etria_girl
Remarkably well done game for what it is, had a great time with it. The two new characters are really interesting and enjoyable, and the writing is honestly on-par with the show's.
None of the endings are super substantial but the meat of the game is good, and everything still feels like it wraps up fairly well despite it.
None of the endings are super substantial but the meat of the game is good, and everything still feels like it wraps up fairly well despite it.
man i wish someone would just make a new portrait of ruin
(i generally like the inti sidescrollers ive played and this looked castlevania-ish so i did no research on this before getting it. unfortunately this means i didnt realize it was a spinoff of some ecchi series, so i really didn't like the story or setting. this game is definitely a sequel to their curse of the moon games, (of which i only played the first and only kind of liked) and plays a lot like them.
the music was bad the whole way through, the levels were standard and not that interesting, and the bosses were a fair challenge but the rest of the game being so :/ really brought them down to me. unlocking new abilities to get around stages was kind of fun, but they were all just awkward enough to use that they never felt all that freeing or exciting to use.)
well if nothing else, this game has at least kind of put me in the mood to go back to/restart touhou luna nights, so that's something i guess
(i generally like the inti sidescrollers ive played and this looked castlevania-ish so i did no research on this before getting it. unfortunately this means i didnt realize it was a spinoff of some ecchi series, so i really didn't like the story or setting. this game is definitely a sequel to their curse of the moon games, (of which i only played the first and only kind of liked) and plays a lot like them.
the music was bad the whole way through, the levels were standard and not that interesting, and the bosses were a fair challenge but the rest of the game being so :/ really brought them down to me. unlocking new abilities to get around stages was kind of fun, but they were all just awkward enough to use that they never felt all that freeing or exciting to use.)
well if nothing else, this game has at least kind of put me in the mood to go back to/restart touhou luna nights, so that's something i guess
2007
fantastic game, great to revisit the original after so long with the 3ds version
while i think later entries in the series improve a lot of elements of this game, the 5th stratum sequence in this game is unmatched by any other entry in the series, and i was floored by how good it was even having played it before. probably the etrian game with the most interesting mood, with many different aspects of the gameplay combining into a really unique feeling
while i think later entries in the series improve a lot of elements of this game, the 5th stratum sequence in this game is unmatched by any other entry in the series, and i was floored by how good it was even having played it before. probably the etrian game with the most interesting mood, with many different aspects of the gameplay combining into a really unique feeling
This game is in such direct conversation with EO1 that they really are best played as a pair. There are a ton of changes in EO2 from EO1, many of which are about breaking everything that was strong in EO1 and making you take a different, often more challenging, approach here. I don't love every change they make (as fun as it is to use an alternate class in a role, a war magus just feels less secure to have around than a medic did), but the changes that are good are Really important to my enjoyment.
Every town NPC has dialogue every time you reach a new floor, which may be the most important change to the feel of the game from EO1. Every town character gets so much more personality, and the game plays with them (introducing character quirks and quest chains) and the time-of-day system (something that was barely relevant in EO1), all the time. Derek the hospital's doctor works all day and doesn’t want to be overheard, so isn't free to meet with you about a sidequest he's posted until 11PM. And in a later stratum there are tiles that save you a lot of time but can only be crossed at night. You will even speak to miscellaneous NPCs in the labyrinth far more now, a minor but still noticeable change.
The strata theming in EO1 was pretty good, and in the moment feels totally appropriate and strong but I like the theming and design of EO2’s strata (basic as the idea is) a lot more. While the series never quite recaptures the feeling of leading up to and then progressing through EO1’s 5th stratum, the 1st through 4th here are really good, and I like most of the 5th in a gameplay sense (though what a letdown compared to 1’s both visually and thematically, oof.)
And lastly the music is absolutely fantastic here, one of the best soundtracks of the series (though they are nearly all excellent).
Overall a great game, the quibbles I have with it don’t compare with the things I love about it, and I am really happy I revisited Lagaard.
Every town NPC has dialogue every time you reach a new floor, which may be the most important change to the feel of the game from EO1. Every town character gets so much more personality, and the game plays with them (introducing character quirks and quest chains) and the time-of-day system (something that was barely relevant in EO1), all the time. Derek the hospital's doctor works all day and doesn’t want to be overheard, so isn't free to meet with you about a sidequest he's posted until 11PM. And in a later stratum there are tiles that save you a lot of time but can only be crossed at night. You will even speak to miscellaneous NPCs in the labyrinth far more now, a minor but still noticeable change.
The strata theming in EO1 was pretty good, and in the moment feels totally appropriate and strong but I like the theming and design of EO2’s strata (basic as the idea is) a lot more. While the series never quite recaptures the feeling of leading up to and then progressing through EO1’s 5th stratum, the 1st through 4th here are really good, and I like most of the 5th in a gameplay sense (though what a letdown compared to 1’s both visually and thematically, oof.)
And lastly the music is absolutely fantastic here, one of the best soundtracks of the series (though they are nearly all excellent).
Overall a great game, the quibbles I have with it don’t compare with the things I love about it, and I am really happy I revisited Lagaard.
Overall I had a great time with this game once again, and its close enough to the original that it'd be totally fine to play this in place of the original, since getting a Wii and the fan patch hooked up would be a lot of effort for some people.
There are of course some slight issues with this remaster (as with all remasters) but for what it's worth I didn't super notice this stuff when playing, and I think everything that made the original good was retained.
The new lighting looks pretty good but does somewhat take away the impact of certain rooms which had unique lighting in the original (which they still have, it just is less of a dramatic difference from the regular hallways now).
The new character models look Fine but on seeing a comparison they are less expressive and are way less animated than the Wii version, which is definitely a shame.
And lastly using the right stick for the flashlight is just more awkward than using the motion controls from the original.
Those issues aside though, the new translation is pretty good and the game still looks and plays great, so I'm happy. If they ever make a Fatal Frame 6 I hope it's closer to this game's style than to 5's.
There are of course some slight issues with this remaster (as with all remasters) but for what it's worth I didn't super notice this stuff when playing, and I think everything that made the original good was retained.
The new lighting looks pretty good but does somewhat take away the impact of certain rooms which had unique lighting in the original (which they still have, it just is less of a dramatic difference from the regular hallways now).
The new character models look Fine but on seeing a comparison they are less expressive and are way less animated than the Wii version, which is definitely a shame.
And lastly using the right stick for the flashlight is just more awkward than using the motion controls from the original.
Those issues aside though, the new translation is pretty good and the game still looks and plays great, so I'm happy. If they ever make a Fatal Frame 6 I hope it's closer to this game's style than to 5's.
This review contains spoilers
cs3 spoilers in this review:
this game is so uneven. strong start, great intermission, weak middle, good ending (though loses nearly all impact in retrospect :/), a great epilogue and then ANOTHER epilogue because they dont want to end the game on as sad a note (even though it kind of ruins the mood they Just set up)
seriously, so much of the finale chapter fails to hit knowing that IMMEDIATELY in the next game they walk back crow dying. and i know theres Reasons for it, but man theres looong scenes of weeping and an entire credits sequence all around this that I remember hitting when i played this for the first time on vita, that just totally misses now.
and speaking of weird choices this game has basically three endings. the game could have ended with the occupation epilogue and it would have worked Really well as a downer ending, and a great point of comparison for where rean and lloyd both end up at the end of their respective stories to this point. i’m even willing to give falcom that last free day, because the mood of it at the start is Really good, and having one last free day does being it back around in a nice way. rean returning from tangram gate feeling so bad about everything, claire not even being able to talk to him, all his friends leaving him to move on with their lives as he’s stuck in this rut, its great. but because thats too sad of a way to go out they have to just do the old schoolhouse again so everyone can come together for a SECOND full length final dungeon. I dont remember the epilogue feeling as out of place the first time i played it but i was so wrapped up in my feelings with everything that first time in a way i was less so this time, and it stuck out so much more.
I still like this game and its highs are good, but its lows are so much more pronounced this time. weird game
edit: also oh yeah putting important story content into ng+ only and even then you have to finish the whole game finding these hidden items to get a secret cutscene is so stupid, what were they thinking
this game is so uneven. strong start, great intermission, weak middle, good ending (though loses nearly all impact in retrospect :/), a great epilogue and then ANOTHER epilogue because they dont want to end the game on as sad a note (even though it kind of ruins the mood they Just set up)
seriously, so much of the finale chapter fails to hit knowing that IMMEDIATELY in the next game they walk back crow dying. and i know theres Reasons for it, but man theres looong scenes of weeping and an entire credits sequence all around this that I remember hitting when i played this for the first time on vita, that just totally misses now.
and speaking of weird choices this game has basically three endings. the game could have ended with the occupation epilogue and it would have worked Really well as a downer ending, and a great point of comparison for where rean and lloyd both end up at the end of their respective stories to this point. i’m even willing to give falcom that last free day, because the mood of it at the start is Really good, and having one last free day does being it back around in a nice way. rean returning from tangram gate feeling so bad about everything, claire not even being able to talk to him, all his friends leaving him to move on with their lives as he’s stuck in this rut, its great. but because thats too sad of a way to go out they have to just do the old schoolhouse again so everyone can come together for a SECOND full length final dungeon. I dont remember the epilogue feeling as out of place the first time i played it but i was so wrapped up in my feelings with everything that first time in a way i was less so this time, and it stuck out so much more.
I still like this game and its highs are good, but its lows are so much more pronounced this time. weird game
edit: also oh yeah putting important story content into ng+ only and even then you have to finish the whole game finding these hidden items to get a secret cutscene is so stupid, what were they thinking
This review contains spoilers
the good: cassius promoting rean to divine blade, anelace’s 2 seconds of her new design was good, every time when juna is the main character of the game, the divine knights’ farewell, everyone looks great in their wedding outfits, half the soundtrack is really good
the bad: half the soundtrack is pretty bad, the curse literally ruined this game for me, this game thinks i like millium more than valimar and i Do Not, seeing that little heart on altinas bonding event icon, arianrhod’s motivation being way lamer than she deserves, everyone that died didnt die, everyone that betrayed didnt betray, aberich is lame as hell, osbornes backstory and ending is stupid, why do rhey act like reincarnation means you are the same person???, ishmelga is truly the worst idea ive seen in a while (how dare you bring hamel back and give it such a stupid secret backstory), why does everyone give claire and lechter so many free passes, why does elie look like that
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trails of cold steel 4 is a game with more lows than highs. its supposed to be a culmination of every game that came before it but some parts of this game made me so annoyed or angry that it sometimes had me feeling dumb for ever getting invested at all. even worse, i quite like cold steel 3, i even think its my favorite of the cs games! i liked the timeskip, i really liked how rean’s character and position changed, and i just generally enjoyed that game. but sadly every question it set up is answered in the stupidest ways in cs 4. every death is reversed, every betrayal was a fakeout to “scope out from the inside” while accomplishing nothing, every character is paid off with the stupidest endings and motivations, every woman and girl in erebonia wants to fuck rean even more than before, AND osborne has a new voice and its SO much worse that it sunk any chance of osborne moments working for me
i was spoiled on nearly every detail of this game because rarely have i seem a fandom that spoils every game so throughly 2 weeks after the japanese release, but im not sure what if any of this would have hit more successfully if i hadnt been spoiled, im inclined to think it wouldve been even worse for me honestly
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anyway idk man ive heard several times that reverie is the best trails game i just pray i like it at all at this point (even with c’s identity being spoiled for me, of course :/)
ps the real curse of erebonia is the guy at falcom doubling boob sizes every game and vacuum sealing every womans outfit, please stop him he’s a menace
the bad: half the soundtrack is pretty bad, the curse literally ruined this game for me, this game thinks i like millium more than valimar and i Do Not, seeing that little heart on altinas bonding event icon, arianrhod’s motivation being way lamer than she deserves, everyone that died didnt die, everyone that betrayed didnt betray, aberich is lame as hell, osbornes backstory and ending is stupid, why do rhey act like reincarnation means you are the same person???, ishmelga is truly the worst idea ive seen in a while (how dare you bring hamel back and give it such a stupid secret backstory), why does everyone give claire and lechter so many free passes, why does elie look like that
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trails of cold steel 4 is a game with more lows than highs. its supposed to be a culmination of every game that came before it but some parts of this game made me so annoyed or angry that it sometimes had me feeling dumb for ever getting invested at all. even worse, i quite like cold steel 3, i even think its my favorite of the cs games! i liked the timeskip, i really liked how rean’s character and position changed, and i just generally enjoyed that game. but sadly every question it set up is answered in the stupidest ways in cs 4. every death is reversed, every betrayal was a fakeout to “scope out from the inside” while accomplishing nothing, every character is paid off with the stupidest endings and motivations, every woman and girl in erebonia wants to fuck rean even more than before, AND osborne has a new voice and its SO much worse that it sunk any chance of osborne moments working for me
i was spoiled on nearly every detail of this game because rarely have i seem a fandom that spoils every game so throughly 2 weeks after the japanese release, but im not sure what if any of this would have hit more successfully if i hadnt been spoiled, im inclined to think it wouldve been even worse for me honestly
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anyway idk man ive heard several times that reverie is the best trails game i just pray i like it at all at this point (even with c’s identity being spoiled for me, of course :/)
ps the real curse of erebonia is the guy at falcom doubling boob sizes every game and vacuum sealing every womans outfit, please stop him he’s a menace
beat the other person who left a review, great game tbh ^_^
(simple but fun itadaki street-like game, decent graphics, middling music, worth a round or two)
(simple but fun itadaki street-like game, decent graphics, middling music, worth a round or two)
2021
a game more into its overall plot than its romance, but the plot isnt very good :/
weirdly paced at times and feels underdeveloped. the setup is interesting enough and the cast has a fun dynamic when all together, but i cant help but feel disappointed by this one in the end, shrug.
weirdly paced at times and feels underdeveloped. the setup is interesting enough and the cast has a fun dynamic when all together, but i cant help but feel disappointed by this one in the end, shrug.
2023
This review contains spoilers
a genuinely embarrassing effort
high graphical fidelity in service of a game with no nearly no art direction, a handful of decent character designs in a game with maybe two likable characters, music that soken i guess forgot to compose because nearly 90% of the soundtrack is “prelude but fucked up” and two battle themes that outstay their welcome 15 hours into this 60 hour game, incredibly uninteresting and poorly written sidequests, and a deeply terrible handling of women throughout the entire game.
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the slavery plot is atrocious and stupidly handled, but the ur-jrpg-story that replaces it isnt good, its just not as bad. the pacing of the story is also a complete mess, grinding to a halt regularly, and dumping hours of sidequests on you at random points.
every open area of the game is a complete void, with dead ends for sidequest battles and pick up points for unneeded crafting material and 2 gil at a time. even though every settlement looks identical, the open areas look decent enough, but are covered in cloudy skies or ugly pink light for most of the games runtime.
the npcs are so bland you’ll be baffled the entire game how the game is written as if you like any of these people, and by the time the game introduces its single decent character, he’s only around for probably 90 minutes of it.
many things could be said about the women of this game, from ridiculous hysterical caricatures, to ridiculous evil mother, to good wholesome mother, but the most offensive to me was the main “love interest”, who can’t even clear the final fantasy iv bar, and when she is told to remove herself from the plot she simply does. she will pray for the boys going to battle and cry when they perish.
my sole point of praise is the combat, which is fairly simple for most fights (even optional ones, as those are nearly always enemies you’re already familiar with) but almost always satisfying, even against waves of fodder. the summon boss fights are mostly fun too, the spectacle clearly the main focus of the game (to the detriment of the rest, clearly), but it usually hit for me. the titan fight is probably twice as long as it should’ve been but i liked the rest well enough.
less important than the rest but still worth mentioning, the gear in this game may as well be nonexistent. clive has about four stats and none of them really matter, but the game feels obligated to have gear and swords for you to pick up and craft, so every five minutes you have a new sword, before you even register what your current one looks like. as the only visual change you can make to clive, this is somewhat of a bummer (even if none of the swords look all that good), and it leads to regular moments where you’ll find a sword in a chest somewhere, do a sidequest chain, and then have a new better sword, maybe before you’ve even swung your current sword. there isn’t even a glamour function for it, despite the mmo fingerprints everywhere in this game.
all in all, the game just failed to work for me on nearly every level, it didn’t even feel like playing a final fantasy. playing this game really put the ff series into perspective to me, and i can only hope they never make one at all like this again.
high graphical fidelity in service of a game with no nearly no art direction, a handful of decent character designs in a game with maybe two likable characters, music that soken i guess forgot to compose because nearly 90% of the soundtrack is “prelude but fucked up” and two battle themes that outstay their welcome 15 hours into this 60 hour game, incredibly uninteresting and poorly written sidequests, and a deeply terrible handling of women throughout the entire game.
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the slavery plot is atrocious and stupidly handled, but the ur-jrpg-story that replaces it isnt good, its just not as bad. the pacing of the story is also a complete mess, grinding to a halt regularly, and dumping hours of sidequests on you at random points.
every open area of the game is a complete void, with dead ends for sidequest battles and pick up points for unneeded crafting material and 2 gil at a time. even though every settlement looks identical, the open areas look decent enough, but are covered in cloudy skies or ugly pink light for most of the games runtime.
the npcs are so bland you’ll be baffled the entire game how the game is written as if you like any of these people, and by the time the game introduces its single decent character, he’s only around for probably 90 minutes of it.
many things could be said about the women of this game, from ridiculous hysterical caricatures, to ridiculous evil mother, to good wholesome mother, but the most offensive to me was the main “love interest”, who can’t even clear the final fantasy iv bar, and when she is told to remove herself from the plot she simply does. she will pray for the boys going to battle and cry when they perish.
my sole point of praise is the combat, which is fairly simple for most fights (even optional ones, as those are nearly always enemies you’re already familiar with) but almost always satisfying, even against waves of fodder. the summon boss fights are mostly fun too, the spectacle clearly the main focus of the game (to the detriment of the rest, clearly), but it usually hit for me. the titan fight is probably twice as long as it should’ve been but i liked the rest well enough.
less important than the rest but still worth mentioning, the gear in this game may as well be nonexistent. clive has about four stats and none of them really matter, but the game feels obligated to have gear and swords for you to pick up and craft, so every five minutes you have a new sword, before you even register what your current one looks like. as the only visual change you can make to clive, this is somewhat of a bummer (even if none of the swords look all that good), and it leads to regular moments where you’ll find a sword in a chest somewhere, do a sidequest chain, and then have a new better sword, maybe before you’ve even swung your current sword. there isn’t even a glamour function for it, despite the mmo fingerprints everywhere in this game.
all in all, the game just failed to work for me on nearly every level, it didn’t even feel like playing a final fantasy. playing this game really put the ff series into perspective to me, and i can only hope they never make one at all like this again.
1991
Decent tricky stages, great graphical style upgrade from 3, fun robot master designs, but only a couple good songs sadly. Pretty good megaman!
Only partway through but enjoying this game a lot so far. Some Sky the 3rd energy is just what this series needed after its CS4 nadir. (Though some of that still lingers, the rest has been good enough that it doesn't feel as bad here)
Trails into Reverie is a complete breath of fresh air. I really did not like CS4, and was kind of despairing at the thought of this game having to deal with more elements from it because it’s a wrap up game. It is true that the parts most directly related to its ideas are the worst parts of this game (sorry Lloyd, your route suffers for it) but I was shocked how much i liked the rest of this game, especially C’s route. The writing for that one in particular was a lot more fun and funny than I was expecting, and added a great perspective to the game, but even Rean’s route was pretty good. Dialing back his amount of screen time and having him take a more CS3 role reminded me of why I liked him in the first place.
The reverie corridor is the other main mechanic of the game, and is basically just pure fanservice for everyone who’s made it this far. It’s endlessly grindable, and being able to pair up so many different characters for wacky parties, trying to end battles with certain link pairs to see who gets dialogue together, and of course the daydreams is all just a ton of fun. The Sky 3rd/Reverie daydream idea is so enjoyable, it’s just a lot of fun seeing each story, even the weaker ones, because you just love these characters and this world so much. The higher strata of the corridor being a later patch addition for the JPN game makes sense, but it works for a postgame scenario and boss, and honestly if I had made the sickest final boss theme of all time, I would want to reuse it too.
(Also, hopefully soon out of date but the initial release of this game was surprisingly buggy, with broken mechanics, occasionally incorrect translations (that accessory master mission pointing you to the wrong category of equipment and store was really annoying), and while the most egregious ones have been fixed, plenty are still in the game as I write this. It’s a shame how weirdly incomplete the english version of this game felt. Still, in the end it’s only minor text issues left, and the main story is basically completely fixed now.)
The reverie corridor is the other main mechanic of the game, and is basically just pure fanservice for everyone who’s made it this far. It’s endlessly grindable, and being able to pair up so many different characters for wacky parties, trying to end battles with certain link pairs to see who gets dialogue together, and of course the daydreams is all just a ton of fun. The Sky 3rd/Reverie daydream idea is so enjoyable, it’s just a lot of fun seeing each story, even the weaker ones, because you just love these characters and this world so much. The higher strata of the corridor being a later patch addition for the JPN game makes sense, but it works for a postgame scenario and boss, and honestly if I had made the sickest final boss theme of all time, I would want to reuse it too.
(Also, hopefully soon out of date but the initial release of this game was surprisingly buggy, with broken mechanics, occasionally incorrect translations (that accessory master mission pointing you to the wrong category of equipment and store was really annoying), and while the most egregious ones have been fixed, plenty are still in the game as I write this. It’s a shame how weirdly incomplete the english version of this game felt. Still, in the end it’s only minor text issues left, and the main story is basically completely fixed now.)
2023
why are the wall kicks so hard dude what the hell
i think i just dont like playing this game :/
i would not last a day as a votoms pilot i tell you what
i would not last a day as a votoms pilot i tell you what