May 2020 Hey! Listen!
I really gotta start writing these out a head of times. My reviews and writing deteriorate when I leave it to last minute… wait haven’t I said this before… have I gone back in time or am I doomed to repeat it? I suppose I have enough time to speculate that, so onto the progress!
It seems the Spring Cleaning event wanted me to return to Rapture (what is this the 10th time?), but this time Remastered \o/ … A shame remastered only really means a buggy mess that likes to crash, but hey we got a few puzzle levels to play with and a documentary that no one asked for :shrug:. Yup, you have plenty of chances of having this game to crash on startup, on save, on load (I lost an hour’s worth of playtime due to not separating my saves more), on death, and pretty much whenever it feels like (spoilers: it feels like it a lot). Still, I do always like a good excuse to return to what I would say is an iconic and well made game. I don’t really know if there were any real improvements otherwise, nothing that noticeable anyways. The puzzle levels were neat as they were less focused on combat and more about using what you have to get to your goal.
Lewd? A splicer complains about there being semen on everything, but other than that… nope. ^_^
Recommend? Not this variation, now would you kindly go play the original over the remaster?
My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined. What I thought to be just a regular side story branching off of Human Revolution turned out to be a money grabbing mobile phone game now on PC. I remember when these sorts of games first started coming out (DMC4 for instance) in droves once we started approaching smart phones and oh how I hate them then and hate them now. You can feel the presence of the microtransactions and how they meant to take every dime they could as you would have ended up buying guns, ammunition, and consumables through the online store.
You play a sort of non-important middle man that once worked for the bad guys of Human Revolution. After breaking free from your previous employer, you seek to bring justice and find a way to survive. Stealth, action, and augments are still the core gameplay along with choices.
Onto the actual game, well… it’s certainly limited by the target platform. The graphics were jarring between how great Human Revolution was and this game, gameplay having a very similar issue. Largely it was dumbed down, passable, but not overly engaging. To boot, it doesn’t even finish its own story as they likely counted on releasing future episodes. Can only wonder why that didn’t happen.
Lewd? Nope
Recommend? Not really, as I mentioned it is unfinished from a story point and doesn’t offer much into the actual world building.
Though I have beaten this game prior, Spring Cleaning event brought me back to do more fist punching. A beat-em-up with a little bit more silly take as you can play and unlock a plethora of weird characters (including Dr. Karate and even a Robot Unicorn [might be DLC]) as you face your greatest enemy… the milkman. The game is fine enough if not feeling a little grindy as you have to beat up enough enemies to level up without getting two shot by the level boss. Achievements were pretty easy as most are either complete levels, find ‘x’ things, or use ‘x’ character’s ‘y’ ability ‘z’ times.
Lewd? You can end up fighting nudists or play a character that controls enemies by kissing them… but it’s all mosaic so not so lewd.
Recommend? For a cheap price you can get some cheap fun, yes
I had just finished a couple decent of Winged Cloud’s Sakura games that were actually above decent… until I came to this. This mess of a story is about what I would normally expect coming from their studio. Low effort, cheap story, with generally bad dialogue. Randomly having your character break the 4th wall just isn’t amusing unless the character has an actual premise for it.
Anyways, you play a foxgirl who wants to interact with human society instead of being locked in the mountains with her teacher. However, humans don’t take too kindly to outsiders and she finds herself at their mercy except for a valiant knight who knows honor rather than hate. Either way, booby anime with uninteresting story.
Lewd? As one expects, yes, entirely girl’s love based.
Recommend? No, not really.
I think I generally enjoy Sakura Gamer installments better because it feels like there is a semblance of writing ability and substance put in. Maybe it’s because it seems to reflect their own visual novel process and interactions with consumers. You continue where you left off in the previous installment where you successfully made your lewdy VN and not only working on a sequel, but must sell your product at a market convention. However, being a developer is not how it’s all cracked up to be as your character focuses on the negative comments of a game and a particular person that defames your stall.
Again, it really seemed to have genuine writing as your character must face thought provoking comments about the relationship between a business and it’s consumers. How one grows as an artist and learns to continue on.
Lewd? Yes, entirely girl’s love based.
Recommend? Genuinely yes, it’s not the best work out there, but decent enough and certainly better than it’s prequel.
Back at it again with a completely subpar VN. Though there are some okay-lessons/themes in this, it just generally brings about an uninteresting tale. It starts out talking about this legendary knight that basically saved the world until she finally sets down… that isn’t you. Instead you are the daughter of this great knight who only wishes to become a great knight like her mother… only she hasn’t done much and will do very little to actually become one. Taking your mother’s sword you go on your adventure only to be tricked by a thief and your whole goal is to catch them.
As mentioned, the story is just not great, the pacing and climax just are not consistent. Furthermore, the characters feel the particular blandness that Winged Cloud is known for.
Lewd? Staying true to a lewdy booby VN, yes. Girl romance options only.
Recommend? No
Interestingly enough, they improved on the first Sakura MMO. The particular nowhere-ness the first plot had in its isekai adventure, the second totally fixed. It was a relatively self-contained plot, that still allowed an overarching plot to be present while not overtaking the tale. You are once again Viola, a once normal Japanese woman now transported into the game where she was a powerful and sadistic dark witch. Unlike the previous game she sticks with her character a bit better as an all powerful character along with her allies. In an attempt to figure out the mystery of her transportation to the game she finds herself enveloped in a quest to solve a mystery thief of a precious soon to be wedding jewelry.
This was surprisingly decent and almost seemed to take some pointers. It may have inconsistencies between writing in art, but none the above average.
Lewd? Sure enough, yes. Female romance routes only.
Recommend? A genuine yes.
Once again following the Sakura MMO series, you are reaching the end of the mystery behind your transportation to the world. The story has a mix of action, drama, and character development that I would almost congratulate the developers for. It truly embraces its potential in the fantasy game universe it holds itself in, though I believe it could have used a little more variety in attacks/abilities thrown by your squad.
Lewd? You know it, once again you have potential female only romance routes.
Recommend? I would say the second game is generally better, but the is a close 2nd. Yes, recommend.
Well, you certainly don’t play these games for the story and it is especially true of this one. It’s not particularly exciting as you play a regular dude who works as a cameraman. A failure to capture images of the latest idol, an awkward accident, and a broken camera and you suddenly find your average life thrown into a wild ride as you learn the existence of succubus. Not only that, but take a particular interest in you. Still, I was relatively impressed with some of the art as it was a higher quality. It even had a few decent scenes and jokes thrown in.
Lewd? Very much so and by far the lewdest Winged Cloud game of all.
Recommend? If you are into this sort of thing, then yes.
I’ve already reviewed this game before when beaten, so I’ll focus more on the DLC and completion aspects. This… took longer than I would have preferred. Sure enough there were side collectibles to find and challenges. However, since I had originally beaten this game on it’s hardest difficulty… I was stuck on it in order to achieve the rest and the DLC tombs. This wouldn’t be so much of an issue if dying didn’t mean restarting at the last fire you sat at or entry to a tomb. Not to mention you have to beat each DLC tomb three times by doing the time attack, score attack, and story completion. Sure the tombs were decent enough, but maybe not at the price they were selling them at. It also seemed the new gear/abilities you gained didn’t really do much, particularly at the post game I was at.
Challenge Me #2, SGWIN Beaten: End of May, Completed: Beginning of June
My first impressions of this was that it had an Alan Wake sort of feel as far as narrative goes. Much to my surprise it the developers were actually the ones who made Alan Wake. It certainly felt much the same playing. Basically swap out a flashlight with time manipulation powers and it’s pretty darn close. That isn’t a bad thing either. The bad thing is the buggy and lag present in this game. It’s just one of those triple AAA titles you would make fun of for releasing in such a state as an elevator button vibrates intensely, AI can move and look funny, among other odd aesthetics.
The greatest and most aggravating issue of this game is that despite the game telling you to look and explore for clues that may affect the timeline and world build it is constantly reminding you about your task and where you should be heading. This certainly doesn’t help when there is another game I played along side it with a similar issue. Seriously though, every few seconds I was getting nagged at by an NPC or my character to go to target destination or complete objective. I understand the story has pressing matters, but part of the perks of a game is to be able to dilate your time a bit with exploration instead of hearing “Hey, Over here. What are you doing over there? Just be here. You’re trying to get that collectible? No! F*** that collectible, look at me and do this thing, screw what we said about exploration, do this thing, hurry, listen!”.
The very cool thing about this game (a personal favorite of mine) is that it features FMV cutscenes. However, not like your traditional FMV game since it still has in game cutscenes, but instead has FMV episodes that cater to your choices made prior. It’s completely segmented in a sense that you play your chapter of gameplay, then you have a junction for a major decision and then an episode to end that Act. Now the interesting thing is that the major choices that affect the game are not made by the protagonist, but instead you take control of the enemy during the junction and make decisions for them. This puts the player in an uncomfortable position as it would be intended that you think of the best possible move for them instead of your protagonist. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for playing chess with myself. Although, to have to forget knowledge that your protagonist knows and the antagonist wouldn’t can be difficult when making these decisions. Regardless, I enjoyed the story (ignore my loved bias of FMV), though it wasn’t award winning, and the gameplay was competent enough. The guns were kind of bland, but the time manipulation powers made up for it as your tools to use, but not so much depend on.
Lewd? Nope
Recommend? It may be a buggy mess, but an enjoyable ride none the less.
Challenge Me #1
I certainly appreciate getting challenged to a SuperGiant game as experience (Pyre) has shown that they know how to develop a game. The music, the art, the gameplay, and the story were all outstanding and proves this developer knows what they are doing. You play a used to be Singer and now mute who carries around a talking sword after an assassination attempt in a dystopian cyber world that is falling to ruin under attack by these robotic creatures. The gameplay is a mix between action and turn based as you combine the skills you earn in any manner and strategize your attacks. The music is probably the best part of this games as it is melancholic, serene, and simply mesmerizing (I listed to the ost before I played this game, and will listen to it well after). Same too could be said about the art as it mixes a level of detail, artistic style, and color that really bring this world alive.
Lewd? Hm… no.
Recommend? Very much so, truly a great game. Though the combat may not pique everyone’s interests, I have yet to hear of someone who didn’t like some aspect of this game.
Now this… this is the cyber futurist game I was looking for. It had so much more of a Ghost In the Shell feel with both it’s surroundings, graphics, and gameplay. Graphics may not be everything, but when creating a cyber futurist setting it certainly helps, especially when being put in a city. Much like rest of the series, you get to choose between stealthy and action approach, as well as varying augments and weapons to aid you on your path to vengeance. The world is open, not so much so that there is a lot of empty space, but enough to where there are plenty of side quests and interesting places to explore. The story and world building around you held a bunch of ethical and moral questions in regards to Cyber implementation of humans (much like Ghost in the Shell) while still keeping you towards your own goal on taking the lives that took yours (in a manner of speaking). There was a slight pacing issue near the end of the game, but enjoyed it none the less.
Lewd? Not a chance.
Recommend? I would highly recommend one this out of the rest of the series, particularly if you are into cybernetic games.
This certainly was an interesting trip. It kind of felt like a more ridiculous Baldur’s gate where you are in a typical CRPG setting where you can either be a rogue, warrior, or mage (though realistically you can assign your points as you want) and adventure off as the chosen one to defeat the great evil. The silliness comes in a lot of the encounters where you find a random cart crash between a dwarf and human bickering or skeletons dying by having existential thoughts. The game itself is pretty old school hard, particularly as a mage (as you don’t regenerate mana naturally unless you sleep, and buying mana potions or creating them can be expensive). The enemies too can be pretty brutal as even with some of the best stats and skills may not be enough to easily best many late game enemies. Fairly voice acted and decent art give this game a passing score on overall aesthetics. I would say my main issues were along the lines of ridiculously difficult rooms and final level where you fight many waves of enemies or the fact that you can’t reuse bottles after emptying them (in order to create potions you have to have an empty bottle, but whenever you drink one you seem to throw the bottle away… not very recycle friendly it seems).
Lewd? Not quite.
Recommend? Honestly, this game just doesn’t age well, and can’t really recommend it to the general public. Answer: No.
As a fan of Suda51, and even before then, I have always wanted to get my hands on this game. Even until up to the last minute of gameplay I did not know what to expect. You play as 7 killers from the group of assassins known as Killer7. This isn’t a regular group as they are basically different personas that you can change on the fly, level up, and resurrect. Each persona has their own weapon of choice and abilities to traverse the world around you.
The actual gameplay of this has you transition from third person movement to first person (albeit somewhat clunky i.e. turning your aim is not as accurate one might prefer.) shooter to destroy these explosion creatures known as Heaven’s Smile that stand in the way of you and your targets. Each chapter has you finding and facing off against wildly different targets that have their own theme and goals, but in the end manipulated and twisted by Heaven’s Smile. The game is as weird and don’t care attitude as most of the Suda51 games are known for. All in all it was enjoyable for at least a 1 time around, though I am unsure if I will ever go through it again.
Lewd? Nope
Recommend? It’s always hard to recommend a Suda51 game as they tend to be weird and niche. I suggest a sale or a demo if able.
Kind of a generic puzzle game that just doesn’t give any satisfaction for completing a level. Move a block to capture up to three stars and the goal all the while avoiding snakes that track you. Generally pretty easy, but it seemed like some of the later levels were simply impossible to 3 star later on.
Lewd? Nope
Recommend? Also No.
Rhythm game with an intensity that I have never experienced before. You are a creature going very fast down a lane towards your ever evolving enemy and must use the beat to survive. You will need to hit notes, shield bars, make sharp turns among other movements to get across obstacles. The music itself is pretty ambient and fueled by the sounds made by your interactions with obstacles, a sort of dark and heavy sound. I did find some of the visuals a little too intense at times where it blinded me slightly from imminent dangers. Something that can be overcome with a little replaying, foresight, and hindsight, but still is a bit distracting. Generally an enjoyable challenge, have yet to try it out in VR, but imagine it might be a little much and likely to cause motion sickness.
Lewd? No Lewd, only beats.
Recommend? Yes, an intense challenge that targets your reflexes, adaptability, and ability to see patterns.
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Persona- PS1
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Persona
A friend has been hounding to play Persona 5, and so in response I told him I would… after I play through the rest of the series. As opposed to the stylish aura the 5th installment gets, this one leans far more heavily on horror aspects as the world is being invaded by demonic forces. It still remains some silliness as you can contact enemies in order to give you their ever so valuable spell cards (needed to create more Personas) including but not limiting to dancing or flirting them to your side. You will not only be leveling up your characters, but leveling up your personas as well.
Synopsis: After a seemingly harmless game to summon Personas (sort of a spirit that has power in reflection of your personality [is this a stand attack?]) lightning strikes you and your fellow high school classmates. For the most part things are okay besides some hospital visit until the world is distorted and demons begin attacking you. Use your personas, guns, and melee to defeat these demons, create new personas, and destroy the person inviting these demons to this world.
The greater crime of this game is that it is poorly translated and explained. Most abilities don’t have explanations of what they do until you already obtain them. This becomes more of a problem when you need to sacrifice your hard-obtained spirit cards into personas who you wouldn’t know were decent or not unless you get a guide. Even then, most guides seem to be inconsistent at best. This holds true to knowing all the element types, contact successes with demons, and general path finding, and teammate recruiting (unlike most JRPGs, you can only recruit if you have room in your party, so if you already accepted everyone that came to you so far, you become out of luck and miss out on some greater allies). Still, as a JRPG it felt different from the rest with a great soundtrack.
Lewd? Nope
Recommend? I’d maybe check out the re release that was put on the PSP (if able) as I assume it addresses most of my concerns. So, a solid maybe.
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Hyaaa! Another generation of Link and easily the most important as it is the splitting point of the two major timelines. Even after all these years, there were still plenty twists and turns that kept me surprised and engaged. It was particularly interesting all the ways you got information or equipment in unique and unusual ways. You get your typical LoZ combat system and dungeon crawling progression.
This game certainly is a great entry in the series, but couldn’t help but feel the faults the lie in the game. Let’s get the meme and most well known issue out of the way… Navi. This wasn’t helped by the fact that a game I played alongside this had a similar issue. You’d almost constantly hear this fairy annoyance saying “Hey, Listen! Watch Out!” quite frequently and flash it’s name in your face. This was probably to help guide the player, but I don’t need this every five seconds while I’m trying to fight an enemy or make my way through the area that it’s telling me to go. 9/10 times it didn’t even give any helpful information. My other issue with this game is that some things that are required for you to get don’t seem like they are. I.E. Gaining a particular spell to enter a tomb, meant going to what would have otherwise seemed as a random exploration rather than a semi guided passage. This occurs in various other ways as far as solutions to puzzles or general combat. Otherwise the difficulty in this game is pretty tame and just sets up for an enjoyable experience.
Lewd? No, but everyone seems to want Link.
Recommend? Hyaa! (Yes)
So many Sakura games
There was a sale and since I have a need to finish all Winged Clouds games, I’m not entirely sure why, I decided to pick up the last few games I didn’t own. Luckily they weren’t all terrible, unluckily I increased my backlog and had to burn through them to get back up to speed.
I managed to complete my last games in the last bundle. Just missing the most new ones now
Interesting what you said about Bioshock Remastered vs. original. I had never played a Bioshock game, and don’t have a lot of time for long games. After some research, I decided to play the original instead of the remastered version. And basically your review states the reasons why. I read a lot about bugs and crashes and losing progress, and don’t think I had a single crash on the original Bioshock, and absolutely loved the game!
As for Deus Ex: The Fall, well, my review speaks for itself. It’s good for what it is– a bit of “Deus Ex lite”, but with no real ending. Prior to Mankind Divided, it was the best way to return to the Deus Ex world.
I bought Divine Divinity a long time ago and never did remove it from the virtual shrink wrap. Sounds like I shouldn’t bother– thanks for the tip.
Nice completion on some of those games– impressive!
Bioshock is truly a classic and it’s a shame they couldn’t get the remaster right. I’m glad you were able to enjoy it uninterrupted!
I suppose my Deus Ex: The Fall review is a bit harsh since I really didn’t do research before moving onto it. Of course my hated bias towards all things mobile phone gaming certainly didn’t help either. Still, I think it’s natural to expect more of the same or better in future installments or a whole new experience (aka Kingdom Hearts) each game. Rather this was a few steps back and can’t help but feel some dissatisfaction. It wasn’t the worst… just didn’t feel it.
Divine Divinity truly is stuck in its time. I always feel a little bad by recommending people to NOT play games, because there is usually something enjoyable in it. However, this is a game where I feel you would need to really enjoy these old CRPGs in order to really appreciate it. Especially when it’s easily a 30 hour game.
Thank you kindly! ^_^
Damn so Bioshock Remaster is still a mess :(
So sad, it’s such an awesome game but all these crashes make it an awful experience.
And congrats for going back to Persona 1! I only played Persona 4 (on Vita) and loved it, but I never had the courage to go back. I bought the 3, and never played it xD can’t imagine going back to the roots!
About Hey Listen! I don’t even remember it being an annoyance as a kid playing it. But at the time, it probably made sense and I wasn’t as used to all the gaming mechanics and you didn’t really have massive internet database with walkthrough (if any?) so Navi actually fulfilled her role pretty well!
It truly is, having to restart a game or regain progress always sucks. A good thing that the remaster really isn’t that different from the original graphics wise. Unfortunately this could still ruin the Bioshock experience for those that didn’t do any research and ended up playing the remaster instead. Would you kindly press ‘F’ for all the potential?
My weird need to play through an entire series often brings me to the roots of games, for better or worse. In that though, I do get an awarding feeling whenever there is a reference or some form of similarity or progression when I get through the later part of the series. Even just to know the differences of what it was and what it is now is always something I appreciate knowing. My friend believes that the series only really picks up after 3 anyways, so I don’t believe you missed out on too much (except maybe for some great music).
My roommate said a similar thing about remembering Navi being that bad. Though he played this before being able to read and found the owl to be more annoying than anything. I suppose from a younger less experienced perspective that Navi may not have been as bad. Still, it seemed like every few second the fairy was shouting and often didn’t provide me better insight or just told me to do something that I was already doing. I believe they had game guides back then, but I understand what you mean. ^_^ So, I’m sure Navi did have some necessity has Ocarina of Time wasn’t always clear, just wish she’d stop poking me in the head while I’m busy. :D
Well, no wonder Persona 4 musics were awesome as well! They really created some nice tune.
Also, just a rumour for now but P4 might come to steam! There should be an announcement soon (the 13th I’ve read). I used to have a hard time playing old beaten games but lately I’ve been kinda excited for some oldies once more. P4 is no exception! Hope you’ll reach the 4th entry as well!
I have stretched my ear out and heard a few tracks across the series. They are pretty good. ^_^ I have heard the rumors as well! Though I’m not sure until I hear official reports. I did end up getting it for my Vita a long while back, so I do have it waiting for me either way.
Sometimes it’s nice to go back to something you know ^_^ Thank you kindly!
Yeah P4 was the perfect game for the Vita. I played it there first as well. But replaying it on PC in HD might be pretty great!
Also, P4 Golden - Steam trailer just launched! https://youtu.be/jWO_Nlfgek0 (11 minutes ago!)
Or on Steam already! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1113000/Persona_4_Golden/
Perhaps after playing it I may need to acquire it again on Steam.
Yeah I saw! Crazy how it released to PC the day at the time of first reveal! Hopefully it ported well.
Sakura Succubus… how lewd are we talking? Because I read in the reviews that it’s actually the shortest of all the Winged Cloud VNs. How much lewdness were they able to pack in there?
It’s definitely shorter, but the scenes themselves seem more… intimate. They also happen in relative quick succession. Both the art style and the actions are more fleshed out than usual and more dense.
I see, very nice. Thanks for the info :))
Nin approves of LEWD ratings \o/ xD
LEWD! \o/ Yeah, after noticing a few lewdy games in my library or just games with a side of lewd, I had thought about a few ways to incorporate that. It wasn’t until I saw your posts with the rating that I finally committed to it.
Ha! I’m glad I was part of this development! \o/
I feel like I don’t look often enough at reviews, since I normally only look at those I have played and am curious what others thought, or am curious about but know I’ll probably won’t play it. So yeah, not much review reading on my part. Shame on me D: