• Tag Archives Fantasy
  • No Game No Life

    Completely unbeatable in any sort of game when working together, the NEET siblings Sora and Shiro have had far less success in society. Unable to cope with its ill-defined boundaries and hypocrisy they wish instead for an existence governed by logical, defined rules… a wish granted one morning by the god of a parallel world built upon gaming.

    An ecchi comedy focused on gambling, cheating, and strategy which features tertiary action, romance, and dramatic elements.

    More Information:
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    Crunchyroll
    Wikipedia

    Continue reading  Post ID 5193


  • Grancrest Senki

    The lands of Atlatan have become ravaged by both war and the demonic forces of Chaos, with the rulers of the various territories more interested in consolidating their power than protecting the people. This doesn’t sit right with either the young wandering lord Theo or the recently graduated mage Siluca Meletes, and following a chance meeting the two form an alliance with the goal of eventually uniting the land.

    A fantasy-world action series featuring warfare of both the political and medieval variety alongside a small romance subtheme.

    More Information:
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    Crunchyroll
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    Continue reading  Post ID 5193


  • Grimm Douwa: Kin no Tori

    Every night one of the king’s golden apples goes missing. To catch the thief he orders his three sons to stand watch, where the youngest discovers that a golden bird is to blame and manages to knock one of its feathers off with an arrow. Upon seeing the feather the king becomes overcome with greed and sends the boys out on a quest to capture it… a task much easier said than done.

    A fantasy adventure with a large amount of cartoon-style comedy.

    More Information:
    aniDB
    Wikipedia


  • Monster Hunter Stories: RIDE ON

    Lute and his friends live in the isolated Hakum Village, which has a tradition of secretly taming and riding the monsters that the rest of the world constantly hunts. A practice which is put to the test when an old threat re-emerges to infect the nearby monster population with heightened aggression, forcing the riders to come up with a way to subdue the infected creatures without killing them.

    A comedic action adventure series with occasional spots of light drama. The first 48 episodes are an adaptation of the related game, while the remaining 27 feature an original story.

    More Information:
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    Crunchyroll
    Wikipedia


  • Lost sonG

    Rin lives in a small countryside village while Finis resides in the capital city, and the two couldn’t be more different. Yet both possess the mysterious Power of Song which is strong enough to create something from nothing as if by magic. However, what can create can also destroy and there are those that wish to use that power in war, a desire which sets the world on a path to ruin.

    A music-themed war drama with occasional splashes of comic relief which eventually transforms into something resembling a disaster thriller.

    More Information:
    aniDB
    Netflix
    Wikipedia


  • LEGEND OF GRIMROCK II

    Unlike the first game (which got kind of annoying with everything being underground), I actually managed to complete this one at character level 14.

    While I’m not a big fan of puzzles, most of the ones here are thankfully logic-based and can be solved with enough trial & error. There are only a couple that require the use of specific items or codes based off obscure messages (and for those I suggest consulting a walkthrough). The biggest puzzle is really what sort of party composition to make and to determine that I strongly suggest reading through this character creation guide. Classes play much differently than you would think and you absolutely must have someone with a maxed out Alchemy skill.

    As for combat, some of the encounters can be a bit tricky but none of the enemies ever come across as unfair or require obscure and/or unintuitive tactics. Really the worst I can say about the combat aspects are that when/where you acquire injuries seems to be completely random. Another complaint would be the hunger system, as I unilaterally hate all hunger/thirst systems, but that’s easy enough to disable using a Save Game Editor (simply set the “food_rate” CHAR STAT to 0).

    So all in all it ends up an enjoyable experience with only a handful of occasional annoyances.


  • No Game No Life Zero

    Six thousand years before Sora and Shiro were brought to Disboard the world had been reduced to rubble by the constant warfare between the various races. Lacking magical power or equivalent physical abilities, humanity has been reduced to the role of scavengers, picking through the wreckage looking for anything that will help them avoid becoming collateral damage. Leading them is a young man named Riku, who with the help of an abandoned android just may be able to light the spark that brings change to the world.

    A flashback prequel to No Game No Life which features comparatively little comedic content. While meant to be watched after that series, it can also be viewed as a stand-alone.

    More Information:
    aniDB
    Wikipedia


  • Battle Chasers: NightWar

    I’m about halfway through this game (based on a short comic series) at the moment, at level 18/19 with the main party of Gully/Monika/Alumon (Tank/Support, CC/Striker, Healer/Striker) at the steps of the fifth dungeon (out of eight). There are a lot of things to like and only a relative few annoyances.

    I’ll list the issues first since they tend to be what people focus on:
    – It’s very strange you can’t click to move.
    – The voice acting is… highly questionable.
    – There’s a notable amount of re-used assets where the enemies and even the dungeons to an extent are concerned.
    – Switching party members is needlessly restricted (and illogical as well, since the entire party is constantly traveling together based on event dialog).

    That’s it really. Aside from those hiccups it’s a remarkably fun turn-based RPG with quite a bit of content, a large number of fairly diverse combat abilities, and engaging visuals. A couple things in particular to keep in mind are that Attack Power affects the strength of all abilities and you can break through certain dungeon walls (they produce a little static dust cloud vfx) to find treasure with Gully’s Groundsmash ability. And though I’ve heard complaints about grinding, so far simply running through each dungeon twice (on Legendary; only the first dungeon had to initially be completed on a lower difficulty) while completing the various side-quests has been enough to stay equal to or above the enemy levels.


  • Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire – Endgame

    At the end of the journey I find myself with the same opinion now that I had after finishing the prequel: The game isn’t bad, but you should wait to play it until after a major patch or two has been released.

    Once again there’s a collection of bugs that range from the baffling (how did no one notice that reputations maxed out after only a couple choices?) to the more insidious (save import inconsistencies and quest-step completion order conflictions) which can really ruin your day… particularly if you’re any flavor of completionist. However, at least those issues can be fixed in theory; a more permanent problem is the abundance of quests that force you to run back and forth between city districts.

    The character selection though is pretty solid, there’s quite a range of unique equipment (although heavy on sabers and I don’t think I ever found an estoc), zipping around the world map is remarkably engrossing, and there’s a fairly large amount of character banter. Another thing worth noting is that the game can at times get remarkably sexual. While the first PoE had Hiravias, in here not only are both Serafen and Tekēhu overflowing with innuendo, but there’s also fully-nude models present in the bathhouse location along with Ondra’s fertility-deity-like vignette portrait (the content isn’t ill-fitting mind you; just surprising).

    When all’s said and done, while I did enjoy myself for the most part, just as with PoE I I’m likely not going to touch this game again until the eventual/potential expansion is released.


  • Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire – First Impressions

    While similar in many ways to its predecessor, Deadfire ends up bearing a nearly equal resemblance to Storm of Zehir.

    The way companions can now weigh-in on dialog skill checks, the new style of world map (though there’s no random encounters here), the collection of resources (ship-based here instead of trader-based there), ability to find pseudo-companion henchmen, and the encounter style (small maps and auto-refilling health) all bring Zehir to mind. The text-adventure vignettes, general class abilities and leveling system (though expanded), and the core combat mechanics on the other hand are pure PoE.

    I’ve only cleared the first island, Deadlight, and two small islands on my way to the capitol city so far so I can’t say much about the story or companions just yet. What I can comment on are the expanded class/skill system, reduced feat system, and overhauled combat:

    The multi-classing options are pretty fantastic, the new skill setup (while a bit overwhelming) is a definite improvement over how generally superficial they were in the prequel. The greatly reduced feat selection on the other hand hurts a little (though only a little, as most general ones were useless/ineffective for most builds). The combat changes could be viewed either way, but I’m greatly in favor of it having adopted a more NWN2 style of encounter setup with health being automatically refilled after each battle (which makes healing abilities more useful since you no longer have to worry about them causing accidental perma-death).

    It actually goes a step further though and makes the wizard/priest spells encounter-based as well, greatly enhancing their usability at the cost of versatility. Priests for instance no longer get access to all spells and now have to pick them as feats, while wizards can no longer learn every spell they find (they also learn spells as feats and can use the spells found in spellbooks only while they’re equipped). So far I like the change overall, but it leads to some oddities like the ability Grimoire Slam now being considered a spell.

    Not all the changes are so drastic however. One particular minor yet incredibly useful change from PoE I would probably be the decoupling of Mechanics, Hidden Items, and Scouting Mode. Stealth is now purely for sneaking (which has been upgraded with visible detection radii and distraction options) while the checks to find hidden items occur even when walking around normally and are now based on Perception. The inclusion of a pickpocketing mechanic is another minor change that serves to make things feel a bit more dynamic.

    Pros:
    – Far more character creation/development options.
    – Enhanced stealth system.
    – Greatly enhanced party AI system (akin to Dragon Age: Origins and FFXII)
    – Party-wide skill checks.
    – Expanded skill system.
    – Customized weapon/armor enhancement options.
    – Expanded crafting system.

    Cons:
    – Combat seems a bit too hyper/fast.
    – Limited feat selection.
    – Many local area maps are pretty small.
    – Ship to ship combat seems wonky (vignette says they have 2 crew, board them and they actually have like 10).
    – Smaller party size.
    – Resource management, minor as it is, is a hassle I could do without.
    – Playing in fullscreen mode with vSync enabled can cause system-crashing freezes.