Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception (PS Vita) Review

Utawarerumono and its sequel are two games I've had my eye on for awhile, and when they hit my buy price, I snatched them up.  Mask of Deception is the first part of the story, and the game is a mixture of visual novel and strategy RPG.  Two of my favorite genres in one!

I'll start with the SRPG portion of the game.  There aren't that many stages, but I do like these fights.  At first it seems like a standard grid-based SRPG.  Characters can move and attack, while speed sort of dictates how fast and how often their turn comes up.  Once you get a few levels, it starts feeling more unique.  Your attacks are basically combos, with one of two different timing mini-games for criticals.  While there are only a few different strings, they become much more powerful as you level up.  Each added attack makes the combo do a lot more damage, or adds some other type of effect.  Even healing skills get extra moves, with either more healing, or some kind of buff.

The first timing mini-game is hitting the button at the right time.  A circle closes toward the button, and you must press it when very close, but not too far.  While it is pretty simple, there are some that are very fast, making them hard to hit.  There is not much of a penalty for failing, as you either get standard damage, or may cut your combo short and miss a bit of damage.  The second one is holding the button down, and releasing it at the right time.  This tends to be the mini-game used for magic skills, and feels a lot less strict than the first type.

It is a cool and unique system, but there is a downside.  Each attack has a different range, and it can be a problem trying to remember which attacks have which range, and what point of the combo they are at.  It will display the largest area and approximate damage when selecting one.  It's a bit misleading since not all attacks in your combo hit that range.  Plus, it doesn't account for enemy defensive moves.  This is really only a problem in the dream battles, where the enemies have the best and most annoying defensive and passive skills, while you don't get very many of them.

The visual novel portion is the bulk of the game.  You follow the story of Haku and the multitude of other characters he meets, befriends, and is generally pushed around by.  While I normally like visual novels, it does entirely depend on the story told.  For better or worse, Mask of Deception reminds me of Ranma 1/2.  Haku generally gets abused (physically and verbally) throughout the whole game, and that kind of thing really bothers me.  I can let a bit of it go, but as it goes on and on and on...I get tired of it.  Most of the characters come off as selfish ***holes.

It's a shame, since the rest of the story is actually really good.  The sections that move the plot forward, and aren't just character interaction pieces, are very interesting.  Also, I'd really appreciate it if tapping the touch screen would advance the dialogue.  I understand that because it's also a PS4 game, such a function may not be feasible, but it's silly that a standard of visual novels isn't in the Vita version.

The only other related thing that bothers me is the authentic terminology.  I get that they want to keep the terms that might be harder to translate, but it makes it all more confusing.  Many of the terms and combo attacks could and should be translated to something close.  At the very least, they need to use the spacebar when typing them out.  Look at the title of the game, you get an idea of what I'm talking about.  For the combo attacks especially, I can't tell which is which until I pick them.  If one gets another link when a character levels up, I again don't know which attack it is.  I'm sure there are some silly purists who insist on it, but it makes me more annoyed than the game has to.  So I suppose more than being authentic, it's senseless pandering.

Doing all of the story battles and scenes runs about 20 hours.  A series of dream battles opens up after completion of the main story, which gives you another few hours.  The trophies aren't bad, but a few would require hours of grinding.  The game's battles start out easy, and get harder as the game progresses.  The curve is decent, but there are some notably hard (and sometimes cheap) stages, like the final fight and most of the dream battles.  If you are stuck, you can usually re-play earlier battles for more experience and BP.  Experience scales with level difference, meaning you have to play later stages to actually get experience for actions.  This would be less of an issue, but higher level enemies excel at dropping you with 1 or 2 attacks.  That's a bit extreme in my opinion.  At least at that point you are through the actual game story, so you can safely move on to the sequel.

Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception was worth playing.  The story flip-flopped from being obnoxious to really interesting, but the battles kept me coming back to play more.  While I don't agree with some of the story choices, the gameplay and ending have me looking forward to starting up the sequel.


The Good:
Battles are fun, interesting combo system.

The Bad:
The story has some really annoying parts (think Ranma 1/2).

The SaHD:
So, technically, the experiment worked, right?

(Physical copy of Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception was purchased by the reviewer)

Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk (PS Vita) Review

Finishing off Aksys' "Summer of Mystery" is the third Vita visual novel, Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk.  Like the others, it is an otome game, so you play as a female protagonist.  She is a witch, which the townspeople fear.  To avoid suspicion, she was raised as a boy alongside her two "brothers", her secret known only to a select few.  As the story progresses, she will learn to dress and act like a girl to help her locate the mysterious Kaleido-Via, all while trying to keep her secrets from being exposed.

I will definitely give the game credit for a unique premise.  I was interested to see where it would go, and what exactly they would do with it.  At first, though, I wasn't that impressed.  You quickly meet most of the characters, and most of them annoyed me instantly.  Not the best way to start a game.  However, as the story continued, the characters either changed, or the annoying elements were pushed into the background, ensuring I would enjoy it.  There are some twists that I did not see coming, and they were pulled off very well.  My opinions on at least two characters completely flipped.  That's not something I expected.  Some of the endings felt a little too random for my tastes, so it's not perfect.  While I won't spoil anything, there are some connections to the previous title, Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly.  After I started, I didn't think there would be, but fans of that game should appreciate what's in Ashen Hawk.

At a few points in the game, you will have a simplified map of the town.  From here, you can select short stories, comments from townspeople, and the next main story section.  I would have liked a quick explanation as to what the icons meant, but there isn't one.  Thankfully it isn't too hard to figure it out.  The pink eyeglass icons are comments from townspeople, which will give you a point.  These points are used to purchase special items from the antique store, which will unlock short stories, other side story scenes, and some gallery pictures.  To unlock them all, you have to talk to everybody.  It's not the most interesting way to unlock the additional scenes, but it's much less intense than Black Butterfly's shooting mini-game.

Once you have the necessary items purchased, it is very easy to go back and view any scenes you have missed.  All because of the glorious flow chart!  It was my favorite thing about Black Butterfly, and I was overjoyed to see it back in Ashen Hawk.  It allows you to see where all the scenes and branches are, so you can quickly move back to grab them.  This makes it easier to get all the endings and explore the story.  It's also much easier to actually get on to the branches than it was in the previous game.

Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk was a fun visual novel.  After a rough beginning, the story and characters got a lot better.  Factoring in all the townspeople conversations and side stories, the main game is longer than most visual novels I have played.  The flip side is the "routes" tend to just be the endings.  Thankfully the awesome flow chart is back to make jumping to the relevant scenes quick and easy.  I definitely recommend this otome game to fans of visual novels, and especially fans of Black Butterfly.


The Good:
An interesting and unique story that pulled off some difficult plot twists very well.

The Bad:
The story is largely linear.  There are branches, but they are pretty much just the endings.

The SaHD:
I'm not a fan of the "character is abysmal at cooking" cliche.  It's not funny, and doesn't make sense.  It did have some small relevance in this game, but that doesn't really make it much better.

(Review code for Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk was received from the publisher)

7'scarlet (PS Vita) Review

Continuing Aksys' "Summer of Mystery", 7'scarlet has arrived for the PS Vita in the US!  This visual novel/interactive fiction takes place in the crescent-shaped country town of Okunezato.  Ichiko, the main character, arrives to locate her brother, who disappeared in Okunezato one year ago.  Tagging along with her is her childhood friend Hino.  While searching, she will meet several other characters that may be friend...or foe.

There are plenty of choices during the story, some of which are very important, and a few of which don't affect much.  One choice early on was obviously me choosing my route.  After finishing that route, I went back and was confused that the other options didn't change the two choices I had.  Eventually, I figured out that the first two routes can be done in either order, but the rest are unlocked sequentially.

It's an odd choice for sure, but the stories that take place build upon each other, even if they are mostly separate.  Happenings in one will become clearer when you play another.  Sometimes, there are little details that seem unimportant, but become small revelations when you are involved with another guy.  Every route was interesting to me, even if it takes all the playthroughs to actual see the main plot brought to completion.  There are a few twists that seem a bit random, but overall I think each route is engaging.

As for the length of the story, it felt a little shorter than average.  I'd say each route takes about 4 hours to get through.  The game makes up for it by having over five routes, most with two different endings.  Once I understood how to get each ending, it wasn't that hard to get them, but it did take time to replay each route.  There is a standard dialogue skip function to fast-forward through the game.  Since the only starting points are the beginning of the game, or the start of each unlocked route, you'll likely need that function to clean up any missed routes.  I was spoiled by the flow chart of the previous "Summer of Mystery" game, I know.

I really enjoyed the stories in 7'scarlet.  While it has some strange differences from other visual novels I have played, the story was very engaging, and I kept wanting to read more.  I'd easily recommend it to fans of the genre.


The Good:
Interesting and engaging story that adds more with each route.

The Bad:
New game starting points aren't the best when trying to clean up the endings and CG images.

The SaHD:
But why would the ca---hmmm...

(Review code for 7'scarlet was received from the publisher)

Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly (PS Vita) Review

Aksys kicked off their "Summer of Mystery" with Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly, the first of three visual novel games on the Vita coming out this summer.  Readers of my reviews know that I like visual novels, so of course I secured a review code to check it out.  And hey, this time the female protagonist has spoken dialogue!

The story takes place in a mysterious mansion that the heroine suddenly wakes up in.  With the help of some men she meets inside, they will try to survive and ultimately escape the nightmarish house.  While there are some familiar premises to the story, like an mysterious location and lost memories, the story is otherwise unique and interesting.  It moves along at a good pace, not moving too fast nor getting boring, and has some twists that I did not guess.  Toward the end, I was very much into the story, and wanted to see it through to its conclusion.

There are some choices to make while going through the game, but not as many as you might think.  In fact, the game isn't quite structured like most visual novels I have played.  For one, the story is mostly linear, which small branching paths that tend to meet back up where they should.  Character specific routes and endings are present, but they are smaller and shorter than expected, and don't occur in the most common places (ie, near the end).  While I did purposefully pick a bad ending at one point, I was surprised to see the ending I got at the end of the game marked as the "best" ending.  While it does seem the most realistic (as much as it could be), I thought for sure there would be a super happy "best" ending, where everything comes up rainbows.

All of the story scenes are contained on a big flow chart.  It shows when scenes branch off, and even has a mark that tells you when all conversations in that scene have been seen.  It's very easy to jump around and complete the parts you missed.  I very much like that aspect of it, and am enjoying completing as much of it as I can.

However, the game also has some extra scenes called short episodes.  While good in theory, there are several times in the game where you have to view some of these short episodes to progress further in the main story.  In other genres I can be okay with that, but in a story driven game, it feels jarring.  Being forced to stop and go read side stuff really breaks up the flow (and immersion).  I do like them as optional scenes to help unlock character specific routes.  At least, I think they help with that.  Most of the side episodes are locked, and have to either be purchased with points earned from the mini-game, by completing certain other scenes, or both.  It's not explained too well, and there are plenty of stages don't mention the requirements.  You just keep playing and viewing scenes, and eventually it opens them up.

At a few points in the story, there is a shooting mini-game to play.  It partially makes sense because you have to defeat the mansion's monsters to survive.  However, you are locking on and shooting butterflies, which aren't the monster.  Regardless, the mini-game is kind of fun.  You either move the cursor or drag your finger across the butterflies as they move around the screen, then press a button (or the on-screen "shoot" button) to fire.  It's fairly simple, but fun.  It's also not the most accurate, since many times I would drag across a butterfly and it wouldn't lock-on.  Also, it is really easy to miss some of the butterflies, since they only stick around for short, random intervals.  This is the method of getting points used to unlock some of the side episodes, and it was fun to play it enough to get all the points I needed for the side episodes.

Overall, I think Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly is a good visual novel.  There are some text errors, and the side episodes can take you out of the story, but that story is really good, especially near the end.  I'm having fun trying to fill out the whole flow chart.  I'd recommend it for visual novel fans, but it's not the longest complete package.


The Good:
Interesting story with some unexpected turns, fun shooting mini-game.

The Bad:
Side episodes break the flow of the story, and there were some text issues.

The SaHD:
I didn't think they would explain the title so fully.  It was nice that they did, but I admittedly then thought "roll credits".

(Review code for Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly was received from the publisher)

Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms (PS Vita) Review

Almost a year ago, the otome visual novel Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds blew on to the PS Vita, bringing with it the first half of Chizuru's tale.  Edo Blossoms picks up right after the events of the previous game.  I was a bit caught off guard that you just pick a route to start the game.  I expected it to read the save file, and would maybe put me on one that I would have been on.

Thinking about it, what actually happens does make sense.  It would be strange to only allow people to play the routes they had started, especially if they didn't even own the first game.  Yes, the routes would make more sense, but since this is an expanded re-release of a previous version with new routes, there are probably some people that are more interested in seeing the endings to the new routes.  Since there was no real reason to limit their customer base, I'm glad they did it this way.  It would have been nice to know that before, since I was keeping Kyoto Winds on my cramped Vita memory card, ready for Edo Blossoms to use the save file.  It turns out I didn't need to do that.  D'oh.

Once starting a route, you get a very concise recap of the previous game, which also covers the start of whichever route you picked.  Like most visual novels, the game is very dialogue heavy.  The protagonist's lines are not voiced, but most of the other lines and characters are.  There are still images to accompany people talking, and special CG pictures at certain points in the story.  These can be viewed later in the gallery.  At several points in each route, there are choices to make, which affects the ending.

Hard to believe he is single...

While I was going through my first route, some of the characters and developments didn't feel quite right.  It kind of felt like an actual sequel, and one that was made by a different person.  Toward the end, I realized that some of these were supposed to feel like that.  Others were probably just me not remembering things from the Kyoto Winds.

After playing through two routes, I realized that I really liked Edo Blossoms, even more than Kyoto Winds.  While that one had a more unified story for the first four chapters, each route here felt different.  Not much was repeated, which makes it more interesting to go through many or all of the routes.  I even have the urge to play at least the final chapter of every route in the first game, so I can more logically finish all of the routes in Edo Blossoms.  Like the first game, each route is only a few hours, but with 12 different ones, it will take you awhile to go through them all.  Visual novel fans should definitely check out the enjoyable conclusion to Hakuoki with Edo Blossoms.


The Good:
Finishes off the story started in the previous game, and the routes vary much more than that release.

The Bad:
Easiest way to follow the routes is jumping back and forth between this and Kyoto Winds.

The SaHD:
Looking at the file sizes on the Vita's memory card, I can see why it was split into two games.  Even with less redundant data, the game would be massive, and wouldn't fit on a cartridge.

(Review code for Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms was received from the publisher)

Valkyrie Drive: Bhikkuni (PS Vita) Review

In the vein of Senran Kagura, Valkyrie Drive is about women fighting each other and possibly ripping each other's clothes.  Unlike its sister series, the girls team up in pairs, where one becomes the weapon of the other, which can power up several levels.

Combat is hack and slash, but not as deep as I would like or am accustomed to.  The square button is your basic attack, while triangle is a signature attack.  You can hit it at very limited points in the normal combo for a few alternate attacks, but there's no reason to.  You have to chain back to the square attacks to continue, so why even bother?  Hitting triangle by itself also does little, since you have to hold it down to charge the attack to actually use it.  Again, not really worth it (except for maybe Mana).

You can launch an opponent back (by holding circle) or up (by pressing circle), and chase them for an air combo.  Trouble is, the air combos aren't good.  You only get three normal hits before dropping a bit.  Yes, you can keep chaining those three as long as you are in the air, but you drop so much that it is rarely worth it.  Triangle in the air does a ground pound, which is kind of useful, as it will drag a person to the ground.

There are decent mobility options, since you can dash toward a target by holding the X button until your feet glow.  This is a cool move, and useful, but I don't like it being a charge.  I had trouble getting the timing down, and frequently messed it up.  Just a press versus a charge would have been better.  You can also launch people multiple times, and do the dash to chase instead of a normal one.  I feel like they spent too much time putting this fairly useless stuff in the game instead of making combat better.  Yes, you get a tiny damage boost for doing this stuff, but it's not worth it on normal enemies, and you can't do half the stuff on the opponents that matter.

As you fight, you gain Syncro Gauge levels, which you can use to activate Drive and Drive Break.  As the girls gain Extar (weapon) levels, they can go up to four Drives, which further increases damage and gives access to Drive Breaks.  I like the multiple levels you can drive into, but I don't like that you don't get a super move for the first Drive.  This makes it kind of useless.  If you remember Senran Kagura, finishing a stripped opponent with a super rips off the remaining clothes, and leaves them in a humiliating pose.  If you hit a stripped opponent in Drive with a super, it strips both opponents.  Double your fun?

The game follows a basic structure of doing all of the levels in a chapter to unlock the next.  As you get toward the end of the story, the plot might not go as you expect it would.  Afterwards, you unlock an alternate story that requires you to beat specific stages with the max rank.  It's a bit of a pain, but your increased levels from the end of the game should help.

At various points in the story, you will have to fight bosses.  These are large beasts that look pretty cool.  Unfortunately, these fights are not fun.  Whereas most normal fights are on the ground, the boss fights are entirely in mid-air.  This makes most super moves completely worthless, as they won't hit.  The bosses move around a lot, and hit you really easily.  It's annoying to have to constantly dash and hit them a few times before sinking down too low.  While the designs of the bosses are cool, the design of the fights themselves are anything but.

As if replaying some chapters to unlock another ending wasn't enough, there are also different collectibles found in the different stages.  What's available is clearly shown on the stage select, but it can be difficult to find them all on your first run.  The first type are the three sections of a lingerie slate that gives you a special set if you get all three in the level.  Thankfully any you find will count toward the completion, so you don't have to find all three in one run.  Second is the little grope machine that, um, makes sure the girl's rack is a high enough rank, letting them into a small room and another special set of lingerie.  Some stages also have special challenges to complete, and they can get pretty hard.  It kind of reminds me of the ones in Bayonetta.

Besides the Story mode, there is an unlockable Challenge mode and Survival mode.  Survival is...ok, but some of the later difficulties of it get ridiculous.  The challenge mode basically wants you to repeatedly do some of the finer functions of the game.  Basically a lot of the stuff that uses circle and the dash move, and other things that boost your attack strength.  I wasn't really looking to master the pretty superfluous systems for the meager increase in attack power, and having them all named "phantom" something didn't make me better at remembering which was which.  I did a few of the challenges, but I'd only recommend the headache if you want the platinum.  For better or worse, the trophy pictures make a long, connected image, which is always something I think is cool.  It's almost exactly like the Lost Dimension list.

Like Senran Kagura, there is a shop that has probably way too much to buy in it, and a lingerie gashapon machine.  At first I liked the new machine, since if you hit the button at the right time, you got a better chance to get something new.  Unfortunately, it only increases the chance by about 50%, which is next to nothing when down at the bottom.  The percent still falls disproportionately with the number you have unlocked, meaning when you have 20% of them left, putting max money in the machine only gives you about a 30% chance to get a new pair.  Spending that much (the max amount) should always guarantee me a new pair, since it would require way too much time to grind stages for that cash.  As before, it's better to just sit there and spend the least amount for more chances.

It took me 27 hours or so to beat the first 20 stages, which then tells you about the alternate path and lets you try for that.  I completed all but one stage on the normal difficulty, and only had to heal on the second to last stage.  The final boss was the only part I couldn't do on normal, mostly because it's just a poorly designed fight for the last of the poorly designed bosses.  It would take another few hours to unlock the alternate stages and go through them.

I had some high hopes for Valkyrie Drive when I first heard about the premise.  Unfortunately, the lack of satisfying combat, too many useless mechanics, and terrible boss fights drag the game down.  If you are a fan of action games, there are better to be played on the Vita.


The Good:
Interesting idea, the graphics are nice, and the playtime to cost ratio is good.

The Bad:
The boss fights and the combat.

The SaHD:
Cross this game with Drive Girls to make Valkyrie Drive Girls.  Would it be twice as terrible, or would they cancel each other out and make a good game?  The world may never know.

(Code for Valkyrie Drive was won through a contest)

Demon Gaze II (PS Vita) Review

Demon Gaze II is the sequel to the first Demon Gaze, which came out on the Vita...over 3 years ago?!  Wow, time has flown.  Anyway, that game was okay, but had some huge spikes in difficulty that left me kind of down on the title.  Since then, I've gained a better appreciation of the dungeon RPG genre, thanks to some really good titles.  I was anxious to see how Demon Gaze II stacks up to its predecessor, and to the genre as a whole.

Like most other dungeon RPGs, you move around a grid map and battle in first person.  The dungeons themselves are uncovered as you move through them, and there are a few trap panels, which will damage you.  As you did in the first game, the point of each dungeon is to find the magic circles, use a gem to start a fight, and win the fight to claim the circle.  When all circles are claimed, the way to the boss will be open.  Overall, the maps felt smaller than the previous game, and thankfully there were less gimmick panels.  There's also some nice shortcuts that you can open up.

To start a circle battle, you give up one to three gems.  There are gems for each type of equipment, plus some special ones that make the enemies stronger, or the resulting item better.  If you win the fight, you will get a drop of whatever type(s) of gem you used.  Use a helmet gem, get a helmet as an enemy drop.  While in the last game these gems were plentiful, you will have to buy a vast majority of the ones you use in this game.  I did get a few, but nowhere near enough for all the circles you encounter.  Considering how big of an issue money is, this is disappointing.  Also disappointing is the fact that you can no longer save your game at any circle.  This was a very nice feature, and I wish it had returned.

Battles themselves are almost identical to last time.  They are turn-based and first person view.  You pick what each party member will do on that turn, and then they play out in order of agility.  There's a lot of text while you do it, so you can use the triangle button to speed it up.  The same button can be used to repeat the actions you did last turn, which is great for grinding.  One reworked feature is demonize.  Since your party members are previous bosses, who have powered forms, the demonize command will change them into that form.  Your party members will power up, gain access to new skills.  Every turn, it takes one level of star power per character.  you can get more by killing enemies.  It's very useful on bosses and tough enemies.  The star power gauge is also used to defend from star gaze, an ability that strong enemies have.  If effected by star gaze, your non-main character party members attack each other and you.  While an interesting idea, I don't like that since it makes fights against those foes take a lot longer, because you have to save the gauge for the counter skill, instead of doing more damage with demonize.  There's also demon fusion for another stat boost and advantage in battle.

Boss fights are important, because that is how you recruit new characters.  The first three bosses can be done in any order.  These fights just felt right, since I didn't need to grind to beat them.  However, I had to grind to beat every boss after that, which wears me down.  It does give a bit of extra money, which you will need, since resurrecting a character gets ridiculously expensive as they level up.  Dying would be less of an issue if bosses and other strong enemies didn't have whole party attacks and such high damage skills.  Also, while instant death spells are rare in Demon Gaze II, they are always a big no-no.

If you have seen any of the PR for this game, you probably noticed that dating sim elements are mentioned.  This is the maintenance feature, and it is used to power up you and your party members, plus give them some personality.  Maintenance costs one crystal, and you have to poke the person at some part of their body.  Yes, it's pretty much as weird as it sounds, and reminds me of Moero Chronicle.  It is not as risque as that, but it's on the same street.  The real poke is just one try, but there are a few practice pokes beforehand.  At lower likability levels, it will leave up your best spot.  Getting a "perfect" is much better than a "good", and will raise the likability more as a result.  When it is at 100%, you can take the demon on a date and gain a new skill or stat boost.  The skills and boosts are good, and worth doing the dates for.

Prometh is back, and she can store your items, resurrect party members, and strengthen your equipment.  To strengthen something, you must use ether.  Ether is gained by sacrificing a weapon or piece of armor, and you only gain ether that relates to the specific thing you sacrificed.  So if you recycle a katana, you get katana ether, which then can power up another katana.  It probably works pretty well, but I don't have enough extra stuff to really play around with it.  Remember that you have to buy gems now, as they rarely are given out beyond a few early ones.  I don't really have the extra money to blow on extra gems, which I would just destroy to power up other ones.  In my mind, it's a bit of a design flaw.

So would a fan of dungeon RPGs like Demon Gaze II?  I think so.  Most aspects of the previous game have been improved, although I miss the abundance of gems and being able to save at any unlocked circle.  I really like having the demons as party members instead of making my own party, as it gives them actual character.  While it takes longer than that game to reach a point where grinding is necessary, it still occurs unfortunately.


The Good:
A dungeon RPG that is improved over its predecessor in almost every way.

The Bad:
Still requires grinding.  Money and equipment are harder to get.

The SaHD:
Why do so many demons start over at level 1 when you recruit them?  That's only mildly helpful.

(Review code for Demon Gaze II was provided by the publisher)

Tokyo Tattoo Girls (PS Vita) Review

While it might not seem like it at times, I am a bit selective of what games I review.  There have been some titles that I've pre-screened and decided against.  When deciding if I wanted to ask for Tokyo Tattoo Girls, I couldn't find any gameplay footage.  Even the official site had two vague screenshots.  I decided to jump in anyway, if only to satisfy my curiosity.

When you first start a new game, you get the backstory, pick a girl, and go right into the thick of it.  Well, you can view the tutorial before you start, and I'd recommend it.  At this point I quickly discovered why there wasn't any gameplay videos.  Most of the time, you are just staring at the map of the 23 wards.  Every few seconds, a day passes in game, and you will recruit more punks and clanswomen from every ward that you have started to invade.

There is stuff you can do, but a lot of the game happens automatically.  Each turn/day you earn some money, which you either use for a skill, or to create or upgrade a tattoo.  Most tattoos will increase your charisma or threat.  Higher charisma will recruit more punks per turn, and threat does the same for clanswomen.  These tattoos are also more effective in certain zones.  It does say on the zone what types it is, but there's no way I'm going to keep which zone is what type straight when there are so many of them.  I just went with "raise both stats and it goes faster".  It sounds silly, but it works.

Money can also be used to pay for temporary effects, like recruiting more people, or restoring your honor (life bar).  There is a second page of skills, which I didn't even know about until I had gone through the game three times.  Restoring your honor is useful, since running out is game over, but most of the other ones aren't that great.  There is one that encourages the girl to invade a new zone.  This one is a bit strange, since they pretty much start invading much faster than I would like them to.  I did use the skills early on, but eventually just do them for the associated trophies.

As your girl barrels through the zones, invading a lot of them at the same time, sometimes they will turn red.  When they do, the alert level is high.  You can use a skill to reduce this, but not for long.  Sirens will randomly appear on these zones, which denotes a clan war...I think.  If you click on it, you lose some honor and it goes away.  Sometimes a little graphic appears with character pictures moving toward each other.  I won most of these, and you don't lose honor if you win.  I don't know why some have the graphic and others don't.  I'm pretty sure it's just random, as most times I had many more people in the zone, but still lost the turf war.

When you recruit every person from a ward, you will then find the boss.  After some dialogue, you get to make a choice.  There are three results: okay, good, and super.  "Good" and "super" will restore some honor, while "okay" does not.  Regardless, you will win the fight (that they don't really show) and take over the ward.  If you answered the "super" answer, you will get a special CG picture of the ward boss, which can be seen again in the extras menu.  Since there is a line of dialogue with each one, you have to unlock each boss' picture with each of the playable girls.  It would be nice if subsequent runs with the same girl marked which answer(s) you gave and the rating.  Like the ward types, there's no way I'm going to remember 23 different answers for six different girls.

There are four difficulty levels, and you will get a special item by completing each level with each girl.  These can be used by everyone in a subsequent game, so there's no reason to skip the easy setting.  My first game was on normal, and I won.  Completing normal with a girl will unlock hard difficulty for her, and completing hard will open the hardest difficulty.  While there were some times my honor was low, I was never in any real danger of losing, even on hard (I haven't done the hardest yet).  Once you figure out what you have to do, the game isn't too hard to complete.

Each run takes about 2 hours or so, depending on difficulty, skill usage, random events, and what tattoos you buy.  With six girls and four difficulty settings each, that can be a lot of staring at the map as it changes colors.  I went through four times with various girls on different difficulties.  If you want the platinum trophy, you have to go through the game with each girl at least eight times.  That seems a bit excessive.

Tokyo Tattoo Girls is definitely a unique game.  While there isn't a whole lot happening on the screen at any given time, you do have to pay attention and do some mirco-managing.  Even so, it's kind of relaxing and I found some enjoyment playing the game.  I don't know if I'd recommend it, since I think most people will be turned off by the lack of things to do.  People that enjoy sim games might enjoy it though.


The Good:
Unique game, can be kind of relaxing.

The Bad:
A lot happens automatically, and not a lot is going on most of the time.

The SaHD:
I once had 17 zones taken over at the same time or within a turn of each other...that was very hectic, as I barely had a chance to save or even use a skill between dialogue scenes.

(Review code for Tokyo Tattoo Girls was provided by the publisher)

Bad Apple Wars (PS Vita) Review

Bad Apple Wars is a visual novel...or maybe a cooking game?  Okay, probably not the latter.  It's a otome visual novel set in a mysterious school.  There is a brewing conflict between the people that obey the rules, and those that break them (these would be delinquents, or "bad apples").  As the new girl in class, you will quickly choose which side you are on.

And I do mean quickly.  The first major route change is at the end of the prologue, with the next big one soon after.  This second choice is fairly innocuous, as it just changes the next scene, but the following choice pretty much locks you into a character's route.  Well, it's not technically their route, since the flow chart doesn't list it as such, but you will be pretty much stuck talking to that character for the rest of the game.  I'm on the fence about if I like that or not.  On one hand, having such a major choice appear so small is not good.  On the other, it does make the narrative more consistent.  In turn, that strengthens the already interesting story.

Choose Your Destiny...

Another jarring thing is that there are no dialog options, even though there are points that feels like one would pop up.  Your choices are which side you are on, then which guy you talk to to start their route.  This sounds worse than it actually is, though.  I didn't really notice I hadn't made a dialog choice for awhile, as I was still engaged with the story.  The plot moves along pretty quickly, especially once you get to what the game considers a character's route.  There are a good and bad ending plus a special epilogue.  For awhile, it was very unclear to me what you could do to affect this.  It's all laid out in a nice flow chart, so at least you can clearly see what you have done, if not what you need to do.

One unique feature in the game is the touch system.  Several CGs of characters during the story have places that you must tap.  Most times it just gives more dialog.  However, there are two near the end that are much more important.  Normally, touching the wrong place just doesn't do anything.  In these special scenes, you can only touch the wrong place so many times.  If you don't do it correctly, the scene still moves ahead, but is slightly different.  I eventually realized that this was what affected the ending in the absence of dialog choices.  I'm still not sure what effects the epilogue.

I don't see a game clock, like most visual novels, so I have to guesstimate my time.  It seems to be near the standard 6-8 hours for the first playthrough.  It's worth going through multiple times, because just about every other scene involves whichever guy's route you will end up in.  Plus, you don't really learn much about the others during a given route, and their backstories are pretty interesting so far.  Even if you skip the parts you have already seen, the other half of the game is still new.

Bad Apple Wars has a very unique setting, many differences to each route, and a very interesting story.  Admittedly, the story seems much more natural if you become a bad apple, but not in a way that messes up the narrative if you don't.  Getting the different ending routes is pretty unclear, but it's still a fun and worthwhile visual novel.


The Good:
Good use of color, interesting story.

The Bad:
Important route choice is early and innocuous, unclear how to get the different endings.

The SaHD:
I'm surprised some voiced characters didn't have a graphic.  It's not a huge deal, but it surely is a curiosity.

(Review code for Bad Apple Wars was provided by 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)

Mary Skelter (PS Vita) Review

Dungeon RPGs.  While not initially a fan, I think I've reviewed enough that I'm starting to like them more and more.  Or maybe Mary Skelter is just good enough to make me like them.  I'm a sucker for folklore and mythology, so I really like that the playable characters are people like Cinderella and Red Riding Hood.  Plus, you can give them gifts and up their affection!

If you have played a dungeon RPG before, then the dungeon maps will be immediately familiar.  You move around a grid, opening doors and fighting enemies, some of whom appear on the map.  Thankfully there aren't many gimmick tiles, just some easily identifiable damage, pitfall, and the like.  One new thing is the chain lines, where you need to balance to move across them.  They aren't bad, but do feel unnecessary.  Each blood maiden also comes with a map ability, most of which let you move past obstacles or unlock new dungeon areas.  As cool as these are, I think Alice's is my favorite.  She creates a rabbit hole that allows you to save or escape the dungeon.  Very useful!

Since the giant tower you are in is a living creature, it has needs.  Doing specific things will fill one of three meters, hunger, libido and sleep (hey, that sounds familiar!).  Filling one brings up a roulette wheel that offers multiple bonuses.  Some are way more useful than others.  This is the only way to unlock the hidden areas in most dungeon floors.  If you hit the "Growth Area" tile, then it uncovers a new area with tougher enemies.  I really liked to explore, so I had to go there, too.  I don't like that it's behind a roulette wheel, even if you can save scum it.

What about the battles?  They are turn based, but action order is determined by character agility and if you used a skill.  It's actually a lot like Moero Chronicle.  The girls can attack, use a skill, guard, or try to escape.  They can also lick the blood off of another girl for a minor heal.  I promise this makes sense for the game.  Anyway, Jack can use items, or guard one of the girls.  Oh, he can also use his gun to shoot blood on them.  Why would you do this?

You see, the blood maidens can get powered up when covered in the blood of enemies, called Massacre Mode.  Sometimes they enter Blood Skelter mode instead, where they are even stronger, but completely berserk.  As the story explains, there is no recovering from this...except Jack's blood.  So, he has to shoot the girls with it so they can enter the powered up state, but remain in control of themselves.  Balancing this with building up blood (if he loses too much he's likely to be stunned) gives some battles added tension.  I really liked the main character getting a more active role in battle than just an item mule.

Battles are okay, but what about the bosses?  Here's where my biggest gripe with the game is.  Sometimes they wander around the dungeon floors.  When you are close enough, they will try and chase you down while you try to escape.  Trouble is, they don't follow the normal rules, and will keep moving even if you aren't!  Also, you can't see the minimap when this happens, which is just bad.  If I put the game on easy, the map is supposed to stay up, so maybe I should do that.  If you run into the Nightmare and damage it enough, you can attempt to run away again.  If you get far enough away, it will end that mode and return the game to normal.

If that was the extent of a Nightmare's annoyance, I could probably deal with it.  The actual fights with them are much harder.  Normal battles aren't that hard, but the boss battles give the game a lot of difficulty.  They have a ton of HP, and hit like a truck.  As the fight goes on, there are times they attack twice.  One boss in particular, the boss of the Temple stage, came within a hair's breath of making me quit playing the game entirely.  You have to set off traps and fight it up several floors of a tower.  I was missing doors on two of the floors that let you fight it.  For some reason, fighting it on floors 2 and 3 wasn't enough, but fighting it on floors 1 and 2 was.  I don't know why, but such a simple and easy to miss thing (there's no minimap, since it's like the Nightmare encounters) was the cause of a massive amount of frustration.

In your base, you can use blood crystals dropped by enemies to upgrade your equipment.  It's worth doing, since you aren't sure when you will get stronger stuff.  Sadly, the base store doesn't sell equipment (but you can sell to her), so you are limited by RNG with what you get.  Sometimes enemies drop stuff, and some chests have equipment.  Your best bet is to save up lots of money and buy stuff from the dungeon shops.  They are random, so again, RNG is your limiter.  It's not the best system, as I'd prefer some reliability in getting better equipment.

Your characters can learn the active skills from any of their unlocked job classes, which is nice.  Passives are locked to the job however.  Unfortunately, you have to have 'permission' to switch jobs, which you get every 10 levels.  I wouldn't mind this, but you still need a permission to switch to unlocked jobs.  The only exception is the character's default class.  Because of this, I didn't experiment with the jobs as much as I would have liked.  I usually would unlock one for the skill(s) I wanted, then move back into whatever class I liked for them.

You can also level down a character.  There are set levels you will lose, and it costs blood crystals for some reason.  However, you will get bonus stats and CP to buy skills.  It also effectively is a re-spec, since it refunds your CP too.  I tried it once, and the results were far from stellar.  I don't know how many extra CP I got, but I ended up with 1 extra point per stat when I got back to my original level.  Maybe doing more levels gets a bigger bonus, or doing it multiple times, but it doesn't seem useful until maybe very late in the game.

Since the game has some things in common with Moero Chronicle, you might be wondering if any of the more...questionable systems are in Mary Skelter.  Well...kind of.  To cleanse the blood corruption from the maidens, you have to rub it off of them.  The first time you do this to a girl, you are rubbing the screen over a picture of them.  They won't be completely naked, but close.  After this, you can skip that part if you want.  It's also completely optional, as it only give you a boost to max HP or SP.  I'd use it more if I could pick which of those two it would give, but it seems set based off the character.

I would recommend dungeon RPG fans pick up and play Mary Skelter.  It's a fun game with some nagging issues.  I really got into the game more than I thought I would.  I just kept playing!


The Good:
A dungeon RPG without most of the pitfalls of the genre.  Cool story premise and character designs.

The Bad:
Boss fights and Nightmare attacks are not fun.

The SaHD:
Red's backstory is pretty cool...and dark.

(Review code for Mary Skelter was provided by the publisher)

Drive Girls (PS Vita) Review

Tamsoft brings us another action game, this time featuring girls who can transform into cars.  Named Drive Girls, this sounds like it has the potential to be one of the best games based off the premise.  In execution, it is anything but.

So you run around and attack various "bug" enemies.  The square button is your normal attack, which builds up your EP meter.  Triangle does a stronger attack, which takes EP.  Well, if you have it.  If your EP is empty, Triangle...does the same attack.  I don't know if there's a difference, but since you don't need EP to do it, why even take it in the first place?  You can also hold either of these buttons to do different attacks.  For some strange reason, this isn't mentioned in the game or the manual.  Yup, you have to look up game info online to even find out such a basic thing.  It's a pretty dumb oversight, but not the last.

The X Button will jump, and pressing the Circle Button will dash/dodge.  Unfortunately, dashing is your only defensive move.  There is no blocking in Drive Girls, and it is sorely needed (more on that in a bit).  You can only dash so many times (depending on girl and weapon) before needing a second to recover, which is a great time for the enemies to hit you.  Holding the Circle Button will sacrifice your EP to fill your Overdrive Gauge.  When filled, you will have double damage for a minute, which is really crucial, and the goal of any fight.  Trouble is, the gauge will decrease on its own, and the effect only last so long.  Plus, you have to build up EP, shunt it into the Overdrive Gauge, and hope you don't get hit while doing so.  In practice, this is way too difficult, especially for something the game relies on and expects you to do regularly.

Another use for EP is to shoot your gun.  Ostensibly, you would select it like a normal item to equip it.  This is not intuitive and cumbersome.  You can also tap the touchscreen to switch.  The manual does show this in small print at the bottom of the controls section, but again, the game doesn't mention it at all.  However, I found tapping the screen to switch wasn't really that responsive.  It does skip animations, which is what the high level play of Drive Girls is based on.  Still, tapping the screen in the middle of combos or whatever else is also awkward and cumbersome.  Also the actual aiming of the guns doesn't seem that great, either.

So now that we know the controls aren't very good, and the game doesn't tell you basic functions, how is the actual combat?  Sadly, it is no better than anything mentioned before.  Enemies are very quick, aggressive, and do real damage quickly.  Did I mention there are lots of them?  They also only use the same three colors so it can be hard to pick out the leaders quickly.  You can lock onto enemies, which sometimes can help, assuming it locks onto the one you want, or there aren't more than one strong enemy.

Oh, they also rarely react to getting hit, also known as 'staggering'.  So, enemies are fast, chase after you, hit you, juggle you, do good damage, and punish you for attacking them?  Yup, they have pretty much every advantage they need to destroy you.  I'm not even sure Dark Souls is that unbalanced.  Searching online does have information to make battles palatable.  Basically, you have to animation skip by switching to your gun and back, then get in Overdrive all the time.  It's sad that the "high level" play is what makes the game, well, playable.  That should not be the case.  I'd let it go if you could grind for experience or something, but there are no levels in Drive Girls, and no selectable difficulty for missions.

Since you don't gain levels, what can you do to get stronger?  For one, there are stickers.  Seeing as how the girls can transform into cars, having sponsorship-like stickers makes sense.  You can see what bonuses they give, and change them freely with the ones you have acquired.  If you collect a full set, you can equip that for a set bonus.  According to the stat bars, the set bonus replaces the individual bonus, but the in-game tutorials claim they don't.  Since there are only vague bars and not  actual numbers, I'm not sure which is lying to me.  Also, the bonuses are all percent based, meaning if a character is bad at something, increasing it by a percent instead of a flat number isn't going to make them much better.

You can also equip L Gears for...some kind of boosts.  As far as I can tell, you have to buy them for each character, which will get expensive.  Maybe that's what you grind for instead of experience...money and stickers, so you can buy stuff for marginal increases.  Anyway, the gears can be re-set, and put into one of three categories- physical, strong, and accel.  What does each affect?  I don't know, and the game, of course, won't tell you.  I can take guesses, but I shouldn't have to.

Oh, right, you can also turn into a car.  This helps you drive from one group of enemies to the next, or even compete in the few races the story mode offers.  Control-wise, driving is fairly competent.  Enemy groups seem to be spread out far enough that it's a pain to walk to them, but not so far that driving is that much better.  You'll be in the car mode for a second or three.  Well, that's when they let you.  After the first few levels, they start placing landmines on the road so you won't drive.  I'm not sure who puts the landmines down, as the bugs don't trip them, and they don't seem smart enough to make that many personal explosive traps when they could kill you far easier with their cheap attacks.  I do know that placing the mines negates using the car, which kind of negates half of the game's title.

The story structure is similar to other Tamsoft Vita games, where you select a chapter, then the level you want.  It's laid out very well.  There are also multiplayer missions that can be completed by yourself (except maybe the very high level ones), locally with ad hoc, or online.  I'll give the game props for having a good selection of missions to complete, even if the ability to do so is beyond me.

If you couldn't tell already, I was very disappointed in Drive Girls.  The concept is silly and should have been great, but almost every aspect of the game was bungled.  I like some of Tamsoft's action and action rpg games, but it feels like the quality declines with each new title.  Unless you want to master high level play to actually make it through the game, and don't mind mashing buttons and the touch screen to make it happen, I recommend letting Drive Girls pass on by.


The Good:
Nice concept.

The Bad:
The combat, controls, equipment...you know, the important stuff.

The SaHD:
No, seriously, why are there landmines and who put them all over the place?

(Review code for Drive Girls was provided by the publisher)

Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma (PS4) Review

Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma is the third in the Nonary Games trilogy, following 9 Persons, 9 Doors, 9 Hours and Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward.  I tried Virtue's Last Reward when it became a Playstation Plus title.  I only played it for an hour.  It's a puzzle game, and playing that game was what cemented my feelings on puzzle games...mainly that I don't like them.

So why review this?  Well, if I'm given a code/copy, I will do my best to play and review it.  So, I booted it up, watched the opening cut scene, and then had a choice...which side of the coin landed up?  I guessed, and it was correct!  Game over, credits rolled, review over!

Just kidding.

I do like that such a thing can happen, but later found out that it's supposed to.  No matter what you choose the first time, this is the outcome.  Ugh.  Well, at least it's better than the 0.05~% "choice".

That aside, Zero Time Dilemma, like the first two Nonary Games, has a great premise.  Nine people are trapped in a location by a mysterious madman, and forced to solve puzzles to survive.  Well, only some of them.  To actually escape, several of the others must die.  This time, the story is presented differently than the others.  Well, at least different from the previous game, as I have not played the first.

There are three groups of three people that work together and escape the different rooms, while finding clues as to what is going on and who is behind the deadly game.  I like that you can switch between all three groups at many points in the story.  It's cool to see all of the struggles each group goes through.  Plus, you can also sabotage certain groups, which lets you see all of the branching story paths.  There is a fairly helpful chart that shows the paths and outcomes that you have done, making finding the alternates very easy.

However, there is a huge downside to the story.  Each story block and subsequent choice or puzzle is a fragment of what happens to a group.  After the starting hour or so, many of these finally open for all surviving groups.  Once you complete a section, you see where it fits into the timeline, but not before.  This makes the story told in a disjointed and jumbled manner.  Since half of the game is like a visual novel, the story is important.  Having it told in random order is just a bad idea.  Yes, they explain it in the story, but I don't like it.  Would you like reading random chapters of a book, or in the correct order so it can be followed and understood?

As a puzzle game, the playtime is variable.  Some people will quickly solve some puzzles, which will stump other players.  Those first people will then be stuck on some problem that others figure out immediately.  That's just the way it goes.  If you know the solutions, it will be a much faster game, but it will likely take newer players 30 or more hours to finish.  Thankfully, there are solutions online in case you when you get stuck.  Some solutions seemed way too convoluted to me, or the clues weren't even available.  As such, I got very frustrated at several points.

If you like puzzle games with story, or played and enjoyed the other Nonary Games, then I'm sure you will enjoy Zero Time Dilemma.  If you are not a fan of puzzle games, or like coherent and well-told stories, then I'd recommend skipping it.


The Good:
A competent puzzle game that fans of the first two games should enjoy.

The Bad:
Telling the story of a story-based game in a random order is a bad idea.

The SaHD:
Seriously, the 3 snakes eyes thing is crazy, luckily you only have to try 3 times.

(Review code for Zero Time Dilemma was provided by the publisher)

Moero Chronicle (PC/Steam) Review

In a world where monster girls are going crazy and attacking their formerly allied humans, someone must find the cause and put a stop to it.  Io, forced by the local mayor, is that someone.  He quickly recruits his childhood friend and monster girl Lilia, then sets out to find the cause.

Previously released in Japan on the Vita as Moe Chronicle, Moero Chronicle is now available on Steam.  It's a first person dungeon RPG, but with a unique twist.  When it comes time to save the monster girls, you have to...well, poke, pinch, and rub them.  If you have played Monster Monpiece, it's basically the same mechanic as it is there.

Dungeons are set on a grid, and you can move forward, backward, or turn to the sides with the d-pad.  While using an Xbox 360 controller, movement was locked to the d-pad.  This was unfortunate, since as much as I like most aspects of that controller, the d-pad is easily the worst part.  The d-pad being bad isn't the game's fault, I would have just liked to be able to set movement to the stick instead.  The stick is used for...some kind of menu shortcuts that I didn't use.  I could change the button setting in the options, but not the setting for the sticks.

Battles are turn based, but use the agility stat to determine order.  However, it isn't broken into traditional turns.  Instead, faster characters just act more often than slow ones.  The monster girls in your party can attack, use a skill, defend, or calm Io down.  Attacks don't cost anything, but tend to be weaker than skills.  Skills use MP, so they should be used sparingly.  Besides the monster girls and enemies, Io can do some actions as well.  He can "store" his desire, and later "release" it to power up one of the monster girls.  This...sounds more questionable than it is.  Normal battles might not see this used to much, but it helps during boss battles.  Sometimes it will fail, and Io gets too excited.  When this happens, he can't do anything for a few turns.  If the girls use their "calm" command, this time is shortened.  Io is also the one that can command the team to flee, or use an item on them.  I like that you don't have to spend an attacking turn to use an item, even if you can only use one.

Now we can go back to the rubbing mechanic, Bumping Scratch.  To recruit a monster girl, you must first damage their clothing.  After that, it's just like Monster Monpiece.  you have a time limit, and where the girl is...affected...by your actions changes.  If you don't fill the meter in the time limit, the monster girl will run off.  She will return in a little bit, so you aren't out of a party member because of a small mistake.  Using the mouse for this is fine, but what about the controller?  Well, it's functional, but feels slow and sometimes unresponsive, particularly the rubbing action.  I really didn't like using the mouse for battle, so I stuck with the controller.  I didn't lose many of the Bumping Scratch games, so it didn't really hamper me playing the game.

Each monster girls can also change their stats and skills by equipping different...uh...battle panties.  They are similar to class changes, as changing the skills they use can change their function in battle.  First you have to find the different pairs of panties, then give it to them.  You can only change at the inn in town, and you will have to fight many battles to learn all the associated skills.  It's a useful system, but I do have one gripe.  The girls' costumes change when they wear different panties, but it's really just putting them in different underwear.  I would have liked to see actual different costumes, or even recolors of the default ones as well.

Length and difficulty of Moero Chronicle is fairly standard for the genre.  There are only a few dungeons, but it will take you hours of walking and fighting to get through each one.  Some bosses and enemies are very strong, so you will spend time grinding.  You'll also probably grind for money, job panty skills, and pet monsters.  There is some post-story stuff once you have beaten the game.  You can also set the game on easy if you want a slightly easier time.  I would have liked a lot more save points in dungeons, or even nice shortcuts through floors.  It won't bother some people, but I'm a save-a-holic.

Moero Chronicle ran flawlessly on both my i7 desktop and my i5 laptop.  Loading times were very short.  I did prefer to use the controller for dungeons and battles, and it worked well enough for Bumping Scratch.  Still, I would be better off getting a different controller than the one I had.  The game was pretty fun, although the content will be a barrier to some people.  Still, a very competent dungeon RPG with a good amount of content.  If you are in the mood for a dungeon crawler and don't mind some lewd-ish content, then Moero Chronicle is worth trying out!


The Good:
A very unique and competent dungeon RPG with plenty of party members.

The Bad:
Just like the majority of games in the genre, expect to grind and repeat areas.

The SaHD:
Definitely not one I played near my kids.  However, my wife doesn't care, since she played the Vita version.

(Review code for Moero Chronicle was provided by the publisher)

Fallen Legion (PS4/PS Vita) Review

After the previous emperor passed away, his daughter, Cecille, hesitantly takes the throne.  With it, she acquires the mystical Grimoire, a talking book that gives her the ability to summon souls as soldiers.  Upon learning of this, Laendur, one of her generals, decides that he cannot let such callous disregard for life go, and seeks to usurp her.  Both sides of this tale make up Fallen Legion.  On the PS4, the game is given the subtitle Sins of an Empire, and follows Cecille.  To see Laendur's perspective, you will have to play Flames of Rebellion on the PS Vita.

Despite the different characters and side of the story, the other basic parts remain the same for both versions.  As you make your way through the game, various points on the map open up, which usually offer a battle, but sometimes just some more story.  Combat levels are a series of fights sometimes broken up by a timed choice.  These choices will thankfully restore your health, and also provide buffs, debuffs, and sometimes relics to use in that stage.  The choices also effect some event scenes, alternate battle locations, and can even evolve your exemplars.

While this is a unique idea, it does have some flaws.  First, they are timed.  Not a huge deal, but since it affects your exemplars, spells, and areas, it would be nice to actually have more than 10 seconds to think about it.  Second, it seems like you should either choose responses based off the buff it gives, or what you personally would choose.  There are factions associated with each choice, I think, but there are more than three factions.  Can you imagine the mess if your Dungeons and Dragons choices moved you toward one of the nine alignments, but you only had three random choices?  Many of these involve characters that you never see, or even know anything about, so how can we keep them straight?  Third, you don't always know what effects there will be from your choice.  While I guess this is realistic, it's not the best decision.  I suppose it gives the game replay value, but I'd like to know what choices are moving me toward things I'd actually like.

Why buy grain from elsewhere when you could infiltrate the riots?

Now for the battles.  They start off promising enough.  Each of the characters you control in battle correspond to a face button.  Your main character (Cecille or Laendur) uses spells, which require their mana be filled by landing attacks.  The others use AP to attack.  AP fills as you are not attacking or defending, and up to three can be stored.  There are also link attacks if you can get the timing down (it's trickier than you think).  Pressing the L/L1 Button will have your units guard.  If you do it right before the enemy hits you, you get a perfect block.

Sounds, fine, right?  Well, the perfect block in Fallen Legion doesn't quite behave like similar functions in other games, which is a shame.  There's a slight delay when blocking/unblocking, which means it's not always possible to perfect block every attack.  If enemies attack too closely together, you are left defenseless if you perfect block the first hit.  I'm not a fan of punishing the player for being good.  Some enemies attack immediately as they move, making perfect blocking their attacks ridiculously hard.  Blocking is also done by the whole party, so you can't just have an armored exemplar in front block everything while the back attacks.  Enemies attack at strange intervals, sometimes leaving you no time to actually counter-attack.  I personally feel like the perfect block should at least stagger the attacker, but preferably stop any concurrent attackers, so you have a window of opportunity to hit them.  As it stands, you don't get that, nor usually enough time to actually do a 3-hit combo.

This is very apparent in fights of three or more opponents.  Enemies attacking will interrupt your attacks, but you can't really do the same to them.  That's just not fair, and not fun.  Buttons don't always seem to respond to being pushed.  The blocking on the PS Vita version felt more responsive than its PS4 counterpart, but I'm not sure why that is.  Another thing that bugs me is enemy strength.  There are some units that can dish out a lot more damage than others.  Trouble is, they use the same graphic as others.  These units also seem to hang out around death.  When their health is absurdly low (<10%), they just won't die, requiring way to many hits to actually topple.

It's totally possible that I'm just not "getting" combat.  Maybe it works beautifully, and it's just not syncing with me.  However, others have had these same problems, so I suspect the combat is in dire need of repair.  It's salvageable, as all you would need is to tweak some settings, making it more balanced, and actually rewarding the player for perfect block skill.

Because of all that, the game can get pretty hard.  It usually seems like a coin toss if a battle will go smoothly, save for some particular hard or boss fights.  At least one fight I had on the Vita version had a ton of lag from on screen effects.  This obviously made it pretty much impossible to perfect block, as the action was jumping all over the place.  This didn't stop the AI from being just fine...just me.  Ugh.  If you lose a normal fight, you have to do the whole battle stage all over again.  If you lose to a boss, you can thankfully re-do the boss fight.  It starts over from whatever position you were in when you started the fight, which might not actually help you at all.  There isn't much you can do to make a hard fight easier, since there are no levels and the gems are random.  All you can do is adjust your strategy, and hope the mechanics don't work against you.

The choice mechanic does give the game replayability, and a run lasts about 10 hours.  It's obviously more when you have to retry battles.  The PS4 version's load times were very short.  The opposite can be said about the Vita version, where battle stage load times were very long.

Fallen Legion has a lot of promise.  The graphics are great, the story is good, and it has replay value.  The choice mechanic could use some work...or a massive flow chart...as could the battles.  As it stands, it's just too skewed toward the enemies to make it fully enjoyable.  It's unique enough that it's worth trying out, but I don't know if I'd recommend sticking with it.


The Good:
Great graphics, two different platforms give two sides to the story.

The Bad:
Combat needs tweaking.

The SaHD:
Why can't we get some numbers/effects for exemplar stances?

(Review codes for Fallen Legion were provided by the publisher)