gaming Elena And Her Joystick

[Elena Ichinomiya]

...Hoho~ you found me! Tell you what, i rarely do top 10 kind of thing so i'm gonna do it once again. I might tell you the full extent of my experience about one of those. Too bad though because it also include the game i opt to abandon because either i lost interest, or i completely forgot how much impact those game had on me. Sure i can just emulate it to rejuvenate my memories back to masochist days with joystick, but mind you, maybe if i am back to my 15 years old self, i could find some time to do that. Now i'm old and busy. For now, enjoy this "clip" of my past experience playing some games that either come as a hit...or miss...

1. Digimon World 4 (PS2) (No spit fire?)
   "Oh god please tell me what's going on...i'm playing as Agumon but instead of spitting fire, i shoot guns!? Why you add firearms arsenal on digimon that basically a deadly force to begin with!? Oh for the love of...i'm playing as V-Mon but here i am stuck with dual swords. Playing this game is just fun if you don't know what Digimon is. Its like giving Godzilla and Kong a butter knife and fork to fight each other instead shooting beam and throw building. Yeah, imagine that. And why the hell every Digimon sounds like they're a plushie? Is this really PS2 games!?"
    
2. Resident Evil 6 (Outside church crescendo event)
   "Seriously, i play on easy but these red skin zom-of-a-bietch keep spawning like maniac. Did they got mixed up with L4D? At least L4D got many horde but backed up with the fluid control while this one is so sluggish! This is maddening! Screw this, let's open the door...what the hell? I have to open it up with my partner!? The people inside the church said the door is already unlocked and all we had to do is just open it! The door is just your typical door, not a big gate or something! Why i need two people to open a dang backyard door!? Isn't it irony that Leon. S. Kennedy, tough guy who still alive being chopped with chainsaw, find it hard to open an UNLOCKED church door?"
    
3. Silent Hill Homecoming (Action shooter + Physicological horror game = not funny)
   "Tell me, which part of this game that sounds scary to you. Music? No. Monster? No. Pyramid head? Maybe, if he isn't just there being fanservice. You won't find anything admirable in this installment. Your eyes is so focused looking for ammo and aiming rather than feeling the atmosphere of the environment, your ears didn't have chance to hear any horror séance as BGM because the monsters have annoying voice than Pendulum from SH3. And when you encounter enemy? This game turn into Dynasty warrior. They appears in numbers most of the time. If you didn't take care of them, they won't stop chasing you. And if you leave many enemy behind, chance are, you'll gangbanged when backtracking! Cleaning them off the street is a chore and with the wonky controls, it add more issue. To add middle finger to this miserable release, there's an enemy who will explode if you kill it. You need guns to defeat it or else you'll have tough time kill it with melee weapons. Believe me, its either that thing beat you to death, or the explosion. And guess what? The boss are so cryptic to defeat! Why killing a small fry enemy has to be so complex like inputting cheat code on the game that wasn't supposed to be combat centric!? I try both controller and keyboard and mouse, and still struggling to step on enemy to kill it. We're doomed"
    
4. God Eater 3 (Impractical button for non-voice chat)
   "Of all thing, if i play online game on PC, pressing enter would pull out the chat window. Alternatively, some game use Y button or C button on keyboard which happen to be convenient but also not get in the way of play. So take a guess, what button GE3 use to open up chat window. Enter? Nope, that's for confirm button. Y? It doesn't work. C? Nothing. The answer is F1...you press F1 button, to open up chat window. Who on earth gonna figure that out!? In my experience of gaming, i never heard any game use F1 up to F12 to open chat window! In order for you to figure this out, you need to open the option and see the key input because in lobby there's no instruction for it on the UI. So i goes back again and try it...nothing happen. Guess what again? You have to press the button...TWICE. So even if you already know which button to push, you probably still confused because the game didn't tell you that you have to press F1 twice! Not only the button were mapped differently from traditional key input, no instruction on lobby UI shows what button to push to pull out chat window, and nothing told you that you have to press it twice! No wonder everyone playing there never talk; they probably don't know which button to push and have to push it effing twice!"
    
5. Knight in The Nightmare (RNG item drop for good ending requirement item is a BAD IDEA!)
   "I love this game but screw that good ending. In order to get the good ending, you have to obtain Staff of Arbitrator. Where to obtain it? On the room where you face one big obese enemy in a room full of chest. Now i bet you know those chest are filled with something. But that's just cover. The staff location, are RANDOMLY GENERATED. Chance are, you'll miss it because you don't know how vital this room is because the obese fellow didn't act as like most boss which make this stage is just another stage to clear. And most of all thing, why they have to put that item as RANDOM DROP!? I understand about hard to obtain item with near impossible requirement but not  gambling our luck like this!"
    
6. Rune Factory 4 (Real life proposal isn't so romantic on game...especially with RNG)
   "I admit the game battle system and farming is rather easy compared to RF3 but the thing is, of all RF i ever play, this one is pure agony when it come to marriage. How do you get married on every RF franchise or on Harvest Moon/Story of season? With proposal item right? In RF 4, you need to wait that certain someone to propose to you. By luck, they ask for your hand sooner. If not, congrats, you'll sit with me for many seasons as Christmas cake until one of those pot-brained bachelor/bachelorette remember that they should be the one who propose us. Even blind date isn't this much painful to wait!"
    
7. The Sims 3 (Next gen games, dead horse engine)
   "Sims 3 isn't bad game and if anything, should EA decide to stop the game there, it would still great. What make it NOT great is because the game is 32bit! It was released around 2008-2009 where Win7 are transitioning to 64 bit OS and somehow they only release 32 bit version! No matter how military grade your PC is, Sims 3 will make it run like potato on the wheel"
    
8. Cities Skyline (Friendzoned game)
   "This game is alright to me and all. I like it. No complaint for the DLC too. I manage to create functional city and i'm happy with that. Too bad, this is not SimCity..."
    
9. Code Vein (Camera disorientation)
   "Uhh...where do i go? Here? Okay...hold on, the map is overlapping. Dear lord, the navigation here sucks. I rotate the camera all over the place and feel disoriented already. Are those platform? I guess it is. Let's go...wait, its a pit-"
   
   *Wilhelm scream*
   
   "Dear lord...here we go again...urrrp!"
    
10. Dark Rose Valkyrie (No nepu? No fixu)
    "The game probably mediocre even if the framerate issue and crash were fixed but boy, why do they leave the game in such shape like this!? Frame rate are horrible and even with potato graphic, it still run like slug. But guess what? The cause of error is because there's one coding that prevent some process to be compressed, making the game load and dump unnecessarily and hog the memory until crash. You have to use hex program to fix this issue but even with that, the game still run horribly. These guys make Neptunia from crap to total win yet they abandon this one like a college project? Maybe if there's Neptune in it, they'll change their mind. Take a guess, they don't. I never said this to anyone since its sounds cruel but since this game are hard to enjoy without complex fix and there's no way to make it run smoothly, i say it anyway : don't buy this unless its on discount or you want to farm steam points"

Yeah, i know there's no gold on those clip. The game shown there isn't entirely bad, its just that one bad spot that make the game hard to miss. Lazy coding, lack of fix, badly implemented feature, outdated engine usage, you name it. Sims 3 for example, is one of the outdated engine usage even at its prime release. Code Vein, while its good overall, the dungeon implementation is rather disorienting since the map just overlap and you can't control it to tell where you at. However...HOWEVER! I have nothing to say to those RNG BS. Gambling, is NOT cool feature. Period. Elena, shutting off~

[Elena Ichinomiya]

In-game ads. Back in the day, having ads on the game make the world inside the game feel realistic. Let's just say you walk around in Persona and bump into Coca Cola vending machine. Or seeing Kelvin Klein ads on any racing games...yeah that. Back then, game developer know how to treat ads that basically act like people who serve them the side dish while gamer who bought their game as the one who serve the dough. Everything were put in the right place. You see those ads without obstruction let alone being forced to sink your eyes in. And of course, no clickbait. If its about drinks, then the ads is just someone chugging the drinks, that's it, no unnecessary hubbub stuff that make the ads ridiculous. After all, you're focusing on the game, not the ads.

But today, in-game ads is so ridiculous, unlikeable, shady, commonly stupid, full of scam, can't even tell that gamer these days can't be fooled, or even plain straight copy-paste something that wasn't their game as ads of their game. Yeah, business is cruel. But in-game ads is dogshit shameful. No wonder i end up as teacher instead game developer. But believe me, in-game video ads you always see to earn those sweet 5 diamonds ain't a thing because the game you play are F2P.

Now what happen if you see an ads on Triple A games that cost you your whole salary that should be spent by paying taxes? You got these...

 

"I know what we're all thinking here with those logo on the cover. Especially the third picture..."

To start things off, let me say this. I hate ads. But since the game i played is F2P, complaining about it is unfair. Those dev work hard and let us have some fun in it without slapping your credit cards first. As time passed, i realize i don't hate those ads; i hate what they show in front of my face. Nobody like being treated as stupid. And those dev let those advertisement agent do whatever they like is not exactly great idea. But hey, its F2P games! They need to make bucks somewhat if not through ads or subscription! Yeah about that...

Years ago, those game above mark themselves as total penny pincher to the core in different meaning other than dropbox. Not only they rub your wallet clean with their content, they dare to put another thing that shouldn't even exist on triple A games. In-game ads. Yeah, you heard me. There's in-game ads inside the game that already suck your wallet as a whole. You know what people expect from triple A games? Something that mobile game doesn't do, namely, NO ADS INSIDE THE FULLY PRICED GAMES! This practice isn't exactly a crime if they were put in a place that wasn't so obnoxious. But god forbid, they put it there! On NBA 2k20, there's this non skippable VIDEO ads popping up every single times out. All you wanted to do is arranging squad but you have to watch some grubby pot-head eating cereal first. Really!? On UFC, there's this ads from Amazon that no one give a single crap about which is okay at first but boy, they gone too far after next patch 2 months after the game release. They dare to slap an ads on your face every single time the match is over with those patch. No one appreciate that. Now let me ask you the question. When did you usually treated ads in fully priced games? PSone? XBOX? NDS? None of them! Even Soulja Console didn't do shove you any of that! There's no history record about in-game ads in the full priced games! What were they smoking with!? I mean, sure it would put some profit especially to a sports game and all, but not by shoving it up our throat and tell us to like it! Where's the fun in that!? More importantly, is this what i get after spending my gut bucks!? By sucking my time watching ads about stuff that doesn't even available on my region? Effing beggar.

Now i bet you wonder why on earth i put that third picture. Well, i got no better example, that's all. I play townsmen since i'm 13 years old and since the game has city simulation element to it, i was hooked just as fast. But when things get a little bit modern, they too, follow the trend of adding ads in their game. You don't like that? Then you can subscribe to get ride of it! For 30 days!

Yes, you have to pay EVER SINGLE MONTH just to get rid of the ads. TL;DR, they basically give finger to you for playing the free version of the game. I'm not kidding, back then i thought about getting rid of the ads with paying real money. Luckily i saw one review explaining what transpire behind it. Its not cool.

No, i don't buy those corporate "We need money! If you want more of these game, give us your money!" stuff. I mean, they have bucks to buy license to FIFA, UFC, NBA, making grandest stage on E3, yet still they have balls to say their money is not enough? Gamer ain't fool these days. They know big corporate has investor to rain them money if the stuff they sell hit the chart up; its a LOT of money. If they still persist, gamer will opt to pirate/mod it which beat the purpose of the ads which is sad, but understandable why. Do you know how much game developer CEO paid these days? Here's the picture: 2 Lamborghinis and private jet. There's even case with Activision where investor frown as they realize their money are spent more on paying one man salary than on the work effort. With that in mind, tell me why i shouldn't get angry when they ask me for more money when they got ton of it! Effing beggar with ties, lots of them!

By all mean, if the ads is essential for company survival, look where you put it. When gamer playing a game, they expect to get the game, not slapstick ads! Did they have shame at all?

So here's the lesson. If you really have to put up an ads, but don't want to fall into sinkhole of bad review due to the ads instead about the game, do yourself favor. Either put the ads on top/bottom of the screen, or just pop-up ads that isn't a video. 

Well, i guess that's pretty much it. Next post is about what kind of game company i give finger about by pirating their game and why. Elena shutting off~

[Elena Ichinomiya]

I know what we're all thinking here. Pirated games usually has extra baggage, namely virus. However what make them thrives on and called blessings is how they become 2nd alternative to "testing" if the game suit your taste or not before buying the game officially as "apology" for pirating their games before. Just like what i do these days after deciding to end my pirating days after Steam adding currency balance for my region. Sure there's Epic and Origin but as "advanced" as they are claiming to be, they're only minding business. But enough about that, i'm here to talk about what kind of game i usually pirate or WILL always pirate just so i don't feel guilty feeding someone ego and greed with my money.

"I also play pirated exclusive console game. But i spare them from this list since we talk about the real problem"

Clearly Greedy
I grow no love with pesky beggar who cling on you even though you already said you don't have penny to spare. Its no wonder people tend to smack jaw them when they goes too far. Ironically, that's what happen to big game dev company who clearly beg for penny...only to ask for more for whatever the crap we already give them. I don't need to put example of this category but face it, do you like f2p games with gacha? No? Then do you like gacha feature on the full priced games? You tell me, because my answer is big no. I already paid full price and they still dare to lock the full game experience with more paid walls? Sorry dev, even clingy beggar won't resort to gambling addict. This practice of "biting hands that feed you" isn't exactly smart. DLC is one thing, dropbox, gacha, gambling is different topic.

Turd Brain Developer
I give you one name for example. Phil Fish. There, you know what would happen to a game once they know the person behind it is insecure little boy. I don't find it funny if the dev being arrogant and certainly has no love for their poor grasp of critic that somehow translate as autism to their ears. You don't insult those who buy your game, you just don't. Especially if you're indie game developer, its certain cheap game over for your company. Many dev grow bigger nose when they won something and not in good way. This kind of thing is what make me to resort to pirate their game. Let me cut the chase then. I don't like that guy/woman developer, they're dick. But i like the game, so i just get to the point by pirate the game and leave those dev alone. I come to them for their game anyway, not for listening their ego about winning one award that probably been won by many. When you think you're great and you know it, then know there's many people that is greater and obviously better than you. Go outside, dev!

Chopped Off To Bits
Sims 4. There, i said it. I never feel so tired following this game update from time to time. Back then, all you had to worry about is Expansion and Stuff pack but now, there's so many pack that i couldn't even tell what are they good for. Chopping up feature only to sold it as DLC is still rotten move. If Sims 4 butchery isn't enough, remember how Tekken fans angry about the basic feature like hit detection need to be bought separately? Its like you buy a game but couldn't change resolution of the screen because you have to buy the Screen resolution DLC first. Feel angry yet?

Crunched Development
No no no no no no no! En-Oh! I don't plan to put my money in effort to grind people life to make the game i want. I'm against slavery of any kind. This is probably the big stinker reason why i pirate the game. I can't enjoy the game knowing it was made by tears and only tears!

Beta Games
I don't find it make sense to anyone who buy game that clearly still beta. I really don't. But its there with price tag. How on earth i get involved in beta test on kickstart project but still being asked for more? I don't think putting money just to see your name on credits which nobody bother to see or know that name was yours will make this worth it.

No Refund
Yeah no, i just find the torrent and get off with it.

Pulled The Plug
This isn't bad category but regardless, dev decision to pull it back from the store page is become part why i pirate the said game...but if it turn out because EPIC being EPIC, we might speak different tone about this..

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I know pirating is bad, those dev need money to paid their bills and make new game and its sequel. But unfortunately, some dev just don't know that enough is enough. There's many gamer who willing to part their money in kind to get what they expect; the finished product. What make me shake my head is a game dev who clearly forgot who give them paper to buy food on the table or roof over their head without even once asking anything but their product. When you doing business, the basic thing you need to know is you give them what people want based from what your running business is about. If you sell shoes, then give those customer shoes. If you sell game, then give them the game and that's it. No extra stuff that would hinder the full experience too much. Its  like you selling shoes with a turd inside it; its an offense to the buyer. Sure the investor bring money and Influencer is a good PR. But investor will ask money for money, and influencer won't put their name when your company stink. The one who keep the IP goes for long run no matter how mixed to bad the game end up, its gamer itself. From classic Space Invader to Doom and Final Fantasy, they would be total sinkhole if gamer didn't play their part.

A game itself is like a shell with its feature. But what make it alive inside, is the player. Without them, any game is just bunch of code without value. Hollow effort made for nothing.

...

...

...

*sigh* Just do your work with passion will you dev? Sure pirates won't vanish anytime soon but surely earning customer good grace won't be so bad for long run without adding stunt that serve more damage than help. If you get angry over people pirating your game because you overvalued your game than it deserve, followed with unsavory act you just did toward the audience like creating dummy account for fake review...and piles of lies and trap to make us dig more money for something so petty....

"THAT ONLY GIVE US MORE REASON TO PIRATING!"

Elena, shutting off~

[Elena Ichinomiya]

Can you feel it? Waking up in the morning, getting off the bed, feeling the cold floor of your apartment as you open up the window to let the sunlight in, and see before you a miles of buildings and well tended small park down below? Seeing the bustling city street filled with cars in a hurry to reach their destination as you just sit near window with the old radio tuned in while holding cup of coffee or tea on one hand? The sight might be too dreamy for anyone and perhaps not much people enjoying those feels. But i do! I see before me a building got constructed and done in just two days, then abandoned on next day. Then right before me, a toxic cloud rain down on that said place but no further than that. Once i'm done drinking my tea, a godzilla/bowser paid us visit with "warm" welcome ever! Life never been better in this city...does it?

"You're commended if you can hear the intro song, firefighter, and those glitched cars at intro without seeing the video"

What is this?
Here i go again, talking about the game that i liked this time. It seems i running out bad game to talk about in my life but i might just forgot. ANYWAY! SimCity 3000 or SC3K for short, is third installment of the franchise. After much long waited release, MAXIS decide to put the game exclusively on PC before experimenting it on the other port. Based from what i gather, this game basically would be the first city building with 3D render. However as you might discover, this game was released on 1999, same year as project we know until today The Sims series about to hit the market, doesn't seems to be met with proper engine. SC3K plan to be 3D rendered game have to be scrapped since the demand for the system would be too high at the time. Having city building game rendered as 3D were proven too much for the PC engine at its time and might risk of melting the CD-Drive!

Oh, did i mention CD? Yes, this game at the time, were released in form of CD. The data, the DRM, its all in one disc. Yeah, so vulnerable, but at the time, it was most advanced security. The thing is, some people who by miracle hold this legit game, will find it troublesome to play this on modern system than its next installment SC4K. Why? SC3K DRM was made in format of SecuRom. That old format might be good at the time but the thing is, that security system has their own fault, mainly on reading issue. Its normal for CD-Drive to stress out after long time playing, but a disc with SecuRom, it cost twice the effort to read the disc. Knowing how faulty it is, Windows decide to ditch the system in their WinXP release.

What happen next?
Well, without proper DRM reader inside the system, the game still launch normally...but run poorly. Some report they face high stutter on the game, and also how the game refuse to speed up in correct way, while others said the game tend to CTD (Crash To Desktop) without warning whatsoever. The old SecuRom cause the problem for the developer too because removing it would make the game unplayable because its automatically become pirated game! Isn't it irony you had to crack your own game so it could be played? But that suffering are no more. Because there's other factor that make the game still run before GOG decide to put it on the shelves. Yeah, SimCity fans was booming than you ever thought, especially after SC4K release.

I played this game with few bumps until i realize i need the compatibility crack to fix the stutter even if you play it on Win10. And since we talk about good old game from 1999, what about the resolution? That's where the fans come in! They make the mod to fix that issue even though the game were become antique before game portal like Steam become a thing...though you won't find SC3K on Steam. With those crack, now i can play SC3K without stutter and small window.

What make this so good to me?
First of all, this is the first city building genre i ever play in my life. As you might expect, young brain of mine think all i had to do is just build street, build a building, and let the game roll. Oh how innocent i was, that was biggest mistake! But hey, at least my mistake happen when i'm still 10! Not to mention i still have poor grasp of English. There's some sort of charm that draw me in to try to make a working city. Some people might object about how i do my things but that's the city of my creation! Everyone works, everyone earn their keep, then i reap the profit with taxes! Yeah, that's how the city works...if only i had such working mind before i realize i got rich because i taking up loan!

Next thing i know, i put myself on bankruptcy more than once. Seriously, i don't even know how to zone residential area! But even though i fail many time, i still curious how to make this game as fun as it made out to be. And my curiosity paid off when i make the city...full of 1x1 tile residence. Hey, gotta start somewhere right? Realizing this is how i should play the game, i make many zones. Residential zones!

Until the citizen complaint they had no place to work...i forgot to add Industry so i make long lines of 1x1 industry! There! Now work and give me those taxes!

Err...nope, they complaint that they don't have place to sell their product...where's the commercial zones? Here you go! Long lines of 1x1 commercial zones!

Yeah, few experiment and mistake until i find how to play it properly. It was fun...until i realize i forgot to zone that accursed landfill. Yeah, without that, people would throw bone at the street. And believe me, seeing classic game drawing disgusting image, they're very genuine with detail!

Another thing i like from SC3K is of course, their introduction to what people call New-Jazz or Progressive-Jazz. Not sure what it actually mean but its Jazz. Instrument if i might add. People seems flock over "Sims Broadway" but i always stick to "Window Washer Dream" or "Uptown City" theme. Its a good music to start new city. But of course it would get better if i didn't got trapped in loan!

SC3K also teach me that to run a city, i have to go through much trouble to make things work in a perfect sense.

• No one in the right mind would go for miles to work
• You have to connect city with powerline if its too isolated
• You have to ignore citizen plea sometimes
• No industry would improve if the land is too pricy
• No resident would grow if their lot is cheap and badly tended 
• Neighborhood deal need to be taken seriously since you get income per-year

By now, every game are always modded to have infinite money. But back then, cheating on SC3K for unlimited money would still put you on the red. Why? Because it turn out the cheat code only free you from purchasing objects or zoning with money, but the expense is still there to drain your freezing budget. Yes, the money freeze but not the expense to run the city. If you want to play it clean like i do, but find the starter money is not enough, then use a money cheat code "callcousinvinny" which give you 500k money. But here's the thing, that cheat were said has its downside. Though i never bump into any of it since i tend to get bored with easy money gameplay. 

Any Point of Interest?
I was baffled when i found out Will Wright planning SC3K as 3D rendered game. When i discover this, i was wondering what kind of engine they need to make such thing happen? Just a little trivia here, The Sims idea were rejected by many computer company since it were too demanding. But it come into fruition when EA pick the idea and keep it until the proper engine are available. With that trouble in mind, i wonder how on earth it would look like since its made on 90s where 3D graphic are still hard to maintain especially when it come to big numbers object on the screen? Well, turn out, they did try it...

(Part of SC3K beta trailer)

(SC3K Beta UI. Still sticking to SC2 style at the time)

I was baffled, they did try it. it might not look great but knowing there's some PC that capable to test-run this still amaze me. The development team like the idea, but when they see the consumer perspective, they realize they were too ambitious. If the customer PC didn't catch up with the latest hardware, playing SC3K would be like wishing for holy grail. As i used to quotes before : "If those master race have trouble completing their gaming experience of your game, you really got a problem!". And that quotes seems applied here. The dev can't force gamer to buy latest PC just to play their game, hence the 3D graphic were cut; all of it, much to everyone disappointment. Even SC4K who were said to put 3D into works, still wasn't up to their expectation. But at least their idea were reached out to gamer that they did trying but it wasn't great idea when its released. Too bad, but i understand that.

Is It Good or Bad?
Of any SimCity, if anyone would ask me what city building the best of this installment, i would say SC3K. Sure i might get overwhelmed compared to SC4 since it has more long running fans, better engine to tweak, and moddable. But if they ask me which one that suit me better from both side of graphic and gameplay, i say SC3K. You can play as it intended, realistic value of risk and consequence, charming artwork, classy music, and of course, the complexity of the city management. I never get enough to tell people what make SimCity is charming is because their complexity of gameplay. Strange thing to brag sure, but of all city building i ever play, i always praise SimCity management.

Some are just slide left and right, make petition and hope for better to the point you find it better to leave those option alone, making the purpose of those option doesn't sounds appealing.

In SimCity, people would surely riot on you or simply abandon your city if you're being ridiculous. And if you were caught having more income than average, people will demand tax relief. Yes, they would complain if they find you enrich yourself above average. Does it ever happen in other city building game? In SC3K, it happen.

Even the modern city building games never able to reach that level. That's why i thought what make SimCity become hot topic in their field, is because how they make everything work hand in hand. There's no novelty without effort.

And if you ask what novelty for playing SC3K? You build a city without any temptation of cheat. Because the cheat in those game are not much help! Just some protip here, cheating on city building genre game would bore you out faster than not. Elena shutting off~

[Elena Ichinomiya]

Now let me ask you question about city building game you ever played. Have you consider what kind of theme your city would have? How the people run their errand? How your political rule move? And how you prefer your city focus is? If so, tell me, do you resort on playing different city building game that has your favorite theme on the list? Or maybe, resort to tedious mod that need to be managed so it won't cause conflict to other mods? I bet you do. Most people would agree and won't weasel their way to say that they mod the game to make the city of their dreams have their preference theme. And then one day, you might wonder, is there any game that has set of theme for city building and not as mod but as in-game feature? And in much large number too? The answer for that question, perhaps to me, is...

"Wait! Wait wait wait wait, waaaaaiit! They include SC3K in the base game!? Aww screw you deluxe edition!"

What's This?
SC Societies was said the 5th installment of the series, much to fans disappointment toward the game lack of charm. The game was said to be pure Will Wright vision about how SimCity should in his initial plan back in the day. However the charm that so vital in the franchise has to be dumbed down which is the complexity of the gameplay. Will Wright vision to SimCity is fun city building which is more creativity put in mind rather than functionality. But sadly, SimCity been known for its complexity management that become the game cult than other city building game such as Tropico or even goes as far to any Sid Meier series and Anno. As result, fans outright lay off this game without putting much effort to at least pretend to like it. I was wondering, how could the game made by the hand of its own creator, goes downhill though in gentle way? After all, this is the last SimCity game made by its own creator before Will Wright take his leave pretty much later from MAXIS.

As it turn out, when i do play it myself, i have to say, Will Wright idea of simplicity get a bit too "ambitious"...

What The Hell Happen?
As i first getting my hand on the game, playing tutorial and stuff, i realize the game just telling me about its basic feature. Back on SC4, they telling you literally the basic and proceed to most vital part of the game such as transportation. But in here, i only got how SC Societies should be played. This is not good first sign. And then i proceed to play the game, only to realize the game has various type of camera. But no matter how i move it around, it still feel wonky especially when you zoom up close or moving it to eye level. As i'm trying to get used to the game, i realize something is missing. For whatever the reason, the soundtrack didn't play unless i enter option menu. I saw this issue on the internet and find out i'm not the only one who get this problem. Sometime the music play when they feel like it which is very bad since SimCity always known for its Original soundtrack that people always refer to in any city building game.

So i decide to ignore the first issue, only to find another. The game don't have much option of terraforming. What's that? Its a feature where you can shape the surface like creating hills, mountain, or even lake. There's no such feature at all. There's this one option to level the ground, but its another wonky feature at best. I try to create flat land and believe me when i said i tried then give up. The thing is, even though you can still build on the sloppy land, the building will have this out-of-place foundation that ruin your city theme! Not to mention, you can't change the dirt color if the building is on top of the foundation! Way to ruin the game point isn't it?

Also, while SC4 fix the city layout after you finished zoning an area which make it less mess than SC3K, SC Societies decide to screw that and opt to plop down every building. There's no longer building under construction anymore or improvised building when the city is growing. Just plop any building, done. There, you just play SimCity Societies.

And then we talk about transport. Seriously, this is big gutsy move they ever did. For whatever the reason, there's no mass transit mean that make no sense. There's no train or subway, those feature were thrown out window. There's still bus station and Taxi but i gonna explain the latter after this. First off, tell me how bus station should work? Done? Then toss whatever idea you had because every single bus station, is nothing more than portal gate. Yes, you read it right. The bus that run around on the city is just a decor. Whenever person enter the bus station, if you follow them, they're not taking the bus; they teleport to the bus station near their destination! How can that make any sense!?

Oh and since we talk about transportation, due to how SC Societies carry out, you won't deal with traffic unless you put too much intersection. Well that's one good thing i guess?

And about Taxi, they're nothing more than bringing random tourist out of thin air if you have SimCity Destination installed or like me, owning a Deluxe Edition. Why they making those Taxi exclusively for tourist is beyond me. But the outrageous thing is that Tourist had to pick up a cab...by coming to the cab station, EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. And if they can't reach it because they spawn too far from the said station when its the game fault for spawning them there, they complain that your city has less access to transit. This is pure kick on the shin you know? Because every people in this game, always get into car whenever they going to faraway destination wherever they are! Why those tourist has to walk to cab station to grab a cab!? Just transform them into car like other people! What's the hold up there!?

And then come another thing that was butchered. Ordinance or strict taxes. You can get into red if you build your city wrong but when you did right, you can get rich pretty much early at the start. The ordinance however, has no good thing on it. They just enhance or just there to remind us that you play SimCity. There's no risk factor having wrong ordinance which is usually something you have to be aware of since some of the ordinance is a trap.

Is There Anything Good To Say?
Luckily, SC Societies wasn't falling to hard when it turn out its just watered down installment. What i personally commend is how Will Wright stick true to his idea. I manage to feel his sense of creativity and fun in city building genre. Remember the SimCity DS? Believe it or not, people love the idea Will Wright pour in that installment since you're not only make typical city, but also various type of city. And the large project were put on SC Societies. Sure i don't like the game lack of challenge but if i were to grab onto this game first instead SC3K, it still gonna hook me to other installment regardless. The idea of Will Wright simplicity in SimCity might rub fans in the wrong way. But if i look at the aesthetic of the game from its watered down feature and newly added feature, i could see why Will Wright regard this as his own masterpiece. Because this is after all, his pure idea about SimCity he had back then.

To add more thing, like i always mention before, SC Societies didn't just give us patch of dirt to build. But also with the theme. Wanna make small city? Normal city? Religious city? Authoritarian city? Romantic Paris-like city? Tourist trap city? Funny city? Cyberpunk city? This game has those theme without need for mods. They have those kind of filter ready to use although some building need to be unlocked with requirement unless you play sandbox mode. This is where the first time i see Will Wright intention about enforcing creativity in city building rather than functionality. So many theme to choose from! But of course some theme has their difficulty if you play it on normal mode but we'll get into that later. So here, have some intermezzo...

(Small town theme)

(Capitalist theme. No small taxes house allowed)

(Industrial theme. The screen and UI will change in color once the theme requirement fulfilled)

(Authoritarian theme. The airship has propaganda emblem on it)

(Cyberpunk theme. Note the plasma screen and antenna on each building)

Honorable Mention
Fun City: Most of its theme filled with laid back venues
Spiritual City: Asian stylized city completely moved without electricity
Tourist Trap: City full of venues for tourist to drain their money

Well, not much impression sure, but this is the only game that won't lock those theme out with paid wall. Everything is there and legit part of the game, not modded or commission. This is why i can see the point where Will Wright want us to see. Sometime, creating city out of fun can be, well, fun! But he know such trivial thing would be too bland if its just there without anything new so he added the theme to compensate those idea. Had he just watering down the feature without this feature in mind, i bet this probably the worst and boring SimCity ever released. Now that i think about it, almost no city building game bother with various theme to try. At this point of this writing, i had create a city with 4 theme in one go. Namely, small town, spiritual, capitalist, and authoritarian. Yeah i admit the game is very lacking and has no sense at some point but when i saw the city i just create there, i think what drive me to play it more is because i want to make those theme works in some way. 

The game also the first to feature sandbox feature which allow you to build city without worry for money. Now as i mention before...

On 20/07/2021 at 12:50, Elena Ichinomiya said:

cheating on city building genre game would bore you out faster than not

SC Societies read my mind exactly because on the sandbox mode, or what it called as "Creative mode", give you option if you want to have it all, just unlimited money, or no expense mode. This mode however, were created after series of critic for the game deemed too easy which very contradict to its predecessor. Yeah, this is their apology for it but i be blunt, it doesn't change the gameplay much. Its still too easy even on normal mode.

What really giving me much question mark is, why this game has questionable performance? Back then, i play this game on average PC which mean some visual has to be lowered. But later around 2013, when i decide to pick the game again, i had more modern PC to play the game so i crank the graphic to the max...only to be met with just tiny bit of improvement. I mean sure this game come out at 2007 but you can tell by the look of it, even Sims 2 isn't this outrageously bad! There's also rumor that the game run poorly if you play on HD screen, meaning you have to play on lower scale resolution, namely, 4:3 aspect ratio. Have fun with that on your big screen.

All Things Considered...
SC Societies, in my opinion, is a great idea on paper, but lack the punch it had from previous installment even with the new engine. The idea of having various theme on the game is very welcoming because no other city building game up until now ever add those drastically visual change feature in their game, and even if they did, it was on pay-wall and not even look very much close to what they promise. If i were part of the MAXIS, i would suggest to put this idea as expansion for SC4 rather than entirely new installment. Because no matter how i look, the game felt like nothing more than enhancement show. It remind me about SEGA 32X release where the development team said if SEGA 32X only enhance graphic without new feature, make it as add-on rather than new console. That seems to apply to SC Societies because the idea is what make it possible to be a total win, but not the hands-on experience as new installment which is glaring evidence that this should be better off as expansion.

In the end, this installment is indeed the mixed to bad in my opinion. At least its better than SC2013 and its fiasco...

Elena shutting off~

[Elena Ichinomiya]

Ahh~ fairy tale. Where the princess doing their job in royal court by getting kidnapped, drugged, poisoned, masochist abused, runaway from home, married an animal, and running away from their horny daddy. Of course we should not forget the knight in shining armor who doing their job by slicing someone granny, making someone daughter peel their feet to wear a shoes, and marry an underage girl. So fantasy! But that's why its called fantasy because its not real and not true. But the value and lesson is still there to teach us! Now then, speaking of fairy tale, let me tell you some game that set on fantasy setting with less dragon breathing on your face...

 

"Annoy the guy, not the girl; that bitch can fight like Minnie mouse!"

If anything, i pick this game out of blue back on 2008. I wasn't sure why but i get the gist this game might be another RPG stuff. Well it is an RPG but turn out its an J-ARPG. Back then, i never play such genre mix. I'm either play turn based RPG like Persona or pure action like God Of War for example. But mix that up? This game is my first. The thing is, the game did give me wrong impression. I thought it would be like Star Ocean but no, whatever the cover show you, that's what you get. But there's other thing that i realize that this is the first game by Square Enix i played. Not Final Fantasy, not Kingdom Heart, this game is literally my first taste of SE release...why, that sounds a bit kinky. Seems petty i know, but i bet there's also others who avoid Fire Emblem to this day for no reason at all.

Anyway, while the game isn't the first one to use such setup and artwork, the environment there is a nice to see. Even the basement has some dark and horror with element of surprise there which setup the mood. The thing is, some might don't like the fixed camera angle. But back then, it give the nice view of the environment, something that you were meant to see and that is enough. After all, i think you know what to expect if you were given a free roam camera...

The game environment layout, in my own term, are setup like a drama stage; it was put in one space and the rest probably empty. You don't need to bother with the right analog to move around camera because its only used on battle. This system is commonly used and the other example is Tales series. So far, i never face any issue with the fixed angle. Heck, i live in era where tank control is a thing! This is nothing, i assure you! Speaking of environment, let's talk about the NPC. Just like YS, this game has their NPC named with specific avatar instead repetitive usage of same character with randomly generated name. But of course they don't act so stiff. Every single person here has personality which perhaps help your case to distinguish one person to another. Yeah, sometime a different avatar didn't help us to remember who Daniel is.

Moving to outside wall, the gameplay didn't put random encounter like most RPG games do at the time. If you want to avoid enemy, you can just avoid them from touching you. Although if the road is too narrow, you have to fight them regardless. Another thing to note however, you can only walk on specific path. You can't go astray like an open world game no matter how tempting it is. But now you know how the game work out with the dungeon.

Did an ant nab your rear? Oh well, time for a fight! In this game, in case you never play Tales series since that was the close example though this one has better control, the combat put you into arena-like place where you have to beat up enemy. Keep in mind the game is ARPG so expect yourself bashing button. Luckily, you can defend. In case things get a bit crazy, you can use item. Though later on, you'll learn more system such as Linking or Forming Line for better fight and other profit. What make the combat might felt a bit barren is lack of skill showdown but i'll get to it later.

Now we talk business because i'm gonna talk about the protagonist. You play as aspiring knight Jack Russel...i know, what a good name for puppy but believe me, that's his name. While the young gun got some fire in him and also cocky at the time, he still have his conscience when things get a bit rough. At first, you'll see typical dumb protagonist who always got off lucky. But later on you'll see that his character is improved though he still cocky when he's around someone he know. In my opinion, he's still better than fart sniffer on Valkyria 4 so i would dare say he's a bearable protagonist to control and care about. Too bad this kind of personality always stuck as side character these days.

Like i mention before, the game lack of any showdown of skill. In RPG, having something to blown up on the face is a must-have. But Radiata Stories choose to abandon that over a swing technic. While this might sounds a let down, this feature is rather vital. Have you ever find yourself vulnerable after swinging your weapon on 3rd combo? Then edit those combo so it won't do that anymore! For example, at first you can only swing your sword left and right. After that, you'll learn downward thrust, then upward slash, then cross slash. But you realize downward thrust is slow and prefer it gone! If that's the case, then go to skill and remove the said combo from the list so you can only do left-right-up-cross slash! Yes, this game didn't boast explosive gunpowder spell but it made it up with weapon technic. But don't moan yet, there's actual skill here; ulti skill to be precise, when you fulfill your charge until 100 without using special attack. I forgot which button to press on so go find it on gamespot or something...

Of course you're not stuck on swords only. There's two-handed sword, spear, and Axe i think. They all have different pattern attack and special move include its ulti. Most of the time, spear i manage to find or buy has elemental in it so i guess it act like a staff if you prefer magic attack in a way. One-hand sword for agility, Two handed for wide spread damage, Axe for one on one fight, spear for harassing. That's sum it up in my case.

Now that you finally kick the ant off your rear, let's move on! You obviously not fighting alone in this game. There's 3 NPC that will assist you in their own way. By their own way, i mean when they feel like it. Seriously, this game got plenty of NPC to the point they add a zonk in it. I remember there's a dude who can only swing his sword once and cowering. Then there's this girl who just stand there dancing. She's buffing the party but what kind of buff she give is, like i said, whatever they feel like it. Whatever you do however, do your best to get healer in the party. Of course if you want an NPC that know their way of work would require much work. Not to mention if you progress the story, there's possibility that certain character will not be be able for recruit so be careful.

Now that we had the basic, time for the real fairy tale- i mean, the story! I won't spoil much about this part since it was rather long and might fill this post just for this part alone. The aspect of story where human vs world. But the key starter of the conflict begin when the party bump into blood orc. Apparently, reviving someone who's dead by transferring other dead person soul inside the body isn't a hot idea. The leader of dark elf who happen to be the big brother of the snobbish light elf leader, end up dead after doing so. This cause misunderstanding as the light elf leader think human killed his brother. Oh no, this story didn't use trope "light is good, dark is bad". Because turn out there's a rat who want an open war between race in the human side after discovering that blood orc shouldn't exist in this region. Oh~ conspiracy!

This is the point where things get a bit tense because when each race declare their hostility, you'll bump into either human or elf instead an ant or bats. And goodness, their level gap is something to consider. The peak of moment is when the story begin to branch out. I'm not kidding, back then, this system is mindblowing for me. Of course i pick one side then play other side later. Who's side i'm on? Human of course!

Being on human side, i find it hard to fight those non-human race. Keep in mind your party in human side isn't exactly reliable. And the most prominent NPC in combat require too much stuff to be recruited and need to be done at certain time and some even can be recruited when the story is about to end. Doesn't mean the game is unbeatable in human side though, it's just tricky. But aside from the hardship, the human side feel more engaging when it come to story and side mission alike. There's also something that you can only able to do it there. If you tend to bring up specific girl in every grinding, chance are, you'll hang out with them at the firework festival. Now don't let your pants goes woompa woompa, there's no dating system here. Its just a mere spice added to the game i guess. Oh and i stuck with the redhead witch from magic & science society in case you wondering. I just realize its a hang out event when i'm replaying the game on my 20s...

In human side, unfortunately you're in for a bumpy ride. And spoiler alert...

Spoiler

Siding on human lead to bad end...

You have to prepare yourself because you'll bump into your old party member and fight against them. Not to mention some even openly welcome their death and still call you a friend. At this point, i realize that i make mistake when siding with human. Turn out, its bigger than that. It end with protagonist leaving the Kingdom. Possibly think that being a knight isn't exactly all shine and glory. You'll get it if you play the game. The moment i get that ending, i can't think much other than the mistake i made. It was adventurous journey on the human side but the story goes downhill pretty much on your face. I'm not kidding, i had to stop playing for a week before i load the game again and siding with non-human...

This...is the very BASIC journey i ever had in this game! Siding with non-human somewhat a breeze because the party you'll get is better than on human side. You even able to party with your old comrade you met at the start of the game and let me tell you how OP they are which led you to realize there's no need to experiment with other cool guy when you already cool with your current sortie. Not only it was easy, the story there feel pretty much loose than on human. At least its the countermeasure i guess. In human side, story are more intense but the combat become challenging while non-human is the opposite. Also, non-human ending isn't exactly what i call good ending either. Its like in-between good and bad. It's good because you save your loved one but in exchange, world no longer have any protector which mean doomsday is imminent...Then the screen goes black and credit roll...

The end...

"Exactly my thought! yes! The end i said! Feel confused yet? Me too! Is there secret ending i don't know of!?"

But aside the vague ending...all in all, Radiata Stories isn't bad game in my experience of playing. Both side offer their diversity in gameplay, every character didn't act like wood plank bad, the protagonist while childish at the time is bearable character, the lore behind the story is make much sense especially if you're into tower of babel thingy which always end up destroyed like liberty statue on every Hollywood movie. What holding this game back is probably how obscure it is. You don't find much people talk about it but back then people still run their mouth about Legacy of Kain and believe it or not, Klonoa and Rayman. But none of them ever mention this unless you take initiative to search for it on internet...and it STILL small in numbers compared to those who care about Plumber Don't Wear Ties. There's plenty of overshadowed JRPG out there and i'm glad i play one of it out of blue. Guess the itch is real when it come into something you love does it?

Elena, shutting off~

[Elena Ichinomiya]

So, how do you prefer to start up your story? Just get off from the bed? Washed ashore? Woke up with amnesia? Name any intro you prefer or mostly encounter in every game cliché. While the basic idea is repetitive, a fine story execution can cover it up. Rune Factory for example, running their series with amnesia to the point that if their protagonist isn't amnesiac, they're not legit...sorry Ocean! Or perhaps YS series where most of their single release always start with the protagonist crashing somebody ship. Then we have this. Imagine you wake up only wearing underwear, find your face painted and not only that, you wear close to nothing when you woke up in the supposed holy monastery. Sounds kinky? Well that's something for you if you play this...

"If Diablo bored you, this one might too. I only play the vanilla btw"

Now let me kill the expectation before i start. I like this game, but there's just something that i find it rather intriguing or annoying which is why i'm talking about this. While the game released on 2004, i play it when i'm still an high school. The reason i pick up the game basically because i borrow my friend CD-ROM to install it on my PC. Ahh~ those were the days where borrowing physical copy force us to be sociable. Anyway! The game surprisingly still run alright even on Win10 much to my surprise. Though some might find it a bit glitchy or CTD due to their graphic card.

While i mention Diablo, i actually never play Diablo. I just know Diablo when they compare this game to that. I wasn't expecting much though so even if this game turn out bad, i won't get mad. After all, my friend is the one who get real pissed if he realize he bought himself junkie. Though i bet he gonna like it in the end. I play this game without any single guide at all. I just built the status i think i need and skill that i'm probably used often. Yeah, what a way to doom your character isn't it? Don't do that on any game that require you to manually place the status. This might be why i didn't find much joy with Skyrim though i admit it was good game...with mod.

Moving on toward the game, i was faced to pick any race, give a name and play it. I play every single race for starter and find it easy to play as Dark Elf since they got sabotage ability that make enemy AI dumb, even when their level gap is too great, Dark Elf ability is enough to broke the game on the most part. That is if you're lucky to get the right skill. Oh right, in this game, you didn't learn the skill and leveling it up when you level up. This part is where things get a bit too much of a grind. The only way for you to level it up is from getting scroll of the said ability. And no, nobody sell those on merchant unless you're lucky. It was an ITEM DROP. So if you didn't find any of those, you're pretty much stuck with just 2 skills for long run. Sometime the quest would reward you with skill but keep in mind this game has many race to pick from. And like every typical RPG such as Sacred or Torchlight, whatever item you get might not be for the character you want.

I wouldn't mind getting wrong item drop for other job. But getting skill scroll for other job most of the time that isn't yours would make you stuck with basic attack and starter skill. That doesn't sounds good. Though you can put it on shared chest for your other character to use, it still a salt to the wound when you need new skill ASAP.

And you can tell by now this game is open world where exploring and bumping into wrong enemy is a common trope. However you're in luck because this game didn't apply weight system just yet so you can hoard as much item as you like; provided there's square left in inventory. Now let's talk about equipment. You got basic weaponry include staff, spear and shield. Even dagger and claws. Just when i thought there's no such a thing as weight for inventory, there's one for your equipped weapon. I got this case where i suddenly walk and attack in slower pace than usual. I thought i was overloaded so i sold pretty much everything in my inventory except potion, and still being slow. Turn out i see the problem. Its my armor and weapon. There's this huge axe and they pose no problem in my attack circle, yet here i am got my ASPD (attack speed) bogged down because of a mere iron sword? Really? What's going on here? And once again i find out that certain weapon with certain name will slow your movement no matter how lightweight it look. If you see any weapon with "Stone breaking" on it, expect yourself sluggish. Perhaps the stone breaking part is actually "Bone breaking" since it make your character being careful not to to split themselves into two when swinging their toothpick.

Next up is horse. While wonky, this neighing fellow need skill if you want to ride the tough one. But sometime, you can found a horse you can ride on the wild. Not always though. The thing about horse is other than make a travel faster, there's also issue. You can't use pretty much skill while on the horseback which is okay. But the real beef is when the horse got killed, it won't respawn, meaning you have to buy another back on the stable. But here's the kick. Either its a glitch or designed this way, not all stable respawn their dead horse back so if you're being bad luck to those horse by getting them killed, chance are, you would stuck walking on foot as the stable didn't spawn another horse for you to buy.

If we talk about character, i would say the hero have their own personality to boot. Gladiator always boast his strength and bravery, wood elf always say her prayer, seraphim will call out the enemy heretic and say something about atone your sin, battle mage is arrogant guy with hood, Dark Elf with their cynical commentary, Vampiress who act like dominatrix. There's additional race in gold version but i didn't play that version, i was stuck in vanilla. I'm sorry to say i cannot judge the character NPC in this one. I would say they're...so-so? We don't talk about full motion cutscene here but a mere pop up dialogue with a voice actor. But if i had to, i must say the VA did the game justice although Baron DeModrey speak like Zhang Fei for some reason.

While the game is tricky, its all depend on race you pick and how you execute your ability. The thing is, what holding you back is probably same as mine. The skill can't be learned with just a click, you have to find the scroll and even by then, there's chance the skill wasn't for your race. The game still playable in my book, just some artificial difficulty at some point.

Now before i summarize everything, i need to remind you one thing that might cause player some issue in their gameplay. Just one though.

In vanilla version, there's a quest where you had to fetch water from the mule. The thing is, the mule is glitching and you can't get it at all. You had to open the command console (~) then type "wasser" near the said spot where the mule supposed to be. Some said even with the game patched, this glitch still persistent although at random. Luckily, this solve the problem regardless with or without the game patched. 

Then there's one suggestion that i would advice you to heed. Do not take any sidequest from anyone who claim anything along the line "Be back in three days or it will be too late". Because every single time i try to take the job, the monster glitch out or doesn't appeara at all on the map, resulting the quest to fail. To add more insult, this kind of quest is EVERYWHERE. Just avoid that one, there's better quest to invest your time to than this ghastly quest.

Now to summarize my experience, Sacred is not bad game in my opinion. The story is there, the race ability are balanced, there's few difficulty but not killing the gameplay value too much, there's also small side quest that is funny to do. And for a size of 2004 games, i must say i'm impressed this game still aged well although its 2nd installment were wonky and 3rd one is mixed to bad. I mean come on, just because i'm archer, i had to tap mouse dozen of time to kill enemy? What if i'm trying to kill dragon? Even Monster Hunter ain't that grindy! And let's not forget that this game somehow able to run on Win10 without any issue or third party app to run. Old but gold don't you think? Elena shutting off~

[Elena Ichinomiya]

When it come to technology, one must remain vigilance about the change and needs. You either evolve to keep up, or outdated on day one. At the time, gaming tech seems running in full circle without disturbance. Xbox and PS is still a good brawl to watch, Nintendo just minding their own business and being careful not to step on a dog turd idea, and PC gaming that seems constantly improved...so you can start Adobe Illustrator without waiting for 30 seconds to open. But as far as i can tell, i wouldn't be able to talk much about it but its because of my tight budget. Its fine though, after all, the game that i played mostly an old rundown game that might not run when Win11 came. Or whatever OS they gonna vomit at us. Anyway! I've been thinking about the other famous and ambitious but also total disaster "console", mind the quotes, that i have to agree in some extent, that's something we need, but not today...

"I know you probably bored by this. Me too. When something is so bad, you can't resist but to talk about it"

STADIA
To be fair, the idea of Stadia is tempting indeed. All you need is just a joystick, Chromecast or whatever that round thingy is called, and good network. Now while the price can be such taxing stuff to get, the latter might be what make people talk. The thing is, i doubt even with military grade broadband would save you the trouble playing that console...Stadia is console right? I don't know, they only show their joystick most of the time so i couldn't tell. 

When i heard that the most vital part to play STADIA, apart from subscription, is a good network...i frown just as fast as people on Diablo Immortal announcement. We talk about some intangible thing that goes on and off whenever they feel like it. And its getting more hard to convince myself that it will be good experience when i live on country that, believe it or not, won the most UNRELIABLE internet provider on STEAM ranked survey! And now i had to force my hand to play at the possibly 140p to 420p at best? Oh right, Stadia can only support 4k...which make thing worse for my end! The thing with STADIA and home console is the basic; the input and performance. In home console, when you press any button, the console translate the gesture and then show the result on the screen in which every process where executed on local system, done! But in STADIA, one button input will be sent to the network, processed by server and then the result will be streamed back to you. Provided if you lucky that your internet is going smooth but i think there's many video showing that their input is so delayed, it's like seeing time machine to the past, and only to the past. There's also another kick though. Chromecast doesn't seems able to hold out long. 2 hours of play and the device will smell like burnt plastic. 

I had to agree at some point that STADIA is ambitious but even some good invention, had their own time to shine. Something tell me this project, although fail, is a starting point for other home console to adopt their idea when it come to efficiency which...might be good. But it might be take a whole lot of time because as i said, they appear at the wrong time. Every region network is capped differently. Even in my region, getting 1.5 Mbps alone is a blessing. I like the idea about letting someone do the job handling the game performance while i just sit here rubbing thumbstick although security breach might be the next thing we worried about. All in all, i like STADIA idea. But i think it would pretty much become a home decoration when it come to my region. Its just not work.

OUYA
Well, i know this thing is basically just a projector to play your favorite gacha games on TV screen. But this is where i start to see what gone wrong. OUYA, like i said previously, giving you another way to enjoy android game. A simple change that while petty, still welcoming and harmless. The thing is, when i read about OUYA when it was release, i raise my eyebrow. OUYA appear on 2013, a year which ANDROID app start booming. However being popular doesn't mean everything will go smoothly.

We talk about 2013. Try to remember what kind of game at the time and how they look and how they played. Big question...why we play a touch game with a joystick? That's the first question. And secondly, 2013 is when Clash Of Clans, Get Rich, and farming game dominating the store. How much time you spent on that game? Depends on the game but at the time of OUYA release, most game is only worth playing for one hour. You don't want to waste time setting up OUYA to just login daily mission when you can do just that quickly on your phone right away! And like i mention, you don't need joystick for that! This is the part where OUYA get a little bit ahead of themselves because games like MOBA and FPS wasn't so hot in 2013 compared to FarmVille. Had they release on 2015, there might be a chance for them to sold well..

Wait...wait...sold? Oh right, i don't know what the hell happen but OUYA shipment also troubled. It's like ATARI E.T but vice versa. Some people get it, mostly don't.

And yes, the reason why people mock OUYA because it's not even close to a console and calling it next-gen console is rather overkill. We talk about Android games here. By visual alone is enough to stop you to try playing it on the big screen as it might get worse even more. And tell me, do you want to play this game down below with joystick on big screen?

"All you had to do here is just organize and one click of button to start up skill. EZ no joystick"

"This one ONLY need one button push! Now use that joystick!"

"This is really define what mostly appear on Play Store game list on 2013. I'm dead serious. You don't want to setup OUYA every single time to play this kind of game!"

"This would undervalue your 4K TV pixel by ANY mean!"

See? Rather overkill example isn't it? Sure we can just use OUYA when the game are good on it and play normally when it isn't but at the time, there's not much game that demand joystick and good visual on 2013 which put OUYA on edge. This is what kill OUYA other than their shipment disaster; there's not much good game at the time to be played on OUYA. The game library is unappealing. The game system is repetitive otherwise an idle game at best. You don't play idle game on big screen with joystick. Let's just say OUYA did appear at least on 2015 instead 2013, you won't mind playing these on your screen as it has refined visual and purpose for using the joystick they provide...

"Don't get me started, but this game could use the joystick albeit short gameplay span"

"OUYA would save your phone screen getting all oily when playing full action game like this"

"Just for the luxury and comfort sake, this one is a pass for both visual and functionality for OUYA"

See? Ouya isn't bad if i look at their time of release. They appear at wrong time where Android still improving. To play a game that basically compared to N64 on big screen and most of the time only one button pressed doesn't appeal to anyone standard. Unless we live on ATARI 2600 era, it might earn them a good grace. The thing is, Ouya is rumored to have a flaw design. They had their cooling system placed at the bottom. See that box thing? That's the "console". And the vent were aimed at the bottom which of course will be covered up and cause it to overheat!

And i might kill the purpose for seeing good thing about OUYA by saying this, but i say it anyway...if it's ANDROID game, that mean it was meant to be played on ANDROID, not anything else! It's like trying to play PS game on XBOX. But i guess its a blessing to some as alternative emulation if you don't want to burnt your disk space installing Android emulator on PC...but stick to your phone because not every enhancement would give you a plus. Ouya wasn't reliable since its use network to show up the game on the screen which you might expect lag here and there depending on where you live.

All in all, those supposed console above did have a good idea on the paper. I admit there's a flaw and i won't look away from that even to my favorite console. However brushing the issue aside, i manage to see the idea and what would come of it had it appear when the time and place is right. It would be efficient way to play game (for STADIA) and alternative way to enjoy your Android game in case your phone wasn't performing well (for OUYA). Sadly, it goes down the drain by one issue to another. But most issue that can't be fixed no matter what, is the right time to show up.

TL;DR, STADIA is ready to go but world isn't ready. OUYA had interesting premise as legit physical emulator but its flawed, and released at wrong time.

Elena shutting off~

PS: I can't comment much about how well OUYA and STADIA performance since i don't own it. This post is just my perspective about the console ambitious idea/premise.

[Elena Ichinomiya]

Say, do you have a game that you know its bad, and it give you clear idea that you just make a very bad purchase to the point you wish you can refund it into anything? We all do. But have you found yourself looking at the game you just bought that so confusingly bad, you still playing it for the hell of it, until you realize the game become part of you as a guilty pleasure category. I would say i do have few. One of it is Warcraft 3 classic (pirated, thank god), and of course The Sims 4 (its not bad...just lacking in too many aspect that i don't even know where to start). But i won't gonna talk about that because obviously everyone already know it. So instead i'm gonna run my mouth around this...

"I swear i hear one of my RP partner laughing just now...anyway, i play the PC version"

Dark Rose Valkyrie, originally titled "Kurobara no Valkyrie" is a turn based RPG game that developed by IF or better known as !F or you might better off calling them as Idea Factory. The game developer in my perspective is pretty much average though their release seems to be a good run for everyone as a meme, anime reference, and obviously got their character render taken to be used on L4D2...i'm not kidding, check it out, its a bit much but what you expect from Steam Workshop. 

Let's sidetrack a bit. IF or Idea Factory mostly better known for their release, you guessed it, NEPTUNIA! Neppu~ Neppu~ Neppu~! Now you get the idea do you~? Now here's the deal, their first Neptunia was considered the worst and to be fair, before those release become hit, most of IF game only receive average rating. Life and death rating i guess, but still need some improvement. Luckily, they did that and Neptunia series seems goes off well albeit the bumpy ride. Congrats Dev! And when i thought that i won't bump into those kind of trouble as i don't have any interest on Neptunia, i would end up there anyway in other form...that game above...

Oh joy, and i thought Bladestorm Nightmare is my worst decision and regret, this one sure topple it at any point!

What Happen?
So after i manage to install the game, connect the controller, load the game, enter the main menu, and of course i hit the new game instead exit button to refund the game! As the cover shown, i was thrown in the shoes of new captain named Shiramine Asahi. More about him later. Anyway, as every game requirement, tutorial is a must no matter how AAA you get. Even Knight in The Nightmare did that despite their knowledge that the game would be too much to learn and too much to experience. And at this point, you finally enter the tutorial section about how the game works and all. My impression about it later.

But the moment i enter the actual action, i realize something that...should never exist in the up-to-date gaming laptop owned by my big sis. What am i talking about? A very sluggish and inconsistence FPS you might only encounter in poor UNITY engine game, somehow end up here. I'm not kidding! Even when the graphic are all turned off and lower the resolution until it almost a blur, the game still refuse to run properly. And go ahead to fix it through other mean because...you can't. The game been released for years and there's no update but DLC and even that also been stopped which give us idea that the development of this game been stopped since. Seriously, i can't imagine if this game is an action game, there will be hell of artificial difficulty that wasn't supposed to be there.

And when you think it was over, wait until the actual game started when you goes with full party. It was so sluggish, you have to wait at least 10 seconds until the game frame rate become just a TINY bit stable. I mean sure you would do that if you were in a boss fight but not in the game when you encounter mostly small fries to grind! This FPS issue is enough to kick off anyone who play this and even if there's solution, its still not save the game from being bogged down completely. More on this later.

So let's just say that you can just wing it, which is what i do actually, you'll notice the bogged down FPS is only at certain part of the dungeon. When you were in a cave-like place, the FPS...is so smooth even on highest graphic! What the hell? Yeah, real what the hell moment there. Guess the world is so big it render pretty much of the world instead only part of the world you can see...speaking of the world, what about the WORLD MAP?

If you want to skip the detail, just read this part and move on: It's bad and very unstable and seriously hamper your ability to ambush like most of turn based RPG games had.

Why? Well let me make the list so you can just pick your poison...who am i kidding, you'll have to choke them all.

• World map take a VERY LONG LOAD in your first start of the game. Not the first playthrough. I mean, EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU START THE GAME. So if you think that you won't face the long load because the game already cache it to memory after visiting it, forget the idea. Just exit the game, and go to world map. The problem will show its ugly face again. No need to restart your PC; just restart the game if you miss those sweet long loading. I don't.
• Certain part of the map somehow will TILT the camera over your head for whatever the reason. Its not helpful and can be disorienting if you happen to step on wrong tile most of the time. Even if the purpose is to better see the terrain...ITS NOT! 
• Continue from #2, the reason why is because you can't see the enemy on the ground when you going through the area with lots of trees as the camera switch to overhead view. And no, those trees won't go invisible on you because its persist, blocking your vision and certainly blow your chance to land first blow for ambush as you're too busy to figure out where your character is under the trees.
• To add kick on the shin, you'll get yourself a hard time to obtain an item because you don't know where exactly you at as the trees almost completely cover your character! If you think the map system only cause the exploration mechanic become problematic, then get the load of this...
• You can ambush the enemy on world map by attacking their rear which give you advantage in a fight. However the enemy hitboxes is so broken, you probably getting ambushed most of the time as you keep swing and miss. Snake-like enemy especially prone to this issue. You can't even hit its tail because not every part of their body has hitboxes; you can walk through them! And if you decide to hit it face to face, good luck because you have to hit the air few inch from it to ambush them. Luckily, insect and plant type enemy don't have this.
• For whatever the reason, enemy sometime realize you're behind them even when their head facing the other way. Not every enemy thankfully. But still worth point out.
• At certain point, you get detector to scan area for hidden item. This gameplay mechanic however, is rather vague by any standard. You won't get those detector unless you progress the story which is normal. But the device is only useful if you manage to clear side mission that reward you with "Missing item coordinates". In conclusion, this thing don't worth a damn at all other than pandering the game play hours! And no, those side quest is NOT engaging at all!
• There's also some nuisance enemy that keep respawning so fast on the crossroad and WON'T MOVE. You won't be able to get through them unless you keep pressing the button forward after finishing the battle right before the game finish their loading. If you fail to do that, the monsters will respawn again and again blocking your way. And no, you can't walk past them. They sometime as big as boulder so you can't get through. Either their AI routing is so bad which make them stuck in place is anyone guess

See? Do you regret not skipping the world map part? If not, be ready for the dungeon part!

• Just like the #5 from World map issue had, some enemies inside dungeon has terrible hitboxes to ambush them
• Similar to #6 from World map issues, flying enemy is hard to be ambushed thanks to that
• Some map can be hard to navigate unless you probe around. Though its not completely bad until...
• When you reach dungeon that need keycard, you have to roam around looking for "chest" with a keys inside it. But here's the thing. In dungeon "Kurihama Base", there's a locked gate that you can COMPLETELY circle around to bypass it, beating the purpose to look for a keycard! You can unlock it anyway to make a shortcut but...
• There's no need to clear a path like that because you probably use "Sphere" most of the time as it can be used to save your game...and TELEPORT to escape/move to the other side of dungeon you already explore that once again, beat the purpose of finding key item!
• The sphere itself were placed way too much inside the dungeon, making the purpose of exploration less taxing which might be good thing for some people.
• Status ailment is a pain to remember. In this game, any ailment you mostly know such as poison and stunned is changed so much that you probably use wrong item to recover. Poison = sick, Stunned = paralysis, Blind = darkness (see!?), Fear = melancholy (see!?)
• The healing item also misleading. Reboot for recover from status down, Cure ability for basic ailment such as poisoned, and Reset. Confused yet?

There's also a very misguided visual about the dungeon...

• Kurehama base has entrance look like a docks but turn out its just a big storage place
• The mall dungeon has school building from outside
• The cave-like dungeon has no cave entrance AT ALL
• Even Ichinomiya Base itself showing nothing that look like military base saves some military cars around it. And they look out of place too

It's petty issue i know, but most RPG game i played never showing false impression about their dungeon like this. If its a cave, they show us a cave entrance. If it's a old castle, they show us a castle gate. If its a Bowser castle, you expect it to be fire filled dungeon with fire spitting tortoise with princess behind it. Instead somehow it connected to DOA Venus Vacation Island of all thing!

*sigh*

Okay, let me think about what else this game has issue about...plotline? I guess i should. Skieline! Mind giving me that paper, please? Thank you...she's playing Soulcalibur 6 and Townsmen at the moment. And also God Eater and Dirt 4. She'll talk about it once she's done. Anyway! Back on topic!

• The plot element is decent enough as it based from siblings from different long lines of ancestors chasing each other arse all while the protagonist is clueless about it. Unfortunately, he'll be forever clueless about it until the end which rather anti-climatic as it doesn't seems hinted that he got the purpose of his existence
• There's this tomboy named Amal Franson who insist saying she's a guy. That is until it was revealed at certain part of the story that he's actually a girl; just tomboy at some part. But the thing is, before the truth revealed about her gender, there's a BEACH EVENT and we can see clearly that Amal is a girl as she wearing swimsuit like every girls on the spot! This burn a big plot hole and make us wonder why the protagonist still treat Amal like a guy as if this event never happen! I say again, the beach event happen BEFORE the said event where Amal confess she's a girl is supposed to happen! They create time paradox!
• Most of the character background can be easily guessed just from their upbringing. And i wouldn't be surprised if you know who Amal is the moment you see her...
• There's part when father of Franson sisters claim that his daughters should be at home, being a good girl. But had to let them join the squad because there's no male heir to to give away as the rule stated; he give them just to save face but clearly against it deep down. This however, contradict Luna Ichinomiya presence as she is nobility like Franson family did but also join while being a woman. To add more confusion, if that's really the rules...why no one object her presence then? If the rule stated only male heir military family allowed to join squad...why Luna is there without anyone make a fuss since she's obviously a woman!?

Something tell me the story still placed on sticky note but the dev decide to "screw it, get it going". In my honest opinion, this game could be at least decent. Sure there's more better option of games to outmatch this but surely no one right in the head would make a game aimed for mixed to bad review! As i used to say before:

Quote

If the game story is bad, the character presentation can salvage the failure. If the character is plain as board, the deep story might distract us from it. While it won't win you award, surely it would save you from being criticized for using outdated trope.

And that's the issue there. I've been playing this game for perhaps nearing 100 hours based from Steam calculation. Yes, the game is bad, its broken, it's filled with plot holes more than swiss cheese had, the story presentation doesn't seems to deliver correctly. It's unfortunate really. Some even said this game could be a "God Eater with RPG element" and i'm agree. It's like a nice change of pace but sadly, IF just get over it and leave the mess as it is.

If you think the character still able to save the game...well...i'm sorry...the answer is no.

• There's evaluation for each character which determine who you end up with in ending depends on who has the highest value. However the system to raise the evaluation is so vague and you probably missed it unless you read the manual or guide from Steam. But even that won't save you due to very precise it is.
• In order to raise their evaluation, you had to finish the side mission given by your party. However, the person who give most highest rank mission will be the one who get the big raise in their evaluation about you. However...
• It was randomized! Let's just say you want to raise Amal evaluation, you better pray when you got side quest available, she got the highest rank mission for you instead of others. 
• This system can be sabotaged thankfully. All you need is to save BEFORE the side quest become available. If you don't get the character you want to raise their evaluation value with, then keep load until you got that person S rank side quest - harvest moon style...except you have to skip many cutscenes for many times in case your luck cut short to get the person you want to raise affection with to give you that S rank mission
• No, there's no other mean to raise their affection. Only side quest affect those.
• And again, no, there's no engagement in those side mission. Just take mission, clear it, report, done. You're not playing Witcher 3 or YS my friend.
• Some character would have certain event but as i said before, no matter what you choose, it won't raise your affection much which make the decision pointless. But perhaps it attribute to point that determine who gonna betray you; unfortunately its not clear if its true as the guide being vague on us.
• At some point, you'll face to face with your party mirror image but unfortunately, they are outright forced or simply annoying. To sum it up, every alter is either tsundere or yandere. Only purely annoying and forced. I got few reference for true evil of mirror character that still has charisma about them. But in this game, they have none.
• The enemy here is someone sister, some narcistic...and...and...well, that's it. Oh and they were on evil side. That's all clue you can get from them. They lack motives and even if they had one, it doesn't feel reasonable. And i don't know why but Sol character IMO is just...stupid? I mean love conquer all sure, but her motives why is what make her stupid. I don't feel any pity except when she regret for leaving her sister to follow a maniac at the end of the game.
• Of all people in this game, Sol appearance doesn't look like big sister but more like newlywed MILF with a lolita fashion kink. No offense but we talk about game with MILITARY surrounding here! At least her persona before and after breakdown is sweet so i let that part go.
• The last boss upbringing, while it's decent, felt lack a punch.

Wow, it end up way too much to be listed. But seriously, this game can be a decent game given the time and development. The character is decent, the plot is unusual but understandable, the villain got their own character but IMO they need to add more than just two to bring more life on the opposing side. What make me feel this is unfortunate is why they didn't make the side mission as engaging than just blast monsters and done. You only know pretty much little about the character and how they feel about you because the game is so linear about it. They won't slap you if you being a dick and even if they did, it won't affect their affection. Sure it's nice since it give us more freedom but consequence is part of RPG even back when this game is just released. 

Now i'm done with the bad and ugly, let's move toward the good shall we?

• The battle system might remind you to FF. However what boosting the gameplay value of the battle is because you're not only depending on skill. Even your normal attack can be powerful and look stylish depending on how you set it up
• Every character weapon design is neat. In fact, the main reason why people would dub it God Eater RPG is because how the weapon transform. Except it has no bite.
• Thankfully, attack attribute were shown as it should be and not as bad as status ailment. There's slash, blunt, pierce, missile, bullets, and elements.
• The gameplay might confuse you but not for long provided you grind to test thing out
• There's also DLC for the game which make the game easy but IMO, it didn't hamper much of difficulty except getting money as there's DLC that give you millions of coins and medals. But even that won't save you on hardest difficulty should you take that mode firsthand.
• There's way to fix the game stutter although not completely. Though you need hex app to do so. People talking about it on Steam Discussion though i don't know if the issue persist on console version
• Just a small entertainment value to some of you, under the HP bar, there's a pink colored bar. If you let it depleted...

"Since this game is from IF, i somehow not surprised. Don't get your pants in a bunch, this game is not 18+ category even if you beg"

Why you call it your guilty pleasure even when you know the game is that bad?
Now this is where i find myself difficult to explain. You see the bad and ugly point above and surely it would be a clear sign that i should run off before more damage is done. But turn out, here i am nearing my 100 hours of gameplay. If anything, i would assume the reason why i keep replaying this game is because the battle system and how lightweight the story is. Sure it doesn't my cup of tea but at least the story isn't so outrageous. Like i pointed out before, the story is pretty much unusual but understandable. Not good, but not bad either. Perhaps the other reason is because i want to play turn based RPG game that didn't demanding too much like Persona series for example. Don't get me wrong, i like Persona series but if we talk about how much we have to get in-depth with the game, Persona would be more demanding than this.

To put it brief, i just replaying this game because i want to take a slow pace from mostly shown turn based RPG served on my plate and somehow, this game is the only option i had. I'm not saying i'm so good with those genre to the point everything seems boring. It's just that there's a time that i want to change my pace in playing a game but don't want to completely disconnect with my currently favorite genre. For example, there's a time when you want to stop playing a taxing game like Tekken and want to play something more lightweight which doesn't stray too far from Tekken, only less demanding. The solution? Most likely Smash Bros. Another example is perhaps you had enough playing Simulation Racing genre and so you decide to move to other game that has racing genre, but carried out differently. The solution? Most likely Mario Kart or Sonic Racing Transform as the race didn't demand much brake in every turn and you can do what most simulation can't do for a change. It is those change of pace that make you don't realize you play those good old game because you know how it played, and you know its what you need to fulfill the gap while taking a small break. In my case, Dark Rose Valkyrie is my sinful pleasure in my gaming experience and i'm not ashamed to admit that despite the game flaw here and there. Elena shutting off~

[Balthier]

That was actually extremely informative. I think I'd steer clear of that one myself after that review.

[Elena Ichinomiya]

While i'm usually not fond of gaming news much, i think this one is safe to talk about (at least to me) since it has no heavy politic influence. I've been planning to talk about old news and what i thought at the moment before it breakdown but instead of talking about the old news and tell you what i think before and after the breakdown, i got another. Say, have you ever thought about celebrating your birthday? Just a thought really. Does it involve cake? Wine or beer? A hangout? Being treated to a nice restaurant or vice versa? Play poker night and truth or dare? If so, you're probably the nice person worth celebrating their birthday since you're a lot of fun to hang around with. Why? Because you share the happiness of your coming age with others, that's what.

But what if we talk about anniversary in video game? Well that would put much impact for sure. Heavy discount, new content, new event, limited event item, login reward in case its online game, special privilege VIP membership for a week, anything that would hook you up to a game. But instead, here i am confused with these kind of party...

"When unreliable newspaper talk some sense about YOU in unsavory topic, then you really got a problem"

I've heard about Genshin event long beforehand and my sister who play the game somehow talk about it in less than energetic tone. She didn't pay anything other than monthly subscription by the way and not always reload it when she's not in the mood. However when the anniversary about to hit, she mention something that shouldn't even be there. Namely, "Last celebration is a let down". Lucky for you, i don't know what happen on the first failure of their event but as wise man said, "You're totally stupid if you fall into same hole twice". And those mistake finally reach my ears.

Before i dive in into what i thought about this event, i want to clear things up that i don't play genshin after the first day release because i feel the game is very shallow and the grind won't make it any better. The story while good at the time, was scripted in weird angle. I can't even tell if i met a serious character or a clown of the group until they start talking too much. As i value my sanity, i stop playing right that instant. Its not like i hate the game or something. I saw how they manage the gacha and gameplay and my final judgement is mixed. I even go as far to say that this game is one example of knock off and failed to become one. The difference is the game still up and running. But my oh my, i never thought they gonna break a camel back by doing this.

In their first anniversary, everyone expect some sort of celebration and Genshin also not missing that out. Despite the game going without a hitch, the playerbase is not amused by how Mihoyo do their stuff and treat their playerbase some justice. Even their other impact games said they are so 50-50 when making such event though i really can't say since i don't play their mobile game up to this day. When i thought their celebration is just a login reward doubled, a discount in-game purchase, free pulls for the duration of the event or at least a event story, Mihoyo decide to test their playerbase loyalty that doesn't sounds exciting at all. 

Normally anniversary event is a moment of respite where the player are focused on something else instead of the daily grinding or rake up their rank on PVP (though Genshin has no such feature as far as i know). Its the time when the player focus on something else and feel rewarded for playing the game for a year. And of course its up for the dev/publisher to arrange such event and manage it so both parties (p2w and f2p) are pleased because you really don't want a riot on community on either side. Believe me when i said p2w do care about f2p player because f2p player numbers will become asset to make sure the game playerbase flourish which mean ensuring the game would run for more year and not completely become waste of sink hole for the p2w as they support the game with purchases. Trust me, many online game closed due to lack of playerbase even when the game doing alright. Logres for example.

And yet Mihoyo decide to do the opposite. I never see such event for a gacha games for their first anniversary. Hell, i never see any games doing this. And no, if its cool event, i won't talk about it. As much as i gather include asking my sister who know more about the game than me, the event start off with something called "Genshin Memory" or something. Its a contest where the playerbase send their commission be it a fanart or cosplay photo of the character. The winner of course would be rewarded but this is where things gone spiral out of control. I've heard Azur Lane and Kacolle make such event involving cosplay and fanart but none of them cause an uproar. Turn out, its the reward itself that make it not worth the trouble. And not to mention, the event literally don't give ANYTHING to f2p which might be petty, but would become their 4th world problem pretty much soon.

From what i know, the event would ONLY reward those who participate in the commission and left everyone who didn't participate left out. But the kick doesn't stop there. The event reward is not given fairly among the participant itself. For the cosplay, only 3 person would be nominate the winner. And for the fanart, it would be around 1000 of playerbase would get it. But then, another kick to the sin was delivered when the winner of the fanart commission, speak up about what they get isn't really up to anyone expectation. After all, the commission was sent through social media rather than special email address made for this very event which narrow down the possibility about what this event is about...

*Advertisement jingle* Free estate~

Quote

“People don’t understand that these rewards come in exchange for free advertising. You as an artist, would you put your time and effort for a CHANCE to get 100 primos? Is their advertisement team on vacation or something? Cosplaying takes money, drawing and editing takes time and talent.” - chrislovesmemes123.

I was wondering how much they got rewarded and i search it up. I mean come on, they left the non-participant dry, they must be saving the best for those who did...right? Eh, no. Turn out the reward is by comparison is pretty much like how much you get for finishing "daily mission" or an hour of grind. 

Quote

Meanwhile, those that take part in the “Recording Your Anniversary Memories” event will have a chance to win 100 Primogems. Unfortunately, only 1,000 winners will be selected for this reward. It’s this extremely limited winner pool and lack of rewards that has angered many in the Genshin Impact community. -Dexetro

I don't know what you can get with 100 primogems but i also read that they reward those commissioner a 100k Mora (in-game gold, not real currency). So i ask my sis how much does it worth and oh my, she explain it with deepest frown i ever see. 100k can easily gathered and even if you play the game in lazy manner, one week alone is enough to get that much of amount. Mihoyo make it sounds like its a prize worth dying for when you can just skip the event and move on. I'm not kidding, even my sister also added that the gold ain't worth a damn much in the game as you highly likely using gem more than gold. After all, the new weapon can only be obtained through pull, not with gold. Added the fact that Mihoyo had the guts to give 100k as reward like it was a golden fleece is a final kick to the dick. Fans are not happy, playerbase getting even more divided, f2p Player feel they're not welcomed, p2w player angry as they also left out just because they're not participating, and even those who did only given a measly reward that you can pretty much get from doing what you usually do on daily basis when playing the game! And let's not forget that those who didn't win or become part of 1000 winners will left dry...and angry.

Let's side track here. I know a friend who love cosplaying when i was high school and they claim that the cost to cosplay non-fabric character like Gundam still cost them half of their salary. And my sister who is a designer said that some people who commission fanart, has different method but regardless use plenty of time to complete a picture. Some would just draw digitally but some people with perfectionist trait would do it from sketch and only use PC for adding the final touch which still take much time to complete anyway. Time and money are wasted on this event only to be rewarded with bread and butter and no wine on table. I think having birthday by visiting Library are better than attend to this event.

Also, my friend from discord sending me his twitter how laughable it is for Mihoyo in their attempt for damage control when the fire spread. Their website for the event got shutdown due to backlash. Now they cave-in, i wonder what they gonna do next. Hope they learn like what Bethesda did. At least there's no scam here, only manipulation of people that deserve their reward only to be given a penny. Is this what i'm in for if i stay for year Mihoyo? Not cool Yo.

Let's see here. I see many online game be it on PC and mobile, either they're grubby like EA and Activision/Blizzard or generous like...well, i don't know, you name it for me. They never mess up in their anniversary much to my surprise. The let down so far before this event is Square Enix FFBE who celebrate their anniversary with FULLY PRICED ANNIVERSARY BUNDLE ITEM and nothing else which led people to review bomb any SE mobile gaming thanks to that. Now let me share you my experience in gacha game in their first anniversary. While its mostly mobile, the type of event and the outcome is pretty much mirror how Genshin did.

• I once play GFL back on August 2018 (i think?) and they reward f2p player with login reward, free pulls for the dorm item per day for the duration of the event and discounting the construction.
• In Azur Lane while they also make competition for fanart and only limited numbers of people can win as part of their anniversary event, they give a decent reward that feel rewarding for those who participate while the f2p player can enjoy other benefit be it a returning ship at discount or story event to sink their teeth onto while the event is running.
• I also play an online dance game who celebrate their anniversary with free permanent try of clothing for the duration of the event for the f2p, while the p2w player earn even more profit from their subscription
• And the latest is CounterSide where they literally spoil both of the playerbase be it p2w or f2p player an equal reward. Not only that, they even celebrate their 10, 30, 100 days anniversary of their game and the reward is so generous, i literally got plenty diamond and manage to catch up most of character i didn't get on the first day. There's even time they give 7 days reward filled with nothing but pulls and gem just for the petty anniversary. Keep in mind their global server isn't reach 1st year just yet! They give the player a generous reward and worthwhile story event which also have a reward to trade in shop which is not blocked by paywall.

You know 1st anniversary is vital as wise man said that first of everything will decide everything from there. The game i mention above making sure to keep their playerbase around even the f2p because who knows that f2p player gonna change their mind and put their money on their game. P2w don't come and pay in first day of meeting. They need to know if they invest on right party and make sure everything reward them nicely. The Anniversary is where the dev/publisher show their love to their playerbase, giving the player something in return for playing their game and ensure the f2p player that they're in good hands and the reward would sway them to stay and if they lucky, make them spend money on their game without any side-effect. But Mihoyo kick all those goodwill and its not even good joke material to say on thanksgiving.

What Mihoyo just did in this event is an obvious advertisement campaign but instead the company who did it, they "ask" their fanbase to do it for them while disguising it as an event. No one like it, i don't like it, and certainly those who participate didn't like it. And certainly NOBODY like it when they being lied to. At this point, the company rake up enough money to cover their loss for giving generous reward. Its not like anniversary were attended every week anyway, does it really hurt them to put a hole in their wallet just for one month? If they can't make such grand event like this or adding special anniversary event story, they should just goes off with special login reward or milestone event run where you had to finish different daily mission everyday. I see many gacha game even the run-of-the-mill standard did this for their anniversary and their playerbase just go along with it and frankly, it won't put much loss for game company either so its win-win.

In my personal opinion, there's many factor that can scare new player. The community, the game itself, those who work behind it, and how they treat their player. There's no perfect game service as far as i know because there's always a minus in one aspect on every game online service. But with how Mihoyo treat their playerbase like this, i don't think it encourage new player to play. I see Genshin ads on youtube and web ad banner and funny enough, i compare it to Travian for all i care. If they can publicize their game, why do they even need to treat their playerbase like they were a walking banner? Its so manipulative as it is an insult. While its true that business feed on customer money, you don't bite those hands that feed you when they don't even do any offense! At least if you can't give the f2p player justice, give those participant the meaningful reward damn it!

Don't make me started, but their celebration livestream is so wonky to watch. Scripted might be understatement. Perhaps they know they gonna celebrate something wonky and got internal conflict seeing people is not that stupid to let this one slide.

I don't know about you but Genshin Impact streamer in any gaming streaming site i visit (Twitch, Youtube, or even DLive of all thing) had their numbers of streamer diminished on the 2nd day of release. I don't see anything wrong with the game, no people complain about the glitch etc. They just...left? On the first day of release, the game had 22K people streaming. But right on the next day, it goes down the drain into 800. I'm not kidding, that's what it shown. Until today, the game only garner 800 streamer and around 2k at its peak in my region. Compared to Diablo, Starcraft, and other MMO, Genshin livestream is as bare as Dead By Daylight by comparison. When i thought this game would float around 1K at minimum only to see only 500 streamer is baffling as it easily swalloed by . That's probably a sign that i make a good decision to left the game for good on first day. And i never feel so glad when i'm making the right decision. The game didn't convince me i'm leaving for good; their community speak for itself and i'm thankful for that.

I say this again, when you start any business, be ready to give what need and when they give you something in return, don't dare asking for more while doing for less. You're the one who should give more as you have that power, not those who need the helping hand. And keep in mind its their money is what giving you a roof on top of your head and food on table. Don't be a scumbag by gaining profit from people misery.

Elena shutting the fuck off Yo...

[Elena Ichinomiya]

Epic Games. The game portal that everyone know and sometime wish they don't. I have fair share of my own opinion about their existence and their purpose as Steam rival. But as far as rivalry goes, i had to draw conclusion that what make Steam still relevant while Epic got themselves cough their way through the smoke left by Steam, is that Steam are made by gamer-like mind who know what gamer personally want and needs from social side (though Discord beat them in this part) to the personal bragging right such as achievement system, while Epic think that gamer only need, well game and that's it. Keep in mind that it take whole debacle until Epic decide to add shopping cart and as obscure as it is, they didn't implement it because they thought digital store don't need such a thing UNTIL their bot screw them silly by banning the people. This confuse me the most though, why they put perma-ban as first and last resort? If you make shady purchase on Steam, they would only block you from purchasing further until next day (depend on how severe the damage is) before you got complete ban from purchase.

But i won't talk about that. In my opinion, they were great in their own way because if not, pretty sure we would see Epic eat the dust without any games from 3rd party. I still prefer Steam because they have my region currency (IMPORTANT!)...and security.

"Their rivalry still far from SEGA vs Nintendo"

The more i learn about how Epic do their job, the more i thought how unhealthy to add them as your rival in business. I said unhealthy, not hard to deal with. Keep in mind their exclusivity deal are what people frown the most although that can be tossed aside. However with their recent nose rubbing against Apple (though both side are bad IMO), i don't think i would trust my account to a company that keep looking for trouble. The thing is, the more i put scrutiny about them, the more i want to know what motivate them. Sure they develop UE game engine that still used until this day and never seems to disappoint but their game store deal is ALWAYS different topic.

On the other hand, i know Steam far better as they grow on me since i were a kid. And by comparison...they also sucks back in the day but manage to came on top years after. The thing is, i wonder what make them receive less frown than Epic other than exclusive deal. Turn out the reason was simple enough: 15 years ago, Steam has no rival. Epic as the newcomer got themselves bumpy ride because Steam had their own history among gaming community which mean they had to think how to mitigate the impact of Steam and make people look over their store; hence the exclusivity deal. But as you can tell, Epic forgot that they should be epic. At launch, people find pretty much barren the store is. I'm not kidding when i said they look like your typical online store than gaming portal though it has been changed years later. Though i still call them Wall-mart edition of Steam regardless. Trust me when i compare any stuff to a convenient store/fast food restaurant, its generous.

Epic however, didn't shooting blind with their game portal as they claim that they would get better seeing Steam receiving more grace after 15 years of existence. They claim they use their example to become their equal in gaming community rivalry which sounds a bit rich seeing how Epic keep shot themselves on their foot by fighting Apple for lost cause and plagiarism of game mode on their own first party game Fortnite. I won't mock their ambition because at least they get clear aim where to bring their business. As i said before...

Quote

"A presence of rivalry is what make a better product. You can tell which part you lacking without need of rude wake up call"

The thing is, when they got ambition and Steam acknowledge their presence, Epic really make story for themselves with scandal (Epic vs Apple = war against humanity, really?) and wonky business deal to the point that every developer who make their game for them act a bit out of control. Keep in mind the dev i think about is indie, a group of developer who still find their way to fame without worry about revenue since Epic would support them with the deal for year. As far as the store goes, i can't help but notice that the game released there are full of bad background story, scrutiny, and scummy end of the stick. Metro had to apologize to everyone who pre-purchase game on Steam before i move to Epic, Shenmue 3 got ransacked by backer of their kickstarter as they clearly don't know the exclusivity would apply once they sign the deal, and possibly more. Never have i ever find such drama over Steam and even if there's one, it stem from publisher/dev problem to deal with, not from Steam meddling. Meanwhile the game i mentioned on Epic got into sticky situation because of the Epic exclusivity deal and while its harmless by the paper, the impact give them a horrible ride. Its like your first day at work job is to be framed for murder. That doesn't sounds good.

And then i remember what they said about going to be Steam rival by 15 years. Now that's a bit rich once again. If you follow example of someone you admire, would you follow every single part of their good and bad point? No! When you follow example, you follow their good part and avoid the bad part just so you didn't suffer much damage as you make your own story of your life. Epic on the other hand believe that they can be great in 15 years and yet they got problem with their store that used to be Steam issue! That's not what following example actually mean! What were they thinking!?

Hold on, i'm not done yet!

Now you see, Epic is about to add the achievement system which everyone ridiculed since Steam already has that and to add insult to injury, even Xbox and Playstation has been doing that and become a meme of the past. I couldn't tell what kind of "breakthrough" they gonna made because as far as i'm concern, what i got on Steam, Epic don't have that and when they did, its terribly implemented. But enough about that, what i'm concern about Epic Achievement system is how it gonna boost your profile level. On Steam, purchasing game and other transaction can boost your profile level. While it might sounds like you had to spent money to buy game just to raise your level, it has point; you own Steam account to PLAY game, not to become a zombie shopper. The level up by purchase/transaction/joint event is just addition that you can easily ignore.

Epic however see that the profile level is their spotlight and plan to implement achievement from game you played to be added to your profile EXP point to level up. It seems easy for you to level up there than in Steam seeing every game has many achievement and EXP value which would boost your profile level. But IMO, this kind of implementation would cause a hiccup had they really execute it this way. Here's the problem i manage to address...

• If i already achieve many achievement in game before this system is online, does it add as complete once its online? Or do i have to start ALL OVER?
• This would invite developer of shovelware (a game made by just copy paste the source only different in appearance most of the time) with their hoarding EXP achievement in their game which is what make Steam Greenlight discontinued. Keep in mind this kind of game has literally hundreds of achievement and yet petty way to achieve it such as walk 10 step, talk to 10 people, or just plugging a joystick and opening an option. If Epic really implement it like this, some people would hail shovelware game as their shortcut to boost their way to higher level. Not only the game has many achievements, but they also very cheap to purchase. Epic promise to not allow a shovelware game in their game portal so this implementation felt like sprinkling sugar to get rid of an ants; which only invite trouble. I don't have anything against indie dev; shoverlware concept is.
• Game achievement was given by game portal but implemented by the game developer themselves. If it turn out the implementation is complicated, there's possibility the game you played has achievement system on Steam, but don't have any on Epic or at least less achievement in total.

So yeah, Epic still has long way to get there. If they still persist on rivaling Steam, i wish them the best - no sarcasm. However what i really hope is they stop causing trouble for their own game dev, user, and their own fans. Epic vs Apple incident is a fine example of manipulating their fans on their own affair and no, i don't see it as professional. When your business is in trouble, you don't involve a passerby to give their support. When user complain about lack of system, DON'T SILENT THEM. When dev agree on your deal, tell them to mind their business or else you'll face defamation like what happen to Ooblet (that game doesn't even that great honest to god...) and many more. They said that they follow Steam example and be successful like they did now. So why am i seeing they follow Steam mistake and ignoring the good part instead!? 

"This might have been updated but i don't know! And frankly, i-don't-care"

IT'S...JUST...
BAD!

And no, i don't think i'm right in the head to wait for 15 years to see them get better when they clearly have resource to complete at least half experience on the first go. Now you see what happen when game business handled by gamer compared to what happen when its under business-minded people. You're welcome.
Elena Shutting off~

[Elena Ichinomiya]

What i thought about play, access, rivalry, advantage of sit and play mechanic in between, and concern...

*DING* "Purei stesion~"

Sony, sony. What am i gonna do without you around? When all i want for Christmas is playstation portable. Now if you grin like mad, then you know i'm not going full fangirling over them. But i won't roast this console to death either. In fact, i would pick them over XBOX and Nintendo but not for being hip sake or something. I just drawn to them more than other console. The thing is, even before their 5th console released, i already grow concerned with the console i grew up with...okay, my first console is NES but when they release the N64, they're not available for my region for no reason until year later when Sony just goes on merry way with their PSone to the point every rental in my place has PSone rented out and no sign of Nintendo. But back on topic! My concern start off right when PS4 just released and while it might goes off smoothly without the incident from the predecessor which is PS3 for its high price due to small change format (blu-ray), along with XBOX bumbling sales of kinect that serve them a bullet to the foot, i realize that Sony didn't improve much on gameplay mechanic. Sure XBOX kinect has its downside but at least they tried something. And don't run your mouth on Nintendo; we know what's up unless you want to talk about Wii U.

PS however, still keep our hands on the stick. I'm not saying is bad thing. We probably have one of those day when we want to just sit and play the games for long run after long day of work without need to stand up being fumbling joe in front of kinect camera when i'm clearly out of it but still want to play game as mean to relax which contradict the feature function, or swing remote around in living room being stared at making it like i just skip work to save my stamina playing games. Sit and play the game theme has been a long run view of gaming, even PC. But again, with my concern, PS didn't put much of a fight in gameplay mechanic. I do heard about them focusing on VR but it was since water under the bridge now seeing there's not much people seems into it while the VR itself was pricy device to boot. That's why when people claim PS is a bit left behind on gameplay mechanic, i kind of agree. At least they didn't stick Kinect as part of mandatory part to run a game which is good thing.

Sit and play the game, in my POV, actually has some advantage. To be honest, i did think once in a while what would happen if i can play my game anywhere like every ads trying to push. But having the limitation to only able to play at home seems like good thing too. In my personal gaming experience, having such limitation provide me advantage to manage my time between work and play in perfect balance. Focusing on my job at my workplace while at home, PS would wait for my return to turn it on. There's this barrier that would prevent me from being underperformed at work. As a person who easily feel dull, having access of gaming everywhere and whenever would put a damp on my focus. I bet i would spend any small break playing Switch instead chatting with my co-worker or busy with setting up XBOX Xcloud in my laptop on lunch break. Those aren't bad thing to some of course, some people like the fact they can play anywhere. Its just that when the access was too easy, i'm not sure its good thing for long run. Though its up to everyone self-control about how they behave when having a game access just as easy. I also don't scrutinize the crossplay invention since who knows there's this businessman who like gaming as hobby but always travel around which limit their access to play after hours.

Just think what people do when Tamagotchi still a thing or Pokemon GO. Its only have small amount of gameplay value but it still distract people completely when they should've do something first before having their fun because how easy it is to access it with just a flip of a hand. So yes, i still prefer having my gaming experience strictly at home if it mean i can do what i was paid to do without any setback. As if social media ain't distraction enough!

Back on my concern about PS. I'm sure you see the news of them getting scalped and for some reason, they sue a company who make PS5 custom plate. Honestly, it bring back my concern how lackluster Sony is in securing their own product to their consumer. Remember that time when PS3 leak out data information about the user include their credit card? Sure XBOX might got themselves the scalp problem but there's effort in it either by limitation or for better or worse, the first release was a dupe and the real one was released later. PS had more bad hair day from a scalp incident and i'm concerned if one day i got my hands on PS5, it would've been touched by scalper who put a thing or two there or its legit fresh from factory release. Keep in mind we talking about people going for profit so i would say my concern are legit if there's something breaking before it was delivered. Its like you ask your friend to buy two sandwiches for the two of you to eat, but for some reason he/she only buy one, claiming that its the last sandwich on the market. You feel bad and decide to split it between the two of you, when turn out that friend of yours eating one of it on the way before giving the "last" sandwich to you. You might be friend, but its still rude to take advantage for your own gain. And in scalper case, its nice of them to buy the console in large number (until you know its actually a crime), BUT, you're also full of crap for reselling it again at higher price. Hell is deep you know, were they really curious about it that much?

As for the suing the custom plate...honestly i don't know what were they thinking for doing this. I see how many people slap a fully covered sticker on their console since PSone! Believe me when i said every rental has at least few console covered with customized Barcelona FC or Real Madrid FC picture on it. As obnoxious as it is, they didn't do a thing about it when the third party vandalize the console appearance for years. And now they make fuss of it? I mean sure there's this issue with logo plagiarism but...really, you have to watch the news to see why i also frown with what they did; its just small detail and its not complete plagiarism as they use their own creativity to make it apart from Sony own logo knowing they would have their arse sued (though their taunt at the company was idiotic at best which also serve as their karma). If Sony really that insecure about the design, why not hiring a team to make a custom plate officially? Even XBOX have the team for that especially their custom joystick; my sis admit it look appealing despite the fact its just a cosmetic. And Nintendo doing smart move by hiring the third party custom console design to become part of Nintendo which is win-win for both side. Sony on the other hand, they use a long shot method by playing with the law! To be honest, i don't have thing or two about my console if it reach my hand. As long as it run the game as it should be, i don't care if it has big face of someone on it...though i prefer nothing on my plate at all but who am i to say. This is the part where my concern was even more higher about Sony future. They seems confused where the console going out to be, there's no addition of gameplay mechanic other than joystick with precise input, no crossplay platform feature, they got scalped so much there's almost no new stock in market, so yeah, i'm concerned.

If you didn't notice, they just move literally their first party games to STEAM. I don't know what they planning but when there's exclusive games moved to another platform, something might afoot. Keep in mind i'm talking about first party games like God of War, not third one like SEGA Yakuza series (which also moved to Steam after long persistence of being PS only release).

I have to admit Sony was rather aloof in their upbringing and while its funny sometime, it give a bit of bad image at some point. But that part of them is what make them dare to thread the thin ice knowing the damage would've been. But that doesn't mean they just turn away from player either with excuse "we know best" when in reality they're not...yes Blizzard/Activision, i'm keeping record of your excuse. At least Sony still listen when they shut down PS store for old gen console include VITA turn out to be bad move. So there might be some glitter of hope for this console future. Although the only best bet i can say is most gamer still love having their hands on the joystick which make them (PS) still relevant. As GarryMod creator once said...

Quote

It is the lack of access is what drive people away from your game. 

Or in this case, as long as the access of play wasn't put up behind paywall or ridiculous concept (kinect way of sales), i think people would be on their merry way with the console, sit down, experience. I guess that's all i have to say in my concern about my love-hate toward PS. Keep in mind this is my personal view about the said console state, not every gaming community as a whole.

...Pst! Nintendo, you sure that subscription price give the Switch player some justice with its content? It seems like you don't like subscription feature in your console but begrudgingly put it anyway because player want it...

Elena, Shutting off~

[Elena Ichinomiya]

To be fair, me and online gaming never tick since the first time i touch the keyboard and internet. Even though the game was translated into my region language or the currency were balanced, i still find myself in trouble of getting into online gaming even in my sweet 17. I guess its good that i don't get caught in gaming addiction and end up working at school telling children that getting addicted to something intangible would get you nothing but egoistic pleasure. But the thing is, there's time where i coming back to the said online game and let out deep sigh when it closed down. Not sure why, even though i'm just there for less than year, it still give me a little nostalgia. Perhaps because i was so young and stupid back then...well i'm still stupid at some point but you know what i meant. Anyway, did i ever tell you...

 

"That not every online game ever manage to reach 3 years even though it was revered as good?"

What's going on?
Dear oh dear, never though i'm gonna talk about this game that i'm not sure everyone give a dang about. While the thing that cause the closure could be any reason, this one is easily pointed out. Pricy subscription, pricy bundle, crazy monetization, lack of event, lack of character engagement, loose storyline, repetitive grind, glitch and bug though not that impactful like Diablo 2 R, pretty much anything you can find on gacha games. I can't say much about the story since as i said in my opinion in Genshin, story never been online game forte; their lore is. If you lack in that, gamer pretty much expect something else to do with either event, side-story, character story, etc. But as you can expect in this game, there's not much about it other than read their bio. Sadly, some of them are so vague or typo or unclear context who they talking about. Alice for example, talk in various POV that i take many times to understand who explaining who. 

The economy of this game, as you expect from gacha game, is grubby-but-not-really. The price is pretty much standard...at launch. Then i saw that to subscribe for one month, it cost you 3 digit dollar for some reason. Just one month, let that sink in, for an online game. Even EA who is known for being grubby still considerate enough to put just less than 10 dollar at best for one month subscription (and more cheaper if you're first time buyer). You know there's some people who want to support the game through cheapest way which is why subscription come in. And this game didn't manage to do so. Keep in mind there's something called inflation which is why this subscription doesn't equally weight the price. 

Then for the bundle, i can't say much but its content is just diamond and Tarot (for special pull banner). And no, that's not satisfying when the bundle were so small compared to its price. If anything, this game beat Gravity and their Ragnarok, at least Ragnarok price were varied depend on the type of game. But this easily surpass them in just one game.

Speaking of pull, this game as you can expect, has their way to run their business. And the currency used for pull is not just 2 but 3 of them. Diamond/gem pull, Tarot pull, and Wish Tarot pull. And no, the latter don't pull the character you want, its just another gacha ball for you to roll out. That's not helping the economy, people will confused if they should reload their game with Tarot or Wish Tarot pull when both of them serve same purpose. The only difference is Tarot can be used for normal pull, while Wish Tarot is for new banner pull, pretty much like Genshin to be honest. It can be tossed aside for player to just focus on getting normal Tarot which is what i do in this game...

But dang, did you forgot i mention a repetitive grind? Yes, because this game is stingy on reward. In gacha game i played, finishing daily mission would give you at least one free pull and believe me when i said there's plenty of game implement this. Even 2016 gacha games been doing this! You can get free Tarot pull, just one though, but its not on daily...but weekly mission. And to add kick to the shin, it only reward ONE pull. That sounds charming; so much i want to throw hammer at this company. All those effort just for measly, basic, one gacha pull? That doesn't sounds good...

In case you wondering, no, i didn't finish the story. While basic, its quite good. Unfortunately, being cheap on the game while they being stingy doesn't help my team as i only has near-basic party without SSR run around. I do have some, but as you can guess, i can't limit break their level because their item needed to ascend their level require grind effort. While other SR unit i had already reach 50, my SSR only reach level 20 due to enormous requirement to ascend them. And no, they're not always available. The mining place change every day so if you missed, congrats, wait for one week or sunday when every dungeon are unlocked. Thanks to that, i stuck at one point of story, and just don't care anymore.

I precisely remember i quit the game around February 2020 after i find more engaging gacha game. Also try Azur Lane at some point which to my surprise is good enough (just so). And after that i uninstall this game to make some space. That's when i realize the game size is 1.5 GB in total. For a game with grand concept, it was cheap at the storage. Its friendly sure, but it shows how it lack many stuff where we might forced to wait while our wallet drained dry. That doesn't sounds good. Even Azur Lane and GFL who has less graphical and gameplay mechanic still cost 3.5 GB at some point of update since there's new character and update of feature etc. That's when i realize that their update on the game is just hotfix but nothing new. They add costume feature later on...by pulling it with diamond which increase every single time you pull. Great, they bleed both side at this point. They bleed out wallet while they also bleed themselves by scaring the player with monetization that doesn't work for long shot.

And finally, enough is enough. The game announce their closure on 10 June this year. Compared to Logres, another online mobile gacha game, this game departure leave with less favorable farewell with people mocking lackluster of gameplay and obnoxious monetization. I'm not against monetization since its the way of F2P games thrive but they did poorly with the price management. I did mention on Steam vs Epic post that the reason why i don't plan to have other game launcher account is because of their lack of currency balance. Without that balance, i could end up buying GTA for 50 dollar at best when it should be 30% discount at the time. This is the main issue of online gaming. Monetization is fine as long as its fair for everyone in the server. Not sure which measurement of price they use to the point that even their mainland server had trouble to catch up. That's some smooth business alright...

The Impression
The game by design, is pretty neat in my opinion. The 3D were smooth and the graphic is decent. It remind me of early 2008 online game where every retro online game migrate to 3D with some tweak of additional graphic such as AA and Bloom effect and cutscene skill. I also noted this game also one of those who feature scale resolution which is helpful since it was praised by review that even the low-end mobile can play it (added the fact the game is just 1.5 GB, aside from how sketchy the outcome, its a blessing). Once i enter the game, they throw me to the tutorial stage right away which is normal. What's not normal is...

The game throw you in there, while all the graphic setting was set to a highest setting. While my phone are high end, such graphic level still cause hiccup (bloom and AA seems not going well with my device). I can't imagine how people with low-end device had to deal with that because no, you can't go to option to change it until the tutorial is finished. So i would bet they were lucky to made it out or my best bet, they would crash to home screen few times trying. 

The character design are unique. What i'm pretty much liking it is how they use the color palette that usually obnoxious to the eye into perfect blend. Green and brown tend to give either loud or depressing impression but they mix it so well so i didn't pay it much mind. By characteristic, they pretty decent. Sad thing is, not every single of them get fair amount of spotlight. There's this woman in blue who only appear as important character, but only shows at one scene and not showing up again for upcoming chapter. Maybe she do show up again at later chapter but since i'm stuck with poor team, i can't progress so i can't say. Also i notice this game didn't only put renown Goddess, Angel, and Demon. But they also put heroes name...sounds familiar? But no, they don't put it right on your face. Its written on their Bio. Some even point out that they're actual name is Arthuria. Not sure why they did that but i guess they just need something to nudge.

Now for the game mechanic, the game is turn-base RPG. However if you're lazy, there's Auto mode...don't ask, that feature been everywhere. How the Auto mode executed is based on character SPD so who has higher SPD, goes first. I guess the developer keep their note about how RPG executed. Then moving on the skill of character, you can use skill based on SP you had. You're limited to 10 and those SP are shared with everyone on the party. So if you want certain character to use their skill, then don't abuse it by telling other character to defend. Its solid feature as it make you setup strategy who goes first or who goes for who. No hiccup here but i keep reminded how this game love their skill cutscene. Unless you set it up on Option, you have to see EVERY single cutscene when the character use a skill which can be jarring once you see it too much, even if that character is good looking.

The Dungeon system which is a side feature, contain various item that you can grind to improve your character. Every single day, its different dungeon except sunday. The catch up here is depend on who you trying to ascend, have different cost of upgrade. This is what cause the first frown in my gameplay experience. The grind were obvious and its not fun as you can just leave it on Auto with the right party. Keep in mind this game is PVE centric so just leave it to AI and you can finish cleaning the dish while waiting. Trust me, i had reach the top level of the challenge and i still win on Auto mode. At least in other online turn-base RPG game, some challenge level still require my full attention. This game just pull same stuff over at you but stronger and bullet sponge...and still easy to beat on Auto mode!

Miscellaneous Mention
My favorite feature is animated background for the home screen. Even my current active gacha game doesn't have that aside the beautiful graphic.

All Thing Considered...
This game isn't bad. It has hiccup sure but its just poor implementation. At least it keep me hooked for half year until the event costume make their appearance. I still remember the character element combination to make battle easier. The character overall, has decent impression. Thankfully, they didn't force some joke into the game or 4th wall breaking trope which been rampant on anime-ish kind of game so that's a start. The gameplay mechanic also easy to understand and keep in mind if you had enough moving your finger around, there's Auto feature. Its not game breaking, but some player appreciate it in their own way. Another thing to note is the lack of voice acting at some part of the game that should've been there. Getting hit for example. Perhaps they want to cut the corner by removing that part to squeeze the game size. 

The game might be gone for good but it do serve as something for the publisher that you can scare off gamer not just the difficulty spike but by other mean include grubby monetization which is very out of control. Not only that, even something harmless like lack of event can bleed the player base dry by the seconds which is what happen to most new online game, hence the "3 years dying" trope for online game. And i'm agree. Many online game that i consider good were shut down less than a year due to lack player base. Even if the economic was good, player base still determine if the game worth running for long when the number of players keep diminishing day by day. Even now this issue still persist. I mean, just look at World of Warship/Tank or War Thunder which many people consider as horrible. Or any EA games server which always shut down abruptly. They keep running for long because the player base number keep the publisher optimist that people are into their game and they keep going even though you wish them to go down the ditch already. Trust me, 500k player base is still barebone to keep the game running for one month. And this is the case of Goddess of Genesis. Their game exist and people know it, but the lack of interest is what cause the publisher to cut the losses before it get too much.

This is why i keep telling every aspiring game developer/publisher that giving true meaning for player to stay by any mean but their own gain is what keep the game afloat. Pushing your agenda, going politics, calling player names, bleed the player dry, is not a good way to run business; its alternative way to give finger while wearing suit. Luckily, Goddess of Genesis had no such case; just poorly implementation of economy and lack of gameplay engagement. To add a little salt to my skin, is i pre-register on this game since it look promising. And it did. The gameplay is working well, the character isn't just there to be pretty, and every promised visual in screenshot is accurate is deliver. Its just one mishandling that cause the end of this game journey.

 

Its sad to see decent stuff goes down the drain and not in good way...but...hey....

"At least we have fun at some point. That make it count right? It was great experience regardless"

Elena, shutting off~

[Balthier]

Your reviews are actually VERY informative. Like better than a lot of magazines.

[Elena Ichinomiya]

Thinking back again, i used to play many games up until ending. Be it RPG, action, adventure, platforming, even fighting...yeah you don't believe that but back then, fighting game has in-depth story and well executed than what we had to day with cheap static image or one-stage fight. Anyway, of all game i ever played and won over, i notice that i have no single horror game reach completion. Not even RE or Silent Hill. That is until 2008, it all change. It was spooky experience and even though the game i pick was most docile of the series, it still manage to latch onto my memory as the most best horror experience, and the first horror game i ever manage to play until the end. Sitting in my room, playing in the dark, and i got myself...

"Here's the lullaby to close your eyes...it was always you that i despise...i don't feel enough for you to cry...here's the lullaby to close your eyes...goodbye....goodbye..."

What Is This?
Silent Hill 4 is the 4th installment of of the Silent Hill series where it put yourself in Henry shoes, a guy who live in apartment 302 which happen to have a history back in the day. The game was made by the rightful member of Team Silent which already working on every single series from Silent Hill 1 up to Origin before it was disbanded when Homecoming project come to fruition. The game feature the key genre of psychological horror which is always been popular thing in Silent Hill fans as this game really implore you to keep your heads on survival rather than make a one quick stop to fight every enemy in front of you. It is also noted that Silent Hill 4 are the first in installment that doesn't feature infinite slot of inventory like its predecessor, a key feature that become a meme as you can brought up hundred of handgun bullet, steel pipe, golf club, samurai sword, knife, chainsaw, in your pocket. 

Let's break down the inventory first since i might forget this part. If you ever play at least SH2, you'll notice you can bring everything include key item in your pocket which might make your trip less hazard as you can hoard every bullet without worry. And keep in mind, Silent hill (prior to Homecoming) don't require you to fight every single time as you can waltz pass them no problem except certain enemy and if you going for certain ending. Yes, this game might sounds like a breeze since it has infinite inventory slot and all but it won't save you from...RIDDLE!

Now now hold your horses and strap your brain tight inside your skull. Lucky for you, Team Silent seems to aware that not everybody has big brain which is why there's option of Riddle Level when you start new game. This feature is welcoming one since people sometime just into the game lore without make fuss of unnecessary hold up. And no, the game didn't pulling back on the riddle in every level. In Silent Hill 2, some riddle would solve by itself if you pick easy mode or give a dead giveaway answer. And when you pick hard, the game not just being cryptic, but also change the riddle as a whole, creating different puzzle for you to solve. Here's one example in SH4 at stage of Water Prison where you were required to rotate the tower floor to align room with bloody bed to a straight line.

Quote

Easy/Normal Difficulty

This place continues to deteriorate.
The doors to a number of cells no longer
open. As a result, the kids inside can no
longer go outside. But the less they
know about that, the better.

I can't open the doors, but from this
room, I can watch them get more and
more emaciated each day. With no food
and never showering themselves, they
turn into smelly little grey lumps in
there.

Following the suggestion of an engineer,
we've disposed of the corpses by
digging a hole below the cells. Since each
floor of this building can be rotated
independently, we can dispose of the
bodies without the others noticing by
aligning each cell with a body in it
vertically.

P.S.
Chief,
I bet you're just dying to see the
interrogation room behind the kitchen.
I understand your feelings, but have
you noticed?

There are three rooms with bloody
beds. One is on the 1st floor, one is on
the 2nd floor, and one is on the
3rd floor. If you line those three rooms
up, then it's "bingo."

Hard Difficulty

I'm sleepy...

See the contrast difference on their hint note? Lucky for you SH4 riddle answer won't change even if the level was set to hard. In SH2 however, the whole riddle change include their hint which make it challenging. But if such riddle like this confuse you enough, i suggest you to don't bother to try on hard level unless you ready to see spoiler when looking for answer on internet. 

It is also noted that the game didn't set in Silent Hill right off the bat. It start in the town called South Ashfield which is not part of any city in Silent Hill. The reason why our protagonist was dragged to Silent Hill in the first place is because he become part of 21 sacrifice which is numbered by the room of the apartment. Henry happen to be the 21 aka the last victim and he had to fight his way to survive but also seek the answer behind the madness. Sacrifice might be oversaturated theme but Silent Hill make it work because they put a lore behind it in the strange but logical conclusion. As you might expect, Silent Hill always known to put a "manifestation" term in the game. Silent Hill 4 theme by the book is "Mother" and "Birth". The apartment is the "mother" manifestation and the room is...ahem...the "womb" that give birth. I know, its nonsense by any standard but i see the point somehow.

The apartment itself is a silent witness of persecution of one family that being chased by a cult. The room where Henry live in happen to be that very place where the family live in. It is also noted that the family vanished into thin air leaving a newborn child, complete with umbilical cord still attached. That child later on put into "orphanage", mind the quotation, only to learn a cult about the "Birth" manifestation. The boy, who only remember that he's born without parent and inside the room, take the lesson seriously, hoping that the cult teaching could bring his mother back. Twisted since young, he develop the thought that the very room where he's abandoned...is his mother who give birth to him. Walter Sullivan. This is where the twist and turn come to knock into the fanbase as the name Walter was mentioned in SH2 dumped magazine and tell us that the man named Walter Sullivan was found dead by suicide with a spoon stabbed into his artery (neck area in case you wondering).

Quote

Victim Name: Walter Sullivan

Occupation: Unknown
Sex/Feature: Middle aged white male
Height/Weight: 190 cm, 84 kg
Hobby: Unknown
Other: Unknowm
Theme of Murder: Assumption
Method of Murder: Suicide - used spoon to sever carotid artery
Murder Location: Prison cell in Silent Hill
Item Left Behind: Spoon

Everything is unknown. Even the dead body has not been found so it may be inappropriate to call it John Doe, however, it is true that there is a victim. He is considered to be able to perform the "Assumption Ceremony" using a scripture, white chrism, obsidian goblet, and ten hearts. They said the one who can perform the assumption ceremony is the one who was raised by George Rosten. But all details are uncertain.

It was four years ago that they discovered the body with "12/21" carved into it. Right away I had this terrible feeling and couldn't stop shaking. The victim had been murdered six months earlier, but Walter had been dead for seven years, having committed suicide three years before the murder.

The police think it's a copycat crime and are calling it the Sullivan Case Round Two. But something about it bothered me...

How can a dead man come to life, butchering apartment resident is a big question mark. But it didn't leave us on the loop thankfully. It was later found that the Walter himself was manifestation of son looking for his mother. And even in death, he still want to complete the ritual. In real world, he can't be seen. In Silent Hill, he's appear but as the manifestation, not real Walter.

Spoiler

Because his actual dead body can be found later in the game right behind the wall of the room 302

Companion
SH4 also include the companion feature but unlike SH2 did with Maria, SH4 decide that your companion not only just able to fight, but also determine your ending depend on how much damage she sustain. Oh, her name is Eileen by the way. If she get way too injured in the game, you might find it hard to get a good ending because in final boss, she'll walk into death trap faster compared when you keep an eye on her well-being. If its not unsettling enough, she was tagged as victim codenamed "Mother". Now you know why her well being is detrimental for your ending. Think of it like letting a pregnant mother got beaten up which result in unsavory outcome. In this case, letting her get beat up too much, she will give finger at your effort and kill herself to give you worst ending.

The thing is, your encounter with her might get a little bit pervy by mean of peek through a peeking hole on the wall. No, nothing explicit will shown of course. But make no mistake, the hole where you peek on her is also a "manifestation" of a child seeing the world outside once they were out from the womb and see their mother for first time which unfortunately or ironically land on Eileen which hold the tag "mother" code...bear with me, you'll see many words birthing and womb in this post. 

In Silent Hill, Stomp Is Powerful...Not
Unlike the predecessor release, SH4 doesn't require much stomping except to a dog or monstrous creature. The thing is, i notice that not many enemy require much stomping as you probably waltz through without problem. Unless they get in the way. And keep in mind though, not every creature can be killed as there's certain enemy that will persist on living to chase the crap out of you. The Ghost.

"As the first horror game i played, i never expect to be faced with immortal, supposed to be, small fry enemy. Guess Team Silent had enough with us joking about feet is powerful weapon" -Elena

While the name suggest they're a phantom that can hurt you, its somewhat right. They float, they moan, they hit you, but they also can't be killed to some extent. This is another key feature of SH4 where not every enemy can't be put down and stomped like other enemies. And no, this game don't hold back punch. You'll meet them just as quick on the first stage. Believe me when i said i'm panic beyond hell to get rid of this thing before decide to bail whenever i see them. Turn out that was the strategy. They're slow but they can hurt you just because you were too close. It was until later in the game that you can put down the ghost...but not for good either. There's one item in shape of sword which you can use to nail the ghost in place. The item however, is limited so if you think you're done with the scouring the area, go back and take the sword, then run like hell before they got up. Believe me, you will find the sword useful to nail certain lady who drag herself on the floor...

To say that this is not feel like silent hill at all might not be uncommon. This game really limit your survivability. Back then, you can hoard much handgun bullet but in SH4, the slot limitation mean that you can only stock up so much...because the item number isn't stacked anymore so you have to be wise on managing your inventory. Come to think of it, Resident Evil been doing this so perhaps they try to implement it on this installment but for some reason they roll back again to classic stack up on Origin...and goes back again on Homecoming. Anyway, i personally don't feel burdened with the limitation because thankfully, it was back up with storage so you don't need to feel wasted or ignore any item you find.

While the enemy isn't as grand as RE Nemesis or Wesker, SH4 might be some rare case as the final boss wasn't monstrous thing but rather a guy with handgun and steel pipe. But make no mistake, his attack is way painful when hit. If that doesn't give you headache, he would haunt you on 2nd visit of the stage and no, that guy is not joking around. He'll chase you down, laugh at you, and put a hole on you. Luckily, you can shut him up temporarily but not for long. Talk about dedication!

Tell Their World
While zombie and guns isn't Silent Hill thing, they made it up with the "other side". In SH4, you probably didn't thrown into other side as much as its predecessor up until Apartment 2nd visit. Since i play this one before SH2, i think i understand why people don't seems fond about SH4 world by design. The thing is...that's the idea. As you can see on the title, it said "The room". You might miss it but you probably notice how many times you enter a door compared to other installment. The developer intent to make the game pretty much squared off world to imply that you can't help but feel like being locked inside even though you're outside. It is also noted that you might don't find this comfortable as the game also shown many place that would trigger your claustrophobic issue as you always start off crawling into a hole...yes, its another manifestation of "birthing".

The stage in SH4 might not as eerie as the SH2 forest and town or SH3 amusement park but it has its own charm that even in urban area, it still possible to make it eerie as it is. Empty building, abandoned station, abandoned cabin in the wood, dim apartment, every common thing you always see in your daily life can turn into perfect horror setup and that's what SH4 try to deliver. And let's not forget the Hospital, everybody love hospital...until you find ape sounding monster in it and burping monster with golf stick!

How It Goes?
As expected from the well acclaimed title managed by people who know what they doing, the game doing alright. In my experience, there's no glitch, bug, stuck from happening. Since its an old game, you might feel difficult to see the surrounding so i suggest you to get the PC version since its refined although some feature were missing.

As for the control, it use the semi-tank control but its easy to get used to it. Thankfully the game has auto-aim when you enter fighting stance so you only need to focus on dodge and put some distance. After all, this isn't action oriented game. To make sure you don't miss a thing, i highly recommend to inspect anything that your character look on to. Some time at certain part of the game, Henry head will look around the point of interest. It would either a clue, item, or even enemy off screen.

The thing that i don't like at certain part is how dark some stage can get. Keep in mind i play the game at the era where PAL TV still a thing. Yeah, that big butt TV that need to be knocked three times to get it on. I miss those good day because technology is so durable you can hit it three time to get it fixed. Plasma TV...pah! Anyway, this issue might be encountered on PS2 version but when i replay the PC version, its not that bad as some area has their lightning fixed so get your hand on that one if possible.

Move on to my personal focus, the character and story, i would say the character were decent although some time Henry make me shake my head. You're locked down by unknown from inside, and his reaction is a simple "what the hell". If i were him, i swear to god i lock myself on another room with a knife. But that trope aside, everyone has their own upbringing and has more character than the previous installment since not much people are encountered there. In SH4, you'll meet various character...that will be butchered real soon but not after leaving you an impression. There's this dude who scared the heck out of his gut, but instead of running in terror, he want chocolate milk...guess i should give it a try drinking milk on eerie place, maybe it taste different. The villain, Walter, is subtly evil and it shows. He's the typical silent guy who sit at the back row in class but has guns in his bag. He didn't say he gonna kill you, he just smack you dead without much ABCD thrown. Now that's the fine staple every villain should learn; less bitching, just kill the hero ASAP.

Speaking of character, let's talk about your companion and neighbor Eileen. She's pretty much like Henry but talkative at some point and assess the situation accordingly instead just "What the hell" at everything like Henry did. In my playthrough, she seems able to lift her own weight. She's slow thanks to her injury but won't lag you behind unless you sprint off. Unlike Maria, she tag with you most of the time until before final battle. Thankfully, she don't make fuss over every small detail and developer didn't decide to put much commentary for her VA because it would kill the eerie atmosphere the game had. Also, as companion, she can also fight. Her AI seems designed to ONLY fight if you initiate it, or taking damage. So if you have no agenda to fight every dog on the way, she would leave them alone too. But keep in mind that she can get hurt also and the only way to heal her is using a candle you find along the way...now let's not get kinky, we talk about possessed woman here...

Something To Mention...

1. You can tell how much injured Eileen is if she stutter when talk or speaking some foreign language out of blue. She only speak in cutscene and when read the encryption written on the wall or woods. The number on her exposed back will also more clearer to see if she got injured way too much.
2. One of the ghost prefer walk than float. But it can teleport the least you expect it
3. If you want to get rid the ghost for entire stage, stab them with sword and leave them be. Although some ghost are not worth the trouble as you'll find even more bigger issue later on
4. Walter Sullivan character design strikingly look like Curt Cobain
5. Jasper Gein actually inspired from the serial murder Ed Gein. In SH2, there's also hint of Ed Gein referred as Eric Gein
6. The manifestation of the "Twin" is actually Miriam and Billy Locane mentioned in SH2 who were brutally murdered by Walter. Strange thing is they were mentioned in manual that they both murdered at the same place at the same time in SH2 but in SH4, they were murdered in different location. Billy found dead on the woods, while Miriam is on the street.
7. There's this unused audio in the game file that has high pitch voice closely resemblance of a child in pain. It is later found this audio was supposed to be used for the "twin" when they get damaged but the dev decide to remove it because it cause disturbing imagery to player that they just hit a children. JP only.
8. Some EU PS2 version of the game, has the blood volume reduced
9. Ape patient can steal your weapon and used it against you
10. The Doll you pick from Walter is a trap. You'll know when you put it in your storage unless you play on PC version
11. Some of the Haunting are missing in the PC version. Namely crack on the wall, ghost on the laundry, and bloody couch
12. The apartment superintendent name has Sunderland as last name. It is confirmed that he is indeed father of James Sunderland, the protagonist of SH2 as he claim that his son never got back from his trip to silent hill to see his wife, which mean the water ending in SH2 is the canon ending for James
13. SH4 don't have UFO ending

The Experience
I admit, i use walkthrough almost entirely. And no, i don't use Gamefaq scribble to tell what should i do. I watch Youtube playthrough. Yes, in 2008 when Youtube still know what is creativity and community meant. Why i bother buffer such thing you ask? Well i wasn't exactly good in English back then. I don't even know what Faucet actually mean. So yeah, i'm hopeless.

There's nothing bad i can say about this. Not saying this game is perfect but this game just fit my taste for horror game. Unlike those discount horror Evil Within. Psychological horror my arse, if shooting bullet still save your skin, that's not horror, that's survivor genre! The intro show promise, next phase later, i focus more on sneaking and shooting and skip over the tripwire...where's the horror dang it! Riddled the game with cheap death is NOT psychological horror but plain PTSD!

Anyway, while this game is good in my book, i might recommend SH2 and PT (if you find it). Not saying i'm being double standard here but SH4 might not be the best thing to introduce to anyone who want to try psychological horror genre include SH3 and Origins. I would say they should play SH4 as the later case since SH3 might overwhelm them with numerous enemy and cryptic story that would put them in confusion unless they learn the game lore. SH2, 4, Downpour and PT doesn't have involvement with the Valtiel cult and Allessa Gillespie death which is why the cult element wasn't that strong compared to SH1, 3, and Origins. Think of it like Megaten and Persona. But with steel pipe.

I manage to reach the good end somehow even though i'm sure Eileen got herself beaten up and i didn't heal her. I mean, duh! Who knows if the only method to heal her is using candle! Keep in mind the candle is important item that you can't abuse since its limited in number, though not as scarce as the sword.

In case you play SH4 by chance...say hello to that big greedy worm, tell them Elena still bitter wasting bullet on you...you don't wanna know its real name. You just don't...

Spoiler

umbilical cord...

I think i already write long enough. Maybe the next post would be my experience in the game. It would be one hell of post if i write it now and i might end up forgot some detail which is a let down. There's something need to be said about this one and surely for a size of the release that's more subtle in horror than the rest, it still get me to this day...

"I thought it was two floating head rooted on the tree. I thought to myself sod it, probably an eye illusion trick. Until i hear a grunt and cries that is. I turn my skip into full sprint right off the bat, never bother to look back. I'm curious to see what was that. But i'm still bed wetter at the time. Strange though, the trailer of the game shown that they let out sharp baby cry. In the game, it isn't. But its better that way. I don't think using child voice when being axed would sit well with anybody but Team Silent themselves..."

Elena, shutting off~

[Elena Ichinomiya]

Well i think i'm gonna disappoint you who expect me to write what i experience in Silent Hill 4. I do try it but turn out making "Let's Play" in words is pretty much tiring like playing RTS game for 4 matches. And no, i won't waste a good opportunity to talk about something that doesn't sit well with me. So i'm sorry to say that i'm gonna skip that part and talk about some other game. I did remind you that i play SH2, right? So let's talk about that! The one masterpiece installment in the series! And yes, this i what happen when people got their mind together and Konami didn't add "fuck" in their company name!

...

...

...

...

...

*cough*

*ahem*

"How on earth you lose that final code! Don't you learn anything from what happen to ALIEN COLONIAL MARINES!?"

What is this?
Right, this very thing is one heck piece of work of how to NOT port your game and underestimate something called optimization. SHHDC (TL;DR) is a collection of SH games mainly SH2 and SH3 in one package. It is common for publisher to package their old games into one just so they can put the right to slap AAA price without being squinted at. A fair deal i guess seeing its not just one but two ported game into HD which is nice for those who want to wait for Silent Hill 9...which will never come at all at this point. The collection boast the HD support and some adjustment but didn't stray from its original look, hence why i deem this as mere port, not remaster of sort.

Unfortunately, i won't talk how wonky SH3 look since i don't play that one much compared to the SH2. So SH3, consider yourself lucky...

Back then when this collection released, Konami still held some dignity so fans are thrilled to enjoy the classic with widescreen support while rumor about SH9 still in the air. It's just that what fans didn't foresee is how Konami messed up so bad, they lose control over their own IP. Not by selling it, no. But by releasing the game to some 3rd party developer who clearly need time to get used to Silent Engine and obviously some extra time to optimize the game. But Konami decide to flaunt that and think fans won't notice...

They also underestimate fans that the absence of SH1 or SH4 will slip by without dumpster fire going. I personally get it why SH1 isn't included seeing how outdated the game is and probably need huge work to port/emulate that. And SH4 probably doesn't included because that series is an experiment by developer view. But turn out, that' the first thing fans scrutinize. However they held hope that at least the two HD remaster of the game is worth the trouble. They give this release chance. Well, what do you know?

Konami, you real crap on the bone for doing this...

Before i run off my mouth, keep in mind i'm only talk about SH2 compared to SH2HDC

Crash and Burn
The game first glaring issue is how easy it is to crash. No kidding, especially those who play on XBOX will met this problem way too often. I don't know why but Konami seems to have beef with those who play on XBOX. I'll tell you later because that also play the part of this release blunder. And let's not forget that if the game didn't crash, you'll still loomed with the possible infinite loading, leaving you no choice but to restart the game by force exit. What a smooth ride...

The Lag Fiasco
I really don't know what on earth they do to make the game that run smoothly on limited engine that is PS2 got itself clogged so bad on next-gen engine. I know there's some code need to be adjusted when it come to porting game to new engine but by the time of this game release, PS3 and XBOX 360 been around long! And to add more joke, the game would lag if you won achievement. That's some way to say screw you to achievement hunter really.

Silent is Killing me
No, i'm not singing some random song. The game glitch also cause the audio to play whenever it please. I saw it on youtube how clunky the sounds is. Its either choppy, end abruptly, loop too bad, and sometime...no music played at all. Some site also note that sometime, SFX like hitting and getting damage doesn't have sounds. How am i suppose to tell if i already stepped on the cockroach thing!? We need that to tell where they at!

BS Render and Fog issue
Silent hill known for its fog. Put that out, you play harvest moon basically. Silent hill also familiar by playing in the dark...just dark, not pitch black! In case you don't know, there's settings to change how dense the fog is if its too much for you which is available on option in main menu. PS2 and PC had that too. By turning it into mild, the fog that latch on the screen won't linger much though you probably didn't notice since its subtle. I do however prefer how PS2 fog look. And on PC, it doesn't seems to be an issue. But in SH2HDC, the fog...THE FOG!

"WHAT THE FOG IS GOING ON!?"

The Fog...is everywhere! The darkness my old friend also here too!
No, Silent hill wasn't really that obsessive toward the fog usage. When you're inside building, no fog should be there. Yet somehow, SH2HDC seems to forgot that part of the play so if you feel like something feel washout on the screen, probably the fog. Also, i saw on youtube how poor the lightning is even with your flashlight on. Are we playing Silent Hill or Layer of Fear!? Even that game won't put you near blindfolded!

The oscar winning cutscene
To be fair, i don't judge much about the VA here, bot new and old alike. But what get me and somehow not mentioned on the Youtube comparison video, is how the focus seems incorrect. Mainly the usage of blur. I mean, we know when people talk, you focus on the object of interest. But the game not only washout of colors, it put the blur incorrectly to the point it might distract us from the main focus. Where should i laid my eyes upon? The turn off button on my console!?

Loading is so broken, the game going seconds ahead before it was cleared
This is real BS right on my face. Keep in mind seamless gameplay wasn't a thing in PS2 era so going from one room to another with plenty of load screen is pretty much expected especially inside building stage. But what i never expect is how the game just load the next room but the screen still shows the loading screen. Its shown pretty much especially on hospital area where the player would heard James being smacked behind the loading screen which might be problematic especially on stage where you have to backtrack plenty of times.

The patch do exist but...
Only for PS3 release...you heard me, i said ONLY. I don't know what the heck but it seems Konami resignation to this crappy trip is by being picky which is not good way to end any game release. There's rumor about the patch would release later but judged from how much work need to be done, i say they pretty much putting their money up their mouth...and arse. So they cut the loss and move on while dragging their own dumpster fire. XBOX player might have been quit being their fans long before everyone thanks to this. Even though KONAMI compensate them with free games, the damage been done; they're no longer worth a damn for XBOX player.

Before Konami, there was us
If you really want to know a total kick to the shin, there's far more superior SH2, SH3, and SH4 HD remaster on PC before this release appear. Its ironic really, Konami handle these port years ago and doing alright from release of SH2 to SH4. Yet somehow choose to do it from scratch when they can just adjust those release that already exist for PS3. And yes, its on PC. To make it short, this SHHDC itself is nothing but a cash grab for the next-gen console player. And no, this blunder has its own cataclysm which is...

KONAMI lost the final source code!
To put it brief, final source code is like a folder to keep every file together in right order. They're the final lock that would put the game in working order. And somehow, Konami lose it. So without that code in the game, its quickly become clear the game is playable, at least until it reach the main menu, but not in the way it should. Fog that appear inside building, cut off audio even though it wasn't removed, bad render causing everyone shadow is pixelated (though SH2 PC shadow is also pixelated, but that because they port it from PS2 old model). It work sure, but its like what happen to Fallout 76(9) or the latest blunder is Cyberpunk-ass 2077 although their issue is different, the lack source code would make the game not potentially bad; but potentially worse! And that's what happen here in SHHDC!

This is screwed beyond believe! Its not like Silent Hill IP was sold to other publisher which cause the lost of final source code, it still in Konami hands! And they somehow lose it!? I understand if they were sold to, let's say UBISOFT, i bet everyone would let it slip by since UBISOFT isn't the one who make the code and might accuse KONAMI for leaving some vital information. But no! Konami still held the IP up until now and somehow losing the final source code! How irresponsible can you be Cumnami!? No wonder people regard you as being ingrate, you can't even appreciate someone work properly!

 

And...and...

Oh for the love of anything that sounds holy...

"See how scary this font is on horror game? You have 5 seconds to explain before i pull that chainsaw over there..."

Konami...go get some fresh air and don't come back until you know what to do with your IP...please...

Elena shutting off~

[Balthier]

Well, sounds like this one is a pass.

[DragonneRPG Deactivated]

Silent Hill really deserved better. I can't wait for Konami to go bankrupt and have a good, competent developer pick up the franchise. Hell, let Kojima do his reboot with Norman Reedus, I'd be the fuck down for that.

[Elena Ichinomiya]

Its fair to say that every game has their own tool to be made. And a right tool for the job would not only make the result just as planned but also efficient in a way. I'm not exactly tech savvy but even i take note how good some gaming engine are and their capability to hold up some game to work as intended. And it doesn't stop there either. Some game company even fund the research for their own gaming engine just so the developer team has their very own tool for the job without 3rd party involvement. We can name a few like BioWare Bio-engine, DICE Frostbite engine, Unreal Engine that used in plenty of games as it is today, Unity Engine which is popular among indie developer. Even KONAMI used to have FOX Engine which is used not just for Silent Hill and Castlevania, but also PES...until they discontinue of its use in 2020 in favor for Unreal Engine since FOX is outdated because no developer want to update the engine. Who's fault was that?

"Ahh~ RPG Maker with To The Moon release. Havok for their Company Of Heroes. Frostbite in Battlefield 4 and beyond. RTX On/Off meme..."

While i admit these engine play big part to make the game beautiful and work as intended, it is also not without a letdown. I won't talk about the pro-cons, but how many developer mishandled it. Just because you had right tool for the job, doesn't mean you can use it for anything. Its like just because you find screwdriver is useful to fix a door, doesn't mean you should feed your baby by using screwdriver instead a spoon. You either cocky, or just had brain damage from last night party.

Anyway, what become of my concern is how even a big game company screwed by their own engine. Let's start off with KONAMI Fox Engine. Fox Engine was used in various game of the said publisher. I never see any game outside KONAMI using this engine so i guess KONAMI held the engine license for their own gain. Made by Hideo himself, this engine manage to bring out many great games include MGSV, Castlevania Lord Of Shadows, PES, and the PT Silent Hill as a whole. Unfortunately the series of event that led the Engineer himself call it quit causing the Fox Engine left unattended, collecting dust as the other gaming engine evolved. No one seems to bother to update the engine which led into discontinuation in 2020, before Konami decide to use Unreal for E-Football 2022 after ditching their own engine...which i'm sorry to say that...

"...i can't really say. Can we fire that guy sitting their arse in that room already!?"

Next one is how EA shove their food on someone else mouth, hoping for the best. EA got themselves a very creative mind developer who always come up with their own gaming engine to cut off the budget using third party engine, as well as make the game work as intended. Frostbite developed by DICE team who make FPS games such as Battlefield seems hold up well in gaming community, boasting the great look and gaming mechanic that bring FPS genre to next level as you can bring down the whole building in multiplayer without much hiccup in performance. Something that need to be addressed by FPS developer these days if they claim themselves as the best there is...*ahem* That's your cue Call of Duty...

And let's not forget the Dragon Age and Mass Effect series which using BioWare very own engine named Bio-Engine which not only manage to bring long running series of success but also great regard in gaming engineering. While its not much compared to Frostbite, it is apparent that the developer know their way around their job with the tool in hands.

Everything goes well until there's one bane come into play. ANTHEM.

Anthem by concept is basically a third person looter-shooter games which might try to catch on Borderland popularity in the said genre. However things really get a bit weird when EA said Bioware gonna develop it instead DICE when we know full well that Bioware are excel in RPG genre instead of full action shooter. Sure Mass Effect is a third person shooter in one aspect but the focus is the leveling and strategizing, not blasting people off and loot whatever the heck it is on the ground. While there might be no problem if EA only shove random idea to Bioware to make-do, they shove Frostbite engine to Bioware who clearly had no clue about how to get around it. Why they didn't let DICE make ANTHEM instead is anybody guess. Keep in mind Bioware has their own engine to get used to and EA give them very wrong tool for the job. It is later found that Bioware claim that Frostbite is complicated to use unless its for FPS games. ANTHEM however, is TPS which demand many things to shows on the screen. Added the fact that there's many full action involved in the game, the developer got themselves burnout thanks to the engine which not gonna work with them who got used to making RPG. As result, the game is barren at release as the rest of the content were held back due to development cycle confusion. Whatever promised down below, its just on paper.

"Here's recipe for development disaster. First ask the wrong developer team to make your game, then ask them using Engine the team don't know about. Seriously, what were they thinking? Those game developer are people, not bunch of magician!"

Had it not for EA shoving wrong engine to BioWare while howling "Bioware Magic!" like a deadbeat goat, one or two feature above would be there at launch!

Congrats EA, you give Frostbite bad name by showing their inferiority with your own hands. And if that's not the issue enough, you also use Frostbite for FIFA, a game that demand physic as the main focus, not beauty. As you can tell by now, Frostbite isn't engine for the job, causing the ball to roll in weird physic and wonky player animation. Who care if Ronaldo has 4k texture in a game that progress in overhead angle anyway!

And another one is Unity. For the record, i know Unity is used mostly in Facebook games and perhaps it was due to the fact that SWF format was too much for heavy stuff which is where Unity come in. I won't mince word here, the game made with such engine tend to be bad. I don't know why but when i see UNITY logo in any game, one picture slip in my mind is laggy gameplay and stuttering framerate. That doesn't sounds good. UNITY itself isn't so bad if it were handled correctly. But some people note that UNITY game take good minutes to load for first time of gameplay. However their asset is said to be low quality compared to Unreal asset store. I can't really blame them since i never made game with UNITY engine anyway. But even my impression toward their engine is mixed. Turn out the engine wasn't as crap as people would exaggerate.

In case you missed it, some of the game made by UNITY is actually good. To name a few...

• Plague Inc.
• Cities In Motion 2
• The Forest
• RUST
• Hearthstone
• Overcooked
• Azur Lane
• Among Us
• Arknight
• GTFO
• Genshin Impact
• Fall Guys
• Gwent
• Hollow Knight

And many more. There's many trademark games even before 2011 and somehow, game developer who make game with this engine always coughing a badly optimized game. Sure there might be issue with gamer gaming rig but those games above can be run in average joe PC to the Master Race PC. Meanwhile people keep going out of their head making game that so badly optimized, you'll clip the ground and fall into oblivion even with the latest engine. With plenty of good example, why this engine take one step forward and ten step backward is beyond my wild guess. Keep in mind this engine isn't as complicated among gaming engineer and cheap at the price to make a less costly and performance demanding games compared to Unreal. Sure Unreal got fair share of wonky shovelware numbnuts but Unity always take the cake. I'm glad the game listed above prove me wrong. Doesn't mean i won't complaint about their asset though!

But thanks to Android existence, Unity find their grace for mobile game developer. Perhaps the game you played right now is running with this very engine. Quite an underdog this one.

And that's all i can say about gaming engine that got mishandled so bad, their potential overshadowed as a mistake. The moral here is, if the tool you used isn't for the job, find another or borrow it. In UNITY case, please follow guideline and don't make the actually good engine become nothing but a discount Garry's Mod.

In case you're interested...

Spoiler

Koikatsu and Honey Select also run with Unity engine!

Elena Shutting Off~

[DragonneRPG Deactivated]

That was a great read, I'm surprised you didn't take this opportunity to step on Bethesda's Gamebryo engine for a quick laugh.

A tiny nitpick, though: the FOX Engine wasn't used for Castlevania, that game ran on the Mercury Engine. FOX was used for PES 2014, then for Metal Gear Solid 5, PT, MEtal Gear survive and pretty much every soccer game until eFootball PES 2021 Season Update.

As for Unreal Engine's popularity, if I remember correctly, it's because Epic Games don't take a cut until a dev's game sells over a certain amount, I'll have to re-check that to be sure. As for Konami leaving the FOX Engine to gather dust, it's probably so they don't have to spend resources on updating it for their little projects. Not sure what they've been developing recently that would make updating the FOX engine worthwhile.

[Elena Ichinomiya]

1 hour ago, DragonneRPG said:

That was a great read, I'm surprised you didn't take this opportunity to step on Bethesda's Gamebryo engine for a quick laugh.

Because i didn't take jab much around Bethesda games (as well as it also pricy) and wasn't sure what to put up as example of the engine blunder. Though the good laugh i had is how come they messed up using engine that basically outdated and been used over and over? I understand if its new engine so people not used to it just yet and resulting in disaster product but no! They still using old engine they should've been familiar with for years and somehow release the product that felt like indie game!

I do play Skyrim at some point but i realize i enjoy the game MOD, but not the ACTUAL game so...yeah, that might be the reason why i don't have much say on their engine.

1 hour ago, DragonneRPG said:

A tiny nitpick, though: the FOX Engine wasn't used for Castlevania, that game ran on the Mercury Engine. 

Oh shoot i forgot about Mercury! Guess i need to hit the book a bit more

1 hour ago, DragonneRPG said:

As for Konami leaving the FOX Engine to gather dust, it's probably so they don't have to spend resources on updating it for their little projects. Not sure what they've been developing recently that would make updating the FOX engine worthwhile.

Well that's what it is; they didn't touch that engine until they realize it cost them later when their engine outdated, only to spend more resource twice the amount by licensing Unreal for the upcoming game. Kinda kill the purpose to conserve the resource ain't it? Last thing i heard about the engine, it was rumored to be outdated so much that it make the game feel like its on PS3 era. Charming.

Fox definitely most flexible engine i seen so far since it didn't cause other hiccup in other genre. From full action MGS to physic demanding PES for example. Even Frostbite got itself shot on the foot when used for any games but Battlefield. But since it fall in Konami hands, god know what the hell they do to that tools. Perhaps they lost the source like they lost SHHDC final source code which i guess its nobody surprise at this point.

[DragonneRPG Deactivated]

Actually they don't have to license Unreal Engine 4, it's free to use, even commercially. they just have to pay a 5% cut to Epic Game for about every 3000$ they make with the games they sell, so it's probably more economical to do this than make a new engine from scratch.

But yeah, in the end, updating FOX probably would be a smarter move but frankly, I don't even know what Konami's up to these days. They seem to focus on pachinko machines these days.

[Elena Ichinomiya]

When i want to beat someone senseless, i want to make sure that i know where to hit. And when i want to beat others with reckless abandon, i want to make sure that i make the most hit. And when i had to take a hit, i want to make sure there's hot turkey or at least chicken leg and wine waiting for me while being chased by angry peasant with toothpick with repetitive warcry. Suffice to say, fighting isn't in my blood but going into riot might get me into more wrong direction. But regardless what happen, we can agreed on that one against many in video games can be pretty much epic or at least in cinematic. However what i'm gonna talk about is what would happen if you dare to thread the unknown that only degrade you to the point everyone would spit on you before saying their hello.

"Experimenting is fine. But butchering characteristic that has been build when the game tradition been repeated over and over, people will ask question"

BEFORE YOU PROCEED! Keep in mind i compare this game to previous installment which is DW4 and DW5.

Dynasty Warriors, a game that at first trying to take the jab at Tekken only to shift direction to beat 'em up genre that take the world by storm for its idea and of course how it bring history of Three Kingdom into play with numerous NPC to slap silly with machette at your own pleasure. Originally a strategy game, KOEI decide to take a stroll on different genre of the game that they tend to for so long but didn't stray too far from its setup. Hence the Dynasty Warrior. Back then it was fighting game, now here they are. The strange thing about this series is how it was different in JP version and global version. Though its not as weird and rage inducing like Kingdom Heart, the series for JP version had their series number reduced by one. So by all mean, if we had DW9 at the moment, in japan, its DW8. The main reason is perhaps KOEI want to make the DW from scratch since they touch a new genre but notice worldwide know this game as DW so changing the title might cause confusion and impact the sales which is why they release first DW beat 'em up as 1st DW for JP, but its 2nd DW for global. See? Not as spiral vile as Kingdom Heart isn't it? Now with a little history and theory out of the way, let me tell you what the hell is this piss poor this flash game is...

What Happen?
So basically i play this game without nothing special. But it was soon turn into ugly turn just as quick when i start the game. For whatever the reason, the game ALWAYS stuck on black screen when i enter the gameplay and the only way for me to skip this issue is playing on windowed mode which is ridiculous considering that my PC at the time already met the average minimum requirement. But here's the kick. Turn out MOST of KOEI games on PC always had beef with black screen or infinite loading (at least until DW7 came into the world). Warrior Orochi Z is notorious for that issue although not everyone. By all mean, i enjoy this game in windowed mode and force myself to be happy with it...keep in mind there's no borderless window mode back then but then again i'm still not happy playing on window mode of any kind.

After that, i play pretty much Musou mode, unlocking character (Yes everyone, i said UNLOCK! Not PURCHASING!) and comes another issues come into play...

The lack of character playable on Musou Mode is very underwhelming at best. It felt like KOEI just got tired in mid-work and decide to throw every tools back to the wardrobe and call it a day. Every character on Musou mode has their own storyline and different from others. I don't expect everyone to be put in on Musou mode because that would take time to develop which i understand. But NOT this bare minimum either! Back then DW always had one linear storyline despite whoever you playing as. Heck, you can even play as Zhen Ji on Yellow Turban and Hu Lao Gate scenario on Musou mode when historically She's not even born yet! So DW 6 individual story approach for each character was welcome but sadly its nothing more than just experimentation. And soon after, i play DW 5 and i shake my head with how immersive that one compared to DW 6. Everyone has their own way through Musou mode. EVERYONE. And yet on DW6, it was dumbed down way too bad...

But no, that's not only the issue. After i finished DW6 and decide to try DW4 and DW5, i admit i missing out way too much...

The Character Distinguish Charm Is Removed. Some Character Also Not Available.
In DW5, that's probably the most complete experience of the installment. Every character there that perhaps considered has less impact on DW 6 was removed. Namely Jiang Wei and Da Qiao. The lack roster seems to be the main issue but turn out that's not the only thing that cause such letdown for me. In DW 5, everyone has their own set of move to tackle the battlefield and even though their weapon was similar, their movement make up for it. Some even straight up strange such as flute and pair of maracas...don't care if its a maces, that thing look like maracas to me! With those varied weapon at disposal, it make each character felt has their own ingenuity which make the distinguishable at some point.

But in DW6, everything shot down to complete lackluster. Everyone saves those that was featured in Musou mode, had their weapon switched to not only unfit their image, but also lazy copy-paste move set. In DW 5, Xiahou Yuan has bow attack in one of his combo and his Musou (or special move if you insist) has him shots an rain of arrows, a nod to his actual historical figure who is an archer in Three Kingdom novel. But in DW 6, he lost that arrow in exchang for a meat cleaver. And most contrast is perhaps Zhang He which he had claws since DW4, only to be replaced with a spear with piss poor move set. And no, they don't have distinguishable move set. Like i mention, their move are similar. Find anyone with similar weapon in each nation, i would bet you'll feel how disappointed i am when i notice Cao Pi has similar move set like Yuan Shao. Pathetic! He said. The only distinguishable looking unit in non-musou roster list is perhaps Xiao Qiao who retain her fan as weapon which is nice. I bet i would flip even more if they give her a freaking spear or whip because there would be protester outside KOEI studio if they did that. The most thing i find it annoying would be an bow user. Sun Shang Xiang for example, has two rings as weapon and use her bow only for specific combo like Xiahou Yuan did ind DW5 which is nice addition in case the bow attack didn't work. But in DW6, she stuck with bow only. We know how bad idea it is to shot arrow toward hundreds of men waiting to...oh goodness that might be hot scenario- Wait! I mean...

Bow only hit one person unless you reach certain number of hit. When you're in a pinch, bow user literally would give you one hell of an escape as there's little to no mean to push them back. I'm not kidding, i play at hard level at most but god forbid i lower to easy when i had to use bow character. Maybe i'm just bad or developer implement it poorly is anyone guess. But keep in mind that the character with bow only been there since Samurai Warriors 2 which is long been released before DW6 in which Ina-Hime take those weapon as main. But the reason why Ina-hime work where Sun Shang Xiang isn't is SW2 at least enemy won't huddle up pretty much number of soldier on your face right off the bat thanks to tech limitation whereas DW 6 hold nothing back and would throw dozen if not hundreds of soldier eager to ram their spear into...oh my...

Anyway~

Lack Extra Feature
Back then it is common to find feature like big head mode for example as a jab for player who want to find an experience worth to talk about. In DW4, you can create your own warrior which is pretty neat and welcoming. Not to mention some weapon are only for custom-made character. In DW5, in addition to challenge, there's this one feature that i still remember to this day and wonder why this is not a thing to be considered as extra feature by other game. The theater mode. No, its not a replay feature to see a cutscene. Its a feature where you can change the game intro character into someone else. Tired seeing the poster boy Zhao Yun at intro? Then change him into Dian Wei! Wanna make Liu Bei look like main villain? Replace Cao Cao with him! Wanna make epic housewife battle? Change Dian Wei and Tsu Zhu into Zhen Ji and Yue Ying! That feature might be silly but that's some nice addition that people can get absorbed when they done with beating people up while they can only stare. Similar to Tekken Bowling actually. Its nice feature to make serious character silly and vice versa.

In DW6, i don't find much feature appealing and that's when i'm safe to say that i'm done with DW6. The game is alright, it just work unlike Fallout 76. But the lack of feature and memorable charm that make DW5 great somehow lose it real quick on DW6. Keep in mind this game is the first entry of the series in the years of PS3 and XBOX 360 so it baffle me what were they thinking for not abusing the system to the fullest and only give us half-baked experience that...i might say it even less half-baked either. 

Everything Considered
This game is decent. Not good or bad. But if you want proper installment of this series, stick to DW5, 7, and 8 Empires. 7 was regarded as great comeback to mend KOEI mistake in DW6 as fans deem it as near as fun as DW5. Probably the cause of lack perfection is DLC presence but at least it just cosmetic...back then. DW9, you're so full of-

Anyway, this is probably the starting point where KOEI addressed the issue they always had on PC port include black screen and perhaps using DW 6 as experiment might not been all bad. But still, they had to take that hit rather bitterly since fans don't even recognize this release due to how downplayed the game content was. But hey, at least the series goes...oh screw it, avoid DW9, that thing is a bane for your wallet. I rather buy DOA 6...oh really, i had to spent $2756 dollars for full experience? What am i, investor!?

Elena, Shutting Off~

[DragonneRPG Deactivated]

Japanese games had a rough time on PC, especially KOEI's, as they never seemed to care much about PC games because PCs weren't as popular in Japan as consoles. Thankfully, they're putting a little more care in their PC ports nowadays, even if it doesn't really compare to more PC ports.

I played a lot of DW6 back on the PS2 and I enjoyed it despite the simplistic Renbu system. It surely isn't a high point in the series but it's a fine time-waster.