Stella Glow Coming West

Atlus announced today that it would bring Imageepoch's Stella Glow to the 3DS later this year.  Imageepoch might be most well know in the west as the people who made the Luminous Arc series (which I enjoyed).  They also made a few others that I enjoyed, like Sands of Destruction and Arc Rise Fantasia (which was fun despite the terrible voice acting).  I'm excited to check out there latest game, and hoping it's one I get to review.

The game stars Alto, a young knight that enlists the help of several Witches to combat the Witch of Destruction (awesome name) and her Harbingers.  You must have the Witches on your side unleash the powerful song magic to fight.  Atlus doesn't have any localized assest yet, but I will be sure to link the official trailer when it is up, and when we have some more details on Stella Glow.

Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dust Sea (PS3) Review

Atelier Shallie Review

by Tina Hand

Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea is technically the third and final installment in an Atelier trilogy that began with Atelier Ayesha.  For those who've never played an Atelier game, it works fairly well as a stand-alone title.  The references to previous games are tastefully done, and those things that carry over are explained in subtle enough ways to not seem like boring repetition, even when one has played previous games.  To describe the series in a nutshell, it’s basically RPG-meets-crafting sim, where your main character uses alchemy to craft items.  Much like the second game in the series, Shallie lets you choose between two potential main characters: Shallistera, the future chief of Lugion village; and Shallote, an inexperienced alchemist in the city of Stellard.  To add to the confusion, both girls go by the nickname “Shallie”, hence the title of the game.  For the purposes of this review, it is important to note that I chose to follow Shallistera’s story.

Unlike previous games in the Atelier series, this particular one has done away with time limits.  The previous games had a limited number of days, weeks, months, etc. in which to accomplish specific plot-related tasks and events.  Shallie has done away with the restrictions of a time limit, instead using a complicated stamina system to try and push players forwards with the story.  As in previous games, there are plentiful items to craft, and a variety of hunting or gathering tasks to complete for bonus cash.  This becomes increasingly necessary the further into the game you progress, simply because like most Atelier games, money isn't very easy to come by.

The battle system is fairly simple and very easy to grasp quickly, yet offers enough variety to assist in preventing boredom.  Like other Atelier games, it is turn-based, with the ability to (eventually) swap back row support characters for front row active characters.  The addition of a Burst gauge, an Ultimate gauge, Field Bursts, and various other effects allow the player to control the battlefield with ease, provided the player is paying attention.  That being said, experience distribution is still something that came off seeming completely random.  There were times where battles will net a grand total of 1 experience point, and others where you fight the exact same group of enemies and yet earn more.  There seems to be no rhyme or reason to how earnings are calculated, which can be frustrating when trying to level up.

The only thing about battles that frustrated me was that some characters have different skills depending on if they’re in attack or defensive stance, and it was never made clear how to switch between the two.  It would just…happen.  Which could be very inconvenient when I needed Kortes' attack skills and he was—for whatever reason—suddenly in defensive stance.  One change I really liked was that they removed the MP requirements for performing alchemy.  Instead they made some of the higher level items require MP for use.  And, with the addition of a key Burst skill for the main Alchemist you pick, unlocking later in the game, those items could be used without reducing the item count (if the player chose Stera) or duplicated without impacting turn order (if the player chose Lotte).

Character growth is static until level 40, when the player unlocks something called the Growth system.  This addition allows you to customize the growth of your character, aiming them towards improving specific stats and granting them bonuses.  It allows a player to carefully enhance the characters he or she plans to use primarily for those tasks they are best suited for, or to compensate for a perceived weakness.  It is important to note that as of launch, the Growth System has a fatal flaw, where it will freeze and crash the game when that particular menu is loaded.  As of the posting of this review, there has been a patch to correct this flaw, and the system now functions as designed without crashing the game.  Without the patch, however, that section of the game is completely unusable.

Graphics-wise, the game is nothing to write home about.  Don’t get me wrong, here.  The art is well done, backgrounds are clear and crisp, and everything is HD, with no jaggies or clipping.  However, there’s not really anything to make it stand out from the previous two in the series, and something that actually does stand out is the variable frame rate.  Now, I’m not one to complain about graphics, normally, but this really threw me.  There are times where everything is smooth, crisp, and clear, without any issues whatsoever.  Yet during numerous cut scenes, the graphics would hang just long enough to be noticeable.  Also, there would be numerous times where a character’s mouth movements wouldn’t synch up with the audio.  This is particularly noticeable for Wilbell during her Ultimate attack, and if she gets the killing blow in a battle.  While not major, game-breaking flaws, they were slightly off-putting, if only because they’re shoved in your face.

Video game music is one area I have always felt needed more attention.  What is the one thing everyone who ever played Crono Cross will say?  No matter what their personal opinion of the game, everyone thought the music was beautifully done.  Atelier Shallie does have a good sound track, with multiple battle tracks and gently understated field music, so you never find yourself overwhelmed with sound.  The voice acting is realistic and believable, sounds perfectly natural, and never yanks you out of the game.  About my only complaint with the audio ties to the intro.  Or, I suppose I should say “intros”, since there are technically two.  Both opening sequences are, to put it bluntly, boring.  No action, in some places little to no color, and music so low that would put a raging bull to sleep.  There is nothing to recommend them, nothing that would ever get someone watching them excited for the game.  It’s almost a shame the intros are both so bad, if only because the game is so much better.

Overall, this is a well-made game.  Barring the one critical component failure that has thankfully been patched at this point, it doesn’t really have any glaring issues that make me want to put the controller down and throw my hands up in frustration.  The removal of a time limit allow the player to go through the game at his or her own pace, and compensates for every other perceived failing.  Battles are challenging but not truly difficult, with a few exceptions.  Synthesis recipes are plentiful and varied, ingredients plentiful and for the most part easy to come by with a little determination, and the plot—while not exactly the most compelling story—has enough to keep a player’s interest and resolves the trilogy nicely.  I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in the series, as a good way to introduce one’s self to the world of crafting RPGs.

Ori and the Blind Forest (Xbox One) Review

When I first saw Ori and the Blind Forest announced, I didn't pay much attention to it.  It looked very pretty, and I figured it to be one of those arts-y games that tries to be so unique and stylized that it ends up looking like a load of others, much the way cover-based shooters want to be gritty and realistic, but end up looking brown and gray.  When given the chance to review it, I figured I could give the game an actual chance to impress me the way the trailer didn't.

I was expecting Ori to be a platformer, but was pleasantly surprised to see it has a lot of influence from the Metroid series.  While some may describe it as a Metroidvania type game, I would disagree.  There isn't any real levels or equipment to power up your character.  Yes, you do fill a bar and get a skill point, but it isn't really a level up in the traditional sense.  The skill points go in one of three lines that will give you more attack power, show power-ups on the map or something similar.  Even so, most improvements come from the various power-ups around the map instead of the skill tree.  The environmental pick-ups are where you get things like a double jump, more health and so on.  So to me, it is much more like Metroid than a Metroidvania game.

The controls are fairly responsive, but Ori moves pretty fast.  It feels like slight tilts of the stick and he will quickly move that direction.  While nice for getting around, it makes jumping feel much less precise than I'd like.  Also much less precise than the game wants, because there are a lot of tough platforming sections that need you to be spot on to get through them.  There are numerous tiny platforms that you have to land on, and it can be really tricky to do so.  Some parts even have some on the wall and upside-down platforming.  Really cool, but also equally disorienting.

Attacking in Ori is another hit and miss affair.  It's great that your normal attack is a ranged homing attack, and since it's not Ori that is shooting, you can do it while carrying or moving objects.  Nice!  However, there is a minimum lock-on range that must be met before your attacks will actually go toward your target.  It took me too long to figure out when the enemy has a red aura, the shots will go toward it.  Too bad the range seems so inconsistent.  It's definitely not line of sight, since you can hit things around corners and above or below you, but it seems like if you can see it, the lock-on range is greater.  I'm still not sure that's correct, though.  Also, the damage you do seems good at first, but gets really low on most enemies.  Even when spending skill points to level it up, enemies seem to take more shots than should really be necessary.  This could easily be a personal thing, but when one spider or slug takes two shots, should a similar looking one nearby take five?  I don't think so.  Or if you really want to keep that, make the stronger enemies actually look different so I know that they are different versions.

The damage you take also fluctuates.  Some spikes kill you instantly while other just damage you.  There wasn't any difference that I could tell, since some inescapable spike pits would just damage you until you died instead of mercifully killing you instantly.  Enemies start off doing one point of damage, but quickly start doing more.  I figured the point of getting more health was so you could take more hits, but in reality you will just start taking two points of damage instead of one from similar enemies.  So you aren't really taking more hits, just keeping up with the damage increases.

Ori starts off with a nice story, and not much difficulty, but it quickly ramps up.  It's not always consistent, since there are more than a few parts that have sudden difficulty spikes, especially the 'chase' scenes where you have to escape some calamity.  They are long, you are unable to save during them, and it is very easy to mess up, even a little, which then results in your death.  Yuck.  There are other places that have very tricky platforming, so I hope you have to reflexes to keep up.  I didn't usually, and died many times as a result.  The one saving grace is the save system.  You can save almost anywhere.  The ability takes a point of energy, but is easily worth it, especially when you can get skill points that give you health when you spawn the save point.  There are auto saves and a few static save points, too, if you are crazy and want extra challenge... or forget to use the create-a-save.

Another thing that got to me was the scenery.  While pretty, it does occasionally get in the way.  Branches in the foreground can block you from seeing enemy projectiles or make some jumping sections more difficult.  At one point you have some teleporting doors that move you to another place on the screen.  While not bad by itself, when you have to rush through some of these sections, it can be pretty disorienting, and hard to react in time, even if you know where you will come out.  Sometimes the scenery makes it hard to see where you are in relation to either door, or had to tell if you have even gone through it.  It's not horrible, but a little tweaking to those parts to make it more player friendly would be really nice.

Ori and the Blind Forest is well-made game with rich visuals.  I'm sure many people will really like it, and for the most part I do, too.  However, the spikes in difficulty and imprecise jumping left me feeling more frustrated than happy as I progressed through the game.  At least the save system is fantastic and there are plenty of secrets and power-up collecting to keep you busy if you decide to delve into the game.  The game is more hardcore than I expected, and more unforgiving that I wanted.  Still, for the crowd that loves challenging games, Ori and the Blind Forest is one game they need to check out.

Soldner-X 2: Final Prototype (PS Vita) Review

Do you like shmups?  Those spaceship shooter bullet hell games?  I love them.  Not many come to the US, so I like to try the ones that do.  Soldner-X 2 was a game that came on my radar awhile after its debut on PS3.  Some time ago, I read about a forthcoming Vita version, and waited until that came out to give the series a try.  On a side note, I really don't like the term shmup, but it's the accepted term for the genre, and it requires less typing that "spaceship shooter".

While Soldner-X 2 is very similar to a bullet hell game, it's not quite there.  It just feels too sloppy.  Successful bullet hell games are very patterned, precise and calculated.  Soldner doesn't feel like that.  Controlling the ship doesn't feel precise enough, but that could easily be because of the Vita's analog nub and not the fault of the game.  Enemy appearance patterns are scripted, sure, but they have strange patterns that just work against the game.  While thankfully they don't appear from the left side of the screen (behind you), they do pop out at just about everywhere else.  I feel that is to make the game harder, since enemies can pop up in front of your face, or right behind you while you try to get a power-up.  Since you don't die in one hit, it is just a cheap way to damage you.  I get the impression the life bar is because you will take cheap damage, and if one hit killed you, very few would stick with the game.

Each stage ends with a big boss fight, true to the genre.  They can be long experiences, since you have to whittle down their health little by little.  Of course, each has at least two forms or stages to them.  There are two separate bomb-like attacks that can help.  Sadly, they both feel weak (but do look cool).  You can only get one of each, so it's not like you can stack a few to save you.  They just don't at all feel as useful as similar attacks in other shmups.

There are three ships, one of which is unlocked after completing some of the challenges.  They have three different weapons that can be easily swapped to.  While each weapon is different from each other, it's not as huge a change as I would think.  One ship has a flamethrower, that while cool, seems really weak and not as useful as the default laser.  There's also a wave beam, that again, seems weak for how hard it is to use.  I found the default laser the best option throughout the entire game, and with both ships.  Weapons don't change to get better when you power them up, which is disappointing.  They do power-up, but it just makes them a little stronger.  I would go through the trouble of powering them up, but they never felt like they got stronger.  The effect was so minor I'm not even sure it works.

You also get chasers to help you out.  Chasers are small ships that follow you around and shoot when you do.  These are super helpful.  Unfortunately, they are also timed, so they only hang around for a bit, and then abandon you to the mercy of the alien armada.  At least they persist through your death until their invisible timer runs out.

Most bullet hell games are not only about surviving, but amassing a huge score.  Soldner-X 2 is no different in that regard.  Besides the score, they also rate you (I'm not a fan of that in any game).  They higher your grade, the more enemies there are, which in turn makes it harder.  Fair enough, that's kind of cool that it will seamlessly get harder as you get better.  However, one of the ways it scores you is by collecting rings that enemies leave behind when killed.  That's fine, other shmups have medals and coins and stuff when you kill guys for bonus score, so that part is fine.  My problems with it in Soldner-X 2 are: 1) they stay where the enemy died on screen, 2) they disappear pretty quickly, 3) they appear from random enemies and 4) there are many lulls in ring distribution, especially during boss fights.

It doesn't necessarily impede progress, but I dislike the rings.  If you do what you are supposed to and shoot the enemies, it can be way too dangerous to collect the rings, since they stay in the same position on the screen where they dropped.  Better shmups have some rings, coins, etc stay on the ground where the enemy was and others fall toward the back/bottom of the screen, so you can get a fair amount without putting yourself in mortal danger for a few points.  The game warns you when the chain is going to drop, but there isn't much you can do about it.  There seems to be no rhyme or reason to what enemies drop rings, and boss fights have big lulls where your combo just dies, since you aren't killing anything.  It's not an irredeemable system, but it would need some changes to be less frustrating.

There are seven stages to complete, but the last two have to be unlocked by collecting secret keys that certain enemies drop.  While in theory I should hate that, I actually kind of like it.  The stages you can access are pretty long and give a decent playtime, plus the keys give you a good incentive to play stages multiple times.  It does kind of suck that you can't beat the game unless you randomly get the keys or look up where they come from, though.  There's also some unlockable challenges to complete.  I'm not really a fan of these in any bullet hell games I've played so far, and Soldner-X 2 is no exception.  They are really tough, but of course you have to complete some to unlock others.  I wish they would just have most of them unlocked at the start.  You at least get another ship or a trophy for completing some of them, and they can be made easier by switching the difficulty.

The DLC adds three more stages, and more secret keys to collect.  The second of those stages in particular is really cool, since you are basically travelling along a giant battleship for the entire stage.  There is more story in the stages, but I don't feel they were cut out of the base game, so I'm not against the DLC existing.  It definitely adds more playtime and trophies if either interest you, and it's only a few bucks extra.

It might sound like I'm overly negative with Soldner-X 2: Final Prototype, but it is a competent game.  I think it's far from great, but easily could be with a few tweaks.  It can be fun and it has a fair amount of replay value with getting the keys and completing the challenges.  It's worth playing if you like shmups, but there are far better available.