Princess Maker Refine
Tediously fun. for the first game in the series. When i first played it with a friend we made up the game of our daughter’s name and such, we got the best ending for our Elegant child be coming a noble woman. of course we didn’t know how endings works the first time. and the last ending i got for this game is her getting the noble woman Variant two, it all came full circle!
once you get really into it. you fine out what you have to do to get all the other endings. if your looking for a specific ending. Here’s the easy way to do it.
– Real player with 50.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Classic Visual Novel Games.
As a fan of the Princess Maker series and it’s western spiritual successors (Cute Knight, Long Live the Queen), I largely bought this as a curiosity to kill time and hopefully encourage the translation of PM 3-5. That’s where the series gets really interesting. As a piece of gaming history, it is amusing enough but hasn’t aged overly well. If you’re interested in the PM series, Princess Maker 2 is hands down the better place to start.
Gameplay consists of scheduling three classes/work placements for you daughter each month between the ages of 10 - 18. These placements then increase or decrease a selection of stats, with the goal of balancing these and developing your daughter into a successful adult (or not, as the case may be). For example, if you send your daughter off to work as a Hunter expect her Dexterity to rise, but her Glamour to crash. There is also the chance to send your daughter off adventuring in the wilderness, complete with simplistic RPG combat. Unlike PM2 your general success in the various ending seem to be tied to her Reputation as opposed to individual stats.
– Real player with 18.9 hrs in game
GUILTY GEAR
I recommend this game ONLY to people who love Guilty Gear. If you’re just getting into the series, please for the Love of God start with Xrd or Accent Core.
This game is a 100% port of the original Guilty Gear for the PS1, and being a direct port is both it’s greatest strength and flaw. It’s a tough as nails fighter with mechanics that were questionable even during it’s release back in 1998. For example, you have two health bars per round, once one goes away you can just spam your Overdrive move an unlimited amount of times. Testament has a poison mechanic here that he has in other games, but the poison doesn’t stop at the magic pixel, it flat out KO’s you. The dust and instant kill mechanics that are popular in the series work VERY different here. There isn’t a dedicated dust button but there also isn’t a dedicated way to perform them, like pressing both Slash and Heavy Slash worked on X. Some character moves seem to do it on their own (I’ve seen May’s somersault move hit me with a Dust) In every game after this one, an Instant Kill only gave you a round. If you missed your instant kill, you lost your entire super meter and couldn’t instant kill for the rest of the round This game? You press Punch and Kick at the same time, hit the opponent, then if you input hadouken before the victim breaks free, you win the whole fricken match. If your opponent breaks free you can just freely try throwing out your instant kill to win again. Be warned, you can just as easily lose both rounds. This game is the only one in the franchise in which the AI also throws out Instant Kills. You still have your unlockable Justice, Testament and Baiken, however, just like the original release, you can ONLY use them in 2 player VS matches. This game unlike the future installments, does not feature a free battle mode to fight against a CPU opponents and lacks online multiplayer. The game loads very fast to the point where you can barely see the VS Screen with their movelist, thankfully pausing in this game lets you bring up your character’s move list.
– Real player with 23.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Classic Local Multiplayer Games.
Guilty Gear: The Missing Link (Japan) is the very first game in the series that was on the original PlayStation console around 1998/99. Guilty Gear is an anime fighting game that has a more dark atmosphere to it aside from the cartoony art style and heavy metal music. Now I have played this game before and it’s my favorite one of the series, though the other installments I like as well. Guilty Gears is pretty fun to play against CPUs and with a friend. The game does not have the option to change difficulty. The difficulty is adaptive depending what stage you are on. From Stage 1 being the easiest and to Stage 10 being the most difficult. The game offers 10 playable characters to play as, and picking one of them you will battle against the other 9 in Stages 1-9 and lastly one of three bosses at Stage 10. Each character has their own fighting style, special abilities, as well as their weapons. The game features a Chaos Mode which is activated when a fighter’s health is at half point (Yellow Health). A red aura will surround the character and he/she is able to perform unlimited Chaos Attacks. All character possess an Instant Kill maneuver that will basically kill the opponent resulting an instant win even when the match just started at round 1. Some of these Instant Kills are more violent and brutal than others, with the exception of May’s Instant Kill having a different version of template being more kid friendly. They are the most powerful moves and you must commit quickly before missing the moment, or the opponent defends the attack. Basically press punch+kick at the same time and if it connects Sakkai (red screen) is activated for a moment, then roll the joystick down to right (if facing right) and an attack button to finish the sequence. If done successfully, you will see many cues and visual effects occur on screen. First usually is the attack the character will perform, followed by the Destroyed!! template will appear on screen, an audio cue that will say “Destroyed”, then the opponent’s Health flashes red and black while depleting resulting in a successful kill. Generally, this game has been one of my favorites since a child and it’s super fun. With my most played character as May since she is the youngest fighter and probably one of the difficult fighters to learn. I really recommend this if you missed this game or into fighting games and like to experience this classic.
– Real player with 21.5 hrs in game
GRANDIA HD Remaster
Shameless self-promotion
Please check out this extensive comparison:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1932732522
Review
This review focuses entirely on the port itself.
It has been updated to take the 2 patches into account that have been released in the 10 months after launch. The changes, as far as the scope of this review is concerned, are marginal.
Expectation vs. Reality
I fully recommend the game, just not this disappointing port.
Let’s start by setting the expectations with information provided by GungHo themselves:
– Real player with 365.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Classic Story Rich Games.
GRANDIA, The Game That Taught Me Everything
This game is very dear to me. It was not only the first ever JRPG I played, it was also the game that made me better at English, taught me about consequence and danger and last, but not least what a great narrative can do to even hilariously bad voice acting and special mechanics you won’t find in any other series and as I just finally completed the game since the age of 9, here’s my honest review of this amazing game and it’s endless wonder!
– Real player with 121.0 hrs in game
CLANNAD
it’s alright, I guess…
– Real player with 1000.3 hrs in game
this game.. what can i even say about this game? This is not just a game, but a part of my life now, one that i will cherish deeply forever. this game can make you laugh, cry, and just enjoy the simplicity of living. not a single moment is not perfectly made. I cant even begin to count how many times this game has made my cry more than anything else. This game was able to bring true love and happiness into my life, and i would choose to keep this over anything or anyone else in a heartbeat. This is easily the game ever made, and a masterpiece i will always look back on with love.
– Real player with 94.6 hrs in game
Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2
The quality of the titles fluctuates but this is overall a worthwhile addition and a must for fans.
Structure and presentation remain unchanged from the og collection, (review here ). Stronger X Challenge content this time, with the final rounds featuring endgame boss team-ups more heavily.
Mega Man X5
One of the weakest Mega Man titles. Originally intended as the series finale. This version fixes/retcons the og NA boss nomenclature, which was based on Guns & Roses. The series' plot grows darker and the game expands the world a bit, progressing the story and adding more personality to the characters and the series in general. Competent soundtrack and visuals in keeping with the X standard.
– Real player with 60.6 hrs in game
A little bit of background before I start here: I love platformers, and I love Mega Man; got into the series about eight years ago, back in the high school days. I had access to many of the original series games so I developed a fondness for those, only being able to play a few of the X games and Battle Network games via emulation. Eventually I was able to get the Mega Man X Collection on PS2, which I thought would be compatible with my PS3…Too bad the newer PS3s aren’t backwards compatible with them. Aside from a couple times where I was able to play X4 on a friend’s console, I sadly never got to play most of the X series, until earlier this year when I learned of the X Legacy Collection coming out. I was very excited and couldn’t wait for them.
– Real player with 59.9 hrs in game
Princess Maker ~Faery Tales Come True~ (HD Remake)
Amazing game! With so many endings you’ll play it for hours without realizing.
– Real player with 53.3 hrs in game
Started the game.
Allowed her to do NOTHING but have free time for 8 years straight.
Got an achievement for it.
10/10
My only regret is that I did not name her Luigi…
– Real player with 36.1 hrs in game
SAMURAI SHODOWN V SPECIAL / サムライスピリッツ零スペシャル
It is often said that “Street Fighter” is a good starter serie/games in the middle of Versus Fightings Games, and It’s true. But Samurai Shodown (V Special, IV, II or VI) is in my opinion much better for that.
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The combos in this games are just simple links with a special when you hit your opponent or cancel recoil animation when you hit in the guard.
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The specials are very simple to execute, 90% of specials in the game consist to imput 236 (quarter circle) or 263 (dragon/Z).
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The mechanics are fews and very simple to learn, the “hardest” thing to understand that is your rage meter doesn’t just give you a super attack, but a super attack (called Weapon Flip Technique), the possibility of meditate, a time slow, a better sword jauge, a rage explosion (for fatalities and better sword jauge)… And it’s all you know almost everything of the game when you know that!
– Real player with 1059.4 hrs in game
If you want a fun and unique fighting game with a varied roster that will test you in ways no other fighting game will, with a character for every playstyle, give this game a shot. Want a game with an active and dedicated playerbase that’s always ready to throw down and help a newcomer out? Give this game a shot. Want to play a game where you can possibly kill someone in two well-placed hits? Maybe even one if you’re lucky? Play Samurai Shodown V Special.
I cannot stress enough that this is without a doubt in my top favorites of the genre. Everything about it, even its jankier aspects, oozes elegance and refinement over the 11 years spanned between the first SamSho and this one. It is in my opinion the absolute definitive game in the franchise, even with the new one (that also looks absolutely fantastic, mind you) coming out.
– Real player with 255.3 hrs in game
THE KING OF FIGHTERS 2002 UNLIMITED MATCH
A very fun and fairly balenced KoF fighting game; a port from PS2. This game has some nice music (some songs I don’t like personally), a difficult trial mode (I can’t do an Overkill), and some fast pased fighting game action. This is for people that want to show off to their friends that they can do combos and look real cool while doing it.
Some cons:
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Fightcade exists, with their totally free KoF 2002. It’s not Unlimited Match, but it’s free.
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Online sucks. No one is one line and if they are, the game is wholly laggy.
– Real player with 197.7 hrs in game
This is one of the best fighting games I have played in a while. While this game is a big upgrade to a previous game, I could not help but compare the difference between it’s predecessor KOF02 for the neo geo and this game KOF02UM.
The Pros:
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Excellent soundtrack for each team and boss characters
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the teams seem to have their own stages.
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The bosses from KOF99 to KOF01 are present and playable
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The characters not found in KOF02 such as Lin, May Lee and Jhun are here in KOF02UM
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Many different modes to choose from such as practice, challenge and online
– Real player with 144.1 hrs in game
Tales of Symphonia
I’d first like to clarify that most of the negative reviews for this game were about glitches caused by it being shoddy port. These issues have been resolved.
This game is a real time rpg focused on gameplay with combos, special moves and team composition, and a story with heavy characterisation, strong motives, clear goals, twists and turns, hours of content, side quests and decent writing.
The gameplay is unique. The battles take place in 3d, but each character can only move in a 2d plane, with left and right going back and forward, and up and down jumping and crouching respectively. It seems like a system built of a limited controller however even modern controllers would struggle to undertake this in a better way. The only way to move in the 3rd dimension is to target a different enemy then move forward or back.
– Real player with 202.6 hrs in game
Tales of Symphonia is one of my favorite JRPGs ever, but I decided not to review it until the various technical issues are fixed. Now that Bamco apparently got work done, I can actually recommend it.
The Technical
At first, I hesitated to buy because 1) my hardware is worse than even the minimum requirements and 2) many bad reviews about the port being a mess. In the end, I decided to buy it when it went on sale. The game wouldn’t even launch… until I discovered TSFix, an amazing community mod, which fixed that problem for me. It also enhances graphics a LOT, so I suggest checking it out. Don’t let the game’s sys-requirements scare you off; if even my underwhelming hardware can manage this game (at a steady 30 FPS with good graphics settings), maybe yours can too!
– Real player with 188.9 hrs in game
.hack//G.U. Last Recode
A nostalgic piece for dothack fans. A non-linear JRPG telling the story of an edgy boy becoming a somewhat reliable man.
Gameplay: 7/10
Story: 8/10
Social: -/10
Graphics: 7/10
Audio: 9/10
Note: This game is quite literally 4 games packaged into 1 game. Review is written taking this into account.
Gameplay
7/10
A game that simulates an environment of an MMORPG. There are classes, levels, quests, servers, forum, PvP, PvE, and all that, but you are stuck with only one class since you can only play the main character, though you still get the chance to feel like you’re playing four different classes at the same time—
! Haseo’s class is Adept Rogue, meaning he gets to add some property of three other classes into one, and he also gets a hacked 4th form at vol 3.
– Real player with 179.8 hrs in game
Welcome… To the World.
So… .Hack // G.U.! Ho-ly shit. This game is… Well, it’s definitely quite the experience. From start to finish it’s an amazing trip, watching an edgy teenager grow with his character, experiences and encounters as his eyes are gradually opened more and more to the reality of his situation, the people around him, and the gravity of what power truly means.
So! A spoiler alert, for those of you wanting to know the story that leads up to G.U. Volume 1, I would recommend first watching .Hack // Sign, which is an anime that precedes the games themselves. IT’s great if you want some lore on the game for curiosity’s sake.
– Real player with 158.8 hrs in game