15
Products
reviewed
0
Products
in account

Recent reviews by 90% of 50% of the time

< 1  2 >
Showing 1-10 of 15 entries
1 person found this review helpful
23.7 hrs on record
If you enjoyed princess maker you'll enjoy this

If you've never heard of princess maker but somehow still wound up on this store page, it's about raising the strongest pokemon you can, except you also give the pokemon life advice, and you win the game when the pokemon moves out and gets a job

-Daughter become STRONK
-Daughter solos final boss because she is STRONK
-Daughter uses wealth from adventuring career to buy fertilizer, utilizing a little-known physics trick to create time. She does this by transmuting fertilizer and wheat seeds into time, by creating bread. Daughter is very clever
-Daughter uses hyperbolic time chamber to create infinite time
-Daughter acts in hundreds of plays in one afternoon, becoming incredibly famous
-Daughter's fame is somehow converted into knowledge by the local priest
-Daughter knows all things
-Daughter's power is beyond compare
-I am afraid of Daughter
Posted November 20, 2023. Last edited November 20, 2023.
Was this review helpful? Yes No Funny Award
46 people found this review helpful
2 people found this review funny
2
1
51.0 hrs on record (39.8 hrs at review time)
Middling recommendation, with several CAVEats. (Ha!)

If you've seen the show, and thought the world and especially the Abyss were fascinating, there's a lot to like here, albeit mixed in with a whole lot of budget problems and sometimes weird fanservice. Note: I didn't really care about rehashing RIko and Reg's journey in a slightly worse way, so I only played the other game mode.

It's got a number of tonal issues whenever you're talking to anyone, is my main critique. Riko, the incompetent and frankly insane loser who technically flunked out of orphan school for committing suicide, is now some sort of weirdly legendary character. Everyone assumes you've heard of this amazing person and her incredible exploits, despite her being... pretty much a nobody in the anime. And often it feels like people don't take the dangers of the abyss seriously at all, even when they're supposed to be professional cave raiders. Even Riko knew it was dangerous in the anime, she just didn't care. But you'll see even black whistles be totally nonchalant about everything.

There are also bloody stumps of cut features all over the place - for instance, a lot of characters will, after completing a specific quest for them, have some dialogue in the vein of "Give me a call if you ever want me to join you on an expedition!" It's pretty obvious a lot of planned features were designed around and then awkwardly torn out. The whole game feels buggy and unfinished, in an old-school Obsidian kinda way. My favorite bug is when you kill a boss with a weapon, the weapon breaks, regardless of its durability level, including relic weapons. Thanks QA! (I'm joking, I know they didn't have the budget for a QA department)

The game requires a mod to be enjoyable - play it for a bit until you see what I mean, then go get the "disable constant enemy spawning" mod. Otherwise you can never stop and look around, which is... weird in a game that you're mostly playing for the scenery.

With all of those out of the way... Yes, I really like this game. For all of its flaws, as an exploration/survival game, it's fantastic. I've never seen a game where a weight limit was as harsh or as necessary, because what you don't necessarily realize going in is that this is not an action game, or an adventure game. It's a hiking sim with mountain-climbing elements. I'd say 90% of your time will be spent either slowly trundling into some increasingly dangerous place with your comically oversized backpack OR climbing a rock face (the remaining 10% of your time is spent managing your inventory). You aren't an action hero, and while combat is often necessary, you are MUCH better off running away or otherwise avoiding fights most of the time. Your weapon won't survive more than a few swings, and weapons, especially GOOD weapons, are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ HEAVY. You can only carry a few, unless that's the ONLY thing you bring with you. In many ways it forces you to think carefully, consider the dangers of a course of action, and treat things with a lot more gravity. Especially gravity, because boy will gravity kill you a lot.

And I love that slow, careful exploration. It's where the game truly shines. It's not perfect, there's a number of things I'd change and places where it's held back by various concessions (mostly to budget, occasionally to accessibility, annoyingly frequently to tone-deaf fan service). But I can't think of a single game like it, really.

So, if you are...
1. A fan of the show,
2. A fan of slow-paced, grounded, careful survival/exploration,
3. Willing to overlook bugs (as well as insects) and a blatantly incomplete game,

then I would give it a somewhat muted recommendation. I like this game a lot. I don't think it's particularly good, but it does certain things uniquely well, and those things are pretty great if you like them. Pick it up on sale.
Posted January 31, 2023. Last edited January 31, 2023.
Was this review helpful? Yes No Funny Award
14 people found this review helpful
25.6 hrs on record (4.8 hrs at review time)
Early Access Review
game legit has no business being as good as it is

*2022 Edit*

OK game's just good period, full stop, game good, play it

Whatever this studio makes next I'm sold

This was one of the best final boss reveals I've ever seen
Posted September 21, 2020. Last edited November 3, 2022.
Was this review helpful? Yes No Funny Award
7 people found this review helpful
58.2 hrs on record (24.5 hrs at review time)
It is nearly impossible to talk about this game without referencing Sunless Sea; the two games are inextricably bound, this one having been inspired by but also receiving friendly support from the Failbetter Games team. The creator of the House went on to work extensively on Sunless Skies, as well, so there's that. While much is new and fascinating, there is a great deal that will feel familiar if you've spent any time on the 'Zee. For that reason, it's more worthwhile to address the differences than to start from scratch. However, if you've played and enjoyed Sunless Sea, I would recommend this title automatically - the strengths are similar, and this game has enough unique traits and fantastic writing that I can't imagine a person enjoying one but not the other.

The obvious difference is the save system. In practice I feel it makes little difference, but the House has three save slots, compared to the Neath's Ironman mode. Be warned that some decisions bypass the save system entirely, but you will know what these are.

A House of Many Doors is made by a much smaller team (of one person), but no less ambitiously scoped. The unfortunate consequence to this is a clear difference in polish between the titles. The occasional bug or hiccup in the game is rarely significant enough to harm one's enjoyment, but small hiccups pop up frequently enough to consistently remind that this title was not given the same immaculate level of polish.

The House is a somewhat darker, more unrelentingly macabre place than the Neath. There is a lot of familiar wackiness, and oodles of brilliant writing, but very little isn't colored by death in some way. The humor is without exception black. Clever and compelling, but always harsh.

Perhaps the biggest difference, however, is the overarching tale. You have an objective from Day 1, and you can truly finish the game - this isn't just your character's goal being attained, it's a true end to a story with a great deal of meaning and impact if you've followed it to completion.

I would argue, though it might be a controversial claim, that for all its flaws the game is every bit the equal of Sunless Sea - its foibles do not prevent it being a fantastically-written world (or, more accurately, ragtag assortment of various worlds) that will suck you in without hesitation.
Posted February 15, 2020.
Was this review helpful? Yes No Funny Award
1 person found this review helpful
129.7 hrs on record (77.7 hrs at review time)
If you've ever read a page on the SCP foundation wiki... play this game. If you like the concept of obscure, baffling, and unknowable monsters... play this game. This game has probably the most consistently impressive monster ideas I've ever seen, even if it is held back by a dodgy translation. It isn't flawless, and it is often frustrating, but the aesthetic is A++ and there is a genuinely good game here.
Posted January 3, 2020.
Was this review helpful? Yes No Funny Award
1 person found this review helpful
103.9 hrs on record (17.9 hrs at review time)
Early Access Review
This game has a solid foundation already made, and is easily playable in its current state. A number of systems are incomplete, and numerous elements (especially the UI) are clearly placeholders. However, the gunplay is excellent and the tactical combat is well-done, taking ideas from Mount and Blade yet being something different enough to be new. This foundation, as well as the rapid-fire pace of updates and improvements over the past few months has reassured me that this will be a solid title whenever release rolls around.

It's not finished yet, but I'd recommend it even as-is.
Posted July 29, 2018.
Was this review helpful? Yes No Funny Award
No one has rated this review as helpful yet
4.8 hrs on record
Of the four hours I spent playing this game, I spent a solid hour sobbing... this is fine... everything is fine...
Posted December 30, 2017.
Was this review helpful? Yes No Funny Award
5 people found this review helpful
20 people found this review funny
197.1 hrs on record (168.2 hrs at review time)
They won't let me leave... please help...
Posted July 30, 2017.
Was this review helpful? Yes No Funny Award
No one has rated this review as helpful yet
3.9 hrs on record
All those Hanako games that we all know and love, this is the game that defined their genre. It's old, it's rough around the edges, but it's still every bit as fun. 100% recommend. And who knows, maybe if we buy it they'll give us translations of the other games? (Please!)
Posted October 12, 2016.
Was this review helpful? Yes No Funny Award
69 people found this review helpful
1 person found this review funny
6.7 hrs on record
So in light of all the rampant negativity toward this game, I figured I would talk about it as well.

All in all? It's good. Not great. But it's fun and has a lot of charm. The price point is a touch steep for me, and I don't see it having all that much longevity, about 3 hours for a playthrough, or so. Replay value will probably trail off pretty quick, too, as you exhaust the dialogue for the girls you like best. That in mind, waiting for a sale might not be a bad choice. Still, it's definitely worth playing.

Most of the reviews I've seen cite the resolution as a major flaw of the game, and quite frankly that baffles me; not every indie japanese game that barely gets a translation at all can get the Fruitbat treatment. Japanese games don't tend to support higher resolutions. Very often UI elements lock the game to the default resolution. I could see it being an issue if you have a tiny monitor that you're running above its native resolution, but if you happen to be that corner case, you are going to have other problems on a daily basis anyway, resolution of this game being least among them. It might be annoying, sure, but to say it makes it a terrible game by default would be funny if it weren't so sad. The game is perfectly playable as is. Saying it's some sort of criminal cash-grab because they didn't add higher resolution support is... bizarre.

Additionally I see a lot of complaints about a lack of transparency in the combat system, and enemy cards with low numbers frequently beating cards with higher numbers. This is because, as the game points out in both the tutorial and the tips section, card value is not the only determinant of victory. The number next to the move in your move list is also a major determining factor. If you have a punch card with a value of five for instance, and pick a level 5 punch, it will lose to an opponent with a level 2 card.

The phrasing in the tutorial could probably be clearer, but the tips section explains it rather plainly. If you don't understand the mechanics and yet you haven't bothered to look at the freely accessible help section, that is not necessarily the game's fault.

The game has a high amount of luck involved, but like any game that involves rolling dice, the strategy lies in minimizing the amount you have to rely on it. Choose skills that do so.

And finally, I've seen a lot of complaints about how the game has ironman mode on at all times. Just back up your save if you don't want an engaging and tense experience. Seriously I've never seen so many people PC Master Race so hard about resolution without knowing how to PC.

Now that that rant about how to play the game is out of the way, the game does have its fair share of problems. While the references were initially endearing, they're so constant throughout that it starts to grate after a while. "Oh. The girl with a stand made another Jojo reference. How unexpected."

The inability to check what a character's moves do if she's not in your team is also brutal. While I could see it being because in reality you wouldn't know what these moves are if you don't know the girl, it's rather frustrating in a gameplay environment, especially when the AI obviously has no such disadvantage.

The tutorial is a bit vague, and some of the wordings (particularly on the card value and move value subject) could use some clarification, and while the tips section helps, it doesn't explain everything (lax or strict club environments? That one i have only guesses on). There are useful tips on loading screens, but with no easy way to view all of them at once, it's not the best way to present that information. Additionally, some NPCs around the school will give "useful" advice, but since you have to spend AP to even wander the school, these conversations are a frustrating waste of money rather than actually helpful most of the time.

The art is quite nice, though. Combat portraits and everyday portraits are both very high quality, although the difference in style can be a bit jarring in some cases. Character writing is also quite wonderful as far as the girls I've seen, Liling best girl, though that might be heavily to taste. Several characters fell a little flat for me, though that too may just be taste in archetypes.

Overall feels like the hate is unwarranted. People's main complaint being the resolution ought to make that obvious anyway.
Posted June 14, 2016. Last edited June 14, 2016.
Was this review helpful? Yes No Funny Award
< 1  2 >
Showing 1-10 of 15 entries