Warning! This article may contain spoilers and content, inappropriate for children…or may not contain. Who am I kidding, get the children away from the screen.
I have been watching BL dramas for a while now, but since I dislike melodrama, it’s pretty hard to pick up shows to watch. So, I’ve decided to make the list of recommendations of the BL series with interesting stories, aimed for those, who want to see characters dealing with problems beside sole relationship development.
Revenged Love
While I’m not the biggest fan of romance and premise of RL isn’t exactly my cup of tea, my inner voice insisted that I should at least give this show a try. And despite the initial skepticism, RL turned out to be very nice surprise. It starts like a light-hearted comedy with some action and drama elements and turns into full-blown mix of drama and melodrama somewhere halfway through. What I really liked about RL is its memorable cast of characters (one of those rare shows, where both main and second couple are equally interesting) and the fact, that show doesn’t concentrate on the relationships only. RL shows, that characters actually have a life outside the relationship, and does a great job giving them solid development during the course of the story. For me, the weakest part of the show were episodes from 14 to 18, where Chi Cheng’s ex shows up and the melodramatic subplot takes over. It isn’t that bad, just no better than at any other average melodrama, with characters suddenly acting like an idiots and jumping to conclusions. But after a certain really sad plot-twist show gets better again and remains that way until the finale. Overall, RL is high-quality series with great acting, beautiful soundtrack, many memorable scenes and almost without pacing problems, which is very pleasant to watch. Even if romance isn’t your genre, I highly suggest giving RL a try.
Overall impression: 9 out of 10.
Amount of NSFW content: 3 out of 5 (few sex scenes and several instances of making out, everything is well-staged and pretty modest).
Dead Friend Forever
DFF immediately piqued my interest, since horror-themed BL stories are quite rare, let alone quality ones. DFF starts in the finest traditions of the slasher movies, deliberately gathering pretty much every trope, common for the genre. But after a few episodes focus shifts to the events of the past, and slasher backs away in favor of thriller, drama and tragedy. Core plot, while lacks in originality, filled with many interesting twists and keeps in suspense from the beginning to the end. Also, DFF has great soundtrack and very good acting. DFF has large cast of main characters, and, while only few of them have sympathetic traits, all of them are interesting to follow. The only serious con of the show is its ending, which looks like authors made two separate endings, couldn’t decide, which one is more fitting, and merged them together without much thinking. Personally, I prefer to stick with the time skip, simply ignoring the last-minute sudden plot twist right before the ending credits. Honestly, even if story is a tragedy, it doesn’t necessary mean that literally everyone should die. But, despite the inconsistent ending, I still suggest giving DFF a try, especially if you like quality claustrophobic thrillers, filled with paranoia and mutual suspicion, where present events are tied to the past tragedies.
Overall impression: 8,5 out of 10.
Amount of NSFW content: 4 out of 5 (couple of sex and making out scenes, while not as detailed as in 4 Minutes, still pretty explicit).
4 Minutes
First and foremost, if you came to watch this show for the romance, you’ll probably be disappointed. The core of the series is psychological thriller and drama with some detective and supernatural elements. While we have two interesting couples as main characters, their respective relationships are played in quite dramatic way. 4 Minutes brings up topics similar to DFF, where characters are forced to face the consequences of their past actions, which can’t be undone. And despite being on the lighter side of things compared to DFF, 4 Minutes is still dark and sometimes depressing show. Plot starts slow, but quickly picks up the pace, adding more pieces to the puzzle with each episode. Overall, 4 Minutes is very high-quality series with wonderful filming and acting and interesting plot, which managed to make me really emotionally invested. If you want quality engaging thriller, I highly recommend to try 4 Minutes out.
Overall impression: 9 out of 10.
Amount of NSFW content: 5 out of 5 (several sex scenes, all of them leave very little to imagination, one of them has Vivaldi’s “Winter” playing on the background, if I’m not mistaken).
Manner of Death
This show is a quality example of classic murder mystery in the small town, where everyone hides few skeletons in the closet. Story revolves around coroner and teacher, investigating the death of their common friend, whose case was swept under the rug by the local police. First half of the show is pure detective with plot moving at a leisurely pace, while second half shifts more towards action and melodrama. Plot is interesting to follow and have several good twists. To the pros of the show I would also like to add nice atmosphere of the small town, surrounded by the rugged nature, and very sympathetic main couple, who made me genuinely feel for them.
Overall impression: 8,5 out of 10.
Amount of NSFW content: 2 out of 5 (two making out scenes (one in episode 7 is especially good), few kisses and that’s that, also several disturbing topics arise as plot progresses, but everything is very toned down, and roughly falls under the 15+ rating).
Baker Boys
Including BB in my list can, probably, be considered cheating, since it’s not exactly a BL. While one of the main characters is openly gay and show itself sometimes walks into BL territory, there is no actual romantic subplot. BB makes heavy emphasis on the themes of friendship and mutual support, rather than romance, and while there are some bits of BL, they are played out mostly like either teasing or affectionate parody on genre’s clichés. But I simply couldn’t leave this show be, because it got me hooked and emotionally invested from the beginning till the end. BB is so far latest adaptation of the old manga called “Antique Bakery”, which I’ve read a long time ago, and while it was fairly interesting, I can’t say much about it. On the other hand, I’ve really enjoyed the Thai adaptation. While it generally stays faithful to the original, it makes everything brighter, bigger and better. BB is a mix of comedy, drama, slice of life, detective and psychological thriller. And BB manages to handle all of these genres surprisingly well. Show has memorable cast of characters and plenty of good dramatic, comedic and simply heartwarming moments, even the detective subplot is here not just for the sake of it. So, if you want to watch something relaxing and engaging at the same time, I highly recommend to give BB a chance.
Overall impression: 9 out of 10.
Amount of NSFW content: 0 out of 5 (as I said earlier it’s technically not a BL, there is some minor teasing, but no actual romantic subplot).
Note: for those, who is afraid of this adaptation, because they’ve included a female character into the main cast, don’t worry-she won’t drive a wedge between the main characters, and her one-sided crush on Weir is played entirely for laughs. She and her family are mostly here to keep the detective subplot afloat, and, personally, I find all three of them adorable.
The Sign
Sign is quality mix of action, detective, supernatural and melodrama. This show is one of those rare examples, where all elements of the show are handled either on good or at least decent level. For me the weakest part of the show was supernatural subplot, bits of story about mythology and the past lives are written very superficially and look like an easy way to get main characters together. If Sign was simple detective show with some melodrama, it wouldn’t have lost anything, really. But, even in the present state, Sign is very fun and enjoyable experience. Characters are bright and memorable, and dialogues are well-written, soundtrack is great and pacing doesn’t slow down. Detective plotline, while lacking any major twists, is very interesting to follow, and fighting scenes turned out very well technically executed.
Overall impression: 8 out of 10.
Amount of NSFW content: 3 out of 5 (few sex scenes and several instances of making out, everything is well-staged and mostly on the modest side).
KinnPorsche
First and foremost, if you want serious crime drama about mafia wars, you better search somewhere else. Plot in KP is barely outlined, is not on friendly terms with logic and remembers that’s it’s even there only in the last third of the show. But KP more than makes up for the lackluster story with wonderful filming, excellent acting, memorable cast of characters and one of the best soundtracks I’ve ever heard. This show is rather silly, but very enjoyable to watch. While melodrama prevails in KP, it is heavily watered down with comedy, action and drama. Speaking of comedy, there are plenty of moments, which are plain hilarious. KP is based on the novel by the same name, and BOC did a fantastic job adapting it. I won’t go much into details (want to write more detailed comparison later), but most of the changes in TV series were for the better, especially complete rewriting of the main couple. Still, while TV series are highly superior to the novel, there are some parts of the plot that make more sense in the novel. Also, to the slight cons of the show I would like to add the fact, that there are three main couples and not all of them are equally interesting. To be honest, for me, by the end of the series Vegas and Pete have completely outshined everything else, and they are the only couple in both TV and the novel, who actually made me genuinely care.
Overall impression: 8 out of 10.
Amount of NSFW content: 4 out of 5 (several sex scenes, many instances of making out, and, frankly, series are filled with eroticism to the brim, but, you know, while I’m not the biggest fan of ero-content, I can’t deny that KP TV series has best-staged NC-scenes I’ve seen so far).
Goddess Bless You from Death
To be honest, I can’t describe Goddess any other way, than “an ice cream truck overturned on my street”, because I love horror and I love detectives, and this show is wonderful mix of both. Story in Goddess is very interesting to follow, keeps the good pacing and doesn’t have any visible plot holes. Horror and supernatural elements are neatly interwoven into the narrative, some scenes are genuinely creepy and ghost of the woman, whose mouth is slit from ear to ear, stalking the main characters turned out very impressive. Goddess has well-written cast of characters, and couples in the show are both sympathetic and surprisingly mature. At least both couples manage to put their disagreements aside in the first third of the show and handle further issues maturely. If you want quality detective intertwined with occult horror, I highly recommend giving Goddess a chance.
Overall Impression: 9 out of 10.
Amount of NSFW content: 2 out of 5 (fair amount of kissing and hugging, implied sex, but nothing on screen).
Dare You to Death
DYtD is solid detective mixed with romance and slight comedy elements. This show resembles The Sign, devoid of supernatural elements. Even the main couple highly resembles one in The Sign in terms of both appearance and personalities. In DYtD we have two cops investigating the death of the university student, who, along with her friends, has quite a few skeletons in the closet. Frankly, I’m a sucker for the stories about unknown assailant killing off characters with guilty conscience one by one, and DytD is a decent example of such story. Main duo is very charismatic and investigation is interesting to follow. For those, who aren’t new to detective genre, there wouldn’t be much surprises, and last episode turned out somewhat anti-climatic, but still acting, story and pacing are on pretty high level. So, if you are looking for good detective, which is fun, easy and looks at one go, I recommend to try DytD out.
Overall Impression: 8 out of 10.
Amount of NSFW content: 2 out of 5 (several kissing and hugging scenes, implied sex, but nothing on screen).
Sammy’s Children’s Day
Surprisingly interesting series, which take place in the 1980s in the Kowloon Walled City. SCD mixes crime drama and melodrama with occasional comedy elements. This show does a great work recreating the atmosphere of 1980s. Filming and acting are wonderful, costumes and decorations are beautiful, and soundtrack is fascinating. While SCD leans heavily towards melodrama, story is quite engaging and manages to keep up the good pacing, skillfully alternating between light-hearted and dramatic moments, and characters are bright and memorable. The only serious con of SCD is its ending, or absence of thereof to be precise. SCD is based on the novel by the same name, and the first season covers only roughly one-third of the novel. So, let’s hope that we’ll see the rest of the novel adapted in the foreseeable future.
Overall Impression: 8,5 out of 10.
Amount of NSFW content: 2 out of 5 (few kissing scenes and one very brief sex scene, novel has more explicit stuff, but I'm currently judging only the first season of the TV show, which is pretty modest).
Hi, everyone! I’ve just finished my first run of the Wuchang: Fallen Feathers and, while I generally enjoyed this game very much, I can’t deny that Wuchang takes difficulty spikes typical for souls-like games to the whole new level. While half of the bosses was ridiculously easy, another half was huge pain in the neck. And their difficulty is highly varied depending on your playstyle. My personal nightmare were Liu Cheng’en, Bo Sorcerer, Vermillion Feathers Honglan and Zhu Yujian, all of them took around 20 attempts from me (around 1 hour 30 minutes in real life with all that points relocating). Honorable mention goes to Eternal Glory Zhao Yun and Demon of Obsession, struggled with them about 40 minutes each (around 10-12 attempts), but it were very painful 40 minutes.
So, I’ve thought that it would be a good idea to share my tactics for each boss. Don’t know if it would be useful, since there is already a boatload of tips and guides from other players, but I believe it won’t hurt either. Also some might find tactics described in the post cheap, that’s because this post is aimed for players, who are struggling and want to simply finish the game.
Probably some bosses were nerfed after patch release, but I’ve played in version 1.00 and will be writing based on this version. I primarily contributed into one-handed sword and spells, as a secondary weapon I occasionally used either axe or dual blades depending on the situation, in the second half of the game started to distribute more points into Vitality and Endurance to last longer in the fights. Most used benedictions were Combo Vigor, Lasting Alacrity, Skyborn Magic. In the late-game switched mostly to Tri- and Six-Disciplinary Force. Also Twin Infant Pendant was must have for me.
The full list of bosses is under the cut.
Note: NPCs are summonable in few fights only if you are following their questlines.
Tang Palace Maid (both fights) – I think there is no point writing tactics for this boss, since in reality it’s just an elite mook with boss healthbar. Use whatever you see fit.
Man-eating Dhutanga – another easy fight, personally I’ve constantly dodged and spammed him with Vorpal Blade spell, he went down really fast.
Liu Hongliu–yet another simple fight. She is weak to fire and her attacks are easily telegraphed. Fire works well, Arisen. Just try to stick behind her. Also, if you already have Dracolich Pendant on you, her sceaming attack in the middle of the fight leaves her wide open.
Lu Binzhang – he also goes down very fast. I honestly don’t remember, what did I do with him. Knowing me, probably spammed Infernal Flames spell on him.
Great Centipede–first boss, that made me stop fooling around and use the relocation feature for the first time. I used Empyrean Greataxe with Fire Needle for this fight. Lured him into lightning rocks at the arena, when he was staggered, hit him with simple R1 combo. Repeated three times, and he went down.
Soulwood -an easy fight, boss is weak to fire, Infernal Flames spell works well here. Also, when boss casts AoE attack, stick to the sides of arena to avoid it.
Honglan– first serious boss in the game. The best tactics for me was using one-handed sword with Magic Needle, constantly dodging like mad to gain Skyborn Might and throwing Echo of Lu Binzhang spell at her (better cast, when she is doing her sword combo to gain extra alacrity). Sometimes she just stands still, it’s a good opportunity to heal. Wearing Centipede armor helps to mitigate the damage. Also consuming Aurum Feathers randomly buffs stamina bar and Lantern Fruits reduces stamina cost for a short amount of time.
Ai Nengqi – he is relatively easy and predictable. Magic works well against him. I’ve summoned Nian Suichang, lured the boss to the tight space at the arena entrance, and while he was busy with Suichang, bombarded him with Corruptive Flames spell, since he is easy target and prone to poisoning.
Liu Cheng’en – that’s were things got really ugly for me and my “fragile magical speedster”-build. In this fight I used Lashing Whip longsword with Flame Needle and Sword Counter skill, and Echo of Lu Binzhang spell. And better equip gear, that mitigates frostbite buildup. First half of the fight is pretty simple, dodge his jumping attack to the side three times, after he lands the third time, backstab him and use the obliterate attack. In the second phase he swaps from spear to sword, here he can be backstabbed if you manage to sneak behind him, while he is throwing icicles or after his sword combo, if you are lucky. I’ve managed to backstab him twice at the second phase, after that I was dodging around like a decapitated chicken, throwing Echo of Lu Binzhang at him.
Huang Yan – after Liu Cheng’en this fight was like a breath of fresh air, she is relatively slow and readable. I used Twin Bandits dual blades with Flame Needle and Echo of Lu Binzhang spell. She has good openings for the backstab and obliterate attacks, while she is casting poisonous balls, that explode in front of her, and if you manage to dodge her delayed stomping attack. When she turns into arctic fox I suggest dodging only, and throwing Echo of Lu Binzhang, when she reverts back for gaining alacrity. Also technically she is wide open, while casting her poisonous homing projectiles in the second phase, but that’s too risky, because they are, well, homing projectiles.
Fang Ling – she is not very difficult if you carefully study her moveset, also second form is far easier than the first. For this fight I reverted back to one-handed sword build, used Astral Blade with Magic Needle and Echo of Lu Binzhang spell (really, this spell has carried me through 70% of the game). In the first phase I provoked her to use her ranged attack to gain the Skyborn Might and threw Echo of Lu Binzhang at her, when she got close I used Flickering Blade one-handed sword skill to parry her dual blade combo. In her chimera form I simply provoked her to do her ramming attack, dodged and threw Echo of Lu Binzhang until she went down.
Bo Sorcerer – this battle was pure suffering until I found out that she is vulnerable to Frostbite. Knowing that made fight much-much easier. I used Twin Bandits dual blades with Frostbite Needle, Blademaster skill and Frozen Veil node active. At the beginning of the fight run behind the tree to the right to summon White-Robed Elder and temper the weapon. While White-Robed Elder distracts her mix backstab and obliterate tactics with simple R1 combo, it should do the trick, frostbite builds up really fast this way and removes good chunk of her health. To avoid her throwing water tornadoes at you hide behind the tree to heal and regroup. This way she went down after three full Frostbite buildups for me.
Liu Wenxiu – after the Bo Sorcerer this guy was a cakewalk. Really, use whatever tactics that sits good with you. I used dual blades, provoked him to use the attack, when he summons three lightning pillars consecutively, got behind him, backstabbed and obliterated. Also, there is a large pot (or whatever it is) on the right side of the arena, which is good for hiding and healing yourself.
Zhiang Xianzhong (Fierce Tiger) – also not the hardest boss in the game, got him at the third attempt. Used Twin Bandits dual blades with Flame Needle and Bladenaster skill, and Echo of Lu Binzhang spell. Used simple R1 combo mostly, somewhere halfway through the first phase summoned Nian Suichang and Huang Jian’e, somewhere halfway through the second phase they’ve both died. The rest of the fight I was running around and throwing Echo of Lu Binzhang at him. Profit.
Monstrous Toddler Bai Kru – I got him from the first attempt, since he is a walking copy of the Great Grey Wolf Sif (including the sad intro before the fight), still I admit that my fight was clumsy as hell. Used Twin Bandits dual blades with Frostbite Needle, Blademaster skill and Frozen Veil node active, Echo of Lu Binzhang and Echo of Liu Cheng’en spells. Summoned He Youzai at the start of the fight, while he was distracting Bai Kru, tried to stick behind the boss to build up the frostbite, managed to do this only once, casted Echo of Liu Cheng’en twice, both times missed, since boss was moving constantly. Halfway through the fight He Youzai was killed (although he wasn’t very helpful in the first place), I ran out of the healing items, swapped to Boreal Abyss one-handed sword and was dodging like my life depends on it, while bombarding him with Echo of Lu Binzhang. That did the trick.
Nightmare Demon – relatively easy fight, she is basically your typical Inner Demon with larger healthbar. She mostly uses physical attacks, also can heal herself, and probably would once or twice, when her health drops below 50%. Try to stick behind her and use whatever you like. I used dual blades and Echo of Lu Binzhang.
Starting from this point I’ve fought all bosses at maximum Madness for cheaper Echo spells.
Vermillion Feathers Honglan – this fight became real test of my patience, she made me go full “screw magic”-mode for the sake of raw strength. I used Empyrean Greataxe with Flame Needle, Earthshatter skill and amplified burn buildup, also Ethereal Form spell is really useful here, since the main difficulty of this fight is her high speed and lack of openings to heal up properly. Also redistributed most of the points into Vitality, Endurance and Strength. Used Dragon-fish, Tiger and Twin Infant pendants. At the start of the fight run behind her for the free backstab and obliterate attack. Like all humanoid enemies she is really vulnerable to backstabs and axe R1 combo combined with Earthshatter is good way to chop huge chunks of her health pretty fast. The best opening for the backstab I found was dodging to side when she dives from the sky at you (she is yelling:”You are mine!” at this moment). And, while she is lying on the ground, it’s a good time to heal and regroup.
Bo Magus– I find her easiest among the late-game bosses, got her from the first attempt. She is slow, readable and has plenty of openings. I used Twin Bandits dual blades with Frostbite Needle, Blademaster skill and Frozen Veil node active, also occasionally casted Ethereal Form spell. Equipping gear, that mitigates magic, corruption and despair was also helpful. Backstabs and physical attacks in general work well in this fight. When she summons large sword from the sky, get away from her and dodge constantly for easy Skyborn Might stacks. Also, when she summons a giant it is better to just dodge. When she casts protective barrier around her, use either simple R1 combo or multi-hit spell like Polygonal Container, it breaks after 5 hits or so.
Zhu Yujian – first and foremost equip Dracolich Pendant, he screams a lot and if you have the pendant on you, his screaming move provides a good opening to hit him. The best working method for me was using Empyrean Greataxe with Lightning Needle, Earthshatter skill and amplified paralysis buildup, also Ethereal Form and Echo of Bo Magus spells. First form is easy, his second form is a bitch. And your worst enemies in this fight are camera and huge size of the arena (Darkeater Midir and the Elden Beast have set veeery bad example for the game designers), also Bo Magus protective bubble seriously obstructs the vision. At the start of the second phase he flies off and casts huge flame ball, this ball is very slow, so use this time to heal and regroup, eat stamina fruits if needed. When the ball gets close to you, run away and dodge, ball sends two shockwaves, also don’t stop dodging after that, boss likes to send three shockwaves at you as he lands. After that try to stay behind him, cast Ethereal Form if needed and chop him with R1 combo. If he stands still with his hand upwards and everything is getting sucked into the orb in his hand, he is healing himself, and if you are standing close to him, he will drain your health as well. Heavy attack can chancel this move, but be careful and heal ASAP if you got caught in this move. I died two times this way before I’ve figured out, what exactly is killing me.
Eternal Glory Zhao Yun – I found the tactics for this fight on Reddit and it saved my life and my head from exploding. For this fight use the gear that mitigates slash, stab damage and frostbite buildup (don’t bother protecting yourself from burn, this move is easy to avoid). Boss is weak to feathering damage, Serprent Fang longsword with Feathering Needle, and Crimson and Tiger pendants equipped depletes his health really fast. Also Echo of Bo Magus is a big help, since there are not many opportunities to heal in this fight. He is weak to backstab and obliterate tactics, good opening is after his basic on-land spear combo (not the one, where he flies toward you). Also watch out for his move, when he skewers you with his spear, in the best case scenario it chops 2/3 of your health.
Demon of Obsession – after defeating Zhao Yun, I’ve though that my suffering has ended, and then she happened. This boss is similar to Nightmare Demon, but knows all in-game spells and much more aggressive. The best tactics that worked for me was Empyrean Greataxe with Leech Needle combined with Combo Vigor benediction, Echo of Bo Magus spell, Dragon-fish, Twin Infant and Tiger pendants, and stamina fruits. Attacking non-stop with simple R1 combo this way can interrupt her. Also Demonbane Strike spell can down her, but it didn't work very well for me because of the weird upward trajectory of the spell.
Feathered Ambition Xuanyagzi – after the hell that most of the endgame bosses have put me through, I find him almost easy. He is not very fast and mostly readable. The biggest problems of this fight are Elden Beast-like arena and the fact, that after losing around 2/3 of his health he goes all-out on you with everything he has. Use whatever tactics you see fit. I’ve decided to go with Lotus Soulflame spell tactics. I was at level 107, status screen showed that my magic stat was 65+90, used Astral Blade+10 with Magic Needle, Bird and Sun pendants, Area Damage, Six-Disciplinary Force and Skyborn Magic benedictions, casted Lotus Soulflame standing right under him…and it didn’t one-shot him, only took around 2/3 of his health, and after that he one-shoted me. Finita la comedia. After that I’ve added to this strategy Echo of Bo Magus and Echo of Bo Sorcerer spells. Upon entering the arena I’ve summoned Storyteller and ran straight to him to the far left corner of the arena to split the aggro, occasionally casting Ethereal Form to stack more Skyborn Might. I spammed Echo of the Bo Sorcerer to deplete his health approximately to 70% (it’s important not to accidentally drop it to 50% or else he will fly off to cast AoE spell), then I casted Echo of Bo Magus on myself, stacked more Skyborn Might via dodging, waited for him to unleash his melee combo on the Storyteller to keep him in place, stood under him and casted Lotus Soulflame (really now, this spell takes forever to cast) …and it still didn’t do the trick. He flew off, unleashed his AoE, offed the Storyteller, but at least it took only two more Echoes of Bo Sorcerer to kill him after that. And that did the trick.
Well, I hope this was helpful at least to some degree.
I'm going to go against what seems to be a common sentiment in the tag and say that I think that Tyme and Great live in the end, and also that I think that the story is much more poignant and beautiful for this fact. Stories don't always have to end in tragedy to be meaningful.
It's actually kind of making me laugh a little because I think that the scene at the end was intended to state quite clearly to the audience that they lived, but instead people are taking it to mean otherwise - but that's where art subjectivity comes in. Just because an author intends one thing, doesn't mean that's how the audience is going to take it. (And this is twice now that Sammon has had people questioning her ending, and ironically enough I wonder if this ending was intended to be clearer than DFF and still failed...)
Contrasting to DFF's ending, I think the messaging that they survived is quite clear. The characters are not questioning at the end, there's no moment of ambiguity (like there was with Inception, for example). There was no lingering shot of a location like there was with DFF.
Plotwise, i also think that the two storylines were set up as a deliberate contrast to each other. Korn, Win and Tonkla were there not only to fill out the story and explain what had happened to Tyme and Great, but they were also there to show the reality of not getting that precious second chance, not being able to reconsider or change decisions.
It's also laid starkly clear in the moment where Korn is dying, where we get a glimpse of his 4 Minutes - an alternate timeline where he would have chosen to leave with Tonkla way back at the start, rather than following along the path that doomed them both.
But the watch - blood-spattered - moves on and then unlike with Great & Tyme where we see them still alive and happy, we instead see Tonkla and Korn lying together in death, making their fates painfully obvious.
It's a tragedy - and a deliberate one. The two stories augment each other, because their ending is all the more painful for the happy ending that Tyme & Great tentatively get, and Tyme and Great's ending is all the more beautiful when we realize what a miracle it is.
4 Minutes is a story about getting the chance to reconsider your behaviour and your decisions, getting the chance to reconsider your motivations and actions - and then getting the chance to follow through on everything you learned. I saw someone say that they would have preferred that Korn and Tonkla lived, but for me that would have missed the mark if Tyme and Great had died simply because of the fact that Korn & Tonkla hadn't gone through that process of reconsidering who they were and what they had done. (I would have been fine with all of them living but I also think the story is richer this way).
So those are my thoughts, based solely on canon interpretation.
Warning: This article contains spoilers and loads of my subjective opinion, so if you feel burning sensation in the lower back, I highly recommend to stop reading this arcticle.
I've decided to split my overview of Yakuza series in two parts, because it came out long as hell. Here goes the second part.
Yakuza 5
Yakuza 5 is an odd case. While this game really does have some serious issues, I find it pretty enjoyable. The main issue of Y5 is an overwhelming amount of content in both story and gameplay, which leads to pacing problems. We have five different characters, whose stories don’t visibly connect at first, and all of these characters have plenty of optional content each. And it’s pretty easy to get lost in the optional content and forget that the plot is even here (at least that’s how it was for me). The main plot itself feels needlessly overcomplicated, I really don’t see the point of building one intrigue over another only to deliver the most simplistic explanation in the end. I must admit, Y4 did better job connecting several separate stories into one. Still I find the story of Y5 more enjoyable than Y4, while it has its flaws, it doesn’t descent into absurd territory like Y4 did. Also game has plenty of the room for exploration, battle system is fun and polished, substories and character-exclusive side-content are fun (especially I liked Haruka’s dancing and Shinada’s baseball minigames), also annoying chasing sequences from Y3 and Y4 finally got fixed. In the end statistics speaks louder than words, and I’ve spent around 80 hours in Y5 (and could have easily spent more), it is near impossible to force me spend so much time in the game I don’t like. Additionally I would like to praise Haruka’s character development, she really came a long way from a child-robot to the decent character.
Pros: game is highly refined in terms of fights and gameplay mechanics, Y5 takes a lot from Y3 and Y4 and makes it better; five playable characters with unique battle styles and shitload of side-content each (and, yeah, this time I wished there was more of Akiyama, since he has the least screentime and side-activities out of five protagonists, kinda felt sorry for him); expanded movesets for Y4 characters (Kiryu, Saejima, Akiyama); quality of the substories and various optional content is mostly high; good soundtrack (especially in Haruka’s route-loved the songs in her dance battles).
Cons: while main plot is not bad, it is not exactly good either – pacing is uneven, lots of overcomplications for the sake of it, it’s easy to get lost in the side-content and forget that main plot is even here. Aaand…there is another huge flaw I would like to talk about in separate paragraph below.
Ridiculously long final battle sequence after the point of no return, filled with the cutscenes to a brim. By the point of playing Y5 I’ve already knew from the experience, that most of the Yakuza games have lengthy final sequences without any breaks, so I’ve started around 8:00 PM assuming that I would need 2-2,5 hours or so. Well, I’ve finished only around 1:00 AM, I was almost sleeping by this point and accidentally missed the QTE at the very end, so I was forced to replay the final boss. And all this time I feared that power outage might happen (I’ve experienced pretty nasty one while playing Elden Ring before that, probably even neighbors have heard my big ”NOOO!”).
Yakuza 6
While I don't think that Y5 is a bad game , Y6 felt like a real breath of fresh air after it. Y6 tells very interesting story, this time with inner logic intact and without pacing problems. Unlike Y4 and Y5 this game got me hooked up from the very beginning. Special prize goes to the wonderful cutscenes, the whole game I’ve had an impression of watching a good movie. Characters, introduced in Y6, came out bright and interesting. Honestly, when it comes to narrative, I believe Y6 is one of the best in the series along with 7 and 0. On the other hand game has some gameplay issues. Due to engine change Y6 was greatly simplified compared to previous installments-on the difficulties below Hard this game doesn’t require much of an effort from the player. There are much fewer moves and they aren’t really interesting, enemies and bosses have small health bars and die from you simply glaring at them. But despite low difficulty Y6 is very enjoyable game, overall quality of the in-game content is pretty high. Also plot and atmosphere in Y6 somewhat reminded me of the “Desperate Housewives” TV series – good detective/thriller with comedy elements taking place in a small idyllic town (with Kiryu and Hirose family members replacing main heroines of the show).
Pros: high-quality graphics and finely directed cutscenes; wonderful soundtrack; very interesting main story and bright characters; fun mini-games and substories; Kiryu in "cool grandpa" role is adorable.
Cons: simplified combat with lesser moves; enemies and bosses pose almost no threat.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon
While LaD isn’t the first Yakuza game I’ve played, it is the game that actually got me into the series. I’ve already wrote few posts ago, that I’ve found out about this game from the podcast. The thing is, that after listening to host’s description I genuinely thought, that LaD is a pure comedy/parody and, thus, prepared to laugh. And, well, first few hours of the game I wasn’t laughing at all, I sat with a pale face, constantly worried about Ichi. Indeed, LaD has a whole load of hilarious moments, but most of them are in the optional content. The core story of the game is actually drama/tragedy and somewhat reminds me of the Veronica Mars TV series in a way. In both LaD and VM, while crisis is averted, the protagonist’s personal happiness is very brief, and LaD ending heavily reminded of how the VM fourth season has ended (both times I was like:”Nooo! Why? WHY?!”*bursts into tears*). I still cry ugly sometimes, when I recall the ending.
Pros: very interesting story with many good twists and well-developed characters; Ichi himself is a wonderful protagonist to whom I felt nothing but sympathy; while somewhat rough around the edges, turn-based combat is fun and fast-pacing; awesome soundtrack; interesting substories; many good jokes.
Cons: balance issues – first, there is that infamous difficulty spike in the last third of the game (well, I did grind at the colosseum and still had trouble fighting Majima and Saejima); second – poor rewards for defeating regular enemies (best way to grind exp is fighting Infested Vagabonds, which takes forever to kill, and best way to make money is to finish Eri’s sidequest) and if you want to beat the post-game you’ll need a lot of level/job grinding; walk-and-talk conversations get interrupted by random battles and you need to redo the whole thing, which can be annoying.
Despite the cons I find LaD a great game and it’s probably my personal favourite in the series so far. Also for me this game really was a breath of fresh air after playing a shitload of generic jrpgs, where most of your playable characters are troubled teenagers fighting another random deity. The only modern turn-based rpg that managed to impress me as much is recent Clair Obscur, but that’s a story for another time.
Judgement
Another one of the entries in the series I was very eager to play, and I must say that this game is another odd case. Judgement is a good game, which for some unknown reason tries very hard to spoil the overall good impression about itself. Game has an interesting story, but the pacing leaves much to be desired. Every time story takes an unexpected turn game forcefully sidetracks you into doing some obligatory substory, which gives literally nothing to the main plot. Also, characters have nasty habit of repeating the same information over and over, which also doesn’t do any good to the pacing. Gameplay-wise Judgement offers variety of the new mechanics…and it would have been better if it didn’t. There already have been cases of forcing players to play infuriating mini-games during the main story in the series (yes, Y3, I’m looking at you), but in Judgement RGG Studio have really outdid themselves, and tailing missions are the worst offender. They are all doable, alright, but the pleasure from those missions can be compared with undergoing a surgery without anesthesia. On the bright side of things graphics is good, cutscenes are well-staged, battle system is fun and fast, substories are interesting and some of them are genuinely funny. Also, the main plot, while starts slow, is actually really good, and in the end makes all the suffering through annoying minigames worthwhile.
Pros: battle system is fun and fast; good substories; interesting main story, where all plot pieces are neatly fit together (and for me, it is probably the most interesting story about human experiments).
Cons: severe pacing problems; lackluster soundtrack; tailing missions are pain (especially the one, where you have to tail four targets at the same time); Keihin Gang members appearing on the streets every 20 minutes is extremely annoying.
Lost Judgement
I know that this game is considered one of the best in the series, and, sadly, I can’t agree with that. For me LJ was the least enjoyable experience in the series (even Y2 and Y4, which I’m not very fond of, were much more fun to play). While first Judgement was interesting addition to the series and good standalone title, Lost Judgement feels a lot like needless sequel, since it doesn’t contribute much to either first Judgement and the series as whole (seriously, consequences of the Tojo Clan dissolution were much better shown in the Infinite Wealth). While the main storyline is interesting enough, dialogues are boring and jokes, shoehorned in them are plain stupid. Most of the new characters are either boring or unlikable, and most of the old cast, who had detailed backstories and character development in the first Judgement, are talking heads now (aside from Tak and Saori). Even most of the substories this time are forgettable and uninspiring. Overall Lost Judgement feels very forced and, while not all Yakuza games are perfect, Lost Judgement was the only one, which felt like the massive waste of my time.
Pros: good main story (yet, ending was disappointing at my opinion); polished fast-pacing battle system; soundtrack is better than in the first game (final battle theme is simply stunning); game doesn’t torture you with obligatory substories and tailing missions during the main plot, like first Judgement did.
Cons: pacing problems; boring dialogues; forgettable substories; lackluster characters; loads of low-quality humor; tons of new minigames and new game mechanics of the mixed quality (some are really fun like dancing and boxing, some are boring like parkour and stealth, and some are plain hideous like Robotics club minigame).
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
I’ve already briefly wrote about my impressions on IW in that huge rant post of mine, nothing has changed since then. IW is a wonderful and addictive jrpg, which fixes most of the LaD gameplay issues. But in terms of plot IW is a huge step down compared to LaD. The main issue of IW is that it tries to fit too many plotlines into one game without paying enough attention to any of them, so not all of the plot pieces are equally interesting. Personally, I liked the story between Ichiban and Eiji mirroring Ichiban’s relationship with Masato, also I liked the realistic portrayal of the consequences of the great dissolution. Additionally, I want to praise both newcomers – Eric and Chitose, who fit perfectly into the Ichiban’s party. Kiryu’s plotline is nicely done, it is sad and moving, but requires knowledge of the previous games in the series. On the other hand, the whole cult thing is awfully bland and generic, and that horrendous romantic subplot with Saeko is so terrible, that it inspired me to write a separate rant post (see few posts below).
Pros: gameplay is very addictive and more polished compared to LaD; fun and flexible job system; many side activities; interesting substories; beautiful graphics; stunning soundtrack; new area - Honolulu City -is complex and interesting to explore; many anti-frustration features compared to LaD.
Cons: weaker story compared to LaD; Kiryu’s plotline requires knowledge of previous games; low difficulty level (even battle with Amon brothers is a joke); while many jokes are still hilarious, many humiliating tasteless jokes appeared (including that infamous love confession scene after the credits, honestly, I wanted to die from shame in the writer’s stead); Saeko (who became utterly disgusting in IW) and that shoehorned romance sublot with her (which can be hardly called romantic, since it is all about emotional abuse and stupid jokes).
I know, I sound extremely prejudiced, when it comes to Saeko, but I have zero tolerance for authors force-feeding me shit, while desperately trying to convince me that it’s a strawberry cake. Also, the pretty huge offender came after IW, when I continued to play the series and discovered, that RGG Studio have wasted so many good characters (either killed off or put on the bus), yet they were clinging to some passive-aggressive bitch with many red flags, who doesn’t want to take responsibility for her actions and has zero (LaD)/negative(IW) contribution to the plot. Really, usually I either like or at least don’t hate Sega’s female characters, but with Saeko something went very wrong.
Buut….judging by awesome Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii RGG Studio actually learned their lesson (or someone have sent them anthrax letter after playing IW -it wasn't me, I swear).
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
When RGG Studio announced a new installment in the series shortly after releasing IW, I was terrified. My mind started generating possible scenarios of apocalypse – primarily, Kiryu dies from cancer, and Ichi and that she-bitch, Saeko, become a couple, let alone the fact that most of the major plot points were concluded in IW, so I didn’t see any point to write anything else. But reality turned out to be much more optimistic than I expected. When RGG Studio revealed, that the game would be about a character I sincerely love from the bottom of my heart - Majima Goro, cautious hope for something good has replaced terror in my head. And, when Pirate Yakuza was released, it turned out to be literal "dream-come-true" and, probably, the best Yakuza spin-off game in my opinion. Scenarios of apocalypse I feared the most didn’t happen, and overall Pirate Yakuza came out worthy of its protagonist-funny, fast and extremely heartwarming. Battle system, while true to the series, resembles Devil May Cry games (specifically, moveset of the new Sea Dog style bears strong resemblance to Dante’s Agni&Rudra moves from DMC 3) and overall atmosphere is reminiscent of old parts of the Pirates of Caribbean and Disney movies of the Renaissance era (1989-1999-my personal favourite period of their filmmaking). Story is simple, but delivered in the ironic way and isn’t taken seriously even by the characters, and it was nice to see the actual aftermath of the IW events (what I actually wanted to see in the post-credits of IW instead of “that one” humiliating scene). New characters are pretty good (save for the villains, who are probably the most simplistic in the series), especially I want to praise Noah (I was afraid he would be your typical tagalong kid, but he turned out to be a good character on his own right) and, of course, his pet tiger Goro, who is the most adorable little tiger in the world.
Pros: while this game is short, it can easily be extended thanks to the generous amount of side-content (personally, I’ve spent about 55 hours in the game and still have some stuff left for the next playthrough); Majima finally has his own game and he really shines in it (in Zero he was awesome too, but still, he was forced to share the spotlight with Kiryu); fast, refined combat with two interesting styles; great finale for the main series; great visuals and soundtrack; in-game humor got better once again; full customization of Majima’s appearance (never imagined that I would be eagerly dressing up 60-year old man like a Barbie-doll, but, well, here I am).
Cons: low amount of substories and about half of them is just an introduction to the game new features and minigames; low difficulty level; sea battles, while aren’t bad per se, not really fun either.
Additionally, I want to say a few words about finale of the Pirate Yakuza. If I’ve thought that IW was a decent conclusion for the main series, then Pirate Yakuza , I believe, has much better ending. While Pirate Yakuza still has some “this is just how life is, sad but true”-undertones, it, finally, gives the main characters of the series a hopeful ending and cuts most of the loose ends left after the IW. And, now I really believe that making further installments in the series would be a bad idea.
And here is a bit of useless info instead of the afterword.
Favourite games: Like a Dragon, 0, 6, 3, Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, Kurohyō
Favourite karaoke songs: Machine Gun Kiss, Judgement -Shinpan-; Rouge of Love; Heartbreak Mermaid; Iji Sakura 2000; Like a Butterfly; Pride From Despair; If I Could Love the One I Love; Majima no MajiROCK; The Goro Pirates Theme
Favourite ending themes: Born to be Wild; Now or Never; Tears of Father; Amazing Grace; Life is...
Favourite boss battle themes: Brutality; Bonds; DESTINY; ism (Light and Darkness); Impersonation; SO UNUSUAL; Viper; I Believe In You; Unyielding Spirit; Lyricism Without Tears; Fly; Four Face; Unwavering Belief
Warning: This article contains spoilers and loads of my subjective opinion, so if you feel burning sensation in the lower back, I highly recommend to stop reading this arcticle.
Not so long ago I've finished marathon of Yakuza series and was writing my personal overview of the series since then. Since there is already a boatload of reviews, I’d rather share my personal impressions on each game. I deliberately skipped Ishin, Kenzan, Dead Souls and The Man Who Erased His Name, because they didn't piqued my interest.
Yakuza 0
Y0 is considered one of the best games in the series (if not the best). Well, as much as I hate riding on the hype train, I can’t argue with this one. While I like Y7 slightly more, Y0 is also one of my personal favourites in the series. This game is a great prequel to the main series, and story and characters are one of its strongest points. Characters are well-written and memorable, and story is full of interesting twists and keeps engaged from the beginning to the very end. Even ‘protect the damsel’-plotline I usually hate so much is important plot point here. Another strengths of the Y0 are high-quality graphics and cutscenes, as well as the soundtrack, which is, in my opinion, one of the best in the series. Battle system is refined and enjoyable, both protagonists have three unique battle styles available from the start and one unlockable as well as many cool moves to beat the crap out of enemies. Seriously, last time I’ve had so much fun with the combat was long time ago with Devil May Cry series (3, 4, 5 to be precise). But having the game separated between two protagonists, while definitely greatly diversifies the gameplay, also gives very mixed quality of the content. Sometimes I wished that Kiryu could do something Majima can and vise versa. For example, Kiryu’s Beast style is really helpful during the escort missions, but Majima is the one who has the most of those missions, on the other hand, even in his fastest Rush style Kiryu is much slower than Majima and his opponents have more health, which means longer and, sometimes, tedious battles. Same goes to money earning and distribution, Majima has cheaper low-tier skills, but his late-game skills are more expensive than Kiryu’s. Still, while Y0 isn’t a perfect game, its strengths greatly outweighs its flaws, and overall quality of the game is higher than the most installments in the series.
Pros: great writing and memorable cast of characters (special mention goes to how Majima and Nishiki both get huge chunk of characterization in Y0); high-quality visuals and cutscenes; wonderful soundtrack; diverse and very enjoyable combat; substories are one of the best in the series.
Cons: annoying escort missions; while overall high, quality of the optional content sometimes suffers; situations, where one of the characters gets tasks much better suited for another.
I’ll be writing about first two games based on the Kiwami-remakes. When it comes to the choice between original or Kiwami version, I would say it’s a question of preferences. If you value the atmosphere, prefer more serious narrative and want some nostalgia vibes, I suggest you to try the original (although the first Yakuza didn’t age particularly well). And if you value graphics, comfort, want more side-activities, I believe you should start with Kiwami. And, if you have shitload of time on your hands, probably playing both versions would be a good idea.
Yakuza Kiwami
I know, Kiwami isn’t exactly well-liked, but I believe this game deserves at least one playthrough. While it is definitely not the best in the series, first Yakuza is still very decent action-adventure with interesting dramatic story. In Kiwami story was expanded and new cutscenes were added, characters are more fleshed out and re-imagined to be closer to their Y0 portrayal (at some point I caught myself eagerly waiting for more scenes with Nishiki-they are great addition to the story-seriously, by the end of the game I felt so sorry for him, that I couldn’t bring myself to think ill of him). The only issues I had with plot are filler-arc about street gangs in the middle of the game, which doesn’t have much of an impact on the main story and could easily be reduced to substory, and Haruka, who is so unnaturally calm for a kid, witnessing various degrees of bloody violence around her to the point it’s creepy (I called her “child-robot” the whole game) and doesn’t really work as a morality chain for Kiryu, since he doesn’t need any (he is a decent man of high morals, his beliefs alone are enough). Well, during the course of the series Haruka got better (I ended up liking her as a character) and her interactions with Kiryu became more natural, but that’s a story for another time. Combat system in Kiwami was borrowed from Y0, which in my opinion, made battles more fun and less repetitive compared to the original game. Although the decision to make bosses able to restore huge amounts of health unless countered with the specific move is questionable at the best.
Pros: expanded story compared to original game, newly-added scenes with Nishiki are very well-directed; “Majima Everywhere” system – good way to grind all styles, fights with Majima get you tons of exp, this side-quest adds more characterization to Majima, expands his interactions with Kiryu, and that’s where most of the game’s humor comes from; style-swapping system from Y0 greatly improves the fights; improved soundtrack (still it's a pity, that “Intelligence for Violence” plays only once in Kiwami); loads of anti-frustration features compared to the original.
Cons: story greatly slows down in the middle of the game; regenerating bosses can be really annoying, if you don’t have the countermove needed to cancel the regeneration (like it was with Nishiki for me in the finale, he had restored the 3 whole health bars during the fight); “Majima Everywhere” system once again-while it is a good source of exp, beating the same mini-boss over and over can be really annoying, also to unlock some skills you need to beat Majima in various mini-games and his AI is a cheating bastard; lack of interesting substories (still, can’t seriously complain about this one, since it’s the first game in the series).
Also, first game established for me, that while RGG writers create fantabulous male characters and detective storylines, they are severely lacking in writing women, children and romance. And if in the case with the women and children they eventually got better, when it comes to romance I wished numerous times, that they would drop the shit entirely, leaving only optional dating intact and not shoehorning the crap in the main plot – it is not their thing, really. When I wrote the IW rant post I didn’t play much of Yakuza games, but now I see that I gave RGG Studio too much credit -Majima and Makoto’s storyline was the only decent romance subplot in the main storyline.
Yakuza Kiwami 2
At times, when I wasn’t into the Yakuza series, second game was among those parts that really piqued my interest. And, probably, I got my expectations too high up, but beating Y2 has left me with a slight feeling of disappointment. And the main issue for me is the story. While Y2 is good sequel, that shows the consequences of the events of the first game, it isn’t very interesting as a story. Story progresses very slowly and starts to speed up around last third of the game, literally bombarding player with sudden reveals. Also, I don’t really see Ryuji as a good antagonist, I like him as a character alright, but I don’t really find him intimidating (not to mention that I can’t take him seriously after Y0, he was such an adorable kid back then). Okay, back to plot. I can’t say that story of the Y2 is bad, probably it's just not my cup of tea, especially since the Jingweon mafia parts in all Yakuza games are my least favourite, and Y2 makes very big emphasis on them. The only thing I genuinely liked storywise was Majima’s scenario, added in the remake, which tells about events happened in Tojo Clan between Yakuza 1 and 2 and gives a nice closure to Majima and Makoto’s story from 0 as a bonus. Combat and experience gain are the same as in Y6, albeit combat is more polished with much wider variety of moves, and bosses are actually require at least some effort compared to Y6.
Pros: “Majima Saga” mini-scenario; high quality of the optional content, many good substories, fun major side-quests – Cabaret Club GP and Majima Constructions; good further development of the Y6 engine; it’s near impossible to criticize the combat in Yakuza series.
Cons: story is slow-pacing and not very engaging; lackluster soundtrack.
Yakuza 3
I know that Yakuza 3 is, probably, the least-liked in the fandom, but, really now, when did I care? I’ve read a lot of complaints about orphanage eating a lot of screentime, I even heard players calling Y3 the “beach episode” of the series. Well, I have to disagree. First, I believe, that parts, where Kiryu solves kids problems take less than a third of the game. Second, the whole orphanage arc is important part of Kiryu’s character development, since keeping the kids (Haruka included) out the harm’s way becomes of one of his main motivations during the games following Y3. That aside, Y3 is a decent detective/crime drama, and contrast between light-hearted episodes in the orphanage and darker parts of the story, showing conflicts between Tojo Clan members, works really well. And, Mine is, probably, one of my favourite antagonists in the series, he is complex and interesting character (when I was like: "Gee, I get it, now you are going to tell me about his tragic childhood to make him more sympathetic.", to my surprise writers managed not to overdo it, and in the finale I felt genuinely sorry for him). Also, I would like to praise the enhanced AI of the enemies, at least in this part they require at least some effort to defeat compared to their usual punching-bag behavior in most games of the series.
Pros: quality battle system; good story and characters; nice upbeat soundtrack ("D2A" is love); enormous amount of substories; revelations are hilarious.
Cons: game didn’t age particularly well in terms of visuals; quality of the substories is highly varied; extremely frustrating chasing sequences.
Yakuza 4
Another game I wanted to play a lot, while still a stranger to Yakuza series, but I didn’t have PS3 that time. Now, when I have beaten Y4, like in case with Y2, I have mixed feelings about this game. It is not bad, but for me it is one of the weakest in the series (but still much better than Lost Judgement). I really like Kiryu, but when I got to Y4 I was getting tired of him, so change of character was welcome. But after playing several hours as Akiyama I started missing Kiryu. Eventually I ended up liking Akiyama after Y5 and Y6, where he is much more fleshed out, but in Y4 his chapter is the weakest part of the game. I felt like I ended up in the mix of old anime and film noir-ripoff with silly jokes, also had hard time trying to stop calling Akiyama Spike, because it’s obvious, where RGG drew inspiration for this character. For me Y4 got better starting Saejima and Tanimura chapters, as I find them both more interesting characters, also in their scenarios main story finally starts to get interesting. By the finale all carefully built up plot of the game disappointingly falls apart and ends up in absurdly anime style (still, I liked the post-credits scene a lot, it is really heartwarming).
Pros: four playable characters with unique side-content and battle styles; decent complicated plot; overall attempt to add something new to the series is commendable; revelations are still hilarious.
Cons: while plot is good, it starts as boring and ends with a dud (also some scenes turned out unintentionally comical, thanks to complete absence of logic for the sake of drama); lack of interesting substories; aside from “For Faith” in various arrangements soundtrack is pretty forgettable; simplified combat.
Kurohyō: Ryū ga Gotoku Shinshō
At first I did have some doubts about Kurohyō, it was developed by different studio I wasn't familiar with, and protagonist is a teenager instead of adult. But after beating Kurohyō and its sequel I can say that this dilogy is definitely one of psp hidden gems. While main series use classic beat-em-up formula, Kurohyō makes emphasis on more complex one-on-one combat. Game offers about 20 different battle styles, each with its pros and cons. Swapping styles and trying to figure out the best tactics for your current opponent can be really fun. And, unlike the main series, Kurohyō provides a decent amount of challenge even on the "Normal" difficulty. I wouldn’t call this game hard, but it’s definitely not easy, at least at the beginning. When it comes to story, Kurohyō, once again, turned out to be a nice surprise to me. I feared this game would be your typical shōnen with dialogues like: ”I saw you fight and I see, that you are not a bad person”. I won’t lie, game has such dialogues, but aside from that Kurohyō turned out to be quality thriller-detective with several good twists worthy of the main series. And the main protagonist, Tatsuya, while starts as pretty unlikable character, gets solid character development during the course of the game. All in all, despite the difference in combat systems, Kurohyō plays like any other Yakuza game-you solve mysteries, do side-quests, play mini-games and date hostesses in-between fights.
Pros: interesting story and well-written characters; fun and engaging combat system with variety of styles; game is pretty challenging; very good graphics for the psp game; stylish comics-style cutscenes; upbeat soundtrack, each boss has his own unique theme (“SO UNUSUAL” is my personal favourite); fun mini-games.
Cons: lack of interesting substories; about halfway through the game the difficulty level drops as a result of gaining more styles, it is pretty easy to end up being overpowered by the end of the game.
Kurohyō 2: Ryū ga Gotoku Ashura Hen
Ashura is a direct sequel to Shinshō and plays pretty much the same as its predecessor,but with more emphasis on team fights. Once again you play as Tatsuya, but since he got his character development in the previous game, this time story focuses more on the new characters. To be honest, aside from Ryusho, other new main characters aren’t very interesting at the beginning, but all of them get better as the story moves on. Antagonists on the other hand came out much more straightforward compared to Shinshō. If in Shinshō at least half of your opponents in Dragon Heat were complex characters with their own backstories, in Ashura almost all of your opponents are obviously evil and overall story of the game is more simple. On the other hand, game world was expanded, substories became more interesting, overall narrative became closer to the main series (Shinshō was dead serious, and Ashura mixes drama and humor once again), many anti-frustration features were added. Ultimately, Ashura feels a lot like the case of “more of the same” type of sequel. But in case with this game it is not a bad thing, since there is very little point in repairing something that isn’t broken.
Pros: once again, engaging combat with many different styles; brand new “Self Taught” style , which allows to combine skills from other styles, ultimately turning your character into the killing machine; great visuals, cutscenes and wonderful soundtrack (“Born to be wild” is total masterpiece); better substories compared to Shinshō; many anti-frustration features, like fast travel, were added; expanded game world.
Cons: story is more simple and straightforward compared to the first game; battle styles were nerfed and with that became more expensive to upgrade in both exp and money; regular enemies drop very little exp and battles with them feel like a chore; if you are playing on psp-Ashura is very bugged and has nasty habit to freeze after the boss fights in case battle style gains a level; game is much easier compared to Shinshō-most bosses pose almost no threat.
Note: Maybe it’s just me seeing things, but I’ve noticed that, while in Shinshō it was important to watch all of the body parts, in Ashura almost all enemies tend to attack head and torso, ignoring arms and legs.
Warning: This article may contain spoilers and the content inappropriate for children…or may not contain. But get the children away from the screen just in case.
For the half of the 2023 and the whole 2024 I've had two gaming marathons, first consisted from From Software games and second - from Yakuza games. I'll probably write about it some other time. As for now, I would like to share eleven notable games (both modern and retro) I've played in 2023 and 2024 in-between those two marathons. Games are present in no particular order.
Lies of P
Lies of P is wonderful quality action-rpg and my personal game of the year in 2023. While being pretty obvious clone of the From Software’s games (mainly Bloodborne, and sometimes combat reminds of Sekiro) this game has its own unique charm and offers many interesting gameplay mechanics (like replacable arm and feature of combining handles and blades from different weapons). Plot of the game is very interesting and loosely based on the “Adventures of Pinocchio”, which can be roughly described as “Pinocchio meets Bloodborne and Resident Evil” (that’s a compliment by the way). Characters are memorable and well-written, and game’s world is unique and beautiful with lots of references to the original tale. Levels aren’t very lengthy, but well-designed and complicated. Lies of P has beautiful visuals and soundtrack (which even includes several remixes from DJ Max game series). To the cons of the game I can only add uneven difficulty curve (some game’s segments can be real pain). Aside from that, I can only praise this game. If you like Bloodborne and want something similar, I highly recommend to give Lies of P a chance.
Dark Lord
A pretty unique game, which was ahead of its time if you ask me. Dark Lord is a mix of the turn-based rpg and point-n-click adventure with the narrative similar to the old tabletop games (like DnD for example). You create a starting party and immediately thrown in town, which will be your main base for the rest of the game. You can take quests from the local NPCs, each quest is basically a short separate scenario. I highly recommend to play Dark Lord with a guide, since there isn’t always clear where to go and what to do, as well as because of the game’s job system. In this game you can take various jobs to grind stats and money, but the problem is that many jobs, while giving you a boost to one stat, also gives a penalty to another. Also, while gaining a level, you can randomly get a stat penalty instead of stat boost. Needless to say, that unlocking the most profitable jobs can be a pain in the ass. While plot of the game is simple, it is still pretty good for the game of the NES era, not least due to good humor and self-irony. Visuals and soundtrack in the Dark Lord are pretty good, especially for a 8-bit game. Also, game has a curious feature – characters grow old during the course of the game, but personally I couldn’t figure out whether it affects anything or not (by the end of the game all my characters were 28).
Dark Law: Meaning of Death
Dark Law is a spiritual successor to the Dark Lord and plays almost identical to it. Once again you create your party from the scratch and take various quests in the town to advance the story. Job system in this game is much more refined compared to the Dark Lord, with better rewards and without stat penalties (yet the best jobs can still be a pain to unlock). Magic, in the other hand, became more of an issue. While you can equip more spells now, most of them are useless, since most of the late-game enemies are immune to magic, the effect of the healing spells was also greatly diminished. As in case with the Dark Lord I highly suggest to play Dark Law with a guide, since this game has tons of permanently missable content (all quests require the specific party level, if your level is higher than the required, you won’t be able to take the quest). But despite the issues Dark Law is still a wonderful role-playing game with heavy emphasis on the story, each quest is a separate interesting story, which in the end helps to see the bigger picture. Game has wonderful soundtrack (I’m in love the theme in the intro), nice visuals and good dark atmosphere.
Drakengard 3
If someone asks me, what is the worst game I’ve ever played, I would say – the first Drakengard. While it is definitely unique for its time, I honestly can’t say anything good about this game. Thus I was very hesitant to play Drakengard 3, even though it did piqued my interest. But after I’ve beaten both Nier and Nier:Automata (and ended up loving both games), my opinion on Yoko Taro’s writing has improved greatly and I’ve decided to give Drakengard 3 a chance and didn’t regret it one bit. Game fixes most issues of the first two games in the series. Land battles became fast-pacing and enjoyable, and aerial battles became decent at least. Plot isn’t very interesting, but presentation is very good. If the first Drakengard was a dead serious game, the third one mixes serious story and tragic scenes with all sorts of humor and it works (I’m not the fan of slapstick humor, but I find in-game jokes genuinely funny). Characters in the third Drakengard are more bright and memorable compared to first two games. And soundtrack in this game is pure awesomeness, especially during the boss fights.
Iru!
An old horror-adventure game, which was recently translated to English. Game starts with several teenagers staying late at school to prepare for the school festival and quickly turns into the survival horror based on the Lovecraftian mythos. Many plot elements, terms and monsters are borrowed from the novels written by H.P. Lovecraft and his followers, such as F.B. Long and R.A. Bloch for example. Most of the time we will be wandering in search of the means to defeat monsters lurking around the school corridors in the puzzle-solving manner. Sometimes there will be action sequences, where you need to either run or hide from the enemies, but those sequences are heavily scripted and aren’t particularly hard. Game isn’t scary, but has nice eerie atmosphere. Graphics is decent, music is good, controls are comfortable enough and similar to King’s Field and Echo Night series. Game is around 4-5 hours long and mostly linear except for few branching points, which determine your primary antagonist in the finale (endings remain mostly the same save for the one bad ending).
Laplace no Ma
Laplace no Ma is a mix of survival horror and role-playing game, that was originally released for NEC PC-8801 and PC-9801. Later it was ported to several other platforms, losing its survival horror elements and dropping in difficulty in the process. SNES version plays more like a jrpg rather than horror, but it is the only version available in English and still a decent game. Like Iru! this game is based on the Lovecraftian mythos, but also adds creatures from various mythologies, witchcraft and even…forbidden math. First few hours of the game can be a pain, but eventually it gets better and becomes fun to play. While graphics is pretty average game has very nice art style and in-game illustrations. Music, on the other hand, is plain horrible. Story of the game is pretty decent (albeit somewhat silly). Maximum level in the game is 10, but it takes forever to grind on the regular enemies, your primary source of experience would be side-quests and bosses. The only way to earn money is to have a journalist in your party and take photos of enemies and then sell them. While Laplace no Ma isn’t a perfect by any means, it still can be pretty enjoyable, especially since there are very few quality role-playing games mixed with survival horror, which takes place in the unusual setting. If you liked Sweet Home, Koudelka and Peret em Heru: For the Prisoners I highly recommend to give this game a chance.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
While FE series was always famous for its deep and interesting gameplay, plot was never its strongest point. Stories in FE aren’t bad and even have some interesting plot-twists, but still they are pretty generic. The fun fact is that Tear Ring Saga, which is basically FE clone also made by Kaga, actually has a good writing and interesting characters, but that’s another story. For me things got better starting Path of Radiance, which had decent writing and pretty fleshed out characters. And there we have Three Houses, which, in my humble opinion, has the best plot in the series in case you like grey-and-grey morality. Characters are very well-developed and story is really interesting to follow, graphics and art style are beautiful and soundtrack is simply stunning. Battles are fast-pacing, class system is very flexible. To the cons of the game I would have added boring hub, repetitive maps and side-quests.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake
FF7 Remake is one of those games I was constantly putting off for later in the past. And recently I’ve finally finished it. Frankly while original FF7 was never among my favourite, I still enjoyed playing it a lot, so I’ve had my fair share of doubts about several story changes made in the remake (namely adding Whispers and that overused multiverse concept I never liked in the first place). The result actually turned out pretty good. Original story was vastly expanded and polished, creators did a great work of fleshing out the characters (even minor ones) without altering their personalities. They became much more interesting compared to the original (I even like Aerith now, which was never the case in the original). Even Whispers aren’t that annoying, despite lacking any subtility as a plot device. Game has beautiful graphics, interesting plot, well-directed cutscenes; battle system, that finely mixes action and turn-based combat, interesting boss fights. To the cons I would have added boring linear level-design, tedious puzzles and Whispers. I’m yet to play Rebirth and now I’m actually waiting for the final part of the remake, because I’m pretty curious what we’re gonna get in the finale.
Phantasy Star III
Sometimes there are games (well, also books, movies etc.), which are hard to criticize, but for some reason they don’t bring much of a joy . And sometimes there are games, that can be horrible on many levels and with that very enjoyable. And PS III is definitely the latter. I can understand why it is considered worst in the classic series. While plot has many interesting points, the developers team forgot to add them in the actual game, leaving them in the side materials. Level design is very lazy, there is a lot of trigger-hunting and even more backtracking, offensive magic is completely useless, and while music is pretty good, overall sound quality made my ears bleed. And with that said I’ve actually had a lot of fun playing PSIII. Probably that was the case of “so bad, it’s good” for me. To the pros of the game I would have added fast-pacing battles, good character design; unpolished, but interesting magic system (where you can strengthen one magic by weakening another), some interesting plot-twists and bold non-generic (yet, sometimes suggestive) enemy designs. Additionally, I would like to praise the idea of playing through several generations, where your decisions in the current generation affect the story and characters in the next generation. Personally, I’ve played through Rhys-Ayn-Sean route in the first playthrough.
Slow Damage
I’ve found out about Slow Damage by pure accident, since at some point I’ve lost interest to VN genre and stopped following Nitroplus as a result. At first, I didn’t expect much from the game, since many in-game themes are not close to me, but Slow Damage turned out to be surprisingly good psychological thriller. Game has very interesting plot with many twists (story really shows how much Fuchii Kabura grew as a writer), as well as detailed in-game world and well-developed characters. Despite being a visual novel SD even provides a decent gameplay similar to Danganronpa and Ace Attorney series in a way. Music and in-game artwork are simply outstanding. It is really evident how much effort was put into the game. To the cons of the game I would have added slow pacing at the beginning (I won’t blame you, if after playing around 2-3 hours you would think, that this game is a slice of life, but, trust me, it is not), inaccurate English translation (with lots of swearing and slang, which wasn’t there in the original) and whole Madarame’s route (Madarame is highly unlikable, his route is very disturbing and poorly-written compared to the other routes. Honestly, I’ve had an impression, that he was added only for the sake of having sadistic alpha-male among the potential love interests.). Also, Slow Damage is pretty lengthy game for a visual novel, you’ll need around 50 hours to unlock everything. In case you got interested in this game I must warn you - this is strictly 18+ BL game with lots of sensitive topics, so play at your own risk.
SoniComi
I like Sonico, she is nice and kind character, but, at first, I was hesitant to play this game. Judging by videos I’ve thought this game is pure fanservice with simplistic gameplay. Well, I was wrong. You play as a rookie photographer, Sonico is your model, and your goal is to make her popular. Game can be split in two parts, one is your typical VN, where you read dialogues and occasionally make a choice, another is photosessions, which are mix of FPS and rhythm-game. Photosessions are pretty hard and require good reaction and quick thinking from the player. SoniComi turned out to be fun and challenging experience with many endings (both good and bad) and loads of unlockable costumes. Also, unusual for Nitroplus, SoniComi is very kind and player-friendly game (aside from some fanservice there is no adult content), that teaches us to believe in ourselves and pursue our dreams to…abandon the modeling business completely and end up as war correspondent (at least that’s what I’ve got at my first playthrough).
For the twelve long years I’ve been working on a game, it was exhausting yet enjoyable experience. Now I am finally done. I’ve been doing it mostly for myself, but if you, dear readers, by any chance, are interested, you are welcome to play it.
Title: Misaki and His Playground
Created by: maskedpeach
Development Tool: RPG Maker XP
Gameplay: Turn-based RPG, Quest
Download Link:
Story: Shinomiya Keichi is a vice president of the pharmaceutical company and a brilliant scientist. Once upon a time he left home and never returned. Seven years have passed since then. His assistant, the last person, who has seen him alive, is currently serving a sentence for serial killings and refuses to talk about Keichi’s disappearance. And Keichi’s son, Misaki, is constantly plagued by vivid nightmares. One day Misaki receives the email from the person, who claims to know his father whereabouts. Desperate to see his father again Misaki decides to check these claims.
Content Warning: strong language, suggestive themes, partial nudity, references to drugs and alcohol, minor horror elements (including few jumpscares). Also in-game humor and some scenes/dialogues can be seen as either upsetting or offensive.
Main Characters:
Shinomiya Misaki (15 years old) – high school student, whose father vanished under mysterious circumstances. Independent and a bit cynical for his age. Possesses a gift of offensive magic, but doesn’t really know what to do with it.
Akiyama Teru (23 years old) – Misaki’s homeroom teacher with childish personality. Likes to read, watch TV and play video games. Tends to quickly loose his temper.
Kurosaki Tsutomu (15 years old) – Misaki’s classmate and the leader of the local gang of delinquents. Calm and level-headed, he prefers to keep people at a distance.
Warning. This article contains spoilers. Alas, this post is an enormous wall of text and consists purely from me complaining. Get the children away from the screen.
Okay, I’ll probably regret this later, but I’ll post this anyway. Years ago I used to be pretty vocal about my opinion, but these days I prefer to keep most of the negative opinions to myself. But I believe if I’d keep everything bottled up on this one particular matter I’ll simply explode.
I’m currently enthusiastically playing Like a Dragon/Yakuza series, which is now one of my favorite game series. Back at high school used to play first two games on PS2, and later there was Kurohyo on PSP, but didn’t get too far in any of them, decided save it for later, and this “later” has finally happened several months ago after listening to one pretty entertaining podcast about JPRGs. One of the hosts has totally sold me Yakuza: Like a Dragon (I’ve literally ran and bought it after listening the podcast). I’ve played it, loved it and almost cried my eyes out on the ending (seriously, if someone asks me how my ideal JRPG should look like, I’d say that’s the one).
After that I’ve beaten Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. I’ve really enjoyed this game in general, but comparing to its predecessor, while most of the gameplay issues were fixed, some story issues did arise. Story itself is far more simple and lacks memorable antagonists (Ebina was okay and Bryce was outright lame). Still, there were a plenty of interesting moments to keep me going, and I really liked the ending, which was extremely moving, the part before the ending credits I mean. And then this stupid love confession scene happened and completely ruined the mood for me. Seriously, it wasn’t funny, it was tasteless like in the worst romcoms.
And, well, here lies the main issue with Infinite Wealth for me - this poorly-written romance subplot between Ichi and Saeko, and how Saeko character is handled in this game in general. So, if you are the fan of her I suggest you to stop reading right here, right now.
First, I would like to point that, when Saeko was just an optional romantic interest in LaD it was perfectly fine, but in IW, where she became the designated love interest, the whole romance plotline became very forced and uncalled-for. In LaD they were simply on friendly terms with no indication of evident romantic interest, and in IW the whole “Ichi falling for Saeko” thing looks extremely out of nowhere. All interactions between them look artificial without real chemistry between characters. Seriously, every time Ichi says, that he loves her or have feelings for her, it sounds hardly believable, like he is trying to convince himself and the players. At moments like this I could almost imagine something like this:
RGG Studio staff: *gives Ichi the script* Start reading.
Ichi: But that’s a bunch of bullshit!
RGG Studio staff: *points a gun on Ichi* Start reading. Now.
To be honest, I’m not the fan of romance genre at all and I mostly view romance sublots in various media as a nuisance. Still I won’t deny that there are some romantic storylines I genuinely enjoyed and was rooting for the characters till the very end (like Alphen and Shionne from Tales of Arise or Oswald and Gwendolyn from Odin Sphere for example), but there are still very few of the quality romantic stories to my liking comparing to those, which are either okay or boring at the best, and unbelievably stupid or outright unhealthy (and stupid) at the worst.
Worst of all, that RGG Studio actually can write a decent romance subplot. And I believe that Yakuza 0 is a good example of this. There we have Goro Majima (who is my second most favorite character in the series, after Ichi) and Makoto Makimura (who belongs to one of my least favorite character archetypes-“damsel-in-distress”, but considering her condition and the fact that everyone is after her, she really does need help and protection). In their story there wouldn’t be a single “I love you” or “I have feelings for you” or any other needless words, they just go through many shit together and slowly develop feeling for each other, which is shown very subtly through finely directed cutscenes. They don’t get together in the end (which is pretty logical, considering everything, that’s happened), but this plotline gets pretty heartwarming conclusion in Kiwami 2. But if they actually did get together I wouldn’t mind at all, even though Makoto isn’t one of my favorites, simply because their story is well-written and makes sense.
Alright, back to Ichi and Saeko. Let’s start with the infamous “proposal-on-the-first-date” scene, I won’t deny that it was awkward as hell (I was like: “Ichi, please, just shut up.”), but Saeko’s reaction wasn’t one of the mature woman either. I would’ve understood her reaction if they’d barely knew each other, in that case it would’ve been perfectly natural. But they know each other pretty well by this point (three years, no less) and she knows that he tends to speak his mind and has zero experience with women. I believe, she could’ve always say something like:”Hold on, let’s not rush things.”, I’m sure he would’ve understand. But no, she just runs away and leaves him hanging. And when, thanks to Adachi and Nanba, Ichi realizes, what he did wrong, he goes and apologizes. Saeko seemingly accepts the apology, says that they are still friends, and that as a friend she will support him no matter what. And what Saeko does next? She ignores Ichi for a whole year. And when he loses his job and becomes pariah thanks to Tatara Channel, only Adachi and Nanba go and check up on him. When she finds out, she doesn’t even bother to send something like: “Are you okay?” or whatever. And that’s after all the crap they’ve went through in LaD. A “true friend”, nuff said.
Oh, and you know what’s rich? In her Drink Link (I did it only for the achievement and to see whether she actually expresses any remorse at all, spoiler-no) it is revealed that, the whole year she was ghosting Ichi, she was dating some obvious bastard, who was manipulating her into marrying him to get her money and business. Funny, how she didn’t see that until he went and said it himself. Another fun fact, that in some random dialogues she actually asks Kiryu and Nanba how Ichi is doing, only to add something like: “Not that I care.”. Seriously, her whole attitude towards Ichi is so fucked up and can easily be described as emotional abuse. If I were him I would’ve dismissed her after that year of ghosting and just forgot about her. And the last, but not the least, everyone either criticizes or mocks Ichi because of this stupid proposal, but no one criticizes Saeko for her craptastic treatment of him.
Also putting romance aside, I believe Saeko has nothing to offer as a character. In LaD she was an okay character, albeit with the little to zero relevance to the main plot. I believe RGG Studio has added her only for the sake of adding at least one playable girl in the party full of dudes to expand the audience, since Eri is an optional character and you can beat the game without even getting her in the team. Speaking of Eri, while she is totally unimportant to the main storyline, she is still much more likeable and fleshed out character than Saeko, and more useful in battles too.
In IW Saeko became much worse. As I see it, her portrayal is something of a strong and independent woman. And it does not withstand any criticism. Even in LaD there were some optional dialogues, were she is mocking other party members in a form of a joke. In IW she is even more immature. For example, remember how in LaD she refused to go with you in cabaret club ( I mean, where you can order a hostesses)? In IW Seonhee tags along with the guys in the same club (because, why not?), and Saeko decides that she is going too, even though she is not interested in the stuff. And there is more instances (all optional dialogues though), where someone does something, she clearly disapproves, but everyone else in party does, and she decides to do it too. I believe, that being strong and independent actually means having an opinion of your own and not caring about what others would think about you. While both Seonhee and Chitose really can be described as strong women, Saeko only seems like one, but in reality she is just pathetic. When it comes to main story in IW-she can be easily removed from all cutscenes, because most of the time she either all bark no bite (strong and independent woman, uh-huh) or just stands there. Looks like RGG Studio simply didn’t know what to do with her after LaD and wrote all this pseudo-romantic crap simply to justify her presence in IW. For me it sure didn’t work, I felt utterly disgusted with her the whole game. I wish they would just wrote her out entirely from the story. While in LaD she was only one non-optional girl in the party, in IW we have two more well-developed female characters, who, unlike Saeko, are actually important to the plot.
I’ve read somewhere that RGG Studio is currently working on the next installment in the series. I have no idea, what it’ll be about, but I really wish that they’d just drop the idea of getting Ichi and Saeko together for the sake of it. It seriously looks like the cupid on drugs is garroting the poor guy with the red string. To be honest, I’m not exactly excited about new installment at all. Saeko stuff aside, for me IW is the fitting conclusion to the series. I seriously don’t see what else could be added to the main story, since all the major storylines got a closure by that point. I only wish for Kiryu to heal his cancer and for Ichi to get his job back (and the same goes for Majima, Saejima and Dojima, since I don’t remember anything said about it in the ending), and for both of them to live in peace for the rest of the days. They’ve had enough shit in their lives already.
recently rewatched the whole JoJo thing with my mom, I just love the series , so I drew a bit of Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency random fanarts for starters, maybe i'll draw other parts later (my personal favourite parts are 2, 3, 4 btw)
Warning: This article may contain spoilers and the content inappropriate for children…or may not contain.But get the children away from the screen just in case.
Five little authors went out to write. One little author has missed the deadline. Four little authors didn’t pay him much mind. Three authors are left since fourth drank the lye. Three little authors are bursting with confidence. One overworked himself and other two ignored his absence. Two little authors try to finish hard task. Teddy bear hugged one and one stands at last. One little author is left all alone. He hung himself on the chandelier and then there were none…Then who has finished this article? And why this teddy bear is giving me a weird look?
1. Walking on a Star Unknown
Walking on a Star Unknown is the latest game made by Segawa and most heartwarming out of her three games (while End Roll was more heartbreaking than heartwarming, and Farethere City is somewhere in-between). Game tells a story of two alien siblings, whose ship has crashed on the unfamiliar planet, where they decide to participate in the cooking tournament to get their ship fixed. Gameplay is simple yet very fun - most of the time you gather ingredients, learn new recipes, do side-quests and make friends with the planet inhabitants. Game has memorable cast of characters with their own interesting stories and bright and stylish visuals. As previous Segawa’s games Star also has some disturbing themes and some areas are dark and creepy, but overall tone of the game is bright and optimistic.
2. Witch’s Heart
Actually I wrote the detailed review on this game few posts ago, but I’m still including WH in the article for those who are lazy to read that enormous wall of a text. The most notable part of the game is its plot (which is interesting to follow and full of good twists) and memorable cast of well-developed characters. Along with it WH has entertaining gameplay (mini-games included), great presentation and catchy soundtrack. Overall it is one of the best games I’ve ever played, so if you like rpg-horrors I suggest to at least give it a try. Game is still unfinished, currently only one ending (out of four routes) is available, but even in the present state it means about 15-20 hours of gameplay.
3. The Mystery Files of Detective Inaba No. 1, 2, 3
Here goes a game trilogy about Sogo Inaba-a tsundere detective with adorable side and Nina Arimura – his energetic assistant, together they solve various cases, some of the cases are pretty normal, and others are somewhat paranormal. First game of the series is a detective with minor supernatural horror elements – some rpg-horror typical puzzles and minor chasing sequences included. Second game is purely realistic and much more simple gameplay-wise comparing to the first game. Stories in first two games resemble Agatha Christie’s detective novels mixed with japanese psychological horrors. Third game of the series is closer to pure survival horror with minor detective elements and plays like many other rpg-horrors . To be honest, the third game is my personal favorite, since it is the most polished game out of three and the good conclusion for the Inaba and Arimura’s story. All three games are about 2 hours long and have great presentation (like quality art-style and great in-game music).
4. Asadoke no Majo
Asadoke no Majo starts with our protagonist Yui arguing with her father and as a result running away from home to …another country, where resides their old family mansion along with dark family secret and a handsome guy managing the estate as a bonus. Game is about 2 hours long and has pretty simple puzzles, minor jumpscares and several chasing scenes (but a final chase is the only frustrating one). Despite being pretty typical rpg-horror Asadoke no Majo leaves very positive impression thanks to bright cast of characters (the Nogi guy here is something else), good story and atmosphere along with well-chosen soundtrack. Currently game is available in japanese and russian.
5. Hero & Daughter
H&D is a dungeon-crawler made by tachi (Headless Prisoner, Moonlight Ghost, Hello?Hell…o?), which mocking famous fantasy cliché “hero defeats a dark lord”.Our hero Ralph get his level reduced to 1 because of his arrogance, and with this permanent level 1 he is tasked to defeat the Demon Lord. Again. That’s where Ralph’s friend of the haremancer class comes to rescue. This guy can summon pretty girls (including heroines from previous tachi’s games like Erina and Akari) to help Ralph in his quest. H&D is fun and entertaining, battles are fast-pacing, dungeons are complex, visuals are nice, also game has enormous level-cap and loads of optional content and many playable characters. Plot may be simple, but H&D has good humor and characters ( even generic Ralph got a nice personality). If you like quality role-playing games I highly recommend to try it out
6. Ai korosu yori, Ai korosaretai
An ordinary (alright, maybe a bit eccentric) family moves into new house. Soon after that their daughter Lucy falls with high fever.When she gets better, she discovers that her parents are gone and various weird phenomena is occurring in the house. To find the missing parents Lucy will have to search the house and learn about its history full of mysterious disappearances and tragic events. AiAi has very interesting story (good mix of horror and sci-fi) and entertaining gameplay with interesting puzzles and action cut-ins. Also beside proceeding the story you can also do some optional stuff like gathering collectibles and later saving runaway cows. If you like quality horror-adventures I highly recommend to try this game out. AiAi is currently available in japanese and russian.
7. Escatpade
Here goes another quality game for those who is tired from horror and tragedy and wants something warm and relaxing. Escatpade is about the girl who falls into the pit and finds herself in the weird place full of adorable talking cats. Game is nice and fun, have a bright, adorable designs and simple yet elegant puzzles. Also some items in the inventory can change appearance of our heroine (like clothes, glasses and stuffed kittycats).
8. Tower of Feles
ToF made by the author of Escatpade and also full of adorable cats. But unlike Escatparade this game is slightly more challenging. ToF is an action-puzzle where your objective is save your little sister from evil witch. In order to do so you have to climb on top of the tower, solving various puzzles and avoiding witch’s servants in the process. Every floor has a time limit, and if either time runs out or your health drops to zero you’ll have to start the floor over. Game is a bit tricky and very fun to play. If you have beaten Escatpade and want more cats and cuteness- Tower of Feles is what you need.
9. Twilight Epic
Twilight Epic is a sequel to Amayado Bus Stop. This time the main character is Akane’s and Akari’s cousin Akino, who receives a call from unknown girl, who tells him about certain “promise” and right after that he finds this girl’s dead body (or not quite dead). The boy decides to find out the truth and grown-up Chitose and Akari are helping him out. Game is far more simple than its predecessor-puzzles are mostly gone and chasing scenes are pretty straightforward, but still the game is very enjoyable, since story is good and heartwarming. Also game has quality art-style and skit system similar to one in Tales series. Twilight Epic is currently available in japanese and russian.
10. Peret em Heru: For the Prisoners
Peret em Heru is survival horror with rpg-elements about a group of tourists, lead by an archeologist, professor Tsuchida, exploring ancient ruins underneath the Great Pyramid of Giza. Needless to say, that these ruins are filled with deadly traps and Tsuchida’s intentions are far from mere scientific interest. Gameplay resembles Sweet Home and Corpse Party –Rebuilt-, but more simple and straightforward – you play as one of the tourists, fight monsters, grind levels, and save your teammates from booby traps. Overall Peret em Heru is a nice game with stylish old-fashioned visuals and good music, game is about 3 hours long and have one ending, which varies depending on how many of your teammates have survived.
11. The Object
You awake in the dark room in the unknown place and find out that not only your memories are gone, but your head is gone as well. On top of that you can attach literally anything to an empty place where your head once was. Now your goal is to regain the lost memories along with the head and leave the house. Game consists from exploration and simple yet elegant puzzles, which you solve by swapping your heads. Game is pretty interesting and has five endings , to get all of them you’ll need about 30 minutes.
12. Colors: Lost Memories
This time you play as a little girl who finds herself in the colorless world inhabited by talking animals. To get back home she must return this world its colors. Colors have stylish visuals highly reminiscent of old GBC games as well as unique puzzles based on using various colors you get during the game at the right places. First you can use only one color (for example red is needed to light or put out fire), later you will be able to activate up to three colors at the same time.Game is cute and fun to play, approximate time of the playthrough is one hour.
13. Nemoral
Nemoral is a short game about two cops who end up in the abandoned mansion while chasing the cult followers, assuming that they have something to do with the recent disappearances of children. And this mansion hides pretty dark secret about a project based on the famous fairy tale. Nemoral is quality action-horror, where both visuals and gameplay is somewhat resemble very first Resident Evil (in the good way of course). The only con of Nemoral is anti-climatic ending (game was made for the contest, and author was short on time). But even in present state the game is still enjoyable.
14. B*x. Colorful.
I’ve decided to unite both games in one mini-review, since they are both made by the same author and both are very short. B*x is about lonely girl in bunny outfit, who lives with her boyfriend, the only person who cares about her. But it seems like he’s hiding something from her. Game is about 30 minutes long and have few easy puzzles. Colorful is only 10 minutes long and have no puzzles at all, and more depressing than B*x. In Colorful you just listen to the story and watch pictures. Both games have very nice art style.
Quite a while ago I’ve beaten Sirius route and I’ve really enjoyed the ending, I was glad to see that things have finally turned for the better for the characters, so I’ve decided to draw a little fanart with my personal favs.
Oh,well,I’m currently in love with Witch’s Heart,so I’ve made lots of fanart while playing.First I wanted to draw just my personal favs-Sirius,Claire and Wilardo, then I’ve decided to draw Ashe too, then Noel and Rouge,and then it was like:”Ah,what the hell...I’m drawing everyone!”.
Warning: This article may contain spoilers…or may not contain. At least I’ve tried to avoid major ones.
Seven years have already passed since I’ve got into freeware games made via RPG Maker or similar engines. By now I’ve played to the point, where it becomes hard to be impressed by something, since I’ve seen it so many times that I’ve stopped counting. But recently I was finally able to play Witch’s Heart. This game is still yet to be completed, but there’s already enough playable material available to write an article, since this game is one of those hidden gems that leaves very strong impression after you play it.
When I’ve just started to play Witch’s Heart I wasn’t expecting much from this game. I’ve thought it would be another gothic shoujo-horror where form prevails over contents. But I can gladly admit that my first impression was wrong and the story of this game is, in fact, its strongest point. Indeed, the beginning of the story is pretty common - while seeking shelter from rain several strangers get trapped in the old demon-infested mansion, where twelve years ago a mass murder took place. At the present moment, game consists from four character’s scenarios (only two are available from the start) and a bonus stage, which takes place after them. To get the whole picture you should play all five, since each scenario adds many important details to the main story as well as gives to all characters further development.
Story of this game is pretty complicated and everything in it is not what it seems from the first glance. Every time you think that you know what will happen next –an unexpected turn of events occurs, sometimes for better, but most of the time for worst. But despite being horror Witch’s Heart has plenty of humorous and heartwarming moments. All of the scenes (either funny or serious) are very well-written. The main plot has no visible logic holes, full of good twists, strong scenes and keeps player in suspense until the very end (which is sadly still in development, but at least we have a semi-final).
Additionally I would like to praise characters of the Witch’s Heart. It’s been a while since I’ve seen such memorable and sympathetic main cast, where everyone deserves attention. All of the main characters are complicated and have their own unique personality. Yeah, they may be wrong at some point, they make mistakes, jump to conclusions-they are humans after all and that’s what makes them believable. Yeah, I admit this game has way too much tragic backstories, but they are all interesting and help if not to sympathize with the characters, then at least understand them better.
Oh well, story is sure important, but aside from it this game also have wonderful presentation and entertaining gameplay.
Visual part of this game is bright and stylish. Character’s designs and illustrations are very well-drawn and somewhat reminiscent of old anime shows straight from middle of 90s. In-game sprites are high-quality either, especially considering that game uses pretty old RMK 2000 engine.
In-game music is borrowed from many free and paid resources and perfectly matches the mood of the various locations and story scenes (personally, theme from the Rouge’s Fantasy Space is my guilty pleasure).
Gameplay of the Witch’s Heart varies from exploration to action. Player’s activity is separated to daily and night. During the day you mostly explore the mansion, talk to other characters and perform small tasks like cooking. At night you fight demons, and more areas of the mansion becomes available for exploration ( to be fair, some of those areas are available during the daytime either). At some points you’ll be prompted to fulfill demon’s requests in order to proceed -tasks are simple and mostly consist from bringing right item to the right character. Additionally you can play various mini-games (some of them are mandatory during the main course) and do side-activities like fishing or growing flowers. Also after beating each route you’ll be given special item, which opens previously unavailable area in the next route, further expanding gaming space and adding more demon’s requests. This and many other features makes game quite lengthy (around 15 hours to beat the whole thing) and very fun to play. To the cons I can add only the fact that game is pretty easy, aside from several boss fights enemies remain the same during the whole game, and demon’s requests sometimes turn repetitive-but honestly, it doesn’t spoil an overall impression at all.
In conclusion I would like to say that I’ve played many great games, but Witch’s Heart is one of those few games, that made me feel so deeply involved with the story and the characters. It made me express the whole ton of feelings-joy, sadness, excitement, fear and many others. The story of this game kept me motivated to see things to the very end. So, I wish to BLUE STAR Entertainment to keep up the great work and I hope that we would be able to see the ending of the story (or several endings to be exact) in the near future.
Hi there, everyone! It’s been more than a year since i’ve started working at my comic and today I’m glad to finally post it. The process was tough, but in the end I’m satisfied with the result.
This comic is 37-pages long one-shot, drawn in manga-style.
Title: Ayuto no Mori
Author: maskedpeach
Genre: horror, comedy, slice of life
Recommended age: 13+ ( comic is actually pretty harmless, but still have materials, that may not be fitting for kids ).
This story is about a boy, who lives in the small village with his mother and two besties - tanuki and kappa. And since this story is pretty short it would be hard to write the synopsis avoiding spoilers, so check it out for yourselves. You can read the whole thing here:
Warning:This article may contain spoilers and the content inappropriate for children…or may not contain.But get the children away from the screen just in case.
It was the rainy day just like this one. I was in my room watching porn the stars, when I’ve noticed the body hanging in the opposite window. Neighbor hung himself. While examining the scene I’ve found his laptop with unfinished article. I’ve got the laptop and went home. Later I got arrested for break-in, but before that I managed to post this article on tumblr. Enjoy!
1. Blight Dream
Blight Dream is an exploration adventure game, where you play as a girl, suffering from memory disorder ( don’t confuse with amnesia ), whose goal is to regain memories from the blank period of her life. But there’s one little problem-it seems that your brother isn’t really excited about you getting back your memories, that’s why he’s watching your every step and prevents all your attempts to remember. So, watch his movements and try not to get caught by him. But is it really your brother, who you should be afraid of? Play and see for yourself. Beside interesting plot, this game has high-quality visuals ( character’s 3D-models are similar to ones in remake of FF3 and CP:Blood Drive ) and wisely chosen soundtrack.
2. 1BeatHeart
Here goes a sequel-spinoff to 1bitHeart, without friend-making and QTE-scenes though. This time the main character is Misane-chan, who, along with Nanashi, is solving various murder cases in resort hotel. Gameplay is very similar to Ace Attorney games, logic is pretty simple, so, as long as you’ve played any detective games-you’ll be fine even without hints. Like it’s predecessor, 1BeatHeart has wonderful presentation – beautiful art and sprites along with catchy soundtrack and quality voice acting.
3.The Hanged Man
The Strange Men Series is probably one of most known game series in rpg-horror community, and, no doubt, one of the most interesting. Here goes the last game in the series, which concludes the main plotline, and makes clear some things, that were hanging in the air since the Crooked Man. The Hanged Man introduces us new protagonist – Will, a bit unstable, but still nice boy with active imagination, who’s searching for his missing friend. Along the way he’ll meet many of our old acquaintances from previous games. Once again, game has fully voiced cutscenes, with quality voice acting for an indie-game. Gameplay, though, is more simple compared to predecessors, most of the game you’ll be exploring various locations and solving puzzles, there’s no action cut-ins, except for quite complicated final chase. Overall, the Hanged Man is an interesting game and very decent conclusion of the whole series.
4.Farethere City
Here goes the game, made by Segawa, the author of our favorite End Roll. Farethere City was her first game, and it’s bit more simple in terms of gameplay ( for example, there’s no rpg-elements and game’s world isn’t that big ). But when it comes to story, City is as good as ER, both sad and moving,-game starts with little kelp (Mr.Turnip?) named Pigula, who has recently moved to a new city and wishes to open a shop, but something is definitely off with both city and our hero. Visual part is as bright as one in the End Roll (including a bit of stylish disturbing artwork).So, if you liked End Roll and still want more, I highly suggest playing Farethere City.
5.June Bride Nightmare
What a beautiful wedding…and how quickly it turned into a nightmare. Our protagonist, Yuno, was so close to finding her happiness with the man she loves, but ended up being the only surviving person on her own wedding, and now she’s forced to play hide and seek with the mysterious maniac in the church, where wedding was held. Every time the maniac appears, you have a choice to sneak past him or to run for it by performing a QTE. Game has an interesting story, good gameplay and wonderful presentation. Even if you are far from romance ( like myself, heh ), Bride still leaves the strong impression, especially the bittersweet true ending ( there’s also secret ending, but it isn’t that good, really ).
6.Little Red Riding Hood’s Wolf
Who doesn’t know the tale about Red Riding Hood? Famous tale indeed, and has many various interpretations, in most of them the girl gets eaten by wolf one way or another. But not this time. In this game granny is dead from the very beginning, little Red Riding Hood and the wolf are working together in order to find the murderer. Story is interesting and have some nice plot-twists (personally, I liked how the theme of split personality played in here ) and characters are nice. When it comes to gameplay, LRRHW plays like any other rpg-horror, so if you aren’t new to genre, you’ll easily beat this game in a hour or so. It’ll be quite pleasant hour.
7.Stray Cat Crossing
If you constantly play rpg-horrors and still haven’t got tired from amnesiac characters, I highly recommend you to play Stray Cat Crossing. First thing, that catches the eye is very detailed sprites and pixel artwork. Other one is dark atmosphere of haunted house with stylish designs and some grotesque well-animated cutscenes. Gameplay is mostly consists from searching the right items and solving simple riddles, but there’s also one frustrating chasing scene at the end of the first section of the house. Story may lack originality, but still good and teaches us to forgive, this time not others, but yourself, since sometimes there’s things that are beyond our control. And despite ending being optimistic, closing credits are a bit creepy.
8.Three Ghostly Roses
You find yourself in the strange place, greeted by mysterious man in the blue cape, you don’t remember anything about yourself, except for the name. Edmund Brigham. Doesn’t ring a bell? Nope, it doesn’t. To find out about your past and your purpose, you’ll need to carefully explore every corner of the dark and unwelcome world, before it’ll start to fall apart. TGR looks very similar to NES games and has wonderful original soundtrack, which perfectly fits to dark atmosphere of the haunted world. Also game has pretty unique battle system, where you watch the enemy’s movements and try to exploit it’s weakness. And, there’s no healing items, you recover HP by defeating the enemies, but despite that, difficulty level is quite fair.
9.Dreamfarer
Good sleep is important, isn’t it? It definitely is, but not for the people in Dreamfarer, who don’t need to sleep at all. In the society, described in the game, sleep is considered something out of ordinary, since no one’ve slept and seen a dreams for a long time. Yet, little girl, who has an ability to travel between other’s dreams, accidentally gets into a dream of a man, who is currently in comatose state in the hospital. To get back to reality, you’ll need to swap between girl and the man, since both of them see the same things from different perspectives, and help the inhabitants of the dream world. Dreamfarer is one of those games, which start as cute adventure and get darker and darker towards the end. This game has amazing fully redrawn graphics and stunning artwork (there’s literally tons of CGs ).
10.Shirakami-sama to Yon-no-Oni
Our next game is perfect if you are tired from jumpscares, suggestive content and brain(or heart)-breaking stories. Shirakami is very heartwarming game about friendship between boy and four demons, who help him in search of his cousin, who went missing while preparing to upcoming festival. Game has warm atmosphere of small village, strong with it’s traditions, beautiful illustrations and interesting gameplay, based on main character’s perception. There’s 3 endings in total, to see all of them you’ll need to beat the game 3 times (it’ll take from 3 to 5 hours in total ) and every time story goes the different way. Currently, game ia available only in russian and japanese.
11.From The Next Door
When you see something extremely cheap-it’s always suspicious. In case of food it might be rotten ( not always though ), in case of newly acquired house-get ready to deal with abomination living next door ( and no, I don’t mean neighbors ). Usually, when you notice paranormal activity in your house-you try to get away from it as far as you can, but in case of our heroine Namie ( who is as “smart” as Ayumi Shinozaki in CP: Blood Drive )- you’ll wait until things will get reeeeally ugly. Despite main heroine’s stupidity ( or thanks to it ), the game came out really creepy and interesting. Additionally I would like to praise game’s stylish visuals reminiscent of GBC-games and good work with setting the right atmosphere. And, once again, if you’re not the sensitive type-I suggest you playing in complete darkness with headphones on.
12.Hansel
Despite the game’s title, you will meet neither Hansel nor Gretel, instead you are playing as twin brothers, one of them is timid and another is sharp-mouthed (oh well, they’re both little rascals, no matter how you look at it). Hansel is nice adventure game with variety of references to famous old fairy tales, good humor, adorable visuals and quite unexpected ending ( two endings, to be exact, since another one is unlocked after beating the game for the second time). Game is relatively short ( 30-40 minutes ) and puzzles can be easily solved without a guide.
13.Lavender
Lavender presents another look on the Rapunzel’s story, in which there’s no prince and evil witch isn’t that evil. Your goal in this game is to descend the tower to retrieve your birthday present, solving various unique puzzles ( from feeding plants to playing chess ) on your way down. Lavender has quality pixel graphics and overall good presentation, which helps to create the feeling that you’re traveling through old storybook. Personally, I really liked the game’s normal ending, but there’s also a secret one for those, who like, when plot starts to turn grim and bloody.
14.Dudley and The Mysterious Tower
There goes a new title, developed by Sen, but don’t expect second Mad Father or Misao. Dudley is far more simple in terms of both plot and presentation. But it doesn’t mean that the game has nothing to offer. You play as a courier, who has an important delivery to tower’s owner, and his dog. Each floor of the tower is designed as a puzzle, in order to solve which you’ll need to switch between courier and the dog, who can do things courier can’t ( like seeing ghosts and talking to other animals).To climb the tower and see the contents of so-called “delivery” you’ll need about 40 minutes, so if you have some free time-be my guest.
15.Apocalypse Never
And once again our closing title belongs to “escape” genre, where you need to leave locked apartments by all means necessary. This time you play as carefree guy, whose drunken older sister has changed all locks in the house. Game is about 30 minutes long and has several endings, which depend on how fast you’ll manage to escape the house and meet up with a friend ( don’t forget to bring “that” with you ).Also game has good humor (some jokes are just hilarious) and nice art style.
