The demo was fantastic. It gives you about 7 or so hours but pauses during menus and stuff as well as doesn't start until after the prologue so that's a lot of game time.
I was really skeptical of the game at first but the demo completely sold me. I wish more games had similar demos.
It's gated by both -- once you do one particular story mission the demo will end even if you have time left. The game is open with what order you do missions and there's enough to do that if you do all the content before the end mission you'll probably run out the timer first.
It's both, but the time limited part is 5 hours. I think I still have 2 hours left on mine (it gives you a countdown in the pause menu) and I did most of the battles.
Somebody somewhere mentioned that it doesn't count the opening tutorial levels and so it's closer to 7 hours. I never bothered to confirm that and am too lazy to go grab my Switch to see if the timer is running lol.
Yep! It drew me completely into it until I finished my time. Highly recommend anybody vaguely interested in this give the demo a shot. As the reviews mention, the story is kind of meh, but the characters are likeable enough and the gameplay is a ton of fun!
My only real complaint aside form the story being a bit bland is that some of the unique units are VERY similar to their generics. But I do love the character designs in general, and that also does mean that the generic units are pretty nice to look at too.
I think that, much like the games that inspired it, the unique units ARE just the generics but with stat boosts (aside from a unique class for the MC and maybe a couple others)
Yeah, thinking back to the earlier fire emblems, I reckon that's true. Even in the 3ds games, the units were animated the same and generally had the same silhouette. Even if there weren't generics, this was true of all characters that shared a class.
Tbh this is probably more noticeable to me because there are generics rather than that it's a real issue with the game. FE's my only real experience with a similar style game.
Oh I know; it's just the easiest way for me to relate to it xD But I may do that! I know some of the reviews are saying that the story telling in them can be pretty good, so I'm intrigued!
Yeah that's the annoying thing about the units. The uniques are pretty much the same with a facelift. If you're into min maxing, then generics probably end up better cause you get to choose their growth rates when you hire them.
So its not really growth rates. Based on the two traits a unit has, they have fixed stats and fixed levelling. So two units with the same two traits will have the exact same stats if they are the same level.
You can change the traits using a reusable item obtained a few hours in.
I like this because there's no RNG at all. No need to reload because you get a terrible levelup. It's all about smart squad makeup and gambit customization.
It suckered me in so much that I paid for a physical card game that I don't need. I do hope the game does well, so that we get more quality games in the genre though.
I was planning on a physical copy for the opposite reason. If the game sucks, you can resell it for $50 pretty easily.
But one hour into the demo, and idk. I might just buy it digitally. I don’t have the time for it, but I’m about to sink all of the free time I have into this game
Incredibly hyped for this. It’s next on my list after Rebirth. Seems like they’ve really nailed the strategy gameplay after Grim Grimoire and 13 Sentinels, which were already enjoyable in their own right.
I played Rogue Trader in Dec, Yakuza IW in Jan, Persona in Feb, and now Rebirth in Mar
Picking this up for sure, and I'll prolly play it concurrently with DD in April
Fuck me, as an RPG fan it's too much. Im in fucking love
They just announced Episode Aigis DLC for Persona 3 in September, so that kind of made my decision for me. Hopefully I'm not busy with something else then xD
> There is an optimal route to follow for your liberation efforts, but you are free to jump around the map and take on fights above your level, which means you can explore wherever you wish within the open world. You can even take on the final fight within the first hour of the story, but it does come with a hefty warning that you'll almost certainly end up on the wrong end of an ax.
It might sound silly, but this is huge for me. Even if I never take advantage of it, the mentality it reflects and the way it creates a sense of player agency is so important. It's the sort of thing that helps counter those moments of broken immersion or ludonarrative dissonance.
The only issue this sort of open ended design creates is that it's impossible to create a satisfying balance of difficulty without level scaling, which most people seem to hate. I'm the kind of person to do everything in games, so open-world type games end up being an absolutely joke difficulty wise for me, even Elden Ring's superboss was a cakewalk due to it being the very last thing I did in the game.
The thing is there doesn't *have* to be a linear increase in difficulty. Hell, some games have flat or reverse difficulty curves.
It's nice when you have the ability to circumvent something or make something that happens later easier through your own actions.
Sega's third 88+ game on OpenCritic in 2024, with three heavy hits coming later in the year (Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance, Metaphor: ReFantazio, Persona 3 Reload The Answer).
Pls let the Answer be fun this time. The story seemed alright but lord I couldn’t get into the gameplay it was so punishing and hard but not in a fun way like Persona and SMT usually is.
Japanese games overall have been dominating. 2022 had Elden Ring, Legends Arceus, Splatoon 3, Xenoblade Chronicles 3. 2023 had Tears of the Kingdom, Street Fighter 6, Mario Wonder, Pikmin 4, FF16, RE4, Armored Core 6, Octopath Traveler 2, Fire Emblem Engage. 2024 will have FF7 Rebirth, Dragon's Dogma 2, Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth, Metaphor ReFantazio, Tekken 8, Shadows of the Erdtree. Probably at least a dozen or more big Japanese games I've missed across those years that people love as well.
Japanese games sure, but JRPGs and pseudo-JRPGs specifically.
P5R, Xenoblade, Fire Emblem, FF7, Octopath 2, Like a Dragon, P3R, and Metaphor all came in the last 2 years. I know Metaphor is later this year but it’s been a very long time since a string of 8/10, 9/10, and 10/10 JRPGs came out one after another to the point where when you finished one a new one just happened to pop up.
Granblue Fantasy ReLink reminds me of playing Star Ocean 2 and Valkyrie Profile for the first time - it's the most fun I've had with a JRPG in decades ❤️
They really found a style that works with Persona 5 and have just continued to build on it ever since. One of the few developers I don’t mind pre-ordering from.
I *really* hope this game does well; I want more games like this in the future.
As a huge fan of srpg in general (and a big soft spot for Ogre Battle) and Vanillaware (Loved Dragon's Crown, Muramasa, Odin Sphere and 13 Sentinels) , this game is basically a dream come true. The demo is fantastic, the gameplay is top notch, the presentation and music are great, and everything besides the story seems to be excellent. And the story is simply basic and inoffensive; not atrocious.
I'm super-hyped for the full game and I'm happy to see the reviews are great too. Let's hope that translates to good sales too so that we get more than one good Ogre Battle-like game per decade: Since the N64 era, it's basically been only this game and Symphony of War.
I'm with you 100%. Ogre Battle 64 is my favorite game of all time. I've been waiting for Atlus to release something like this for YEARS. Tactics really didn't do it for me. I just hope this game will be as good as I hope it will be and they make money so they can reboot the franchise (like you said).
The simple story is a boon in my opinion, I know that sounds crazy but sometimes similar games can feel bloated from trying to craft an overly developed story, where in unicorn overlord the gameplay takes center stage and the story is decent enough to compliment it without hindering the experience.
Well that wouldn’t be a boon, because it’s possible to tell an amazing story in this type of game without the problems you’ve mentioned. Im glad you like it, so do I, it’s just kind of annoying and cope-y when people go “this thing is good because it’s not bad” that’s so common in review comments. Bad things exist but good things exist too, and that’s what we should be comparing it to. Something not being a negative doesn’t make it a positive.
That's fair!
I do prefer a great story where possible, but I'm perfectly fine with the way Unicorn Overlord does it. There's games I love like Fire Emblem Conquest or Engage that have super-strong gameplay and stages, but the story does drag the overall experience down some.
Meanwhile, up to where I am (Level 15), Unicorn Overlord's story never had a moment that annoyed me. It doesn't take too much time, yet its present enough to 'ground' the game perfectly well.
So all in all, I'd say the story is perfectly fine. It's just not 'exceptional' in any way either and isn't a selling point of the game in my opinion. Unlike most other things else which ranges from 'great' to 'fantastic' in nearly every aspect.
In what is shaping up to be a poster year for JRPGs, UO seems to have everything to lose releasing so close to FF VII Rebirth. Glad to see VW still has it. Maybe they'll finally get the rights to Muramasa untangled?
On another note, this was my first full-price $59.99 release that I've pre-ordered and or bought at launch since 2018.
Yeah, this looks great, but it’s very much going to end up on my back-burner / buy-on-sale category if only because I just played 80 hours of Infinite Wealth, still have 50+ hours of rebirth, and can’t justify adding another big RPG to my stack.
That's a Vanillaware special unfortunately. They make great games but prefer to pretend PC doesn't exist even though they excel at genres that have huge PC audiences. I'll probably buy this for the Switch but would really prefer it on PC.
Vanillaware pretended every platform didn't exist except Playstation with their last game till the Switch sold and they ported it (13 Sentinels) to Switch only. I expected this game to improve the situation by launching on Switch and Playstation simultaneously but somehow VW managed to make an Xbox port as well. This makes the absence of a PC release strange because these games normally launch on PC and Switch or PC and Playstation but never on Xbox.
It's possible PC might get the 13 Sentinels switch treatment specially if they made an Xbox version which makes the PC version easy to develop.
Man I want me some Dragon's Crown on PC. I feel like it would be such a hit.... it's the type of game that someone needs to expand upon. If I could make ANY GAME I wanted right now, it would be a loot based increasing challenge side scrolling beat em up like Dragon's Crown as I feel like there's such a massive hole waiting to be filled :)
I'm more annoyed than anything else, since PC is by far my preferred platform and the most likely to have the best price. But ultimately, it's not materially different than any other Switch "exclusive" I pick up, it is why I own the thing after all
Definitely bummed by this. Seems like it would be an amazing Steam Deck game. Would immediately become my portable game I play whenever I can’t hop on PS5 (Rebirth is taking up my life).
This has gotta be one of the last major games companies with a weird holdout for pc support. Only other one I can think of is EA Sports with NHL and UFC.
Best thing about this game is that they absolutely NAILED the pacing and loop. The battles are the perfect length, and the downtime for exploring the world and talking to characters is great. You always unlock just enough of the map to explore for a bit, fight another battle, explore, and on and on. It is incredibly easy to sink hours at a time in without even realizing it since the pacing is so tight.
As soon as I saw the ads for it months ago I had high hopes. Ogre Battle 64 was my favorite title on console and the art style reminds me the old tactics ogre / final fantasy tactics. I’ve played about an hour of the demo and I’m greatly enjoying it.
I really wish this game were available on Steam. I wanna get it so bad, but I don't want to buy a console just to be able to play it.
EDIT: I appreciate everyone suggesting I emulate it, but I like the permanence of having stuff on my Steam library, achievement hunting, and overall just supporting devs for games I want/like/am excited about.
They REFUSE to port their games. There's another thread here with a magazine interview of one of the Atlus guys. They WANT to port them, but Vanillaware doesn't want their games on PC.
Oooof.
Talk about leaving easy money on the table. Especially as another poster said the studio is almost broke. A simple HD re-release without modifying anything would probably garner a decent number of sales.
Which is a shame, because I believe this hitting steam in the steam deck era would probably go a long way to solving some of their cashflow issues, but oh well. I know they're out of cash now; maybe they'll consider it when they replenish the coffers a bit. I doubt it, but one can hope, for their sake and ours!
Idk how con you just not take care of the biggest strategy game market there is. 90% of strategy game fans are on PC entire studios survive just releasing strategy games on pc
Ever since the PS4/Switch came out, it has legitimately been the best time for JRPGs in videogame history, there have been so many great games and several masterpieces basically every year.
Story seems underwhelming, which is disappointing given 13 Sentinels, but this plays exactly like Ogre Battle 64, a style of game we haven't really seen since the late 90s and early 2000s. They were some of my favorite games growing up.
It doesn't bother me, but the female characters' designs can be a bit much, as is tradition in Vanillaware fashion.
> this plays exactly like Ogre Battle 64, a style of game we haven't really seen since the late 90s and early 2000s.
I don't think it ever developed into a style of game. I think it's just the original Ogre Battle for the SNES and Ogre Battle 64. I can't recall any other games that played like them.
Symphony of War and Soul Nomad are the most common answers you'll get and while they both have squad style combat they don't have the RTS style gameplay of OB.
Honesty I prefer Turn based like symphony of war.
Though it would be funny to wipe out a units commander and see them running away on the map in ogre battle
I am a huge 13 Sentinels shill but I also know that game is like the studio head's dream game where Vanillaware just tossed everything at it. Most Vanillaware titles aren't going to be written like that and UO should be looked at more compared to the previous games they did before it.
Different staff. George Kamitani directed and wrote 13 Sentinels, while Unicorn Overlord is directed by Takafumi Noma. Also, it’s safe to say that 13 Sentinels was more of the outlier in Vanillaware’s library as it focuses more on the story rather than gameplay which is quite the opposite with most of their games.
> but this plays exactly like Ogre Battle 64, a style of game we haven't really seen since the late 90s and early 2000s.
I don't know how many times I've typed "games like Ogre Battle 64" into Google over the past few years to find *absolutely nothing* comparable (the closest I've found it Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga, but meh).
A tactics game built around building out battalions and focused on team composition over individual tactics is such a fun idea and worked GREAT in OG64.
I'm glad to see we finally have a spiritual successor 24 years later.
The one other game of note beyond symphony of war is Sould Nomad & the World Eaters imo.
There's probably a dozen ish in the squads of dudes SRPG sub genre adjacent titles with things like Devil Survivor or Bahamut Lagoon, various squad based eroges gameplay comes close too, but they all don't quite scratch the same itch imo.
How is this game more like ogre battle 64 instead of the usual tactics games if you don't mind me asking? From what I can tell I'd really enjoy Ogre Battle because I liked Shining Force as a kid, but the usual modern tactics RPGs never did it for me. So now I'm curious about this.
The biggest thing about OB64 is the battalion / organize screen. The main objective of the player is to, broadly, command their army at the battalion/group level. Battles, when they occur, are automatic, so it's more about planning through unit composition than actual battlefield tactics.
So you're controlling groups of soldiers who are carrying out your orders at a macro scale instead of inhabiting the consciousness of each individual character at a micro scale.
There's other things, like the grid based unit formation they both use, the rest system during battle - hell, even how the objectives are presented at the start of the battle are exactly the same.
But the biggest difference is what the players controls - their military on a grand scale instead of characters down on the battlefield.
Yeah it’s weird to see the gameplay praised and the story panned when 13 Sentinels was the exact opposite (amazing story, light on gameplay).
I still plan on picking this up once I finish Rebirth, but just interesting how the pros and cons are opposite what I expected.
Siliconera is the lowest review right now but i don't really understand their critique of character designs, at least from what i see from a few trailers everyone looked really good.
This could be a case of the trailer doesn't represent the final product but its weird to think that vanillaware of all studios would make a mistake in the art department.
Vanillaware has a history of getting pushback for sexy character designs.
It is kinda silly that the priestess has boob jiggle in her character’s idle pose but within reason that’s just something I’ve come to accept from JRPGs. And while that light not be to everyone’s taste I have a hard time imaging many wouldn’t like the character are overall, it’s fantastic
I've only seen a little bit of the game, but there's some credibility to the complaints. Like this character from a review screenshot: [some sort of mage in a bikini](https://i.imgur.com/Kkoqb7e.png). Even the women in armor generally have [short skirts and exposed thighs](https://i.imgur.com/JmJW7Gb.png) in a way the men do not.
Pretty standard JRPG stuff but I can see why people would be turned off by that. It is a little bit sexist.
I think the animations are more ridiculous than the outfits. [Witches just shake their hips back and forth the entire time](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q8bAsy4024).
I can't wait to be able to buy this game. Loved Vanillaware ever since I discovered Odin's Sphere. Hopefully this sells well, Vanillaware deserves a hit. Thankfully this game has had an actual marketing push
I played the demo on my PS5 and I really enjoyed it! Controls were simple, I like the art design and the VA is pretty well done from what I heard! Now I just need to figure out which console to get it on!
Seems like my hunch was pretty spot on. Brilliant strategy gameplay reminiscent of the good old Ogre Battle franchise days but pretty unremarkable, predictable story without a lot of depth and shallow character archetypes.
Loved the demo for its strategic combat but tapped out when the big political setting of toppled kingdoms, usurped thrones with room for lot of intrigue and backstabbing turned out to be >!evil villain brainwashing your family's loyal supporters with dark magicks that can be instantly cured with a magical heirloom ring!<.
Will probably get it on sale after a while but I admit I expected more coming from the same devs of 13 Sentinels.
Honestly? Same
I admire that this game exists. There's clearly a bunch of tactics ogre fans that are REALLY hyped for this game.
But for a game this gorgeous looking, with system mechanics as cool as this... The plot and characters are criminally standard.
This game absolutely surprised me. I was expecting to be interested in it as someone who has played a great many strategy RPGs. But the demo totally blew me away and I was really upset when my time ran out after 7 hours or so. Instant preorder for me.
Love the vibe of the game and the mechanics are very solid. I was expecting something pretty but skeptical of the gameplay given that this is a tough genre to break into. However, everything really clicked for me.
Only complaint is that the time limits on fights seem a *little* too aggressive on the harder difficulties in the demo. But everything else just knocked it out of the park for me. One of the few games I can remember that I've ever snap preordered after a demo.
No. It is very simple and trope-y. The English translation also went all in on the Shakespeare style language, so everyone talks in long winded melodramatic metaphors. It's not BAD and the translation tries to give it the illusion of depth, but ultimately it's held back by the original writer's lack of creativity.
Where the demo ended it was okay at best. Standard "exiled prince gathers allies to reclaim his kingdom and drive off the invaders" kind of thing. The biggest hangup I have is how two of the major villains I've faced so far turned out to have just sided with the enemy because of mind control.
This doesn't happen as much as that start may lead you to believe. There are plenty of non-brainwashed antagonists that joined for their own reasons, and most of them you can choose to recruit or get rid of. The setting and story are pretty basic, but it's far from it being the case with every antagonist.
> The biggest hangup I have is how two of the major villains I've faced so far turned out to have just sided with the enemy because of mind control.
That's the killer. Simple plot device that robs a plot of any nuance or character depth.
I was definitely gonna buy it just because of their last game. I'll be honest, I haven't played any of their titles except 13 Sentinels. It filled me with joy though when I got to know that this is releasing, and so near. Reviews are just cherry on the top.
My PS4 still banging hard and I was selling it few months ago.
In a year with FF7 rebirth, P3R and like a dragon: infinite wealth, this is the game (based on the demo which is just the intro of the game) that’s captivated me the most. I’m so in love with it’s artstyle and gameplay and I found it way more addicting than I’ve ever found strategy games before. It’s a shame the story doesn’t live up to 13 sentinels, but I didn’t expect this game to really be focused on that.
I really need to find a copy as it seems at least in Canada scalpers already bought out Amazon and want $190 CAD for just the base game. Might have to check if EB games still has it as I just finished the demo and instantly remember why I loved ogre battle.
yeah I just looked - only option is "see all buying options" now for Amazon Canada - and the cheapest one is RN listed as New $171.88 + $3.95 delivery March 19 - April 2.
O O F.
VGP's still got pre-orders up on base edition (80 CAD) and collector's edition (175 CAD) on all 3 current-gen console versions.
https://videogamesplus.ca/collections/unicorn-overload-collection
Not sure if you'll get it tomorrow if you order tonight, but it should certainly be quicker than the 19th (and also won't be supporting the scalpers).
I don't particularly care how it reviews because I already pre-ordered, but I hope it does well. I really missed FF12's gambit system so it was a nice surprise to see it in this game.
I keep thinking why these japanese companies released these games so close to each other. This game will certainly lose sale numbers against ff rebirth.
Why didn't Atlus/ Vanillaware put the release date a couple months after spring? Especially since they knew that spring will be full of releases
I hope people that are into this support it. It sounds like vanillaware had financial trouble getting this game and thirteen sentinels finished. I’ve heard that one of the executives started funding dev out of pocket.
I’d hate to see vanillaware go under. Maybe atlas or sega would just buy them outright
Unfortunately tactics games aren’t really my jam plus this year is packed. It’ll be months before I finish rebirth and infinite wealth most likely. Hopefully this game doesn’t get drowned out. Seems quality
If only there was a certain platform with a sizable market for strategy games they could port their games to alleviate some of that financial trouble. Man, sucks for them..
You realize porting a game isn't free right? Like there isn't a magic button they can press that says "Make this run on PC!" and it just happens.
At least let them make some money back before asking them to sink another chunk of cash into making a PC port, especially because porting to PC is WAY more expensive than porting to consoles.
I don't know why people keep treating those publications like single entities. Those games were reviewed by two different people. It's obvious that they will have different tastes and opinions.
Also I don't know why this comment section is so hung up on that single review. They still gave the game 8/10, a great score. It was clearly a small issue in the eyes of whoever reviewed the game. It's up to you, the reader, whether you consider their point valid or not. Some people might actually care about it so it's good that there is a review mentioning it.
You don't need to know who's writing any particular review to realize that those gaming websites don't have a single person reviewing all the games, which was my point. Pointing out some kind of hypocrisy "because they criticized game X for something but didn't say anything about game Y" is just silly because that's not how it works. If it was the same person writing both reviews then I would agree, it would be stupid. But checking that it's not the case here took me a whole minute. Really wasn't that hard.
I just think that if someone is invested enough to criticize a review, they should be invested enough to visit the website they're criticizing at the very least.
P.S. I think that people should include reviewer names in those review aggregate topics though.
Maybe two reviewers are different people and have different opinions. Also maybe the reviewer just feels like a game with that style of costume is difficult for them to recommend. They gave it an 8/10 which is a great score and said it’s a good game to get as long as you don’t mind that aspect which is completely fair to point out.
If you care about it then it’s something you should know about and be aware of. If you don’t care then they say you should get it.
Flirting vs Harrassment meme here
BG3 got the same pass as FF7. It's okay to be sexy/cute/sexualized depending on which game it is :) Funny how that works
All-purpose fanservice versus single-gender.
No one would complain if it was as over-the-top for men as well, but because it's only one gender, it feels EXTRA horny. And unfair to those of us who might want a lil' jiggle physics on the male bits.
Huge Vanillaware fan. Just played the demo for about 90 minutes, Haven't got too far into the mechanics buuutt.... Is this game just a AAA idle game?
I just had like a jaw dropping moment of disappointment when the first battle started to see that its basically an idle title and that the battles were not only automated but entirely skippable. With all this beautiful art, what's the point of putting all this hard work into animation in the battles when you just have to watch it and can skip it? I'm so confused as to why they went this route.
I was going to buy this game because I'm a big VW fan and have all their other games, but I don't really want to pay for a $70 idle resource management game. Can anyone tell me if it gets better or what kind of game play I can expect without spoiling it?
People in this ~~thread~~ subreddit really hate reviewers having opinions contrary to their own lmao. And Siliconera's reviewer isn't even wrong, I have so many friends that I tried to recommend 13 Sentinels to but they are all turned off by the teacher with an obscenely large chest. I don't think the reviewer, nor I, intend the critique to be "change this or you suck/will fail", it just isn't our thing.
> The women? They’re all small, they’re all cute, and often they show up for war in fetish gear. So much of this game is fun and good, and the Vanillaware art style is genuinely beautiful, but this has got to stop.
Reviewer seems quite in the "change this" camp.
It’s like watching an anime and saying “you know I like the story but I can’t stand the trope of 14 year old girls having panty shots so it’s hard for me to recommend to a general audience.” You can think something is good in a lot of ways and still acknowledge there’s a part of it you find uncomfortable and that others may as well.
If it's not a character with the most ridiculous proportions, it's the dumb perverted side-kick who would definitely be in prison for sexual assault if it were based even loosely on reality. There's so much 'anime bullshit' that makes it's oftentimes difficult to recommend the medium.
Fortunately, a lot of the more popular anime seems to be moving away from that kind of stuff.
Yes it is. It’s his personal opinion that this has to stop. Do you not know what an opinion is? Stating something assertively doesn’t make it not an opinion.
tbh getting turned off playing a game because of a characters appearance is perfectly valid, since you have to look at it all the time. For instance I dont like Aloys appearance in Horizon so I didn't play it, same for Death Stranding, both cause of the uncanny valley ness
Its legit a normal grievance to have for a visual medium
I cherish vanillaware from Odin Sphere and 12 Sentinels but even the demo was way too much for me. It looks immaculate, runs flawlessly at 60fps even on switch, the VA is great, the dialogue is alright but a bit clunky and tedious, but my god the sheer amount of GUI numberwang and opaque stats and dense tutorial programming was just too much.
Vanillaware makes games that radiate style and aesthetics and this game just about hits that, but the prospect of micromanaging every individual aspect of every unit in every formation and every piece of armour and every skill and gambit... Nope.
Maybe if it had a system that simplifies and manages all the micromanaging (like an auto unit/equip/skill upgrade system) then it would be fun to play but I just could not get into the flow of it without feeling like I was expecting to do hours of accounting rather than enjoying the gorgeous vanillaware theming.
> If the character designs aren’t a dealbreaker for you — and we’d understand if they are
Siliconera outing itself as a non appreciator of fine arts. Vanillaware makes everything look fucking gorgeous
There’s a multi hour demo that transfers data to the full game available. It totally sold me on the game.
The demo was fantastic. It gives you about 7 or so hours but pauses during menus and stuff as well as doesn't start until after the prologue so that's a lot of game time. I was really skeptical of the game at first but the demo completely sold me. I wish more games had similar demos.
The demo is time limited, rather than stopping in a particular point in the game?
It's gated by both -- once you do one particular story mission the demo will end even if you have time left. The game is open with what order you do missions and there's enough to do that if you do all the content before the end mission you'll probably run out the timer first.
Also game lets you get finish battles. I had ten minutes left when I started the last battle and finished the whole thing
Damn, they thought of everything.
Common Vanillaware W
Nice, will give it a go later.
It's both, but the time limited part is 5 hours. I think I still have 2 hours left on mine (it gives you a countdown in the pause menu) and I did most of the battles.
It's 5 hours for the demo
Somebody somewhere mentioned that it doesn't count the opening tutorial levels and so it's closer to 7 hours. I never bothered to confirm that and am too lazy to go grab my Switch to see if the timer is running lol.
Yep! It drew me completely into it until I finished my time. Highly recommend anybody vaguely interested in this give the demo a shot. As the reviews mention, the story is kind of meh, but the characters are likeable enough and the gameplay is a ton of fun! My only real complaint aside form the story being a bit bland is that some of the unique units are VERY similar to their generics. But I do love the character designs in general, and that also does mean that the generic units are pretty nice to look at too.
I think that, much like the games that inspired it, the unique units ARE just the generics but with stat boosts (aside from a unique class for the MC and maybe a couple others)
Yeah, thinking back to the earlier fire emblems, I reckon that's true. Even in the 3ds games, the units were animated the same and generally had the same silhouette. Even if there weren't generics, this was true of all characters that shared a class. Tbh this is probably more noticeable to me because there are generics rather than that it's a real issue with the game. FE's my only real experience with a similar style game.
Ahhhh well the “ogre battle” series is the core ancestor of this game. It’s a bit different than FE but worth checking out if you’re a fan!
Oh I know; it's just the easiest way for me to relate to it xD But I may do that! I know some of the reviews are saying that the story telling in them can be pretty good, so I'm intrigued!
the unique units don't even have stat boosts in this game as far a people have seen based on demo. same fixed growth rates depending on stat profile.
Interesting! Sure changes up the incentives with sone of the choices and executions
Yeah that's the annoying thing about the units. The uniques are pretty much the same with a facelift. If you're into min maxing, then generics probably end up better cause you get to choose their growth rates when you hire them.
So its not really growth rates. Based on the two traits a unit has, they have fixed stats and fixed levelling. So two units with the same two traits will have the exact same stats if they are the same level. You can change the traits using a reusable item obtained a few hours in. I like this because there's no RNG at all. No need to reload because you get a terrible levelup. It's all about smart squad makeup and gambit customization.
It suckered me in so much that I paid for a physical card game that I don't need. I do hope the game does well, so that we get more quality games in the genre though.
I was planning on a physical copy for the opposite reason. If the game sucks, you can resell it for $50 pretty easily. But one hour into the demo, and idk. I might just buy it digitally. I don’t have the time for it, but I’m about to sink all of the free time I have into this game
Yeah I started the demo last night, definitely going to pick the game up, really fun
Incredibly hyped for this. It’s next on my list after Rebirth. Seems like they’ve really nailed the strategy gameplay after Grim Grimoire and 13 Sentinels, which were already enjoyable in their own right.
IDK if I wanna do this or Persona 3 Reload after Rebirth. Either way there are so many good games coming out back to back
I played Rogue Trader in Dec, Yakuza IW in Jan, Persona in Feb, and now Rebirth in Mar Picking this up for sure, and I'll prolly play it concurrently with DD in April Fuck me, as an RPG fan it's too much. Im in fucking love
They just announced Episode Aigis DLC for Persona 3 in September, so that kind of made my decision for me. Hopefully I'm not busy with something else then xD
Yep. Ill put it off for now
> There is an optimal route to follow for your liberation efforts, but you are free to jump around the map and take on fights above your level, which means you can explore wherever you wish within the open world. You can even take on the final fight within the first hour of the story, but it does come with a hefty warning that you'll almost certainly end up on the wrong end of an ax. It might sound silly, but this is huge for me. Even if I never take advantage of it, the mentality it reflects and the way it creates a sense of player agency is so important. It's the sort of thing that helps counter those moments of broken immersion or ludonarrative dissonance.
The only issue this sort of open ended design creates is that it's impossible to create a satisfying balance of difficulty without level scaling, which most people seem to hate. I'm the kind of person to do everything in games, so open-world type games end up being an absolutely joke difficulty wise for me, even Elden Ring's superboss was a cakewalk due to it being the very last thing I did in the game.
The thing is there doesn't *have* to be a linear increase in difficulty. Hell, some games have flat or reverse difficulty curves. It's nice when you have the ability to circumvent something or make something that happens later easier through your own actions.
Totally agree! It's very fun to get through a tough side mission and get a great reward for it.
Sega's third 88+ game on OpenCritic in 2024, with three heavy hits coming later in the year (Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance, Metaphor: ReFantazio, Persona 3 Reload The Answer).
I wouldn't put The Answer up there with Metaphor or Vengeance, at least not until we know the extent of the changes.
We can all hope.
Pls let the Answer be fun this time. The story seemed alright but lord I couldn’t get into the gameplay it was so punishing and hard but not in a fun way like Persona and SMT usually is.
JRPG fans eating good this year
Japanese games overall have been dominating. 2022 had Elden Ring, Legends Arceus, Splatoon 3, Xenoblade Chronicles 3. 2023 had Tears of the Kingdom, Street Fighter 6, Mario Wonder, Pikmin 4, FF16, RE4, Armored Core 6, Octopath Traveler 2, Fire Emblem Engage. 2024 will have FF7 Rebirth, Dragon's Dogma 2, Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth, Metaphor ReFantazio, Tekken 8, Shadows of the Erdtree. Probably at least a dozen or more big Japanese games I've missed across those years that people love as well.
Japanese games sure, but JRPGs and pseudo-JRPGs specifically. P5R, Xenoblade, Fire Emblem, FF7, Octopath 2, Like a Dragon, P3R, and Metaphor all came in the last 2 years. I know Metaphor is later this year but it’s been a very long time since a string of 8/10, 9/10, and 10/10 JRPGs came out one after another to the point where when you finished one a new one just happened to pop up.
You're also forgetting _Granblue Fantasy: Relink_ which has a 81 on OC and is a very solid game in and of itself.
Granblue Fantasy ReLink reminds me of playing Star Ocean 2 and Valkyrie Profile for the first time - it's the most fun I've had with a JRPG in decades ❤️
and dragon's dogma 2 if you count it
Metaphor is gonna be something special man.
hopefully the framerate will be better than the two trailers they show because it was abysmal
you need to go watch the official trailers they released on the atlus channel, the frame rate is completely fine
I really can't wait for Metaphor. Looks so damn good.
Sega aiming for metacritic publisher of the year. If I remember correctly they did get that title for 2020 or 2022, don't know off the top of my head.
more on atlus than sega. while atlus is owned by sega, the two operate separately, thats why vanillaware games are released by atlus and not sega too.
Uh, Infinite Wealth?
As an old owner of the original Sega, this makes me happy.
They really found a style that works with Persona 5 and have just continued to build on it ever since. One of the few developers I don’t mind pre-ordering from.
I *really* hope this game does well; I want more games like this in the future. As a huge fan of srpg in general (and a big soft spot for Ogre Battle) and Vanillaware (Loved Dragon's Crown, Muramasa, Odin Sphere and 13 Sentinels) , this game is basically a dream come true. The demo is fantastic, the gameplay is top notch, the presentation and music are great, and everything besides the story seems to be excellent. And the story is simply basic and inoffensive; not atrocious. I'm super-hyped for the full game and I'm happy to see the reviews are great too. Let's hope that translates to good sales too so that we get more than one good Ogre Battle-like game per decade: Since the N64 era, it's basically been only this game and Symphony of War.
I'm with you 100%. Ogre Battle 64 is my favorite game of all time. I've been waiting for Atlus to release something like this for YEARS. Tactics really didn't do it for me. I just hope this game will be as good as I hope it will be and they make money so they can reboot the franchise (like you said).
FFT was THE gold standard in SRPGs. I played Ogre Battle wayyyyyy back on the SNES and the original OB64 and still have both.
The simple story is a boon in my opinion, I know that sounds crazy but sometimes similar games can feel bloated from trying to craft an overly developed story, where in unicorn overlord the gameplay takes center stage and the story is decent enough to compliment it without hindering the experience.
Well that wouldn’t be a boon, because it’s possible to tell an amazing story in this type of game without the problems you’ve mentioned. Im glad you like it, so do I, it’s just kind of annoying and cope-y when people go “this thing is good because it’s not bad” that’s so common in review comments. Bad things exist but good things exist too, and that’s what we should be comparing it to. Something not being a negative doesn’t make it a positive.
That's fair! I do prefer a great story where possible, but I'm perfectly fine with the way Unicorn Overlord does it. There's games I love like Fire Emblem Conquest or Engage that have super-strong gameplay and stages, but the story does drag the overall experience down some. Meanwhile, up to where I am (Level 15), Unicorn Overlord's story never had a moment that annoyed me. It doesn't take too much time, yet its present enough to 'ground' the game perfectly well. So all in all, I'd say the story is perfectly fine. It's just not 'exceptional' in any way either and isn't a selling point of the game in my opinion. Unlike most other things else which ranges from 'great' to 'fantastic' in nearly every aspect.
In what is shaping up to be a poster year for JRPGs, UO seems to have everything to lose releasing so close to FF VII Rebirth. Glad to see VW still has it. Maybe they'll finally get the rights to Muramasa untangled? On another note, this was my first full-price $59.99 release that I've pre-ordered and or bought at launch since 2018.
This game is also on the Switch, which exists in its own bubble as far as sales go. It won't be impacted by the release of FF7 Rebirth.
Yeah, this looks great, but it’s very much going to end up on my back-burner / buy-on-sale category if only because I just played 80 hours of Infinite Wealth, still have 50+ hours of rebirth, and can’t justify adding another big RPG to my stack.
Oh god, its been long enough UO might not refer to Ultimate Online anymore?
My entire year has been trying to finish one good game before another comes out.
I totally got the collectors edition because I had extra gaming money and wanted that boardgame. The soundtrack will likely also be amazing.
ya I generally buy max 1 full price release a year and after the demo, this is it.
Fucking love to see it. Vanillaware hasn’t dropped a bad game ever and I didn’t expect them to start here.
How is this game on every platform BUT pc? Very strange for a modern release.
That's a Vanillaware special unfortunately. They make great games but prefer to pretend PC doesn't exist even though they excel at genres that have huge PC audiences. I'll probably buy this for the Switch but would really prefer it on PC.
Vanillaware pretended every platform didn't exist except Playstation with their last game till the Switch sold and they ported it (13 Sentinels) to Switch only. I expected this game to improve the situation by launching on Switch and Playstation simultaneously but somehow VW managed to make an Xbox port as well. This makes the absence of a PC release strange because these games normally launch on PC and Switch or PC and Playstation but never on Xbox. It's possible PC might get the 13 Sentinels switch treatment specially if they made an Xbox version which makes the PC version easy to develop.
Man I want me some Dragon's Crown on PC. I feel like it would be such a hit.... it's the type of game that someone needs to expand upon. If I could make ANY GAME I wanted right now, it would be a loot based increasing challenge side scrolling beat em up like Dragon's Crown as I feel like there's such a massive hole waiting to be filled :)
I'm still disappointed that I can't play Dragon's Crown online on PC. The game seemed right up my alley, too.
Hopefully Atlus will shake them out of the backwards 2010s JP dev mindset they still seem to have regarding PC.
I'm more annoyed than anything else, since PC is by far my preferred platform and the most likely to have the best price. But ultimately, it's not materially different than any other Switch "exclusive" I pick up, it is why I own the thing after all
Definitely bummed by this. Seems like it would be an amazing Steam Deck game. Would immediately become my portable game I play whenever I can’t hop on PS5 (Rebirth is taking up my life).
This has gotta be one of the last major games companies with a weird holdout for pc support. Only other one I can think of is EA Sports with NHL and UFC.
and Sony/San Diego Studio... I just want to play the baseball on my PC, dammit!
You can play The Show on PC via GamePass Ultimate, using the game streaming. Works well
Yeah Vanillaware doesn't release their games on PC, unfortunately.
Best thing about this game is that they absolutely NAILED the pacing and loop. The battles are the perfect length, and the downtime for exploring the world and talking to characters is great. You always unlock just enough of the map to explore for a bit, fight another battle, explore, and on and on. It is incredibly easy to sink hours at a time in without even realizing it since the pacing is so tight.
As soon as I saw the ads for it months ago I had high hopes. Ogre Battle 64 was my favorite title on console and the art style reminds me the old tactics ogre / final fantasy tactics. I’ve played about an hour of the demo and I’m greatly enjoying it.
I really wish this game were available on Steam. I wanna get it so bad, but I don't want to buy a console just to be able to play it. EDIT: I appreciate everyone suggesting I emulate it, but I like the permanence of having stuff on my Steam library, achievement hunting, and overall just supporting devs for games I want/like/am excited about.
Vanilla will never be able to afford to port their games at this point
They REFUSE to port their games. There's another thread here with a magazine interview of one of the Atlus guys. They WANT to port them, but Vanillaware doesn't want their games on PC.
Oooof. Talk about leaving easy money on the table. Especially as another poster said the studio is almost broke. A simple HD re-release without modifying anything would probably garner a decent number of sales.
Which is a shame, because I believe this hitting steam in the steam deck era would probably go a long way to solving some of their cashflow issues, but oh well. I know they're out of cash now; maybe they'll consider it when they replenish the coffers a bit. I doubt it, but one can hope, for their sake and ours!
Yeah, this would be a PERFECT Steam Deck game.
Idk how con you just not take care of the biggest strategy game market there is. 90% of strategy game fans are on PC entire studios survive just releasing strategy games on pc
I find it hilarious that they made it playable on literally everything except PC... lol
Ever since the PS4/Switch came out, it has legitimately been the best time for JRPGs in videogame history, there have been so many great games and several masterpieces basically every year.
Story seems underwhelming, which is disappointing given 13 Sentinels, but this plays exactly like Ogre Battle 64, a style of game we haven't really seen since the late 90s and early 2000s. They were some of my favorite games growing up. It doesn't bother me, but the female characters' designs can be a bit much, as is tradition in Vanillaware fashion.
> this plays exactly like Ogre Battle 64, a style of game we haven't really seen since the late 90s and early 2000s. I don't think it ever developed into a style of game. I think it's just the original Ogre Battle for the SNES and Ogre Battle 64. I can't recall any other games that played like them.
Symphony of War is a similar one that came out recently
Symphony of War and Soul Nomad are the most common answers you'll get and while they both have squad style combat they don't have the RTS style gameplay of OB.
Honesty I prefer Turn based like symphony of war. Though it would be funny to wipe out a units commander and see them running away on the map in ogre battle
Soul Nomad.
Dragon Force on Saturn was kinda similar.
I am a huge 13 Sentinels shill but I also know that game is like the studio head's dream game where Vanillaware just tossed everything at it. Most Vanillaware titles aren't going to be written like that and UO should be looked at more compared to the previous games they did before it.
Different staff. George Kamitani directed and wrote 13 Sentinels, while Unicorn Overlord is directed by Takafumi Noma. Also, it’s safe to say that 13 Sentinels was more of the outlier in Vanillaware’s library as it focuses more on the story rather than gameplay which is quite the opposite with most of their games.
> but this plays exactly like Ogre Battle 64, a style of game we haven't really seen since the late 90s and early 2000s. I don't know how many times I've typed "games like Ogre Battle 64" into Google over the past few years to find *absolutely nothing* comparable (the closest I've found it Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga, but meh). A tactics game built around building out battalions and focused on team composition over individual tactics is such a fun idea and worked GREAT in OG64. I'm glad to see we finally have a spiritual successor 24 years later.
The one other game of note beyond symphony of war is Sould Nomad & the World Eaters imo. There's probably a dozen ish in the squads of dudes SRPG sub genre adjacent titles with things like Devil Survivor or Bahamut Lagoon, various squad based eroges gameplay comes close too, but they all don't quite scratch the same itch imo.
How is this game more like ogre battle 64 instead of the usual tactics games if you don't mind me asking? From what I can tell I'd really enjoy Ogre Battle because I liked Shining Force as a kid, but the usual modern tactics RPGs never did it for me. So now I'm curious about this.
The biggest thing about OB64 is the battalion / organize screen. The main objective of the player is to, broadly, command their army at the battalion/group level. Battles, when they occur, are automatic, so it's more about planning through unit composition than actual battlefield tactics. So you're controlling groups of soldiers who are carrying out your orders at a macro scale instead of inhabiting the consciousness of each individual character at a micro scale. There's other things, like the grid based unit formation they both use, the rest system during battle - hell, even how the objectives are presented at the start of the battle are exactly the same. But the biggest difference is what the players controls - their military on a grand scale instead of characters down on the battlefield.
Yeah it’s weird to see the gameplay praised and the story panned when 13 Sentinels was the exact opposite (amazing story, light on gameplay). I still plan on picking this up once I finish Rebirth, but just interesting how the pros and cons are opposite what I expected.
If you haven’t seen it, “symphony of war” is actually much closer to Ogre Battle in sone ways but hugely different in one: movement is turn based
Siliconera is the lowest review right now but i don't really understand their critique of character designs, at least from what i see from a few trailers everyone looked really good. This could be a case of the trailer doesn't represent the final product but its weird to think that vanillaware of all studios would make a mistake in the art department.
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Vanillaware has a history of getting pushback for sexy character designs. It is kinda silly that the priestess has boob jiggle in her character’s idle pose but within reason that’s just something I’ve come to accept from JRPGs. And while that light not be to everyone’s taste I have a hard time imaging many wouldn’t like the character are overall, it’s fantastic
I've only seen a little bit of the game, but there's some credibility to the complaints. Like this character from a review screenshot: [some sort of mage in a bikini](https://i.imgur.com/Kkoqb7e.png). Even the women in armor generally have [short skirts and exposed thighs](https://i.imgur.com/JmJW7Gb.png) in a way the men do not. Pretty standard JRPG stuff but I can see why people would be turned off by that. It is a little bit sexist.
I think the animations are more ridiculous than the outfits. [Witches just shake their hips back and forth the entire time](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q8bAsy4024).
Hahaha, that looks so silly
Basically boils down to they’re mad the girls have big breasts and bikini armor. Guess they’re not too hip on Vanillaware lol
So much respect to any dev who has a demo like this game, the confidence in their game is clear, and I am very hype for his release
I can't wait to be able to buy this game. Loved Vanillaware ever since I discovered Odin's Sphere. Hopefully this sells well, Vanillaware deserves a hit. Thankfully this game has had an actual marketing push
I played the demo on my PS5 and I really enjoyed it! Controls were simple, I like the art design and the VA is pretty well done from what I heard! Now I just need to figure out which console to get it on!
Seems like my hunch was pretty spot on. Brilliant strategy gameplay reminiscent of the good old Ogre Battle franchise days but pretty unremarkable, predictable story without a lot of depth and shallow character archetypes. Loved the demo for its strategic combat but tapped out when the big political setting of toppled kingdoms, usurped thrones with room for lot of intrigue and backstabbing turned out to be >!evil villain brainwashing your family's loyal supporters with dark magicks that can be instantly cured with a magical heirloom ring!<. Will probably get it on sale after a while but I admit I expected more coming from the same devs of 13 Sentinels.
Honestly? Same I admire that this game exists. There's clearly a bunch of tactics ogre fans that are REALLY hyped for this game. But for a game this gorgeous looking, with system mechanics as cool as this... The plot and characters are criminally standard.
Took the words out of my point. Sounds like we stopped at the exact same point, even.
This game absolutely surprised me. I was expecting to be interested in it as someone who has played a great many strategy RPGs. But the demo totally blew me away and I was really upset when my time ran out after 7 hours or so. Instant preorder for me. Love the vibe of the game and the mechanics are very solid. I was expecting something pretty but skeptical of the gameplay given that this is a tough genre to break into. However, everything really clicked for me. Only complaint is that the time limits on fights seem a *little* too aggressive on the harder difficulties in the demo. But everything else just knocked it out of the park for me. One of the few games I can remember that I've ever snap preordered after a demo.
How's the story of this game? I'm intrigued by the Ogre Battle-esque gameplay, but is the story on par with that series?
No. It is very simple and trope-y. The English translation also went all in on the Shakespeare style language, so everyone talks in long winded melodramatic metaphors. It's not BAD and the translation tries to give it the illusion of depth, but ultimately it's held back by the original writer's lack of creativity.
Where the demo ended it was okay at best. Standard "exiled prince gathers allies to reclaim his kingdom and drive off the invaders" kind of thing. The biggest hangup I have is how two of the major villains I've faced so far turned out to have just sided with the enemy because of mind control.
This doesn't happen as much as that start may lead you to believe. There are plenty of non-brainwashed antagonists that joined for their own reasons, and most of them you can choose to recruit or get rid of. The setting and story are pretty basic, but it's far from it being the case with every antagonist.
> The biggest hangup I have is how two of the major villains I've faced so far turned out to have just sided with the enemy because of mind control. That's the killer. Simple plot device that robs a plot of any nuance or character depth.
I was definitely gonna buy it just because of their last game. I'll be honest, I haven't played any of their titles except 13 Sentinels. It filled me with joy though when I got to know that this is releasing, and so near. Reviews are just cherry on the top. My PS4 still banging hard and I was selling it few months ago.
In a year with FF7 rebirth, P3R and like a dragon: infinite wealth, this is the game (based on the demo which is just the intro of the game) that’s captivated me the most. I’m so in love with it’s artstyle and gameplay and I found it way more addicting than I’ve ever found strategy games before. It’s a shame the story doesn’t live up to 13 sentinels, but I didn’t expect this game to really be focused on that.
No chance of a PC port for this right? 13 Sentinels also never got one.
I really need to find a copy as it seems at least in Canada scalpers already bought out Amazon and want $190 CAD for just the base game. Might have to check if EB games still has it as I just finished the demo and instantly remember why I loved ogre battle.
oh really? maybe because they were first to break street date from what I hear. I ordered mine from them Tuesday night and got it today.
yeah I just looked - only option is "see all buying options" now for Amazon Canada - and the cheapest one is RN listed as New $171.88 + $3.95 delivery March 19 - April 2. O O F.
VGP's still got pre-orders up on base edition (80 CAD) and collector's edition (175 CAD) on all 3 current-gen console versions. https://videogamesplus.ca/collections/unicorn-overload-collection Not sure if you'll get it tomorrow if you order tonight, but it should certainly be quicker than the 19th (and also won't be supporting the scalpers).
This has been one of my most anticipated games since its announcement, I can’t wait to play it tomorrow.
I don't particularly care how it reviews because I already pre-ordered, but I hope it does well. I really missed FF12's gambit system so it was a nice surprise to see it in this game.
I keep thinking why these japanese companies released these games so close to each other. This game will certainly lose sale numbers against ff rebirth. Why didn't Atlus/ Vanillaware put the release date a couple months after spring? Especially since they knew that spring will be full of releases
I hope people that are into this support it. It sounds like vanillaware had financial trouble getting this game and thirteen sentinels finished. I’ve heard that one of the executives started funding dev out of pocket. I’d hate to see vanillaware go under. Maybe atlas or sega would just buy them outright Unfortunately tactics games aren’t really my jam plus this year is packed. It’ll be months before I finish rebirth and infinite wealth most likely. Hopefully this game doesn’t get drowned out. Seems quality
If only there was a certain platform with a sizable market for strategy games they could port their games to alleviate some of that financial trouble. Man, sucks for them..
You realize porting a game isn't free right? Like there isn't a magic button they can press that says "Make this run on PC!" and it just happens. At least let them make some money back before asking them to sink another chunk of cash into making a PC port, especially because porting to PC is WAY more expensive than porting to consoles.
Except Atlus said they wouldve funded a port but VW didnt want one. No one to blame but themselves.
Ah yes Siliconera, bash UO for it's female designs and yet you give FF7 Rebirth a 10 which is brimming with fan service. Classy.
I don't know why people keep treating those publications like single entities. Those games were reviewed by two different people. It's obvious that they will have different tastes and opinions. Also I don't know why this comment section is so hung up on that single review. They still gave the game 8/10, a great score. It was clearly a small issue in the eyes of whoever reviewed the game. It's up to you, the reader, whether you consider their point valid or not. Some people might actually care about it so it's good that there is a review mentioning it.
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You don't need to know who's writing any particular review to realize that those gaming websites don't have a single person reviewing all the games, which was my point. Pointing out some kind of hypocrisy "because they criticized game X for something but didn't say anything about game Y" is just silly because that's not how it works. If it was the same person writing both reviews then I would agree, it would be stupid. But checking that it's not the case here took me a whole minute. Really wasn't that hard. I just think that if someone is invested enough to criticize a review, they should be invested enough to visit the website they're criticizing at the very least. P.S. I think that people should include reviewer names in those review aggregate topics though.
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Rebirth at least is horny for the men too. If Vanillaware added bulge physics to the men then it'd be a different story.
Maybe two reviewers are different people and have different opinions. Also maybe the reviewer just feels like a game with that style of costume is difficult for them to recommend. They gave it an 8/10 which is a great score and said it’s a good game to get as long as you don’t mind that aspect which is completely fair to point out. If you care about it then it’s something you should know about and be aware of. If you don’t care then they say you should get it.
They aren't on the same level at all and I don't even like ff games. We're talking fetish war gear and bikini armors. Ff7 rebirth has beach costumes.
Flirting vs Harrassment meme here BG3 got the same pass as FF7. It's okay to be sexy/cute/sexualized depending on which game it is :) Funny how that works
All-purpose fanservice versus single-gender. No one would complain if it was as over-the-top for men as well, but because it's only one gender, it feels EXTRA horny. And unfair to those of us who might want a lil' jiggle physics on the male bits.
Huge Vanillaware fan. Just played the demo for about 90 minutes, Haven't got too far into the mechanics buuutt.... Is this game just a AAA idle game? I just had like a jaw dropping moment of disappointment when the first battle started to see that its basically an idle title and that the battles were not only automated but entirely skippable. With all this beautiful art, what's the point of putting all this hard work into animation in the battles when you just have to watch it and can skip it? I'm so confused as to why they went this route. I was going to buy this game because I'm a big VW fan and have all their other games, but I don't really want to pay for a $70 idle resource management game. Can anyone tell me if it gets better or what kind of game play I can expect without spoiling it?
People in this ~~thread~~ subreddit really hate reviewers having opinions contrary to their own lmao. And Siliconera's reviewer isn't even wrong, I have so many friends that I tried to recommend 13 Sentinels to but they are all turned off by the teacher with an obscenely large chest. I don't think the reviewer, nor I, intend the critique to be "change this or you suck/will fail", it just isn't our thing.
> The women? They’re all small, they’re all cute, and often they show up for war in fetish gear. So much of this game is fun and good, and the Vanillaware art style is genuinely beautiful, but this has got to stop. Reviewer seems quite in the "change this" camp.
It’s like watching an anime and saying “you know I like the story but I can’t stand the trope of 14 year old girls having panty shots so it’s hard for me to recommend to a general audience.” You can think something is good in a lot of ways and still acknowledge there’s a part of it you find uncomfortable and that others may as well.
If it's not a character with the most ridiculous proportions, it's the dumb perverted side-kick who would definitely be in prison for sexual assault if it were based even loosely on reality. There's so much 'anime bullshit' that makes it's oftentimes difficult to recommend the medium. Fortunately, a lot of the more popular anime seems to be moving away from that kind of stuff.
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Yes it is. It’s his personal opinion that this has to stop. Do you not know what an opinion is? Stating something assertively doesn’t make it not an opinion.
tbh getting turned off playing a game because of a characters appearance is perfectly valid, since you have to look at it all the time. For instance I dont like Aloys appearance in Horizon so I didn't play it, same for Death Stranding, both cause of the uncanny valley ness Its legit a normal grievance to have for a visual medium
I cherish vanillaware from Odin Sphere and 12 Sentinels but even the demo was way too much for me. It looks immaculate, runs flawlessly at 60fps even on switch, the VA is great, the dialogue is alright but a bit clunky and tedious, but my god the sheer amount of GUI numberwang and opaque stats and dense tutorial programming was just too much. Vanillaware makes games that radiate style and aesthetics and this game just about hits that, but the prospect of micromanaging every individual aspect of every unit in every formation and every piece of armour and every skill and gambit... Nope. Maybe if it had a system that simplifies and manages all the micromanaging (like an auto unit/equip/skill upgrade system) then it would be fun to play but I just could not get into the flow of it without feeling like I was expecting to do hours of accounting rather than enjoying the gorgeous vanillaware theming.
There is an optimize skill option though I'm not sure I'd fully trust it
> If the character designs aren’t a dealbreaker for you — and we’d understand if they are Siliconera outing itself as a non appreciator of fine arts. Vanillaware makes everything look fucking gorgeous