Recent reviews by jae

fun game

really fun game with huge potential. some friendly suggestions to the dev: make it clearer which weapon upgrades upgrade what (i.e., which weapons are ballistic); make the powers/synergies a bit more fun and zany, things feel a bit sterile.

This is based on one route down. Will update if my opinion changes. Plot and characters are good, but nothing amazing. Worldbuilding is a very cool frostpunk/ghost in the shell medley. Strongest aspect of this VN is easily the action. There are 3d sequences that look like they came out of a mid-budget JRPG from the past decade (e.g., Somnium Files) and are frankly ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ amazing for a VN. ♥♥♥♥ slaps, and OST is also great.

Caveat emptor for typical nitroplus/VN gratuitousness. Obviously go to JAST website and support them directly.

Recommended route order and related choices I saw on twitter:

Mitsumi->Con Su->Kiriri->Iria

Mitsumi: Upstairs, Iria
Con Su: Upstairs, Milgram
Kiriri: Downstairs, Milgram
Iria: Downstairs, Iria

Fun so far, and I suspect I'm relatively close to a tipping point in the story, but the handheld/vita UI with minimal details is starting to piss me off. Inventory/equipment management is pretty boring and unenjoyable as a result, which is an issue when your party can conceivably have dozens of puppets by endgame (the auto equip function doesn't seem to be very good). The encounters are also pretty binary; either auto attack fests where you can't be bothered to input commands or encounters where you risk puppets getting one-shot from the first turn. I will probably need the story to start picking up (as I suspect it will) within the next 5-10 hours to finish this.

Vive le France

The relatively slower, more methodical combat and silent, desolate world combine to give this game a feeling of serenity that isn't really in any of fromsoft's later games. An enduringly iconic game whose influence remains self-evident, even with spoilers and having played its successors.

"That's a succinct summary of humankind, I'd say. Who needs tomes and volumes of history? Children are dying. The injustices of the world hide in those three words.”

I didn't really like Episode 00, but this was pretty good.

Thanks for quick patch.

One of the best games I have ever played. The SRPG gameplay is finally great, not just a fun complement to the actual visual novel and story. The quality of the story goes without saying. Maybe a little too much happens in the third act, but there are more resonant and soulful moments than I can remember. It's hard to imagine a better conclusion, both to the Mask-Truth duology and the series as a whole. This is the kind of series, like Trails in the Sky, that I am grateful to have experienced during my life. 10/10.