The Legend of Legacy HD Remastered - PS5 Review

The Legend of Legacy HD Remastered  by developer FURYU Corporation and publisher NIS America Inc.—Sony PlayStation 5 review written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher. 

Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes.

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The Legend of Legacy HD Remastered is a treat for fans of hardcore turn-based combat and exploration. Originally released in North America for the Nintendo 3DS in 2015, this predecessor to The Alliance Alive is now available for those looking to return to this adventure or to dive into it for the very first time.

For some, there may be a sense of familiarity when starting up this adventure. While displayed in a 3D fashion, there are some shared aspects with the Etrian Odyssey series such as the exploration and creation of maps. For others, there are some shared aspects with the Saga Series, or, Final Fantasy II now that it's easily available under the more recent Pixel Remastered Collection, which is how skills are developed. In either case, while there's familiarity there is still a shiny new adventure just waiting to be explored with its own twists and turns.

To start off the adventure, you have the choice from one of seven characters. Each has their own starting bonuses in the form of Attack, Defense or Support. Each also has their own starting weapons and skills learned. From there, two others will join up for your starting party of three and the introductory mission that serves as a tutorial for the adventures ahead. 

The Legend of Legacy is very, very, gameplay heavy. There is next to no dialog short of a few quick speech bubbles here and there. It's truly about a group of adventurers who are exploring this mystical island and mapping their progress as they move along. And if you're not sure how you feel about a character? Don't worry. It won't take long to recruit the other 4 and as for their skills? That won't be an issue due to the grind.

As you explore this wonderous island, there are a few things for certain. The first is that the world you're exploring is pretty. Not only has the cell shaded world aged very well with time, but there's an almost popup book artistry to it. As you move through the environment the elements of the world pop up around you revealing their secrets if you know what to look for.

The second thing for certain is that you'll be fighting. A lot. A part of this is because you need to in order to become stronger. Another is where I have an issue with the world’s design. Because everything pops up as you go, if you move too fast you won't have the chance to see the enemies and you'll run right smack into them. Sometimes you'll want this. Other times? You just want to be able to explore that glorious map for some very much needed cash money dollars.

Combat, unlike a lot of JRPGs, is not financially lucrative in the long run. Sometimes you'll pick up a decent item to sell, but for the most part? It's what it can do for you that matters. The Legend of Legacy does not run off of experience points. Instead, it runs off of some mystical math of the gods that will deem whether or not you're ready for their blessings.

Going back to the three character attributes of Attack, Defense and Support, each of these can be increased over time as you fight against the horses of enemies between you and exploration. Starting off with only one formation, you can easily create more to help in these increases. Attack, attack, defense. Attack, defense, defense. Triple support. Whatever works for you in the moment as there are no wrong answers depending on what your personal growth plan is.

Doubling down from those, every character skill has the same three attributes and will also increase in power as they are used. Some can be done with zero cost, while others will need some SP to perform. Finding that your SP is too low to use your skills? That's ok! Your SP, like your HP, will also increase over time as you use it. The only catch? You need to hope that whatever math is behind each’s growth actually kicks in and increases the values.

To the side of a character’s skills, there is also a form of magic that can be learned. Split between singing and whispering shards, elemental contracts can be made in order to swing the balance of power on the field of battle. Starting off with the singing shard of water, you can make a contract that will mildly regenerate your HP while also allowing you to cast a variety of other abilities. Water shields can better protect your party from damage, Healing Hands can be better than the normal medicinal boxes and a Hailstorm can rain on your enemies parade. Literally.

Each of these abilities can be immediately used through a shard but over time can also be learned to cast without the shard in question. You’ll still need a shard with the element in question to cast, but it allows for a higher range of abilities as long as the element is in your favor. Just be careful however as enemies can steal the contracts for themselves costing you a valuable turn to rain hell down upon them, or, heal and defend yourselves.

And this is what makes this adventure a bit tougher. You can't really plan around the growth, it needs to happen. So for it to happen, you need to fight. So it all meshes together rather well at times as long as you are patient about it and try not to run faster than the map will uncover itself. Because as mentioned above, while some monsters pop up in front of you? Others are mere shadows on the ground circling the skies above just waiting to end your life. And your progress.

So here’s the fun part. If you need to run away, run away. It’s not a chance to run away and you wasting turn after turn trying. You simply run away. The catch, because there is always a catch, is that you are returned to the entrance of the area. Not the map that you are on. The bonus with this is that you can easily use this feature to get back to the entrance and head back to town to rest and save as there’s no other way to save your game. So every time you go out, just be prepared that you can easily lose progress on just a bad roll of the dice with enemies that you weren’t prepared to deal with. 

Finally, as a bit of help, when in town, you can sell your maps for money. The more detailed the map, the more money you’ll be given. This seriously helps you figure out if a map is truly complete or if you missed an area. If you sell it early, you’ll earn less and you won’t be able to sell an updated version for the remainder of the balance. Side to that, there’s a ship that you can commission to sail out and bring you back some goodies. This will cost you either 400, 1,000 or 5,000 dollars and take more time to come back. The longer the time, the higher potential value of the items that can be brought back. The great thing with this feature is, it’s designed to work on an actual clock and not the in game time counter. So let them set sail for 5 hours as you are calling it quits for the night and check the spoils once you jump back on the next day. 

Overall, having played the Legend of Legacy years ago on my 3DS and playing it again on the PS5, it was nice to come back to this adventure. While perhaps a little less portable this time around, there is definitely a higher comfort factor as you sit back with a controller in hand and play on the big screen. It may not be for everyone, as it’s on the harder side of things, but it’s well worth the adventure as it unfolds itself under your feet as you explore the island to see what secrets it has been hiding. 

Score: 8 / 10

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The Legend of Legacy HD Remastered Gameplay and Release Date Announcement

The Legend of Legacy HD Remastered is coming to
Nintendo Switch™, PS4®, PS5®, and Steam® on March 22, 2024!

Discover the story of a lost land in
The Legend of Legacy HD Remastered!

Experience classic RPG combat with a twist!

Battle enthusiasts will enjoy the combat innovations as victory relies on overcoming the odds in a multi-layered battle system! Use formations and stances to assign flexible combat roles instead of fixed classes!

Mastering these new features will provide an upper hand on the battlefield!

Watch the Gameplay Trailer for a closer look into an adventure that is one-of-a-kind!

Visit the Game Website	View the Press Release
Watch the Gameplay Trailer	Preorder the Limited Edition

Title: The Legend of Legacy HD Remastered

Developer: FURYU Corporation

Genre: RPG

Audio Language: (Narration) English/Japanese

Text language: English

Number of Players: 1

Release Date: March 22, 2024

 

Article by: Susan N.

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Trinity Trigger-PS4 Review

Trinity Trigger by developer Furyu Corporation and publishers XSEED Games, Marvelous Games—Playstation 4 review written by Richard with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

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Trinity Trigger is a dive into the nostalgic past of JRPGs. A nostalgic dive done really well while also being modernized enough to keep it up to par in today's market. So let's dive into the review and see just what Trinity Trigger has to offer.

Trinity Trigger stars, surprise, three characters from different walks of life who come together through divine intervention. Quite literally, actually. You'll first be introduced to Cyan, a young man living with his sister after his parents have passed away. He makes a living as a Scavenger, someone who explores the local Arma to collect materials and defeat the monsters within. Well, he also happens to have a sigil in his eye, so there's that too. One day a girl named Elise stops by and tells him she can help him figure out the details about the sigil. It isn't too long before you meet Zantis and your trio is complete.

Trinity Trigger has a really interesting storyline and crafted world going on for it. In an age where the Gods of Order and Chaos have long since stopped battling between themselves for supremacy, the broken weapons of the Gods have fallen to the ground, forever altering the landscape in accordance with what the God presides over. These weapons, or Arma, are home to many mysteries, and monsters alike. Scavengers are those who make it their mission to explore the Arma in order to collect mechanisms or materials. Trinity Trigger is set in a continent with a vast array of different landscapes all caused by the descent of the Arma and the impact they have on the land around them, which is why you can have an ice filled mountain right next to an arid desert.

In terms of gameplay, Trinity Trigger takes on a bit of an old-school flavour. You have a top-down 3-D style where you explore areas, beat up enemies, break objects for materials, and solve puzzles. For combat, you have a range of options, consisting of three characters to swap between (if you aren't playing multiplayer), 8 different weapon types to unlock, as well as customizable combo options. That seems like a little much maybe, so let's break it down a little more for you. When you first start playing you'll be limited to what weapons you can use, and may have to swap between other characters who have different weapons. Each weapon type has its own benefits and demerits, as well as effectiveness against different types of creatures or bosses. As you continue through the game you will start unlocking more weapon types.

Now, with these weapon types you can swap on the fly in the middle of battle, but you can also equip different combo moves. Each weapon has a three hit combo that consumes stamina to use each hit. If you run out of stamina you can still attack, but your damage is SEVERELY reduced. Each hit in the combo you can select one of two different moves, some are lower damage ratings but have effects attached, such as small health regen on hit. Your combo moves can be upgraded with TP that you can acquire from defeating enemies. As you attack and get attacked, you also build up two different gauges: an aura and a trinity attack. The trinity attack will hit all enemies on-screen for large (but capped) damage, and the aura changes based on the equipped weapon, but can be anything from a boost to attack damage to a temporary health regen. There is also a weapon skill that recharges over time, and is like a special move for the weapon you have equipped.

In combat you also have a dodge, which is a fairly integral part for fighting, especially the later in the game you get. Dodging just before an attack hits will nullify any damage, as well as refill a chunk of your stamina gauge. At this point, I'd like to talk a bit about your teammates. GENERALLY, your teammates are rather competent. They will dodge, attack, and usually position themselves well based on the weapon they are using. What they won't do is use weapon skills or auras, or swap weapons, you'll need to swap over to them to do that yourself. The AI on deciding how to dodge is also fairly...temperamental. Thankfully your AI controlled teammates take reduced damage. Where the AI really falls apart though is in the late/post game of the primary storyline. Your buddies have very little grasp about the concept of sustained attacks or the introduction of lingering effects. For example, there is a boss that has a fire breath, and can also drop puddles of burning fire. At the time of writing this (not sure if this'll get patched), your allies will dodge the first hit, and then not care about sitting in the damage zone until they die.

Now, I'd like to point out right now that all these big attacks are VERY well telegraphed, either by a big wind-up from the enemy, or a glowing zone on the floor you want to get away from. These attacks hurt. Like, really bad. Late into the post game, there are some enemies that could 2 shot me easily with big moves. It's actually really fun, because the focus is on learning attacks and how best to avoid them and using good judgement. While you can carry around a small house equivalent of healing items, you'll find as the game progresses you'll be using more and more of those on your allies, leaving none left for you. Legitimately, some of the optional bonus bosses I just left my allies dead because it was less wasteful. Did this make the fight three times longer? Oh definitely, but it wasn't quite as frustrating. Luckily you could just play with friends, and get mad at them instead! Up to three people, which is really nice.

In relation to what I said above, there is more than just the...main, I suppose, storyline. After "clearing the game", a multitude of new sidequests appear, which you map will indicate to you if a sidequest is available in an area. As you clear these sidequests you get to unlock more things, gain access to new areas, and fight more bosses, as well as start new storylines. I'm inclined to say the game is probably twice as long as the first time you view the credits, if you want it to be.

Now, let's talk about another integral function to Trinity Trigger: crafting. While weapons are static and power increases come from unlocks and TP to increase stats, both items and manatite can be crafted once you get a recipe to what you want to make. Items are pretty self explanatory, so let's talk about manatite. Manatite can be slotted into weapons as both offensive and defensive options. Only one type of each manatite can be attached at a time, and depending on the rating and quality, can have multiple or increased effects. For example, a higher rated attack stone could increase damage by 30%, very useful for healthier bosses. You can craft manatite to slot in at any crafting store once you unlock the option.

I think that pretty much covers what you need to know about combat related things, so let's talk about the art-style and soundtrack decisions. If you've played Alliance Alive, that's a good basis for the art-style. Outside of the hand-drawn character portraits from some of the dialogue scenes, you have 3D characters in a sort of chalk-y pastel chibi like style in a really well-crafted world. It really brings that old-school nostalgia but with graphics that wouldn't be put down by today's standards. The soundtrack is also pretty good, doing a nice job of catching the themes and concepts associated with both area themes and the battle themes.

Overall, I have to say I really enjoyed Trinity Trigger. Even though the ally AI can get frustrating the later into the game you get, there is a lot to enjoy. The combat is fun, the customization is easy enough to deal with if you don't want to delve too deep, but is also expansive enough when combined with the weapon combos where you can really get into it. There are plenty of interesting sidequests and optional content to tackle, and the wide array of weapons really keeps things fresh. Whether you're looking for something to meet that nostalgic feeling you need filled or a new player to retro style themed games, Trinity Trigger is a great addition to your library.

Score: 8.5 / 10

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Crystar - Switch Review

Crystar by developer FURYU Corporation and publisher NIS America Inc.—Nintendo Switch review written by Richard with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes.

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Crystar is an action-RPG originally released in 2018, now coming to you in a Switch port. A story of the broken, trying to find that piece that completes themselves. Crystar is an emotional adventure into what people will do for both their loved ones and the sake of their own ego.

Crystar tells the story of the young girl Rei Hatada, who wakes up in a mysterious world as a butterfly. This world, as it turns out, is Purgatory, the land where the souls of the dead reside before being purified of their memories and reincarnated. Rei, however, isn't actually dead, she has simply been drawn there by a powerful spirit. After a confrontation with the malicious spirit, Rei's sister who was dragged along as well, Mirai, is killed. Two demons then appear, providing Rei with the opportunity to sign a contract. In exchange for cleaning out the more malicious residual spirits, or Revenants, they will restore Mirai to life, but only if Rei can recover her soul before she gets purified. So Rei's journey begins into the depths of Purgatory, combating Revenants and meeting friends and new party members along the way.

As far as gameplay is concerned, Crystar is fairly basic in its playstyle. It is very much a traditional sort of 3D hack-and-slash style gameplay, with small groups of enemies, the occasional tough enemy, and a boss each stage. You have your dash, light attack, heavy attack, special attacks that can be assigned, and jump. You have a sort of "over-limit" gauge that will build up, and then you can use for increased firepower and a special attack. Exploring Purgatory is also fairly generic, as you will explore floors looking for a gate to the next floor, or a fight with some Revenants to clear the zone, or "Ordeal", as it is called in-game. Purgatory is divided into floors, usually with each floor featuring new enemies, sometimes simply palette swaps of old enemies, three story based Ordeals, and one optional bonus Ordeal that unlocks after the story Ordeals.

Where the gameplay is a little more interesting is in the powered up enemies you find, the Revenants. Upon defeating a Revenant, they will drop a torment, of which you can hold ten at a time. Upon returning to your room, you can cleanse the torments by crying them out. These torments are then turned into sentiments, which are the equipment for Crystar. Each character has their own unique weapon sentiments, and they share defensive and accessory type sentiments. In addition to being equipment, these torments can unlock interesting background history on the Revenants you find them from. Sometimes this is as basic as telling you they died from overwork, other times you get this horrendous tale of how a child's friends tricked him into hiding in an old fridge during hide and seek, and then left him stuck in there until his body was found several years later. I haven't looked at my fridge the same since.

I'd like to mention right now that if you do pick up Crystar, you may be frustrated that you can't sell anything. Well, that's wrong. If you go into items, then to your sentiments, then select discard, you can turn them into "essence", which is then used in the fusing and modifying of sentiments to make them stronger or give them special passive effects, such as confusion immunity. Also, you have a floofy dog named Thelema, and she's the best girl, and you should totally pet her all the time cuzshe'sjustsocuteandlookatthatlittlefaceIjustwannacuddleandsnuggleandruffleand- ahem, sorry, yes, cute doggo. Best girl. Give pets.

To be perfectly frank, Crystar is a little repetitive. The combat gets fairly stale rather quick once you figure it out, the areas tend to be mixes of different sets of the same "tiles", just organized differently, and at times it can feel like a slog getting through an area, especially since there are no checkpoints mid-Ordeal. I suppose the upsides here are that the combat isn't that difficult, and the Switch port is rather useful to mitigate the repetitive nature.

Seriously though, I have this tendency to get about halfway through a review title, and then see how far I can speedrun through the rest of the game before I have to go back to playing reasonably. I finished my first ending while only fighting the bare minimum amount of enemies and not changing equipment since the halfway point to that ending. I definitely wouldn't suggest this, but it does set the tone for the difficulty rating. Alternatively, you can swap characters a lot to try and stave off the muscle memory. I tried to swap to a new character each time one leveled, in order to both keep them all at the same level, as well as keep things interesting. Thankfully each character has their own unique playstyle.

The Switch port is also handy, as it is rather easy to pause mid Ordeal and put down for a bit, keeping things fresh for longer. While the Switch port does seem to have received a graphic quality reduction from the PS4 version I've also played, at least from what I can tell, the game still runs smoothly, and being able to take it around as a hand-held title is nice. Even for the PS4 version, I was only doing a few stages here and there between other things, so this type of playing habit makes good use of the Switch portability.

While Crystar may be a little repetitive in nature, it tries really hard to set the tone in its visuals, music direction, and storytelling. The character artwork is really pretty, and the character models are really well done, albeit a little rougher on the Switch port. The backgrounds and layout on each floor are interesting and well themed, and the music does a good job of matching the tone. It's also really neat that every time you perform a different action in Rei's room, she has a different background situation. For example, if you listen to the music gallery, she will be sitting with a media player and headphones on.

Summary

Overall, I have to say I quite enjoyed my time with Crystar. While the combat and areas you progress through tended to get a little repetitive, the storytelling, art, and music direction, as well as an interesting cast of characters, is what really keeps the title together. While I wouldn't recommend picking up the Switch version if you already own Crystar, it is quite nice for a title that you can pick up every so often to go through a floor or two, or some of the shorter stages, without feeling the burnout.

Score: 7.5 / 10

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Updates for FURYU Fans for Crystar, Caligula Effect 2, and Monark!

Are you ready for the inside scoop? FURYU has some exciting announcements to end the year and a whole lot of good stuff coming your way!

Check out the biggest and best announcements coming in 2021-2022!

Crystar

Battle through Purgatory and save your sister! Use the power of your tears to defeat and purge corrupted legions of Specters and Revenants, and purify their Torments before they overwhelm you with grief.

Preorder a Limited Edition copy from the NISA Online Store today!

Coming to Nintendo Switch Spring 2022

Caligula2 Effect

The virtuadoll Regret creates Redo, a simulation in which people are trapped in a false reality. To escape from Redo, a group of "awakened" high school students form the Go-Home Club and challenge her reign.

Coming to Nintendo Switch & PS4 in Europe Oct 22nd.

Monark

A new IP from FURYU makes an appearance in Japan!

MONARK sets the player in an eerie setting as a deadly Mist has engulfed your academy. You must harness the latent power of your "Ego" to drive back the dark forces without succumbing to your madness.

Coming to North America & Europe on Nintendo Switch PS4, PS5, & PC in Spring 2022.

Developer Interviews

Want to know how a development team thinks?

Check out exclusive interviews with Illustrator Mr. Oguchi, Developer Takuya Yamanaka and get a first-hand look into the creative minds that brought The Caligula Effect 2 to life!

Article by: Susan N.

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The Caligula Effect 2 - PS4 Review

Caligula Effect 2 by developer FURYU corporation and publisher NIS America Inc.—Sony PlayStation 4 review by Richard with a copy provided by publisher.

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

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What do you call the guilt and excitement that comes from doing something you shouldn't do? That would be The Caligula Effect. I had the wonderful opportunity to review the Caligula Effect Overdose a while ago, and now there comes the sequel: Caligula Effect 2. With some time and feedback to improve the title, let's take a look at what has been updated and improved, or what should have been improved.

In Caligula Effect 2, you take on the role of a protagonist you choose the name and gender of. Upon awakening in the World of Redo, you come to the realization that the world is artificial, created by a Virtuadoll named Regret. Together with the Virtuadoll χ (pronounced 'key'), who enlists you to help her tear down the world of Redo to let those captured out. Yes, this is also the plot of the first game, but there are a few differences. First up, χ is the "daughter" of Mu from the first game, and the new world is based on regrets instead of mental traumas or conditions.

This has a few notable impacts, most of which I personally found rather disappointing, but may be better received by the audience. The goal of χ isn't any sort of noble escapade, but rather that Mu, her mother, is being blamed for creating another virtual world and mass coma incident. As for the characters, regrets cover a rather wide array of possibilities, from regretting causing someone's death, to regretting not taking care of your appearance, or even not getting in on a fad earlier. This results in a lot of the NPCs feeling a little…less impactful than in the first title, albeit a whole lot less sketchy as a whole.

In terms of gameplay and combat, Caligula Effect 2 has been refined a lot, but feels a little lacking still in some other areas. Very similar to the first title, you can roam around areas you have unlocked, getting into combat with the NPCs that have been corroded, or miscellaneous enemies that are trying to take out their stress and aggression on you. A quick note: your running animation looks dumb. You can also go around and kick these crystals for χ-jack gauge as well as possible items, pick up chests, and talk to the NPCs in order to take on their quests, resolve them, and fill in their profiles with what their regrets are and some more personal info on them, as well as items and potentially improving the main characters status.

Unlike in the first title, the number and…aggravating-ness of the side-quests has been significantly toned down. Side-quests can be separated into two categories: group and solo. Group quests are chains of objectives that are part of a mini self contained story, normally consisting of 5 or 6 parts, that will generally require you to either go talk to someone, or to have a specific piece of equipment or passive skill, which I'll comment on later, and are generally pretty straightforward, especially since most of the equipment is easily obtained from chests or other quests. Solo quests are individual quests that are one and done, and have a wider array of possibilities, such as retrieving certain items, beating certain tough enemies, meeting certain battle benchmarks, or even just talking to them for a bit.

The story progression is also similar to the first game, as the world of Redo is being controlled by musicians, who essentially brainwash the inhabitants in order to keep them believing that the world of Redo is actually real. You will learn a bit about the musician that's next on your hitlist, visit a new area and work your way through, and then beat up the musician in charge of that area. Afterwards, you are free to explore the area at your leisure, completing side quests and doing some training. Yes, the game is a JRPG similar to its predecessor, where you can build exp to level and party member affection in battle. Outside of battle, you can talk to other party members in order to learn about them through their specific character quests.

Now, if you've played the previous game, you may be wondering about how the combat works. Well, it's fairly similar, but it does feel more refined. You can bring up to four party members into battle with you, and are able to select attack, support, action moves, or items. Once you select a move, there is a wait time before the move starts, then the move takes place, then a cooldown period before you can select another move. When you initially select a move, you get to see a prediction for what you teammates and enemies will do, and what will happen to the enemies when you perform your moves. You can adjust your moves to put a delay on the move, which is useful if you wait for an enemy to use a move, and then time your attacks to counter them.

Something you will probably notice is that a lot of the moves you can select have added effects, such as melee counter, ranged counter, or guard break. These will take effect as long as an enemy is preparing a move, so this is when you want to put a delay on your moves, as well as the guard, which will block damage and status effects. The combat system feels a lot less intense than the first game, and is a lot less complicated, at the expense of a little customizability.

Keep in mind though that the future prediction doesn't account for missed or critical hits, meaning that you could get flinched out of an attack, or miss flinching an enemy out of an attack. During combat, you also have two gauges that will build up: a personal super move per character, and a χ-jack gauge. The personal super move should be self explanatory, but the χ-jack will start playing a χ based song of your choice, which will provide bonuses, such as reduced wait times between attacks or improved defense while the song is playing.

An interesting function of the game is how equipment functions. While equipment does raise your stats as equipment normally should, the accessories, and character specific weapons, will have passive skills added to them, which you can learn by earning a set amount of points during battle. The passive skills can then be equipped even if you remove the equipment, and you can equip up to six of them. These passive skills are also used in certain quests in order to complete them.

One thing I really enjoy about the combat system is the ability to toggle between fully automatic teammates or allowing you to choose their moves for them. While they won't guard, at least from what I've seen, they tend to be rather smart, and will generally perform a scenario specific attack or counter when acting on their own. On the other hand, with full command over them, you can fight enemies much higher than your level, simply by staggering counters in order to keep them from attacking you.

While that's the main meat of the gameplay, let's talk about a few other things. The game is musically inclined, and while I enjoyed the majority of the tracks, and I love how there isn't any interruption and restart of the tracks, and the transition to vocals when entering into battle, I did find that χ makes a rather…unfortunate singer. I much preferred most of the Regret based tracks to the χ based tracks, unfortunately. The graphics are a little lacking for a PS4 title, looking closer to something that would be on the PS3 or something.

The artwork for the rest of the game is good, it's just the character models that are a little lacking. Also, there is a lottery type thing you can enter with tickets. It's right beside the convenience store. Yes, I'm telling you this because it isn't well shown, and I only found it much later than I should have. Another nice point is that completing the character info grid, or causality chart, is significantly easier to complete than the previous title.

Caligula Effect 2 does a lot to refine the system, but also feels like it has a lot less impact than the first title. The combat is a lot less overwhelming, and there is a much better pace, the side quests aren't migraine inducing, and the game just feels as if it flows a lot better. On the other hand, since this world is based on regrets instead of trauma, the characters tend to have significantly less impact than they did in the first title. That being said, all the characters have their own unique personalities and playstyles, making swapping between characters more feasible than other games with a large cast of characters.

Summary

Overall, I had a lot of fun playing through Caligula Effect 2, and those who felt squeamish with some of the content in the first may feel better with the second. Caligula Effect, both 1 and 2, are pretty unique games, and I highly suggest looking into either or both of them, as they are both really fun titles.

Score: 8.5 / 10

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Heroland - PC Review

Having fallen from being first in the succession line to the throne to the 18th, things aren't going so well for our would have been monarch. Figuring his way back into Grace is through defeating an evil dark lord so that people can see just how amazing he is, our young price Elric heads out to do just that. Unfortunately for him, he didn't read the fine print of this amusement park attraction and unfortunately for you, the new part timer tour guide, it's up to you to make his stay a good one even if he thinks it's all real.

Heroland is definitely an interesting simulator. Within it lies everything you could ever need for an epic dungeon crawling RPG with plenty of monsters, leveling up and loot. Where things take the twist is that none of it is real. Instead, our adventure takes place in a theme park designed to give the experience of dungeon crawling to any who would pay for it and your job as a part time tour guide, is to make sure the customers that you are escorting are happy. With your handicap already raised from a spoiled scion of royalty? Your work is already cut out for you!

Once introductions are made and a near priceless vase has been broken no longer allowing you to quit this increasingly horrible job of escorting the prince around, you settle into your new daily routine. Starting at the beginning of every day, you can explore the island to talk to your coworkers or view scenes from visitors to the park before heading over to the item shop to buy potions and the blacksmith to make or repair better weapons. Once this is done, you can escort your guests into the dungeons for the real reason that they are here. To feel like actual adventurers!

The dungeon setups are kind of neat. Set in a selectable list, you can either immediately explore the story dungeon, OR, you can plow through any dungeon floor that had been previously conquered to grind for some experience, cash, loot, and satisfaction points to your tour guide status. While none of it is real within the actual amusement park, your guests still level up mechanically to move through the floors, hence grinding the experience. For money and loot though, those you're going to need in order to buy new potions and equipment for those that you are guiding as it comes out of your pay. Not their admittance.

For actual dungeon layout, you'll be guiding your party through almost board game spaces on a line that after the first couple outings will start to have branches for choices in what you want to do. Each space contains either a fight against monsters, a story event or an encounter with a merchant before facing off against the boss and then gaining the treasure. You can always clearly see what your going to be doing next so there's at least no surprises in that sense.

Now when your deep in the dungeon you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk? And you'll be asking yourself that often as the weapons that you give your guests can be broken and they can break at the worst of times. When you’re broke because you just spent allllll of your money on the dungeon trip prior to that one and have to buy more potions because things didn’t quite go according to plan. This is really all dependant on your luck really so someone like Richard? Oh boy… he would constantly be broke because none of his weapons would survive more than a single dungeon crawl.

Unlike the movement through the dungeon that is one step at a time, the combat is real time in either normal or three times speed. Keeping in line with your position as a guide, you are literally there to guide the party as they act on their own instincts for what they think is best for the good of the party. Now because just sitting around for the park's guests to either win or lose would be boring, you personally have a meter that fills out allowing you to either rally the the party, give an actual order, or use items to heal those that are following you.

Overall it's an interesting blend of elements and Heroland works amazingly. Keyboard and mouse or a controller as it is also on the consoles, the input and the navigation of the menus is both simple and clean. Been wanting a good dungeon crawler but also want a bit of a simulator? Check out Heroland and guide a few guests through their fantasy of becoming RPG Heroes!

Game Information

Platform:
PC
Developer(s):
FURYU Corporation
Publisher(s):
XSEED Games, Marvelous USA, Inc.
Genre(s):
RPG, Simulator, Dungeon Crawler
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
Sony PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Xbox One

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Pierre-Yves

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Crystar - PS4 Review

While the gameplay does not necessarily bring a lot new to the table, I have to say that the dark themes and emotional storytelling compliment the visuals and music wonderfully. These elements come together to create an interesting world where I cared about what happened next, even if the mechanics around advancing the story are somewhat mundane.

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The Caligula Effect: Overdose - PS4 Review

The Caligula Effect is a psychological term referring to the desire and compulsion to do and see prohibited things. The Caligula Effect: Overdose is an enhanced release of “The Caligula Effect” released on the PSVita in 2016, and it certainly does try to hit the psychological definition.

Before I start describing what type of game Caligula Effect is, I should note that this game flew completely under my radar when it first came out. Heck, I almost ended up turning down the opportunity to review it, and let me tell you I would have regretted it. While I didn’t play the original, I took some time to check out what the original was like, and I can say the developers certainly fleshed it out a lot more. The battles are smoother, the interface isn’t as ugly or cluttered, and they introduced new characters and options.

So what is Caligula Effect: Overdose about? Well, I think the best way to describe it would “vocaloid Persona”. Essentially, a bunch of people have been “kidnapped” into the virtual world of Mobius by an artificial intelligence music program “µ”. The thing is, all the people that have been “forcibly invited” to Mobius have some sort of mental issue. While the game implies that they’re all “traumas”, I’m pretty sure a bunch are moreso “psychological conditions” rather than specifically “trauma”.

Either way, everyone in Mobius is being brainwashed by µ’s songs, in order to make them “happier than in the real world”. And for some reason, regardless of age, everyone looks like a high schooler, and is in a “fake high school”. Upon graduating a year, you start again in the first year. Supposedly this is because you gain a form fitting your “ideal self”, but eternal high school sounds more like a hell than utopia to me. Your main character realizes there is something wrong with the world, and thanks to a spunky sprite (another vocaloid who helped build Mobius), you and the members of the “Go-Home Club” try and, well, get home. But µ doesn’t want you to leave, and neither do the “Ostenatio Musicians”, who act sort of like µ’s generals. Using the power to draw out your trauma as a weapon, it’s up to you to fight to leave this virtual world, or maybe fight to stay in it?

Right off the bat you get introduced to something I was rather fond of: the ability to make your character’s backstory. Well, to an extent, anyway. You are given a few questions, and how you answer them determines why your character is in Mobius. Also, you get an animated opening scene, regardless of whether you choose a male or female character, which is some nice production value right there. You’re free to name the character, although you’re limited to six characters, which is the exact length for my standard default name I choose, but then you get to choose a last name, and I didn’t know what to do with only six characters. Thanks to a fellow reviewer, I soon started my adventure through Mobius with my newfound protagonist: Rhea Lystik.

You’re introduced to combat right out of the gate, and while the tutorials are always there and quite helpful, the problem is that you’re going to need them. A lot, most likely. Heck, I’m still not entirely sure what “Risk” is. Essentially combat takes a “sort of turn-based” approach, where you can choose up to three actions, whether it be attacks, field movement, skill casting, or performing a special type of move. Each move has a different “time” it takes to employ, and you’re given a preview of up to three seconds of what the predicted battle will play out like. Keep in mind, this is only an “ideal-ish” scenario.

The enemy could have a skill that counters your moves that you don’t know about, or you could miss that guard break attack you need to hurt the enemy. After choosing you moves and starting the “round”, your up to four characters will perform their moves, indicated by dark grey, pink, and light grey “bars” in the action gauge. A dark grey zone is a “preparation” stage, where the character gets ready to use the move selected, and can be knocked out of the move if hit during this part of the attack.

The pink portion is the actual “action” portion of the move, and the light grey is your “cooldown”. Once the cooldown on the final skill has passed, you can choose moves for that character again. But keep in mind that each move costs action points that will keep being used. If you run out, you need to refill your action points via a “special action” skill. Unfortunately the game isn’t super smart, so if you’re out of action points, you can’t assign the “refill” to a move and then choose two others since your action points should be recovered, but at least it’s a pretty fast action.

Another aspect I liked is that each main character has their own weapon, skills, and fighting type. I used all of the characters in my party at some point, and they all have their own roles and areas of expertise. Except the main character, who is basically just all around useful. While you start with a limited number of skills and spells, you can learn more by levelling, and then spending skill points to learn/upgrade your skills. Here’s the thing though, you get three skill points anytime a character levels, and the skill points are applied to THE WHOLE PARTY. So yeah, the game doesn’t clue you in to that. Queue me spending all the skill points on the MC and wondering why everyone else has none for, like, two full dungeons. This brings me to one of the more interesting, but pain in the butt aspects of a game I have ever seen: the causality link.

Essentially, there are over 500 people trapped in Mobius, and anyone you can view in the Causality Link (read “relationship chart”) you can have join your party if you make friends with them. I have mixed feelings about this for a number of reasons. At it’s core, it’s a really interesting idea, where you can talk to classmates, make friends with them, and then help “resolve” their traumas for MC stat increases or passive equip rewards, and the chance to invite them to the party. Needless to say, the non-important classmates are pretty generic, and can’t use a lot of skills. Additionally, there are a lot of “repeated” traumas, where you do the exact same thing to help the person for the exact same trauma.

As an example, the solution for “Self-Harm” is to raise that character to level 20. Any character with self harm needs that same requirement, although the rewards will differ. Another interesting aspect is that characters may not talk to you right away. If you’ve ever known someone with a mental condition or trauma, you may know that they can tend to be guarded against new people. In order to commence helping them, you need to first make friends with someone else that they are friends with. While this system is really interesting, it ultimately feels a little shallow, as all you need to do to make friends with someone is to talk to them three times. While I certainly am not expecting super in-depth character arcs for more than 500 people, a little bit more variation would have gone a long way.

So, let’s talk a bit about the main group of protagonists, and by extension antagonists. They’re all messed up. Seriously, in some way or another, EVERYONE in Mobius has some sort of issue. For instance, that cute girl you just saw could be an 80 year old grandmother that enjoys making her children argue with each other, or that guy over there could be a 46 year old and a real life molester (true in-game example, btw).

The “Go-Home Club” and “Ostinatio Musicians” are no exceptions to this, which may be why I felt a lot more drawn to them than characters in most other games. They don’t go spouting off about “love, justice, and friendship”, they’re all flawed, and they fail miserably to hide it most of the time. They feel a lot more “real” than most standard protagonists and main characters that feel as they exist for no other reason than to advance the plot. Let me tell you, I found myself seriously vested in figuring out my virtual friends secrets and traumas.

Now, what is a game with a virtual idol that doesn’t have a musical focus in some way? I had some mixed feeling here as well. I hope you like vocaloid tracks, because pretty much every time you enter battle the vocals start going. I wasn’t a fan of the first two songs, so that made the first two dungeons a bit of a slog for me. Thankfully, it picked up a bit, and I started really enjoying it. Ultimately, it comes down to personal preference, but the theme for “Lucid” is still super badass. Seriously, go have a listen to “Suicide Prototype”. But I digress, the songs can feel really overdone and annoying, especially if you’re stuck in an area too long, and you can’t really sub them out, which is a little disappointing.

The graphics are rather smooth, and the characters look, well, sharp enough in battle, and pretty good outside of battle. Everything is anime-themed, so yeah, it’ll be another niche type title, although with how popular Persona 5 was, I’ve got higher hopes for more of these styled Eastern games.

So, now that the basics are laid out, let’s talk a bit about some points I liked and didn’t because this is a game that really revolves around what you prefer to do in games more than anything else. Perfectionist like me? Grinding through all the Causality Link will feel like a mini-nightmare. Only here for the main storyline? Then you’re missing so much in character backgrounds.

So first up: the combat can get seriously tedious rather fast, especially since there isn’t much of a “quick select” for skill usage, although this is solved in two ways, sort of. First of all, enemy AI when on the field map is really dumb and generally rather passive. You can sneak by the vast majority of enemies no sweat, which you may start doing rather often, most notably if you’re at or above the enemy level, most fights become a joke anyway. Heck, even the bosses can be push overs if your whole party is a level or two above them. The second “solution” is the fact that you fully recover between fight. This is the reason you may have enemies beating the piss out of you, because as long as you make it out, you’re now full health and action points. I’m not sure I’d be super happy if it didn’t work like that, as sometimes other enemies will walk in mid-fight. And they could be level 7, or 97.

As I mentioned earlier, the songs can get repetitive, so I hope you like them. While the trauma system is really interesting, and kind of messed up when you find a 12 year old “homicidal maniac” who you need to take to the library to find and read “a guide to lust murders”, things get a little sketchy. The rather blatant copy/paste type traumas also tend to downgrade the impact, although some trauma “resolutions” may give some pretty big WHAM comments. It’s super nice that every time you get in a fight the battlefield expands to a circular arena, regardless of walls in the way. To my understanding, this wasn’t the case in the original release. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a way to turn the camera, so you’ve got to make deal with the default, at least at the time I’m writing this. I believe they added a camera patch in the original, so they might add it here too.

Speaking of changes form the original, the “world rewards” passwords are different. Actually, the “world rewards” themselves are completely different. I’m still not 100% sure how they work, but I think it’s a ridiculously low chance to have an enemy drop a piece of a three part password after battle. My first one should be pictured here somewhere, as long as the site editor doesn’t goof. You can also feel free to post the passwords you’ve seen in the comments, and I’ll do the same if I ever see any more.

Having trouble keeping track of where people are? Well, as long as you’ve talked to them once, you can send them a message asking where they are, and their name will be highlighted in blue, which is super handy. I did have one soft-lock crash, so be careful not to talk to a person you just solved a trauma for before the game does the “resolution” cutscene, otherwise you could be stuck with a blacked out screen. You can still do stuff, get into fights etc, just won’t be able to see anything. Like I said though, if you resolve a trauma for a person and they aren’t in your party, don’t spam the talk button on them and you’ll be fine.

Overall, I have to say I really loved how “relatable” or “real” the characters in Caligula Effect Overdose felt. A lot of good improvements were made on the original, and there were a lot of new and innovative gameplay ideas. While the game may get a little repetitive at times, if you intersperse with trauma resolution, it becomes significantly more manageable. I’m really hoping the team that made this continues on to do future work.

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation 4
Developer(s):
FURYU Corporation
Engine Software BV,
Publisher(s):
NIS America, Inc.
Genre(s):
RPG
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
Sony PlayStation Vita (Original)
PC

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Richard

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Lost Dimenion - PC Review

Lost Dimension is an atypical JRPG that looks, sounds, and feels like a typical JRPG.  Originally released for the PS3/Vita, this two-year old game finally has a more accessible steam port for the plebeians among us that didn't choose the proper game console. The premise is straightforward enough, in that there is a collection of unique cast members that take the form of diverse and varied characters, a clear and obvious antagonist, very clearly defined rules, and absolutely no real surprise to the plot.

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