Danganronpa: Ultra Despair Girls

That was an utter waste of $40 and about 12 hours.

I loved Danganronpa 1 and 2. Aside from a bit of frustration with some of the mechanics in the second game they were solid games. Interesting if a bit annoying with the constant hammering of the words "despair" and "hope". Seriously, it got to the point that the words got thrown about so much I started to forget wtf they even mean...or honestly, to care.
But, if you asked me right now if I liked Danganronpa 1 and 2 and if I would recommend them, my answer would be a resounding YES!
I can't say the same for this new spinoff.

Let's try to see if I can make this spoiler free, shall we?

The game takes place between the events of games 1 and 2 and begins with Komaru Naegi, sister of annoyingly hopeful Makoto Naegi from Danganronpa 1, explaining how she's been a prisoner in an apartment for a year and a half without knowing why or by who. This is interrupted by a killer Monokuma bear ripping through the door and being rescued by some men in black. One of those men in black is self absorbed rich bitch Byakuya Togami, also from the first game. He gives Komaru a megaphone which is actually a hacking gun that shoots code and blows up Monokuma robots...man that is just fucking stupid...anyways he gives her the gun and sends her on her way. Shit happens, crap blows up, people get killed by bear robots and you meet the most annoying little fuckers in creation.

You get captured and brought before the 5 most obnoxious brats in creation and I just couldn't help but wonder..Why the fuck can't I just punt these 5 runts into some walls and call it a day? Game over!
But oh no, that would mean an end to my suffering...can't have that!
So yada yada...bratty kids..evil plot...kill adults make  children's paradise. Why? because adults are evil poopy demons! that's why! My fucking god this is a stupid game. After 20 minutes of boring tirades in high pitched voices...oh and that one kid who is so fucking slow I wanted to throw the vita. I have no idea wtf his deal was cause I skipped all his shit dialogue...after all that, my crying whiny pale faced protagonist got chucked through a trap door and lands  on top of some building where Toko the crazy bitch is waiting.
Toko..I really hated Toko in the first game, I was so not looking forward to any more of this game at that moment.

Toko and crybaby team up to try and get out of the kiddie murder city and a lot of fuckery ensues...anything more would be spoilers so lets move on to the craptastic gameplay.

As I said, Komaru Nag-y has that stupid hacking gun, it looks ridiculous and it IS ridiculous. the game is a straight up third person shooter made by someone who doesn't know shit about third person shooters. The standard monokumas take about 4-5 shots to take down unless you have good aim and shoot them in their stupid glowy red eye. (and with the shit controls...good luck with that).But throughout the game you'll be introduced to a bunch of different monokuma types, like grenade throwing bears and bears with riot shields, you are also introduced to different kinds of bullets with which to tackle the new challenges. Let me be honest, the different kinds of bullets are more a pain in the ass than anything else.
There's a "dance" bullet which you shoot at an enemy and make him..well yeah, dance, then you can shoot him with a regular bullet...5 times...in order to kill him. oh and once you hit him with a regular bullet once the dance effect wears off...so kinda useless really.There's a "knockback" bullet that doesn't do any damage but makes the bears with shields fall over which makes their shields disappear.
All in all there are I think..8 different type of bullets if memory serves.

On top of that you can purchase upgrades called "Bling Bullets" and as far as I can tell they do jack shit. I made sure to buy the ones that were recommended and put them in "excellent" combinations and...I noticed not one whit of difference in gameplay or attack power.
That's one thing...throughout the game you never feel like you progress. you never feel stronger. Enemies are always the same and even if you get a handle on it, they're constantly introducing new enemies and new bullets that just make shit a pain in the ass.

As you level up you get skill points and as you go around you find new skills to use those points on and they are all useless...aside from the nightmare that is auto lock on. seriously, I had to unequip it. It gave me motion sickness. Every time I readied the gun it would whip me around to face every enemy BUT the one I wanted to shoot.

BUT its not ALL bad... as you go through the game you can switch from Bratzilla to Toko and Toko is fun as hell. Toko is strictly melee and wields a bunch of scissors, she's fast, strong and does a lot of damage. She was the best part of the damn game. Unfortunately, this game doesn't believe in fun and so you can only use her in small bursts. She uses a stun gun to become her "other persona" Genocide Jack in order to fight and you can only fight for as long as the batteries last. When the batteries deplete you're stuck with the whiner again. The good news is you can buy upgrades to make Toko time last longer, the bad news is..it still doesn't last long enough to save this game. Boss fights are ridiculously easy and fairly short and you'll have more trouble dealing with the standard enemies than the bosses.

The game does offer some...puzzles but they're more annoyances than anything else.
The puzzles all pretty much have the same set up. You walk into a room with an arcade machine, the arcade machine shows you the next room and you formulate your plan based on the victory conditions. For example, you'll see a room full of regular enemies and a grenade throwing enemy and you'll need to figure out what to do in order to destroy them all in 1 explosion. No worries though, because if you don't complete the objective, just kill them all yourself and you can still get through it, you're rank at the end of the chapter will be lower but that's about the only penalty.

Once you get to the end of the game and everything is explained, you kinda wish it wasn't. The whole thing is just...weak. Actions, reactions, motivations, histories, its all very half assed, I'd love to give you concrete examples but I don't wanna spoil this monstrosity for you. IF you WANT spoilers, well, drop me a line and I'll go into it.

Bottom line is that as a stand alone game this fails, because they drag so much shit from the previous 2 games that it won't make sense without them. However as a part of the Danganronpa universe it fails as well since honestly it brings NOTHING to the table. Nothing from this game will shed any light on the first or second games. Because this game is shoehorned between the other 2 after the fact, nothing from this game affects the other games either.
Even for someone who loved the first 2 games, I can't recommend this and if you just MUST have it...wait for a sale..preferably 50% off or more because this is NOT worth $40 by any stretch of the imagination.

This game truly did make me despair, I lost all hope and joy and happiness while playing this....maybe that was the point? How Meta,

Amnesia: Memories

This game has taken over my life this past weekend!

Full disclosure, I am not done with the game yet. I've managed to get all the good endings and a few bad ones and am still working on it.

This is (hopefully) gonna be pretty brief since I don't want to say too much and write spoilers, and man is it hard not to blurt it all out!

Alright, so, Amnesia is an otome visual novel...about a girl with amnesia! Surprised right?
So, ok, the premise goes like this: One day a spirit named Orion was doing whatever spirits do when he crashed into and got stuck in a girl named Hitomi (Ok, she has no name so I named her Hitomi in my game, no real reason, it just popped into my head).
When Orion gets lodged in Hitomi's mind he kicks out all her memories and now in order for him to get unstuck, she needs to remember.
Orion sends her back to one of 5 worlds, 4 are available at the start with the 4th one unlocking after you complete the others. The worlds are all named after playing card suits, Heart, Spade, Clubs, Diamond and Joker. Unlike most games of this sort where you play through a central story and branch off depending on the guy of your choice, in this game the world you choose determines the guy you are with. Because of Hitomi's amnesia she's basically thrown right back into the middle of her life and has to muddle through and that includes having a boyfriend,a job, friends, school ,whatever.
Before choosing a world Orion warns you that you shouldn't let anyone know you have amnesia for fear they will either take advantage of you or lock you up in a hospital. He tells you the best thing is to be around the people and things you used to know and see if they trigger your memories. And off you go. This is where it gets...interesting.

In every world there are some constants:
Hitomi always lives in the same place.
She will always have the same job and the same boss.
She is always a college student.
It is always the same group of people, only their relationships change.

Gameplay consists of you making dialogue choices at certain points as it usually does in these type of games. As the game progresses your choices affect 3 status bars:

Affection: How much your character likes the guy of your choice
Trust: How strong your relationship is
Suspicion: How suspicious people are about your memory loss.

This only differs in one story where a fourth bar was added named "Doubt". Which was how much your character doubted her boyfriend's words and actions.

I'm not really sure the "Suspicion" bar matters though as in some worlds no matter what you do its full from start to finish.

Isn't he charming? 

Because I like pretty silver haired boys I started with the second world, and I'm gonna be honest, it was a good decision because if I had started with the first I never would have continued playing.

Isn't this the kind of guy EVERY little girl dreams about?

Every guy in this game...IS AN ASSHOLE... EVERY. SINGLE. ONE.In their own very special ways. While the stories are all pretty damn good and interesting some of them were a chore to get through because I really wanted the option to reply to them with a "fuck you" and a kick in the nads. Even the ones that started off nice quickly turned ugly. It can be a little off putting...ok A LOT off putting.

Even when he's nice, he's kind of  dick. 

Its a pretty dark game and if you are looking for a shiny happy romantic story with cute anime boys...this ain't it. In this game, can expect mental and physical assaults and even in some cases, some very awful deaths.

You can also expect to be annoyed the entire time by your spirit "friend" Orion.
Imagine if Navi in Ocarina of Time spoke through the entire game in that high pitched "Hey! Listen" voice of hers. Giving unsolicited advice and opinions constantly, complaining and whining 24/7. THAT is Orion. he NEVER shuts up. Not only that but  he tends to get overly worked up and paranoid about EVERYTHING. I will admit that after a while you sorta start to tune him out.

I've only played a couple of Visual Novels before this one and I'm not sure which is the norm but one thing I find very difficult in this game is figuring out which answer is the right one to move things along in a good way. For example, in Sweet Fuse a little heart bomb would show up whenever you chose something that raised the relationship with a guy. In Hakuoki it was a spray of sakura petals. In this game there is ZERO indication and given how lengthy the stories can be it can be a bit of a pain. Sure you can go to the menu and open the parameters option and look at the status bars but...sometimes the addition is so miniscule its hard to tell and its also a pain to keep opening the menu just to check.

My face through most of this game

If you get tired of Orion or all the deep dark drama, you can go over to the mini games and play air hockey and rock paper scissors with the guy of your choice. No, I'm not joking and to be honest, it was a nice little break from the heavy atmosphere of the game.


Overall, its a solid game with some nitpicks and plenty of feels. Seriously, I bawled during one of the stories. I wish the main character had been given a bit more freedom in her dialogue choices and maybe a LOT less Orion but, aside from that I can't really complain. I'm notorious for not finishing games and I am DETERMINED to see every ending, collect every CG and get every trophy for this game, so you know its something special.

Magus...I HAD to have the platinum

Its hard to know where to begin...

Ok, here we go, I sometimes like to go on Amazon and type in a game I like and see what Amazon suggests for me. This has led me to some really great games. Like the time I was pre-ordering Persona 2 Innocent Sin and it suggested Hakuoki and I bought it and I fell in love with all things Shinsengumi related.
So one day, I was perusing Amazon, as one does and I see a plain black placeholder image with the word Magus across it up for pre-order. I click cause dammit hello MAGE is right in the name. The description was pretty non existant and while I thought about pre-ordering I just wasn't feeling it, but I added it to the wishlist. Eventually the game was released to horrid reviews and I went "well glad I didn't buy that" but..you see, I'm a girl who loves Sharknado and Dino Croc. I loved the Game Realms of Ancient War and I LIVE for Dynasty Warriors. I like bad things is what I'm saying, or at least things that are perceived as bad by a large majority of people. Being I like bad, I knew I wanted to play this game but, not for that damn price. I like bad things but I ain't stupid.

Flash forward to the latest PSN sale...Lo and behold! MAGUS!! for TWO DOLLARS!!! TWO F-IN DOLLARS! and me with 50 cents in the bank! FML
But, my very kind friend Chris (Hi Chris!) who spoils me WAY too much was sweet enough to get me a PSN card so that I could buy this masterpiece of crap!
I rushed to the PS Store to buy it and...the PSN store randomly booted me out. Maybe it was trying to save me. I log back in and I buy it and set it to download. While it downloaded I decided to browse the store some more...still on the fence about a couple games (is $4 really worth it? hmm) and suddenly...the psn store kicked me out again and my download errored out. WTF? its like the cosmos is intervening. Well, screw you cosmos, I WILL download Magus.
Second try worked and I downloaded the anemic 870mb game. When I try to play it it tells me it needs an update. I click on it and...my ps3 shut down and restarted... I try again, same thing. Now its fucking war! Third times a charm and finally I can begin this glorious masterpiece of bad decisions.

Why this long ass story before getting into the game? Because I want you to feel where I'm coming from, ya feel?

This game is....ugly...
I'm not one for graphics, really I'm not, but at the same time...when you play a PS3 game you have certain...expectations...like, you don't expect a game to look like early to mid PS2. I don't even wanna talk about the hilarious horror that was the title character's teeth and eyes in the opening...um...cinematic? cutscene? thing I couldn't control right before I could control it...I don't know what to call that.

You play as Magus, generic, hideous, white bald guy, who is a god, but doesn't know it or something and is in prison. Some chick breaks you out and off we go to do...stuff.

Look at this glorious bastard! Yes, this is a PS3 game...shocking, I know. 

The game says its an action RPG but really its a really lame 3rd person shooter. You get no weapons. But you do have 3 colors of magic. Red, Blue and Green. Red is useless..seriously...I never used red. I went most of the game with the Green started magic and occasionally the blue just for a little color variety. You power up your magic by absorbing it from glowy colored rocks lying around and then...you just...hold down R1 and don't stop til the credits roll. No joke, thats it. You press R1 and Magus throws glowy orbs non-stop. I mean, sure there are skill trees but...you don't really need any of the skills. Ok, I lie, there's one skill that I did use. You throw out a bunch of green flame. Its a decent AOE for the completely SHIT, HORRID, OMFG I HATE THIS level where you're on a beach and a bunch of lizard men keep dropping out of the sky non-stop. Fuck that level.

The game is SUPER short. Its got the generic tutorial "get out of jail" that seems to be pretty fucking standard in RPGS. Then you get a Tower and there you find a world map with 4...yes..FOUR locations to choose from, you can do them in any order and they are pretty damn generic and straightforward as well. There's SHIT BEACH as I mentioned. DARK DANK CORRIDOR MINE, HEY LOOK BROWN aka DESOLATE DESERT FULL OF PRO WRESTLERS? and OH WOW AN ICE LEVEL WHAT A SURPRISE. Once you shoot your way through all of those a whole new world opens up...No, I'm lying, one more location opens up... FINAL TWIST CASTLE!  The castle has probably the hardest boss in the game and I use the term "hard" very very loosely. Like all other battles, I got through it by....running around in circles holding down the R1 button.
But...in case the game wasn't quite dumbed down enough yet...that chick that got you out of jail, she tags along for the entire game, and she doesn't die...ever...also, she seems to have some sort of enemy attracting perfume on. I spent most of the game standing around holding down R1 and killing everything while they all just clustered around her and ignored me.

The face of a GOD!
herp derp

Story... oh..story...As mentioned..my ugly bald dude is a god...with amnesia or something...and I'm in jail for...reasons...and this chick gets me out...because she felt she had to, though she doesn't know me..she just...kinda had a feeling. Like when I'm kinda hungry, vaguely, but don't know what to eat and I go to the fridge and stare for a while and eventually eat like a piece of cheese. Seriously, she tells you that she goes around prisons looking for "someone" cause she has a "feeling" and she hasn't found them yet but she doesn't know who it is but she's pretty sure its you. I swear...this is the actual story. Then we set off to...um...I don't really know. To find out who sent her to look for someone? to stop the king of the land from being a dick? to proclaim my godhood to all I see? Yes? Its all pretty vague and pointless.
The main character is silent with dialogue choices you choose from but everyone else is voiced...and its surprisingly good voice acting. Like, the dialogue itself is utter cheeseball crap but the actual voice acting is solid. Honestly, its kinda wasted on such terrible writing. I was torn between wanting to skip the cheese and wanting to listen to the voice actors. Now,
While Magus might not speak, that doesn't mean he doesn't have a personality...He's got 2 distinct personality choices...Asshole and bigger asshole. Not gonna lie...I did kinda enjoy that.I told some guy I was gonna beat him with his own spine, that was amusing. Honestly it doesn't matter what choices you make in conversation, the story doesn't change one whit...well except for one part. IF you neglect to talk to one dude after kicking his ass then you will miss a branch of a skill tree. While this is not important AT ALL to gameplay, it is important if you want to get the platinum. So, you know, be as big an asshole as you wanna be, it doesn't matter.

So...aside from being a dick to everyone for the lulz, why did I play this? I don't know! that's just it. It's dumb and ugly and easy and brainless and I fucking played this motherfucker til 4am because I suddenly felt compelled to get the platinum for it. (btw..HOORAY FOR PLATINUM NUMBER TWO! Yes, 2, don't judge!) Most of the trophies can be acquired just by going through the game. There's honestly only 3 you'll need to work for.

Maxing out all 3 skill trees, because you can only max out 2 in a playthrough. So I just saved and reloaded and maxed out the third. And as mentioned above, there's that one missable section.

Collection 100 health potions. (here's a tip...start the game over and break every breakable item in the tutorial dungeon.

Collect 500 items...omg...what a damn slog that was... seriously. All you can do is kill lots and lots of things and pick up the crap they drop until the trophy pops up.

Speaking of items...a collection of the most hideous armor EVER! I can't..I can't even describe it...So...I'll just show you:

spent most of the game in this stylish number

My end game threads
sexy, no?

Whatever you don't use you can give to a unicorn that turns it into scrolls that you can use to pad your stats...don't ask...just go with it...You can also add stat boosting jewels to your outfits and equip up to 4 stat boosting runes...honestly this shit is just there to be there because you truly don't need to boost anything to play through this.

This game is like...a horrible wreck...You just cannot look away. Its bad, its really bad, you know you shouldn't. You know you're a bad person if you do...but you just cannot help yourself. Afterwards you feel dirty and ashamed but at the same time secretly pleased with yourself.The only positives are..the voice work isn't terrible and hey, its a really easy platinum.

I will admit that in a way...I guess the game accomplished what it set out to do...well, if it set out to make you an invincible, all powerful asshole. So..Congrats game maker?

Flash sale ends in a few hours so... for 2 bucks....yeah..get it...just so you can own one of the sh ittiest games ever...after big rigs.

Akiba's Trip...I should have spent my money on bubble gum and cardboard instead

I hurt my wrist beating up 48 idols in a row. Man those bitches were annoying.
48...that really seems like an unfair number.

While i'm still playing the damn thing I've decided Akiba's Trip is a shitty game. No, not just because of the 48 bitches I had to fight in 1 damn fight, though that was really fucking annoying and my wrist really does hurt (it aggravated my carpal tunnel).
Its more because the game is just..meh.

First, loading screens..EVERY FIVE FUCKING SECONDS. While Akihabara might be faithfully reproduced It isn't fluidly reproduced. Every time you walk half a block its a new area and you're hit with a loading screen. Sometimes, you didn't wanna go to another area but you just kinda ran into the barrier between them and so now its gonna be TWO loading screens. One to get you there and one to get you back to where you wanted to be.

Even worse is the pop up. Whenever you go anywhere it takes a few seconds for the people to just appear out of nowhere. So if you're looking for someone...well good fucking luck because you might be standing where they are supposed to pop up and therefore, you won't see them.

Add to this that side missions are timed, and timed in the most annoying manner...
You get a side mission, if you haven't done it after a bit you get an email annoying you, telling you the person is going to cancel their request if you don't fucking hurry up and get it done. If you don't get it done immediately after that email, you will fail it and there isn't a big gap of time between the email and failure...and no it doesn't give you a time limit that you can actually measure or see. Just "hurry up and do this or you fail...oops...not fast enough fission mailed"

Then there's the combat..The whole point of the thing...stripping idiots clothing off...well it really isn't as fun as you would think.
There are different weapons and each one is completely shitty.

Example... Computer Monitor if you choose a low strike, you squat down and bash your own head with the monitor and if you are lucky this causes minor damage to your opponent, if he's standing close enough to you...WHAT?
Combat Gloves....how do you fuck this up? By making the low strike button launch my character into some weird sort of planking move that is useless and leaves me wide open. By making the high strike cause my character to hold his arms up in victory before attempting some slow  drunken lunging swing that ALWAYS misses and ALWAYS gets my ass beat.

combat goes like this... Punch guy a few times in pants...run away and heal...try to punch guy and instead do a stupid useless move that gets me beat down...run away and heal...try to hold down the button to throw a punch and avoid stupid useless animation and instead try to grab clothes that aren't ready to be stripped, play tug of war with the enemy and lose..repeat this over and over and over again for every single enemy you encounter.

Its not fun, its not funny and "Synthisters" is a really fucking stupid name for man made vampires....man made vampires is a stupid thing too...This game is fucking dumb and shitty. Even Conception is better. At least Conception is funny.

Hakuouki-- Came for the Bishies, Stayed for the AMAZING story

So a while back when Persona 2 Innocent Sin was released on PSP when i went to order it one of the suggested games under it was Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom CE. I had never heard of it, knew nothing about it but the cover looked pretty cool and I'm a sucker for a CE. On a whim I ordered it.
When it came in I cracked that puppy open and the art book was full of pretty bishies, yay me! But, the thought of a Visual Novel type game didn't really interest me much. After a couple of weeks on my shelf though, curiosity got the best of me.

The game falls into a genre called Otome, basically games for females. The set up is a reverse harem situation, if you're not familiar with anime/manga a harem situation is where a guy is surrounded by numerous women, usually but not always to comedic effect. In this case its the opposite, one girl, numerous guys. BUT...get your minds outta the gutter!!

The premise of the game is simple enough, you are Yukimura Chizuru, a girl who dresses up like a boy to come to Kyoto and search for her missing father. Your "harem" are the heroic and handsome men of the Shinsengumi, the last Samurai corps in Japan before the Meiji Restoration began.
Chizuru ends up stumbling across the Shinsengumi during their patrols and is taken back to their headquarters where she becomes first a prisoner, then a member and eventually a love interest for one of the men. That's where you, the player come in.
You have 5 possible romantic choices within the Shinsengumi and 1 other...gentleman...that comes along later and there's pretty much something for everyone. The strong silent type, the guy next door, the douchebag, whatever floats your boat.

Harada Sanosuke, Todo Heisuke, Kazama Chikage, Okita Souji, Saito Hajime, Hijikata Toshizo

The game is divided into chapters. The first 3 are dedicated to establishing the story and from chapter 4 onward you focus mainly on the guy you've chosen. If you've shown no preference for any of the 5 Shinsengumi characters by Ch4 the game defaults to Kazama Chikage, the only person outside the Shinsengumi you can pursue a romance with and I use the word romance loosely...

I would like to point out that while the object of the game is to win the heart of one of these men the game REALLY isn't all that focused on romance or love. I know that doesn't seem to make sense, bear with me, I'm trying to write this without being totally spoilerific. and yes, I'll just warn you right now, there will probably be some spoilers but that doesn't matter much really does it? I'm sure that many readers have no intention of ever playing through this game because its "girly". That's really a shame because to be honest I came for the pretty boys but I stayed for the amazing story. No, not the romance. The story of the Shinsengumi.

You see, turns out the Shinsengumi were real. They probably weren't that damn pretty (ok, except for Hijikata...he really WAS pretty) and they certainly weren't that warm and fuzzy but they were real, and the story in the game and the battles that they fight, those happened for the most part. Sure the game adds a girl and some demons (I'll get to that) but the basics are true. 

So I mentioned Demons...

(the demon called spoilers will probably appear from this moment onward)

Amagiri Kyuju, Kazama Chikage, Shiranui Kyo

Not very long into the game the Shinsengumi raid the Ikeda Inn (this was a very famous battle and the one that really catapulted them to fame in Kyoto) and have a run in with 3 strange men. One of them I've already mentioned, he's the 6th love interest, Kazama. Turns out they aren't just ordinary men but demons. For the duration of the game they'll pop up trying to kidnap Chizuru and start some shit with the Shinsengumi. While they fight all the members, each guy has his own specific demon that likes to show up and start shit. For example if you chose Harada as your romance then you'll be seeing a lot of Shiranui Kyo, the demon with the gun and the badass tattoo. (while Harada is not my first choice in the Shinsengumi I have an unnatural obsession with his Oni (demon) rival so I really enjoy his route).

Why are they trying to kidnap Chizuru? Because Kazama wants babies..yeah, there's more to it but you'll have to just play the game to find out.

The demons do have other reasons why they clash with the Shinsengumi, mostly because Kazama is a colossal dick, but, also because of a substance called Ochimizu (water of life). This liquid transforms a man into a Rasetsu (Fury). Kazama finds the Furies offensive and mocks those of the Shinsengumi who become furies.

Furies...

Basically its like..demon/vampire lite. Just one calorie, not bad ass enough. The Furies are stronger, faster and heal quicker than a normal person. However, they crave blood and slowly go mad. They also have a weakness to silver bullets. (i thought that was werewolves...)

Throughout the story all but 1 of your romantic options in the Shinsengumi become furies for one reason or another. Interesting little aside on that...reading up on the actual history of the group, I realized that the game cleverly has 3 characters turn into furies at the same time their historical counterpart died. I felt that was a nice touch. 

Ok, so now you know all this stuff about the game except one key element...gameplay. 

Well, there really isn't any...

The game is text accompanied by images of the characters and is fully voiced in Japanese (and the voice actors do an AMAZING JOB) and has the occasional CG stills. Gameplay consists of making dialogue choices. For the most part your choices affect your relationship status with the men. Either they determine who's romance level grows or by how much it grows. If the person you chose becomes a fury in the course of the game, not only will you have to keep an eye on your romance level with them but on their corruption level as well. 

MAKEOVERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The corruption level is a gauge that goes up every chapter they are a fury. Since furies crave blood, when your SO has an..episode.. you'll be given a choice: Give him the blood he needs, give him medicine to suppress his bloodlust or make him suck it up and endure the pain until it passes. each choice has an effect on corruption with giving them blood lowering it most and making them endure raising it highest. If their corruption gets too high, its game over. If you do manage to keep their corruption in check but don't get their romance level high enough by the end of the game then its game over as well. 

That all sounds well and good but you just don't really care about a visual novel type experience you say. First, I'll say that I felt the same way til I actually sat down to play it and then I couldn't put it down.

Second, if you want something less romance-y and more action-y but...not quite as good...still pretty good but not AS good...you could try Warriors of the Shinsengumi.

I actually JUST got around to finishing this one yesterday. When I first bought it I didn't really get into it but I've been on a MASSIVE Hakuoki kick recently and decided I'd give it another go. Glad I did because I could NOT put it down!

Warriors still offers the same basic story as Demon of the Fleeting Blossom but in a Dynasty Warriors crispy crunchy hordes of random dudes getting beat down style. You again choose one of the 6 heroes and spam your way through 6 chapters of faceless peon ass beatings. Along the way you collect materials to craft buffs and such and to unlock extras in the gallery and costumes for free play. It also offers a second story mode which is an original scenario that differs from the main story called Chronicles. Everyone gets a shiny new battle outfit and free flowing hair! 

Its not a particularly difficult game and it can be repetitive but its a fun little hack n slash and for those that have played the previous game or watched the anime (I'm getting to that) they added 2 unlockable characters for skirmish mode, Nagakura Shinpachi and Sanan Keisuke. I personally love Sanan-san so it was great to play as him even if he didn't get his own story arc.

Ok well, you don't like visual novels or Dynasty Warriors but it still sounds kinda cool? Go watch the Anime! It runs through the entire story, the romance is minimal and only with 1 character and there's actual action and blood! But, have a box of tissues on hand...that shit gets SAD. I bawled my eyes out. (man, I'm such a girl)

Look, its like this....I tend to not be a very girly girl when it comes to games. I don't go out of my way to be or not be girly, its just the way I am. I know that games geared at females tend to be..subpar... for the most part. I don't think I've actually ever sought one out on purpose and most are things I'd recommend everyone stay far away from. However, if you look on the right side of the screen there, you'll see that one of my most popular posts is a review of another "girly" game, Style Savvy. I chose to review that game and these because they AREN'T what people expect in a "girl" game. they're well thought out, well implemented and enjoyable. They SHOULDN'T be limited to females. You guys...everyone should give these games a try. Its sad that the fact they are considered "female games" will for the most part limit the amount of people who will play them. So, have an open mind y'all. I wouldn't steer you wrong.

Oh and in case anyone wondered who my favorite Hakuoki hunk to romance was?

Saito Hajime

I like the strong silent type :p

Path of Exile-- Impressions

So I decided to go wade in the shallow end of the MMO pool and installed a few FTP MMOs on Steam.

Now, if you know me, you know I have an abject TERROR of playing online with people. There are various reasons for this. Horror stories I've read about the way women are treated in online games, my own personal experiences on gaming sites (if they treat me like that typing imagine what they'll be like in game), nervous that I wont be skilled enough and get made fun of, you know, a shitton of neurosis.

Given these feelings MMOs are like the last thing my crazy ass should be touching. But, you know, I like to branch out and some of them look kinda interesting...
I've played a bit here and there in multiple games like Pandora Saga, Rusty Hearts, Spiral Nights, Mabinogi etc. But never really committed much time to any.

I don't remember how I stumbled on Path of Exile but I did, on Gamespot and started watching a video where they were talking to the dev.

As I watched it, it looked pretty much like Diablo 3 and Torchlight had a kinda depressing colored baby. This wasn't exactly a bad thing , it just wasn't a very exciting thing. But, I decided what the hell, I've played so much crap, what's one more game?

So I downloaded the beta and started playing...and promptly died..a lot..numerous  times....frustratingly often. But it was late and I was tired and I gave up.

Next day the game went into Open Beta and everything was wiped, clean slate. Not that it mattered I think I had been like level 2 or 3.
I had intended on playing early yesterday but as you guys that read my FB know I had a personal crisis. Later in the day when things had settled down I decided to play a bit just to blow some steam and calm my nerves.

I chose the same character as I had before, a Witch and since every name I usually use was taken I somehow ended up deciding on the name Jannessa (hell if I know where that came from).

This time I fared a bit better than the first time and even figured out how the hell to use a fireball spell and that made my life much much easier.

Playing the game, its very much like Diablo 3 (I have only played 3 so I have no clue how it compares to the previous ones). Interface, enemies, locations, they all have the same flavor as D3 with bits of Torchlight thrown in here and there for good measure.
If you're looking for innovation look elsewhere, if you just wanna play another fun hack n slash time killer then this is it.

Currently my character is at level 10, I would have probably gotten further despite exhaustion and my joints complaining but, the game went all janky and started freezing up and stuttering until it finally just locked up my PC causing me to reboot. (I will add that at the time I was playing with someone else and they didn't have these issues).
I am thinking of starting new characters just for comparisons sake, particularly a Shadow which appears to be a thief/rogue type character, at least based on his acrobatic dance animations that's the impression I get. My friend was playing as the Duelist and he says its a good class. Basically he's your typical Flamenco dancing Swordsman. (if you are wondering about the dancing...i'll explain that in a moment) Before you ask I have zero idea why Flamenco seems to = Swordsman but when I watched the Duelist's video first thing I thought was "Raphael" from Soul Calibur and his lovely Flamenco dance in the Second and Third games.

so I keep talking about Dance...wth?
Yeah really, I know.

So yeah, the game is FTP as so many other MMOs are these days and of course its gotta make money somewhere, no? Microtransactions! A word all gamers just love *eyeroll*. But, here's the thing...unlike most games that are Free to Play but in actuality are Play to Win, all of the microtransactions in Path of Exile are cosmetic only. They change nothing at all in how well you character fights, just how cool they look doing it.
The above dancing is one of those microtransactions. Each Class has their very own dance that suit their character's nature/fighting style) and for a few coins you can purchase your characters dance animation.

You can also buy a pet, that will help you not at all, but will just look cute hanging around with you so you don't get lonely.
Or, my personal favorite (and since I have some coins from my closed beta I'm totally gonna buy it) for my Witch, replacing my fireballs with fire dragons. Yeah, doesn't make em work better, just looks cool.
There are other things like weapon glows etc and I'm sure more to come but, they are all optional, and you won't be at a disadvantage if you don't purchase any (well unless they do a fashion show, then you're totally screwed)

FTP without shitty microtransactions makes me a happy girl. Something else that makes me happy is that I can play alone, at least so far. I really don't relish having to team up with a bunch of people in order to get anything done. Don't get me wrong I do like co-op and I am willing to play with friends, I just don't want to feel obligated to play with strangers or to try and find people to play with because it can't be done solo.

I mentioned above that I was thinking of switching characters for comparison. Now don't get me wrong, I REALLY and I mean REALLY am digging my lvl 10 Witch. However, I don't know if its my setup, dumb luck, phenomenal cosmic power or the character is just really unbalanced but I devastate EVERYTHING in my path. After a few hours my friend told me I am no longer allowed to say I suck at games cause its all lies...also, thanks to my superpowered killing machine i felt like I was hogging all the kills and no one likes a kill hog :( So, I'd like to check out other classes and see how they measure up.

Now, I do have certain problems with the game, well mostly 1 big one. First tiny nitpick..INVENTORY! WHY YOU SO SMALL???? but that's a problem i have with most games like this. I LOVE loot and the space they give you in these games is ridiculous.
Now a bigger problem. There is no in game currency, as in coins or whatnot. You buy things using different kinds of orbs and scrolls...only one problem...the same scroll you buy shit with is the one you use to identify shit you pick up..WTF? Can I get an Identify spell a la Torchlight or something? Second, the Orbs you use to buy things with also are used in modifying things, like enchanting an object, etc. So then you gotta think..."do I enchant this, or hold on to the orb to buy something else?" "Is it worth wasting the scroll to identify this sword I picked up or not?" Not to mention that town is far far away, waypoints are rare and portal scrolls are hard to come by and expensive to buy (3x wisdom scrolls for 1 portal scroll).
I feel this whole orb/scroll thing just overly complicates things needlessly.
And a final one...and this might just be me since I like my games to be uncomplicated...the gem system. Objects have different colored slots for different colored gems. Each gem does something different. So now I have to weight the pros and cons of this thing with awesome attack and 2 blue slots as opposed to this one with a red, blue and green slot but shitty attack. (which btw I'm STILL using my first weapon in one hand because it has 3 slots for 3 different colored gems which lets me summon 3 zombies, toss fireballs and...fuck I can't remember the third thing. problem is it does a base attack of 4-7)

That is WAY too much shit for me to consider while getting bitten in the ass by chicken/crab hybrid thingies. Now I will say that the nice thing about it is that you can slot and unslot gems at will. Unlike Diablo 3 where there is a cost for removing a a gem, or Torchlight where you get the option of either destroying the gem or the item. But you know, its another way to make the game and your character more customizable, more personal and I'm sure some people dig it a lot.

Overall, its definitely something worth playing if you like that type of hack n slash gameplay. Bring a friend, its more fun, but you can go solo and still survive too. This is how FTP should be.

Why I'm done with Kotaku

Long ago, when I started to get really into gaming I started reading Kotaku. It was a fun place with a nice mix of news and fluff. Most of the fluff was contained in night and day "notes" from one writer to another.
Every other day there would be someone screaming "HOW IS THIS NEWS???" and others would shout back "ITS A BLOG GET OVER IT".

As time passed, Kotaku has changed their format more and more, they added more opinion to less news every day. They style themselves "game journalists" and their site a "gaming news, review and information site"  yet ares till quick to shout down complaints of "how is this news?" with "it's a blog".
I don't think you can have it both ways. If you're going to be a news and information site then you need to provide news and information. Fluff is good, it has its place (like s'mores or hot chocolate) but it shouldn't drown out the news.
News...
 Much of the news they post now is hours if not days late compared to other sites. Hell I live in my own lost little bubble and I've linked or posted stuff before them on my FB.
The site these days can be summed up into a few categories: Live journal, titillating cosplay, opinions everywhere, stuff I read on another site yesterday.

In the past couple of months of skimming through their site I've heard all about a woman who realized her marriage was over when her husband failed to revive her character in Diablo 3. A chick who due to being a rape victim and having a crappy childhood thinks Juliet Starlet (Lollipop Chainsaw) is a good role model and the chick she'd like to be. A guy who claims violent video games don't make you violent but since the Sandy hook shit he's trading in all his "violent games" like Asassin's Creed 3 (because we know how much Tomahawking went down in Sandy Hook. (no I'm not making light of what happened, so keep your bitching to yourself). There's so much more of this crap I could point out, most from the same author.

But, its a blog, you say.
It is, a game news blog, a "trusted" resource for gamers and as such they not only offer insights into their own fucked up neurosis (I do that too, difference is, this IS a fucking blog. I don't get paid, I don't claim to be a journalist and I freely admit I'm full of shit) they also provide game reviews.

Now, Reviews are a touchy thing. I mean it doesn't matter HOW objective you try to be, you will always color the review with your own personal feelings, and lets be honest, if reviewers just made a list of bullet points you wouldn't read it or care. You read them in the hopes of getting a feel for a particular game. Learning a bit about story, mechanics, graphics, and just overall experience. We read many reviews for a single game, to compare and contrast what each person had to say and we either dismiss the opinions,the game, or both.

Today I read a..well i'm not sure what it is..its tagged as both "import review" and "opinion" but thats only if you look a the tags, the main tag right over the title is "Import Review" so I'll take it as a review of the game.
The game in question is Yakuza 5.

Now I will say right here and now, I am utterly biased. I first read about the first Yakuza game for PS2 months upon months before it was released and on release day I went to Gamestop as soon as they opened to get a copy of it. I LOVE the story and I love Kazuma and I'm still upset that Kenzan! was never brought overseas cause man i wanted that SO BAD!
Admitting that I will also admit I might be biased but not blind. I have my nitpicks about the series and much like the Dynasty Warriors series that gets so much crap for its "problems" I will freely admit its shortcomings and add that I don't give a crap because I find them fun. However, were I to review the game I would share those cons along with the pros. Because fair is fair.
Even in my most ranty, vulgar review, I tried to be fair, I did concede and admit I suck at a lot of types of games and that perhaps that type of game isnt my thing. However I went and played a few more games in the same vein and realized that nope, i was right, game blew. But I'm getting off topic.

The review is titled Five Reasons Yakuza 5 is Not for ME. Ok then, why the hell are you reviewing it then? If your opening is that you don't like the game, why are you the one reviewing it? I wouldn't review a Madden game, cause I don't like sports games. But whatever, par for the course on that site. I begin reading and snorting and rolling my eyes and getting more and more angry.
Every line I read, every piece of misinformation and baseless complaint made me madder. even the points we agreed on were written in such a way I could not credit them. Then came the magical moment where I literally saw read AND burst out laughing at the same time.
After recovering my sanity I called my children over. I put forth to my 8yr old son and my 11yr old daughter a question...

Guys, I said, IF you have 5 different people, in five different cities, with five different skill sets and you switch from one to the other and you were at say...level 15 on the first one, would you expect the second one to be at that level?

They both shook their heads and I asked, ok what would you expect?

My daughter spoke up, I'd expect to start over at level 1.

me, why?

My son, Cause they do different things so they'd have to start over.
My daughter chimed in to elaborate on what her brother said "because you're different people in different places with different styles and you wouldnt know the same things so you have to learn the different stuff.

so why is it my kids "get" what this reviewer did not?

From the review:

#4 — Start From Zero Again and Again

Each time you complete one of the game's five sections, you start as a new character in a new city. This would be fine, except you start again at level one and all your skills are gone as well. It felt like all my hard work had been for nothing and that I was being forced to start the game over. It was almost like being punished for playing the game as intended. It left me incredibly demotivated.

 Other complaints this person made were the amount of random fights, the lack of checkpoints and the unskippable conversations (someone did point out to them that the conversations were indeed skippable.)

Though Yakuza has been compared to GTA a lot it really isn't. While the setting might seem similar I think Yakuza is more of an RPG than anything else. As such, Random encounters are par for the course. I admit that I myself found the amount of random encouters in the Yakuza games annoying sometimes, particularly when I just wanna get to the next street over and all i hear is a high pitched "Whadda Fuck!"  for the umpteenth time. But, much like in traditional RPGs there's a reason for this. Those random fights help level you up, they help you develop your skills and learn the move sets so you can defeat the bosses that pepper the story. Without them you'd be grossly unprepared.

Checkpoints, again, mixed feelings. Yes, I prefer games that offer a save anywhere function, however, this isn't exactly Demons Souls. Checkpoints are set at decent intervals and as long as you play through the game as intended, you should get through the game with minimal difficulty or frustration.

Finally, The complaint that conversations are unskippable...ok..I...you know what? fuck it I'm gonna go all fucking ranty angry all caps pissed off wanna kick you in the junk type mad now...WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOUR FUCKING DUMBASS PLAY A MOTHERFUCKING GAME WITH A MOTHERFUCKING STORY AND FUCKING SKIP THROUGH IT ALL. WHY????? WHAT IS THE POINT???? IF YOU JUST WANNA GO FROM FUCKING FIGHT OT FIGHT THERE ARE TONS OF FUCKING FIGHTING GAMES OUT THERE. PICK ONE DUMBASS!!! DON'T FUCKING SHIT ON A STORY BASED GAME BECAUSE YOU ARE TOO FUCKING IMPATIENT TO FUCKING SIT THROUGH SOME FUCKING EXPOSITIONAL DIALOGUE DUMBFUCK!!!

...
out of breath now...give me a sec.
...
Sorry, I'm better now.

After reading all that (if you did) you might wonder why, besides my obvious fangirl love of Kazuma and Yakuza am I complaining about a review full of opinion if I do the same thing here all the time.

Maybe because I'm a hypocrite.
Maybe because I tend to play and review (in most cases) games in genres I enjoy. Maybe because I am VERY upfront about it being my personal opinion and if you want a very professional and technical review there are many professional sites to visit.

Mostly because Kotaku styles itself a Game Journalism site, because they post their Reviews as an official and professional view.

Mostly because anyone who starts their Review with this paragraph:

Until I sat down and played Yakuza 5, my knowledge of the Yakuza series was limited, to say the least. I knew the characters and some of the story (from wikis, friends, and the movie), but when it came down to playing the series, the most time I had spent with it was in playing the demos of Yakuza 3, Yakuza 4, and Yakuza: Dead Souls. While I don't have particularly bad memories of playing those demos, none inspired me to go out and buy the full games.

Should not be allowed to give the sites "official" Import Review of the game.

For a while now, ok for years, I've watched the "star" commentors on Kotaku leave or get banned. I've watched the format change and the comments section become a trolling bonanza. But most importantly I've watched the site itself become one big jumbled mess of  mixed messages, garbage and fluff. Its all sensationalist writing for pageviews and all the writers airing their dirty mental health laundry. You wanna do that, its cool, but do't do it on a "professional" site.

Today's review is the straw that broke the camel's back and the thing that has led me to finally deleting Kotaku from my Bookmarks for good.

Worst part is, "official" reviews like these are the kinds of things that keep certain publishers from bringing their games here...So keep opinion where it belongs people. You do your readers a disservice by passing this garbage as professionalism, journalism, truth or fact.

Review: Style Savvy Trendsetters

I like to imagine she's 35 with a gaggle of kids and impeccable style  :p

 WHA-? Style Savvy? WTF? Why would anyone wanna play that crap?
Oh, admit it, you thought it.

Style Savvy Trendsetters is the second Style Savvy game to be released, the first one was just plain "Style Savvy" and it was one of those games that taught me not to judge a book by its cover.

So what is it? Its a fashion game. You start as an employee of a boutique, picking out clothes for customers until you do it enough to move up to having your own boutique. I gloss over that part because its not really that important and its just a tutorial really to get you on your way.
Owning your own boutique is where its at.

While this is a review..or more of an explanation of Trendsetters I think I need to talk a little about The first Style Savvy game a bit first.

I don't even remember how I stumbled across the game but I remember thinking "oh the girls would probably really like that, I should get it for them", at the time my girls were mostly into Imagine games, anything with animals and Pokemon. (They've since moved on to El Shaddai, Call of Duty and Borderlands 2 among others). So I got the game and gave it to them and they were immediately sucked into it. They would come and show me the new skirts they had in stock, the outfits they dressed their characters in the top they designed. I admit, the girly side of me started itching to give it a try while the "real" gamer in me was thinking "icky icky eww!!!"

pictured here, the closest I'll ever get to a $3,000 outfit

I can't really recall how i finally got my hands on it but I did and I could not put it down. For the next 2 months (yes, you heard right...2 MONTHS) I dressed a ton of cartoon girls in clashtastic outfits and competed in fashion shows, while occasionally visiting my daughters' boutiques as well. We got so into it I ordered the game guide...Well it isn't so much a game guide as it is a picture book. Its called the Look Book and basically it just shows you every piece of clothing you can get in game in every color they are available.
After those couple months we cut down on Style Savvy because we had all gotten addicted to Kira Kira Pop Princess but that's another story.

I had no idea there was another Style Savvy game being released until I stumbled on a comment about it on Playfire. I immediately went to watch the trailer and then whipped out my Target card and placed my order. I wasn't disappointed. The game has added quite a few features since the first one and while it could use a few more, the changes and additions are all great and feel like progress.

So I'll start with how you play the basic game...

Client walks in and will usually give you one of 2 approaches to picking out their perfect attire. Either they will tell you they are looking for a specific piece and style or they will ask you to pic something to suit their tastes. I despise the second option. Once you pick out whatever it is they want you get 2 more options...You can tell them to Try it on or Take a look. Try it on is basically just putting it all on the line, its a one shot deal, if they like it you get a lot of mojo (I'll get to that soon enough, and no that isnt what it s called in game) and even the possibility of them buying more items. However, if they don't like it, kiss that sale goodbye because they will leave. Take a look is for those times you aren't sure you chose the right thing. If you ask them to take a look they will either tell you they like it, go try it on and then buy it or they will tell you it isnt what they want and to show them something else. Three strikes and you're out, well, they're out. Sale lost.

Raven Candle, the Goth Lolita store I tend to favor

Its incredibly simple, no?

So now let me break that down...

First, you don't just simply pick some shirts and skirts and send people on their way. You are the manager of a boutique and as such you are responsible for decorating both the interior and exterior of your store to suit the style of clothing you carry (though you MUST have a little of everything always, more on that in a bit). You must also decorate the shop window and dress mannequins to entice people to buy from you. But most important of all, you must keep your store well stocked and this is where it gets really fun.

You start off with only a couple hundred slots for items, and only women's clothing, as you progress you eventually unlock 1,000 slots for women's items and another 500 for men. The game has a buyer's center where the different labels set up shop and you are tasked with going there and using your shops revenue to restock. Certain brands open on certain days with all of them opening on Sundays, so you have to kinda plan it out when you're gonna go restock. An added incentive to restocking is that every piece you buy sends you a sample to your apartment (yes you get an apartment as well and its one of the things that has been expanded).

Looks just like me, no? lol

Each brand carries a specific style, Goth, Princess, Luxury, Girly, Preppy, Basic, etc. and when NPCs ask for items they will usually tell you either the specific style or keywords that refer to them. With an inventory that large to juggle the game gives you a search function that lets you search by everything from brand, to color, to price and everything in between. While it sounds very very easy, you'll find that sometimes, its not that well defined. A person might ask you for something preppy and you end up giving them something they love that isnt part of the "preppy" brand but is still preppy. Or they might ask you to put together an outfit based on their style and of course they won't tell you the style so you have to guess it based on what they are wearing, and because some items cross over into multiple categories you can pick something that you think fits their style only to have them walk out. Sometimes it can be very frustrating trying to figure out what the hell to suggest to someone...and don't think you can look at the stuff they are wearing so you can check out the brand because the game will not allow you to look at what they are wearing even if you have the same thing in your shop inventory. My favorite customers are the ones that want to buy the outfit on my mannequin, that's where the cash is at. and you want that cash, lots of it.

The game keeps track of your store's cash and your own personal cash and gives you places to spend it all.

only place i can have a pretty, neat place...
no kids.

As I mentioned you get an apartment. In the previous game it was pretty much just a place to save your game and change your character's outfit. That hasn't changed, but other things have been added. The game now offers a furniture store and you can use your hard earned cash to buy new curtains, beds, rugs etc and decorate your apartment as you see fit. It has no impact on anything in game but its a fun addition that lets you personalize your space. You can also spend your money buying make-up and colored contacts to compliment your outfits and on hairstyles. These items unlock slowly as you progress in the game.
so you've bought pretty makeup and gotten your hair done, dressed up in your chosen style and...now what? The game has added a photo studio so that for $20 you can immortalize your character's awesome outfits on your SD card. (and I have a metric ton of pics in different outfits).
But wait! that's not all! The game has several locations you can visit alone or with NPCs that invite you. They're just a chance to get a photo op, a bit of chitchat and more mojo.

My Girly yet Sophisticated outfit
that won the final Beginner Contest

Mojo?
You keep using that word...
One of the changes from the previous game is how the game gauges your success. In the previous game you would get stars as you ranked up in contests and sales. This has been replaced in Trendsetters with a receptacle that collects glittery sands. Each sale, each win, each time you meet an NPC somewhere, it drops a small quantity of glitter in the vase. If you fill it to the brim by the time your shop closes for the night, the next morning you will unlock different things, from more inventory space to new makeup to buy. Most of the time its pretty easy to fill it up but there are off days.

I believe I was under dressed for the weather

Days, Nights, Weeks...
There is a day/night cycle and the seasons change as time passes, so you have to keep that in mind when stocking your store and dressing your clients, give someone shorts in December and they will balk. Stock too many clothes from one season and you'll have to take a loss when you get rid of it on clearance to buy more climate appropriate attire.

Not only do you choose your outfits, clients outfits and fashion show outfits but, you will also get new employees from time to time, both male and female and you can change their outfits as often as you like to better reflect the style your store represents. Which style you sell and how you decorate your store do matter. If you decorate in a goth style but sell only hippy clothing, you will have many dissatisfied customers. While you will get people wanting all types of clothing regardless of your chosen style, decorating your store in a specific style rather than a "general" look will get you more clients and more chances to give them exactly what they want.

Final pic when I "won" the game
by winning the Elite Contest

But whats the whole point?
The point is to win the International Fashion Contest and become the greatest Stylist of them all. Though once you win, it doesn't mean game over, you can keep on selling outfits to the fashion clueless as long as your little heart desires.
If you get tired of that, then you can try going online and checking out the styles other players have put together, vote on the ones you love, purchase any you like and make your own outfits to sell to other players. The game also offers local play for 2-4 people where you can compete against each other in fashion shows. While I haven't really tried it and I don't really know how feasible it is, the game also offers a streetpass function, as well as spotpass notifications and the promise of downloadable content to come.

So, I have waxed poetic on a girly fashion show sim haven't I? Gave me a chance to show off my awesome fashion sense. I'm sure no one is going to rush out and buy this game, which is a shame because its a really well thought out game with hours upon hours of gameplay. Its not a difficult game, its not extremely deep but its deep enough to get you invested in building up your boutique and winning contests. Its sad that it will probably be neglected for being too girly, too shallow, too cutesy etc. I'm not a great fan of "girly" games like  the Imagine series, or Hannah Montana, iCarly etc. I've never really liked Sims much either, Yet I found something I didn't know i was missing out on with Style Savvy and Style Savvy Trendsetters. And I intend to keep on playing til I own every piece of clothing in the game. And yeah, I'll throw it out there, if you own a 3DS, you should give this a go, and I don't care whether you're male, female or alien...

Check out the Trailer:

Quick and Dirty rundown

Style Savvy Trendsetters is available on 3DS and in the 3DS e-shop

Simulation game

$39.99

Rated E for Everyone

Local play for 2-4 players

Online Fashion Plaza (player shops) 

Streetpass

Spotpass

*and for those that made it through this whole thing...thanks for reading....here's a free Steam Code for King's Bounty: Armored Princess:
 8BMDD-VX65D-A3Y6Z

*More pics of my adorable character Sihaya, Manager of True To You (oh I know..horrid name for a shop..cheesy as all get out lol)

Review: R.A.W. Realms of Ancient War

Money's been tight lately, really tight. Life has been difficult and stressful and my health has been utter crap. Given these things when I'm looking at games these days I want cheap, fun, easy. I want to kick ass and take names in a way I can't in my everyday life and I wanna do it with minimal stress, difficulty or money.
WTF does this have to do with anything? I dunno, just felt like sharing.

That being said, last week I was looking at the sales on Steam and saw the Sherlock Holmes collection on sale... 6 games $8.74..WOOT! and also some game I've never heard of named Realms of Ancient War for a little over $11.

Action, RPG, ooh Wizard! controller enabled! (I suck at Kb/m) So I read the description...and it was...well where the hell was it? its like 2 damn sentences. Its got some bullet points, something about explosive action blah blah blah. Oh look something about controlling enemies but...no real details. That didnt help much. I went and looked up reviews...it got panned. Somewhere around a 5 or so. But I tend to like the shit everyone says sucks so, that wasnt telling me anything.
Finally I watched the trailer and it looked like Diablo 3 kinda, and kinda like Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance and I enjoyed both of those so I figured, sure, why the hell not.
I picked it up along with the Sherlock Holmes collection and installed it and figured it would probably sit there unplayed with he other 600 games til hell freezes over.

But a few days later a bad day and some curiosity led me to start it. I played about 4 1/2 hours that day and only stopped because my head was pounding. A couple days later I fired it up again and finished it.

Its not a very long game, maybe 10 hours? I don't know, I paused a lot to deal with stuff at home. But even still it manages to feel meaty enough. The game is 25 chapters long with an interesting beginning story and a good satisfying ending, though I couldn't help but feel like while I didn't know the mechanics of HOW it would play out, I had a good inkling of how it would work out, if that makes sense.

You get a choice of 3 standard fantasy characters: Big Burly Barbarian, Evil-Looking Pointy Armoured Wizard with spooky glowy eyes and Half-Naked Elf Rogue Chick.  Not being the burly type and not wanting to be a friggin elf for the bajillionth time combined with my love of fireballs led to me being the Wizard.

I really don't know jack about my character beyond he's a wizard, he carries a book and a crystal ball and he claims to be looking for some sort of artifact. That's it. That's all you get to know about your character. They are looking for a random Macguffin.

So I flung fireballs and force pushed skeletons and picked up rainbow named and colored loot. I gathered enough unnecessary mana potions to fill an olympic swimming pool because my spells didnt take much to cast them and that fireball basic spell can take you through the entire game. There were plenty of skills to choose from, its just that none of them really worked as well as my started set levelled up. Fireballs, force push and  toxic cloud are all you need, maybe a healing spell if you get a little nervous about your health.

And there's one thing I didn't like at first, though by the midway point it no longer mattered. The game has an odd "lives" system. You start with 3 gems called "soul stones" if you are killed you will respawn at the last checkpoint you came across, til you run out of soul stones. Lose all soul stones and its game over. Reload after a game over and you have to redo the entire chapter, even if you were at the last checkpoint when you died. But as I said, that stopped mattering after a while. You get 3 soul stones at the beginning of each chapter with a cap of 9 stones. I ran out of stones at the very beginning thanks to a douchey spider spitting poison once. After that I always had a full set of soul stones and I rarely ended up needing one.

The locations, enemies, etc. are fairly varied and fairly good looking. I'm not the best person to ask about graphics, they don't matter much to me unless its an absolute eyesore. But this game  was pleasant enough to look at. It very much looked like the old PS2 games I loved, both Dark Alliance games, Norrath, Gauntlet.
The story itself is told with voice overs and drawings. The voice-work is good and the drawings quite nice, I especially loved the look of the Elf King. The story is pretty linear and the side quests are minimal.
While the story is linear there is some backtracking and such and sometimes the lack of a minimap can be a pain in the ass, you do have a waypoint arrow but its vague at best. So I had moments of annoyance as i tried to figure out what the hell i missed in order to get door A to open when the waypoint arrow only kept pointing at said door when the person I needed was on the other side of the map.

The game also has a bad habit of suddenly sending out hordes of little jumpy minions that keep spawning out of the ground around you, mobbing you. Something that my poor Wizard couldn't stand up to early on in the game, after all as a wizard he was suitably squishy despite the bitchin' spike armour.

I feel there's something else I'm forgetting...I distract easy..look shiny!
...
...
Oh sorry, there was this like glitter thing on the ground and the sun hit it and...well that's not important right now...
I might have forgotten something and I'll probably think of it after I post this so I'll update it if it comes to me (chances are it will wake me up at 3am).

For now know that its a fun little hack n slash. Not deep, not difficult but enjoyable and very pick up and play. Well worth its non-sale price of $15.
You KNOW me, and my track record with buying, playing, finishing games. For me to buy it, play it and finish it all in the same week, its worth a look at.



Oh oh OH! I remember now!!!

the bulletpoints said that you could take over enemies! Yes! you can! and i forgot because honestly, its a footnote, something you are required to do exactly ONCE and after that it is optional. I did it a few times just for shits and giggles but really, its nothing deeper than a fun trick to do once in a while. Basically sometimes there will be some  BIG enemies, trolls, ents, giant spiders and the like. When a yellow circle is visible under them you can press a button and take over their movements causing them to wreak havoc among their little minions. If you play your cards right you'll kill all their little friends and their little friends will damage him so much you ride him to death. When the enemy dies you get booted back to your own body again. Its fun enough but, its sometimes easier just to go in there and fight than it is to wade through the smaller enemies to control the bigger one. The big ones arent that hard to take out anyway.

minor footnote...the game does have co-op, but its only local co-op which kinda sucks cause a friend had bought the game as well in hopes we could play together but so such luck.

So as usual, I'll leave you with a trailer for your enjoyment and I DEMAND! (in the nicest possible way, please) that you give the game a try if hack n slash is your thing.