Omega Quintet (PS4) Review

Omega Quintet is Idea Factory International's first PS4 outing.  It takes place in a world where a phenomenon called Blair is turning creatures into monsters called MAD.  The only people that can stop the Blair and MAD are super powerful magical singing idols called Verse Maidens.  Yes, really.  It's a zany premise, I know, but I like that it's so silly and unique.

The story mostly follows the character you play as, named Takt and his childhood friend Otoha.  Otoha has grown up and idolized the idol Mamoka, who has single-handedly been keeping the city safe for years.  How many years?  Well, she looks 17, so.... more than that.  The characters start off as tropes, but they are actually pretty entertaining.  I frequently found the dialogue funny as the characters would banter with each other, make fun of Mamoka's age, or Takt complaining about how he doesn't want to do the job that is thrust on him.  While I'm sure a lot of people won't like it, I enjoyed the dialogue, and would look forward to watching all the skits around the base whenever a new chapter rolled around.  The game is in both English and Japanese, so you can hear it in whichever language makes you more comfortable.

The format of the story was also interesting.  It's set up like a TV show, so each chapter begins with the game's opening video and even closing credits that are show scenes from that chapter.  The story in each chapter was fairly concise while definitely being part of the bigger narrative, and would sometimes even end with a cliffhanger or some other mysterious scene that is very prevalent in anime shows.  Although, this lead to most chapters following the formula of plot -> quests -> plot -> chapter end, repeat.  Not the most unique flow to a game, but I still like the episodic nature of the story.

This might be IFI's first PS4 game, but moving in the field seems very familiar.  Just like its previous siblings of HD Neptunia and Fairy Fencer F, you run and jump around in areas that have enemies sprinkled throughout.  These areas are bigger than either of those games, but the enemy count remains similar.  The bigger areas have stretches that are devoid of opposition, but the smaller ones have them practically on top of each other.  The areas themselves aren't bad, with decent scenery representing the ruins of the life that used to be.  You can also attack enemies before they contact you to gain an advantage in battle.  The attack is a strange sparkle that the leader throws out, but it doesn't fly as far as I would think.  There's nothing wrong with the field movement, but it isn't unique, especially if you have played other Idea Factory games.

Battles, though, do have their share of unique features.  Each weapon and skill has a different effective range that slightly affects its damage and accuracy.  Energy skills (magic) and Mic skills (weapon-based attack skills) take SP, same as most other games.  There is also a voltage meter thrown in that gives some bonuses, but I mostly used it for each girl's super move.  Skills add a certain amount of wait time, and the more turns you take the longer it takes for your next turn.  You can also assign Takt, the manager, to a girl and he can shield them or do additional attacks when they strike.  While he can only do that so many times each battle, the only time I would run out is some of the boss fights, so just use him whenever you can during normal encounters.

There are also special chain attacks that are activated by using certain skills with the different girls in succession.  You have to activate Harmonics to do them, though.  There's also Live Concert, where a song will play in the background and people request certain actions, which gives you bonus experience at the end of the fight.  While it can seem daunting with all the different factors to consider, you can still just keep hitting enemies until they die.  I usually went with "use circle targeting moves to hit as many foes as possible, then finish them with normal attacks" approach.  I appreciate the more complicated stuff, but I'm glad I don't need to pay much attention to it until I understand it all.

Strangely, for all the tutorials the game shoves at you, I didn't see one that mentioned the skill upgrades.  It's a giant disk that has lots of nodes on it, each representing the spells and skills in the game, plus the passives and super moves of the individual girls.  Since each girl can equip any weapon, they can also learn all the skills for that weapon.  Each skill requires points, which are mostly gained from leveling up your proficiency with each weapon.  That would be fine but I don't think the game mentioned that important part.

The skill disc will also function better when you realize you can zoom in.  It starts out very small and it was hurting my eyes trying to see it all before I realized there was a zoom feature.  Oops.  Since they are all laid out in different configurations, it can be a chore to find any given skill in a timely fashion.  I wanted to work towards the super moves as soon as I could, and it was a pain to find each one.  Same thing with their passive abilities.  Thankfully if you find a skill node with a prerequisite, the required node is highlighted.  That made it slightly easier to find ones I needed, but sadly it's still too cluttered.  The skills themselves are fine, just navigating each character's disk is more time consuming than it really should be.

There are a few more features to the game.  Besides the main quests, there are plenty of side quests to complete.  They aren't all obtained from the computer in the base, which again, was strangely not mentioned in one of the many tutorials.  I feel like I missed at least one, but I won't know for sure until I go through the game a subsequent time.  Anyway, the ones obtained in town have a stricter time limit, and I even timed an early one out.  I'd be less salty about it, but the item I needed for it was obtained as a drop from the boss that advanced the plot and timed the side quest out.  Grumbling ensued.

To round out the features, there's also weapon and equipment crafting.  Weapons weren't necessary to craft early on, as you find them as well, but a lot of the other stuff has to be made.  To get some of the materials necessary, you have to break down enemy drops and other pieces of equipment, so it can be very costly to use the system.  Outfit pieces you make will show up on the character models.  You can also buy new hair styles and colors with special coins you earn in the game, so you can tailor the look of each girl.  Granted, you can also change their underwear, but it didn't come across as creepy as it sounds.

One last thing I should probably mention are the little concert performances you can do.  There are thankfully preset ones, because you can edit a lot of the specific things that go on, such as camera angles, positioning, dance moves, effects and even which girls sing what line.  It's pretty daunting, and this is coming from someone that loves doing similar things in the WWE games for my entrance.  It's not quite my thing here, but if you are interested in it, there is plenty of stuff with the concerts.

While it is still a niche game that won't appeal to everyone, I like Omega Quintet.  The battles were fun and I enjoyed the characters interacting with each other.  The game might be a little formulaic with its progression, but I liked that each chapter was framed like an episode of a TV show.  There's also not as much fan service as you might suspect, although it was present for a few scenes.  I liked the game and I'm looking forward to going back to play it some more.

Toukiden: Kiwami (PS4) Review

The original Toukiden caught me by surprise.  It was very fun, and I ended up playing it for many hours after I had finished my review.  It has strong influences from the Monster Hunter series, but does a lot of new things that make it stand well enough on its own.  I was excited that the expanded game, Kiwami, was headed to the US and EU so I could play it some more.  I got even more excited when I saw it was not only continuing to be on the Vita, but coming to the PS4 as well!  While the portability is very handy for the multiplayer monster hunting genre, playing it on a console is something I prefer, so I opted for the PS4 version.  It is certainly the prettier of the two choices, but I wouldn't say it's the best looking PS4 game.  Good enough, though!

If you are new to the series, I'll fill you in on the basic gist and combat (if you are versed, feel free to skip ahead to the next paragraph).  You play as a slayer and are tasked with defending your village from giant Oni that try to break though your barrier and, well, kill everyone.  So most missions are focused on you and a group of up to three other slayers taking down big bosses.  Square, triangle and circle all do different attacks while X is your dodge.  You can also equip up to three mitama to one of your weapons that give you different skills and passive abilities.  In the fights with these giant monsters, you can sever or destroy various parts of them, which will give you more rewards at quest completion.  Parts are used to make new weapons and armor, so expect to fight monsters a few times to upgrade your equipment.  It might sound like a lot to take it, but it is basically you and up to three others (AI or online) taking down big bosses and making armor and weapons out of them.

Toukiden: Kiwami adds three new weapon types - a rifle, naginata and a giant club - to the six already present.  I'll start with the club.  I didn't like it.  It wasn't bad, but wasn't for me.  It reminds me of the great sword from Monster Hunter: big, slow and you do more damage when you hit enemies with the end of it.  However, it does have a nice reward in Toukiden for doing so.  Hit with the tip a few times, and you get a damage boost.

The next new weapon is the naginata.  It is fast, like the dual knives, but hits a wider area.  If you get enough unscathed hits, you will increase the damage area.  If that wasn't enough, it also has a move that puts you in the air for air combos.  As a dual knife user, I am totally going to work some naginata use into my character.  I really like it.  I didn't think I would, since there is already a spear in the game, but I was wrong.  It also has a parry move, but I doubt I'll use it.

The last weapon addition is the rifle.  Each has three kinds of ammo that you choose what order to load into it.  It aims really well, and even shows weak points on the monsters that cause extra damage if shot.  The rifle is a fun weapon, and will probably compete with naginata for my secondary weapon.  It can be a bit cumbersome at first, and reload can feel a bit slow, but they had to even the weapon out somehow.  Honestly, I don't think I'd use the rifle if I were on the Vita version, but it feels really good on the Dualshock 4.

Besides the new weapons, there are of course new missions, more story chapters and new monsters.  With the new monsters comes new weapons and armor to create from each one.  The new story chapters fits well enough into the original story, as they are set after the closing events of that title.  Probably my favorite new addition is sending the other hunters on a sub-mission.  Whenever you head out, you can choose one unused slayer to do another mission in any previous chapter.  For example, if you are doing a mission in chapter 5, you can send another into chapter 4 or below.  This is a good way to get more monster parts without grinding so much, since you can continue on in the story but still get parts from a certain monster.  I used it to finally get the Cthonian cloaks that I needed for a quest, but couldn't get to drop in the 20 or so times I did the mission in the vanilla game.  Plus, it doesn't seem to cost anything to send them out, so why not use it?

There was also a small but awesome change to the Mitama.  They can now be leveled up to 12 instead of 10.  That's not the great part, though.  They now have a forth skill when they reach maximum level, and you can freely replace the other three skills then, too.  Before, you had to replace one with another, but there was no efficient way to reclaim skills you overwrote.  The only choice you had was to set the mitama at level 1 again and raise it back up.  In Kiwami, there is no need to do so, as you can just max it out and set which three you want that it learned.  They even added a new mitama type that excels at destroying parts.  Nice!

If you played the original version, the save file from the Vita will transfer over as long as you download the update for it.  That let me keep all my stuff that I earned over 80+ hours and start on the new content.  You can also keep your stuff but start the story over again.  Either way, it is expected and awesome that you can port over your save.  If you play far enough in the demo, that can transfer over too.  Both bring bonuses, which is a great incentive to continue... as if saving all that time wasn't incentive enough.

I played a few matches of the multiplayer, and they felt smooth.  I wasn't using any form of microphone, but we didn't have any troubles taking down the monster.  In fact, it was a lot faster than with the AI companions.  If you don't want to or can't connect to the internet to play with others, you can just use the story companions and do them anyway.  Even late at night I found several lobbies to join, but I don't know how long that will last.  As always, if you have friends to play with you, that is the best choice.  Now, I just need to convince my friends to get the game, which shouldn't be hard because the game is really fun.

As a fan of the "vanilla" Toukiden, I of course like the expansion.  If you liked the original, I would recommend Toukiden: Kiwami if you want more.  If you skipped the original release but were interested in it, I'd again recommend it for the sheer amount of content you will get.  I'd also recommend it if you want to try to get into the monster hunting genre, since Toukiden is fast paced and more forgiving than other entries, without being easy.  If you are on the fence, at least try the demo, since you can carry the save over to the full version.  Fans of hunting games, action games and Koei games should definitely check it out!

Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires (PS4) Review

Following in the tradition of previous Dynasty Warriors games, the latest in the series has now received its Empires game.  Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires has added new weapons to some of the existing cast (although some of them were DLC previously), and thankfully brings back my favorite staple of the series: creating your own characters.

It's no secret that I'm a fan of create-a-characters in multiple games, and I still love it here.  There are a lot of costume pieces to choose from, as they brought  back pretty much all of the ones from the previous game, and added the DLC ones and a few new ones to inflate the list.  With the new additional weapons, there are almost too many choices when setting the weapon and musou attacks.  Besides setting a normal and alternate musou, you can set an air one and your rage attack one.  While you can't set any musou in any slot unfortunately, it's easy to get some that fit your character, or just take some all around good ones.  Although the animation of each contains the character's default weapon, so it can look a bit silly if you just grab some of the cooler ones instead of trying to have them match.

If that wasn't enough, you can also customize your troops, horse and war banner.  These options are somewhat more limited, but it's still a nice addition to the series and makes for some more personal touches if you want to invest the time.  There are several colors for each part and each costume piece.

Enough of me gushing about the create-a-warrior, let's get to the gameplay.  Like the previous Empires games, it is a mix of hack and slash Dynasty Warriors battles with kingdom management in between  the fights.  When you are a subordinate for a ruler, you can sometimes choose what to do to help the kingdom, but will be requested to make certain goals.  If you become the ruler yourself, you will have more options available, but also more responsibility in making your kingdom thrive.  One new objective to complete is quests.  These are small scale fights that task you with fighting or protecting someone or something.  They are tiny and quick battles that don't feature nearly as many foes as the army versus army fights, but they are a quick way to raise your virtue or get some money or equipment.  It's not too complicated to run a kingdom, but it is fun.

The virtue is basically your level this time around.  In the previous entry, there were six kinds of experience, depending on what your actions were.  Now it is just virtue.  There are also merits to be earned by performing well for your ruler.  While I liked the previous system of six different types, this system is fine too, as it feels less like the character is typecast as a certain type of person.

There are several different scenarios to complete, each ranging from a set of dates in Chinese history.  This will dictate what special battles will happen, and what characters you will see, but it won't limit your time there.  Each scenario is self-contained and will play out differently each time you play it.  Some will last a long time, depending on the whims of the leaders.  The scenarios won't stand out much from each other if you aren't at least passively versed in the story or history of the three kingdoms period, so if you aren't interested in that, just pick the special scenario that has all the Dynasty Warriors cast available.  Plus, you can always sub in any of your created fighters, and might even see some creations of other people!

While my primary reason for liking the Dynasty Warriors Empires series is the create-a-character, they are fun alternate experiences in the Dynasty Warriors universe.  It adds some management and unpredictability to the hack and slash series, and I know at least one person that prefers Empires to the usual games.  Fans of the Dynasty Warriors series and the Empires series should check it out.  It's also worth checking out for people that want more than just a hack and slash experience.

Project X Zone 2 and Monster Hunter Stories Announced!

Wow.  As a fan of the first Project X Zone, I was happy to see late last night that Bandai Namco (Bamco, as I call them) announced not only the release of a sequel, but that the sequel was heading outside of Japan as well.  Planned for a fall release in the US, I am definitely excited to get it!  The first was probably the first game I played on it that made my 3DS purchase worth it.  Project X Zone 2 will of course be adding new characters, and even replacing a few, based off the trailer.

Gone is Pai, replaced with Kage, both from Virtua Fighter.  Leon from Resident Evil 6 is joining, as is some people from the Yakuza series.  Thankfully X and Zero return from Megaman X, and now Virgil from Devil May Cry joins his brother Dante (eat that, stupid Dimitri!)  And for better or worse, Haseo from .Hack//GU is replacing Blackrose from the original .Hack.  While I liked GU and think it should have some representation, it seems weird that they replaced two females with guys.  Either way, I'm still looking forward to playing it on the 3DS later this year.

You can see the trailer for it here.

Also on the 3DS, Capcom announed Monster Hunter Stories.  Slated for release in Japan in 2016, I am hoping the game makes its way west as well.  It is an actual RPG this time, with cutesy graphics, but still with the terrifying Tigrex.  I have no idea why they would use him in a trailer, since... ah, nevermind.  Anyway, it seems you play as people who ride some of the monsters, since the trailer has the protagonist ride a small Rathalos to escape his pursuer that doesn't understand "no means no".  I'm sure Mark will love that.  The game definitely looks different, I'm still deciding if I like it or not.  Still, I'm hoping it makes its way outside of Japan with the forthcoming Monster Hunter 5.

The trailer for Monster Hunter Stories is here.