Finished the first chapter, which focused on the "setup" of the main themes and conflicts of the story. The following chapter appears to be a more slice-of-life section to introduce the remaining members of the cast.
So, do I need to lookup the guide before starting the game, or should do a blind run first and then use the guide to go for true ending?
I'd suggest a blind run first.
I am guessing I won’t have to replay the whole game or anything?
Depending on your choices may need start from the beginning... but you can have the game automatically fast forward through dialogue you've already read on previous playthroughs ,so getting to the true ending will be quite fast.
Current plan is to give Stiens;Gate another try, since I already own it on PS3.
It's a great game, but I'll give you a quick warning: You will need a guide to get to the final/true ending.
Most of the endings are fairly obvious decisions at the end of a chapter, but the final/true ending is hidden behind a bunch of message responses during the game with nothing that clearly signals "you're on the right path".
It's absolutely worth it though. One of the most satisfying endings I've seen.
On Switch side have Raging Loop on wishlist, plan to get it on next sale.
This one should be a much simpler to complete, there's a handy in-game flowcharts helps you explore and go back and forth to try different choices very easily.
Atri is the best one for those not very familiar with VNs. Not too long, great production, very interesting setting and cast. There's a Switch version too, but for some bizarre reason it's only available in the Japanese eShop even though it has english language support.
But my personal favorite is the original Grisaia Trilogy, specially the first game. Incredibly fun cast, and a very unusual story structure - the first 2/3 of the game is a "common" route with hilarious slice-of-life comedy, followed by your choice of a character-specific storyline - all of which get incredibly dark.
It's a monster of a VN though. I'm a fast reader and the first game alone took me 50h, and this package has the three main games plus a ton of side-content. Also, the original release of this game was an eroge, and while the explicit scenes were removed in modern releases there's still plenty of sexual content in dialogues which may or may not be OK with you.
I bought this one blind because it was from Frontwing game, and I've been having good experiences with their VNs (plus they always release multi-language physical versions).
First impressions are "that's a bold choice for a protagonist", and "now I know why this has a CEROZ age rating" (highest one in Japan). Definitely got my attention, will try to focus on it this weekend.
This is a remake of an older Touhou bullet hell game, and I believe it's the first of these to be released for modern consoles. Only played a couple runs but definitely liking what I see - it's an older, simpler game, but the bullet patterns are great.
FF: Resonance looks great. Same with Another Eden Begins. Let us know how you like the demos
Double posting, but since you asked about it: I finished both demos, both fairly long at ~4h each.
FF Resonance: Extremely impressed with the demo. They're doing some really cool stuff with the HD-2D engine, the opening scenes are a good example. I can't find good words to describe it, but the mix of more realistic images with pixel art looks very unique. Gameplay is great, with a lot of customization options, and quite balanced in a way that is challenging without being too overwhelming. It's a Day 1 purchase for me now.
Another Eden: Writing and gameplay is very basic, it's ridiculously easy, and I wasn't into the toy-like (mobile-like?) visuals for the characters at first... but the game grew up on me as I played, and I'm very curious where the plot will go. Will probably get it if I can find a good price (MSRP being $40 helps).
As for starting from 3rd EO game, I’ll probably find it difficult to do. Have this weird need to start from the earliest game, at least when it’s playable on current systems.
EO1 is still good, just much simpler/basic.
And while we are on the topic, I got Vaporum on last sale, it has been on my wishlist for quite a while, have you played that?
No, I had not, and it looks great! Added to my wishlist.
I have never played Etrian Odyssey, the collection is on my wishlist though, have heard a lot about them.
EO is the GOAT among DRPGs. Though I'd recommend picking up only EO3 instead of the whole bundle if you're new to the genre, the first two games are good but considerably more dated, so I'd only recommend them for more hardcore fans.
Map drawing in the HD versions is awkward compared to the touchscreen in the DS (though I hear it works well in handheld mode if you get a stylus), but it still has some of the best dungeons, party building and customization in the genre. And insane Yuzo Koshiro OSTs.
Really wish we get a 4/5/Nexus pack sometime in the future, EO3 is amazing but I think EO5 is still the best one.
Story-wise the DLC is an alternate final chapter for the game where a new enemy shows up and completely changes the power balance between the different groups, with both heroes and villains scrambling to adjust their plans. The game is really hyping this new group of antagonists, there was a chapter with the main game final boss absolutely terrified of them - so I'm curious if the eventual battle against them will live up to this hype.
It also feels like a "here's all the stuff people kept asking for us to add" batch, with Witch From Mercury S2 content, more participation of DLC characters in the storyline, and even a bunch of new combination attacks mixing mechs from different franchies.
This is one of my all-time favorite Dungeon Crawlers and I've beaten it way back in the the DS, but I have an ongoing save in the remastered version that I boot from time to time to continue.
I've reached the 3rd Stratum and spent some time figuring out which subclasses to use. I'm trying some different builds and classes so let's see if it'll work out.
Finally, I've started testing demos for some upcoming JRPGs.
I'm loving the first hour of Final Fantasy Resonance (Switch 1, Switch 2) and have Another Eden Begins queued up next (Switch 1, Switch 2).
Game is very open and rewards exploration, you can grind enemies 10 levels higher if you're careful (treat them like mini-bosses), and it's not hard to reach cities with higher-level gear early (and money is plentiful if you keep stealing stuff from NPCs). Also has many easy-to-reach chests in higher level dungeons with good gear.
Late game you also have this trick I showed in the video - an expensive to hire NPC that can get you 100x EXP or 100x JP bonuses if you're lucky, but you can ensure you get max value with some save scumming. Gear matter far more than levels in this game, so this feels like a bonus the developers threw in case you need to catch-up some characters or just want to power-level a bit.
It was very nice of the developers to give us a good "power leveling" option late game, which also led to some rather amusing moments like this (no significant spoilers in the video). Anyway, I quickly ended up very overleveled and the last few chapters were a breeze, I beat Agnea's final boss in two attacks. 😀
Awesome final chapter and epilogue, I really wish future games lean more on moments like that with the whole party. Definitely going to pick up OT0, and may even give OT1 another chance after this.
Lots of progress. I'm working the final chapter for each of the protagonists, finished Scholar and Thief yesterday and will do Cleric next. I'm rather overleved/overgeared since I did a LOT of exploration, so I didn't have any trouble at all with the bosses so far.
It's a "TP-less" system using a new resource called CC ("Chain Capacity").
Different attacks or skills use different amounts of CC, and it recharges naturally after standing still or blocking for a short time. However... there's different actions that also recharge CC such as sidestepping enemy attacks, meaning that if you're playing properly you get the chance to attack again faster or extend your combo. The combo system is also more flexible with less strict ordering of skills, you can even chain combos into spells to reduce casting time. Overall it feels more like a traditional fighting game than your usual Tales battle system.
Also, there's some very unique characters to play. Like Pascal, which is a mage with a gun-staff with most of her spells being AOE around her. Combos with her involve melee into ranged, into dashing and casting short-range spells. If you don't mind spoilers here's a video showing a complex late-game combo using her: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtfWlLga20k
One important thing to mention is that the game has a very slow start, the first couple hours have you play an extended prologue of sorts during the main cast's childhood, and the battle system only starts unlocking past that.
I still have a few Tales games to play before Aris
My usual recommendation for Tales games is Graces F. Story is standard "power of friendship", but has the best battle gameplay in the series and a great cast with hilarious interactions (in particular in the "Lineage & Legacies" extended epilogue).
I also have to include some praise for Berseria, the gameplay is not as good (very "button mashy") but the cast is amazing, honestly one of the all-time best "band of misfits" teams in gaming.
Some of my friends (not big JRPG fans) had issues with pacing in the second half of the game, and ended up dropping the game.
I'm a both a JRPG fan and and huge Tales fanboy (played all games, even the ones that never got officially localized) and I agree 100%. Game starts great but loses a lot of steam midway, plus it has the fairly common Tales issue of a rushed final act where you see obvious cuts due to time or budget constraints.
Also has one of the most boring final dungeons in recent JRPG history with a ton of incredibly annoying damage sponge enemies.
Played a lot of this game and the main conclusion is that I absolutely love the exploration and combat, but don't care much about the story.
I spent most of the week going around the world, opening new paths, killing monsters, unlocking jobs and robbing people of their belongings. Only started moving with the plot again yesterday and I'm massively overleveled (30-40 when the current story quests are 15-18), which helps make these parts go fast.
Also did my first few "Crossed Paths" chapters, and they're quite good, but it's sad they only cover 4 "pairs" of characters. Would definitely enjoy seeing more combinations in future games.
And it felt like 8 solo adventures, instead of a single campaign.
The main stories are still like this, though now we have additional stories called "Crossed Paths" focused on pairs of characters to give them more interaction. I also heard the final chapter has the stories coming together decently, but I'm still very far from that so I'll comment when I'm done with the game.
Not sure if that's enough to get you interested but it's a nice improvement.
No, had not heard of that one before. Looking at VNDB it has only 21 votes, so it's probably very niche.
Busy week, zero gaming time since monday, but at least I got some progress during the weekend.
Playing Perennial Dusk: Kinsenka!
Finished the first chapter, which focused on the "setup" of the main themes and conflicts of the story. The following chapter appears to be a more slice-of-life section to introduce the remaining members of the cast.
I'd suggest a blind run first.
Depending on your choices may need start from the beginning... but you can have the game automatically fast forward through dialogue you've already read on previous playthroughs ,so getting to the true ending will be quite fast.
It's a great game, but I'll give you a quick warning: You will need a guide to get to the final/true ending.
Most of the endings are fairly obvious decisions at the end of a chapter, but the final/true ending is hidden behind a bunch of message responses during the game with nothing that clearly signals "you're on the right path".
It's absolutely worth it though. One of the most satisfying endings I've seen.
This one should be a much simpler to complete, there's a handy in-game flowcharts helps you explore and go back and forth to try different choices very easily.
Atri is the best one for those not very familiar with VNs. Not too long, great production, very interesting setting and cast. There's a Switch version too, but for some bizarre reason it's only available in the Japanese eShop even though it has english language support.
But my personal favorite is the original Grisaia Trilogy, specially the first game. Incredibly fun cast, and a very unusual story structure - the first 2/3 of the game is a "common" route with hilarious slice-of-life comedy, followed by your choice of a character-specific storyline - all of which get incredibly dark.
It's a monster of a VN though. I'm a fast reader and the first game alone took me 50h, and this package has the three main games plus a ton of side-content. Also, the original release of this game was an eroge, and while the explicit scenes were removed in modern releases there's still plenty of sexual content in dialogues which may or may not be OK with you.
Playing Super Robot Wars Y Anniversary Expansion Pack!
Not a lot of progress, just cleared a couple more stages. Still plenty to go before I finish this expansion.
Playing Perennial Dusk: Kinsenka!
I bought this one blind because it was from Frontwing game, and I've been having good experiences with their VNs (plus they always release multi-language physical versions).
First impressions are "that's a bold choice for a protagonist", and "now I know why this has a CEROZ age rating" (highest one in Japan). Definitely got my attention, will try to focus on it this weekend.
Playing Touhou Koumakyou: New Classic - the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil Deluxe Edition!
This is a remake of an older Touhou bullet hell game, and I believe it's the first of these to be released for modern consoles. Only played a couple runs but definitely liking what I see - it's an older, simpler game, but the bullet patterns are great.
Double posting, but since you asked about it: I finished both demos, both fairly long at ~4h each.
FF Resonance: Extremely impressed with the demo. They're doing some really cool stuff with the HD-2D engine, the opening scenes are a good example. I can't find good words to describe it, but the mix of more realistic images with pixel art looks very unique. Gameplay is great, with a lot of customization options, and quite balanced in a way that is challenging without being too overwhelming. It's a Day 1 purchase for me now.
Another Eden: Writing and gameplay is very basic, it's ridiculously easy, and I wasn't into the toy-like (mobile-like?) visuals for the characters at first... but the game grew up on me as I played, and I'm very curious where the plot will go. Will probably get it if I can find a good price (MSRP being $40 helps).
EO1 is still good, just much simpler/basic.
No, I had not, and it looks great! Added to my wishlist.
EO is the GOAT among DRPGs. Though I'd recommend picking up only EO3 instead of the whole bundle if you're new to the genre, the first two games are good but considerably more dated, so I'd only recommend them for more hardcore fans.
Map drawing in the HD versions is awkward compared to the touchscreen in the DS (though I hear it works well in handheld mode if you get a stylus), but it still has some of the best dungeons, party building and customization in the genre. And insane Yuzo Koshiro OSTs.
Really wish we get a 4/5/Nexus pack sometime in the future, EO3 is amazing but I think EO5 is still the best one.
Playing Super Robot Wars Y Anniversary Expansion Pack!
According to the Akurasu wiki I'm ~60% done.
Story-wise the DLC is an alternate final chapter for the game where a new enemy shows up and completely changes the power balance between the different groups, with both heroes and villains scrambling to adjust their plans. The game is really hyping this new group of antagonists, there was a chapter with the main game final boss absolutely terrified of them - so I'm curious if the eventual battle against them will live up to this hype.
It also feels like a "here's all the stuff people kept asking for us to add" batch, with Witch From Mercury S2 content, more participation of DLC characters in the storyline, and even a bunch of new combination attacks mixing mechs from different franchies.
Playing Etrian Odyssey 3 HD!
This is one of my all-time favorite Dungeon Crawlers and I've beaten it way back in the the DS, but I have an ongoing save in the remastered version that I boot from time to time to continue.
I've reached the 3rd Stratum and spent some time figuring out which subclasses to use. I'm trying some different builds and classes so let's see if it'll work out.
Finally, I've started testing demos for some upcoming JRPGs.
I'm loving the first hour of Final Fantasy Resonance (Switch 1, Switch 2) and have Another Eden Begins queued up next (Switch 1, Switch 2).
Also a game that's notoriously difficult in the western release due to huge nerfs applied to character stats in this version.
It's fairly easy to get OP in OT2.
Game is very open and rewards exploration, you can grind enemies 10 levels higher if you're careful (treat them like mini-bosses), and it's not hard to reach cities with higher-level gear early (and money is plentiful if you keep stealing stuff from NPCs). Also has many easy-to-reach chests in higher level dungeons with good gear.
Late game you also have this trick I showed in the video - an expensive to hire NPC that can get you 100x EXP or 100x JP bonuses if you're lucky, but you can ensure you get max value with some save scumming. Gear matter far more than levels in this game, so this feels like a bonus the developers threw in case you need to catch-up some characters or just want to power-level a bit.
Sad to see this go, it was my favorite interface to use CR, IIRC I got more than 1k hours of use of this app over the years.
But with the Switch 2 not supporting any video apps at all it was obvious this wouldn't last long.
Finished Octopath Traveler II!
It was very nice of the developers to give us a good "power leveling" option late game, which also led to some rather amusing moments like this (no significant spoilers in the video). Anyway, I quickly ended up very overleveled and the last few chapters were a breeze, I beat Agnea's final boss in two attacks. 😀
Awesome final chapter and epilogue, I really wish future games lean more on moments like that with the whole party. Definitely going to pick up OT0, and may even give OT1 another chance after this.
Playing Super Robot Wars Y Anniversary Expansion Pack!
Back to this but only did one more mission. Looks like we're getting the Witch From Mercury S2 content.
Playing Octopath Traveler II!
Lots of progress. I'm working the final chapter for each of the protagonists, finished Scholar and Thief yesterday and will do Cleric next. I'm rather overleved/overgeared since I did a LOT of exploration, so I didn't have any trouble at all with the bosses so far.
It's a "TP-less" system using a new resource called CC ("Chain Capacity").
Different attacks or skills use different amounts of CC, and it recharges naturally after standing still or blocking for a short time. However... there's different actions that also recharge CC such as sidestepping enemy attacks, meaning that if you're playing properly you get the chance to attack again faster or extend your combo. The combo system is also more flexible with less strict ordering of skills, you can even chain combos into spells to reduce casting time. Overall it feels more like a traditional fighting game than your usual Tales battle system.
Also, there's some very unique characters to play. Like Pascal, which is a mage with a gun-staff with most of her spells being AOE around her. Combos with her involve melee into ranged, into dashing and casting short-range spells. If you don't mind spoilers here's a video showing a complex late-game combo using her: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtfWlLga20k
One important thing to mention is that the game has a very slow start, the first couple hours have you play an extended prologue of sorts during the main cast's childhood, and the battle system only starts unlocking past that.
My usual recommendation for Tales games is Graces F. Story is standard "power of friendship", but has the best battle gameplay in the series and a great cast with hilarious interactions (in particular in the "Lineage & Legacies" extended epilogue).
I also have to include some praise for Berseria, the gameplay is not as good (very "button mashy") but the cast is amazing, honestly one of the all-time best "band of misfits" teams in gaming.
I'm a both a JRPG fan and and huge Tales fanboy (played all games, even the ones that never got officially localized) and I agree 100%. Game starts great but loses a lot of steam midway, plus it has the fairly common Tales issue of a rushed final act where you see obvious cuts due to time or budget constraints.
Also has one of the most boring final dungeons in recent JRPG history with a ton of incredibly annoying damage sponge enemies.
Always possible, but a lot of friends of mine said similar things about RDR2.
Playing Octopath Traveler II!
Played a lot of this game and the main conclusion is that I absolutely love the exploration and combat, but don't care much about the story.
I spent most of the week going around the world, opening new paths, killing monsters, unlocking jobs and robbing people of their belongings. Only started moving with the plot again yesterday and I'm massively overleveled (30-40 when the current story quests are 15-18), which helps make these parts go fast.
Also did my first few "Crossed Paths" chapters, and they're quite good, but it's sad they only cover 4 "pairs" of characters. Would definitely enjoy seeing more combinations in future games.
The main stories are still like this, though now we have additional stories called "Crossed Paths" focused on pairs of characters to give them more interaction. I also heard the final chapter has the stories coming together decently, but I'm still very far from that so I'll comment when I'm done with the game.
Not sure if that's enough to get you interested but it's a nice improvement.