Shining Ark – Good job, Sega!

shining ark coverI actually finished Shining Ark several days ago at 38 hours and 45 minutes, but then I spent another 6-8 hours doing the Extra chapter and fighting the bonus boss twice, and that’s why I’m only just getting round to reviewing it it. TL;DR version: the game is good, the story makes sense, I liked most of the characters and I had a blast with the bread-making gimmick but the combat was too easy, which was the only fly in the ointment.

38 hours was a nice good length, but I’m sure the game can be finished in under 30 hours if you ignore the character quests (I did all except one), ignore the bread and fish quests (I did all except one) and ignore Arice’s sidequest shop (I did all except one) so it’s not that long a game if you just want to focus on the ‘meat’ of the story.

However if you do focus on the story you might be slightly disappointed because it’s not all ‘deep’ and ‘meaningful’, just a simple “This is the problem we’re having and this is how we’re going to solve it” kind of story with a little environmental and anti-war preaching thrown in on top. I found it quite refreshing actually, especially the last boss battle, which wasn’t your usual moralizing beatdown but more a plea for forgiveness and understanding. I like the game so I’m not going to spoil, but it was a nice change from the usual. The Extra chapter also clears up any lingering questions about a certain character’s origins, so it doesn’t feel as tacked on as most post-game content tends to be. Do please go on, this is most interesting →

Otome games with miscellaneous gameplay

Spinning off more otome games from the main list. ‘Miscellaneous gameplay’ is the catch-all term I use to cover borderline cases. Specifically:

1. Otome games with gameplay that doesn’t fit into other categories, e.g. quiz games, card games, misc mini-games (e.g. Hana Awase)
2. Otome games with gameplay I don’t quite know how to classify (e.g. Area-X, Drastic Killer).
3. Otome games with very little gameplay but just enough that I can’t ignore them completely.
4. Life sims with female characters that aren’t necessarily about romance but do include romantic options (e.g. Long Live the Queen, Atelier Annie). Life sims that are explicitly about romancing guys belong either in the simulation game section or stat-raising section.
5. Raising sims where you play a woman raising a boy, with romantic options (e.g. Dear My Sun!!)
6. Raising sims where you play a man raising a girl, but the girl gets to romance guys under your watchful leadership (e.g. Princess Maker, Ranshima Monogatari). This is really borderline and I just might remove those games later, but they can stay for now. Do please go on, this is most interesting →

Tokyo Majin Kenpuuchou – Please, just end already.

tokyo majin gakuen original coverMe and my big mouth. I think I jinxed Tokyo Majin Kenpuuchou by praising it too highly too soon. As a result it got a big head and now resolutely refuses to end. What I thought was the main story of the game turned out to be just a preliminary arc and there’s still a looong way to go before the end. Unfortunately I’d already thrown all my energy and emotion into the first arc so I was completely burned out by the time the ‘real story’ began.

Worse than that, the first arc took 13 episodes and the ‘real story’ is going to take another 13, but the game overall only has about 14-15 episodes worth of story. To fill the gap they’re doing a stretch-job of Dragonball-sized proportions. If you’ve never experienced pointless filler in a JRPG, this is your chance. You’ll get plenty of episodes that seem to have almost nothing to do with the main story, except at the end they throw out a loooong piece of exposition (i.e. “See, dudes, that was totally relevant”) then the episode ends and the next filler episode begins. Do please go on, this is most interesting →

Shining Ark = Shining Hearts’ atmosphere + Shining Blade’s battles

It’s all going to fall apart sooner or later, I know, but right now I’m seriously enjoying Shining Ark. I knew Sega could make a better game than Shining Blade if they tried. They’ve made an honest attempt to combine the best of Shining Hearts (crafting, laid-back village life) with the best of Shining Blade (the battle system) with very encouraging results.

As I said, I just know they’re going to mess it up somehow, but since the game is still going strong at 13 hours I should give credit where credit is due and acknowledge that the first quarter of Shining Ark is really good. But since the other shoe is going to drop sooner or later and I’ll feel silly being so happy about this game when it does (like I feel about Tokyo Majin right now, but we’ll talk later) I’ll make this a screenshot edition so I don’t have to talk too much. Do please go on, this is most interesting →

Wild Arms 5. Dropped. Dungeon puzzles.

random wa5 screenshotMy “patience with poor game design” meter gets shorter and shorter every year. I forget what the screen said last time I saved, but I know I’ve played at least 35 hours of Wild Arms 5. When I quit I was supposed to go around the continent destroy some TF System stuff in some towers somewhere, only navigating to the towers is a right pain in the posterior because the roads in this game are all twisty and turny and don’t show up on the main map and you end up getting completely lost, blah blah blah. And then you finally make it into the dungeon and there’s this stupid puzzle and you have to go get your laptop or phone so you can FAQ and eventually I just said Screw that, I’m outta here! And that’s that for me.

It wasn’t that bad early on. Most of the stages up to that point could be cleared without resorting to FAQs except once or twice, but I was already irritated after spending a looong time wandering the map trying to reach the dungeon in the first place and I hadn’t saved in a while and then this floor with colored tiles dropping down showed up. I am so done.

Besides, I already found out the true identity of the ‘Johnny Appleseed’ they were looking for. As I’d suspected from the start Johnny Appleseed was Avril herself. That’s often the case in these ‘looking for something’ stories – the answer is either you yourself or something right back where you started. Also the bad Veruni are trying to kill everyone but we’re going to stop them somehow, I don’t really care how. Yeah, I’m done.

The game was dragging out any way. After finding out Avril’s identity there should have been maximum one more dungeon then the game should have ended. Whatevs. I don’t care any more. I want to play something new. Dragon Shadow Spell, here I come!