Mornings make my day cloudy

[overcastgames]

Ys VI: The Ark Of Napishtim

I have posted before about the Ys series in most of its entirety, though I never gave any game its own post. Today that changes, because I have finally found and played Ys VI, and I have some thought on it I would like to share.

Ys VI is a weird game for me, all the other games I have played were remakes of older titles, but I don’t think any such thing like that exists for Ys VI, on top of that, it was incredibly hard to find. For some perspective, during my search for Ys titles, I went to the largest video game convention in the state, to Anime Weekend Atlanta, and to multiple used game stores. Only mid-October did I finally set my eyes on the PS2 version of it, and it was completely by chance.

I would consider Ys VI a fresh start for the Ys series in multiple ways. In the west, it was the first title in the series to be released in 11 years, on account of there being 2 Ys fours, and Ys V being so bad it never got localized. It also cemented a new fast-paced, elemental fighting system to the series, which brought it closer to what we know the series as today. 

The story of Ys VI is a rather bland one, Adol has fallen off a pirate ship, and washed ashore in the Islands of Canaan. Not long after he sets out on his journey does he get swept up in the Islands mysteries, and eventually be forced to stop some disaster from happening, just another day in the life of Adol Christin. One interesting thing of note though, is that because of this games placement in the overall timeline, Adol’s journeys have gained him some renown, many people seem to know who he is, and refer to him as Adol the Red, which I guess means the only thing he’s really famous for is his hair color.

The gameplay is what really drives an Ys game though, and while it could be said that Ys VI is no slouch in that department, it definitely isn’t up to par with later games. You get a basic attack button, a jump button, and a magic button, and with those 3 things, you can make your way through the game mostly fine. there is also a button to use items, which is fine for healing in tough situations. The game has other little intricacies that take a little more getting used to though. pressing jump and attack will allow Adol to do a jump attack, which is good for getting rid of flying enemies. jumping and then attacking as you come back down performs a down thrust, this is useful for certain types of enemies that a frontal attack won’t work on. There are three different swords in the game each with it’s own element. These are: wind, electricity, and fire. these swords all have unique abilities outside of the magic attacks, but I never quite nailed down the timing. The wind sword adds a whirlwind slash at the end of your normal combo, this can be extended with proper button timing. The electric sword has a lightning stab that happens at the end of a combo, but I could only ever get it to happen every other attempt. The fire sword has a fire wave that you can activate by just holding the attack button. Aa far as combat is concerned, that is the long and short of it.

Ys VI has a few outstanding issues with it, and while some of it can be written off as a product of an older time, some of it is inexcusable. For starters, there is a long jump in the game, which can be used, and in some cases should be used, to clear larger gaps, this is done by tapping the direction you wish to go, and pressing the attack button, then jump. When it works, it works, but I can’t tell you how many time I have slid of the edge of a platform trying to do this move.

The voice acting in this game is also among the worse English dubs I have ever heard. Normally I will defend an English dub, but this is truly awful. There is a bit of wiggle room here, because the mid 2000′s were a weird time for voice acting in video games (insert Tidus laugh here), and there is also codes that let you switch to the less grating Japanese voices. This is the only time in my life I can remember thinking to myself that the fact the entire game was voiced was a bad thing.

I won’t harp to much on the FMV scenes, while they may be some of the ugliest 3D models I have ever seen, it’s honestly just a part of playing a PS2 game, it’s part of the experience, or so I tell myself. 

Finally, the PS2 version has no fast travel system, everywhere you need to go must be walked to. This issue has been resolved in later releases. 

There is a lot to be said about where Ys VI falls in the series, and the PS2 in general. I shouldn’t expect the experience to be perfect, but where it falters, you can feel it. Also RPG’s aren’t Platformers, please stop.

If you are interested, and can find it, Ys VI is available on PS2, PSP, and PC.

P.S. there is video evidence of me finding this game, which can be seen here: shout outs to @milkyteas

My new video is up ! Watch as me and my friends randomly drive through N.C. and visit local video game shops. My fiancee @gamesnerd (Somari

[overcastgames]

Trails in the Sky: A New Face For an Old Series

A few hours ago, I played through the last parts of Trails in the Sky, the first part of a 3 part series, and Falcom’s attempt to rebrand it’s long running Legend of Heroes series. If Legend of Heroes sounds familiar, it is because Trails of Cold Steel also occupies the same overarching story. 

For anyone who has played these games, it may not come as a surprise that a lot of what I wrote about Trails of Cold Steel is applicable to Trails in the Sky, as they share a lot of the same mechanics, though because Trails in the Sky is Cold Steel’s predecessor, a lot of it’s mechanics aren’t quite as fleshed out as Cold Steel. 

The story for Trails in the sky puts the player in the shoes of Estelle Bright, a girl who’s father has left to go solve a crisis elsewhere, and is currently in training to become a bracer, which are kind of like mercenaries, but with a bit more dignity. Bracers handle everything from tiny tasks to full blown catastrophe’s. The entire game follows Estelle and her adopted brother Joshua as they travel the country of Liberl, a neighboring country of Erebonia which was used as Cold Steel’s setting. During the course of their journey though, things get complicated, and they find themselves thrown directly in the middle of a conspiracy. 

As I said, much of what applies to Steel applies here in the game play department. The game is turn based, and there are 3 main types of actions you can take on your turns. These come in the form of regular attacks, arts and crafts. while the crafts are mainly the same character specific attacks that I had gotten used to, the arts are a little different. In Cold Steel, the arts you could use were determined by the quartz that you had equipped. While the system is still reliant on quartz, now the arts are determined by a combination of elemental quartz you have equipped, rather than a single art being mapped to a single quartz. This system would be fine, except that in order to figure out which combination of quartz will give you which art, you have to dive through a handful of menus and memorize element combinations, this system didn’t really sit well with me, so I ended up stacking a lot of things together that I thought worked well, but ended up missing out on some good attacks along the way. 

Another gripe I have is that some of the dungeons didn’t have a map to go with them. this led to some blind wandering on my part.

Overall, Trails in the Sky was a good game, and I am glad that I went back to play it. I’ll be picking up Trails in the Sky Second Chapter soon, but if you want to pick up the first game, it is available on the PSP and Steam

[catchymemes]

[blackcat-hause]

@dumbasslunarwitch KYYYAAAALLLLLL!!!!!!

[dumbasslunarwitch]

Those arms are too much

[overcastgames]

Persona 3: Life on the Edge

The Persona series is my personal favorite game series. I’m not sure why, maybe it’s my love of anime, or the fantastic music associated with the series. Maybe it’s the social-sim aspects of the newer games in the series that I love. Whatever it is, Persona will always hold a place in my life.

My introduction to the series is a little strange, I had been watching a youtuber by the name of superjeenius, on a whim, I decided to check out his let’s play of Persona 4 Golden, and was instantly hooked on the series. Sometime shortly after I bought Persona 3 FES on sale from the PSN and thus my trip through RPG hell began. 

The Persona series began its life as a spin-off of Atlus’ flagship series Shin Megami Tensei in 1996. With the popularity of the series however, the Persona series eventually took on a life of it’s own, surpassing its predecessor in popularity.

There are many things from the SMT series that Persona has retained though. Many of it’s core mechanics remain the same, and it still maintains a high level of Atlus’ notorious difficulty. Where it separates from its sister series though, is purely with progression. 

In Persona 3 in particular, the player is given a set calendar to work their way through, all in all it amounts to about ¾ of an in game year. This time is where the Persona series shines. While some of this time must be spent doing typical RPG things, a lot of it is left to the player to decide what they want to do with it. You can do things like: spend time with key characters to boost your bond with them, and learn more about them as characters, do various activities that will increase your main characters traits, take on a list of side quests, go do some dungeon crawling, or just go hang out in your room if you don’t feel like doing any of that. There are set dates that relate to story progression, so as long as you keep that in mind, there is really no lack of things to do in Persona 3′s world.

Story wise, the player takes on the role of the silent protagonist, built on the old RPG trope of allowing players to insert themselves into the games. you can give him whatever name you want, especially since his canon name continuously changes. Anyway, the player fills the role of the blue-haired emo boy during a year in his life when he has just come to an island for school. On his way there, strange things begin occurring, a random blackout, coffins in the streets, a strangely large moon, and a girl with a gun In her hand. Together with the rest of the cast, you spend the year as SEES a group dedicated to investigating and ending these occurrences. 

While some of the characters can be obnoxious, there is no doubt that Persona 3 is a character driven game. Much or your time can be spent getting to know the characters around you, and what their goals are in life, and as your time with the game goes on, the characters around you grow with you.

Mechanically, Persona 3 is a turn-based RPG. you attack, your opponent attacks, and the cycle goes on and on and on and on, except not really. The battle mechanics may seem simple at first, but there is complexity there for sure. You have the option to attack with your base weapon sure, and there is merit to that on occasion. Much of what you’ll be relying on in battle though is your persona, the avatars from which the series draws its name.

Each character in your party has their own persona, and subsequently their own base element. Persona’s are based on some character trait that each character has, and everyone gets one. Except this is an anime, so of course the protagonist has multiple. You can amass personas which give you a variety of skills to use in battle through a few different ways. The most common way you’ll likely gain a new persona is through shuffle time, a shuffling card game that can take place at the end of a battle. There are benefits that can be found in shuffle time as well, you can use it to regain hp, or sp, the latter of which is used to perform most magic in the game, you can also find cards that give you money, or even a weapon, though usually the weapons are only good for selling. Another way to get a new persona is through the fusion system, this is a carry-over from SMT. Persona fusion is largely exactly what it sounds like, when desired, there is a place you can go to combine 2 or sometimes more, personas to create a stronger one, most of the time, skills can be passed from the fusion personas to the result persona as well, though during persona 3, there is no real control over which skills get passed down. Finally, using a tool that comes later in the game, you can re-summon old personas.

Personas are important for combat because they allow you elemental attacks. Much of Persona’s battle system relies on finding and exploiting weaknesses of the enemies you are up against, this is very similar to SMT’s press-turn system, though it does take its liberties. Hitting an enemies weakness not only does extra damage, but it also knocks the enemy down rendering them immobile for the following turn, additionally, it allows the character who hit that weakness to attack a second time, either until they break the chain by not hitting a weakness, or they have successfully hit all enemy weaknesses. During the latter case an “All-Out” attack is possible, this is an attack that involves all of your current party members, and does a lot of damage in most cases. All-Out attacks are the most desirable outcome in most battles. Because of this though, you run the risk of burning through your sp pretty quickly, so it’s important to keep an eye on that. The weakness chart is pretty simple to follow, first are weapon attacks: they read as slash, pierce, and strike, these can be performed with base weapons, and some persona attacks carry these traits as well. Next are the elements: fire, ice, electricity, wind, light and dark. Light and dark are special, because they don’t do normal damage like the other attacks do, rather they are insta-kill attacks. There is one other element known as almighty, but it doesn’t really track as a weakness. What’s important to remember here is that strengths and weaknesses and the effects therein apply to your characters as well, if your weakness gets hit, you will be knocked down, and the enemy gets another turn, more frighteningly though, is that light and dark are insta-kill for you as well, I can’t count how many times I have seen an enemy use these attacks, and felt a knot in my chest as I wait to see if I’m done or not. 

Though I would love to continue singing Persona 3′s praises, there are some questionable things that the game does. During battles you have no control over what your party does, only the main character, this was changed in later games, and even in the PSP release of the game, but for the moment, it leaves you helpless as you watch your ai party members do stupid things for the hundredth time. Additionally, your party members can get tired during dungeon exploration, which can be a drag early game because it happens fairly regularly, as they level up, this is less of a problem, but it still happens, and it can be annoying. Perhaps the worst thing though is the actual dungeon itself. The main area you’ll be sinking most of your time into is called Tartarus, a deformed version of the high school you attend, that is now a sprawling 200+ floor tower. Throughout much of the game, the story treats Tartarus as a side thing that can be taken on should you wish to get some level grinding in, but the reality is, finishing Tartarus is mandatory, and they don’t tell you that until the last story beats are happening. When I say 200+ floors, I mean it. Tartarus stands at exactly 264 floors tall, and you have to make your way through each of them. The floors themselves aren’t that big, but they are randomly generated, so memorizing floor layout won’t help. Not all of the floors are immediately available to you though, a new set unlocks after each major story point. For your sanity I would encourage you to take on each set as they become available, because if you wait, you’ll be in for quite the slog. 

Despite it’s flaws, Persona 3 is where I discovered my love for not only the series but the RPG genre, it holds a place in my heart that most other games could not hope to have. It can be fun, and engaging, but it can also be frustrating, and painfully boring.  I’m sure I will get around to the other games at some point, but for now I think this is good enough.

If you are interested in playing Persona 3, it is available on PS2, PS3, and PSP, in various forms. In my opinion FES is the best version of the game, but your opinion may vary.

[overcastgames]

RPG’s

This post is a little different from the other ones I have written. Instead of focusing on a game or series, this time I want to talk about my personal favorite genre. Technically speaking, I mean JRPG’s, but I have found joy in the western ones as well.

If I’m being honest, my love for RPG’s most likely stems from my lifelong Pokémon addiction. When Pokémon first came out, I was 6, and it is a series that perseveres to this day, and in a way, it has grown with me. Pokémon though, is only a tiny part of the story, because it barely qualifies as an RPG, all of the makings are there sure, but honestly, none of the challenge and fantastical story is present.

Story here is the key, because the biggest draw to RPG’s for me is the story that comes along with it. They can be tales of fantasy, science fiction, adolescence, or just some anime bs that someone whipped out. The story is key to a good game in my opinion, but also it’s ending has to be good too. A fantastic story means nothing if the climax is a let down. (I’m looking at you V3). 

Another thing that draws me towards RPG’s is the characters. A lot of the times I will play a game just to see what kind of people are in the main party, or how they interact with one another. Character writing is important, because if you aren’t invested in the characters, then you won’t care about their stories, a fact that shining resonance taught me too well. 

I’ve played a lot of RPG’s in my life, but the single franchise that made me realize that I love them so much is the Persona series. I want to write a more in depth post about Persona at a later time, so for now, all I will say is that I love it. After playing Persona 3, I got into other series, I bought into the Tales Of series for the first time with Tales of Xillia. I played Shin Megami Tensei for the first time and I loved every bit of it. I went to my GameStop and bought Trails of Cold Steel, because I saw some people in a page I was part of on Facebook, and that introduced to Falcom, a company I have already given my praise to on multiple occasions and will continue to do so. It feels like a rabbit hole sometimes, because no matter how many RPG’s I play there are always more to try, and I have no doubt that there are some gems out there that I have yet to play, but I can’t wait to get to it.

I guess that’s all I really wanted to say about it. I love the RPG genre a lot, and I probably made that clear. I wanted to write something because I want to stay active. That’s all for now.

[overcastgames]

Reminder that Adol Christin is the ugliest protagonist

[third-energy]

[dumbasslunarwitch]

His hair is just off the charts

[overcastgames]

Soul Calibur 6: Some late Impressions

Aside from my usual fare of Japanese Role Playing Games, and the occasional AAA venture (Red Dead Redemption 2 is upon us), I also play a decent amount of fighting games. From Tekken to BlazBlue, I’ve generally played around a bit with all of the main franchises, and some of the non-mainstream ones. Naturally, when Bamco made the announcement that Soul Calibur 6 was happening, 6 years removed from the last installment, I was overjoyed.

When they announced that there would be a network test, I immediately saved the date.

When the network test went live, I was there, until the long connection times prompted me to quit and come back a different day. Come back I did however, and when I got into my first match, it was like coming back to a place I hadn’t been to in a long time.

There really isn’t much detail to go into here, the test was restricted to network play only, and I only got to play a few matches over the weekend. The few I played however, were really fun. I’m really happy they brought back much of the cast from the titles before 5, not that I have a problem with 5’s cast, but I really missed many of the characters I had learned from previous entries, especially Sophitia, I’m so glad she’s back.

The test included the two known DLC characters, Geralt from the Witcher series, and Tira, so I got to play around with them too. Tira was one of my mains in the previous titles, and immediately some differences to how she controls were noticeable Geralt on the other hand I had a lot of fun with. The Witcher 3 is one of the single best Western RPG’s I’ve played to date, so his presence was appreciated. He’s deceptively fast too, which is a trait I value in a fighting game character.

Honestly, I’m really only proficient at fighting games, I don’t really know any of the technical stuff that experts pick up on, the fact remains though, my time with Soul Calibur 6 was extremely enjoyable.

My current financial situation only really allows for one or two game purchases a month, and unfortunately, I had to pass up Soul Calibur for RDR 2, but I will be picking it up eventually.

If you want Soul Calibur 6 however, it will be available on PS4, Xbox One, and Windows on October 19th, 2018.

[houshou]

why do things aimed at “gamers” look like that

[french-boat-deactivated20181217]

look like what?

[houshou]

[suppyguppy]

[captainthundernuts]

you fucking leave reaper out of this

[suppyguppy]

[casualgabrielreyes]

[dumbasslunarwitch]

I stared at that first picture for WAY too long before understanding that it's a mouse. Why is game culture like this

[overcastgames]

Super Mario Party: More Mario, Less Party

Super Mario Party recently hit store shelves and Nintendo touted this entry in the series as a return to form for the series, going back to what the series was pre Mario Party 9-10 and some would argue 8. For those wondering if the game lives up to that promise, the answer is complicated. 

Mario Party is a series that I have always admired from afar. I owned 1 and 3 on the N64 when I was a child, and when the GameCube hit, I rented 4 and 5. it is only recently that I have had the chance to play 6, and I borrowed 7 from a friend when I was in high school. By the time the Wii rolled around, I had lost interest in playing the series, as the motion controls shoe-horned into every Wii game made it hard to enjoy playing. 9 and 10 were a departure from the series formula, as the company responsible for the Mario Party series was bought by Konami and subsequently shut down. However anyone who has played those games can tell you that they certainly did not live up to the Mario Party name.

When it was announced that Super Mario Party would be bringing back the original format for the series, their was an heir of hesitant anticipation around it. In some aspects it delivers, but in others it fails to execute.

Starting with Super Mario Party’s strongest point, it’s minigames. The Minigames in a Mario Party game are a big part of what makes the game a Mario Party game, and the ones featured here are no exception. The games in Super Mario Party are some of the best they have been in a while. Shout outs to Slaparazzi, a game where players must fight each other to get front and center for a picture, it’s a chaotic mess, and one that I feel like I could continue playing for hours. The way that the series has handled minigame practice has changed as well, in the past, there would be a practice round that players could choose if they were unfamiliar with the game. In Super Mario Party, practice takes place on the instruction menu for each game.

While the minigames are certainly a strong showing, as we learned from the top 100, they are only a part of what makes a good Mario party game.

Another piece of this puzzle is the boards, and honestly, this is where the game really starts to slip. for starters there are only 4 boards, 3 to begin with and 1 unlockable board. In addition to the small number, the boards themselves are also tiny. To compensate for this, the dice rolls allowed are extremely limiting. At the beginning of each players turn they are present with a die numbered 1-6, each character also has their own unique die that has a set of numbers on it that can either be helpful or detrimental. Some dice may have multiples of a number making it more likely to roll if you need it in a pinch, others may have higher numbers, but compensate by also having minus coins on a side or 2. Because of these limited rolls however, in some cases it can be very possible to end up some place you absolutely don’t want to be. One of the boards is a series of islands connected by two bridges, but you can also use warp pipes to move to the opposite island from the one you started on. These pipes are activated by landing on either of the two event spaces in front of them. Ordinarily this wouldn’t be much of a problem, however, I rolled an 11 with one of my items, and made an entire lap around one of the islands. This small space, combined with the lower than normal rolls, means that at any given time you have a 1 in 3 chance of taking a warp pipe to somewhere you didn’t want to be. for me, this was beyond frustrating, as this happened to me 7 times out of our 15 turn game. This means roughly half the time I was playing, I was warping this way and that beyond my control.

Speaking of items, the variety in this game is lacking. the mushroom, golden mushroom, and poison mushroom have all made a return, however the way they work is different than how it used to be. mushrooms and golden mushrooms add +3 and +5 to your rolls respectively. where the poison mushroom is a flat -2 to any opponents roll. Other items exist such as the custom dice block, which allows you to pick any number of spaces to move between 1 and 6, the hidden block card which summons a hidden block, which may hold coins or even a star, the coinnado, which takes 10 coins from a chosen player, and the ally phone, more on that later. The big item in the game though, is the golden pipe, this serves the same purpose that magic lamps did in the previous games, it can take a person directly to a star, or so close to it that it would be impossible for them to not get it. Unlike the magic lamps however, the golden pipe is far too easy to come by, you might be given one from a random item space, or you can by them from item shops for the low price of 10 coins. for perspective, in earlier entries, the magic lamp could cost as much as 30 coins, and the star was an additional 20, making for a total of 50. Super Mario Party has dulled the pain though, as stars only cost 10 coins to obtain now, meaning the total loss is only 20 coins. this makes the stars far easier to get, but at the same time eliminates most of the drive to be good at the game. Minigames now award 2nd and 3rd place prizes, though small, it doesn’t take much to reach the 10 coin goal to obtain a star, or t6he 20 coin goal if done through the pipe. 

In addition to all of this, the game suffers most from a lack of personality. The announcer sounds bored every time they say anything. The minigame roulette is bland, and the navigation leaves much to be desired. One cute thing that was pointed out though is that whenever the map is brought up, the character whose turn it is will actually pull a map out of their pocket and look at it. Attention to detail like that is something that Nintendo is really good at, it just hurts a little bit that the game itself feels lacking because of the way everything else is.

I won’t complain about the characters, there are a lot of them, and if for some reason you’ve ever wanted to play Mario Party as a Monty Mole, then Super Mario Party has you covered. Variety is never bad. Especially in this case, as their is now an ally system in place. through the use of the ally phone, or ally spaces on the board, a secondary character can be summoned and their character block will be added to your inventory. They themselves can also help with dice rolls, but their dice only have 1′s and 2′s on them, so it doesn’t add much. It is possible to summon a second ally to help you as well. in addition to dice rolls, ally’s also take part in special team minigames where they might be of use.

I really want to like Super Mario Party, because despite it’s flaws, I had a lot of fun playing it. Certainly it is a step in the right direction to returning the series to its former self, but it doesn’t reach far enough on most accounts. 

It’s hard to recommend Super Mario Party to most people because while it can be a good time, it will likely get stale fast. However, if you have some friends who don’t mind the same 4 boards, Super Mario Party is available on Nintendo Switch.

[overcastgames]

Trails of Cold Steel Part 1: A Double Feature.

Since I started writing these game posts, I have covered two of the 3 main franchises that come from Nihon Falcom. Today it is finally time to tackle at least a portion of the last franchise, The Legend of Heroes.

Though the Trails of Cold Steel games, hereto referred as ToCS, are their own franchise, they are but a tiny part of the larger mythos that Falcom has byult with the Legen of Heroes franchise. Stick around the series long enough, and you can see where the games tie into the overarching story that being told. Falcom has built a truly original world through the Legend of Heroes series, and the stories within are ones of military might, and political intrigue.

Inside of this larger narrative lies ToCS, following the most recent events in the timeline, but more specifically following the path of Rean Schwarzer, as he transfers himself from ordinary high school boy, to a full blown war hero. 

Like any good anime protagonist, Rean has a few special qualities that help him get ahead of his peer. These special qualities are better left for the player to explore however, so I won’t be divulging Rean’s talents here. 

Story wise, ToCS is broken into 4 different games, with ToCS 1 and 2 already being released in the west, currently no announcement has been made about a western release of 3 or 4, though both are out in Japan. Game 1 follows Rean as he gets to know the fellow members of his military class Class VII. throughout the game Rean and his companions are sent to many different cities throughout the eastern half of the country of Erobonia, one of the main countries of the series’ lore. during the course of these visits, Rean and subsequently the player can learn about customs of a city, what purpose it serves to the overall country, and take on side quests to help better the lives of the people in the cities. Overtime though, the story ramps up and quickly barrels towards the beginnings of a civil war between the Nobility, and the Military. The second game sees the continuations and conclusion of this civil war, as seen through the eyes of Rean and his companions.

ToCS and I imagine many of the games in the series, is a turn based RPG, but the way it handles it’s battle mechanics can often make you forget that. for starters, there are many character from which to draw your main party, though the way the way the first game plays out, you may be forced to use members that you might not otherwise use. Each character has their own strengths and weaknesses, but thanks to the games extensive customization options, you can build however you want. This is done through the quartz system. Quartz has a myriad of uses, not the least of which is serving as the magic system of the series. on top of that Quartz can also provide buffs, or passive debuffs on enemies, as well as being used to inflict a number of different status ailments.

In addition to Quartz, each character comes with their own special skills, which in this case are known as crafts, which is the counterpart of the magics known as arts. Finally, each character has a special skill which can cause a lot of damage when used well, known as S-Breaks.

Their are three gauges to be concerned with: HP, EP, and CP. As you might imagine, HP is pretty self explanatory. EP is used to cast arts, and CP is used in crafts, and S-Breaks. strategic management of these gauges is the key to swift victory. 

In addition to these mechanics is a link system, which allows for characters to support one another in battle, different links have different effects. One person might heal you on damage taken, another might restore some EP after the use of an art.

ToCS 2 adds a couple more mechanics to the mix. The overdrive mechanic allows for two linked characters to relentlessly attack an enemy for 3 consecutive turns. In addition to this, all arts can be cast on the same turn, where they would be otherwise delayed, and a significant chunk of health and CP is recovered at the start of overdrive usage. Also added into the mix are Mech battles, which are special boss fights fought in a kind of Rock, Paper, Scissors manner but maybe not how you would think. the trick to the mech battles is to find the right part of the opponents body to attack given whatever stance they may be in. 

ToCS 2 also adds a fair bit to mobility, where in the first game you traveled from town to town by train, here, that is done by airship. Overworld mobility is also changed though, story events that take place lead to Rean having a motorcycle at his disposal, and later down the line, horses as well.

The story and characters of ToCS is what drives the series. Even though I found myself wishing for a reprieve by the time I finished my 85 hour playthrough of ToCS 2, when it was all said and done, I was sad to see it end. 

An argument can be made that the games are a little over-ambitious for the PSVita, loading times and slowdown are rampant throughout both games, but they never really bothered me. What does bother me though, is that occasionally the Voice work for the game seems unfinished. Not that it’s bad, but in the default game sometimes characters would have voiced dialogue and then other characters in the same seen wouldn’t. it’s inconsistent. I hear the PC versions added a lot to the Voice track though, so perhaps this has already been fixed. 

Long story short, I love this series. This was my first entry in any game series done by Falcom, and I plan to continue supporting them as a company. as far as RPG’s go this series is only behind Persona in terms of my personal enjoyment. I would encourage anyone to go out and find a copy of Trails of Cold Steel, I really love it that much.

The series is available on PsVita, PS3, Steam, and will be available on PS4 early 2019 in the west. Hopefully Trails of Cold Steel 3 and 4 are coming west soon.

As soon as these are made available for to play and finish, I will be sure to cover them here.

[anime--irl]

Anime_irl

[dumbasslunarwitch]

@draggysnerddungeon dis you

[wizardjpeg]

oh i am so genius

[wizardjpeg]

instead of purchase one sandwich i can purchase the materials (bread, soap, etc) and make more than one sandwich

[dumbasslunarwitch]

Wait...

[gxldslvgs-deactivated20130516]

[aurevoir-mes-amis-deactivated20]

why are people even questioning obesity in america

[merlinsbearditsthedoctor]

why is your tea liquidised?

[american-auror-story]

….. Where exactly do you live that the tea isn’t liquid?!?

[merlinsbearditsthedoctor]

ENGLAND. WHERE IT IS IN A BAG AND YOU MAKE IT YOURSELF.

like what do you do with already liquid tea? Microwave it?

[asmallvillageincanada]

No it’s sweet tea you drink it cold

[abbysrwk-deactivated20140508]

WHO DRINKS COLD TEA???

[randomthingieshere]

HAVE YOU NEVER HAD ICED/SWEET TEA BEFORE?!?

[prouwu-deactivated20190721]

so i reblogged this from a british person and i’ve been laughing at their tags for 600 years

[cloudyobsession]

England, you stole tea from China.  You’ve had it a mere 4 centuries compared to their 30+.  Don’t play like you’re some kind of authority.

[starkinglyhandsome-deactivated2]

[skeletons ooh-ing]

[saveoursestras]

Shots fired. World War Tea has officially begun.

[myfriendscallmemaury]

#INTO THE HARBOR

[theanimangagirl]

[prettyboyshyflizzy]

Englad doesn’t own anything

[dad-monster-deactivated20171222]

except that time we owned most of the world

[dangerbooze]

[that-artgirl-deactivated2019081]

If I stop reblogging this, I’ve gone to the other side.

[navybluenestea-deactivated20191]

I have only seen this legendary post in screenshots, so today is a blessed day.

[daeva-agas]

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE’S NO BOTTLED TEA IN ENGLAND 

[ninja-pyro]

In Asia you can get it in cans and bottles

[dangerbooze]

Do you know how rare it is for me to see this post resurface on my dash?

Also, you can get it in bottles and cans at the local Asian market here.

[thessiansunfish]

Still dying.

[bittersweet-loverboy]

@mrdevorak

[deviatedfamily]

(OOC OKAY I KNOW THIS ISN’T THE USUAL STUFF I POST BUT MY BRITISH ASS WAS GIGGLING FOR FIVE MINUTES (resulting in an asthma attack but oh well) AND I NEEDED TO SHARE IT)

[theoldness]

bitch…omg

[spock-ho-deactivated20170609]

omfg

[elpiso]

slam me in that Showert Deluxe… get me an omniwash™

[tiqerboy-archive-blog]

this is a carwash for people

[8bitnatsuki-deactivated20200525]

I hear if you turn them all on at once you can use the water pressure to glitch past the boss room

[hollisofficial]

[ocfos]

You fucker

[dumbasslunarwitch]

I took one look at this and thought about

So yeah, there's that

[gamesnerd]

KINGDOM HEARTS WUBS YOU!

I don’t even know why it’s taken me so long to comment on this but I’m sure you all know by now Kingdom Hearts musician Utada Hikaru is teaming up with EMMY award wining Skrillex.

Yes, you heard that right, Skrillex.

According to the IGN article that I read a few days ago, Skrillex wanted to team up with Hikaru to do a collab or a remix of the song we’ve been hearing in those trailers, “Don’t Think Twice.” Apparently, they had SO MUCH FUN together that they’re making a totally brand new song titled, “Face My Fears” and it will be the theme song of KH3.

When I think about the Kingdom Hearts franchise I think of powerful melodies that complement just how twisted and emotional the story line is. I don’t think about Skrillex and I definitely don’t think about his wubs.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how this pans out.

Kingdom Hearts 3's Opening Theme Song Is a Utada Hikaru and Skrillex Collaboration - IGN

A self-professed KH fan, Skrillex has partnered with Utada Hikaru to make Kingdom Hearts 3's opening song.

[dumbasslunarwitch]

WHO OKAYED THIS!?

[gamesnerd]

*NEW* SLIPPERY MARIO BROS DS

Let’s talk about the New Super Mario Bros DS.

The backstory to this game is nothing new. You chase Bowser Jr. all throughout 8 different worlds in order to save Princess Peach.

The gameplay for this game, I wouldn’t say it’s horrible, but it’s not very good. The jumps feel a little laggy and Mario plays very slippery. If you’re running full speed or even just normally, and you try to jump he’ll slide for like half a second before jumping. I’m already bad at platforming so playing in the snow world was absolute hell.

There are star coins hidden away on each level and you can spend 5 coins on special toad houses, which will give you extra lives or a power up depending on which color house you go into, or on alternate routes in each world map. You can also just skip trying to find these coins and progress the story in a much faster way and I wouldn’t even blame you if you wanted to go that route.

The boss battles with Bowser Jr. are all pretty easy, sometimes he’ll bring in one of his friends to do the battle for him. Id even go as far as to say that the actual platforming is harder than the boss battles and that’s mainly to do with the shitty mechanics of actually playing each level.

Also! This game has a 2 player setting that I’m sure works over remote play. So if you really want to have a horrible time, you can grab a friend and play co-op platforming!

This slippery ass game is available exclusively for the Nintendo DS

[turing-tested]

did you know? the human body only uses 15% of it’s bones at any given time. imagine what would happen if we had access to 50%, or even 80% of our bones

[evelynthecreature]

is this what deku was thinking when he figured out he had legs?

[turing-tested]

deku, finding out he has leg bones: jesus fukc i can’t fuckin wait to break these bad boys