• Tag Archives Fantasy
  • 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.


  • XANADU NEXT

    I’ve occasionally seen this game compared to Diablo, but I don’t see the resemblance. It’s far closer to a combination of Ys‘ combat style and Zelda‘s grass-slashing and key item collecting.

    It’s certainly on the more difficult side of things as far as RPGs go and you’ll probably die quite often until you get the hang of ‘dodging’ enemy attacks. The limited number of active skills you can have is another issue and leveling up is a bit of a trap; you get 6 attribute points to distribute however you want each level, but if you don’t spend them 2 Str/1 Int/1 Ref/1 Con/1 Will there will be a ton of weapons and equipment you’ll be unable to wield by the end of the game. Having to often swap between key items (limited to 4 active at a time as well) is also annoying.

    Length-wise it’s pretty short (my playthrough clocked in at a little over 9 hours), though it doesn’t feel short… the final dungeon in particular goes on for ages (and requires something like 40 keys)… and will definitely take longer if you avoid using any sort of walkthrough and/or have a bad sense of direction.

    Overall I suppose it’s decent enough, although in the end it might be better to get invested in the Ys series instead if you haven’t already.


  • Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age & Pier Solar and the Great Architects

    Finally got around to playing the Zodiac Age version of Final Fantasy XII earlier this year, only to find out that aside from the ability to speed up time and the easier chest respawning it wasn’t really much of an improvement over the original. The new job boards are actually a step backward, as now you’re forced to specialize (with no re-spec option). Yeah it was easy to be a ‘master of all’ and have samey characters in the original, but you didn’t have to; it was a choice and you could’ve just as easily specialized them instead. Regardless, I made it up to the Stillshrine in this version and then just kind of burned out.

    Another game played a bit earlier was Pier Solar and the Great Architects, which I picked up during some sale or other for no good reason. For the most part it’s a pretty average JRPG experience with the only really notable things about it being the ability to set the encounter rate at will (extremely helpful) and the rather disconcertingly DeviantArtish character design. I can’t say much about the storyline since I’ve only gotten up to the point where the juggler-guy joins your party, but it’s very odd that no one seems to notice the budding-archaeologist girl is an elf.


  • Tokyo Xanadu eX+ & Overfall

    Despite being terrible at action games, I decided to try Tokyo Xanadu eX+ based on its connection to the Legend of Heroes games… and ended up getting pretty far into it (currently in the middle of Chapter 7).

    It’s half RPG and half action game. The action game aspects are a bit over-complicated (three super moves with three separate resources, two buttons to swap party members) but are easy enough to grasp that even someone with terrible reflexes can get S-rank stage-clear scores (on normal difficulty). The RPG aspects on the other hand are straight-forward but suffer from character behavior and storyline events that fluctuate between stereotypical and awful. That you have to continuously re-canvas the maps in order to collect the various character info pages and find hidden quests also quickly becomes tiresome, and the way it blatantly taunts you with content which can only be completed in a second playthrough is just plain annoying. I do like the way the upgrade system relies on loot rather than money though.

    Overfall was recently bought on a whim and unfortunately ended up nothing like what I was expecting. Rather than being RPGish it’s more a strategy game (with the goal being to unlock new starting weapons/abilities/traits rather than winning). Worse is that only the battles are turn-based and each playthrough apparently has a time limit of, according to the tutorial/guide on Steam anyway, ~14 minutes. The time limit alone would be a deal-killer even without the focus on unlocking things solely to unlock more things.


  • ASH OF GODS: redemption – 2nd Playthrough

    Ended up doing a second playthrough despite my previous feelings and even wrote a partial walkthrough along the way.

    While I was apparently wrong about camp conversations being important, your choices during the game do in fact have a rather large impact on the journey. Not so much the ending though, which only has a few variations. It mainly seems to be how many party members you have access to and whether or not you get a perspective choice in the last chapter.

    That’s still more variation than most RPGs can offer though and it’s definitely interesting to run through once or twice. I think I may have to give the Banner Saga a second chance.


  • ASH OF GODS: redemption

    When I first played the Banner Saga long ago I didn’t get very far; the combat’s armor system simply didn’t agree with me. This game, which in most ways mimics that one, initially caused a similar reaction due to the round-robin nature of the combat system (the armor system here is fine).

    Fortunately, said system turned out to be easily abused. The trick is simply to use less characters. Preferably just 1-2 (though I ended up using 4 for most of Thorn’s section due to lack of foreknowledge), so that you get far more turns than the enemy and can pick them off essentially at will if the individual character is strong enough. Choosing characters with ranged attacks or buffing abilities to fill those slots (namely Warlock, Monk, Archer, or Assassin) makes it even easier. Taking advantage of the fact that ‘until end of turn’ effects actually last until the next time you use that character in order to kill entire squads with an Armor-buffed Retaliation combo is also an effective strategy.

    With combat no longer an issue I was free to focus on the RPG/choice part of the game, which is incredibly massive. There are tons of choices to make (effectively irreversible choices thanks to the auto-save system, unless you want to completely re-do a Chapter) and these choices have actual consequences, ranging from losing access to various party members or characters to determining which of the apparently 7 endings you’ll get. It took me ~20 hours to finish this first playthrough and that was without ever using the world map’s Camp function, which I only realized far too late takes you to a special screen where you can talk with your party members rather than the normal party management screen. I suspect there would have been fewer storyline deaths had I talked to everyone at every stop (though I got an arguably good ending with the evil sealed, practically all the main supporting characters were dead).

    I’m not sure I’ll ever play it again though because I really hate not knowing which choices will do what in order to plan out a route in advance and considering the scale it seems unlikely anyone will do an in-depth guide mapping out the various consequences.


  • GARO: DIVINE FLAME

    Four years have passed since Mendoza’s defeat and León has begun training the Zoro armor’s successor, training interrupted by an order to hunt down the famous Horror of Vazelia Lake. Taking advantage of the distraction a group of unknown assailants kidnaps his apprentice and lead him on a chase to a nearby town… where he encounters a familiar yet unexpected face.

    An action-centric sequel to Honoo no Kokuin featuring a bit of nudity. Watching that series first is necessary in order to understand the references.

    More Information:
    aniDB
    Wikipedia

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  • Overlord II

    With Shalltear freed from mind control, Ainz now divides his attention between attempting to discover who was capable of controlling her, continuing to expand his fame as the adventurer Momon, and improving Nazarick’s strategic position though conquest. The first target being the nearby tribes of lizard men.

    A mix of world building, drama, and action interspersed with romance-based comic relief similar to the prequel. As a direct continuation it requires having seen that first.

    More Information:
    aniDB
    Crunchyroll
    Wikipedia


  • Hakumei to Mikochi: Tiny little life in the woods

    Follow the lives of Hakumei & Mikochi, two tiny forest sprites, as they go about their everyday existence surrounded by nature and interact with an assortment of other animals and races.

    A fantasy slice of life series with a moderate amount of reaction-based comic relief.

    More Information:
    aniDB
    Fansub.co
    HIDIVE
    Wikipedia


  • Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku

    Finally getting some rest after enduring a 30-hour programming death march, Ichirou Suzuki suddenly awakens to find himself within the world of the game he was debugging. With no idea how he got there or how to get back to his reality, he sets out on a sightseeing journey to discover more about the world while picking up an assortment of traveling companions along the way.

    A fantasy world mixed-genre series which briefly starts out as a drama and features a sizable harem. Elements of slice of life, action, comic relief, and ecchi are all present to some degree.

    More Information:
    aniDB
    Crunchyroll
    Wikipedia

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