Agarest: Generations of War
Since this is currently my longest played games on Steam and maybe you won’t find a person with a longer hours count in the review section, I think I am kind of obligated to give this game a bit of review. The recommend vs not recommended system on Steam is fundamentally flawed. I would only point out what kind of games this is, and you decide for yourself whether you like it or not.
1. This is the type of “Wikia for the win” game. Don’t let my hours count fool you. I spent at least 50+ hours on researching for all the tricks, crafting and story route on Wikia. And this is very typical of your old-school RPG or JRPG in general. You need to do homework, you need to do research. The hours you spent outside the game is MUCH MUCH more important than your gaming hours. If you are the kind of person who just go and immerse yourself in the game world and you don’t care much about research game mechanics, this is bad for you.
– Real player with 688.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Anime Turn-Based Games.
After 213 hours and reaching the “normal” ending, it’s time for a review. To start with, it wasn’t a perfect experience. The game is rough around the edges and you should only buy it if you enjoy grinding a lot. There’s plenty of it. Endless hours of mandatory leveling and gathering materials. But Agarest has enough redeeming traits to make up for this.
Short version
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fully voiced
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lots of fan service
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huge selection of characters
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nice character animations and good music
– Real player with 371.3 hrs in game
Grey Heritage: Faded Vision
Join Leon Beaumont’s journey through the land of Astrea. Despite being of nobility, Leon believes in giving the common people power to make political decisions. Facing against the Estore Empire is a daunting task. He is clearly outnumbered and lacking in resources. Help Leon achieve his vision in freeing his people from oppression.
OBJECTIVES
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Rout (Kill All Enemies)
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Defend (Survive X amount of turns)
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Escape (Reach a destination with all of your soldiers.)
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And much more!
FEATURES
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If you find a Save Orb, you’re allowed to save mid-progress.
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Mount/Dismount based on being Indoor/Outdoor.
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Over 10 unique characters with a wide variety of classes, weapons, and skills
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Created as a passion project from a lover of the genre!
Read More: Best Anime Party-Based RPG Games.
Nilspace
Read More: Best Anime Time Management Games.
Moekuri: Adorable + Tactical SRPG
Definitely true to its namesake, Moekuri is perhaps even more tactical than it is adorable. It’s plenty adorable, there’s just a hella large variety of characters and strategies to implement in battle. The protagonist has a choice of ten classes, from the typical Warrior-Ranger-Mage trio to all sorts of game mechanic specialists, everyone you meet in Story Mode can be unlocked some of whom have their own unique classes, and there’s 150+ creatures to capture and summon as little combat soldiers.
– Real player with 157.5 hrs in game
UPDATE: Yes, I’ve actually played 150 hours of this, and I still love it.
The first thing I want to say is that I really wish there was a full artbook thing, with all the portrait and chibi/sprite art able to be viewed and enjoyed full-screen. That’s something I’d pay extra for, especially if it was like Rabi-Ribi’s, with the ability to choose the expressions, background, etc. for the characters where that was possible (i.e. Masters). Anyways, now that I’ve said that, the review for those interested. (TL;DR at the bottom, though it isn’t really that long…)
– Real player with 148.8 hrs in game
Eiyu*Senki Gold – A New Conquest
Challenges became more varied compared to Eiyu*Senki: there are battles where you move forward (“scrolling” battlefield to reach new enemies), there are more optional challenges like Shambala, debuffs are more varied, you get one ancient hero from the start and bonus troops at the end of the battle now depend on factors other than speed. But all of this suffers from one huge problem: you don’t know what kind of challenge it is until after you chose units for the event, went through event dialogue and placed units on the battlefield. You didn’t want to engage in a lengthy scrolling battle without a healer? You absolutely needed someone with Curse or Grudge debuff for this boss? Too bad! The game basically mandates to either save-scum, consult the guide… or use a debugger to give everyone 1000000 troops or something. 6th layer of Shambala is flat-out unbeatable without this extra knowledge you cannot get in-game and a lot of other encounters feel frustrating as you try to power through the challenge with a suboptimal team.
– Real player with 176.7 hrs in game
Playing Monopoly with your waifus
“In this game our brother conquers all the waifu in the world, Bwahahahahaaa!”
“True, but I am our brother official first imouto waifu”
“Me ke aloha, hau’oli honi honi no suru”
“Gawrr gawr! I bite cause taste good”
“Ewwhya! We need more ammo to conquer the world, get more dough and get even more ammo!”
“Baka Billy, f*ck you!”
“This game is only good because I, Marie Antoinette, am in this game!”
“Love overcomes all barriers in this world”
“Bwahahaha! I learned a lot in this game, now I want to put my name in a game too and record my name even more in the story!”
– Real player with 68.2 hrs in game
SD GUNDAM G GENERATION CROSS RAYS
This is a game whose enjoyment comes with several caveats: Do you like gundam (or other giant robot shows)? Do you enjoy oldschool turn based strategy? Can you overlook some rough bits of rough presentation for an otherwise pretty enough experience?
This is a very niche game for fans of the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise. I say that, but it’s geared more towards those who have watched the more modern shows (and shows that the west have more experience with). No Universal Century (barring one special machine); this focuses on Gundam’s Wing, SEED, 00, and Iron Blooded Orphans. Your enjoyment of this game is tired very closely to how much you enjoyed those series.
– Real player with 491.0 hrs in game
Super Deformed Gundam
SD Gundam G Generation is a series of strategy-RPG games that focus on the Gundam. Developed by TOM CREATE and Released by Bandai. It’s long time series since late 90s and still continue to this day. However SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays is special than other because it’s the first in this series that is officially localized outside of Japan and got released worldwide in major platform.
The game is actually very popular much like Super Robot Wars counterpart in Japan, as it’s only game that allow wide customization and ability to use many Gundam in the way beyond imagine. Countless of animations and copious eye candy fanservices, each mobile suit can have unique animations for themselves for each moveset, animation for dodging, animation for making entrance and exit and much more. The story that catches on the glimpse of beauty presented in the series are what make the them great despite the subjective Super Deformed fashion and somewhat straightforward gameplay.
– Real player with 444.3 hrs in game
Clarent Saga: Tactics
This is a tactical rpg that is constantly getting updates that fix issues and improve the quality of the game over time. It is similar to what you would expect from an SRPG studio game in the early game, with two chapters being outright copies of the maps from the sample game SRPG Studio gives you to experiment with. Later on, however, the game grows in quality and becomes an enjoyable experience.
The only serious negative I have is towards the stats in the game. The game doesn’t explain any of them and the only reason why I figured which ones influenced which is because I had a copy of SRPG Studio and played a ton of Fire Emblem.
– Real player with 21.7 hrs in game
(( I was hired by the dev to test the game. ))
( I’ve never had a game like this with such a long gameplay before. This is the first time I’ve played a game of this genre. )
In general, I have not encountered a bug that can break a lot of games or prevent playing. The game is technically very good conditions.
In my first gameplay, I played on Normal+ difficulty. It took me 7 hours to finish the game.
++++++ Pozitives ++++++
– Real player with 20.6 hrs in game
Phantom Brave PC
Phantom Brave is about a little girl and her phantom earning money and living their lives on an island whilst encountering all sorts of characters and an over-arching plot that ties itself together towards the end. In other words, this game follows the “slice-of-life” set-up; here are your characters, here is your setting–watch them live their lives. Its one of those, “this could be an anime” type games, and its introduction of tropes and characters makes it very effective.
The general format is the same as the developer’s Disgaea titles: you get an episode, a cutscene, a map is unlocked to play, a cutscene, another map to play, repeat until the episode ends whereby a new episode proceeds. There are a little close to 21 episodes in the game, so you definitely get your moneys worth. Because the format is pretty simple you always have points where you can save and drop the game off before coming back to it. And I can appreciate that.
– Real player with 210.9 hrs in game
I love this game. Fantastic SRPG right here.
It’s got a nice story, memorable characters, fun and unique gameplay, awesome music, and an all-around nice aesthetic with gorgeous sprites. Phantom Brave is seriously a hidden gem. It’s one of Nippon Ichi’s lesser known games, but it’s a fun and unique experience that people are missing out on. Even though the game’s been released effectively 5 times (on PS2, Wii, PSP, PC, and now Switch), it’s still a pretty obscure title that not many talk about. I highly recommend it! I’ll go more in depth about what I love about it below for if you want to read a longer review.
– Real player with 191.6 hrs in game
The Thorn of Warldia
Story
The Thorn of Warldia follows the adventure of Thorn, after he and his band members were ambushed by the Monarch. The Monarch is the ruler of the Nolk Dynasty and he has decided that Thorn and his band Green Grass has become too big, too dangerous, for his own safety. Thorn is left with no choice but to try and escape, and soon finds out that there are other powers trying to hunt him down. Thorn will encounter new and old friends that will follow him on his adventure across three countries, to fight for freedom.
Features
Encounter many friends and foes in this adventure in an intriguing story that spans over 17 chapters.
Command 8 units that are all unique with their own personalities, skills and strengths, and battle with your enemies in turn-based combat scenarios that will put your tactics to the test. Strengthen your units by gaining combat experience, and by purchasing, looting or even stealing better equipment. Manage your equipment between your units to make the best use of them. When your units have gained enough combat experience, you can promote them to an advanced class that will take them up to a whole new level of power.
Be sure to make use of the weapon triangle (swords, spears and axes), otherwise Thorn and his friends' journey might come to an end. Use every class' strength to destroy your enemies, and keep all of your units alive by making sure the combat stats are on your side in a fight!
This game is for you who loves the games Fire Emblem and Final Fantasy Tactics, and like to challenge your tactical thinking!
Adventurers Guild
Adventurers Guild is a tactical RPG where the player manages an adventurers guild in a dangerous and unpredictable fantasy world.
Gameplay
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Guild Management - is an important part of the game. You can hire new guild members, settle their wages or kick them out.
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Guild Members - each guild member has character traits that affect the gameplay.
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Exploration - explore vast world map where you can find various map objects.
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Quests - accept and complete quests from different towns. Each quest offers a different challenge.
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Battles - engage in turn-based, tactical battles, against many different enemies. Each enemy has its unique abilities.
Features
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Tactical battle system
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Guild management
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All guild members have their own character traits
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Unique recruitment and quests systems
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Interactive map objects
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Character events and map events
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Randomly generated characters
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Randomly generated battlefields
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Many other things
Recruit new members, complete quests, and become the greatest adventurers guild in the Kingdom!