Sit-Rep: Sword Coast Legends – Do Swords Clash Well on Consoles?

/ Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

Pros:
+Beautiful top down cRPG that follows a play style close to Baulders Gate
+Class system is very much along the lines of pen and paper DnD in real time
+Character creation is in-depth, intuitive and does require attention to stats

Cons:
–Extremely Limited Dungeon Master Mode
–Character classes at start are limited as are race selections
–Horrific quest markers that seem out-of-place and rather misleading

 

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A lot has happened since Sword Coast Legends launched on PC earlier this year. Thanks to our friends at Digital Extremes I was able to get my hand on the original PC release. A lot has honestly changed since then thanks to the DLC content, but also some fine tuning that the game needed rather badly. In my previous review, I also stated I’ve experienced some in real life hysterical moments with my friends Matt and Ben when we sat at a table to play Dungeons & Dragons on weekends.

For this review, we’ll once more pretend I didn’t play with my friends, that I don’t know what D&D is, and I certainly don’t know the legendary Gary Gygax. In this review I’m also pushing to the side I have previous experience of the game and approaching it from a new view all together thanks to Digital Extremes and my friend as well as colleague Christopher Adee. So let us get this underway.

Sword Coast Legends Keeps the D&D Fans Know Alive

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When it comes to D&D we’ve all had that feeling that we’ve walked in circles many-a-times. We’ve seen games such as Baldurs Gate, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, Neverwinter Nights, and even an MMO-version of Neverwinter release across all platforms. Among these many titles we now have Sword Coast Legends, which is oddly familiar in many ways. Much like Neverwinter Nights, Sword Coast Legends fills a much needed gap when it comes to D&D Games, unlike the publishers game Warframe, it doesn’t sate a deeply hungering desire that players have.

As one would expect, Dungeon Master is something that’d be rather important within the game and honestly it is one that should have performed the best. Unfortunately, this isn’t where the game shines in all unfortunate circumstances. Much like any game, D&D titles survive based on story, which is where Sword Coast Legends shines the best out of it all. Much like any D&D title, players begin the game as a part of a mercenary band, a member of the Burning Dawn guild, and one that must guide their caravan to the pirate city of Luskan. Being attacked by a group of mercenaries being led by a Knight of Helm, players finds their guild is being condemned by him for possibly being composed of demon worshipers.

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By the end of this beginning sequence players find themselves investing the city of Luskan around the Sword Coast and looking for answers to what is happening to them. While the opening cut scene was one players will be rather familiar with, it’s an issue that this game comes across besides the fact it had a chance to be intriguing, albeit difficult at the same time. The game comes out with a default “defend the caravan” scenario where players will get acquainted with combat by fighting rats, goblins, and the infamous mercenaries we discussed.

While the game grabs our attention by killing off a caravan member early on, players could easily cringe if they’ve played Pillars of Eternity since both games begin almost on the same note. If you’re like myself, don’t equip all your party members with the best gear you find, there is a chance you will lose them and the gear itself won’t remain permanent. Once getting this out of the way, the game effectively joins the collective of games that Bioware has inspired after the release of their Knights of the Old Republic titles. Players will find themselves growing accustomed to wandering around multiple landscapes such as sewers, woodlands, abandoned castles, dungeons, caves, and the likes. Sadly, this is something that remains rather common within Sword Coast Legends.

It Gets a Bit Weirder for Sword Coast Legends

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While one would assume enjoying a game wouldn’t be a common occurrence, it’s something that does tend to happen quite often, which makes it odd to the games pacing. Players will find themselves doing it quite often to level up their party members, choosing items, placing points into spells, and even itemizing themselves properly so that they may become insanely overpowered. This all, of course, requires a bit of Dungeons and Dragons know-how players may be unfamiliar with at first. Trust me, it happened to me to, and I know D&D somewhat well as long as it sat within the 2.5 guidelines.

While the A.I. knew what it was doing, I did find myself swapping to my healer, more-so to ensure healing would be done properly, and would provide proper buffs needed to complete each battle. Trust me, it worked, and quite a bit. One thing that players will find problematic isn’t that the difficulty isn’t there, but it’s the fact it isn’t there when it should be and is there when it shouldn’t be. A few rats or a few goblins? No problem. Have your caster blind them, freeze them, and annihilate them with their most powerful AoE spell.

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While Chris and I did take time to notice the difficulty didn’t scale in our favor, we wiped a few times, picked up the pieces and tried once more. With the few kinks in our mistakes cleared out, we ran off, grabbed our objective, and were on our merry ways due to our excessive amounts of healing items and defensive potions. Not that this is problematic at all, but the reviving friendlies without a spell doesn’t help to alleviate this issue. The only time I found a real problem was when Chris took over the tank only to have our cleric waste a healing spell that wasn’t needing to be used a few times. The other issue? The AI loved to use our healing kits, potions, and resources without really needing them, which left us in fear of never having them when they are truly need in things such as a boss fight.

With that aside, the game is quite enjoyable thanks to the character classes that are in play, which puts each character uniquely crafted as you start recruiting your party. With the new leveling system, players will be able to build the characters they want through these rather in-depth skill trees. For those unfamiliar to D&D, these may be a bit dumbfounding at first, but once figured out, they’re quite fun. Want a battle caster? That’s fine, craft your caster to do so based on the large array of skill trees to do so. My fire mage? He quickly went battle mage, which isn’t uncommon in the game. I made him good for close range combat while wearing light armor. I’m sure Hommet was calling me dirty things in the background. It happens, but he’ll fight through the storm. Our rogue? I made her more useful at picking locks, revealing secrets, and dealing delicious amounts of damage without being spotted.

Our little elf friend cleric? She quickly became our dedicated healer. While many would frown upon my choices, it’s because this game easily made this capable of happening as characters level up, and offer players a chance to designate characters to how they want them. If you are out adventuring and have a class missing from your party that synergies with your build? You could find yourself troubled, but thanks to the class system that shouldn’t happen, and won’t if you prepare properly. The only thing dumbfounding is that characters can communicate from camp by the means of magic. Wait, dwarves can’t use magic can they?

Oh, Dungeon Master… You Need Some Upgrades

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While finding people to play with on Sword Coast Legends was enjoyable, I found myself cringing on several instances, but not because of the multiplayer. The game honestly has one of the most solid netcodes I’ve experienced to date, but the fact the game goes beyond the campaign and leaves players to an opportunity to play the Dungeon Master mode, which is troubled due to its rather lacking amount of content.

Just like in tabletop D&D, players are given a chance to allow players to build their own dungeons and play them shortly after. Sound familiar to anyone? We did this in Neverwinter Nights also. Players can select from traps, monsters, and loot tables for players to enjoy. While it could be heavily edited, it’d have been nice to see more complex codes so that players could add in interactive NPC’s, secret rooms, and even special loot sets for players to discover.

Sword Coast Legends – PC, PlayStation 4 (PlayStation 4), Xbox One
Developer: n-Space
Publisher: Digital Extremes
Cost: $19.99
Release Date: Now Available

 

Much as you’d expect, once your dungeon is build, you can take your friends or internet friends on an enjoyable spin through your carefully crafted world. Players can directly manage the party so as to make the progression of their friends even more challenging and unpredictable. Of course, this can be done without intentionally making them fail like I did a few times to show what DMs are capable of. The Dungeon Maser can openly place new traps, new missions, and spend resources (threat) to provide an elevated sense of difficulty to their dungeons.

Unlike my chances at home, Sword Coast Legends’ difficulties have proven true as to what I had expected. While some could harp on the game for such a lacking feature, it’s one that the publisher Digital Extremes could have had developer n-Space improve upon post launch. The downside to this is even more painful – n-Space has closed, which means no new content will be headed this way. We can only hope that Sword Coast Legends gets improved upon by famed publisher Digital Extremes by providing some of the love they’ve shown to Warframe.

Our review is based upon the final version that the publisher provided us with.  For information about our ethics policy please click here.

 Final Score: 6 out of 10

About the Writer:

dustin_batgr_prof

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

 

Sit-Rep: PSYCHO-PASS: Mandatory Happiness – Smile for the Camera

/ Dustin Murphy / 2 Comments

Pros:
+Stories are short, deep, and incredibly well written
+Anime knowledge isn’t required, but is suggested
+Choices matter, big time, even the small ones
+Multiple endings that actually reflect your choices made

Cons:
-The graphic novel approach could deter some players
-Better choice options could be priceless if better ones were put in

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When looking at games, many of us are used to narrative driven shooters, action-adventure, and even RPG titles. Many of us are used to scaling across landscapes, through buildings, and focus on rather active games, but what if one of the best narrative titles didn’t have any of this? What if this game was presented as a children-esque picture book made for adults? That’s exactly how PSYCHO-PASS: Mandatory Happiness is approached.

While that seems like a negative to some, PSYCHO-PASS: Mandatory Happiness isn’t scared of bad endings, and it isn’t ashamed of them. This game is fatalist in every sense of the word. One wrong choice could result in a rather grotesque and brutal death of the main protagonist. Want to play the 20-to-30 hours I did and know that your character could very well die? That’s fine if you are up for it. This game isn’t scared to give you that formulaic approach. It’s built into this games nature.

If you play it like I did, you’ll also know you can complete this game in one swift and direct playthrough. With it lasting only roughly 3-4 hours per story (one of mine took a bit longer due to my PlayStation TV not loving this game as it should have, which was hardware based problems), I was able to see quite a few endings within 9 hours. Luckily, this game tempts you to actually play it once more, and if you think you want to ignore all the possible endings, I’d by you dinner if you didn’t have even the slightest want to obtain them all. Hell, I’m still playing due to this.

Psyco-Pass: Mandatory Happiness is Based on an Anime After All

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While it’d be hard to justify a game not based on an anime, PSYCHO-PASS: Mandatory Happiness follows suit in this world that’s already been created. Just as the anime is actually relevant to the game, Mandatory Happiness is more-so an offshoot of the already established franchise.

In Mandatory Happiness players take the role of one of two characters. Players can choose from either Nadeshiko Kugatachi or Takuma Tusurugi. Both of these characters are unique in the sense that both of them come from different backgrounds. Nadeshiko is an Inspector for the Public Safey Bureau. Takuma is an Enforcer. Both of these characters serve very different roles within the game, and each of them also give a new insight to their own underlying plots. Something that is quite important to the end of the game.

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For those unfamiliar with PSYCHO-PASS lets take a bit of a look into it before we begin. The series starts in a rather futuristic Japan where technology has reached all new heights when it comes to surveillance. This new technology has reached a point to where it can keep tabs on everyone and will predict their chance of committing a crime. If they get near it, the system will warn them and alert the authorities of such a risk. Let alone does it do this, the system also creates a profile about each of the citizens it watches over. With the Big Brother-esque Sibyl Systems in place, everyone is not free of being scanned. The system scans, as stated, both mental and emotional metrics in order to keep a check on everyone’s “Psycho-Pass”.

In this system, people are monitored based on a Hue. If a person’s stress level changes, their color will grow cloudy, and if it continues to stay cloudy too long, they are flagged as a risk for society. Society’s goal is to keep their Hue clear, which means they must control their anger or their sadness. On top of the Hue, Psycho-Pass also has a Crime Coefficient that works along side with it. This number, the Crime Coefficient that is, keeps a number on the citizens. If the number reaches a certain point, the Public Safety Bureau (PSB for short) will send a detective team of Inspectors and or Enforces to determine if a person needs to be enforced. If they do, they’re knocked unconscious with a weapon known as a Dominator. If people are knocked out, they are sent to a hospital to try and rehabilitate.

If that was too long, lets just understand that Minority Report is an excellent movie to use to describe this system and how crime is predicted, but with technology instead of psychics. Regardless of which character you play, you’ll learn that one of them has lost their memories, the system has decided that one of the characters needed to rehabilitate before going back into action. Unfortunately, this does set one of the characters apart from the other, which creates a void between what characters should expect in the long run. This aspect brings the anime to life within the game and makes it so players don’t exactly have to understand the anime in order to play.

There’s No Action Outside of the Graphic Novel Reading

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While many of you are quite possibly used to anime games such as Freedom Wars, Lost Dimension, and even Soul Sacrifice – Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness forgoes all of this for the graphic novel -like appeal. While Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness would work quite well as an action game, the fact it comes off as a graphic novel works out quite well for fans. Even with all the reading, it’s a game that is rather addicting once players get started.

While I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least slightly discouraged by the graphic novel appeal, PSYCHO-PASS: Mandatory Happiness, is one of those that has been very well done to the point that players would find themselves drawn in more than once. Decisions, as you would expect, play a major role in this game, even the smallest ones. In PSYCHO-PASS: Mandatory Happiness players will find decisions to be something of importance in completing their play throughs one by one. However, how will your decisions be made? Will you infiltrate a location that serves as a home base to a possible suspect? If not, will you stay back and research your options? All of these will play a radical point in your overall story. Each of them will manipulate your possible endings.

PSYCHO-PASS: Mandatory Happiness – PS4, PS Vita, and PC
Developer: 5pb.
Publisher: NIS America
Price: $39.99
Released: Available Now

While these choices certainly don’t seem as exciting as they should, each one serves their purpose, and each of them remains important to the stories final outcome. If you were to look at the Steam achievement list or even the PlayStation Trophy list, the possibilities for your options are truly astonishing at what you could do. While I could argue that PSYCHO-PASS: Mandatory Happiness is an astonishingly well crafted game. For players that want a game with multiple outcomes, multiple choice paths to take, and multiple endings this is one for their shelves, this is a must have as fans of the anime will surely find this game a diamond in the rough.

To be honest? Because of this anime. I’ve found myself watching the anime in order to understand the game world a bit better.

Our review is based on a full release version that was provided to us by the games publisher.  For information about our ethics policy please click here.

 Final Score: 8 out of 10

About the Writer:

dustin_batgr_prof

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

Sit-Rep: Touhou: Scarlet Curiousity- Blurring the Lines of Bullet Hell and Brawler Genres

/ Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

Pros:
+Accomplishes the amazing blending of multiple genres
+Highly fun and addictive to play
+Levels offer variety, beautiful views, and charming songs to experience

Cons:
–Enemies sometimes blend into the environments
–Can be easy to lose direction of where you need to go
–For some the game could be an easy hit or miss

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Lately it’s almost odd to see as many bullet Hell games as we have. Just recently we got a chance to play that missed chance with Touhou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet, which could have offered a rather large opportunity, but failed to do so in the end. Next up is a second chance for the bullet Hell genre, but luckily? This latest entry does an amazing job at several feats, but in a rather interesting way for fans to enjoy.

But before I begin I want to disclose the fact I’ve never heard of the Tohou series until now. Thanks to XSEED Games that’s no longer the case. We here at Blast Away the Game Review have now become familiar with the famed Touhou franchise that captivates fans around the world. This entry is only the second one to come here to the West, and with what it is, it’s actually one that we can now say how we feel about a franchise of this prestige. As some of you may see this as a sincere apology, it’s anything but that since it was interesting to approach a game franchise that left me scorned with the spin-off fighting title.

Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity Is Surprisingly Fun

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As one would expect, a game of this kind is unique, and because it’s one from the East, it makes it all the more interesting to see due to how unknown this series is in the West. To begin, Touhou: Scarlet Curiousity is surprisingly and astonishingly fun. It’s a captivating title that manages to blend multiple genres together in one. With its combat fluidity as balanced out as ever, the game flows gracefully between Bullet Hell, RPG, Adventure, and even brawler hanks to the unique presentation of the games core mechanics by the developer. In my earliest hours of gameplay, it was hard for me to find the story as captivating as it could be, but later in I found myself hooked and unable to quit.

Our story presents itself as a tale that takes on the adventure between Remilia, a 500-year old vampire that could easily be a tween, and her maid Sakuya. Sakuya of course being tasked with keeping care of this rather powerful and bored vampire that she just so-happens to know rather well. While all would seem well for Remilia, all is not as well as one would think. Living together proves this true for Sakuya who lives within the Scarlet Devil Manor in a place known as Gensokyo (Tokyo anyone?) and more often than not finds her mistress wandering around the colorful wildernesses nearby. With fantastical creatures such as fairies, wolves, lively plant life, and giant bugs running awry, Remilia has decided to wander off to see the world around her.

While many of us are familiar with Remilia’s every-day problems, many of us get to take a glimpse into a common occurance we all know rather well: Boredom. Alleviating it for Remilia involves her taking off into the wilderness near by, however, for her it’s not an experience like one we know where we can alleviate such issues with video games, movies, and music, but instead for her it’s an adventure. Unfortunately for us, her adventure includes her need for finding a challenge that would be noteworthy and make her legend famed. Fortunately for her, this happens quickly as a rather large monster has been seen in the areas around Gensyoko, which includes her Scarlet Devil Mansion being left in ruin, which she returns to almost immediately upon this discovery. Their new adventure is no longer about curing Remilia’s boredem, but instead takes the twist of becoming a full on adventure.

Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity Perfectly Blends the Genres

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As one would expect, the game is all about both Emilia and Sakuya. Both of these characters come with several features that are unique to them. Each have their own spells, their own equipment, and even their own approach to the story itself. Underneath those two features, the game drives deeper into core mechanics than any other game I’ve played, which is a wonderful thing for Touhou: Scarlet Curiousity. In the beginning we first get to see the game as a top-down dungeon crawler with core JRPG mechanics in it. However, things go a bit deeper as the game quickly goes into a transitive change where it goes from the aforementioned genres to blending in two more: Bullet Hell and Hack-and-Slash.

With these genres blending together so perfectly, traveling through each forest, each town,  and each maze comes in with amazing designs. The game will appeal in a top-down style where players are looking down upon the world around them and in the next section, the game could quite easily transform into a side-scrolling title.  While it sounds like the game would eventually starve players of something to do, it manages to divert players from this with switching between those formats only to bring in an all-new interesting twist: sometimes the zones become tricky mazes and puzzles to complete. While aggressively fighting enemies seems it would be wise, this isn’t always the case as sometimes using ranged attacks is best, and can quite easily set up enemies to be dismissed with a rather powerful combo counter. Plus, who doesn’t enjoy a rather humorous appeal to the game with a “5 HIT!” counter quickly goes up to a “100 HIT!” combo counter? I know I sure as heck did and chuckled every time I got to that point.

While all this sounds fun and all, something underneath it does seem a bit problematic, and can be a bit of a pain. While you could be like myself, and enjoy combat, the biggest issue is getting hit by enemies that can cancel out your combos. However, in turn, it’s quite easy to get these combos back up, which provides player with a new approach to their combat situation. The biggest change of pace is the games boss fights, which come out of the box as a bullet Hell experience. Projectiles are quickly unleashed across the screen in a vast array of colors and shapes. While these sound fun to look at, these will quickly remind players that they need to move as quick as possible to carefully avoid them, and will then send players screeching players into an abrupt halt in order to smack the enemy a few times. These fights can take a decent amount of time as enemies will find their health bar degrading rather quickly before the enemy dies if you don’t approach the fights with some care.

The biggest problem I faced here was the contrast — or lack thereof — of the enemies to the environment, sometimes creating moments where I would unfairly lose my combo counter to an unseen fairy or sneaky frog. The combo counter increases gold and experience gains, so these losses are about more than just losing the high score. Still, the combat throughout each level never presented much of a challenge, being more fun and relaxed than most bullet hell games. Finally getting to the end of these stages presents the real attraction of Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity. The boss fights are a true exhibition of Touhou’s bullet hell roots, seeing patterns of brightly colored projectiles that must be carefully avoided in order to get in close enough for a few brief attacks, slowly whittling down their health until victory is yours.

And Here’s the Problem in the Game

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While the combat is enjoyable, and I’m adamant for others to experience it, there’s a large and overly glaring issue a the forefront. Playing through Remilia and Sakuya’s story didn’t see much variety within the game. You see the same paths, same levels, same fights, and ultimately you see the same story at hand. The only change to make this work? Changing names in the narrative where the writers deemed it necessary.

While this can be considered a minor nuance, it brings the question forth: Why not write a unique story for both? After all, isn’t the idea to give us two sides of the same story, but one from each view? Well, that’s not the case. It makes the story feel artificial as we pick from both characters to experience a new story, but instead get the same one, which could have had a lot of potential in exploring each characters unique motive. However, completing the story with one character opens up a bonus dungeon and an alternative ending for players to enjoy, which would have made the alternative narrative a bit more enjoyable in the long run.

Okay, okay, the Game is a JRPG After All

Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity
Developer: Ankake Supa
Publisher: XSEED Games
Price: $19.99
Released: Available Now

While many of the encounters could be seen in a bullet Hell fashion, it’s hard to call the game a true bullet Hell title due to its underlying JRPG mechanics. Players will find themselves grinding out enemies in order to level up, obtain new gear, and even hunting down hidden treasure to provide themselves with a leading edge against their foes. While I didn’t find the mildly letdown of a story bug me, I did find myself more interested in the overall progression of both characters. Downside? They aren’t all that different from one another. Both fight almost the same, they both almost itemize the same, and they both approach tactics to each enemy the same.

While picking fights with these minor sprites can seem fun, the game does find itself growing dry on the enjoyable experiences after the first time through. The most enjoyable part was seeing the flashing “bullets” going across the screen and seeing the spectacle of magic flowing across the screen when new spells are integrated into a players combat. Their most usefulness utility is when boss fights present themselves for players to enjoy. Whether it’s sending Remilia’s shadowy like tendrils into the ground to dispatch enemies or even her “spiral of death” as I endearingly call it.

Like any JRPG, Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity finds its most enjoyment in exploring, the beautiful animations, and the boss fights due to the fact many underlying itemization options such as shops and spell equipping seem minor. However, purchasing and discovering items seem minor due to the fact most of them offer the same bonuses with little effect.

 

However, if you can look past these small flaws, Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity is rather enjoyable, charming, and quite unique among many of the PlayStation 4’s franchises that are already here.

Our review is based on a full release version that was provided to us by the games publisher.  For information about our ethics policy please click here.

 Final Score: 7 out of 10

About the Writer:

dustin_batgr_prof

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

Sit-Rep: MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death – Busty, Bubbly, and Deadly to Itself

/ Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

Pros:
+Amazingly intricate dungeon designs
+Intuitive gameplay mechanics

Cons:
–A Shallow story that feels rather silly and impossible to follow
–Difficulty spikes can be difficult to overcome
–Building new bots can be a rather large hassle in its own.

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Whenever I hear that two of my favorite duos have teamed up once again, it’s hard for me not to be excited, and it continues on to be that way with Idea Factory and Compile Heart. They are one of the strongest duos in the industry when it comes to making some of the best RPGs in the world, and it continues on thankfully to the help of the Hyperdimension Neptunia series, which I’ve been enjoying for years on end. The latest from this team up comes under the name of MeiQ: Labyinth of Death, which brings us into a new gameplay perspective for the PlayStation Vita. Well not new, but definitely new from Compile Heart and Idea Factory.

With near constant releases across the world, MeiQ is a series I’ve neglected with the many releases the series has received over the years, but thanks to Idea Factory that has changed and we’ve finally gone hands on with it. Not just hands on, but full playthrough that has allowed us to try and enjoy this latest entry for MeiQ. While I know that Compile Heart and Idea factory aren’t a one trick pony, it still comes out hard to believe and doesn’t seem to change much between their two games.

MeiQ: Laybrinth of Death isn’t all Bad

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Before I begin to truly pick apart the games flaws, lets take a look at what makes MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death is a rather enjoyable before I begin hammering down on some of my biggest problems with the game. To begin, the world we are presented isn’t a bad one, nor is it flawed. Each character feels truly alive, enjoyable, and even brings in something completely new in comparison to what we’ve experienced before.

The world has been cursed with an eternal night that seeks to never end. With the curse being more problematic than ever before, game presents itself as in need of a hero that can attempt to lift it, and place those at the helm of the cause to rest. With various guardians spread across the world, it’s hard for any of the hopeful heroines or heroes to find their way through, but for us it is possible thanks to our ability to control a machina.

The downside to this, the hopefuls are weapon that are barely dressed, oddly young, and could quite easily be said to be overly well endowed. Their enemies should be worried more about their chests than the weapons or magic they wield. This is quite easily offset by the games overall appeal, which is quite unique thanks to the games beautiful artwork and character designs. While there, as stated, a diverse set of characters, MeiQ fails to alleviate on this as much of this unless you look into their personalities, which even then are almost one-in-the-same at the end of the day.

One thing that does make the game a bit more enjoyable is the games use of dual audio that can be chosen within the options menu. Here you can use the Japanese voice overs, which quite honestly, alleviates some of the nuances this game comes embedded with. This only serves as a minor alleviation from the games painful and identical encounters that seem rather identical. It’d have been nice if they had seemed to make this game a bit more unique with newer monsters, mini-boss fights, and more intricate puzzle designs.

And Now for the Ugly Side of MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death

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As stated, MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death isn’t such a horrible game at all times, and in many ways, it has been quite painful for a good bit of it. Much as one would expect, the game has five characters that players will be able to choose from to form their party, and in this one we are restricted to using only three of our characters to choose from. Also, our heroes will be paired up with mechs titled “Guardians”. Unfortunately, this also means that players will be grinding out gear parts for these Guardians in order to customize them and grab new parts.

In order to also enjoy the game requires fans to enjoy an RPG that isn’t just turn based, but also requires fans to constantly click forward, left, right, or back on the d-pad or thumbsticks in order to get where they want. As much as this seems as a small problem, after ten-to-twenty hours, it becomes a rather large scale problem for many. while characters and their use of magic as well as items can be useful, it’s not near as useful as it could have been have been were they using their guardians. Another issue, however does lie in wait with the games combat systems: Combos. While Combos seem like something that would be hard to enjoy, it is something present within this game, but is not nearly as easy as games like White Knight Chronicles or even as the ones on Phantasy Star IV where players could easily access them when needed be as players alternate between Guardians for each character.

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However, let alone does combat show these issues, one of the largest ones just happens to come about with difficulty scaling. This actually shows up quite easily in several occasions where players will encounter Boss Genbu who just happens to show the games later spike in overall difficulty. It’s places like him and even The Earth Dragon Gomorrah battle where  the difficult spikes and even requires fans to grind quite a bit more before taking on further adventures. The downside to this exists in the extent it slows down the overall enjoyment of the game due to how much time fans will spend moving across each dungeon once more. To be honest even on easy the game presented itself with an overall difficulty spike that at times, made me wish there had been an easier selection, and a choice in boss difficulty levels.

Unlike other RPGs, MeiQ: The Labyrinth of Death isn’t one where you can expect to just beat your way through it. Instead the game does require players to use strategy, farm, and even get the best gear available for their characters. Defeat in the game is actually an option as there is no penalty for it. I’ve found times when I’ve died a few times on boss fights before moving back, and even found myself grinning at the idea I didn’t find my health lowered, or even penalized for each of my deaths. Had the game punished me a bit more, I’m sure I’d had been a bit more cautious in my overall adventures.  For now, even post review? I’ll find myself still trudging on even more violently than ever before to ensure I can brute force my way through the games hard difficulty.

Closing Thoughts on MeiQ: The Labyrinth of Death

3

MeiQ: The Labyrinth of Death – PlayStation Vita, PlayStation TV
Developer: Compile Heart
Publisher: Idea Factory
Price: $39.99
Released: Available Now

While my complaints on MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death seem minor, the game does suffer from multiple scenarios of issues relating to a shoddy story, poor character development, difficulty spikes, and even repetitious combat that will send many cringing in pain due to all of it. While some may find fun in MeiQ: The Labyrinth of Death, it’d be easier to pick up a different Compile Hearts title and even find one that you may enjoy a bit more, but that does not go without saying that this game does deserve a fair chance from those wishing to give it a chance.

For now, I’ll stick with Fairy Fencer F: Advent Dark Rising and keep giving it the multiple playthroughs it enjoys.

Our review is based on a full release version that was provided to us by the games publisher.  For information about our ethics policy please click here.

 Final Score: 6 out of 10

About the Writer:

dustin_batgr_prof

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

 

Like Card Games? The Final Fantasy Card Game is Coming!

/ Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

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Setting our wallets on fire for Final Fantasy related collectibles isn’t nothing new. We’ve all been doing it for years. Today, Square Enix has made that reason even bigger. Today our friends at Square Enix have announced that the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game is headed our way next month with all 426 cards being translated into English.

The downside to this? It won’t be cheap. You’ll want to prepare to set your wallets on fire and walk away knowing that the damage hasn’t even been dealt yet. However, if you want to just play there’s no true damage to be done just yet. So what do you need to know?

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If you plan on collecting, it’s not going to cheap. If the game follows on with pricing that we have seen with Trading Card Games such as Magic the Gathering this will set each deck to be priced at $13.99 USD while booster packs could run anywhere between $3.99 USD to $6.99 USD. Luckily for us it’s a fair assumption to how much they’ll run. Downside for you collectors? Each card will have a premium foil counterpart (ouch that has to hurt).

The card game will feature art from Final Fantasy Dissidia, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and even World of Final Fantasy. Don’t be surprised to see characters such as Zidane from Final Fantasy IX to appear.

About the Writer:

dustin_batgr_prof

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

Mirage: Arcane Warfare Launches its Closed Alpha

/ Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

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Alpha’s, we all love them, and they remain fun as ever since we get to see new games in their pre-release stage. This newest entry is Torn Banner Studios who has announced their new multiplayer combat action title, Mirage: Arcane Warfare, has entered its closed alpha stage for fans to try out.

With its release just edging around the corner in early 2017, fans will get to see the latest game by Chivalry: Medieval Warfare’s developer as they bring in a combination of brutal closed ranged combat with the cross over of exotic fantasy worlds where magic will be freed across the battlefield.

How do you get in? Well quite easily in all reality. Head on over to the games official website –  www.MirageArcaneWarfare.com – sign up, and await your chance to have your name drawn for the alpha! That’s it and that’s exactly where you can hope to be. If you want to know more, check out their latest blog post from the dev team. Head on over to their Facebook page, give it a like if you use FB or simply head on over to Twitter and follow @MirageGame for future news and updates.

Or y’know, you can just stay tuned to us here for more information.

About the Writer:

dustin_batgr_prof

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

Sit-Rep: Warframe: Silver Grove – Where Faeries Exist

/ Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

Pros:
+An improved void system allowing for a much broader variety of Prime gear
+New Solar Map that’s a lot more in-depth
+Fusion system improvements that are more intuitive by design
+Titania’s codex quest explains more about Warframes

Cons:
–Frame rate jumps still remain problematic
–Kavat’s die extremely easy

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A lot has changed since the last time we did a review on Digital Extremes’ smash-hit free-to-play title Warframe. Last time we covered the updated titled Sands of Inaros, which continued the rather well done cinematic approach that has premiered on the game. The latest update The Silver Grove continues this trend quite well as it introduces us to another portion of the`story behind both Warframes and Tenno.

However, this latest one doesn’t just carry on with that tradition, it improves upon it even more than one would expect. While this is one of the minor changes made, the rest of the game has been majorly overhauled in some major ways between Specters of the Rail and the Silver Grove updates.

The Changes to Void Missions and the new Rune Segment

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When it comes down to it, the void has been heavily changed, and for the better. Instead of having to worry about Void Keys pertaining to each mission type such as Tower I Defense, Tower III Survival, or even Tower IV Interception’s. While each of these missions till exist, Void Fissures have changed the game by allowing for Relic’s to activate during alert style fissures. How so, you might ask, and the answer is clear: the galactic map is now your playground.

When selecting these missions they may call upon relics, whether they are upgraded or not, and will determine the possible loot that can drop. While each of these relics will differentiate based upon what the fissures require. This also allows for players to choose the chance of what loot they want to attempt getting. Want a Galantine Prime? Load up a Neo V3 Relic in order to have a chance.

Want a better chance at getting that drop? That is possible thanks to the new Rune Segment allowing for players to use their void fissure samples in order to upgrade the relics. Doing so, as stated, upgrades your chances to obtain the prime parts wanted. This change is one that has been highly wanted by many players as it opens up the possibilities of us obtaining more prime parts without removing others.

The Fusion Upgrading Process Changes are Spectacular

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One of the biggest changes that comes to Warframe is one that’s been needed more than ever in recent days. Players have been waiting for this one to happen. Fusion cores have been completely removed from the game and replaced with a new essence called “Edo”. This new “essence” allows for players to do the same thing that Fusion Cores did, but with a bit more ease, but doesn’t change the overall cost.

Just like Fusion Cores, Edo can be picked upon the breaking of loot crates, opening of lockers, or even the elimination of enemies. However, the amount you get, seems to variate upon the difficulty of the missions. This allows for a much cleaner inventory and less need to navigate through Fusion Cores. Additionally, the addition of Edo, also makes it so that players could quite easily take their duplicates and break them down for Edo.

The Addition of the Galactic Map 3.0 Makes it Easier to Navigate

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Ontop of all these additions, Warframe has made another huge leap with its addition of the new Galactic Map, which mixes the best of Galactic Map 1.0 and 2.0 and making easier to navigate. Let alone does this offer players a new way to see the planets around them and the resources they gain. The new map also allows for players to zoom in on each planet and see if the there are alerts on each planet. It also will allow for players to see if missions take place on the planet or a ship.

All That Shines Isn’t Gold, However

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Warframe: The Silver Grlove – PlayStation 4 (Reviewed), Xbox One (Reviewed), and PC
Developer: Digital Extremes
Publisher: Digital Extremes
Price: Fee-to-Play
Released: Available Now

Even with many of Warframe’s changes, Digital Extremes has pushed to make the game the best experience ever, and in many ways, they started doing so quite well. However, there are a few things that could be improved upon even with these most recent changes. The problems don’t sit on Warframes surface, instead many of them sit in the underlying mechanics such as the Kavat.

Much like their Kubrow twins, Kavat is another companion that can be used. Instead of packing brute force like their Kubrow cousins, the Kavat is all about speed and their cunning. They can also buff the squads they are with, however, they are also easy to die over first. Unfortunately, this can be problematic for some in higher level missions where plenty of damage is being tossed about.

This is where the Kavat, unlock the Kubrow, tends to become a casualty and constantly doing so as enemies will tend to bring it down quickly.

Rest Assured Tenno It’s Still a Solid Experience

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Just as one would hope, the Warframe experience remains solid for players to enjoy. With the new update coming up titled The War Within there is plenty to come that can feature some changes, some re-balances, and even new mechanics. Warframe still remains as strong as expected and enjoyable as ever. All we can do now, is wait and see what is coming up, and tune in to the Warframe Primetime on YouTube and Twitch.

Our review is based on the full free-to-play version that can be downloaded on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.  For information about our ethics policy please click here.

 Final Score: 8 out of 10

About the Writer:

dustin_batgr_prof

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

Sit-Rep: Touhou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet – Shooting Only Blanks

/ Dustin Murphy / 2 Comments

Pros:
+A concept new to player versus player games
+Interesting story concepts that become enjoyable with time
+Grabs the true ideal of being a bullet hell title

Cons:
-Gameplay balancing is a huge issue
–Tutorials are awful and could use reworking
–Online latency is a huge issue.

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Bullet Hell games are nothing new when it comes to games. Titles such as Gradius, Darius, and a host of many more, the genre is still alive, and is receiving the content needed to keep the genre alive. This latest entry is one that decides to blend the worlds of fighting games and bullet hell games into one. Like any fighting title, the goal is to whittle your enemies health down to nothing before unleashing a “spell” to take them out.

Touhou Genso Rondo is just that. A bullet hell fighting game. As strange of a concept it is, these two genres mesh together for a very interesting title. Unfortunately, due to some choice design decisions, it doesn’t work out as well as I would have hoped.

Tohou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet’s Great Ideas are Poorly Executed

Fighting games and bullet hell shooters have always existed in two separate genres until  now. Blending the two has been a questionable thing for some time and now we’re seeing the first attempt at it. While the fusion of the two seems as if it would fluidly transition between the two, instead of choppy, confusing, and oddly coordinated controls with lackluster tutorials.

Unfortunately, Tohou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet finds itself in some awkward places as it doesn’t do much to welcome newcomers like myself. Instead I found myself mindlessly mashing at buttons such as my L2 button, my L1 button, and even smashing across the face buttons on my controller in order to perform randomized attacks I am still figuring out even after having spent a good ten-to-twenty hours in the game. While the idea of a fighting game based on bullet hell mechanics would have been lovely, this game is great ideas put into a flawed situation, and proves how flawed design executions can come to life

While the game itself, once figured out, becomes enjoyable, it proves that the team didn’t take the time to fix what was needed in order to ensure a successful launch. For now the flawed mechanics are intact and will become infuriating. While I could focus on the bad for an entire review, I prefer not, and would like to take my time to focus on where it can improve.

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Tohou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet’s Tutorial and Speed Need Reworked

Improvement is something that all developers seek to do as their games life gets underway. Over time we see menu’s get reworked, bug fixes implemented, overall enhancements get underway, and even a few additions to the game that were already in place. However, this game needs quite a few improvements before it’ll be a solid, and steady game. Before we begin, lets bullet point the games most critical flaws when it comes to learning how to play it.

  • Training tutorials
  • Fight Pacing
  • Bug fixes for new rule sets

While these three seem so few, it isn’t unsurprising to see where the game needs to improve after playing for the many hours I have. While music, animations, and graphic novel scenes may seem rock-solid; because they are; the game still has underlying issues. Tutorials being the weakest one of them. As any gamer knows, when it comes to a new game, it is the utmost importance for a game like this to actually have solid tutorials, to guide players through the game they are playing, and help them understand it.

The second issue comes with the fact players will find themselves consistently using the games fast paced attack mode, where they will glide through the arena. Unfortunately, another thing that needs fixed is the downloading newer versions, which will appear if they’ve released new data. When you do, it’ll be not-so-uncommon to see the data state “corrupted”. Here at B.A.T.G.R.’s home office, I found myself attempting to download the file multiple times. Once downloaded, a few things changed quite well. However, for now, the game remains plagued with minor issues.

Tohou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet – PlayStation 4 (Reviewed), PlayStation Vita
Developer: CUBETYPE
Publisher: NIS America
Price: $49.99
Released: Available Now

While the combat modes appear in the game through a single set of buttons players can easily find themselves moving towards trying to figure out what each one does. For example in slow mode, players can find themselves grazing past enemy bullets in order to boost up their charge bar. In other modes players move fast, seeping up less charge bar, players can move across the screen faster in order to damage their opponent. Lastly, we have charge, which is all about dealing as much damage as possible in one swift go.

Closing Thoughts as the Ballet Ends

While Tohou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet is a troubled game, it is also a game that offers a chance for players to try something new despite its shortcomings that in many ways, could hurt it in the long run, but shouldn’t deter players from trying something new. For now, I’ll be sticking to the game as a pick-up and go title as the stories are actually quite easy to ignore if players are wanting to just jump straight into the action.

Our review is based on a copy provided to us by the games publisher.  For information about our ethics policy please click here.

 Final Score: 5 out of 10

About the Writer:

dustin_batgr_prof

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

New Blood Reveals a new Trailer for Dusk

/ Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

Dusk_SC01

At QuakeCon 2016 I got to meet up with my pal Oshry and the team at New Blood once more to get my hands on the up and coming highly addictive titled Dusk. If you were at the event, you know exactly one I am talking about, and it’s one that left us all craving for more.

The title as stated in our previous article is one that offers a respectful nod tot he days of DOOM, Quake, Heretic, and even games such as Blood: A Whole Unit. If you haven’t already been checking it out? You definitely should have it on your radar in the upcoming days.

About the Writer:

dustin_batgr_prof

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

GOD WARS Future Past is Bringing More Life the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita

/ Dustin Murphy / 2 Comments

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Ready for a new tactical RPG title? You want one in early 2017 for your PlayStation 4 and or your PlayStation Vita? If so, then good. NIS America will have you covered as they have announced that their upcoming title GOD WARS Future Past seeks to tell a story of an untold period in Japan through both folklore and even tactical combat situations. In this title, players will take on an experience unlike any other as they experience the traditional stories of Japans three warring nations.

The game will take focus on these nations dubbed: Fuji, Izumo, and Hyuga. The lands name? Mizuho. This was a land that desired to not see conflict within the lands, they honored their ancestral spirits, and they lived in harmony with the spirits around them. For Japan this time was peaceful, one that its denizens were happy with until natural disasters struck. From floods, to earthquakes, and finally volcano’s devastated their lands. In order to stop the eruptions, their queen, Tsukuyomi, sacrificed her beloved daughter Sakuya to the mountain, and it lead to her daughter Kaguya being confined to her room within a bamboo seal in case the time arose to make another sacrifice.

As this happened, her daughter would soon rise against her fate to be sacrificed with the help of her friend Kintaro, one that would help her escape Fuji and trek across the mystical lands of Mizuho. Their discoveries would lead them to find the truth behind all these occurrences as the game takes players deep into Japanese tradition. The game will feature a large pantheon as players meet the Myriad gods, customizes characters, tactics, and even set up their unique form of combat as each new trial awaits them.

The art style for players to enjoy will be inspired by traditional Japanese ink painting and wood carving arts. Along with this, fans will get to enjoy it all in GOD WARS when it launches in 2017. So stay tuned for more information as the launch of the game draws nearer.

About the Writer:

dustin_batgr_prof

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.