You know, for a DS game with a lot of text, I should have learned to read japanese.
It's a strategy game that apparently seems to follow the events of the One Year War, but I had no clue what to press or how to make it function; still, the music bops and it looks nice so it's not a total mess.

Also, Sieg Zeon

Finally, my Sunrider trilogy is at its final destination with this last review 10 years in the backburner.
I had sought to start playing this game many times but, having forgotten all about Sunrider except the fact I liked it as a teen, I decided to replay the first entry; while the art was a bit crude and the gameplay very meh, the world and its narrative left me wanting to see more of Kayto and crew, so here I am, beginning my final steps of this decade long journey with a sci-fi series I was not expecting to grow so fond of.
First of, Liberation Day steps up both in its audio and graphics: the sounds are clearer, the backgrounds look better and the models don't look so stiff. The girls have more detail to them especially in their hair but they still resemble their original versions, which is nice. The only model that did not change was Admiral Grey's and that was quite jarring.
The UI got a bit of an overhaul but the battle system stayed roughly the same with just small changes and add ons (the captain points have a limit, repairs cost way more, etc); they did take out the close ups for the battles though which makes the fights less cinematic; not really a problem since the cutscenes themselves got a big level up: particle effects, nicer looking art and voice acting of an all new japanese cast. The casting is ok with most voices fitting the characters but hearing Asaga go from "IMMA FIRE MA LAZER" to cute generic anime girl was a bit sad.
The music is still good with an opening that goes very hard but I could not believe when they used the spinning monkeys theme AGAIN in more than one scene.
Unfortunately the game is not accomodating for new people, expecting you to know what happened on the last game and to have played it to completion: this would not be a big thing if not for the fact that the game throws you into combat against a lot of enemies with the same difficulty the last game's final missions had.

Now, for the story: unfortunately for Sunrider, the sequel steers away from the original Mobile Suit Gundam and isntead feels heavily inspired by Mobile Suit Gundam SEED. Gone are the politics of the Alliance with the only interesting politic being the divide between the two factions of PACT; the main theme is now the harem, of which you have no way of choosing who to go to. They push the Kayto-Chigara relationship even though the most popular girl by the end of the original game was Ava all for plot reasons.
Speaking of plot, while it is definitely better paced than the last game and has some interesting ideas (first and foremost the idea of the Sharr being some sort of weird possession that happens to Ryuvia royalty, shame it never gets brought up again, but also the companionship between Sola and Asaga) the fact that ALL of it, the entire fate of this franchise galaxy, depended on a love triangle was not the kind of thing I was expecting and I don't mean that in a good way.
The way they use Chigara and Lynn in the story, how Asaga feels by the end and the whole thing about time paradoxes feels... off. This could have been a less complicated story and have benefited for it.
That last stand of the Sunrider though? That was exquisite to watch.

I'll keep my eyes open for the series going forward (there is a Sunrider 4 which I might just buy) but I am more cautious for Sunrider than I was when I finished Mask of Arcadius; the way the plot is moving might just make everything I liked about this series fall apart.

While this game and its predecessor share the same value of 3.5, I do believe that story wise Mask of Arcadius was better, with less contrivances; still, one has to account for all of the small and big changes Liberation Day brought, most of them good.
In a way the story, the main focus of the games, was not up to par to its predecessor and the game has, in my eyes, something along the lines of a 3.25/5.

Replaying through the entire Sunrider series in order to take off "Liberation Day" from my backlog has actually been more fun that I anticipated.
Sunrider was the VN I was obsessed with during middle school so I was afraid of it not holding up but while the bad is there, it's bad I already knew of.
Divided into two sections, First Arrival and Mask of Arcadius, this game contains the first two chapters of the Sunrider story.
The art is ok, with the characters being a bit overly animated and with everyone seemingly having enough hair to cover everyone's ears, but the mecha design is very nice and the look of the Sunrider itself is etched into my brain since I was a teenager.
The story follows Kayto Shields, captain of the prototype ship Sunrider; during the maiden voyage, though, his home planet of Cera is attacked by a group called PACT and is forced to escape with his crew.
This initial moment, not to dissimilar from the beginning of the original Mobile Suit Gundam, kicks off Mask of Arcadius's story, a sci-fi narrative spanning roughly 10 hours where, after collecting different Ryder (these universe's name for mechs) pilots from around the galaxy and somewhat exploring their background, the crew of the Sunrider will find itself thrown into the midst of the Alliance-PACT War.
While the characters all fall within a specific stereotype, the banter is cute at times and the worldbuilding, while not exactly inspired, was interesting to me.
The presentation is ok with the music being a standout (the OST was surprisingly good even though they used the spinning monkeys music for the beach event) and the OP, while showing a bit too much fanservice, was good enough.
The gameplay is quite simple, a barebones tactical grid based system, but that did not make the enemies less annoying; what really pushed me to finish this game for the second time was the story itself and the world it is set in.
That being said, the story doesn't deviate from cliches of the war mecha genre like nobody being fully good, a lot of politics and the lone spaceship changing the tides of war, but it just so happens that I really like those tropes so it wasn't much of a problem for me.

While I enjoyed my time with Mask of Arcadius I am now ready to move on with its sequel "Liberation Day" and continue the story.

I have also reviewed the initial part of the game, First Arrival, but I'll just copy-paste it here for good measure:
So, my initial idea was to replay the original Sunrider to better review the sequel, Liberation Day, which had been sitting on my backlog for the best part of almost a decade.
Imagine my surprise, then, when I open Mask of Arcadius and see this new option, First Arrival, on the menu.
That being said, consider this a surprise review of Sunrider: First Arrival.
The OST is very cinematic and recalls the sci-fi soundtrack vibe of things like Mass Effect.
The battle theme is good but the fact that it abruptly stops any time it's PACTs turn is very jarring.
The plot of the single out spaceship with mechs inside is very reminiscing of Gundam.
The character development for Icari was so fast, she was ready to shoot you adn then BAM she's with you, not that well paced.
Asaga showing her true identity was a good idea very badly paced but still, the tie between her and Sola was actually a really cool idea.

So, my initial idea was to replay the original Sunrider to better review the sequel, Liberation Day, which had been sitting on my backlog for the best part of almost a decade.
Imagine my surprise, then, when I open Mask of Arcadius and see this new option, First Arrival, on the menu. After some digging I discovered that Mask of Arcadius has 2 chapters of the multi-chaptered story with the first one being First Arrival.
That being said, consider this a surprise review of Sunrider: First Arrival.

First Arrival is the first of many arcs of the "Sunrider" narrative and is roughly 5 hours in length, kickstarting the whole story of the Sunrider and its captain from the ship's maiden voyage to the end of Act 1, when after a big battle you have finished collecting your waifus, all pilots of the Ryders, this universe's mechs.
The story starts strong, throws a lot of premises and does a lot of world building but the pacing itself, from the introduction of Icari to the dissapearance of the pirate girl or the rescue mission on Ryuvia, is not the best; enemies turn allies quickly and things sometimes seem to happen.
Still, the world building is fairly entertaining and while it does fall on tropes there are some things, like the ties between Sola and Asaga, that are interesting making Sunrider both similar to its peers, with the "sole-spaceship-fighting-a-war" Gundam storyline, stand a bit better on its own.
The battles go on on a GRID system and they are easy to understand; there's not a lot of interesting features to the combat but it gets the job done, although the cut between the ally music and the enemies is alwasy jarring.
Speaking of music, the OST is quite good reminding me of things like Mass Effect, but the voicelines (there are little and only in battle in seems) are repeated at nauseam during combat to the point they get a bit annoying.
The designs tho are really good, the characters are fine but the MECHS look very nice and the Sunrider itself is so cool looking its design is etched into my brain since I was 14.

Overall 5/10 for combat but a good 6.5/10 on story so because of good intentions and the fact the Solace-PACT War is only just starting by the end of this part of the story, I'll give the game a not so bad review.

I really wanted to like this game more.
Code of Princess is a beat em up with a wismsical story that does not take itself very seriously, the gameplay happens in 3 lines with your chosen character being able to just between them.
There are RPGs elements by means of stats and equipment to give to Princess Solange and her merry band of misfit friends.
The localisation has them be very self aware and the voice overs are good but a bit of the "english anime voice over" is felt here.
There are many enemies and both them and the characters feel unique, but the gameplay itself can get repetitive quite quickly; the repetitive-ness of the combat and the fact it doesn't change at all through-out the missions and only when you change characters made me put this game down.
It's ok, it's good if you are bored to keep you occupied for a bit.

Played on the PSP.
My love of mechas brought me to this game which looks very good for a PS1 game; the beginning cinematic is amazing but even the game itself while in motion looks quite good.

The controls are so weird and GOD being thrown to combat without telling me what to press was not what I was expecting.
once you get used to the controls it does not control bad, a bit janky but that's more on it being a PS1 game than any of the game's qualities.
The customization is very interesting and as always from From Software there's a LOT of stats.
The story is not very present, the main thing is you piloting and customizing your mech, a shame since mecha normally has very interesting stories in my opinion.
the enemies are similar to your ACs but the maps you fight in feel kind of same-y and not very interesting after a while.

After some missions I got bored but I completely understand why people love Armored Core and I will try other titles in the series for sure.

Let's start on a positive note for this one:
The game has a neat artstyle and a good sense of presentation, it knows what it wants to look like with both the black-and-white shading and the character design and is not afraid of doing its thing.
The animations are quite fluid but still remind you of the older top down RPGs.
The Soundtrack is ok and the sound effect do help you feel that vibe of old RPG.
That is were the good stuff ends though.
The idea for the character to do things differently and experiment on the same dungeon because of a time loop is fun on paper, but the way In Stars and Time does it make it oh so boring; the combat gets boring fast with it being a glorified rock-papers-scissors and no amount of new mechanics they put can save it. You could try to avoid combat, but doing it is futile since most of the dungeon is just small corridors so you are quite literally FORCED to fight every time.
While some of your progress does get transported from one loop to the next, running around to get the same keys every time got so boring I put down the game and never picked it up.
The idea is cute and the presentation is not bad, but god it felt like a chore every time a new loop began.

Small appreciation for the characters though, they are well written and their banter is very fun to read.