The tile will be one of the four stat types -strength, defense, speed or accuracy- and must be placed on a character's Divinogram to be effective.  "What is the Divinogram?" you might ask.  Think of it as a game board that you place the pieces on.  The tiles will increase your stats, and you can also place Holy Symbols on top of those.  Most Holy Symbols will negate what is beneath them, but increase the effectiveness of equipment, raise ailment resistance, increase carry capacity and more.  Plus, there are special statues that deliver "god energy" to these Holy Symbols and strengthen them.  The more tiles the energy stream travels over, the better the effect.  A combination of direction changing symbols (that don't negate what is below them) and a winding path will lead to large boosts to your symbols and in the end, your characters.  Acquiring, placing and routing all of the tiles and paths is my favorite part of the game.  It took me a bit to realize this, but once I made winding paths over as many tiles as possible, my equipment got a lot better and it was easier to move through the dungeons.

Whenever you leave a dungeon, your character's levels are reset to 1.  While this isn't the most fun, any levels you gain while in a dungeon are added to your Total Lv count, which in turn makes you stronger.  Add to this the Divinogram modifications, and your character will steadily get stronger, even if it doesn't feel like it.  Plus, the equipment you keep will give you advantages for any further excursions.  So get as many levels as you can in each dungeon, and keep bursting your equipment.

As in most mystery dungeon games, dying is to be expected, and the punishment harsh.  When you run out of HP, you are kicked out of the machine, and lose any and all items you had equipped and in your inventory.  Yeah, it sucks when that happens, and I'm not ashamed to admit I reset the game once or twice instead of losing some good equipment.  Half of your money is also gone, so store what you can in the bank once available.  You will still add to your Total Lv, so you don't quite lose everything, but it can be a small consolation to a frustrating situation.  Especially since sometimes the death feels out of your hands.  Always carry an Exit item (which you don't have access to until you've died once in a dungeon...thanks, Lilliel), and use it if things look bleak.  Pushing your luck is a great way to lose your good stuff.  Yes, the stuff is replaceable, but losing an item you burst several times is not fun.

There are 10 chapters in the game, and it can take awhile to make your way through one.  While this is mostly because of the cut scenes, you might have to do some grinding if you aren't feeling very lucky making your way granting every wish.  It does keep track of how many times you have gone through the game, but most of the end game content doesn't require you to beat the game multiple times.  Besides the main dungeons, you also have access to a few dungeons that go much farther down than 15 floors, and may offer you fights against some characters that fans of NIS games will recognize.  The trophies are fairly spaced out as well, with some for doing something the first time, a few through the story, and the last few for beating the guest bosses and obtaining all of the items.  Getting all of them will take quite some time, but you can make your way through just the story in about 20-30 hours.

The Guided Fate Paradox has a decent story (even if it frequently interrupts your dungeon diving) with a few lighthearted parts to poke fun at some of the tropes of the mystery dungeon genre.  Dying is expected but still ultimately frustrating, but powering up your stats with the Divinogram and bursting equipment is really fun.  It's a fun game that has different gimmicks to the dungeons and bosses to keep it interesting while you make your way through the dungeons and pick up all sorts of crazy equipment.

Mugen Souls (PS3) Review

After being available only on disc form, Mugen Souls has made its way to PSN.  Made by Compile Heart, it combines some of the best parts of Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 and the Disgaea series to make a very unique game.

The story follows a creature named Chou-Chou who has amnesia and decides to conquer the 7 worlds and make them her own.  Joining her is a demon named Altis that is so clumsy at being evil she has been banished to be an angel and Ryuto, the mistreated pilot of the space ship.  Yes, I said space ship.  How else are you going to get to the other planets?  Basically, to make the worlds hers, Chou-Chou plans to make the strongest on each planet, the chosen hero and demon lord, into her loyal minions so the rest of the population follows suit.  The story is over the top, to be sure, and has a fair bit of humor in it.  It's definitely aimed at adults, since there are lots of breast and pervert jokes (and several hot springs scenes).

To make enemies into her peons, Chou-Chou employs a "Moe kill" technique that makes them fall in love with her.  And since everyone has different preferences as to what kind of girl they like, Chou-Chou has eight different personalities to cover all the bases.  There's Ego (default Chou-Chou), Sadist, Masochist, Graceful, Ditz, Terse, Hyper, and Bipolar...and you thought your significant other could be crazy at times.

This system translates into combat, which adds a lot of complexity and is fun to boot.  Each personality has different weapon and skill preferences (but anyone can equip any weapon, so you aren't out of luck when you switch).  Also, Chou-Chou can initiate a Moe Kill once per turn (and it doesn't take your attack!) by picking three phrases from the random list it provides you.  Each monster responds differently to each Moe type (personality), which determines which bar fills up when you choose your phrases.  You can either recruit the monster as a peon (which makes it a rabbit-like Shampuru), turn it into items, or piss it off.  If angered, the monster's HP is restored and it gets stronger.

Moe Kill is a very useful system that you will want to use often.  It's complicated, but you don't have to master it to use it effectively.  Turning enemies into Shampurus will quickly power up your ship's stats and unlock stronger attacks.  Making an enemy an item or killing an enraged one will also supply you with Shampurus, but not as many as making them a peon.  As long as you keep using it, you will reap the benefits with very little draw back.  I eventually learned that the Moe Kill's radius is determined by the equipped weapon's attack range.  Equipping a gun or cannon gives Chou-Chou an incredible radius, which makes it almost too good.  If you manage to Moe Kill the giant crystal on the battlefield, which ever effect you maxed out (peon, money or anger) will apply to every enemy left!

Combat itself is somewhat reminiscent of Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2.  On each battle field, you have a set area that you can run around on to position yourself for attacks and skills.  Normal attacks can only target one enemy, but if your movement circle overlaps another party member's whose turn(s) are next, you can initiate a Link Attack.  There are very over the top, and you will see them often.  Well, unless you make judicious use of the skip button (R2) as I did after seeing all of them a few times.  Curiously, the Link Attacks don't always seem as strong as just attacking by yourself.  I don't know if it's just my perception of it, though.  Thankfully, you get plenty of SP to do skills, and they are very strong, so I usually just do those for damage.

A very useful and unique function in battles is Blast Off.  If using a skill, you can chose to have that attack push the enemy, causing them to crash into other enemies, crystals and even your characters.  They can even be launched into the air!  If the giant crystal is broken or Moe Killed, the battle will enter  "Fever Mode".  Launching an enemy into the balls in the sky will cause them to be bounced around like a pinball, giving you huge amounts of money at the end of the fight.  Not only fun, but practical, and so far it's the best way to make money in the game.  Also, entering Fever Mode will cause the normal battle music to be replaced with J-Pop.  I like that, but I realize it won't be everyone's cup of tea.

The character story graphics for Mugen Souls are really nice.  The dungeons and ship are unique and have good details, and there's even some really cool enemy designs.  Of course, if you have played any of the Hyperdimension Neptunia games, some of the enemies will look really familiar.  My son even asked me why "the enemies from Neptunia came over to this game".  My only real complaint with the look of the game is the character models during combat and running around the fields.  The characters in the game are all different, some are taller, older, um... different in other areas... but the models used in battle and traveling in the field are all the same base.  It's the same proportions, just with different hair and clothes.  I know this is because you can put clothes on all your characters and having to only make one size is much easier.  Still, it would be nice if they were more unique.

Speaking of clothes, it would be nice if there was a basic set on a character when you first make them.  I didn't purchase any clothes at first, since they were expensive, and was surprised when I made a character (a mage to round out my team) and they were just in underwear.  Since I would have felt silly battling with a person in tighty-whities, I sent them to the sub party until I was able to get them something to wear.  I'm sure my kids would have been laughing for ages had they seen a person fighting in their underwear.

Just like Disgaea, you will want to make plenty of the generic soldiers to fill out your ranks.  Not only is it important to have some backup characters for long treks through the Mugen Field (a place where you fight several battles in a row and after a few floors you can buy various upgrades to characters, new jobs, artwork, etc.), but you can also use them to teach skills to each other and increase stats.  There is a "Fuse Peon" function that will transfer skills and increase stats from one of your created characters to another or story character.  Both will start over at level 1, but the base character will be stronger when they get back up to the level they were at before fusing.  If you are familiar with the rebirth function in the Disgaea games, you'll be right at home here.  This system is ridiculously deep, but thankfully it's also easy enough to get results without mapping every character's growth chart in Excel.

The game has dual language, and many of the lines are spoken.  It is worth noting that there are more spoken lines with the Japanese audio, if you want to hear all the game has to offer.  This is most obvious when using the created characters, since they only have spoken lines in Japanese.  It's a big jarring, but I didn't use them much anyway.  Another example is the ship battles.  These have voices in Japanese, but are silent when set to English.

It took me over 50 hours to complete my first playthrough of the story.  For the first six or so chapters, I made really good progress and was able to work through each world with minimal difficulty.  Starting in chapter 7, enemies and especially bosses started to get tougher.  Their levels and stats seemed higher than what you would normally get just fighting all the enemies in the area.  I had done a few runs through the Mugen Field during the chapters, but had to return to it time and time again to grind out a few levels.  It's not particularly time consuming, but it was a momentum killer to be sure.  Especially in chapter 9- the last boss of that is over level 100.  So, yes, there is a lot of playtime in the game, but some of it will be diving into the Mugen Field repeatedly to level up quickly.  Of course, this doesn't even take the post game super bosses (available after getting the "true" ending) into account.  New game+ is also in Mugen Souls, which is always awesome.  There are two separate endings if you want to go through the game a second time.

There is actually a healthy chunk of DLC for Mugen Souls.  The things that cost money are a few item packs and costumes from other games (Neptunia characters and even Hiro from the Spectral Souls games).  However, there are a lot of free items, notably some money, points, and some weapon and armor packs.  If at all possible, grab the free stuff.  It gives you a good leg up with the free equipment, and the points and unlocked battles can save you some grinding.  If you aren't interested in making the game a little easier, at least grab the money and clothes, if only so you can dress your army of peons!

I found this to be way too funny.

Do you want the platinum trophy for the game?  Then be prepared for the long haul.  You get some trophies for clearing the chapters of the game and getting the endings.  There's also a few for doing various game mechanics, like Fever Mode, Moe Kills and massive damage.  Getting a huge peon ball (which requires over a million shampurus) and having Chou-Chou's charm levels at 100% will set you back many, many hours (a couple hundred).  So, yeah, if you are after the platinum...bring some snacks.

Mugen Souls is a very deep JRPG that has lots to offer.  The many systems in the game are introduced to you one at a time, so you can grow accustomed to it before learning more about the game.  The ship battles add a nice distraction to normal combat.  In essence, they are a more complicated version of rock, paper, scissors, but also really fun and worth a ton of experience.  There's a lot of playtime just to complete the story, but chasing the platinum will demand dedication (and lots of hours).  If you were a fan of Neptunia's battles and/or Disgaea's crazy characters and story, Mugen Souls is definitely a game you should check out, even if the story can get weird at times.

Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory (PS3) Review

Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory has recently been released and continues the adventures of the CPUs as they try to save Gameindustri (again).  For the uninitiated, the CPUs represent the first party video game systems, past and present.  Many of the enemies, places and predicaments in the game are parodies of video games and the industry itself.  The plots are often silly, with lots of fan service and nods to other games.

There are slight improvements to the graphics this time.  Of course I like the look of the characters in this game, and their in-game models are better than Neptunia Mk2.  The cut scene graphics have more movement to them, but not much.  The dungeons looks better than the last game, with more detail in the scenery.  Some of the dungeons do get repeated, though with slight differences.  There are lots of new enemies, too, and some returning ones as well.

Another improvement over its predecessor is the UI and town.  It's not really important, but the towns look better to me.  The UI also seems easier to navigate, as I could figure out where to go to do what I wanted.  Finding the challenge list (more on that later) took me the longest, and even that wasn't more than a few seconds.  Setting combos and assigning party position is easy and intuitive.

Gotta love the enemies

Speaking of combos, there are a few changes to the battle system.  Yes, you still move around on a small field and position your attack, same as the last game.  Enemy attacks also seem to have a huge range again.  While standing still, holding L1 or R1 will slowly rotate you, making it easier to aim your attack box and hit multiple people.  I don't remember this in the previous game, and it is very useful when aiming your attacks to hit multiple targets.

Anyway, back to combos.  You have three different attack types, Rush (for multiple hits), Power (does more damage) and Break (does more guard damage).  Up to three attacks of each type can be set.  After your initial attack, you have up to three more attacks you can combo into.  It sounds much more complicated than it is.  As you level up, you will earn new attacks, and can set up the combos however you like.  Setting each attack requires a certain amount of CP, so you can't just set all the best attacks.  However, you could set less of one type to have more CP for the type you prefer.  I really like this setup, so you can choose which attacks you want depending on the situation.  For example, use only Break attacks to break the enemy's guard, then use Power attacks when they will take more damage from them.  It's fun to make your own combos, and makes combat pretty fluid.  You also aren't locked into using just one type, so you can avoid using an attack if the enemy is resistant to it (ex: initial attack -> Rush -> Rush -> Power).  There's also SP moves that use your SP gauge (similar to MP in other games).

You might think that sounds like the last game, and it does.  So to mix it up, they have now added an EXE meter that fills as you land attacks.  When a section fills up and it gains a level, you can do special EX finishers at the end of your combo.  Using an EX finisher will not deplete the gauge, so you just get extra damage, which is great on the bosses and fierce monsters.  An EXE Drive, on the other hand, will take a protion of the EX Drive Gauge for a super powerful attack.  This gauge resets when you leave a dungeon, which is why it's good that enemies will respawn while you are there.  Later in the game, you get team EX Drives, which can be activated when you have certain characters paired up or in the battle together (and the appropriate Lily Rank).  These take more EXE gauge levels, but are even more powerful than the single character ones.  So it matters what characters are in battle and paired with each other if you want to have access to more special attacks.  And if you are like me, you will want to see each special attack at least once.

"Yay team attacks!"  Also: "Yay, Vert!"

As previously mentioned, enemies will now respawn throughout the dungeon while you are present (they didn't in the last game).  In a lot of ways this is helpful, so it is easier to grind experience, certain enemies and items.  Of course, this can be troublesome when you are barely making your way through the dungeon and trying to run for the exit.  If you have one, an Eject Button can help, but it's actually not that hard to just avoid the enemies and make your way out.  So while there is a little inconvenience at enemies respawning, it's actually really helpful.

There are now challenges for each character to accomplish.  It's the same list for each character, and several require you to be the party leader.  They are fun to do (for me), but more importantly, they will increase your stats or unlock bonus voices.  The stat gains are small at first, but as you unlock each subsequent level of the challenge, the gains increase (and they are cumulative).  You get a lot of them by just playing the game (hit or miss with attacks, kill monsters, take damage, receive healing, etc.), so those don't require any effort other than having the character in your active party.  The challenges that require you to be the party leader will require some effort (or lack thereof), since you will jump a lot, run around, get preemptive strikes, and more.  There's even one for standing around in a dungeon.  It took me a bit to train myself not to pause so I could work towards this whenever I needed to go to the bathroom/ deal with a child/ eat food/ etc.  The challenges can take awhile for the highest level (especially standing around for so long with every character) if you want them all.  The added stats help, but they aren't necessary if you don't want to get them.

A new Scout system has been added too.  You can send out little avatars (people that reside in the towns) to check out the various dungeons.  They can find items, money, change what monsters appear, change experience/item drop/money drop rates, or find hidden places.  It costs money to send them out, but it is very worth it.  You need them to change the monsters to complete some of the quests, so use them as much as you can.  At the end of each chapter, Scout usage is also one of the things they grade you on, so keep sending them out.  Most dungeons now contain flags that you can break or stand.  This affects what the scouts can find or change about it.  It's worth using them as much as possible to get the most out of the game.

The story is silly, and frequently breaks the fourth wall, but I enjoyed it.  After getting yelled at for being lazy, Neptune goes out on a quest and ends up being sucking into the past of an alternate dimension.  Basically, she was transported to a time when Lowee was the only real console, and Lastation was just about to form. She meets a new Planeptune CPU named Plutia, and together with the other CPUs, must defeat the growing threat of the Seven Sages.  Don't go in expecting a serious piece about the troubles of mankind or the existential reasons for suffering.  If you enjoy parodies, just relax and enjoy all the oddball scenarios and jokes about video games.  A good chunk of the lines are voiced, but not as many as I would think (I played in English).  The voice acting is pretty good, though.  My favorite parts are mini-Histoire's emoticons when she's talking.  It's a little thing, but it really sets her apart from her other version and the other characters.  The music is also decent, with the Seven Sage's theme being my favorite since it sounds a little goofy.

While the story is fun, there can be lulls between segments.  Most times, advancing the story is gated behind the various quests obtained from the guild.  The game does tell you that some quests must be completed to advance the main story, and you will have to do the non-repeatable ones to move the plot forward.  This makes the main story seem aimless at times, since you have to do what could be considered side quests just to advance.  Most times you have to kill a powerful monster, so it might just be a way of making sure your level is high enough to complete the next portion of the story.  This can be good, since the bosses get pretty tough.  They take a lot of damage to kill and they can dish it out in spades.  It was kind of annoying to stop doing the story and figure out which quest to do so I can get the next event, or grind a bit to beat a boss.

Counting all of this, though, the main story can easily last over 35 hours.  It took me over 45, although there was a bit of that just spent sitting in dungeons (for the challenges of standing still, since it's better than pausing).  There's also three endings, but new game+ makes subsequent runs easier and shorter.  I'd say there is good bang for you buck here, as any RPG should have.  If you are after the trophies, the list is secret again (yuck), but they aren't very hard.  You get one for all the endings, so you will want to go through multiple times if you want that.  The longest trophy is maxing out each of the girls' Lily Ranks with each other, but there are some discs that make that faster.

Overall, I enjoyed Hyperdimesion Neptunia Victory.  As was the case in Neptunia Mk2, you probably don't want kids around for some of the scenes and dialog.  There is tons of fan service here, and a silly story.  The special moves are flashy and fun to watch.  It can be a bit aimless at times, and involve a bit too much grinding, but I ultimately enjoyed playing the game.

Black Rock Shooter: The Game (PSP) Review

One of the last games being released on the PSP, Black Rock Shooter: The Game has made its way to the Playstation Store.  This unique action RPG has fans play as BRS, a super powerful warrior that players will discover more about during the course of the game.

So what makes this unique?  The battles.  When you encounter an enemy on the map, you will enter battle (no that's not the unique part).  You don't select an attack or move your character like other RPGs.  You can block, dodge, attack or use a skill.  The block does what you would expect.  I found it much more reliable than dodging, but you will still take some damage.  When dodging, you basically move between two positions.  Therefore, mashing the dodge button can actually put you back into the attack you were trying to avoid!  In games, I prefer to dodge than block, but I tended to misjudge a lot of the dodging.  Different attacks come at different speeds, so it can be trickier than you would think to dodge them.  Plus, when there are several enemies attacking at once or close intervals, it can be all but impossible to come through unscathed.  Blocking is more useful earlier in the game, while learning to dodge will be better for the stronger hits.

To properly aim your attack, you actually move around a reticle.  When it's close to an enemy, it will lock-on to them.  The lock-on holds pretty well, unless the enemy moves behind another, zips around quickly, or is one of the few who uses a technique that blocks lock-on.  Shooting while moving the reticle is possible, and can be really helpful on the faster foes.  You shoot with the square button, and the number of shots is determined by your equipped weapon and the amount of heat you have.  The higher the heat gauge, the less shots per attack.  Basically, each attack will give you 10% heat, as will each dodge.  Blocking will not increase heat, but it will not decrease while you hold it.  Standing still will lower your heat, which gives the longer battles a kind of ebb and flow of action and patience.  It's a fairly good system, since you don't have lots of fancy options, it's up to you to use them when they are the most beneficial.  As mentioned before, you can equip and use a variety of skills from buffs, to healing, to a stun snipe and a few attacks.  Some challenges will even upgrade them to a more powerful version.

There's also lots of RPG elements mixed in with the action.  Winning battles gives you experience, and your level determines your maximum HP.  You also get several healing items to use in battle, but you can only hold a max of 5 of each type.  This limit is a bit low for my tastes, but enemies tend to drop lots of healing items, so you can use them regularly and still be fine.  There are also challenges for each stage that award you with a stat boost or skill when completed.  Most of them come from just killing all the enemies you run across, but there are a few you have to try for, like completing a certain timed mission in 5 minutes or taking no damage on a certain section.

This is your battle perspective.

Most fights in Black Rock Shooter are not too hard.  A few of the bosses can be difficult, especially in the later half of the game.  Most bosses have two health bars, and change tactics and attacks from one to the next.  As long as you practice and learn when to dodge and attack them, they can be taken down without much trouble.  If that's taking too long, you can always chug a few healing items to fudge the last bit.  For me, the most frustrating parts were the boss of stage four and the motorcycle riding parts of stage two (tip:  there are parts where you can drive on the walls)  While the main game isn't too stressful, the extra missions unlocked after you beat the game can get downright brutal.  Completing the game takes some skill, pattern recognition and determination.  Getting 100% in the game takes even more.

The story is told through several cut scenes that all have the original Japanese voice track.  Usually I prefer dubbing, but since the action pauses when there is dialogue, you are not trying to read while dodging enemy fire.  The plot is fine, not the best but not terrible.  The main plot focuses on BRS trying to defeat the aliens that have all but hunted the human race to extinction.  There's a twist or two, but the fate of the 12 surviving people of the human race (all men for some reason) is fairly predictable.  Well, at least for the normal ending.  After the first playthrough, the dialogue options presented at certain points can affect the outcome of the story, giving a reason to go through it again.

The first run of the game can last between 9 and 12 hours, depending on how much you need to grind or redo the harder fights.  That's basically just doing the story missions.  There are six stages, and the first five have five story missions each.  After you defeat the boss of a stage, you unlock the "hunt" version of it.  The hunt level is just the entire stage with no breaks or save points, and there are special enemies to find and kill that unlock pictures and music tracks in the gallery.  You also have to fight the boss again at the end to unlock the movies of the stage.  I would usually do these after beating the boss so I could get a little extra experience (they state you get less during the hunt missions) and because I like to unlock stuff.

I have not seen the anime that Black Rock Shooter: The Game is based on, but I was still able to follow the story.  It's a pretty fun game, and the battles are something new and sometimes frantic.  It is certainly a PSP game, and you can tell by the graphics.  They aren't bad, but they aren't great (it is an almost two year old game after all).  If you are looking for a unique RPG to play on your PSP (or Vita), go ahead and try Black Rock Shooter: The Game.

Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2 Review

Hyperdimension Neptunia, the game about the gaming industry.  The first had a great concept, but had a fundamental flaw in the battle system (healing was terrible).  Will the sequel improve the game, elevating it to the highest of RPGs?  Thanks to NIS, we will now find out.

The characters and locations are done in the anime style, so if you like that (as I do), you will like the graphics.  Most cut-scenes use the 3D model of the characters instead of the HD sprite version.  I'd prefer the sprite version, but the 3D models look good enough that it's not really a problem.  Many times during cut-scenes characters that are talking don't always appear as one of the two characters that are animated on-screen.  It's a strange choice more than an annoyance, but I did notice it.  One thing that surprised me: most enemies I haven't seen in another game except the returning ones from the first.  There was a period where most Compile Heart (if you didn't know who Compa was representing, now you know) games all had similar enemies, and I'm glad they included lots of new ones here.

The dungeons can be a little sparse, though.  Especially the plains and the abandoned factory just have areas to run around in, but not much detail or atmosphere to them.  Some others are full of color and character.  I personally like the Tetris-inspired one.  A few of them remind me of Phantasy Star Online, and given the main character, I wonder if it's intentional.  Also, occasionally when running around the dungeon, the frame rate seems low.  It's not as though it drops or is choppy, it just doesn't look smooth.  That's admittedly a minor complaint.  Since I am reviewing the download version, it may not be an issue on the retail release.

The English voices sound fine to me in this game.  Compa, IF and the other returning characters have the same voice actors (even if some change pitch/tone), which is really nice when coming off a previous game.  While many purists will change it to Japanese, the English VAs do a good job.  The music is also decent, if forgettable.  Unfortunately, I haven't run across my favorite track from the first game, which was used in the tutorial dungeon.

Dood.

It will be hard for me to talk about how this game plays without comparing it to the first one, so bear with me.  Last time, it was old school party vs. monsters, turn based combat.  This time there is movement in combat, allowing good placement and strategy to help kill multiple monsters or beat a strong foe.  If you've played Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits, it's kinda like that.  A thing that bothered me was enemy attack ranges.  They seemed to have much bigger attack range and area (these aren't displayed for enemies) than anyone in my party.  They also had lots of turns in a row, making them pretty fast.  While they usually couldn't get in as many attacks as my characters could, it rarely felt like I had an advantage.

How about actually attacking?  Each attack takes a certain amount of AP, and the attack chains are chosen by the player and can be customized slightly in the menu.  You also build up SP which, allows special attacks, healing, and transforming into the CPU form.  This is gained from actually attacking, while AP is given each turn.  It's a lot of numbers to keep track of, but as I say, the more numbers you give an RPG player, the happier they'll be (probably).  Combat is fun and I like making my own combos even though I usually stick to the special "EX" ones for the extra damage.

If my explanation wasn't good enough, here's some pictures to help out.

Now for the real test...can you heal outside of battle, or even control it in battle?  YES!  Thankfully, you can use items to heal in and out of battle.  While it takes certain amounts of AP to use an item, it's miles beyond the system from the previous game, which is why my wife and I didn't finish it.  Compa (and others in a limited capacity) can heal people, making battles less tense.  Honestly, the change to healing alone is enough for me to recommend this game to anyone disappointed in the first.

The main game can run about 35+ hours for a first run.  Dungeons aren't very big and can be run through rather quickly.  This is good for playing quickly, but not as engrossing as lots of other RPGs.  There are multiple endings, but thankfully "New Game +" saves the day here.  Keeping all your stats allows you to run through the game multiple times fairly quickly if you want to get all the endings.  So even if you consider the first run a little short, there's replay value with the multiple endings.  Admittedly, I don't always have time to play through an RPG multiple times, but New Game + makes that less of an issue when I'm ready to jump back in.

The plot of this game, while not serious, is very funny to me.  Last time, it was a parody of the console wars and their fight against piracy (the enemies are called Arfoire).  This time, it's up to the handhelds to band together and again combat piracy.  One thing I love doing in each new dungeon is see what new enemies there are and what they were "inspired" by.  For example, there's a suspicious green pipe, a doctor's polygon head, and groups of four blocks whose names are all anagrams of "Tetris".  I really like parodies, and the ones in this game make me smile.

What about DLC?  There is a bunch on the Playstation Store, and some of it is free.  Obviously, grab the free ones, since they tend to be new dungeons and battles and such.  Most of the paid ones are costumes for the characters, which you can grab if you want to, but are ultimately skippable.  Before you buy, I'd check for pictures of them so you know what it is you are buying, since there is no picture, just a description.  The last two pieces of DLC (and maybe the best) are the added characters.  I'm hoping to get them soon, since they aren't too expensive ($3 each) and you get new characters to use in battle.  Personally I want Cave since I really like their side-scrolling shooters.  I'd also want to add on her death smile costume, because I like that game.

You thought I was kidding.

The Trophies this time aren't that bad.  The most tedious would be getting all the different CG Images (most are automatic) and all the endings.  There's not really any that you would have to plan out your entire playthrough, and New Game + makes getting all the endings and any missables relatively painless.

One last, and (to me) massively cool thing.  You can download a template to make your own skin for Nepgear in her CPU form!  Way better than making your own summon from the first game, this is a great addition that I wish more games could use.  If you don't want to take the time to make your own, there are many to download that others have made.  Be warned that some are NSFW (or NSF children, either).  Thankfully, the really good ones are also tasteful.

Even though I was doing a bit of grinding after each plot point before the next, I was having fun doing it.  The battle system is more fun than the first, and that really improves the experience.  One warning though: they don't really cover what happened in the first game, so you will have to research it or piece it together if you haven't played the first Hyperdimension Neptunia.  Nonetheless, I like this one over the first by a good margin.  If you like JRPGs, check it out to (re)live the imaginary wars the handheld consoles went through to battle piracy.  If you can't track down a disk copy, you can now buy it from PSN directly.  If you plan to take your time and get a few endings, it's worth the asking price.  After playing this, I'm looking forward to Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory even more.