Eisenwald: Blood of November
Unlike origina Legends of Eisenwald which included a campaign across several maps, here you have only one (large) map and the gameplay near the end is really tedious. You need to control the most castles on November 8th and there is no way to skip to this date if you control everything already, so you just wait on max game speed and hunt respawning brigands. On the other hand, the enemy forces respawn too, so you’ll have a very difficult fight until you level up your troops a bit and capture their city - then the endless enemy forces almost stop.
– Real player with 24.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Turn-Based Tactical Games.
The Ice Crone is Hillary Clinton, Deiter is Donald Trump. Seriously, do the introduction quests and when Deiter talks about building a wall around the whole kingdom and keeping criminals and rapist southerners (Mexicans) and Saracens (Muslims) out, and then meet the corrupt Ice Crone and her corruption and likelihood of war with the “Muscovites” (Russia) and support for the Northern Treaty (TPP Deal) as well as her cheating husband and the “Saracen Beauty” they even named Huma after her aide Huma Abedin in real-life, you’ll know you’re choosing Donald or Hillary in this scenario - Which is hilarious. I can’t wait to see both sides' endings as neither can be good for the country, just like in real life. Political inside jokes aside, this scenario is actually quite fun.
– Real player with 22.8 hrs in game
Disgaea PC
Note: If you’re able to, get “Disgaea 1 Complete” on the PS4 or Nintendo Switch instead. Since that one has remastered sprites & additional features which will make your experience much more enjoyable, also includes additional characters.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always had a fascination with numbers going up. Seeing small numbers turn to big numbers is something I absolutely love in video games, and Disgaea is the perfect game for this. They go overkill with numbers. Personally I never write reviews, but I have to for an amazing game like this. I’ve gotten every single achievement for this game so I believe I have a good idea of everything this game contains.
– Real player with 361.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Turn-Based JRPG Games.
As of the moment I’ve never completed this game to the end. When I do - and I’m sure eventually I will as I do enjoy it - I’ll probably redo this review. But for the time being it has left me with an impression.
I won’t spoil anything in detail.
My look into Disgaea
You basically take control of a trio of protagonists in this game. Laharl (prince of the underworld), Etna (one of the prince’s demon vassals), and Flonne (an angel). The basic jist of the story is Laharl spends his time in the game exerting how awesome he is by winning fights - which is pretty accurate to how the player themself probably feels as well. The other two protagonists mostly spend their time trying to bring about a softer side to the prince. There are a ton of plot holes throughout the game’s story but I don’t feel they matter since the game never tries to take itself seriously. It’s always cute, silly, or badass. Things as random as having to fight the Power Rangers takes place in this game after all. It’s never really serious - at least not as far as I’ve gotten.
– Real player with 225.8 hrs in game
Age of Fear: The Undead King
Truthfully, Age of Fear in general has a bit of a dated, clunky feel to it, which I’m aware it is a turnoff for many people. I’m not one of those people however, and I’m sure there are many of you out there that can also overcome the lack of modern day luxuries, because this game has a lot of depth to it in terms of gameplay and freedom for your experimentation, and improving your strategic skills.
With that out of the way, and granted that “old type games” don’t scare you away, Age of Fear is a very solid experience. It certainly had a bit of getting used to in the beginning for me, which gave me some frustrations, but once that period passed, I had nothing but fun, on the higher difficulty settings in particular, the game becomes a real brain-teaser, your strategic mind and thinking are going to make the biggest impacts on how battles play out. A little shift in your tactics, planning or approach can mean the world. And you’re definitely not short on options on what you can try.
– Real player with 37.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Turn-Based 2D Games.
This year, during the winter sale, I decided to try Age of Fear: I bought all 3 episodes in a bundle I started to play from the first one: Age of Fear – The undead King.
I completed the two campaigns (about 15 scenario/battle each: roughly 5 easy, 5 medium and 5 hard) included (human campaign and undead campaign) in about 22 hours at “experienced” level (the second of four).
PROs
- The strange movement system based on circles is interesting and you must learn to exploit it to cover your range-units and to reach the opponent ones.
– Real player with 22.8 hrs in game
Heroines
its a game
– Real player with 6.9 hrs in game
Good design, challenging gameplay
The game starts off with a well scripted intro. It presents what’s at stake very well and got me hyped to explore the world.
Music choice is really good, as is the character design for most of the characters. Level design is visually appealing and I had fun from beginning to end, apart from occasional frustration with a couple of bosses.
But it isn’t flawless by any means.
Positives:
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Good level design, character design, skill animations and music
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Challenging
– Real player with 6.6 hrs in game
Legends of Eisenwald
It pains me to see that such a great game only has ‘mostly positive’ reviews, whereas, in my opinion, it should have actually been ‘very/overwhelmingly’ instead of ‘mostly’. It is definitely one of my favorite games; in fact, it made my summer last year. I’ve played through it three times (including all the DLCs), twice here on Steam and once elsewhere, and I’m sure I’ll replay it at least for the fourth time.
This game is by the way the first modern RPG I’ve played, and it has also – apart from being a gorgeous experience itself – managed to draw me to the genre (I’ve always preferred playing pure adventure games and eventually strategies) and discover several other awesome games. But this one is going to remain my incomparable first love forever. :) At first I was a bit hesitant about playing it, as some reviews claimed it be too hard/confusing etc., but I cannot agree here. Once I got used to the mechanics, it was a sheer joy to play. At times, ‘Legends of Eisenwald’ can indeed be hard, especially considering your finances at the very beginning and certain fights, but I – almost utterly inexperienced in playing RPGs as I was back then – didn’t find it frustratingly tough. I think it was hard to a very reasonable degree, and I kept on feeling rewarded by the narrative through the whole game.
– Real player with 131.7 hrs in game
Okay.. phwoa!!… long game. Just finished it - in at around 100 hours - Final Fantasy eat your heart out. A few late nights let me tell you. I feel that this game deserves the time and effort for me to write at least something about it and how I felt about it even if to just say it was a good game. But I will do more because I felt this game really was something special and I have derived so much enjoyment from it that it is the least I could do.
I bought this game on sale for a few pennies (I can’t remember now but I think it was for under $5) and didn’t really have too high hopes for it considering its price and look but was then completely overturned in my opinion by what is essentially a really great game that in no wise is properly represented by its appearance. DON’T judge a book by its cover! Boy, don’t judge this book by its cover, it is a great game for what its worth. I think this game goes for around $20 more or less on steam and that is about the right price for this game. You won’t regret parting with that hard earned cash. If you see this game for anything less than $10 buy it straight away, don’t hesitate, you won’t regret it. You might ask if it is such a great game why is it only worth $20 dollars? Well that is what I will attempt to explain.
– Real player with 115.8 hrs in game
Age of Fear: The Free World
Age of Fear: The Free World sports some really ineresting battle mechanics. The Ai is pretty good indeed. it only comes to its limits when units get crowded in limited spaces. otherwise it was most of the time hard to flank.
Otherwise this game, or should I rather say this demo does not offer very much. There is no story i noticed. You do not even travel the world map but rather click on the locations all over the realm. What made the whole experience a bit more interesting was turning the option on for units to have items too. Then I had the motivation to start stealing stuff from enemy units.
– Real player with 51.3 hrs in game
This is one of those games that has the potential to be good, and some aspects of the game are good, but in the end, it just isn’t.
So, the game has a fully functioning battle system, with skill upgrades and a slowly building list of creatures available for recruitment. the game also has items and potions that can be won and used by the player to give the hero/creatures certain perks. this is what is good about the game, but unfortunately that is about all there is to the game: an endless line of battles, with no descernable purpose. you aren’t defending an area from enemies, or trying to conquer areas… you are just randomly fighting random foes, with nothing really gained in the end. The game has no story line. There are random encounters of peddlers selling potions and items, but it doesn’t really add to the game at all.
– Real player with 46.5 hrs in game
Mugen Souls
Just like its demon-turned-angel character, this game has difficulty deciding what it wants to be. Which is unfortunately, as it is a good game. It tries to sell itself on its “sexyness” when in fact, it is hardly present. It tries a lot of gameplay mechanisms but does not really perfect any of them. And I guess that it unfortunately is partially reflected on its score.
So, first, contrary to what the screenshots would suggest, this game has very mild and sparse “sexy content”, to the exlusion of the bath scenes that concludes each chapter. In fact, once you’re past the 1st chapter, it becomes an after-thought story-wise. Maybe the result of the censorship (?), but in my case that striked a good balance.
– Real player with 105.2 hrs in game
A game as absurd as it is full of kinks and innuendo as it is fun.
NOTE 1: Pressing R2 can skip battle animations! or you can disable them entirely in the config menu. This is very important for making the grind go faster.
NOTE 2: The free DLC is nothing but OP items that make the game impossible to lose. Disable DLC in the title screen menu before you press New Game if you want to enjoy playing through it vanilla.
Now, onto the review!/Mechanics Summary!
The story can be described in two words: Galactic domination. You play as (say it with me now) a loli heroine who has amnesia, but instead of saving the world you’re going to 7 different planets subjugating each one along the way. This is done by finding the strongest people on every planet and forcing them to join you. Like all Compile Heart games you’ll end up with a large cast of different personalities who are all hilarious to see interact with one another. Sounds fun? It is. Until the grind.
– Real player with 50.7 hrs in game
Disgaea 2 PC
With the recent release of Disgaea 4 on PC I figured it was time to offer my own thoughts on the ones I’ve played since this series is one I’ve come to enjoy a lot over the past couple of years. With that said having given the first game a review a while ago it only made sense to give one to the second one as well. So what are my thoughts on this game and should you play it considering that 4 & 5 are already available? Well time for me to talk and find out.
So as you start up a new file for the first time, just like in the first game, you’re given a voiceover explaining the current situation. An evil Overlord known as Zenon has corrupted the land of Veldime. A once peaceful world, Zenon’s influence has corrupted all human life, slowly turning them into demons and robbing them of not only their humanity but memories as well. All except for one young man, Adell. In an attempt to undo the mess caused by the God of All Overlords, performs a ritual to summon the all-powerful demon……..only to mess that up and INSTEAD summon his one and only daughter Rozalin. Furious over essentially being kidnapped, she demands our battle loving, firey red haired hero to escort her back. From there it’s up to the two to find Zenon and have whatever happen, well happen. Of course being a Disgaea game, lots of wacky antics and comedy filled turns occur along the way. Which is to be expected but I’d say that the story is a bit more on the serious side. Like the first game it has a healthy amount of comedy injected into its story beats but it early on it has a set goal for our protagonists and for the most part what you do in each “Episode” has something related to either developing our cast or working towards that end goal “Find Zenon”. It’s a fine enough story on its own and gets the job done even if its nothing outstanding. The comedy helps liven things up a bit and i did chuckle at some of the jokes and humor even if I felt like the cast overall wasn’t as good as the two trios from the first game and that the story didn’t have the emotional impact the first one had either. Kind of a shame but it’s certainly not a terrible story either, even by the standards of this series.
– Real player with 309.6 hrs in game
Remember, “Your Mileage May Vary” in regards to this port, but I believe that this time around performance is way better on launch than Disgaea PC was. Great job NISA!
TL;DR: I wholeheartedly recommend Disgaea 2 PC for $20, especially if you’ve played Disgaea PC. (Buy it so we can get future Disgaea games on PC :D)
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Let’s get introductions out of the way first, dood:
Disgaea 2 PC is a port of the PSP remake of Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories, called Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days. (Lots of confusing names thrown around, I apologize! Basically: PS2 - Cursed Memories PSP - Dark Hero Days PC - Disgaea 2 PC) Disgaea 2 PC is much more of the gameplay from Disgaea PC, but improved.
– Real player with 175.2 hrs in game
Mugen Souls Z
Mugen Souls Z, like it’s predecessor, combines the incredible/insane character development from Disgaea with a more straightforward combat system. Combat a bit like Neptunia or Fairy Fencer with a few added quirks like charm kills, buff/debuff giving crystals as well as ability to knock around characters.
Story wise it continues directly from Mugen Souls' true ending and the gameplay is essentially the same (with a few improvements).
Improvements from the first:
-Charming enemies is easier, while mood and stereotypes still matter the game will help predict results
– Real player with 104.0 hrs in game
Our favorite Undisputed God of the Universe, Chou-Chou, returns with her crew for a brand-new story revolving around the zodiac. Taking place immediately after the first game, you take control of the goddess Syrma, who meets Chou-Chou before the end of the first game’s events. Syrma is out to stop an ancient threat to her world that has recently awakened. 9999 levels of maniacal mishaps and ethereal adventures await Syrma, her crew, and hordes of Shampurus!
Starting the game is something of a chore. It follows on directly from Mugen Souls, and the ruler of the universe, Lady Chou-Chou, is tired of the little piece of space that she spent her last adventure obtaining. She decides to take over twelve more planets, but her plan quickly unravels when she’s accidentally transformed into a powerless chibi version of herself. Yes, this is the actual plot. More surprising, it takes up to two hours to get to the basic gameplay. This Metal Gear-busting figure includes countless cutscenes, a few tutorials, and a music video, but it’s by no means the end of your learning experience. You’ll keep being introduced to new ideas for a long time.
– Real player with 63.5 hrs in game
Rime Berta
To note: while I do recommend this game, I do so with careful consideration of the game’s many MANY issues, which you’ll find below. The playtime is not exactly correct (I did leave the game idling a few times), but I did beat it on Hard.
At its core, Rime Berta is an extremely barebones SRPG in the vein of Final Fantasy Tactics (but without most of the depth). You get to command an army of ‘puppets’ with different classes, each with mostly unique skills, and occasionally change classes when you hit certain skill milestones and get to hire random units at the end of most battles. There are no items or inventory whatsoever, units can’t change class outside of their own class trees and can’t choose different branches of the same tree once you commit to one. Combat’s fun enough when it works and I don’t remember running into any glitches.
– Real player with 62.7 hrs in game
This game is not Tactics Ogre, nor is it Final Fantasy Tactics. It lacks features like items, detailed plot, and multiple ways to heal units beyond what support units (clerics in the aforementioned games) can provide.
However that does not mean it’s a bad game.
As an indie game, its lack of features and arguably gameplay polish is quite evident. The camera controls are unintuitve, but the developers allow you to select units from a list if your POV can’t spot them. Sometimes archers can’t shoot down cliffs in certain situations, but mages laugh at the concept of terrain. For many flaws, the developers have offered less frustrating workarounds.
– Real player with 42.2 hrs in game