Less annoying than Millenium.

When I recommend a game, I typically recommend it based on how well it meets it’s advertised hype. After all, that’s usually what convinces you to buy a game. If the game doesn’t live up to that hype, then you were cheated out of your money.

Pier Solar, while not a terrible game, doesn’t live up to that hype.

The biggest hype of Pier Solar is that it is a port of a Genesis/Megadrive game. Forget it, that has no factor here. The graphics have all been updated so it looks like any other decent RPG Maker game. The story never was up to snuff of genesis RPGs. The FM based sound is the only thing that’s left, but it’s not on by default, so I guess even the developers didn’t think that you would prefer the 16-bit version.

So the graphics are decent. I don’t need to explain that because there are screenshots, what you see is what you get. But what’s wrong with the story? Well, I don’t know entirely because I haven’t played the whole thing, but after 6 hours I’m not sure if I want to play through the whole thing. There has been zero real motivation. The first chapter has been about finding a plant to heal the main’s dad. That’s decent motivation for the characters, but I just met these people and have no reason to feel involved. That part’s over, so then they introduced a door that teleports you to a green room, we went to Pakistan, and now there are some furries. That’s neat, but there’s nothing compelling about any of it. Our heros are just exploring out of passing curiosity, just like me, and I don’t think I have the stamina that they do. Speaking of heros, I’ve spent 6 hours with the same 3 people and I don’t dare try to spell their names without looking it up. They are not compelling characters. They are all young scientists who are good with weapons and magic. If they could change weapon/element types, they might as well have been all the same character. JRPG’s are supposed to be deep and compelling, and that hasn’t happened yet.

Everything else is pretty typical. The battle system has a neat “gather” feature which acts as a multiplier while fighting. Required for certain spells. That’s the only thing that seems worth mentioning. Battles are actually rather simplistic because you can’t seem to share elemental powers between characters. Eg: fire based weapons are only available for the fire based character. The overworld also has the typical “get stuck on corners/can’t tell what is or isn’t a wall” features that you expect from RPG Maker games.

You can’t expect Phantasy Star out of every retro tribute game, and WaterMelon made a lot of effort for a comparable 16-bit game. Without the 16-bit hardware, however, Pier Solar is just another of the many fan made RPGs on Steam.

source: https://saturdayxiii.tumblr.com/post/182151630754

I remember telling Alix that the face on my phone case wasn’t a self portrait.  Now. I think. I can only describe it as a self portrait. source: https://saturdayxiii.tumblr.com/post/185573413369

From a person who hasn’t played this type of strategy game in a long time, Isomer is a lot of fun.

Gameplay?  Well, it functions. Things aren’t polished, there’s a lot of features that we hope to see included, and the control limitations take a little getting used to, but it functions, and it’s fun. You play the aliens, invading from another planet, you fight humans, who are also invading from another planet, I guess. Gather resources, build your base, trade up your inventory, explore, and conquer. Some simple formulas done properly to give you great gameplay value.

Now the game has tutorials: personally I liked it better without them. I liked being able just to play the game. You got attacked in your base in the first 2 minutes of game play? That’s the tutorial. Worked great for me. I had some questions about which actions should be prioritized, but learning that is the bulk of the enjoyability in this type of strategy game, and it’s not hard to figure out by experimentation. So it’s a great game if you actually like to learn while you play, rather than mindlessly carrying out instructions and quests.

Isomer has a simple style; rather cartoony. I like that. Night time is even kind of creepy the first couple times. First play through of Minecraft kind of creepy, but less impending doom. There’s even hints of a developing story taking place. I sure hope that gets implemented more in the future!

I haven’t played this type of game in a long time, and cartoony-ness doesn’t ruin my immersion. These are pros for me. Beyond that you still have a stable game that will bring quite a bit of fun if you are into casual strategy.

source: https://saturdayxiii.tumblr.com/post/182014060474

I had watched a lets play of Scratches and another mansion horror game: Pineview Drive. I wanted to give Pineview Drive a negative review because it sucks and is pointless, but that would mean having to pay for it. I already owned Scratches, so lets give this game a positive review instead.

This game is great.

Honestly it’s not for everyone, but seriously it’s great. Unlike Pineview Drive there is an actual story with real weight to it. Everything has a reason and a consequence, and it’s meaningful to a character that you learn to care about.

The game is slow, dated interface and graphics, and requires a lot of reading without voice over. That’s a drawback to most people, but it’s atmosphere is great and meaningful. It has a couple puzzles and very few jump-scares but they are in places that actually matter to the story and give you a memorable experience unlike a certain other game.

Scratches has a heavy story with not a whole lot of game action, definitely not everyone is into that, but this game is beautifully catered to the people who are into that. Great atmosphere, very immersive, great story.

source: https://saturdayxiii.tumblr.com/post/182014203904

Millennium a New Hope must have done well as a high school project. Based on the writing and overload of anime/rpg tropes I assume that’s what it was made for. I don’t know why there are at least 5 of these Millennium games out there, but I think I have a pretty good idea why only one made it to Steam so far, and I’m quite surprised that it did.

This review is technically incomplete, because I haven’t finished the game. Everything could change, but I doubt that I’m going to get there. I’ve been playing for 12 hours and have only obtained 4 out of 5 main characters. That’s not a measure of judgment in itself, but I am bored enough to say that I probably won’t play much more. Nothing is compelling me to play more.

As an RPG, this game does well in it’s mechanics. It’s got some interesting methods to power up your characters and lots of variety for weapons and enemies. The game play itself is actually quite commendable. … Except for the random jumping portions and other unseen elements, but you can’t win them all.

Here’s the clincher for me. This game is more of a first time fan fiction to JRPGs. All these comments towards the immaturity of the writing of the game is because nothing happens for any reason. Or at least for any understandable reason. What’s the conflict? Big kingdom won’t help struggling country side and wants them all to starve to death. Solution? Peasant girl is moved by squirrels helping each other and think that humans need to act more like squirrels (?). Every one is sure to help each other and get along if only she can become leader of the kingdom in its next election. The twist? Democracy has failed! The election is rigged. Plus no one would want to vote for her anyway, but that’s not really addressed. Luckily the land has an ancient tradition for such times: “Martial Law”. When elections don’t go the way you want, find a posse and beat the hell out of people until they listen. If the game was trying to be ironic this would be great, but the sad music and dry story telling tell me it’s trying to be heartfelt and inspiring.

So the story sucks, does this ruin the game? Not for everyone, sure, but the story is a major part of JRPG’s and is especially important to this reviewer. What made me stop playing the game is the inane dialogue that happens every scene. I’m tired of clicking through a dozen text bubbles filled with 1 dimensional character banter complete with chuckles and looks away sadly remarks every time a task is finished or started. The characters aren’t characters, they are tropes: ignorant, carefree, stubborn leader; sarcastic sidekick; cowardly tag-a-long; etc. and nothing in the miles of dialogue actually develops character or gives motivation. I only know that the characters have these personalities because the other characters say so. The cowardly tag-a-long seems quite reasonable to me. I was surprised to learn that the main character was “energetic” and carefree until she got sidekicks obsessed enough about her every idea and action to tell me so. Even the quests that every new character demands develop nothing for the characters or story.

Some people do like this game, and that’s fine. Hardcore fans are probably more geared toward gameplay. Newbies probably appreciate the warm and simple storyline. Maybe something changes later that will actually grip me to want to progress, but I don’t want to risk another 10 hours on such a low possibility.

source: https://saturdayxiii.tumblr.com/post/182014542454