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)

A.W.: Phoenix Festa (PS Vita) Review

A.W.: Phoenix Festa involves the characters and backstory from the anime/light novel, but now adds an ability to play as a hero of your creation.  Half of the game is the training/sim portion.  You will train to raise your stats, take jobs for money, schedule duels, go on dates, and shop, each taking half a day.

To train, you just select an option from the menu, and it will give you some randomly determined increases to the indicated stat (Atk, Def, Speed, etc).  It takes HP to train, so training your HP first/early is very much advised.  If you train enough, the level of training will increase, which increases the amount gained.  There is also a condition icon that will go down as you train, so you will have to rest every so often to keep yourself in peak shape.  Resting will also restore about half of your max HP.  It's the same HP you use in fights, so you don't want it too low for any planned encounters.

You can shop for new weapons, recovery items and presents to give the girls.  No matter how much you buy, it takes half a day, so buy as much as you can in one trip.  It's the same deal for visiting the lab to upgrade your weapon.  Most weapons can be upgraded (to increase damage) twice, and refined up to five times to reduce prana consumption.  It also costs a rare material called manadite to do either of these things, but you can instead spend an arm and a leg (or 1 million, whatever) to buy it direct from the lab.  You get some pieces of manadite through events, so try to use those instead of buying it directly.

If you need more money, you can take one of the jobs from the list for some quick cash.  The more difficult the job, the more money you earn.  Any time you complete the level of a job, it goes up by one to make it harder the next time.  The monetary reward will increase as well.  The other way to earn money is to wait until payday (Friday).  The higher your rank, the more money you get.  So if you have a chance to duel and increase your rank, go for it!

Fighting is the other half of the game.  Fights are in third person, and are pretty much an action game.  You can lock on to your opponent, run around, attack, jump and block.  The in-game tutorial covers basics about HP and Prana (think of it like stamina), but not the actual buttons.  Square is your normal attack string, and triangle gives you a special attack.  Once your weapon mastery has gained a level, you can unleash super moves by holding L (block) and pressing Square.  Your different attacks are based on the weapon type you currently have equipped.  You can also dash after opponents, or away from their attacks, by using the R Button.  Guarding is very useful against some opponents, but it does take prana for every hit blocked.  Be very aware of this, as you will need some to counterattack.

Battles come in a few flavors, but most are one on one or two on two.  They aren't too hard once you get the hang of what to do, unless the enemy has much higher stats.  Since there isn't any level indicator, or even any way to tell the relative strength of an opponent before a fight, I tended to either win easily, or get squashed.

When the game starts, it lets you pick between the main character of the story, or make a created character.  Me being me, I choose to make a character.  I mean, why not?  It doesn't say there is any difference other than starting point, so I jumped right in after making my own guy.

It was actually pretty hard.  Not really the combat (when fighting appropriate enemies), just everything else.  I thought it would be easy to choose one of the girls and start to increase intimacy, but it isn't.  You can only really deal with them if the game randomly chooses them to talk to you.  If they do, you can either ask to fight them, go on a date, give them a present, ask to team up, or send them away.  Presents cost money, and if their intimacy isn't high enough, they don't want to duel or date you.  There's no free way to increase intimacy except for random events.  I don't much like that way of doing things.

You can schedule dates ahead of time, but again, if your intimacy isn't high enough, you will get rejected and waste half a day.  Same deal with duels, but there are set times where opponents cannot reject a duel.  This is a good way to increase your rank, but the opponents you can choose from are, you guessed it, random.  When the deadline for choosing a partner arrived, I had to make a last ditch effort to grab one of the girls as my partner.  It wasn't the one I wanted most (or even second), but I picked the one that I had the highest intimacy with, and... she barely accepted.  I was actually shocked to have almost failed right then and there.  It was quite a wake-up call.

So after that, I saved and quit, then rolled another save file with the main character Ayato.  Wow, it makes a huge difference.  Yes, he starts closer to the Festa deadline, but his stats are jacked up to where he is clearly stronger than your create-a-character.  They also quickly give him a powerful weapon (an Ogre Lux) and the girls trip over themselves to give him intimacy points (even if you already have a partner).  He is much easier to get through the game with... they should have mentioned that somewhere.  Definitely start with Ayato, it helps a lot.

Also, start by watching the anime.  Since the story places you at a school, there are tests to take.  Seriously.  At set points, you have to answer questions correctly, or be forced to take a makeup test a few weeks later.  Problem is, the answers aren't found or told to you in the game.  I checked the digital instruction booklet and they aren't there either.  I had to go to the Wikipedia article for the game to find them.  If you watched the show you may know the correct answers, but it seems ridiculous that they aren't in the game for people that haven't seen the show yet.  Maybe it isn't a big of a problem as I think it is, but it just seems like a bad decision.

One run through the game takes a few hours, based off your reading speed (or if you are skipping text) and activities chosen.  The fights aren't really the most difficult part of the game.  I found the random luck with getting skills and intimacy with the girls to be a much bigger factor in how far I could advance in the game.  Since there are multiple girls, there are multiple endings, giving the game some very good replay value.  There is a new game+, but you only keep your titles and skills.  The skills can help you a lot, but I do wish more stuff could carry over.  They even threw in a battle mode, where you can fight with a lot more characters that just the heroes and heroines.  You can also test your skills in a survival mode.

I would say A.W.: Phoenix Festa combines its two halves very well.  The battles are fun, and stat training is straight forward and enjoyable.  The dates and intimacy system is where the game needs some balancing.  It's too random, and not being able to choose a girl in any obvious way is kind of annoying.  It's still a pretty fun game, but I didn't end up enjoying as much as I thought I would when starting out.  That said, I still had fun.  I am interested in seeing the anime, though, so I may still gain a new appreciation for the game after seeing some of the show.  At the very least, I should be able to pass the tests without "cheating"...


The Good:
Combines action and simulation portions of the game very well.  Plus, there is a lot of good replay value in choosing which girl will be your partner.

The Bad:
Getting useful skills and intimacy with the girls is either too random or costly.

The SaHD:
After looking up some stuff for the game, it seems the created character is considered "hard mode".  I had to learn that the hard way.

(Review code for A.W. Phoenix Festa was provided by the publisher)

Trillion: God of Destruction (PS Vita) Review

Can you defeat a boss with a trillion hit points?  That's the basis for Trillion: God of Destruction.  Even by JRPG standards, that is a colossal amount of HP, and it is your job to whittle it down and defend the Netherworld.  To accomplish this, you will need the help an Overlord sharing your power.  While the beast sleeps, you must train and prepare...lest it consumes you as well.

There are two main phases in the game.  There are the actual fights against Trillion, and the training period while it rests.  Before Trillion awakens, you have a certain number of cycles and days (1 cycle is 7 days).  Each of the training selections takes 1 day and has a particular focus, usually on a certain type of experience.  Each stat you raise and skill you purchase requires a certain amount of the different types of experience.  It's better for each character to go with their strengths and not round them out, as the normal enemies are easy and Trillion has, well, a lot of hit points.

Training will also increase an Overlord's fatigue, so you will need to tell them to rest (otherwise you risk injury) or use an item on them to lower it.  The blacksmith will increase the power of your weapon, which costs money.  Each weapon will also have up to 8 slots (that you also unlock with money) that you can put seals onto.  The seals offer various effects, most of which are stat boosts.  To round it out, there is also a shop that sells some items, seals and equipment.  You shouldn't have to buy much of that, as you can find a lot of things in the Sword Valley.  The shop also sells devil envoys, who are A.I. controlled helpers that will fight with you in the Trillion/Mokujin fights.  If they perish during the Trillion fights, they are gone for good, so make sure to buy and equip another.  They are actually pretty useful.

During the cycles, there are also random events that can happen.  These usually involve you choosing an answer to something, and they can have different effects.  Some can give you an item, extra experience, or even give your Overlord a status ailment.  You will see the same ones several times, but even then the choices don't always lead to the same result.  Eventually, you will learn which ones are worth doing, and some have no downsides to them.  All in all, you are subject to the random number generator (RNG) for many of them.

While each Overlord has HP and MP, and anyone who has played an RPG will understand those, they also have a third meter, called affection.  This represents their feelings toward the Great Overlord, and in battle acts as a shield for their HP.  It is very important, since having some allows you to retreat from the Trillion battles.  Giving the Overlords gifts and spending time with them (in the Rest menu) will raise their affection for you, and also give them more affection meter.  There are many gifts in the game, and each of the Overlords reacts differently to each one.  However, each has a few presents that they absolutely love, and giving it to them gives a big boost to affection and a little scene with them.  As their affection rises, spending time with them will trigger special scenes, some of which have a CG image that unlocks in the gallery.  Plus, sometimes you can find the Overlord in the hot springs, since I'm sure you were going to ask if that was a thing in this game.  Worry not, it is here!

There are other fights besides Trillion itself in the game.  While the training segments are more akin to a simulation game, the fights are like mystery dungeon games.  The area is laid out on a grid, and the enemy only takes an action when you do.  Normal attacks can be directed at any of the 8 surrounding squares.  You can change the direction you face without moving (which is very helpful), use items or active skills.  Being able to plan your actions is very helpful to avoid damage and get to your goal fast enough and safe enough.

Combat will be in one of three places.  The most obvious are the fights against Trillion, but they are also the least numerous.  The second is against a monster called Mokujin.  At the beginning of each cycle, Mokujin will take the form of Trillion and you can do a practice battle against him to better learn how to fight the final boss.  These are really, really helpful for learning strategies and gaining valuable experience.  However, they also stop when you need them most.  I won't spoil why, but needless to say there was a time I needed Mokujin and he wasn't able to help.

The third area for fighting is the Sword Valley.  These are randomly generated and you must reach the exit in the specified number of turns.  There are a set number of enemies and treasure chest strewn throughout the area.  You will want to get what you can, since every enemy killed is experience and the items and equipment you pick up may be useful.  If you are running low on moves, remember that some skills will move you multiple spaces with one move, provided you have the MP.  The fights in the valley are the easiest in the game, since by the time you dive in, you probably can kill everything in one hit.  This is the grinding area, though, not the hard part of the game.  That's what Trillion is for.

So, what happens when...I mean if, your chosen Overlord is overwhelmed by the gluttonous beast?  First, they get to execute their death skill.  there are a few to choose from, and can either do extra damage (I'd love to actually kill Trillion with one of these...so dramatic!), power up the next Overlord or other things.  The one I prefer is Demon Barrier, since it extends Trillion's rest period.  This gives you more time to buff yourself up.  After that, the next Overlord is chosen, and gains a portion of the experience earned from the previous one so you can hit the ground running.  During the fight, if you still have affection, you can retreat.  This will give you more time to train, but you can only do it a few times per girl.  Use it as much as you can...the extra time and experience really makes a difference!

Even when you know you are going to lose one of the girls, it can still be a sad experience.  The sense of loss is one of the driving themes of the story.  I figure it is possible to defeat Trillion your first run through the game, but it is very, very unlikely.  Or I'm terrible at the game, I'm not sure.  It's fine to me that you can't win the first time, since you gain so much while failing.  My only gripe with it is the end.  It's probably not a spoiler to say that if you run out of Overlords to fight against Trillion, you will lose.  When you finally do, it's a small scene and then a game over screen.  It feels really lackluster for such an inevitable outcome.  I'd prefer it more framed as a 'bad ending' rather than just outright losing, since most players that complete the game will see this as their first ending.

There are obviously multiple endings, depending on who manages to slay Trillion.  Since it is very likely you will fail to do so, the game has a nice new game+ feature.  Each girl will keep the experience they earned.  You will have to re-buy their stats and skills, and their weapons will return to the default state (meaning you lose its levels and seals).  I'm fine re-buying the skills, but the stats is a bit annoying.  It's not a huge deal, but you will end up holding the button for awhile to catch them back up.  The weapons returning to the default is the biggest bummer.  Lesson learned: don't spend much on an Overlord unless you plan for them to win.  You also lose any items they had equipped and any tokens for the prize machine and Sword Valley.  However, you keep all the money you had, along with all the items in storage.  This includes the affection items, so spend all the tokens you can before the end!

I'm not 100% positive of my playtime, since I don't see anywhere in the game to track that (which is annoying), but it had to have been over 40 hours.  The time is variable depending on what you do, the choices you make, and if you get more of it through the various means.  Still, it took a long time to get through the game once.  At times it felt a bit long.  Without spoiling anything, there were a few extensions that I did not expect that kept the first run longer than I would have initially thought.  It feels kind of weird to complain about a game taking too long though, but at times it felt this way.

Overall, I very much enjoyed playing Trillion: God of Destruction.  The concept is great and the execution is well done.  Training and combat are simple to understand, but offer some depth if you think a little outside the box.  It's also unexpectedly emotional at times.  The new game+ option is really good and helps you finish off the boss with repeated playthroughs.  I do have a few minor gripes with the game, but they aren't things that diminished how much I enjoyed it.  The game is long, almost too long, and offers a lot of value if you enjoy it as well.  I would recommend JRPG fans check the game out.  It is fun and one of a kind!

(Review code for Trillion: God of Destruction was supplied by the publisher)