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.

Of Orcs and Men: Review

Recently, Focus Interactive added another game onto the PSN.  It is the downloadable version of their latest RPG, "Of Orcs and Men."  It sounds really neat to play out the familiar orcs vs. humans story from the side of the orcs.  Let's jump into the Stay at Home Dad Gamer's review of:

I think the graphics are well made.  It definitely uses the more "earthy" tones of gray and brown you see in many western RPGs, but thankfully there are numerous orcs and goblins running around to add splashes of green.  The orc models look muscular and detailed.  You can clearly see their bulging muscles, veins and the like.  The settings also look appropriate.  Sewers have a damp and slimy appearance while castles look cold and dark.  I really like the look of Arkail's armor, too.  Armor all looks unique and interesting with lots of small details.  At first I wasn't sure I liked the smoky look the screen took while Styx was in stealth mode, but it quickly grew on me.  One thing I'd like to add: while these aren't the best graphics I've ever seen, I haven't encountered any texture pop-in or loss, which is a plus.

The music is what you would expect from a fantasy game.  Sometimes the battle music sounded a little weird, as though there was random woodwind instruments thrown in.  Now for the voices.  Main characters Arkail and Styx sound great.  They sound their parts and deliver the lines exceptionally well.  The other characters range from ok to not-that-great.  They don't talk near as much as the two main characters, so it doesn't bother me much.  The only thing I don't like about the audio is the sheer amount of F-bombs.  When playing around my kids, I had to turn the audio down low and skip dialogue that had "adult language" near the end (so I had time to read it).  I guess it could fit into the game's world (that our swear words exist), but I honestly didn't expect it.  I learned to work around it, but just be aware that it's there in case your time to play is when rugrats are around.

"Stick to the story, we found him like this."

It looks and sounds fine, you say, but how does it play?  I will first admit I thought this was an action-RPG, even after watching the trailers.  After playing I realized it's a lot closer to a traditional RPG.  You can drastically slow down time to select a queue of up to 4 attacks and targets.  This allows you to tailor-make attack chains and coordinate attacks between the two characters.  A simple button press switches which character you are controlling.  When you close the attack wheel, time resumes and the attacks are carried out.  It took me a while to fully get used to the combat system.  I actually like it, since it seems drastically different from most other games that I have played.  You get some variety to your skills, and can custom-make chains based off what you need at the time.  Do you need to hit lots of guys, or stun and debuff a single target?  It's your call.  Also you can just hit the X Button and it will fill in the generic "attack" option.

Admittedly, the battles can feel a bit like a crap shoot.  With Ark and Styx, I could easily take out small groups of 2 or 3, but 4 could be troublesome early on.  Once I had an AOE attack that didn't instantly fill my rage meter (or close to it), I could comfortably take out up to 6.  Just for reference, there are several fights that have you facing 8 or more enemies.  With the proper micromanagement, a bit of luck and a strategic assassination, few battles provided frustration to me.  Realistically, if you dodge/deflect a blow, who is targetted and if you hit can change the flow of  battle drastically, so that "bit of luck" seems more important here than in most games.  That's my only real complaint with the battles.  Sometime I would get destroyed in a fight with 5 guys, and next I defeat 7 without even losing 1/4 of my HP.

There are many side quests to do, but most areas are corridors, so there isn't much exploration.  You might need to do 2 play-throughs to get all the trophies, unless you start on the hardest difficulty setting (I don't like to do that) or do a little saving/reloading.  I like that armor is upgradable with "trade point", since you don't carry cash, making a good piece of armor better.  It would have been nice to see how the upgrade will improve the armor before doing it, though.

Going by the trophies, there are five chapters in the game, and the first took me about 8-9 hours.  My compulsive nature had me do all the sidequests.  Chapter 2 was about 4-5 hours, however.  The game seems to be a bit on the short side.  "Of Orcs and Men" sells for $49.99 on PSN, which is a decent price for a new release, and an RPG at that.  Total time playing through the game I estimate to be around 30-40 hours, so you can do the math and figure if that's enough time for your money.  I know I've paid more for games that don't last me as long (*cough*cough*godofwar*cough*), so I'm fine with the length of the game.

"Remember when I said I'd kill you last?  I lied."

What about the trophies?  A good chunk of them are for finishing the chapters and the many sidequests in them.  Others are for doing normal things in-game, like maxing a skill tree or equipping a full set of upgraded armor.  None seem really hard to get, or require you to go a lot out of your way.  I would like to note that the numerous side quest trophies are missable, since you move on from the areas.  Just be sure to talk to all people in the hubs if you care about "catching them all".  The only trophy I would see myself having difficulty with is the gold for beating it on the highest difficulty setting.  Knowing how to play and what skills/stats to choose would make it doable, if not time consuming.

All in all, I am having lots of fun playing Or Orcs and Men.  The battles might still sometimes feel a bit random if you win or lose, but I still like playing it.  The story is interesting to me, the characters are good, and I really like wading into a group of humans, swinging my club around, and laying them all out.  Once you get used to the intricacies of the combat system, hopefully you will enjoy it too.

Retro City Rampage- SAHD Review

Thanks to VBlank, I got my hands on a copy of Retro City Rampage to review, so let's dive right in!

Easily the first thing you notice is the super retro graphics.  If you don't like that style, then A. you didn't play games in the 80s and B. this isn't your game.  For the rest of us, this is a faithful throwback to the games of yesteryear.  I like the 8 bit style, but my favorite by far is the Nintendo-looking cut-scenes (see the next picture below for an example).  I loved those on the NES, and they look just as good here.  Another great thing included in the game are several filters.  It can change the arcade cabinet frame (if you have it), and slightly change the graphics to emulate the old systems. My personal favorite is the gameboy filter.  The playable screen is smaller, but it looks exactly like an old Gameboy game, and the music and sounds even change!  I'm a fan of small details, and the attention to detail in the filters gets my approval.

As is the case with the graphics, the music is also very retro.  They sound just like they came right out of an old NES game, which is a perfect fit.  Another cool touch is the different radio stations in the game when in a vehicle.  There's actually a fair bit of music in this game, which I did not expect.

The controls are pretty good.  The only issues I have is the auto targeting (hold attack) sometimes picks a seemingly random target.  Also, at first I had the vehicle controls on manual, which was very awkward.  You turn the car based on it's orientation, which works when not in top down, non rotating view.  After switching it to automatic, the vehicles controlled exactly how I wanted, so that problem was solved fairly quickly.

Da da da duuuun!

Another issue I have with the game is the difficulty spikes.  A few missions were completed with no difficulty, but a few had me swearing at the screen.  Occasionally, this was because the mission objective was not clear.  An example:  the mission said "Use dynamite to clear traffic".  I have a timer, but what it wants is for me to blow up 20 cars.  This counter is up at the top of the screen and didn't stand out until I looked around trying to figure out why I failed the mission the first time.  This problem also occurs in the arcade challenges.  Most start out with some objective that may or may not help you understand what you have to do to score/get medals.  It's frustrating to be sure, and there's no extra help in the game.  Very retro to a fault.  Getting the trophy for getting all golds will involve a lot of retrying, that's for sure.

After doing the first few missions, I saw my completion percentage was in the teens.  That was a bit misleading, since there are over 60 missions to do and many "arcade challenges".  Usually these involve using a certain weapon to get x kills or y points or other various timed challenges.  I like that these can be done on the map, or from the main menu, if you are just looking to get those gold medals without tracking down its location after unlocking it.  While some of them are frustratingly difficult, there's lots of other stuff to do to blow off steam (read: run over tons of people).  There's even an arcade that has 3 parody minigames and several collectibles (my favorite is the invisible walls).  Just like the GTA games, there is a huge chunk of things to do, or even just spend time screwing around.

If you buy the game on the PSN, you get the PS3 and Vita versions, which is amazing if you happen to be one of the 10 people who has a Vita.  A great touch is the Free Roam mode gives you max money to start, which means you can buy weapons and other crap to your hearts content.  That's great for pick up and play.  The trophies have several "get them for doing next to nothing", but several involve skill.  I'm not likely to get the gold medals on all challenges or a 99x multiplier, but the rest should be obtainable for most gamers.

Yes, paper boy.  Yes, they still try to kill you.

If you enjoy parodies (which I very much do), I think every screen of this game has some sort of reference to something else.  Some are far more direct than others, but I didn't feel they were forced, since the point of the game is to make reference to tons of stuff from the 80s and 90s (also a few current things).  You can purchase lots of custumization options for Player (yes, that's his name), including hairstyles and hats.  You can even play as unlockable characters in the Free Roam.  One last small touch (since I like those so much) that I loved was equipping the "Biffman" suit and using "Biffarangs".  When you attack with them, it bothers to write out the Adam West Batman sound effects.  Yes, it is as awesome as it sounds.

So, last and not least: is it fun?  Yes.  Even though there is lots of frustration with the challenges and some missions, the GTA-like structure of the game means you can just run people over until you feel better.  Or just wander around finding parodies.  Getting the PSN version is what I'd recommend if you ever think you will get a Vita, since you get a "twofer".  In closing, what I really want to say to everybody is:  If you grew up  in the 80s and 90s, you need to at least try this game!  There's so much content and so many references crammed into the game, this really is a love letter to 80s gaming, so go ahead and read it.

Realms of Ancient War Review

As an avid RPG and Action-RPG player, I'm always on the lookout for new games in the genre.  So when I heard about about Realms of Ancient War, I knew I wanted to check it out.  I dragged along my "Player 2" for all the hacking, slashing and dungeons we could handle.

Let's start with the graphics, since you will likely see the game first.  The graphics are good.  The style is a little more dark and gritty (think Sacred 2), as opposed to the more cartoon-y style of Torchlight and Arkadian Warriors.  And I do mean dark.  I had to turn up the brightness a few clicks so I could see everything.  The environments are very detailed and unique.  They aren't randomly generated, and that shows with how nice they look.  There's lots of little details that I like, too.  For example, in the desert there are scorpions that roam the sands (sometimes too many, though) and flies buzzing around corpses.  Lastly, the armor that you can wear in the game looks cool, but several pieces look the same on all three characters.

The best way I can describe the sound is average.  The music fits, but isn't memorable.  Voice acting in the game is average as well.  While it isn't the greatest you have ever heard, it gets the job done and the voices fit.  One problem, however, is that there isn't a noise when your weapon hits the enemy.  This can lead to confusion on whether or not you hit an enemy.  It also lessens the impact of an attack, making the combat less visceral.

Now we get to what I think is the best part of the game.  Each skill/attack is custom mapped to a face button on the controller, and a flick of the right stick shifts the palette to another 4 skills.  The part that really stands out to me is the "Focus" skills.  Once purchased, these will be linked to the prerequisite skill and activated by holding down the corresponding button.  This will not affect the cool down of the the prerequisite skill, so you effectively get more attacks attached to the limited face buttons.  I really like this idea!  Plus, I got to annoy my wife by always yelling "Hadoken!" when using the Focus skill for the Mage's fireball attack.

You might be wondering why I said "cool down" earlier.  All skills in the game require mana and have a cool down.  I understand your hesitation, since I had it too when I learned about it, but it is actually pulled off really well in this game.  While melee and ranged attacks take mana and have a cooldown, they take very little and are ready instantly so it's not an issue.  Mana regeneration is also really high because all skills take it, meaning I actually use my skills instead of hoarding my MP.  And with the hordes of enemies you have to fight, you will need to use all the skills you can.

Of course, not all is perfect in this realm either.  A mini map would have been really useful, as would a dodge or block maneuver.  With how quickly you can get trapped and/or die, this would have literally been a life saver.  Since the skill palette swap is mapped to the right analog stick, there is no camera control.  This wasn't as bad as I thought, since I would've only liked to rotate the camera in a few instances.  Also, the experience gain seems very random.  You cut through hordes of enemies for seemingly little experience, only to level up when you least expect it.  Last but not least, I would like the skill descriptions to have actual numbers instead of vague wording.  What can I say?  After playing RPGs for years, I like my numbers.

Each stage takes about 30 minutes your first time through, if you are looking for all chests and whatnot.  Length-wise, the game is good.  It doesn't drag out and it's not over in an hour, leaving me feeling that the length was about right.  If you are interested in the achievements, your time will triple since you have to beat the game with all 3 heroes for one of them.  The rest of them aren't very hard or lengthy, which can be good news if you are a gamerscore hunter.

Lastly I'll talk about the co-op.  I had lots of fun with it.  This style of game is always more fun with another player, and this is no exception.  If you have a buddy to play with, I would say it's worth the $15.  With two people to battle the hordes of monsters, the game is made easier.  Death isn't as strict, since if the other player can survive for five seconds, the dead player will resurrect instead of just paying a lifestone and heading to the checkpoint.  Unfortunately in that situation, the camera will keep the dead player in view, so you can get trapped while trying to live those precious few seconds.

While a lot more fun, the co-op is not perfect.  For whatever reason, there is no online play, so if you don't have a buddy nearby, that may be a deal breaker.  If you can only play this game solo, definitely check out the demo first or wait for a sale.  Also, the second player isn't saved, so they lose any loot/money that they carried when you end the game.  There is a workaround, but it would have been better to just have another save of that character, or to just use any other character's save.  So while online co-op would have been nice, at least there is couch co-op, which unfortunately most companies forget about.  Some of us actually have someone in our house to play with!

To end here I'll leave you with a story.  To try out the co-op, I enlisted the help of my wife.  We've gone through lots of two player games over the years, so I knew she would want to try it out with me.  When we started out, she lamented the camera controls, the only saving after a level, and that it didn't save the second player.  The longer we played, the less she mentioned them.  The next day when she came home from work, she had a big smile on her face while asking, "So, are we going to play again?"  I wasn't the only one who really liked the co-op it seems.