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electricprincess96 · 2 years

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Slogging my way through Brilliant Diamond really showed how Platinum's pacing and execution of various story beats was just better. Like Platinum was already an improved version of Diamond/Pearl taking many of the complaints about those games and fixing them. To then revert back to the poor pacing, the confusing story beats (nothing tells me I should go talk to that Galactic Grunt after the Water Gym, absolutely nothing tells me that he's suddenly gonna have new dialogue than he did before I fought the gym so I went back to Hearthome before realising I had to go talk to this dude again whereas in Platinum he gets a cutscene right after that gym (which is Gym 5 rather than 4 which is in my opinion a better place to put this chunk of story content because after this you then go do a fetch quest for Cynthia AND THEN face the Ghost gym whereas it just feels better to have all this story after the 5th Gym then go off to Canalave City for the 6th Gym and more Story content. By having this story content before the 5th gym in DP it feels like "ops we need to now sidetrack ourselves to go back and fight that one gym we couldn't fight earlier even though we know we should really be going to meet up with Rowan and the others in Canalave").

Like these remakes aren't bad but I don't think they are anywhere close to Pokemon Quality even the worst Pokémon games are often more polished than this for their time. The graphics are still terrible, not the art style necessarily, just the actual graphics look worst than Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee like the lighting is terrible, the controls are horrendous it is emulating SwSh 3D controls but the world is still built on a grid so you end up just running into things a lot. The Pokémon models were all brand new and yet they look worse than SwSh Models. They look almost like they've been made of clay, now I know Pokémon models have never been the height of realism but I noticed it mostly with Chimchar I can't put my finger on it but they just look more fake. Also somehow the animations for moves feel.... less somehow even the most simple moves but that might just be me nitpicking at this point.

The Poketch is worse than useless here, not only is it the DP Poketch that only has one button to cycle through all the apps but there isn't a second screen so you've got to actively stop everything and open it up onto your screen which renders the dowsing machine worthless. Only time I use the Poketch is for HMs.

And on that note. No HMs is appreciated, truly it is. And for that reason these remakes are easily better than the original Diamond and Pearl. But they are not better than Platinum and I know in the future I will choose to replay Platinum over these basically every time.

One thing I will say the remake does better than even Platinum. The grand Underground is very fun, but it is not an integral part of the game so even that doesn't win it a great review from me.

So while I still haven't finished the game considering how loyal of a remake it is I've experienced enough to make a pretty firm judgement on my opinions on it and thats (since I'm not judging plot so only need to really experience the mechanics to make a judgement. Only plot related thing I've touched on was the fact I feel Platinum has better pacing and I've now experienced the parts of the game again that Platinum changed the pacing and still feel Platinum has better pacing than OG DP and this remake).... meh Platinum still a better game.

#gen 4 remakes blogging #sinnoh remakes blogging #pokémon brilliant diamond blogging

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cosmiciaria · 4 years

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Assassin’s Creed Unity Review/honest thoughts/discussion - SPOILERS (long post)

So I decided to finally settle on a proper review – although this one is going to be more of what here in Argentina we call a "sincericidio": basically I will spit my guts out and cry in one corner, while being completely honest about my feelings. I will try to keep most spoilers at bay, like I always do, but there's just one thing I cannot not talk about which is THE spoiler so – I want you to be considered warned.

Before I start, I should state, since this is my review and reviews are quite personal actually, why this game is so important to me and why I wanted to play it so bad. There's a combination of factors, and obviously this game isn't going to strike the same chords with everyone, so bear in mind that this is strictly subjective and, right now, personal.

First factor and I think the most important one: I like writing. Wait, don't leave the review just yet. I like writing and creating characters. I have many. Lately I've been revisiting a character that had a very sad backstory and added quite long happy ending for him. I made him fall in love again. He's black haired, wears a short pony tail… his new love interest is a redhead with wavy hair… ok, you get me now, don't you? And what's worse, is that their story takes place in a fictional world that resembles quite much Europe of 1800's. So clothes and ballrooms and palaces and big, fluffy dresses are a thing in this story of mine. I think that, if you've ever created a character, to find another fictional, similar character in any medium is going to draw your attention to that product right away. It did happen to me with Cal Kestis from SW Jedi: Fallen Order, I have another redhead baby boy that needs to be protected at all costs. It's a way for us to 'see', let's say, or imagine our characters being brought to life.

Second factor: I love Paris. I visited Versailles and Paris back in late 2018, and I went there with zero expectations, only to fall in love with France. I love the Château de Versailles. I love palaces. I love the Seine. I love the Louvre. I love it. All of it. If I could, I'd live there. Sadly, I'm poor and speak little to no French at all.

Third Factor: I'm learning French! I dream with the day I can speak like five languages as well as I speak English (I studied it for ten years so… it kinda makes sense that I feel comfortable with it). I'm still struggling with French, but I will get there someday. I will. Because I love it. I love the language. Oui.

Fourth factor: I also really really, really like the French Revolution, and I've never, much to my surprise, watched or played any series, videogame, movie or anything that takes place in such a context (if you have recommendations, please drop them right away!). And I say "to my surprise" because I really like that part of History! So, to live in almost first person how the French Revolution unfolded – to hear the chansons and to see people gathered in crowds at every corner, listening to a liberty preacher wielding the French flag – that was glorious.

Fifth and yeah we're done: I love Les Misérables. I know it happens way later than the French Revolution, but since this musical (and the 2012 movie) became my 'home', I can't help but feel a stronger connection with everything I said above. I can watch that movie over and over and I will still sing Empty chairs and empty tables with tears in my eyes, despite its flaws.

I had like every reason to play this game. And it paid off.

Before plunging into it, I did read the novelization. Sadly, it was only to satisfy my soon-to-be-fulfilled obsession with the game, since I don't think the quality of the narration was, uhm, that good – it felt like you needed to have played the game before reading it. And I get it, it's a videogame adaptation, that's fine, but when you look at it as standalone book, it doesn't stand alone that good. What disappointed me, though, wasn't the narration, which was what I totally expected it to be, nor the dialogues or the ending – it was Élise. I was bit weary about this because she came across as completely different character than what I had in mind about her, and I didn't like her. At all. In the book, at least. I didn't like her because she had a few comments and took some decisions that made her look like she was stupid and/or selfish. I can understand the selfish part; I do not want to even believe that she's stupid. So that's why the book was a bit of a letdown for me. I recommend it, though, if you're a fan, because there's a book exclusive character that really gets the plot moving and he's endearing: Mr. Weatherall. Oh, what a man.

Now, regarding the game itself – it shouldn't come as a surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed it. As I've stated in another post, this game is barely an Assassin's Creed, since you delve like zero into the AC lore, and it's just an excuse for your character – Arno – to know parkour. Which in fact he knows before becoming an assassin, so it begs the question, why is this game even in this franchise? I digress. It's an AC game at the end of the day and that won't change.

But do not jump into this game expecting it be your average AC story. I firmly believe that the creators wanted to convey a different story here. For starters, Arno is no hero. Arno doesn't want to save the world. Arno doesn't care about any artifact or magic or creed. Arno only wants to discover who's the man behind De La Serre's death. That's his main driving force. And behind that, there's this undeniable and yet quite destructive feeling that pulls him forward: Élise.

Élise and Arno's relationship goes deeper into this story than it's noticeable at first glance. When you look back upon the plot, you discover that without their love 'subplot', there's no plot at all. If I may be so bold, I would even argue that Arno's story is a tragic love story. All the assassin's lore, all the betrayals, the first few assassinations, it all falls back into the background when Élise returns to the stage almost halfway through the game. And even though they only share like one kiss or two during the 40 hours of gameplay, there's still this latent, persistent motivation behind each of Arno's actions, that he wouldn't be doing what he's doing if it wasn't for Élise.

And it all comes down to that one line: What I wanted was you.

I cannot stress enough how much I loved all of the drunkard memory of Versailles. I think it embodies Arno's perfect character development. The constant rain and the bluish filter on every framerate added to the overall depressing atmosphere. I felt miserable while playing those quests, and the moment he steps out into the entrance of the Château de Versailles and reflects on his past decisions – decisions that have been stolen from him, because he could never defend himself nor change the course of actions on his own accord – that exact moment that he sits down and cries, I cried too.

Because all the game, all the memories, all the dialogues go in a crescendo only to crumble into this abyss. And this, in turn, creates a fleshed-out character, with a believable development, believable feelings, believable motivations. I can feel for Arno, I can understand him, I pity him, and I want to hug him. The whole game reaches its peak in its main character's worst moment: when he realizes that he's screwed everything up.

And not always do we get a story where the main character doesn't win. He just doesn't. Underneath its revolutionary streets, this story reeks of inexorability and fatality. You know it, you know it in the back of your head, but you push that thought apart because you want to enjoy jumping over rooftops and finding the best strategy to kill that man. There's this underlying, looming melancholy in every memory that you play in, and that's why the end doesn't surprise us.

It makes us cry, of course, but it didn't come as a surprise at all. If you're shocked about the end, then you haven't been paying enough attention to Élise's dialogues, to the tone of the story, to her letters, to where this plot was going. Because, like I said, the story is about Arno and Élise's relationship, it isn't about defeating the bad guy. And there was only one way that story could end.

*cries in French*

*Je pleure beaucoup*

I know the game has been panned by players for its performance. And being the 2020 year of our lord, I cannot say I reject those allegations, since it's been 6 years since the game was released. I hope enough patches were implemented to salvage the bugs. I only came across one bug in my entire playthrough which bothered me a little: some NPC's would sometimes pop into cutscenes and phase through the characters like nothing. At first it was funny, but then towards the end it happened two more times, in important cutscenes with our lovely couple, which kinda destroyed all immersion, if you know what I mean. The rest was fine: it never crashed on me, I didn't encounter the infamous, horrendous bug that unleashed memes in internet, never a T-pose or something that rendered the game unplayable – nothing, only that funny bug I mentioned. I did see the drop in framerates, specially in very crowded areas – but to be honest I never saw a game with so many NPC's together in the same place, like, hundreds of them, each with unique animations and varied models. I only come from playing Syndicate, and even there the number of NPC's was lower. Here is jarringly unreal, I didn't know the French Revolution was THIS jam-packed with people!

On a graphical department, this 2014 game still holds up. Very well. I think it even looks better in some scenes than some of its successors. The cutscenes were sometimes very cinematographic, with close ups, zoom outs, certain angles, with quite real lighting and shadows. I know it's not Naughty Dog and it doesn't have the whole Sony battalion behind, but damn if some of the character's expressions were really good. It didn't happen often, so when one of them had this very specific face I was like *insert surprised pikachu meme*.

I also enjoyed the music a lot. I don't know why but the one from the main menu stuck with me for a while. All of the songs have this Versailles, aristocratic tone to it which put me in the mood.

I have only one minor complaint and its entirely optional, let's say – I want to platinum this game. But I don't own PS plus, because it's, uhhh, expensive in my country (do not want to indulge in dollar exchange rates right now). And there are like two trophies only obtainable through multiplayer, which renders my trophy hunt useless. But, alas, I knew this before buying the game. I think that games shouldn't come with multiplayer trophies for the platinum. If you have to pay extra for something, it must be completely optional. And so should be the trophies related to it. It's a bit disappointing, though, because after finishing this game I want so bad to return to it, but if I can't platinum, I don't see myself coming back to it soon. Either way, I could still earn the rest of the trophies, but that would only enrage me more when the last 3% is going to be locked forever *cries again*.

All in all, my major question at the end is: why does this game receive so much hate? I guess if I came from a hardcore fan standpoint I could understand it more. If I had played all its predecessors before this one, I would also feel that the gameplay and the objectives are repetitive. That the challenges are bs. But the stealth aspect has been improved, the parkour has been redesigned and adapted, and as of now, bugs aren't a problem anymore. I want to believe that when a remaster for the PS5 comes out or, I don't know, if someone by divine grace has an epiphany in the near future regarding this game, people will change their mind on this one and will appreciate more what it wanted to be, than what they made it to be. After all, this is Arno's story. Arno's tragic love story.

Also this game is beautiful JUST LOOK AT IT LOOK AT IT!!!

Sorry couldn’t help myself

#assassins creed unity #assassins creed #ac unity #arno x elise #arno dorian #arno victor dorian #elise de la serre #assassins #templars #review #videogame review #ubisoft #assassins creed syndicate #germain #play station 4 #rant #long post #versailles

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gabbylioness · 3 years

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The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct Game Review

The Walking Dead is one of the only T.V. shows that has managed to hold my attention for multiple seasons and have me on the edge of my seat waiting for new episodes every week. I’m a HUGE fan. That said, I had high hopes for Survival Instinct, which is developed by a company called Terminal Reality and published by Activision.

When I first heard that this game was going to be a first person shooter I was pretty stoked. I thought the genre would be very fitting considering all of the zombie killing that has happened in the show. Then I heard it was being published by Activision. As much as I love the Call of Duty series of games, Activision has a reputation for pushing out games just to make a quick buck. And that became painfully obvious once I put the The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct disc in my Xbox and logged a couple of hours on the game. http://www.thegamercollective.com/pink-bunny-gaming-chair/

I was really hoping this game would be phenomenal. I love the show, I love Daryl Dixon, but this game doesn’t do the show or the character any justice. Below you’ll find my detailed review of each aspect of The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct. This was reviewed on the Xbox 360 but please note that gameplay is identical across all platforms and, even on PC, the graphics are horrendous.

Platforms: Xbox 360, PC, Playstation 3, Wii U

Graphics

For a game that is being released in the first quarter of 2013, not long before next-gen consoles are supposedly being released, Survival Instinct looks like garbage. You’d think having a big name like TWD attached would mean there’d be a huge budget to make this game look fantastic but, sadly, it looks worse than some of the titles that were available at the launch of the 360.

The environments are bland, characters look like cheesy comic book personas, and even the weapons look like they belong in a poorly designed indie title. Overall, the look of the game is just tasteless and looks like it was thrown together in a day.

GFX Score – 3/10

Gameplay

Survival Instinct lacks any awesome gameplay. Most of the weapons, which primarily consist of blunt objects, blades, and various guns, feel really clunky. Using anything with a blade or blunt surface is just a matter of swinging repetitively at walkers to bash them in the head. Guns are even less satisfying. With the rifle, for example, there is no sway or recoil when firing, it’s a very dull point and click interface. What’s worse is the scope is, in most cases, useless. Most of the time zombies will be far too close to you to make use of a long range scope.

During most, if not all, parts of the game you won’t be running around. Because sound, movement, and even the smell of your sweat, attracts zombies you have to crouch walk around almost all the time. Doing so activates a sort of stealth that makes you less noticeable to walkers.

It also provides you with the ability to come up behind zombies and assassinate them with a knife thrust to the head. This is the move you’ll have to rely on to progress through most missions in the game. So get used to very slow, unsatisfying gameplay. It’s fun the first few times to stab a walker in the brain in a cool assassination animation but it gets tiresome and boring very quickly.

Here’s a video we recorded showing some the The Walking Dead Survival Instinct’s gameplay:

While I will say that most of this is on par with the show, it just doesn’t translate well into good gameplay. Yes, in reality you would have to sneak around and be careful. Yes, firing a gun would attract hordes of zombies (it does in the game). But, unfortunately, this makes for really slow, dull gameplay. Maybe it could be developed into something more interesting but this game just didn’t hit it well.

Gameplay Score – 4/10

Storyline

The show may at times go off on odd tangents and, sometimes, boring dialogue, but Survival Instinct takes the cake in that respect. The only real story is that the zombie apocalypse has begun and you (Daryl) and your brother (Merle) have to fight to survive. The dialogue is, at times, laughable. Daryl seems to be stuck on lame, one-line zingers that just don’t click as being a true adaptation of his T.V. persona. Other characters are voiced well but still provide little engagement or entertainment throughout the game. http://www.thegamercollective.com/are-secretlab-chairs-worth-it/

In most cases you’ll be presented with a short cutscene to learn what your general goal is for each area of the game. Then, as you find other survivors in those areas, you’ll have short dialogue episodes with them to find out what they want in exchange for items or help you may need. Almost every mission is the same… you need item A, survivor has it but wants item B, you have to locate item B, bring it back to survivor, get item A, acquire new survivor and head out.

As you gain more survivors you’ll earn more chances to scavenge items like fuel, food, ammo, and other supplies for each area you travel to. You get to decide where to travel and how to send your survivors out. This involves assigning tasks to each survivor and equipping them with weapons. Each area you travel to has a certain level of risk. This is an interesting concept which, if done correctly, could be pretty cool but, unfortunately, Survival Instinct made it a bit dull and repetitive, leaving much to the imagination.

The story isn’t terrible but it isn’t great, either. It’s definitely not on par with the creativity and entertaining elements found in The Walking Dead T.V. show.

Story Score – 4/10

Conclusion

Being a big fan of the show I really wanted this game to succeed. Unfortunately, there are just so many things that need to be improved upon. Maybe Terminal Reality will make a huge patch to fix the broken elements and create a huge DLC with more interesting content in the future, but I’m not sure. I don’t believe the game sold as well as they had hoped which means they probably won’t have the budget to make such corrections to the game.

Terminal Reality had a great concept idea with this game but missed the quality mark by a long shot. Sorry, but it’s true. This game had a lot of interesting ideas thrown in the mix but they were very poorly executed.

Norman Reedus, you are an amazing actor and have captured my favor in the TWD show but this game puts shame to the great name of Daryl.

Overall… NOT RECOMMENDED.

Final Score – 3.5/10

#the walking dead #video games #gaming #games #xbox #xbox 360 #gamer

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entergamingxp · 4 years

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Trials of Mana is Shaping Up to Be a Fantastic Re-imagining of a Classic

March 22, 2020 9:00 AM EST

Trials of Mana, a full 3D rebuilding of the original Seiken Densetsu 3, is shaping up to be a more than worthy remake of the classic JRPG.

Seiken Densetsu 3 was originally the third entry in the Seiken Densetsu franchise released in 1995 for the Super Famicom. The game never saw an English release until now, under a new title Trials of Mana.

This version is special, however, as it’s not a simple port of the original 16-bit version but a complete 3D remake of the game built from the ground up — which is an impressive feat. But does it successfully make the transition from 2D to 3D well? My answer is a resounding yes.

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Just starting the game, players will already encounter one of the most interesting features of Trials of Mana: its character select system. This allows players to first select a main character and then two companions for a total of three out of six possible characters with different weapons, strengths, stats, starting points, goals, and specialties. Even better is that once you choose your main character and companions, the plot alters to accommodate, resulting in key plotline differences based on how you mix and match characters.

Once you’ve chosen your three characters the game then moves on to the main characters prologue and once you learn more about this setting backstory personality and later on what motivation drives them to Journey. The prologue also introduces the player to combat and allows you to adjust both to basic controls and to the character’s unique skill set.

After that, you begin the game proper and follow that protagonist on their journey, whether epic or personal. For instance, I chose Riesz — a princess and guard captain– in which her journey’s purpose is to both save her younger brother Elliot kidnapped by evil forces and to restore her ruined kingdom. As your chosen hero travels, they’ll eventually encounter both companions and other playable characters. If the former, you then have the option of playing through their prologue for their backstory and to brush up on their battle style. And if you choose to skip it altogether, the game doesn’t penalize you.

Interestingly enough, if you encounter characters that aren’t part of your party, they’ll end up not joining you and their dialogue will alter depending on whether they’re meant to join you at that point. During my playthrough the party encountered a little girl named Charlotte, one of the six main characters. If you already didn’t choose her at the start, Riesz will refuse Charlotte’s proposal to join the group, and she will end up staying in her town instead. I would assume if she was one of your picks this is the point where she would officially join. It’s fascinating to see how the game adjusts depending on what characters you choose and when they come into your party.

Enemies are on the world map and as soon as you enter an area they occupy battle immediately starts. You can either choose at this point to fight them or attempt to escape by running from the area long enough until the escape gauge fills. However, some battles such as bosses are inescapable (which is indicated by a red line), unlike the yellow line of normal encounters.

Combat is action based as players can use a variety of tasks such as weak attacks, strong attacks, evasions, jumps, aerial attacks, and special attacks. You can also hold down the button used for strong attacks to charge it. It’s simple yet surprisingly flexible with a good variety of possible strikes. Special attacks are called Clash Strikes and they’re denoted by a special double gauge with a percentage next to it at the bottom of the screen called the CS gauge. This denotes how much energy you have charged for Class Strikes, which requires 100 percent or more.

There’s also great attention to detail that I appreciate, such as the fact that ground-based attacks can’t hit aerial enemies; instead you actually have to jump to reach them. Then only when they’re knocked down can the party fight them normally. Most action games don’t even bother to incorporate something as simple as that, and it made me realize the amount of care put into Trials of Mana.

Each enemy type has a special attack and its range is denoted by an area-of-effect marking, giving you and your companions ample time to dodge as long as you pay attention. Dodging is not an easily ignored window dressing but a vital mechanic that prevents party members from taking heavy damage. Combat has one major downside, however, which is a lack of a proper targeting system. This means you’re often stuck rotating the camera constantly to keep facing the enemy. Luckily the game doesn’t punish you for not having your enemy in perfect sights at all times. However, players are still expected to carefully consider what moves to use during battle.

The other companions are AI controlled while players directly control the main hero. Good thing the AI itself isn’t horrendously stupid. They’ll dodge normal and area-of-effect moves, thereby avoiding needless damage, and instead follow the player’s lead in how and when they attack. This means instead of babysitting teammates, players can solely focus on how they’re using their own main character to the best of their abilities. To sweeten the deal, players have the option to customize AI behavior in the strategy menu, allowing you to tailor their behavior based on their combat roles.

As the party defeats enemies and levels up, they earn training points, which are used to learn new abilities and moves unique to that character. By meeting certain requirements during battle, such as taking no damage or completing a sortie in a certain amount of time, you can earn bonus experience. This also serves as a great incentive to learn the system better and become more adept at combat.

Each character has five stats: stamina, strength, intelligence, luck, and spirit and each character specializes in certain stats so it’s wise to choose abilities that complement their strengths. Once you choose a stat to augment, there’s a list of abilities or moves that correspond with that stat and you can spend training points to learn it.

The skill system is simple and yet has some nice flexibility and complexity, which allows you to customize your characters as you see fit. Though it’s best to put your training points into stats that complement your character stat strengths, there is a valid strategy in buffing up their weakest stats to prevent enemies from exploiting them.

The intertwining of character stories and arcs with each other is the game’s own unique system that’s well executed. Each character’s individual stories are what you’d expect from a fantasy JRPG. Not to say that this is bad by any means — it’s refreshing to play a JRPG in which character motivations are clear, easily defined, and without being too convoluted. In fact, I would say that the presentation and plot of this game is extremely reminiscent of early 2000s JRPGs, which is oddly endearing as I rather miss that style of earlier 3D JRPGs.

Graphics have been completely overhauled from the original sprite art from 1995’s Seiken Densetsu 3. This means that every single aspect of this game is rendered in full 3D, including the character models, environments, and combat. I’m sure for old school fans of this game it must be quite the treat to see this 2D classic reimagined in full 3D. And while Trials of Mana is not the most graphically impressive JRPG on the market, the visuals are still colorful and vibrant, bringing the world to life.

Meanwhile the OST is brimming with fantastic remixes of classic soundtracks from the original Trials of Mana. It’s particularly noteworthy when the game’s boss theme makes its triumphant debut in the battle against the first boss Full Metal Hugger. The composer clearly put a lot of love and care into creating a soundtrack that both works as a tribute to the original music and also remasters it into an OST that better suits the remake’s visuals.

However, as much as I appreciate the call back to early 2000s JRPGs, there are a few drawbacks to this sort of delivery. To name a few: the pointless backtracking, the inconsistent English voice acting, and the constant barrage of cutscenes. Depending on your tolerance level, they can either be a minor annoyance or have a major impact on your enjoyment of the game.

I personally fell into the former camp as I enjoyed my experience with Trials of Mana. It’s a fun and deceptively simple action JRPG with a good sense of depth and complexity underneath its colorful and saccharine visuals. Combat and the skill system are easily my favorite parts of this game but there’s sure to be something that attracts most fans of JRPGs. For both old fans of the original Seiken Densetsu 3 and for newcomers unfamiliar with either the series, the game, or both, Trials of Mana is an easy and solid recommendation.

March 22, 2020 9:00 AM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/03/trials-of-mana-is-shaping-up-to-be-a-fantastic-re-imagining-of-a-classic/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=trials-of-mana-is-shaping-up-to-be-a-fantastic-re-imagining-of-a-classic

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terryblount · 4 years

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Azur Lane: Crosswave – Review

The following review is written by guest writer (and friend of Gamer Matters) Ammar “Tohka” Aryani. You can find him stream more waifu games or soldier sims at twitch.tv/tohka_aryani

A wise person once said that Azur Lane is basically Kancolle, but better in terms of getting people to play their game. But how would the shipfus fight in a third person perspective?

That’s where Azur Lane: Crosswave comes into mind. After a great global release on their mobile counterpart, Yostar Studios announced several plans for 2020 including a multiplatform game after a horrendous disaster on their anime to the point where they would establish their own animation studio based in Japan. Is Azur Lane: Crosswave able to give the mobile player-base what they were seeking? The answer is mixed, and here’s why.

Presentation

The game was developed and published by the duo of Idea Factory (IF) & Compile Heart (CH), which is famously well-known for their flagship title games such as the Hyperdimension Neptunia series. So the art style was what I would expect coming for an established duo. (I mean, they even giving us Neptune as a shipfu for free so I ain’t complaining)

Graphic-wise, it was an overall improvement. The game was developed using the Unreal Engine 4, meaning that it gives a boost in terms of game physics.The User Interface (UI) is pretty smooth and pleases the eyes since it was simple yet easy to navigate through. I wish I could say the same for the 3D models. Some of the 3D models were lacking specific details but in return, the 2D expression from all of the characters available during cutscenes is a new sight to those who are veterans of Azur Lane. So presentation-wise, it’s looking great for the game but it comes down to the gameplay that really matters.

Gameplay

For IF’s classic RPG visual novel storyline combined with a turn-based action battle system, I’m a bit disappointed with the battle system mechanics on this game. The gameplay, on first impression, is very interesting on its own as it follows the mobile’s shoot ’em up style scrolling-screens combined with 3D graphics.

You will be able to control a full fleet with 3 main ships while the other 3 will act as a support, giving you buffs during battle. Overall the gameplay feels a bit repetitive as you will repeat the battle process with mostly the same enemy units as well the long amount of cutscenes. The game does take on the RPG aspect of IF’s signature equipment slots, where you will have to farm for A points (which is used to recruit ships into your fleet) or gold coins (used for equipment upgrades/purchases). But again, you might need to grind for a specific amount of time to get enough points for the ship that you wanted. Once you get enough materials/currency, you can boost the stats on your ship or upgrade their unique skills. It’s a shame that the battles mostly lasted a mere 2-3 minutes depending on the equipment.

And finally, just like the mobile version the rank for every battle depends on an completed objective. The lower the ranking, the less loot you get. But this game, in particular, has a high amount of players that managed to complete a battle in S rank, meaning it’s easy to get the highest ranking in battle most of the time. So basically the player would watch some event cutscenes, load up a battle, defeat the enemies, go to another place for loot or battle, defeat more enemies, earn some resources, see if you can buy something new and repeat.

Oath System

Just like in the mobile game, you can marry your shipfus without having to waste IRL money to buy a wedding ring. (God knows I wasted $100 for that) Once you managed to raise your ship’s affection to max level by fighting battles, you can instantly oath a ship and gain extra stats.

Content

Content-wise, the team of Yostar and Idea Factory did an amazing job of handling the storyline very well. The story focuses on the duo of Suruga,a battleship & Shimakaze, a destroyer that is newcomers to the Sakura Empire faction.

While the storyline isn’t complex, it actually fits really well with the setting of the game itself.

The Eagle Union, Iron Blood, Royal Navy, and Sakura Empire, all based on the 4 main factions during World War II. The nations maintain a peaceful but friendly tension between them, as they face a threat from a mysterious fifth faction: The Sirens. The primary defenses against this faction are the Kan-sen, female androids wielding special weapons and channeling the spirits of historical warships. When a battle with the Sirens leaves a number of physics-defying glowing cubes scattered about Sakura Empire territory, the nations call together a “joint military operation” to collect and research the mysterious new resources.

Azur Lane: Crosswave offers 29 playable ships such as the famous Enterprise, Bismarck and Nagato with 35 ships more on support duties and not available in the primary battle group. The support ships instead give buffs to the ships during battle and generally cost less than the playables. IF and Compile Heart have announced several playable ships to be added via DLCs.

Although the Azur Lane roster has 400+ ships, not all of them make the list and while there are almost 30 playable ships in the game, some of the factions only have a few ships in their arsenal. For example, the Iron Blood faction has only 3 ships while the Sakura Empire fills ⅓ of the roster. ( Give me Zuikaku and I’ll be happy)

But what they lack in the roster list, they make up for it with full voice acting, and the outfits they practically spill out of are rendered in high resolution, which is rare for the mobile players. The expressions coming out from the characters are amazing, providing you can avoid the somewhat lewd art design.

Personal Enjoyment

I’m not gonna lie, I’m used to playing games made by Idea Factory and Azur Lane specifically so these types of games are my bread and butter. I’ve played the game for several hours and to be honest, I feel like I’m playing another Hyperdimension Neptunia series despite having Neptune in my fleet.

Game-wise, I like to grind and farm for equipment and new ships. But the gameplay can be boring after several hours after my soul has departed due to gacha exhaustion. I like the game mainly due to the character interaction. It’s not every day you get to see Bismarck and Hood chatting after what happened to Hood in the mobile game storyline.

Verdict

To be fair, I have mixed feelings about this game. This is due to the short battles and the super long cutscenes. But Azur Lane: Crosswave is overall not a bad game, but there’s nothing special about the game that appeals to the public unless if you’re an Azur Lane hardcore fan or if you have played any of the Hyperdimension Neptunia series. The game itself is a character-driven adventure with simple yet quick battles and a shallow storyline that is surprisingly dialogue-heavy. Overall, if you’re an Azur Lane fan or an experienced Nepper (a person who has played the Neptunia series) chances are you’ll enjoy Azur Lane: Crosswave.

Otherwise, others might be better off playing Doom Eternal.

Review copy purchased by the reviewer

Azur Lane: Crosswave – Review published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

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