Jowi Girard-Meli
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Playstation LifestyleLatest Reviews
I have to be honest, people; when it comes to reviewing games, few franchises leave me with less to say than Hyperdimension Neptunia. It’s not that I feel overwhelmingly positive or negative about the series; on the contrary, I find it so middle-of-the-road that it’s difficult to come up with much to say about how one entry compares to the others. For me, it’s one of those “play one, you’ve played them all” sort of things. I’d be hard-pressed to name any one part of any of the other games, as they’ve all blended together into a sort of Neptunian mélange in my brain. Simple turn-based or button-mashing action RPG gameplay; the same few enemies repeated over and over; very goofy game industry, er, Gamindustri, jokes; and bizarre cutscenes that involve a lot of sexual tension between the girls, some of whom look definitively underage.
Despite the fact that I am ostensibly not the target demographic for otome games, I’ve always found a special place in my heart for them. Perhaps it’s on account of my having been indoctrinated into the niche cult of folks who like Japanese games with their absurdity turned up to 11, or maybe it’s the fact that I got into journalism in the first place because I find other people’s interests and passions – no matter how bizarre, to include the aforementioned genre of games – absolutely fascinating. I find it a somewhat happy coincidence, then, that after reviewing such gems as Norn9: Var Commons, Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ and Amnesia: Memories for PSLS back before my departure in 2016, the second game waiting for me upon my return is the next game in Idea Factory’s Otomate line: Collar x Malice.
As far as I can tell, I was one of the most ardent supporters of the original The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, at least where reviews were concerned. I loved the ways that game reminded me of my favorite JRPG franchise, Persona – there’s a lot to compare, from the story centering on a ragtag group of different students at a school (in this case, a military academy called Thors) to a system where relationships could be fostered between said students for advantages in battle (using the “Link” system, echoing the “Social Links” of the Shin Megami Tensei spinoff).
I know game development is challenging. I really do. I thought I wanted to be a game developer for the majority of my childhood until I realized I’d much rather play, analyze and criticize things in my favorite medium. During the early years before my epiphany, I put together one unfinished amateur project after another — and without even programming, using tools like Multimedia Fusion and Construct 2, it dawned on me just how long and difficult a process development is. That’s why I always strive to avoid being too harsh in my reviews, even when a game has pissed me off with terrible design, and why you’ll basically never see me refer to any developer as “lazy.” I’ve read the nightmarish stories about crunch and its effects on people’s mental health and family lives. I’ve witnessed great game ideas utterly fail in their execution due to corporate intervention, budget cuts and other development disruption. And while I don’t know what exactly happened with Three One Zero’s “First Person Experience,” ADR1FT, I’m incredibly bummed out by how little enjoyment I got from it. This one’s a crushing disappointment, and what’s most baffling is that many of its biggest flaws seem...
Don’t you hate it when you really love the concept of a game, but can’t bring yourself to fully enjoy the execution? It’s that weird feeling when you really, really want to like something, but it seems (from your humble perspective, anyway) like the designers missed the boat on what makes their own game fun? Well, I’ve struggled with this for the last few entries of the Atelier series — while I liked this January’s Atelier Escha & Logy Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky quite a bit, I was left with a sour taste in my mouth. It wasn’t until I really analyzed how I was playing the game that I realized just how crazy it was driving me; that cursed “time limit” between milestones made me extremely careful about the way I tackled each set of quests, and I felt like I should be poring over a guidebook rather than trying to figure it all out on my own. If that’s something that’s prevented you from fully enjoying this series too, I’ve got good news for you: Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book does away with the time restrictions and lets you explore, craft and build...
I’ve never been a huge fan of the One Piece franchise, but that’s actually been beneficial in some ways. For example, when I booted up One Piece: Burning Blood for the first time and checked out its character selection, I was struck by just how utterly hilarious and bizarre some of the character designs really are. That kind of weird “What did I just get myself into?” feeling is fun in its own way, and so I was looking forward to trying out some of these wacky personalities in battle (where I fully expected to have no idea what was going on, as is the case with many licensed games based on anime/manga/light novels). The end result, I’m pleased to say, is that I think Burning Blood should be good fun for most people who pick up the controller. There are certainly quite a few things that will confuse non-fans of the franchise — and to be fair, I think One Piece diehards will naturally get the most value out of it — but the chaotic, stylish action pulled me in a lot more than I expected it to, and I don’t think I’m the only one who will have...
