Subete ga F ni Naru – 05

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Subete ga F ni Naru

The more I hear about Magata’s DID, the more suspect it becomes. According to this episode, Magata didn’t conceive DID out of trauma or accident but instead intentionally crafted alternate personalities so well to the point that it became DID. I personally find the mechanics of this rather fantastical as I don’t think anyone can intentionally create a mental disorder. I see this more like a child creating an imaginary friend that’s been blown out of proportion. I really liked Souhei’s explanation on how Magata was pure regardless that I disagree with it. It is a amusing hypothesis that children are born with multiple personalities fighting for dominance and as we grow into adults that personality is chained down to one. It’s the kind of philosophy that I like to indulge in a lot despite it having no real factual basis. Still to determine that purity just seems wrong as in Magata’s case she doesn’t really account for the value of human life. I don’t consider someone who can take a life without thinking about it pure, rather ignorant or emotionally stunted. In either case Magata is most certainly not pure, she’s far too calculating to be so.

I am dropping any theories on the director’s wife being behind the killings as it would be a boring development and having seen the character in this episode I just don’t think she looks to be the type. Instead I have found myself a new prime suspect, one whom I feel has the perfect motive and skills necessary to pull this off. That person being, Dr. Magata herself. At this point I highly doubt that Magata is actually dead seeing as the only person to confirm it was the island’s Doctor. She’s the only one who can program the facility to have a bug at that exact moment and her dead body was the only thing to exit the room.As put forward in this episode, Magata hated being tied down and I have no doubt that being held on this island is completly agonising for her. This entire situation may be an elaborate escape attempt but it seems that something has gone wrong. The director’s death seems to signify that he was going to be the one to fly her off the island but he either said something she didn’t quite like or he got cold feet. One particular detail which I think cements Magata as the directors killer happens to be something that was revealed in this episode. We see a flashback where Magata went to a shop and bought a knife, this same knife was then given as a present to the director at the end of the episode. This is hinting that it was the director who killed Magata’s parents because she desired it but one thing that really catches my eye is the design of the knife. I am willing to bet that this knife is the exact same knife that is currently stabbed into the back of the directors neck.

When regarding Magata as the killer a lot of things start to make sense. On that note I must admit that another outlandish theory has occured to me. Is it possible that Moe Nishinosono and Shiki Magata are one in the same? The reason I have been having this thought is because Magata seems to have a large connection to Moe despite not actually knowing her. Magata make presumptions as to how Moe’s parents died and one detail that really spurs this on is that when Magata questions her on what she was wearing when they died, a flashback Moe has shows a girl in a purple dress with black hair. The biggest torn to this theory is that Moe’s family seems to be a fairly famous name and when it comes to murder mystery in general, the detective being the killer is generally disapproved of. I still would like more information on the other characters but I am very much ready for more Subete, it’s such a pity I need to wait a week to get it.

Fairy Fencer F Video Game Review 55/100

by AidanAK47, posted in Game Reviews

 

When I first looked at Fairy Fencer F I knew exactly what to expect and it didn’t deviate from my expectations in the slightest. In that regard it was like junk food, inherently bad but a comforting satisfaction in it’s simplicity. The story is minimal for its run. It basically involves our main character having to collect a hundred magic swords so to revive a goddess. So the majority of the game is you going to different areas to collect swords, gathering companions and doing this till one of the characters remembers a magic macguffin which can revive the goddess without collecting the rest of the swords. Insert evil corporation that would prefer to revive the evil God instead, ultimately steals your hard work, succeeds, a final boss fight against said evil God and you got the plot. Pretty predictable from the get go. They really want to depend on the characters to sell this story and at least for the main character they succeed.

 

 

The main character Fang starts of as a snarky egotistical bum who pretty much acts like you would if placed in the same situation. His Dialogue is quite funny and he has a general policy of just making fun of the situation. Sadly the story demands that he become a more friendly person so as the story goes on he sadly becomes more boring. The rest of the cast suffers from being a lineup of anime clichés with only Galdo being an exception because they gave him a canadian accent in English. They have some funny lines but really it’s when they play off Fang that they work. Still despite the clichés I found the assassin who communicates primarily by saying “kill” and the slob female researcher quite likable. But one thing that I found rather disconcerting was to rapid change of character one of your party members when through once the second half of the game began. How this person started and how he was by game’s end were so completely different that they could have been separate characters altogether. But when it comes to reality it is easier to buy bulk ammo online for safety but it also comes with a lot of responsibilities.

 

 

Graphical, I was surprised to learn that this was a PS3 title as from the screenshots above it would be better suited to PS2. I played the Steam version of the game so this wasn’t a deal breaker because I bought it on sale. But those who bought it at full price would be quite underwhelmed. It’s a very cheap looking game. The 3D graphic models above are only used in the Area levels which are only one or two rooms long. About the size of a Kingdom hearts world with enemies roaming about instead of the band of many a JRPG, random encounters. For the majority of the game you will be working though menu’s and the story is told in Visual Novel format. There are some pros for the fairly good English voice acting and animation on the sprites but for an RPG it’s the lowest form of presentation. But it does come with a plus. This may be because of my high spec Laptop or the general low requirements for a game such as this but I never experienced a loading screen in this entire game. It was a rather refreshing experience to have a game that reacted instantly no matter what you did. Hit load and straight away you are right where you left off. Entering and exiting battles is fast making grinding less of a chore. Overall it’s nice that the game doesn’t hold you up as you run though it. Except when it comes to the tutorials which are intrusive to everything. They pop up frequently at the beginning to teach you the most obvious things imaginable. I was honestly shocked to enter the shop and get a tutorial on how to buy items. Game, this isn’t my first RPG and even if it was I am sure I could figure out the nature of capitalism. The combat system I found to be quite unique up until I noticed other JRPGs that use the exact same system so I don’t think I can give Fairy Fencer any points for something that was likely lifted from somewhere else. Still I rather liked the combat system for being quick and satisfying.

 

 

So Fairy Fencer F is a title that can be wholeheartedly enjoyed if you enter it knowing that you won’t be getting something original or outstanding. I believe it’s worth a recommendation to those who like the genre…or at least that’s what I thought before I reached the halfway point. For you see Fairy Fencer commits what I consider to be a cardinal sin of game design at that point. I find it odd that this point is rarely mentioned in its reviews on sites as it can change your outlook on the game completely. For you see once you reach the halfway point an event happens that transfers both the main characters to the past. Storywise it’s a mildly interesting development but take note. The characters have returned to the very first area of the game and that means that you must replay all the levels yet again to reach the ending. The areas where you need to go don’t change. Neither do the enemies or bosses.(Except for some extra enemies and one different boss.)This has to be the most insulting, lazy and blatant padding to grace an RPG since Bravely Defaults final section. You literally replay the game over again. As a person who has limited leisure time and someone who was genuinely enjoying the game up to this point, I find this to be an unforgivable betrayal. So much so that it spoiled my experience with the rest of the game.

 

 

With that the problems of the game really started showing, in particular the overabundance of mechanics. You have two kinds of expence, normal experience which levels you up and Wp which can be used to gain new abilities, spells or upgrade one of your stats. On top of this you have challenges which are like achievements that net you permanent stat boosts. Some of these can make sense like attacking a certain number of times will grant you a strength stat. But some are insipid and tedious such as jumping a thousand times in the over world to upgrade endurance. You can also equip fairies which gain experience with your character and level up, granting you more stat boosts and extra buffs. On top of that you can grant Fairies special buffs by using them to pull out a sword from one of the two gods of the world. There are numerous ways to power up your character but it’s clear the game was not built to work with these mechanics. So it is very easy to become an overpowered god long before game’s end. This makes the game very easy and what baffles me is that you can buy DLC which only serves to make the game even easier. If people need that then they might as well give up on playing the game and just watch a let’s play of it. This isn’t simply in the levelling system but combat and other areas. For example the shop has a synthesising system where you can take materials got from enemies and convert them into items and equipment. This system is completely worthless, items lose most of their value once you get a fairy with a SP regain ability and equipment makes very little difference. What’s more there is a side quest system meant to complement this, which rewards you with materials and money for going to areas and gathering a certain material or killing certain monsters. But you will never need this at all and the shop and pub become worthless by the halfway mark. Combat has a number of unnecessary systems too. Attacking has a combo system where you can attack a number of times based on how much WP you spent upgrading the combo tree. You can buy new combo moves with WP and these can change your weapon into various modes, like guns,axes, bows, knuckles, swords etc. Enemies are weak to certain weapon types but the extra damage done is barely noticeable and this weapon weakness systems serves only to activate something called avalanche mode which allows other characters to put in extra combo attacks without using up their turn. This Avalanche mode is useless. It’s activation is based on luck and rarely activates when you need it. Instead it often activates when an enemy is nearly dead and the extra attack amount to nothing but overkill.

 

 

There is also a world shaping mechanic which is where you can sort of equip a Fairy to a area and it will grant a special buff to that area. However while it will give you a benefit like enemies dropping extra gold, it will pair it up with a cost such as gaining less exp. However I found an exploit in this system when I happened upon a shaping ability. The ability granted that you would receive more WP but all damage was doubled. I believe the double damage was intended to be a danger but they didn’t think it through. You don’t just take double damage, you deal double damage too. Meaning, your attack power is doubled. End result was I often killed enemies on the first turn before they had a chance to attack. Only way they could get the upper hand would be if they ambushed me but that stopped once I gained an ability that makes it that I can never be ambushed. I actually had to stop myself from using it out of pity because the game was easy enough as it is. How much of Fairy Fencer F you enjoy really depends on if you can excuse a weak story, enjoy its battle mechanics and most importantly deal with a large amount of recycled content. The last part of that sentence was the deal breaker for me and makes this a game I wouldn’t recommend. If it’s one thing this game proves it’s that length for the sake of length only serves to test the patience of the player. If Fairy Fencer had simply opted to remove this time travel nonsense it would have been a shorter JRPG but ultimately a much better experience.

One Punch Man – 05

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, One Punch Man

This episode looked to be a big dig at the educational system. After all, the most powerful being on the planet applies to be a hero and is relegated to the lowest class because of the results of a submitted essay. Of course how an essay actually determines how someone can be a hero is ridiculous but sadly such processes of selection are not relegated to fiction. Job interviews are a prime example of that, they depend not on the skills you have but rather how good you can make yourself look. So Genos gets an S rank because he aced the tests and happened to blow up the House of Evolutions base whereas Saitama who actually was the one to defeat the House of Evolution gets saddled with a C. But well its Saitama, it’s only a matter of time before he shoots through the ranks.

The highlight of the episode was clearly the Genos and Saitama sparring. I hoped that for this particular scene Madhouse would go all out for the fight and they certainly didn’t disappoint. The fight presented some of the best animation in the series to date. Genos really is a marvel to watch fighting, with his mechanical parts and jet boosters just make him pure eye candy to behold. I see others who comment on the episode claim that the animation beats Ufotable and I don’t quite agree. The animation is great but they still are using shortcuts and Sakuga. Personally I feel Ufotable has better art consistency but Madhouse has some great dynamic choreography. That really is the charm of One Punch Man, the animation has so much character. Like Saitama’s swagger away after he beat Genos with a indirect Punch. The humor throughout the episode was great, especially the last joke of the episode gets me every time. Well now it seems that One Punch Man has removed it’s old formula and gone for something more consistent and I certainly can’t wait to see the top class heroes reaction to Saitama

Young BlackJack – 05

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Young Blackjack

With Blackjack and the others captured last episode, it’s only natural that the next step would be torture. Still I expected something much worse than what was presented. All things considered, I think Blackjack and the crew got off easy. They didn’t even get a “Tiger Cage.” Of course the big threat here was that the patient Blackjack treated isn’t out of the woods yet and the conditions of the imprisonment isn’t helping. Having the wound infested with maggots isn’t exactly ideal, even if it worked out for the best. Still I pity the poor souls that had to resort to Maggot therapy, the feeling must be unbearable. In relation we learn more about Blackjacks past and how he came to get his scars. The exploded bomb explanation could use more elaboration though at least we know that Blackjack didn’t simply just walk out of a hospital like nothing happened.

I actually found an article about this episode which complained that Blackjacks Torture scene was sexualized and really that statement has me confused. While watching the scene I wasn’t under the impression that it was intended to be sexual and I think this really is a matter of the eye of the beholder. That said that scene between Yabu and Blackjack was most definitely suggestive. With that blur and the look of compassion between the two you wouldn’t be surprised if the suddenly engaged in a passionate embrace. But let’s leave such fantasies to the fujoshi’s.

Though the main part of this episode was to introduce the American Medic whose methods are borderline insane. Parachuting into war territory with a full host of surgical equipment is something I figured would get any man dead long ago. Naturally he scoffs when he encounters Blackjack and it’s fairly predictable how this turns out. Both dislike each other at first but then see each others skills. Then they share a drink with mutual respect. I can’t say I am sold on this new character yet but I am intrigued to see what he can bring to the show and  whether he will play the role of mentor or rival.

Subete ga F ni Naru – 04

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Subete ga F ni Naru

The plot thickens as we are given a little more insight into Dr Magatas room. In this episode we learn quite a few things. That in Magata’s room she has a robot called Michiru which seems to be built with the sole purpose of imitating Magatas voice and to lock the door, and that Dr Magata suffered from DID.(Dissociative Identity Disorder) However I find myself wondering if her case of multiple personalities is genuine as she seems to be far too much in control of it. If anything it looks more like she invented her other personalities as a means of dealing with loneliness. This episode makes clear that none of Magatas other personalities were involved with her parents murder and states that the only one who could kill them was her core personality. However she claims that a doll killed her parents which according to the main characters could suggest that Magata did kill her parents but was forced to by someone else. Other interesting facts was Magatas messages on her computer which suggest that she knew that she was going to die. In murder mystery, usually everything introduced is in someway related to the murder and this one certainly makes it hard to connect the dots. But allow me to speculate a little. There is heavy focus on the director’s relationship with Dr Magata so it’s clear that is related to all this.

The easy explanation would be that the director killed Magata and that would clear up some issues. After all the director has the most access to the facility and from Magata knowing she was going to be killed, she would be more willing to accept it if it was someone she loved that was ending her life. Her interview with Moe would also factor into this as maybe she felt a connection to someone who was also in love with an older man. But if the Director killed Magata, then who killed the Director? Again, a easy assumption but it could have been his wife. Having learned about there relationship she might not have taken to kindly to it and killed the Director. There is a certain disconnect between the two murders. The first was clearly very calculated, and yet the second looked more like a impulse murder with a simple stabbing. But the directors wife lacks the screen time to consider her major factor. But another question is on my mind, is Magata truly dead? The show itself seems reluctant to have the characters examine her body as Moe was interrupted by Souhei before she could get a close look. The first to pronounce her dead, the doctor, did it rather suddenly. He was strangely not put off by the situation and straight away when to check her Pulse. It’s potentially possible that he was told to lie. Who knows, maybe Dr Magata is actually hiding inside the Robot, pretending to be an AI? Well alright, that’s rather ridiculous.

I rather liked Moe’s reaction to the dead bodies. Often in murder mystery the actual effect of death on people is played down so as to not let the drama effect the puzzle of the murder. Still here we have Moe attempting to brush off her shaken up nature and attempt to play detective. Yet her feelings are clear to everyone present. I still find the lack of character development on the others to be detrimental as I want to start pointing fingers but can’t really do that if the side characters have no characterization as of yet. There is also a issue with the shows rather bland presentation as while trying to find screenshots for this episode I found it difficult. While the shows substance is excellent and intriguing, I find that there doesn’t seem to be an effort to make it visually interesting. Counters to that claim would be that dream sequence at the end of this episode or some of the other more surreal moments. But other than these moments it just feels very…static. Though to the animators credit, there is only so much one can do with a story that has characters primarily talking in a room and not much else. But perhaps use of more visual metaphor could make things more dramatic though that runs the risk of ruining the mood of the scene. I may complain about that but I must admit to loving this series, nothing quite gets my brain working on all cylinders like a good murder mystery. Come up with a theory, watch it get shot down, come up with another one. That’s what makes these kinds of stories special.

One Punch Man – 2-4

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, One Punch Man

I feel there are certain anime that upon watching the first episodes, you know that it will be something you are going to remember. This may be far too soon to say but the first two episodes of One Punch Man give me that exact feeling. The whole way through this episode I had a dumb smile on my face and eyes glued to the screen. Saitama using all his godlike power to try and swat a mosquito had me laughing very hard and the action scenes are simply beautiful. I am not the only one with high expectations of One Punch Man as many are hyping it up and claiming it will be the next western breakout hit like Attack on Titan. I acknowledge that could be possible seeing the superhero movie boom is still going strong and One Punch Man is a very western styled show. Of course the cynic within me is still holding back my excitement as I have long seen many anime fall from grace at the halfway point but the source material is strong as well as the studio so the chances of them messing up is quite slim.

One particularly interesting aspect is this show’s tendency to use high profile voice actors for one time roles. The very first villain, Vaccine man, was voiced by the voice actor known for playing Frieza from Dragonball Z and the mosquito girl in this episode was voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro, another great voice actor. The animation seems to be going for fluidity over artistic consistently which does mean that the art gets worst during fights but there is a lot more dynamic movement to make up for it. There are still shortcuts such as Saitama’s punches thrown at the lion king but for once we may have a anime where the best animated action isn’t in the anime opening. As for comedy we have a interesting factor going on. Jokes in the manga that were not that funny work brilliantly in the anime, yet jokes that were hilarious in the manga are lesser in the anime. One particular example is with the mantus enemy, in the manga this guy jumps through the wall and before he can finish introducing himself gets instantly destroyed by Saitama. However in the anime, right before he’s punched they added this “Huh?” and a delay before he’s killed which makes the punchline less funny. It’s small and doesn’t ruin the joke but the change does affect the humor. This extending of jokes is in other examples as well but quite honestly it’s nitpicking.

There is the question of whether Madhouse can keep up the high level of animation from the shows entire run as episode 4 does show signs of the quality slipping. That said it could just be a matter of that episode being given less attention is it is the weakest by far out of the four. Out of criticisms of the show so far the main complaint is that it’s rather formulaic. True at the moment it does seem to be following a monster of the week format but having read the manga I can say this evolves more into an ongoing plot before it gets tiresome. The next episode looks to adapt one of the highlight fights of the series so Madhouse better pull out all the stops.

Subete ga F ni Naru – 2-3

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Subete ga F ni Naru

Subete certainly isn’t rushing anywhere and that’s alright. The first two episodes looked to be setting up the closed circle and the third a closed room murder. What I like is that we are being clued in on the facts while the characters are so there aren’t any aspects like with Ranpo or Sako were the detective suddenly breaks the Knox commandments and presents evidence that was withheld from the viewer. We already have good ingredients here to ponder. We have two bodies, Dr Magata who had her legs and arms Amputated and was placed on a robot torolly. And the director who was murdered with a knife in the helicopter. Dr Magata was murdered in room that has only one entrance and exit. In the day she was murdered, no one entered or exited her room besides her corpse and The teacher confirmed that only the corpse exited the room and no one else slipped out during the confusion. The system had been programmed to mess up at that exact moment and that system was programmed by Dr Magata herself. Dr Magata herself was also in an adult relationship with the director despite being underage. On top of that there is a clear connection to the murder of Magatas parents 14 years ago which resulted in her getting detained here and this current murder. The pieces are fragmented but allow for speculation, this ladies and gents is true murder mystery. The difference between this and the quick fire no thought required mysteries of other shows is in just how much intelligent writing and misdirection is required to make it work. Because if at any point the author provides too much and gives away the payoff then the story is ruined. It requires a steady stream of information, never revealing the full hand. The big minus of these kind of stories however  is in how they can really only be experienced once as on a rewatch you know all the answers. Still as a great mystery writer Ryoukishi wrote “Tales can be enjoyed twice. First you love them. Then you tear out their guts.”

At the moment my issue with this show is that we haven’t been given much of an introduction to the side characters. Our mains have been given plenty of attention but without much detail on the others on the island it’s difficult to draw up suspects to the murders. I would like the next episodes to flesh out the motives and personalities of the others on the island. Particularly Dr Magatas sister who I currently think is integral to this entire mystery. Our main duo continues to have great chemistry and play off each other wonderfully. What I particularly like is how both of them are on the same level. There is no Watson in these two, both act as blacksmith’s tempering each other’s blades. Whenever one goes along the wrong line of thought the other counters and shows them how they are wrong. It’s a far more interesting power dynamic than having a Watson for Sherlock to explain his thoughts and show how brilliant a detective he is. The method in this show shows what the detectives are thinking while developing their characters and most importantly, showing that they are not all knowing gods of logic. What we have here is two very smart individuals trying to put together a fragmented puzzle and that’s just the way I like it. What is needed for the next episodes is clear, more information, more murders and more character development. Build on the foundation and at the right moment let it all come together in a giant payoff. The factor which will ultimately decide the final quality of Subete ga F ni Naru.

Young BlackJack – 2-4

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Young Blackjack

Sorry for the lack of updates but I was hit with a sudden nasty case of Kidney stones which left me in hospital for a few days. I had a Keyhole surgery which left me not in the best shape for a week so I can’t say I was in the right mood to blog. Details of said operation would likely make you cringe and cross your legs if you happen to be a guy. Needless to say I was glad to be knocked out for the procedure. So now it’s time to play catch up.

Blackjack continues to be a solid show. The show does lack subtlety however as characters tend to act in over exaggerated manners and everything is placed in your face. That said it might not need it. The stories themselves are interesting in their own right and the over the top nature tends to lighten up some otherwise deathly serious situations. But what I find to be its most interesting aspect is the moral dilemmas Blackjack faces. Episode 3 in particular is a perfect example of how just because a person is technically doing the right thing, does not mean they are not a terrible person. It really begs the question that if the right thing is being done for the wrong reasons, is it is a good deed? The characters themselves seemed a bit too much of a strawman but I liked the dilemma they placed on Blackjack. Both seemed unwilling to put there own neck in a noose to save a life but when it came to Blackjack they were essentially morally blackmailing him. They forcibly got him involved and placed him in a situation where he must put his profession at stake, all the while demonizing him as if he doesn’t help this deserter then the man would most certainly die. The female student is a perfect example of someone using the moral high ground to inflate their own self worth and ego. A kind of person seen all too often in the planes of the internet.

Placing it during the Vietnam war was also master move as it puts Blackjack in one of the most perilous situations for a doctor to be in. I am honestly surprised with how the series is handling the drug addict doctor’s character. Most of the time this kind of character is a walking moral life lesson to not do drugs, yet he’s actually one of the more morally upstanding characters in the show. Using his experiences with past mistakes to help keep Blackjack on the right path. He also acts as a good trigger to place Blackjack in the hotspot of the Vietnam war with his attempt at redemption. There are the moments of old school such as the old “Oh my god, look at him being so amazing” inner monologues but I really like where this is going and so far Blackjack is delivering on a fairly unique experience.

Suikoden Video Game Review 70/100

by AidanAK47, posted in Game Reviews

 

So at a time when when Konami is busy burning every famous gaming franchise it has to the ground and trying to mould the ashes into pachinko machines, I thought now would be a good time to take a look at a Konami title that’s been on my backlog for a while. Suikoden is a turn based RPG with parties of six with 108 recruitable characters. The story is somewhat based on a Chinese novel called “Shui Hu Zhuan” by Shi Naian.

 

The plot details the son of a General in a corrupt empire who is pushed into joining the Liberation rebel army after the court Magician targets his best friend. His friend turns out to be a be a person who has been living for 300 years guarding a powerful rune the Magician wants called the soul eater. Before he’s captured, he entrusts the Rune to you and thus the tale begins to build up the Liberation army, rescue your friend and overthrow the evil empire. The biggest problem with the story is with how weak the villain is. The Imperial army is just obnoxiously evil as many people in it don’t see anything wrong with their obviously wrong actions. Its more moronic than evil in that regard because at least a villain like the Joker from Batman doesn’t try to justify things with logic like “That orphanage attacked me first!”. There are other soldiers who are evil because of a magic black rune but that excuse is just as weak. Windy the Court Magician acts as the main antagonist but her motivations come down to wanting the Rune so she can destroy the world. Near the end of the game her backstory is revealed that people burned down her home and she just wants revenge but for a woman who’s been living hundreds of years that motive is just petty. She doesn’t end up being the last boss, the last boss actually being the king who seems a lot more complex but only gets two scenes in the entire game. A majority of the games story has you traveling to lands to gain new allies and a strange formula happens. Almost every single time you go to ask someone to join, they refuse you saying they don’t want to get involved. Almost immediately after the imperial army shows up and gives them a reason to join. Examples include, a teacher doesn’t want to become your military strategist but when the army show up and take his students hostage to force him to work for them. After rescuing the kids, he joins you. A doctor doesn’t want to become involved but then a General takes him prisoner, you need to rescue him and he joins you then. เดิมพันกับ ยูฟ่าเบท วันนี้ and start winning! Or you try to recruit a officer from their army, he says no and at that moment a higher ranking officer tries to rape his wife for his own amusement. Quite honestly its like these guys are trying to help you in their own way and your army builds up from the number of people they tick off. The elephant in the room is why is it that the imperial army never attacks your base because it’s clear that everyone knows about it seeing as every person you recruit goes to it without direction.

 

Suikoden’s game changer for the genre is the ridiculous amount of playable characters and to get a good ending you have to collect them all. It’s because of this I recommend a guide as its easy to just miss one of these guys. There are points where you can get one killed and doom yourself to a bad ending. The large amount of characters does lead to a problem of too much quantity as a majority of them whom you recruit, you will just toss them into the castle to never be used and use only a select few. The only time this changes is when the game forces you to use other characters which can be pace breaking as you are forced to return to the castle and put a character in your party just so you can advance through the story. Your castle headquarters is a great touch as its nice to see it grow as you collect more characters. The characters personalities are fairly one note and don’t really develop much beyond that. One of the most notable characters in the game, Mathiu, is more or less the high point of characterization and mainly because he’s a non playable character you deal with the most. One major problem with the game is one that you can see in the screenshots. Even by PSX standards this isn’t a pretty game, it’s at Super Nintendo standards at best and even that had more alive environments. The area’s are drab and basic, some bordering on ugly. Controlling your character through these places is stiff as you cannot move diagonally and feels restricting. Luckily areas are often very short and you can get through them very quickly. The engaging nature of slot gacor has made it a favorite among players seeking both fun and rewarding outcomes. Choosing LIMO55 ensures access to an expansive game collection and promotional offers designed for maximum enjoyment. For a secure gaming experience, checking 먹튀검증 helps ensure you’re playing on a reliable platform.

 

The battle system is pretty standard. You have attack, items, defend and magic. There’s also a unite option that when certain party members are together you can do combination attack like in Chrono Trigger. Magic doesn’t have MP but instead you can only use certain spells a certain number of times. You spell uses come back once resting at an inn and as you level up you get new uses and new spells. Things which really help are the options to bribe enemies and set everyone to attack which makes random battles go by so much faster. It’s a simple but satisfying system. Levelling up in the game is rapid as there are a large cast of playable characters. This makes it easy to get low level characters up to a respectable level as having them in a party in a high level dungeon can have them around the same level as the other characters within a few battles. The mechanics of the game are fairly solid but there are a number of small counter intuitive things that prevent it from being great. For one at the beginning of the game you cannot run. You are forced to walk everywhere and you will only be able to run once one character of your party has a holy Rune equipped. That will allow you to run in towns and areas. However to run on the world map you need a true holy Rune. The Holy Rune can only be got a third into the game and True holy Rune is only on a Character called Stallion. You will pretty much need this Rune the entire game but it means that one member of your party must always have it equipped. There is only one Rune slot per character so that means that character will not be able to use magic or other beneficial runes. The Holy Rune only provides the benefit of dashing and nothing else. When that character is forcefully removed from your party, its back to walking everywhere again. On the matter of runes you can only equip runes at runemaster shops which are in some places and not in others. What this means is that you could have to travel to one town to smith your weapons and then walk all the way to another one to equip runes.

 

Another problem is equipment where each of your six characters can carry a number of items but in order to equip something it needs to be in that character’s inventory which leads to annoyance as you are forced to trade items between characters and make room so you can equip them with the right armour. Considering that you will be getting new characters a lot, you will be fumbling around these menus quite often. Many irritations are solved as you progress and collect characters such as unlocking a world map that lists towns and areas when you recruit a map maker or all the shops being in one area in your castle when you recruit blacksmiths and shopkeepers. But these conveniences only come in the later and till then you will have to deal with numerous annoyances and even when you do get everything some of the things don’t quite go away. For example you will go through this routine a number of times when you return to your castle, first you change characters and for that you need to go to the fourth floor of the castle, talk to someone and remove and add party members, then you go to the vault on the third floor to store items in your inventory to make room for new ones, then go to the second floor to the blacksmiths were you sharpen your weapons. Not enough money? Well then go to the gambler on the first floor and make easy cash. Then go to the first floor, buy equipment and items, move around and equip purchases, go to the runemaster and equip runes and the go to the inn, rest and save. Finally you go to the basement and teleport back into the field. You do most of this every single time you go back to your castle and there’s loading between each floor. This eats away a large amount of your time.

 

The game throws in small changes with army battles and one on one battles, both which boil down to rock,paper,scissors rules. They don’t add much other than dramatic flair but it’s still nice to have something to break up the RPG battles. Music is not really notable, one or two tunes might stick in your mind but nothing that would make you nostalgic in later years. There is a rather odd quirk with the sound however as I noticed that they somehow thought that using a elephant roar sound for a dragon’s roar would go unnoticed and believe me it does not go unnoticed. I had to do a double take when I heard that unsuitable roar the first time. It’s even stranger because the final endboss has a dragon roar that’s normal and why is it they couldn’t use that? The final verdict is a pretty good RPG held down by unintuitive mechanics, lacklustre graphics and a weak story.

Some Quick First Impressions: Subete ga F ni Naru, Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid and Garo: Guren no Tsuki

by AidanAK47, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Subete ga F ni Naru

Short Synopsis: A group of people decide to visit an enigmatic genius girl living on a isolated island.

It’s a little odd to give this episode such high potential when on examination not a lot happened in it. In fact, nothing really happened in it. It was just a series of conversations between our main characters. Still for the duration of this episode I was completely spellbound. Our characters all seem quite interesting as Souhei seems like a man you would never get bored talking to, Shiki comes across as otherworldly and mysterious and Moe has a distinctive observation skills that will no doubt come to play later. Though Moe’s rather obvious attempts to catch the romantic  attention of Souhei are a little detrimental to the atmosphere but she does have good chemistry with him. This looks to be perfect for the style of mystery coming as with just ordinary conversation they can grab your full attention easily. CGI cars excluded the animation looks great and this really looks to be a return to form for a noitamina block of fuji Tv which looked to be going for shows with a more teen demographic instead of mature shows such as this. Admittedly some of the dialogue bushes on being pretentious but this show does present itself as being truly adult in nature. Once the plot really gets moving I think this show could become a great piece of entertainment and food for those like their anime with some sophistication.

Potential: 90%

 

Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid

Short Synopsis: A girl is kidnapped and sent to an island where girls use other girls as weapons by “turning them on”

This was a fascinating watch for me in ways unintended of it’s design. For you see as Valkyrie drive attempted to catch my attention with action and fanservice so blatant that you would wonder why they simply didn’t just go all the way and make it a hentai, I was concerning myself with questions about its setting. For example who decided that the best way of transporting girls to this island would be to jet them though a force field on some kind of rocket vehicle that is destroyed on impact and leaves the girls drifting unconscious in the water? Isn’t that a massive waste of funds to have to destroy one of these likely expensive vehicles every time they want to send a girl to the island? Wouldn’t most of the girls drown before being beached on the shore? Are girls send in pairs of weapon and wielder and who decides which is which? Who was the idiot that decided the weapons need to be activated through sexual foreplay? Why is it that only women can activate these weapons? Meanwhile as I think these questions, Valkyrie drive responds with a “Who cares about that, instead look at these boobies!” to which I reply “I haven’t seen mammaries that grotesque since Clotho from God of War 2.” There really is something wrong with the proportions of these girls that makes them visually alien. This is an experience, to watch a show that’s trying it’s darnedest to erotically entice and yet fail to get the slightest reaction from me. It’s like I am playing Bayonetta all over again, except without the great gameplay. As for story it’s basically along the lines of what you would expect but I really do need to make a point that they are pushing for the fanservice on this one. At one point they brought in a opponent who had a BDSM slave for a weapon and I really didn’t want it to go there but it unfortunately did. One of our main characters is a silent protagonist which outside of RPGs really is an off putting to see in animation. This girl can talk but in situations where talking would help greatly she stays silent. I guess if you want something for other purposes this might be your thing but frankly there are better alternatives. Not recommended.

Potential: 0%

 

Garo: Guren no Tsuki

Short Synopsis: A armoured man fights horrific spirits that possess people.

Somethings not selling me of this. Maybe it’s the similarity to Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis as the artstyle of the characters are alike and it is the same studio or maybe it’s because this turned out to be a lot less seinien than I expected. In fact you know what this reminded me of? A Tokusatsu show sure enough the live action Garo tv show is indeed a Tokusatsu show. I can’t say much for Tokusatsu shows as I simply don’t have enough experience with them to form a concrete opinion but I believe I went into this show with the wrong expectations. Which could explain why I wasn’t too impressed with the show. The setting is nice but the feel of the story just feels half baked and far too simplistic. One particular thing I noted was that in the beginning the heroes only jumped in after the monsters had devoured all the people and the villain of the episode mainly became a villain because he was mocked but by one of the female heroes which really doesn’t make me want to root for them. The heroes as well don’t have much in lines of personality. I fear this show may become too formulaic and just doesn’t mesh well with me on a personal level. My recommendation is to just watch the episode yourself and decide if you would like to continue with it or not as I find this may be a case of a show just not being to my taste.

Potential: 30%