Langrisser Re:Incarnation Tensei video game review- 35/100 (avoid it like the plague)

by K-Off, posted in Anime Reviews, Game Reviews

To preface, I’d call this the poor man’s Fire Emblem if it wasn’t so damn expensive for its quality, not to mention so difficult to find. Here in New York City outside of lower Manhattan, there’s game stores in Brooklyn, Queens, Flatiron, and Newport, to a total count of 12 game stores in a 20 mile radius, and not one location had this cursed game for a while. I certainly did not want to preorder this because the Japanese E-shop rated this game 1/5 stars at one point, and the way in which marketing constantly hit us over the head with the fan service characters did make me not want to buy the game at all. But I just got out of Fire Emblem Fates and finished Bravely Default, so I needed to try this series out for myself. I won’t even bother to structure this review like my Fates review, because it’s just that cynical, shallow, and undeserving of your money. I’m going to compare this game to Fire Emblem a lot, because that’s clearly what it wants me to do by riding on the coat tails of the Fire Emblem hype train.

It’s difficult to play this without thinking about why this was released in the first place.

Immediately upon jumping into the game, I noticed a lack of quality on the production end of things, despite its improvements from the Japanese version of the game. For one, the voices. God, the voices. It follows the Fire Emblem route of dialogue in that the characters say a short phrase followed by a line of text, but the voices still cut in and out inconsistently from time to time – this originally happened on the Japanese version a lot more and it doesn’t seem to have gotten much better in the NA localized version. Speaking of which, there is no sense of pacing, characters pop in and out of dialogue text scenes without even a fade transition and it’s pretty jarring to sit through when you start to say “where the hell did he/she come from?” to yourself. But the NA version is apparently a masterpiece compared to the initial state of the Japanese version last year. Whenever there was a transition from one scene to another, there was apparently an abrupt black screen for a few frames before it cut back into another scene. Those black frames are still there, but now they have fade transitions. Great job, they’ve finally remembered to do the basic minimum: test the game.

Look at this embarrassment. The game would have you believe these are two separate locations, and this happens only a minute apart from each other just minutes into the game.

That was the state of the game back then and it hasn’t gotten much better. It’s to the point where they reuse the same, bland backgrounds with a lazy color adjustment done in Photoshop just a minute after they last used it. You have to wonder if they even knew what they were doing when they were making this Fire Emblem clone or just didn’t care; I’m going with both. On the art department, there’s really nothing outstanding about any of it, it’s by Satoshi Urushihara and Hiroshi Kaieda so I suppose I expected better from them besides bland character designs, over-use of fan service, and the uncomfortable sheer number of half-naked loli characters. It’s not as if other JRPGs don’t have fan service, but once it begins going overboard I can tell that the developers are hoping to cover up the crappy game itself with pretty visuals and pandering fan service.

Lastly, the music is just terrible, it’s a stupid cluster of 10-15 second loops of generic fantasy rpg music, with bland rock music that isn’t rock, and it’s frankly just hilarious that they made a soundtrack CD, as if anyone would ever want to listen to this garbage ever again. Yet I know that with this situation, it’s a desperate attempt to try and attract as much buyers as possible, because they can’t possibly be proud of this soundtrack, very similar to the hole that Lord of Magna was in a few years ago. Yet at least Lord of Magna wasn’t a disaster, and it actually had a decent soundtrack.

The models are just lazy. Look at that puke-green grass.

Now, the gameplay. This is perhaps the most atrocious abomination I’ve ever seen as of late, surprising when all Langrisser has done is attempt to copy Fire Emblem’s combat mechanics. Since they just rushed it out the door in order to release the game at the same time as Fire Emblem Fates in Japan, everything is shallow, irritating, and half-assed. The battlescapes look like they were ripped straight from a 2006 DS game, the UI is awkward, the bottom screen is rarely used at all, and the battle animation scenes (as you can see above) are just utter trash. They didn’t bother to render a proper battle area and we get just a space with some textures and low-res buildings slapped onto it, with 3D sprite characters which were clearly not a stylistic choice – they did it because it would save time and money. Aside from the utterly garbage visuals of the gameplay, combat itself is very similar to Fire Emblem, with a rock-paper-scissor mechanic, except you can control multiple grunt units in addition to the main characters in your party. This sounds interesting, until you see just how boring it is in actual gameplay. There is little to no difference between different types of units, the range of your units is basically the same whether they’re on horseback or motorcycle (yes, an out of place steampunk motorcycle in a traditionally fantasy RPG). I haven’t played any of the original Langrisser titles so while I can’t say whether or not this game is an improvement, it brings nothing interesting to the table. Ultimately, the gameplay isn’t just simply a shallow rip-off. It’s a frustrating, uninteresting, and unbalanced experience that somehow managed to infuriate me within the first ten minutes. I wouldn’t recommend this even with a price drop.

~~K-Off~~

Storytelling: 5/10 – By-the-books-fantasy RPG story.
Gameplay: 2/10 – Unbalanced, clunky, and lazy.
User Interface: 3/10 – Messy, cluttered.
Production values: 4/10 – Decent-yet bland art, terrible music, lazy visuals, and buggy dialogue.

Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World – 05

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World

So Subaru has started his first repeat of this arc and at least this time he’s quick to come to terms with it. Though it is nice to see that he hasn’t shrugged off the progress he made getting wiped out without warning. But this time at least he’s at least making a plan and that plan is to repeat his actions from before. This may seem pointless but it does make for a good plan as it allows him to look over his actions with more detail and yet despite making all the same moves, things turn out differently than before. Rem and Ram get closer to him this time and things seemly turn out better than before. I believe the reason for this change was simply due to Subaru not noticing that he was making use of knowledge from his first run. He followed the guidelines for cutting potatoes before Ram told him how, he went over to his uniform before being told where it was and other small details that Subaru didn’t notice he was doing but Rem did. They brushed it off with Ram saying that Rem was bothered by Subaru’s messy hair but I doubt that was actually the case. In fact I believe Ram and Roswaal was much more concerned with Subaru this time around as both of them interacted with him more than the first run. It’s possible that due to him acting more suspicious they wished to scope him out more so Roswaal went to the bath around the same time to talk with him there and Ram began tutoring him on reading and writing to get a closer view of him. Perhaps even falling asleep in the middle of the lessons was a plot to see if Subaru would attempt to kill her in her sleep. As for the thing about Subaru being able to speak their native tongue yet not being able to read it, well I don’t really see it as much of an issue. After all you could say that this world speaks english by coincidence but doesn’t write it the same way or simply that whatever translation magic on him only works on spoken word and not on written words. Either way it’s not that important. When America goes to Japan everyone speaks English, when Japan goes to America everyone speaks Japanese so whatever the alternate universe that they happen to land on is fair game.

Well Subaru goes through his week yet again and even manages to do better this time with charming both Emilia and Rem. One particular odd happening was when Subaru mentioned about liking demons more than god’s, Rem practically beamed a smile at him. The way she reacted and her constant reverence for her sister seems to suggest that Ram may possibly be a demon. Or in a world that already has elves, a demon race may also be present in this world and the twin maids happen to be of that race. As Subaru reaches the repeating point it looks like this time Re:zero might end on a heartwarming note as Subaru once again makes a promise to go on a date with Emilia while she is tutoring him. Then the after credits scene happened and let me say, bravo. That scene was really well done and intense. The dark looming feeling of something about to happen and the shocking brutality of his death was a truly impactful moment. This does bring me to my next point though which happens to be a matter of gore. Now the manga and LN didn’t spare any details on the grisly nature of Subarus deaths but the anime has taken a more reserved approach to the matter.

I don’t know if it will be changed in the blu-rays but they try to keep gore to minimum while instead focusing on Subaru’s reaction to it. Truthfully I am not sure what is more effective as the gore does tend to be gratuitous in the manga. What you don’t see tends to affect you a lot more but in this case people might misunderstand about the nature of Subaru’s wound from the attack. You likely think Subaru’s arm was ripped off but you would be wrong. It wasn’t just Subarus arm, his entire left side of his torso was ripped clean off. They did a great shot of showing Subarus pain in the anime but the manga had this one panel which just had Subaru’s despaired face on it and the words “I want to die” bolded over it. It puts home just how much pain Subaru was in but admittedly it’s not what I consider needed. The point to get that Subaru died horribly while still not knowing what killed him. On that matter I wonder, just what is happening here? We have two factors at work. One is a mysterious illness that hits Subaru at his time and causes him to constantly vomit. It’s my base assumption that this is what killed him in the first run. The only particular causes for this could be a type of poisoning or perhaps that dog bite that Subaru has gotten twice now. The second factor is this strange murderer wielding some kind of chain weapon and happened to be going about the mansion’s halls when Subaru was looking for help. This seems unrelated to Subaru’s illness as why would this person feel the need to personally butcher him if he was going to die anyway? My guess here is that two people are out for Subaru’s life but one of them only came into play the second time around. The murder was also exceedingly malicious as they seem to have purposefully wounded Subaru gravely before putting him out of his misery. Taking into account the speed of the weapon, I am fairly certain they could have hit him with a fatal shot from the start before he could feel pain. They deliberately waited for Subaru to writhe in agony for a bit before giving him a fatal blow. The question is, who did Subaru antagonize that he didn’t in the previous run? The likely suspects would be Ram and Roswaal but then who is responsible for Subaru’s illness? In any case, I doubt Subaru is going to walk this death off as easily as he did his last ones.

~AidanAK47~

Kiznaiver – 04

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Kiznaiver

There are certain advantages to keeping your plot in the dark when storytelling. In the beginning stages when your audience is most attentive, if you manage to present questions they are interested in seeing answered then it provides a reason for the viewer to keep watching. However this tactic only continues to work as long as you provide a steady stream of answers throughout the series. If you don’t well then people are going to get tired of chasing a carrot on a stick. This essentially is the problem with Kiznaivers plot. We are given a mystery(What is the purpose of the Kiznaiver program) and the that mystery is left to the wayside despite the many efforts of the characters to inquire further about it. The things we learn about the Kiznaiver system in these last few episodes has been insignificant and it isn’t helped by Noriko being obnoxiously tight lipped about the subject. So in regards to the plot, we know that these people were chosen for some reason to participate in an experiment with ill defined objectives and no clear procedure. Essentially we know absolutely nothing besides a goal to survive the summer vacation. Survive what? Who knows? So here stands the the issue, how to get engaged to a story whose stakes, objective and difficulty are unknown. I am of course not asking to be spoon fed all this but I would like to be able to gain some footing on where this all stands. I haven’t even been able to decide which genre to attribute this to. My biggest fear is that the matter of shared pain is going to get sidecast in favor of just hijinks.

However when the plot falters it is then carried by its cast. I am not sure what to think of out new addition as I hope there’s more to him than his Machoism gimmick. But the banter between the Kiznaivers is delightful. They are a colourful bunch that they bounce off each other well and keep things from getting dull. What I really like to see is the small hints to characters. For one the two main teachers of the series look to be involved with the Kiznaiver project and seem to have a level of combat background. The guidance counselor pulling out a machine gun while suggesting to her students that she could advise them on how to kill someone hints at her being some kind of hitman. There are also small things with the characters, namely I believe Niko doesn’t have friends so she considers the Kiznaivers her friends. When Maki shoots her down for suggesting it the matter really hits Niko hard. I am pretty sure Maki’s past has to do with he being thorny around matters of friendship but I get the feeling that Niko may in fact be a very lonely girl. Thus her extraneous efforts to be eccentric are a means to get people to notice her. I like how she got everyone to exchange contact info as a means of getting back at Maki. Speaking of which I must mention that scene where Niko pops in in one frame out of nowhere. That’s definitely trigger mixing animation saving techniques with humor as the characters themselves seemed just as shocked as the audience when she teleported out of nowhere. I also like how they changed the characters clothes while still keeping to a certain style of the character. It’s often something we take for granted in fiction but often characters stay in the same clothes throughout the show and yet here we have characters changing into something new. It might be a one time thing as school is over so they no longer need their uniforms but it’s admittedly refreshing.

Not a lot happened this episode but something has started to gear up and that is character shipping. Nothing is quite as telling as our group splitting up into individual boy girl pairings. Romances are beginning to kick up whether we like it or not. Noriko and Agata have a Kuudere dynamic going on though Agata looks to have just an interest in her in general than romantically. Noriko on the other hand gives the impression of being much more interested in him. Chidori and Tenga bring a smile to my face even if the situation is cliche. Chidori is getting jealous of Agata growing attached to Noriko but she’s also warming up to Tenga. It’s just me but I like to think of these two as the reincarnation of Kamina and Yoko which is helped by their similar designs. It becomes rather heartwarming to see Chidori go all tsundere on him then. Niko and Hisomu haven’t had much interaction besides her being annoyed at him because she doesn’t want a bigger weirdo than her in the team. Yuta and Maki are the more mature couple with Yuta being interested in her despite her cold personality and Maki shooting him down with no remorse.(That breast jab at Yuta. What a burn.) The two play off each other well but I think he is going to need to crack her secret before he can melt away her armour. Honestly I am not sure on what to think of this pairing up of characters as it does feel manufactured with how they perfectly match up but I am not opposed as long as Okada doesn’t start revving up the teenage angst. It looks like the bullies are joining in as temporary Kiznaivers next time so perhaps these two are a new obstacle for the group to face.

~AidanAK47~

Flying witch – 04

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Flying Witch

Flying witch again delivers strong material this week and I actually think this is their best episode so far. Mostly because the 2 parts are well connected this week, and our new character Inuka is so natural and fit in like a glove, in addition they have an absurd and whimsical story to boost. I have to highlight the chemistry between Inuka and Chinatsu here, as they are easily the best out of this already solid episode. The back and forth conversation between them in the fortune teller corner, for example, was so deadpan and consistent. Chinatsu constantly touches Inuka’s ears while Inuka was furious about Akane is another good touch. Inuka’s panic over Makoto’s name is so well-delivered that it gets me every time. And Makoto cure portion, oh my god, it’s so hilarious. Now I get the sense that Makoto might not become a great witch after all, but that is fine by me. Flying Witch is so full of little moments that you would miss it if you don’t notice well. Cases in point, I love the way the hamster (Al) shakes uncontrollably when the black cat comes near him (with his dry “meow” no less), or the shot keeps avoiding Inuka’s real face until the very end. Boy she was so my type too! On the site note, I’m not really sure what Akame is wearing, I guess it is a Vietnamese traditional dress (ao dai) (you can view it here, https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/51/1d/87/511d8711fff800a9d326e99ab4dde94d.jpg), please correct me if I’m wrong.

Flying witch is a charming show but never really a funny show, its comedic is often whimsical rather than laugh out loud. But Flying witch has a knack for comedic timing and punch. In this episode, those were executed very well (from Inuka‘s “Akame” crying to Mako’s cure portion). The visual is as lovely as ever, from the blossom trees to the festival itself, and the music, all of them help to bring atmosphere to the show. Overall I’m overjoy with this episode. As long as Flying witch continue to tell those pleasant stories, with full of little details and some deadpan humors, I’m all in.

~SuperMario~

Mayoiga – 05

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Mayoiga

We now back to the status quo on Mayoiga this week, as the group who left the village decided to come back, and the cliffhanger happened last week was never explained probably. I will say this upfront: this is not a good episode. We don’t learn much after it ends. We have even longer conversations between the cast compare to last few weeks, and even more ridiculous cliffhanger.

But we do learn a few more new things in this episode. Most interesting bit is that they perceive completely differently about the noise they heard (it could be a beast, a robot, giant wings, or a laughter). That could be a hint to the mystery. The lost village can be a place where we deal with our own problems, we see what we afraid to see. In other words, we reach to our darkness side. This could be an interesting aspect to explore but hell, Mayoiga sure doesn’t show us much of a clue here. This week spend too much time on the cast arguing with each other, and truthfully, I’m getting tired of them accusing each other episodes after episodes here, especially when they just repeating the same traits over and over again (I dare you to find a line in which Lovepon doesn’t scream “executed”). If the show indeed relies on those characters’ interactions for its mystery, then this can be redeemed, otherwise, I don’t see a reason why there are too much of this.

The other bit of information we gather is Lion’s ability to see the dead, or to be more exact, she has an ability to see people about to die. This is a good character moment for Lion and it’s not really come as a surprise, seeing her as the mysterious and quiet type from the beginning, but the reveal scene is still somewhat absurd. The cliffhanger at the end actually leaves me more annoyed than engaged, the characters just keep sprouting random names here, just like last week’s driver’s daughter, and I bet next week we learn a bit of who is this Tokimune again, only to be left forgotten for the rest of the show. Why the heck should I care then?

It looks like Masaki on the verge of revealing something to Mitsumune here. I hope they don’t take few more episodes until we get that bit of information. In fact, Mayoiga gives us very little information to work with. The worse thing is that if it keeps on dragging like that, people will start to lose interest in the mystery, if not already.

~SuperMario~

Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress – 03

by HelghastKillzone, posted in Currently Watching:, Koutetsujou no Kabaneri

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There are no brakes on the Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress train even when it goes for a pit stop to pick up some water and say a prayer for the dead. While my fellow writers firmly believe that Koutetsujou no Kabaneri will disintegrate into a trainwreck in terms of the story and characters, I boldly predicted that this will end up become the anime of the season for the many in the anime community and episode three absolutely does not disappoint in the least.

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For an episode dealing with the aftermath of fleeing a overrun station, it was jampacked with stunning moments like Ikoma blow up his zombified sister, Ayame-sama getting in some stabby brinkmanship, Mumei impaling a infected pregnant women with two swords and revealing the feeding necessity that all Kabaneri process. I did find that the prejudice of the Bushi guardsmen and the civilians to be tiring with all the finger pointing going around. Thankfully, Memui makes all the right moves in response to this hostility by never backing down from a fight and goading her agitators into a brawl instead of pointlessly pleading her case like Ikoma. By following up on a rigorous training regiment to make him a more effective shield consisting of beating the shit out of him over and over, there is something deeply refreshing about having a female anime character that stands out so drastically from all her cookie-cutter counterparts. With the revelation that is steeped with the likes of Valvrave’s own vampiric protagonists, perhaps the prevailing fear and prejudice against the Kabaneri isn’t baseless after all. It takes our misunderstood and underappreciated heroes and switches them into powerful beings burdened with a necessary evil. Mumei already relishes in this aspect and given Ikoma’s motivations and his history with the Kakane, he is going have a very bad time coming to grips with the dual nature of Kabaneri.

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Three episodes in, there are a multitude of questions that remain unanswered like where the big storyline of Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress is heading and the nature of the Kabane. There are glimpses of the bigger picture with Mumei’s overall objective of reaching the Shogun’s main stronghold and the Kabane research facilities but the immediate needs of the Hayajiro with its ongoing concerns of food, water, repairs and survival will probably take precedent for the next little while. If the episode four previews are anything to go by, there will be plenty of gory action before this train pulls into the next station.

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Out of every single anime show that is airing this season, Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress has the all the best action, animation, music as well as being the single show that I look forward to the most watching each week. I can’t tell you whether or not it’s going to turn into a flaming mess but it is certainly going to be one pretty wild ride before it concludes.

~HelghastKillzone~

Bungou Stray Dogs – 04

by SuperMario, posted in Bungou Stray Dogs, Currently Watching:

Bungou Stray Dogs sure never get tired to showcase more new characters every week, and judging from the OP I’m certain that there are more to come. This week there are 3 more new faces and each of them is over the top in their own ways, but that turns out to be for good reason. I feel the pacing in this episode is very unstable, it was too slow at first (mostly because of the dialogues and the overused flashbacks), and then way too fast in the climax scene (we just got introduced with the villains, and then they proceeded to have a big fight with the Agency, who we didn’t have enough time to care about to begin with), but that turns out to be for good reason as well. See, because there is a twist: The Agency are all overpower human being who can easily take down the raids like a piece of cake. The twist works and for once I liked the way they built things up for that climax.

Atsushi, however, has been in an “I’m a burden to everyone” mode for 4 weeks in a row. I don’t see the point the series keep making that Atsushi truly belongs to the Agency. We already know that at the end of the first episode. Here we are now, in its 4th episode, still stuck with that same note (Atsushi cried because he felt he is in the right place). We need to move on man! I will keep this aside for now, but if in the next episodes we still see Atsushi being insecure or that orphanage’s flashbacks again, it will truly drag the show down. I would love for our main character to grow but he will need to be more substantial in order for us to care for him. Being in the same mode will not help of course.

Now this is clear that Bungou Stray Dogs going to be an action comedy show (forget about the supernatural stuffs, they feel more like an action ability anyway) and that lays many problems within Bungou Stray Dogs: the comedy is not funny at all, the action is nice but is few and far between, the transition between comedy and action is awkward and unfortunately slows the show down. The main issue with the comedy, as I mentioned in previous weeks, is because of the repetition as they do nothing to flesh out the characters. Even good joke will get pale if it was told too many times. I hope the show can learn this lesson. It might not be an issue when the main storyline kick in but boys it sure takes its time. I would say Bungou Stray Dogs is at its best when the show focuses on action, with a bit of comedy on top.

In addition, I’m not quite fond with the real-life writers references as well. Sure it’s nice to catch some humors and personality traits based on their real-life counterparts, but the way I see it, it adds nothing to the story and the series could have been the same without all those literary references. In other words, there is no reason for it to be there (except perhaps for being STYLISH). On the last note, I originally thought Yosano would become a compelling character but the healing scene totally killed it for me. Well done Bungou Stray Dogs!!

~SuperMario~

Joker Game – 04

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Joker Game

I am starting to get a little worried about Joker Game. After a very strong start it’s gone down in quality once it revealed it’s episodic format. This episode marks the lowest point of the series so far though I still don’t think of it as bad. Rather than focus on a member of the D-agency, this episode instead is about a newly appointed officer who is tasked by a superior to track down a spy in the military police. I do prefer this over focusing on the spy members as in the last episode they have proven to be far too overpowered to be interesting. Here we have a vulnerable man chasing after a dangerous suspect but sadly this story turns out to be far less interesting when things come to light. In truth this episode was basically a retread of the second episode in that it turns out the superior officer was completely corrupt and staged an attack to keep his illegal dealings from coming to light but the execution was far worse. This episode plays out like a mystery but never gives the audience a chance to figure out what is going on. The mystery itself is dull and not a lot actually happens. Our red nosed protagonist is given the job, sees a bombing, talks to a reporter who gives him a photo and then follows a man into a hidden casio where he spots his superior. However despite not doing much of anything, red nose is able to perfectly deduce absolutely everything that occurred and recount it back to his superior. As red nose goes on about how his superior became corrupt and began stealing opium from the evidence lockers I sat there wondering just how he could possibly know that. The episode never showed him paying a visit to the evidence locker or how he figured out that the man who was killed was actually investigating the superior. Did he learn it though the files the murdered man left behind? In that case why would the superior give him those files in the first place? There’s just a whole lot of answers coming straight out of nowhere and I think that if the show took the time to actively present clues instead of having our protagonist just lay it out for us would have made for a more engaging plot.

Then after our protagonist of the week points out his superiors illegal dealings and suggests that he get himself court martialed, the superior goes full comic book villain and calls in a soldier to kill him. Now really mister red nose, just what answer did you expect him to give you? “Oh yeah, damn you caught me. Don’t worry, I will go and hand myself in now. Good work.” You basically repeated the same thing Sakuma did except for making sure to have a plan to protect yourself should things go south. I sighed as the superior started gloating and shouting about how totally corrupt and evil he was with a psycho smile and manic laughter. One would think he would restrain himself in case there were actual policemen in the police station who could ever so easily hear him declare that he was selling opium and staged a terrorist bombing. The dumbest thing of all was that thanks to him mouthing off about killing the transvestite boy in the bombing, the soldier that he called in to shoot red nose instead shot him. As it turns out he was in love with the transvestite boy. Which leaves me to wonder just what was the point of all this. The episode seems to suggest that this was all the plan of one of the agents to get rid of the corrupt superior but all that agent did was hand red nose a photo and lead him into the hidden casino. If you are suggesting that he managed to predict how all this was going to happen before it went down then I call bullshit on that. I don’t care if you are some super spy or batman, nothing so dependent on luck and human factors can ever go exactly as planned. Even if it was all just as planned then I am certain you could have thought of a less risky plan. After all why did you even bother getting red nose involved? He didn’t do anything at all and you could have just informed the soldier that he killed his lover and there you go. Problem solved. I rag on this more than I expected but the presentation is still bugging me greatly. The dialogue, the framing, the storytelling….it all seems to assume that you can’t put two and two together and figure out things yourself. Everything is shoved right in your face with little restraint. For a veteran viewer such as myself I find it extremely patronizing like being given a jigsaw puzzle and then the giver assembling the puzzle for me because they thought I wouldn’t be able to figure out how a jigsaw works. One last thing, why did everyone have creepy smiles in the first scene? That was just weird.

~AidanAK47~

DanganRonpa 2: Goodbye Despair Video Game Review – 90/100

by AidanAK47, posted in Anime Reviews, Game Reviews, Reviews by AidanAK47

 

There may be those of you who know this series more by its anime adaption instead of it’s video games and if you haven’t watched the anime of this I highly recommend that you don’t watch it. Instead play the games which have been recently ported to Steam. The reason I say this is that due to the decision to make the anime a one cour length it essentially cut down the story into its bare necessities. The anime of Danganronpa is essentially the barest cliff notes of the game and most importantly removes its greatest aspect. For you see when this anime was announced people compared it to the likes of battle royale. Speaking purely mechanically it’s gameplay is actually very similar to Phoenix Wright. But at it’s core is a murder mystery. Hence why watching the anime first is a bad idea as it spoils the answers to the mystery before giving you any chance to speculate. Lucky for myself I played the first DanganRonpa before the anime aired and found it to be an excellent game. It’s sequel to me however is a much better title. If you are into online poker or mobile sports betting, GCB licensed operators are a perfect choice. Visit https://nonukcasinos.uk/category/casino-licencing to read more.

The story begins with our protagonist about to attend Hope academy which is a school dedicated to the best of the best. However upon entering the academy he falls unconscious and finds himself and fifteen other students stuck on an Island with some strange stuffed bunny telling them that to get off the island they all need to get along. Despite how odd it is everyone decides that they might as well enjoy their time on the island. Naturally this peace doesn’t last long as Monokuma appears and once again forces the class to play in a killing game where the person who manages to kill someone and get away with it in a class trial can then leave the Island. The plot is quite similar to it’s predecessor but has a more interesting set of eccentric characters and a deeper mystery regarding the island. From the excitement and enjoyment of playing casino games using this 먹튀 verification, you will easily forget that particular issue that is stressing you and ride in the wave of fun and excitement. With Monomi, Monokuma now has the yang to oppose his Yin as Monomi encourages the group to work together while Monokuma tries to turn them against one another. Though both mascots annoy the hell out the characters. Monokuma is the same as he was before, balancing his silly humor with a level of undertoned malice. I originally wasn’t too fond of his english voice but as I played the game I found it fit quite well. Monomi has an attitude if trying to be cute that gets on the characters nerves and often she’s being put down or reduced to tears despite her optimistic efforts to get people to not fall for Monokuma’s provoking. However both of them are clearly hiding the truth from the students for different reasons. As for the students themselves, at first they seem like one dimensional characters defined by their “Ultimate” talent but the game does allow them to develop though it’s mechanics and how the story turns out.

This game is truly a game to be played by those who have experienced the first though it can be played with no knowledge of the first game. But this is meant to be played after playing the first game as their are plenty of things here which reference the first game. But what I love about this is how this game makes use of your assumptions gained from the first game and uses them to trick you into a certain line of thought. Basically there are point in this story which makes you think it’s rethreading on the story of the first game only to laugh in your face and toss it aside. This is pretty clever writing that knows how to get you thinking in a certain way but I have some pride in that I managed to figure out a good deal of the mysteries it presents. But I never managed to nail everything down. Something usually escaped my notice. The characters this time around I would argue are stronger than the first in that there isn’t someone here I could consider background decoration. The first game had a couple of characters who just were rather bland or had nothing really to contribute to the game. Out of a cast of sixteen characters, everyone here has their interesting points and are a worthy addition to the story. I would say the weakest would be the Ultimate team manager and the mechanic but even they have a part to play. What I think is a true mark of genius though is in how one of these characters is used as a kind of secondary antagonist. I originally didn’t think much of them at first but once they showed their worth they proved to be one of the best characters in the game. I especially love the comparison between them and a character from the first game. You have the choice between Japanese and english voices but l say you can’t lose out either way. I played the english dub and frankly it’s perfect. Some truly outstanding performances, especially when a character goes completely insane.(They are rather insane from the start due to their own eccentricities but when they go insane, they really go full throttle insane.) The soundtrack is very good though tracks are reused from the first game and new versions would have been appreciated. The graphics are strange in that I don’t think DanganRonpa is trying to be visually impressive but rather just trying to have style. For most of the game the world looks like a diorama with cardboard figurines. It’s strange but it doesn’t work well. Either way you aren’t here to see pretty graphics and there are some rather clever effects applied sometimes. Their is a keyboard and mouse support but it is awkward for the menus with still require you to use keys instead of a mouse to navigate it. It works decently and the mouse gives some nice precision but recommend using a controller over it for an optimal experience.

The mechanics of the game truly are very similar to Phoenix Wright. there are six chapters and each chapter takes place in three stages; a free time stage, an investigation stage and a trial stage. The free time stage is a period before the murder which is mainly setting up the murder and seeing how everyone is handling the situation. You can walk around the Island and talk to certain characters to get to know them better. Though time passes as you talk to a character and as you grow closer you get things called “Hope Fragments”. Getting all the hope fragments in your first playthrough is impossible as it requires you to know who is going to get murdered so you can get all their hope fragments before they are taken out of the game. But you do unlock a Island mode that allows you to collect them at your leisure upon completing the game. You also unlock a DanganRonpa IF novel written by Ryohgo Narita. This system is similar to Persona’s social links system but it doesn’t really grant any benefits besides some extra character development and the ability to purchase skills to use in the trials. The skills are rather superficial though and you can get through the trials without them easily. The investigation stage is just that, a murder happens and you must look around for clues. This mainly involves clicking on areas to find evidence and asking characters about the murder. The game pretty much makes it impossible to miss evidence as it suggests you look around again if you happen to have not clicked on something. You cannot proceed to the trial stage until you have gathered all the evidence. The trial stage is where things get really heated up as it acts as a series of mini-games which make use of the evidence you have gathered. The key to it is to find contradictions in what people are saying by using the right evidence that disproves their statement. For example, if the autopsy report states the victim was stabbed and then during the court trial a person claims the victim was shot, you can use the autopsy report to disprove their claim. This is exactly as Phoenix wright worked but their is some differences. In Phoenix wright you could go through a person’s statement at your leisure but in DanganRonpa you are placed in a rail shooter styled game where characters words appear on screen as they say them and you must load your chosen evidence into a gun and fire the words at a highlighted statement to contradict it. This is odd but a satisfying way of landing a hit as you manage to push the trial forward. However sometimes it can be difficult to distern just what piece of evidence the game wants you to put forward even if you have figured out how the murder happened. At times knowing what statements to counter and what evidence to use can be a matter of trial and error.This isn’t the only mini-game in the trial however and this is where I find DanganRonpa falls short. The main mini-game remains the same as the original but the others have been changed for what seems to me just for the sake of differentiation. Most of the games are a nice change of pace but one of them is an absolute chore to get through. That is Hangmans Gambit. This is a minigame that requires you to put together a word like hangman but the process of doing so is slow, needlessly complicated and just a drag to play. I failed the game on my first attempt simply because I didn’t understand how it worked despite it being explained to me. I figured it out on my second try but it didn’t make the game any less tedious as it basically involved you waiting for the game to put the letter you need on screen. You can speed it up by pressing the skip button but the fact is that this is not fun. It’s far more flustrating when you know what word you have to spell out but must wait ever so slowly as you put down the word letter by letter. This minigame outstays it’s welcome and i was tired of it by the end of the first trial.

There is no real way to die as when all your health depletes you get a game over screen before being allowed to retry from the point you died. The only penalty is to a score that only grants you a grade and monocoins. Monocoins can be used to purchase presents which help in the free time period of the game. There are two ways to get presents, one is to buy them from the supermarket and the other is to use a kind of random draw machine at the beach. The beach machine is the much better option as you can continue to put in one coin at a time and get the majority of the presents through random chance. So monocoins quickly become useless but despite their being no penalty for death I am glad it is this way. For the class trails are long affairs that can take up to an hour and a half. If you were sent back to the beginning after every game over it would get very old fast. Besides, I see DanganRonpa more as a visual novel than a genuine game.(You can argue that visual novels are indeed also genuine games but I find the level of interaction to be far too insubstantial to justify the game title. Much in the same way I don’t consider walking simulators games. I likely annoyed some people with that statement but frankly in my book if the gameplay itself is merely a secondary optional priority to the game developer then you aren’t trying to make a game.) The aspect I really love about this game is that you can piece together who committed the murder and how they did it just by looking at the evidence gathered from the investigation stage. I made it a point before each trial to have a long think over who I thought was the murderer and the method they committed it so that I would have a better idea how to use it to break contradictions as well as see just how right my speculation was. The first trial was a real stand out moment as I walked into that thinking I had figured out everything. I breezed through the first rounds and it all looked to be point towards the conclusion I saw coming. And just when I reveled in my own brilliance the game took my deduction and turned it right on it’s head. Almost as if the game knew exactly what I was thinking and threw me off with a red herring. Ultimately while I managed to figure out a number of the details of the murder, I got the murderer completely wrong. I wasn’t even mad, I was impressed and knew this game would really test my deductive capability. It’s rare for me to experience a story such as this as it truly is a story that can only be experienced twice. Once blind and a second time breaking it down. Such is the sad fate of the murder mystery as a large amount of it’s appeal is lost upon revealing the machinations behind the tale. The wacky characters and style are great side dishes of this tale but if you play DanganRonpa then you have got to play it like a detective.

DanganRonpa is a tale featuring the utterly ridiculous with the macabre, all the while telling a series of murder mysteries. It always manages to keep the more fantasy elements of the setting and characters from interfering in the logic of the murders. It’s tongue in cheek approach and self aware nature allow the reader to accept the more silly aspects while still managing to hit hard when time comes to toss aside humor and make things serious. It’s a tale that can only be experienced once but that one time is going to be a memorable one. There is a new anime for DanganRonpa coming soon which is labeled “DanganRonpa 3: The end of Hopes Peak Acadamy”. This is not to be confused with “New DanganRonpa V3: Everyone’s New Semester of Killing” which is the third title in the series and will feature a brand new story with new characters. The anime DanganRonpa 3 will feature a original story which is not an adaption of any work and happens to be under the supervision of the writer of the game series. My hope is that this time as the story can be made for the timeframe that it will not end up a misfire like the previous animated series and showcase this series true strengths. Though with Seiji Kishi in the director’s seat once again that might be an impossibility. Still this anime is planned to cap off any loose threads from the previous two games to allow the new game to start off with a new slate and I am curious to see the world outside of the death games. It also has a bizarre airing plan where it plans to air two episodes at once every week with the two being about separate stories. One a prequel to DanganRonpa 2 and the other a sequel. Truthfully this anime adaptation will likely leave me in despair but if it’s one thing this franchise has taught me, it’s that there’s always hope.

~AidanAK47~

Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World – 04

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World

Despite nearly dying our protagonist wakes up out of the loop and now in the mansion of a strange clown like fellow with twin maids. The mansion looks to be Emilia’s home and we not look to be in a new time loop as evidenced by the last scene where it appears that Subaru was unknowingly killed in his sleep. This time it looks like Subaru has a number of days to work with and the cast has changed to a number of new strange characters. Todays episode was the first run through of the cycle so naturally it was just Subaru getting along and through the days. He made considerable progress in romancing Emilia but much like his first encounter that info is wiped from her memory. This might cause a disconnect with Subaru who might act overly familiar with her and scare her off. Here I must bring up the weakest aspect of the show and one I found a bit grating through this episode. The comedy is pretty weak. I smiled as Subaru referenced Evangelion as he woke up and even he picked up on the Tsukihime reference by asking the maids about them having opposing talents. Ram and Rem are clearly inspired by the twin maids of Tsukihime, Hisui and Kohaku. Though it seems they differ in that one maid can handle all manner of household chores while the other seems to have some other hidden talent. If these two are as inspired as I believe then that talent is likely very dangerous. Getting back to the comedy, while some references are smile worthy, other moments of Subaru pointing out anime tropes in the show is a little obnoxious. The other jokes are slapstick in nature and don’t really match the otherwise serious subject matter. It could be that our author is attempting to pull the contrast seen in shows like Gakkou Gurashi and mix lighthearted fun in order to highlight the dark nature of the other side. In this case it really doesn’t work as Subaru’s mannerisms and confidence are a little otherworldly. He doesn’t seem to have any concern regarding his old world and is a little too upbeat and friendly for a self proclaimed Hikikomori. I expect this part of the show to phase out though as it’s hard to keep a sense of humor when you are undergoing psychological/physical torture. Well unless you are Deadpool; in that case your sense of humour triples.

So what did we learn and why did Subaru die at the end of the week? Well we found out that the king and his closest successors have been wiped out by an epidemic which means there is a power struggle for the throne. Emilia looks to be a contender to the throne thanks to the emblem that was stolen in the first arc and this likely means that Felt is also a candidate for selection. So Emilia is in a precarious position that would likely mean that her caretaker would be cautious of anyone approaching her. This may be a reason for him to kill Subaru in his sleep but frankly mister count clown is so suspicious that it makes me doubt he’s the real killer. Even as he discussed Subaru with the pink haired maid it seemed as though they were discounting him as a possible spy. My guess is there is a third party involved here who took out Subaru. But perhaps Clownface and the maid changed their minds once seeing Subaru trying to woo Emilia. There is also a twin tailed loli witch whom resides in a library that should only be accessed by those who she lets in but it seems Subaru has the strange talent to find and enter it of his own accord. The loli is also voiced by a Japanese voice actor even I can recognise. Sadly that voice actor is mainly using their Shirai Kuroko voice for this one and I truly hate that character to hell and back. When hearing that familiar tone; memories of that irritation as I listened to that voice yell “ONEE-SAMA” and it makes me want to hit something until it breaks into dust. Aside from that their isn’t much to her character so far though she does play off Subaru well. That is the thing, Subaru has gotten most of the development so far and he has made it a point to openly declare these people as common anime stereotypes. But as I said before, just because you point out the cliche does not excuse still using the cliche. I would like these characters to gain traits outside of their current personalities so that we can differentiate them from the dozens of alternatives that exist within the medium. Next episode is likely the true start to this arcs conflict and I wonder what Subaru is dealing with this time.

~AidanAK47~