Nights of Azure originally released for PS4 in North America in early 2016, and now it has received a PC port to bless, or torment, the non-console gamers. Featuring a beautiful art style and soundtrack, Nights of Azure, while incredibly niche, is a soulful tale of love and friendship.
Ultimately, Steins;Gate 0 is a novel. A rather good novel, with interesting, unique, and ironically very 'human' characters, but a novel nonetheless, so you're enjoyment will be dependant on how much you like the storyline, although I can say I really enjoyed it.
Original PS4 Review (2019-06-28) https://chalgyr.com/2019/06/Review-PS4-DragonStarVarnir.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- Overall I had a lot of fun with Varnir. Yeah, the plot is a little trope filled and cliché to an extent, but the battle system was really fun, and I felt like I was playing a sort of pokemon-esque devouring game. While that sentence may need some work, the “collectible upgrading system” was pretty fun, and I’d always try to eat as many enemies as I could. Is Varnir perect? Maybe not, But 8 out of 10 witches would probably promote it. Score: 8.5 / 10 New Nintendo Switch Review (2021-08-27) https://chalgyr.com/2021/08/review-switch-dragonstarvarnir.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- In summary, Dragon Star Varnir is an interesting title from Compile Heart that takes a few new and refreshing steps away from their standard formula. The combat system is interesting and rather unique, and while it didn’t feel as if it used its full potential, it was definitely a fun system to plan around. The devour mechanic was also a fun gimmick, although the need for each character to devour an enemy to get their upgrade grid was a little frustrating. As a port from the PS4/PC version, there isn’t really anything extra worthwhile added, and the graphic quality has lowered slightly, but the game still runs smoothly. If you already own Varnir on another platform, there isn’t a need to purchase it again, however if you missed this title on earlier, and you’re a fan of JRPGs, I would definitely recommend looking into it, especially considering the price. Score: 8.0 / 10
Overall Undermine is a really good roguelike with a lot of well implemented mechanics. Is it breaking any molds? Not really, but the implementation was well done. The environments are large enough that you don't feel guided, but stages are small enough that you don't start getting frustrated being in the same location. There are plenty of randomized power boosts, and the upgrade system is pretty fair about when you need upgrades vs. How much they cost. While my luck may have screwed me over, there wasn't a design choice that did. I was really pleased with Undermine as a roguelike, and with the shorter nature of the stages, it lends itself really well to the Switch and its portable nature.
Overall, Prinny Presents NIS Classics Vol. 3 is my favourite of the bunch. Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure and La Pucelle: Ragnarock have what I feel is the most heart of all the NIS classic titles. If you’re a fan of the Disgaea series, you can’t go wrong with either title, and even those new to the genre have a wonderful entry with Rhapsody. The updated graphic quality from the PS1 and PS2 era is greatly appreciated, and being able to bring these titles with me on the go with the Switch is amazing.
Overall, Crashlands is a solid choice if you’re looking for a little less hectic, more role-playing experience than some of the other “survival crafting” games out there. These types of games do tend to be a lot of the same thing over and over again though, so make sure you know you may be in for the long haul if you really get into the game.
At its core, Koihime Enbu is a solid 2D fighter that is more geared towards players already familiar with the genre, and while the “story” aspect may be lacking, the focus is on combat mechanics and not plot, which can be felt in the handling. It may not be the best fighter out there, but it definitely is a solid entry into the series, despite its more…niche Koihime Musou, roots.
Overall, I would definitively recommend giving this JRPG a shot, even if you haven’t played the first installment.
Overall, it’s a nice little game to pick up and play while you’re waiting for something, or in transit somewhere, like during a bus ride or your daily commute, but can get incredibly frustrating if you don’t have the patience for it. Surprisingly enough, the worst part of the game isn’t the schizophrenic difficulty or the rather lacking story, but the “escorting” you have to do. The villagers are kinda dumb, and they get scared really easily. It’s also a pain if you have to escort them somewhere, but need them to stay behind because a monster is in your way, because they’ll just walk right into them sometimes. The game feels like one of those hidden gems for puzzle fans, but likely wouldn’t cut it for those looking for a little more action involvement. Remember that ninjas aren’t only sharp with weaponry, but with their minds as well.
Exist Archive is a JRPG brought to us by Spike Chunsoft and tri-Ace. Maybe recognizable from their works such as Danganronpa and Valkyrie Profile respectively, these two came together to create a solid JRPG that covers most of its bases in: gameplay, music, and story, although perhaps lacking a bit in gameplay explanation.
While the game definitely won’t appeal to a very wide player base, it certainly isn’t poor. Disproportionately cleavaged characters and all, I’d call this something of a guilty pleasure game. While I may not go out boasting about it, according to the trophy system apparently I am now officially “The Best of the Breast” and “The Backdoor King”, but I certainly had fun playing it.
Operation Babel is a sequel to Operation Abyss, and I'm not sure whether I'm pleased or disappointed, considering everything I loved about Operation Abyss is back. But so is everything I hated, too.
A short while ago I had the opportunity to review Fallen Legion for the PS4, and I mentioned that I hadn’t had the opportunity to play the Vita version. Well, now I have, and my quote of “There are a lot of issues that people can be divided on: music, politics, flavors of jellybeans, and of course also ruling a country” is proving its worth even more so. While I greatly enjoyed the experience I had with the PS4 version, I found the Vita version to be a bit less enjoyable.
Not too long ago, Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion was out on the Vita, along with its counterpart Sins of an Empire for the PS4. While I did enjoy the experience of Flames of Rebellion on the Vita, it did have some minor issues compared to its PS4 relative. Thankfully, with this PS4 port, not only can you own the two titles for the same system, but some of the issues from the first port have been resolved.
Overall, while maybe a little…iffier for more general audiences, with a wide variety of characters and customization, as well as the auro combo battle bonuses and rather interesting characters, I definitely came away liking Moero Chronicle H as a dungeon crawler. It wasn’t brutally unforgiving “cough” Dungeon Travelers 2 “cough”, but still a decent challenge. It helps that the music is pretty good and the boss theme is really solid. The plot may be a little lacking, but the customization makes it fun trying to build your own broken team. If you don’t feel awkward owning it, and are into dungeon crawlers, give it a try.
Back for another installment in the Ys series, we now get Ys Seven for the PC. Join Adol and Dogi once again as they venture into dark dungeons, battle fearsome foes, and lose a statue (maybe) while you roam some old ruins. While the PC version has a few setbacks, Ys Seven is still a vibrant world full of monsters, exciting characters and colorful landscape.
Under Night In-Birth is a 2D fighting game coming to us from French Bread and Aksys Games. With a heavy Type-Moon vibe to it, a nice selection of characters, and a solid combat system in place, if nothing else it's certainly a solid entry into the fighting game genre. There are plenty of different modes to try out and the combat is fluid making it easily accessible to newcomers or those that aren't particularly good at fighting games.
Overall though, X-Morph has a decided charm to it, and while the main alien computer things voice bothered me, the amount of enjoyment I got out of shooting up tanks and convoys with my friend in the co-op mode well more than made up for that. There was screaming and yelling, vying for turret space, and lots of cheering when we finally won.
Remember those weird and awkward days of trying to fit in in high school? Well, they're about to get weirder. And awkwarder. A retro style game about that crazy and scary period of time during high school, you can follow the poster child for weird and dorky, Daryl, as he tries to make sense of his teenage years. Also, dimensional rifts and brainwashing, strange creatures, and super powers.
Overall, I'd say Strange Journey Redux gets 8 pixies out of ten. It's really solid with some interesting gimmicks and solid gameplay, but it just doesn't quite have the oomph to substantially set itself apart from the crowd.