halberdman

Full of heart and obviously a labor of love for the developers, Sunrider will blow you away if you keep in mind the scope of the project. Don't expect AAA levels of optimization, detail, or effects, but what is present is highly polished. The soundtrack is refreshingly quite good, and the visuals manage to do quite well given that the game is built on Ren'Py. The combat system is enjoyable and quite challenging but can be modified with a difficulty slider if you're just wanting to blaze through the story or if you want an additional challenge (and are a masochist) to top off the package. A hybrid VN/TBS, anyone who has played games such as Utawarerumono, Tears to Tiara, Galaxy Angel, or any of the Sakura Taisen games will recognize the layout quickly. The majority of the game is an ADV style visual novel, with text and sprites on a background to present the events occurring in the game universe with frequent and sometimes quite nuanced decisions presented to the player. Occasionally, the game will drop out to a tactical, turn based grid strategy game reminiscent of Final Fantasy Tactics or any of its many spinoffs in which the titular Sunrider and its complement of giant mecha (all female pilots of course) battle their way through various hazards while attempting to halt the expansion of a despotic interstellar regime. As Strunk64 pointed out in his review, the characters contain common tropes and the story is based on a pretty common idea, but the devs have managed to make the characters sympathetic and the story deeper than you might think at first glance. I've played nearly every major visual novel in the English language, and I was still surprised by how much I came to care about the characters and story even in the beta phase of the first entry to the trilogy. On the negative side, and really the only thing preventing me from giving this a better score, is a lack of optimization. Ren'Py is not really designed to handle the level of complex content that Sunrider presents, and as such the game suffers from slowdowns, incorrectly displayed combat data, and occasional trigger failures (allies fail to spawn for example) during scripted events. It's certainly not show-stopping, but it will frustrate you to have to wait out the (very long) enemy turn before you can load a save or to fire a shot with "100%" hit chance only to find out that it actually had a 12% hit chance. As an added bonus, the developers have published 100% of the project to their Git at the time of this review, and all the content is open-source and available for modding, adjusting, or expanding if you want to dig into the code. Also worth mentioning is that this game contains NSFW content, though nothing so extreme as H scenes, and you should approach it with the understanding that there will be nude scenes and suggestive content. tl:dr It's free, it's open source, it's surprisingly good. Get it.

Dark Souls 2(DkS2) is an Action Game/RPG that relies on an extreme difficulty curve and respawn mechanic to provide the action with a special spice that you don't see in many games. Is it harder than Demon's Souls(DS) or Dark Souls(DkS)? I say, 'who cares?' A lot of arguments devolve into comparisons, but I found Dark Souls 2 to be a unique beast when compared to its predecessors. I could write a novel on Dark Souls, and a sequel on Dark Souls 2, but in the interest of brevity I will keep this short. New weapon movesets, new death system, new interactive scenery, new stats system, new damage system, it's hard to find a part of DkS2 that hasn't been taken down to scratch and reworked since DkS. This is both good and bad, as many new problems surface (estus healing power, weapon durability drop) and some old ones return completely unaddressed (Lag-stabs, curving arrows, enemy weapons phase through walls) to menace the intrepid soul who dares play this game. The fixed problems are possibly outnumbered by the new ones, but the game still manages to feel highly polished and playable almost all the time. Even with that, and the occasional facepalm over dated textures or stupid AI, DkS2 is a gem and you should play it right now. You will not find another game like it anywhere in the market (except DS and DkS obviously) and it gets so many things just right that you will find yourself **** in for hours on end. The innovative multiplayer system simultaneously makes you hate, love, envy, and pity every other player in the game, and you will often end up seeing the same person multiple times as they advance in tandem with you. Some of the most rewarding multiplayer experiences I've ever had have came as a result of summoning some random person four or five times and the two of us getting to trust and know each other without ever talking(the game has no voice or text chat). Many negative reviews are citing terrible controls, bad console port, etc. And yes, this is a console port and yes, it does pretty much require a controller to play. The controller is so much more intuitive for the combat system that mouse and keyboard really doesn't have an opportunity to shine. If you are a PC purist who can't stand the idea of a console game on your shiny rig or can't pick up a 360 controller without going into apoplectic rage, you will not be able to get the most out of DkS2 and should probably go play Starcraft 2 or something. Pros: -death by lava, spider, fall, fire, poison, giant club, sickle, spear, sword, rocks, tree, ladder, teeth, water, chariot, etc. -unique, engrossing gameplay -clever presence/absence of music makes the soundtrack stand out when it is present -great voice acting makes the NPCs come to life (until you kill them) -beautiful graphics most of the time -fantastic multiplayer -New game+ adds extensive replayability Cons: -death by lava, spider, fall, fire, poison, giant club, sickle, spear, sword, rocks, tree, ladder, teeth, water, chariot, etc. -occasional graphics snafus -AI is dumb as a post stuck in another post stuck in a lobotomized hamster -lag in multiplayer, therefore tears ahead -message system combined with invasions allows trolls and griefers free reign -boss fights are a letdown compared to previous entries, with a few exceptions

A surprisingly enjoyable sword combat game. The combat is fast paced and just manages to miss being frantic but definitely gets me on the edge of my seat with adrenaline pumping. It feels vaguely like a fighting game (a la Soul Calibur or Tekken) in a multiplayer context. If you like skill-based play with lots of room for advancement as you learn, I highly recommend it. On the other hand, if you prefer more thoughtful, slow paced games, you might want to look elsewhere. Pros: -excellent tactical combat system -great graphics -reasonable price point -courteous fanbase (so far) -skill-based rather than money-based success Cons: -Occasional lag leads to strange teleport-grabs or instant deaths -level design is a little frustrating, often spawning you FAR from the action in a game where the action is everything -tutorial does not cover some basic maneuvers (ctrl for dodge/wallrun, shift for shuffle step, b for bow, etc)