Review #329: Danganronpa 2 - Goodbye Despair

 Don't despair, Danganronpa is back!

 Danganronpa 1 was fantastic, while I wasn't much of a fan of the Trials, the story caught me by the hook and didn't let go. So of course, I had to get my hands on the sequel, and, now, having played it, I've a bit of mixed feelings about it.

 So, what's Danganronpa about? It's a visual-novel styled adventure game. Taking place from Hajime Hinata's point of view, he, alongside 15 other teenagers find themselves stranded on an Island, where a Bunny named Usami kinda forces them to make friends and gather hope fragments. And then Monokuma, a half-black half-white cartoonesque bear takes over and forces the 16 students to kill each other. When not reading dozens upon dozens of lines of text that advance the story in a mostly linear fashion, you'll sometimes be allowed to explore the Island and chatter with the other students. At least until disaster strikes and one of the students decides to murder one of his peers, then you'll have to investigate and gather clues, in order to solve the mystery surrounding the murder and finding out the culprit... or perish. The story can be very bleak sometimes, but it's also pretty humorous in tone, it's a weird mixture that works relatively well, and the game's art direction works wonders with the game's themes.

 I kinda liked the story, but... I've to compare it with Danganronpa 1's, because there's things I preferred, and others I felt it took a step back. For instance, on the outset, the new characters are kinda lame. Danganronpa had funny, quirky characters that played around tropes. Sure, there were a few predictable and generic stereotypes. but they were the minority. Now the game has gone full Japan, most of the girls fall under one or more waifu stereotypes, there's the girl that's always apologizing, the girl that always talks about what 'boys have to do', the little girl that hides a perverse side, the girl that know nothing of the world, etc. It tries to pander to the Otaku culture, and it loses a lot of originality due to it. The male cast doesn't fare much better either. There's the mandatory pervert(who actually has a speck of originality, being bisexual, for a change), then there's the pervert with a crush, and there's also a guy that constantly mentions how he 'has to take a shit', because that's supposed to be funny somehow? The game doesn't stop there when trying to pander to the Otaku culture, there's a whole lot more of fanservice in the game, they actually go out of their way to put as many erotic CG as they can. I was rolling my eyes most of the time...

 ...until I finished chapter 3. Then the fanservice stops. And by that time, you've probably made more advances, during your free time, on the individual character's stories. Turns out the second half of the game is phenomenal, the twist at the end is excellent, and I'd say that everything that happens on this second half is even better than Danganronpa 1's story. That said, you will probably find a lot of parallels between this characters and the ones from the previous game, some praised it, since they did it to 'play with the players expectations'. I call it a waste. This kind of twist would be neat on a third or fourth entry, not in the second game. I mean, even the murders share similarities with the ones from the previous game, and it's done on purpose, and while I think the new murders panned out much better than the previous one's, I still think I would've preferred more originality on a sequel. Word of warning: This game reaveals the plot twists from the previous game as if they were nothing, so you'd probably want to play the first game first.

 And then we have the trials. It's no exaggeration to say that I didn't really like these gameplay segments before, and now I like them even less. For instance, previously you only had to 'shoot' your evidence at contradictory statements, now you'll also come across blue statements, on which evidence is used to agree with. It adds more nuance to an already convoluted game. Hangman's gambits have been 'improved'. or so the game claims, now you have to go through a minigame, in which you must form a word out of moving letters that appear on the screen. Problem is, words are rather long, letter must be picked up in order, and you'll spend a lot of time waiting for the letters you need to appear. Plus, you need two of the same letter in order to 'get' it, but if two different letters collide, you lose health... and I found myself losing health due to offscreen crashes a lot. It can be both unfair and tedious. Panic Talk Actions, the rhythm minigame, has been tweaked a bit, it's a bit simpler now, since you don't need to press the buttons in time every time, but just hold on a beat, and then let go on another.

 But there's even more new elements. There's the Logic Dives, which are a skateboarding-sort-of minigame, where you must jump and pick the correct roads for answers... it's rather fun to be honest, at least when the collision detection on the road works correctly, some of the jumps later on can be a bit of a pain. Then there's 'rebuttal duels', where you must slash across the screen in order to be able to use an evidence 'blade' to cut a contradiction. It's a bit annoying as well, since sometimes it will devolve into a mashing game, because gamers love those. In conclusion, I think the trials have gotten even worse. I didn't like them before, and I like them even less now. That said, as I've mentioned previously, the murders themselves are much more interesting, so I don't really mind slugging through these sections.

 Playing through the game unlocks six different levels on 'Magical Girl Unami' minigame, an arcade like arena game where you, as Unami, must defeat enemies by running in circles(To cast spells) or jumping over them. It's a surprisingly fun diversion. Beating the game however unlocks two things: Danganronpa IF, a short story, with no gameplay, dealing with an alternate take on Danganronpa 1, and 'Island Mode', a micromanagement minigame that is surprisingly fun.

 I've read everywhere that Danganronpa 2 is supposed to be an 'even better sequel' but.... as much as I liked the second half of the game, I think the gameplay took a dive for the worse. And as good as the game gets, it starts off on a rather low note. And by no means am I saying the game is bad, because by the end of the game I was having as much fun as I was with the first one, but it takes a long while to get there. It's a fact that the new environment provides a lot more variety on backgrounds and what not, but I really enjoyed the highschool theme from the previous game. Regardless, it's another great Danganronpa game, but the should've spent less time trying to appeal to the Otaku culture and trying to provide 'twists' to Danganronpa 1's characters and murders, and more time being more original.

8.5 out of 9.0.

Review #328: Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright - Ace Attorney

 Right, I am.

 I would've never thought of having Phoenix Wright crossing over with Professor Layton, but as soon as it was announced, it made so much sense! Two heroes who solve all their issues with logic, one applies it on puzzles, while the other applies it to make sense out of various murder cases. And thus, here is it, the most logical crossover ever made, marrying the puzzles from the Layton series with the court trials from Phoenix Wright, and it's fantastic. Also, I'm only familiar with the Phoenix Wright franchise, so that was my viewpoint.

 The story revolves around Labyrinthia, a town stuck in the medieval age, where witches are real. The plot has both Layton and his gentleman-in-training Luke as well as Phoenix and his ace assistant Maya stumble into the town of Labyrinthia, where witch hunts take place daily. At first I was a bit worried about this supernatural spin on the court trials, since, while Phoenix Wright is no stranger to the supernatural, it was never this blatant. But magic in Labyrinthia follows rules. namely, a witch needs a scepter as well as up to two magical stones for up to two magical spells, which must be spoken aloud if a witch was to cast magic. I found the story to be very entertaining and engaging, and, as far as my little knowledge of Layton goes, true to the characters. Maybe a bit too true, while Layton is praised by almost everyone, Phoenix is the butt of the joke most of the time. Which makes sense, in universe, but at the end of the day Layton is the best at what he does... as well as at what Phoenix does. Phoenix never shocks Layton with a realization or theory, but it's made clear that Phoenix always plays catch-up to Layton's discoveries, even on the court trials, which I felt was a bit unfair to Pheenie. That aside, there's plot twists that you just won't see coming, due to how ridiculous(in a good way!) they are. And while the Phoenix Wright games have always dealt with murder and death, this game starts out a bit... darker, with witches, once found guilty, being burned to death on the spot.

 The game is divided in about 10 chapters, with a total of 70 puzzles and about 4 court cases, which lasted me about 18 hours. Usually, chapters alternate between 'adventure' style chapters that have you navigate the cast throughout the world of Labyrinthia, while solving puzzles to advance the plot and Court Cases, in which you play as Phoenix Wright and have to use evidence to point out contradictions in the witnesses' testimonies. From what I could gather, these puzzles are much simpler than the ones found in the Layton games, and I can tell you first hand that Phoenix cases are simpler as well. For instance, most evidence is produced during the trials themselves, as it advances or as you press the witnesses to elaborate on their testimonies. without 'investigation' phases to gather evidence beforehand. There's also a new gimmick, this time around you will have to cross-examine multiple witnesses at once, and you'll be able to press other witnesses if you notice they startle during another's words.

 Not having play the Layton games before, I did find most of the puzzles relatively easy to figure out. Since there's 70 of them, naturally I loved a few and hated a few, but all in all, there's plenty of variety. You can also gather 'hint coins' during the puzzle-themed chapters, which can be used to buy hints on both puzzles and court cases. If you ask me, I feel like this game is a fantastic starting point for people interested on dabbling on either franchise. The court cases are relatively simple, easing you into the trials you'd face on the main games(Although, honestly, the difficulty cirve resets on every game, and they ease you pretty well as the games go along), and the puzzles are simple enough as to give you a taste on to what you'd find on Layton, plus, the story does justice to the characters, and while I found a few nods to previous Ace Attorney games, you don't need to know anything about either to enjoy the story.

 Finishing the game lets you download(For free, and it's a second-long download, which makes me wonder why have them locked under a line of code...) 12 bonus chapters, each one features a short story segment as well as a new puzzle. I thought they were a drag. I mean, I liked the new puzzles, but the story was very boring. It serves as an epilogue of sorts, but suddenly every character is self-aware that they are in a videogame... I dunno, I felt the new story bits were boring, but at least you get new puzzles.

 Another thing that bears mentioning, is how good everything looks. The graphics are fantastic, sure, the game can chug a bit on the most intricate backgrounds when three characters are on-screen at once, but this being a game that revolves around reading, and reading a lot, it doesn't matter. Charmingly, Phoenix and Maya look like they do on their games(Which is to say anime-realisticish) while Layton and Luke look like they do on their games(Which is to say cartoonish), while the NPCs are a mixture of both, with main supporting characters taking after PW's style, and the secondary characters, like NPCs, taking after Layton's. It sounds as if it'd be a visual mess, but they mix relatively well. Voice acting and the soundtrack are top notch as well, they got fantastic voice actors for both Phoenix and Maya.

 I adored Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright, it's probably one of the best crossovers I've ever played or seen. It's not surprising how well both gameplay styles mesh together, but they managed to weave a fun, interesting and somewhat original tale tying everything together. While I'd recommend any Phoenix Wright game before this one, if what you want is Phoenix Wright, it does feel like a Phoenix Wrightish game, and I'm sure it feels like a Layton game as well. It's understandable why the puzzles and trials may be somewhat simpler than the ones from the main games, and I didn't mind it at all.The only thing left for me to say is.... I want a sequel.

 8.0 out of 10

Now Playing: Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

 Unsurprisingly, it's really, really good.

 I can tell you first hand that Phoenix Wright has consistently pumped out great games, and while I never played a single Layton game, I know that his games have been well received as well. So it was a no brainer that this game was gonna be decent at the least. Since I've been in a text-heavy game romp, and since Capcom, king of good decisions, decided to to release Phoenix Wright 5 digitally, I decided it was high time I played Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright, I mean, Phoenix Wright IS one of my favorite video game franchises after all!

 So, let's start with the good:
 I've only played the prologue, which featured no Trials, and very little Phoenix Wright, and I'm already having fun.
 The puzzles were amusing.
 The presentation is exquisite, voice acting is charming and both Nick and Maya's voice actors fit their characters perfectly. The graphics are beautiful as well.

 What I didn't like:
 Supernatural entities? It seems the game will involve the supernatural. I don't know about Layton, but Phoenix Wright has always been grounded in reality. More or less. It might've a few quirks, like Apollo being able to tell when someone is lying, or the Fey family being able to channel spirits, but the assassinations have always been relatively plausible. But now we are involving witches, witchcraft, crow-like witches with telekinetic abilities... I'm pretty sure this game will have trials, but if we involve the supernatural into it... then 'A wizard did it' would be a great excuse as any to get outta trouble! 'Oh, a witch left my fingertips on the crime scene.', and it'd be totally valid since witches do exist now. But to be fair, I've yet to play as Phoenix, so let's see how the game goes about it.

Review #327: 999 - Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors

 That's a lot of nines.

 I like me some visual novels. Very linear, story driven games in which you read, read, make a choice, read, read, read, make a choice, etc. And after finding out that 999 was made by the same developer that made the fantastic Danganronpa, I just had to give it a whirl.

 The premise is as follows: You follow Junpei, one of nine different captives that have been trapped on a sinking ship, and had numbered bracelets attached to their arms. Throughout the ship they will find different numbered doors, 1-9, and only 3 to 5 people may pass through a door, if the sum of their bracelets' digital root equals to the number on the door. There's mystery, murder, betrayal and multiple endings. As for the story itself, I found it decent, but flawed. Some of the dialogue feels forced, as sometimes out of the blue, characters will decide to mention things, like Prospagnosia, and who'd knew that eventually you'd discover a character that suffers from it! Or they will decide to mention occult stuff, and who'd knew, it'd end up being pertinent to their situation! And they will offer fairly long winded, detailed explanations, while under the strain of time, they have 9 hours before they go boom, after all! And every little things ends up being pertinent. Who'd knew! Also, the game is relatively realistic, but all the realism is thrown out of the window when you enter the True Ending Route, dealing with preternatural themes that really brought me out of the game. Lastly, I know that Danganronpa came out after this game, but I had played it before even touching 999, and... let's say that I knew who Zero was immediately. Still, there's moments of absolute brilliance, but talking about them, or even hinting at them, would put me into spoiler territory.

 When you are not reading or deciding on which door to take, you'll be tasked with solving different puzzles in order to proceed. I'm gonna be honest, I found the puzzle sections to be a drag. Not only do they commit the sin of feeling like a pixel hunt, having to click on every little thing that you see, including stuff that looks like background decoration, but sometimes some objects will only trigger after you have interacted with others. Take the Kitchen puzzle, for instance, there's four piles of plates as well as a bill. You need that bill, but you can only take it after you've interacted with the four different piles of plates! Yeah, I didn't have much fun with the puzzles.

 Another issue I had was with the game's overall speed. Unless you are replaying a scene or puzzle, you can't skip the text. The problem lies when you have to retry a puzzle, as the game will force you to go through the slowly scrolling tutorial text every time you attempt it. Heck, even if you accidentally tap on something you've already interacted with, you are forced to read the text again. It's very annoying. I also found myself reading faster than the text would scroll during the story scenes, but I didn't mind it so much then, it's only during the puzzle sections that it really becomes an issue. At least, on future playthroughs, you can just fastforward the explanation texts.

 Ah, future playthroughs, the game doesn't handle them as well as I would've liked it to. Firstly, you can only fastforward text, not skip it. It sounds inconsequential, but fast forwarding text can take a couple of minutes before you get into any kind of new stuff, which can be boring. Imagine yourself holding right on the directional pad, fastforwarding the text, trying to keep yourself busy in any other way until you get to something new. The game will also have you doing the puzzles. Again. If you want to get every unique ending, it translates into solving the initial puzzle five times. And if you want the real ending, it will take at least two playthroughs. And the game doesn't allow you to skip puzzles if you already know the answer, oh no, you can't even attempt to introduce codes until you find the hints. It means busy work, a lot of busy work that could be better spent trying to solve the puzzles you haven't encountered yet.

 999 is an alright game, but I'd hesitate to favor it as much as people do. 'One of the DS's best hidden gems'? Doubt it. 'The best Visual Novel on the DS!'? I hope not. And mind you, the story itself is interesting, when you aren't rolling your eyes at all the super natural stuff, but I don't think the game lives up to the huge amounts of praise it gets. There's a lot of annoying little things with the puzzles, there's a ton of dialogue that feels forced, then there's all the annoyances related to the required multiple playthroughs.... It's a good game, but flawed.
 7.5 out of 10

Now Playing: 999 - Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors

 Not impressed.

 So I had just played Danganronpa, and while waiting for Danganronpa 2 to arrive I began to grow antsy. I've always had 999 on my backlog, and having learned that it was made by Chunsoft, Danganronpa's developer, and that it had a similar murder-mystery theme, albeit a bit more 'Saw' rather than 'Battle Royale', I decided to take it for a spin. Plus, people consider it one of the DS' hidden gems, so, y'know, why not? Besides, Lords of Arcana is a drag and I've been barely logging playtime on it, so.......

 Anyways, I just finished the first puzzle, and man, am I disappointed. This first puzzle felt like a pixel hunt, objects that looked like background elements wound up being crucial hotspots. Compare and contrast with Danganronpa, where everything pops, and even then, you can press a button to highlight every interactive element on the background. And to add insult to injury, the text scrolls oh so slowly. I had to retry the blue briefcase puzzle a few times(TURNS OUT THAT WHITE WARDROBE WASN'T JUST DECOR!), but the game just had to explain to me how the mini-game worked over and over and over again, and I couldn't skip it. Seriously??? The same goes for the tutorial, it went on and on and on and on, and with no way whatsoever to speed it.

 First impressions? The game blooooooooooows. Hopefully I'll end up retracting my words once everything's said and done, but judging by this very first puzzle, it's not looking very bright. Still, I remain hopeful, thanks to the game's reputation and the fact that I felt Danganronpa's weakest element was the gameplay itself, so, y'know, I can permit myself to remain ever hopeful.

Month Overview: May 2016

 Tally:
Danganronpa HappyTriggerHavoc                             9.0
Gravity Rush                                                               6.5
Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3(Vita)                         8.0


 Not much was played this month. Danganronpa was fantastic, Gravity Rush was alright, UMvC 3 was surprisingly considering how Street Fighter X Tekken's Vita port was a bit shoddy at times. I also started Lords of Arcana which is... it dangles between mediocre and terrible, and right now I'm stuck at the Bahamut fight, and frankly, I only attempted it twice, I simply don't have the drive, since the game is such a drag.

Game of May:

 Danganronpa was SO good that as soon as I finished it I ordered Danganronpa 2 and Ultimate Despair Girls, both which should be arriving this June. The last time I did something like this was with Darksiders, I didn't plan on liking the game THAT much, but as soon as I finished it I bought the sequel. But I digress. Phoenix Wright meets Battle Royale is what this game is, and it's so good. I felt that the trials were a bit too... convoluted, and sometimes it felt like filler, like having to prove that you're not a ghost. Seriously? But the story was so good that it kept me coming back for more and more.
 And the unlockable micromanagement mini-game was relatively entertaining as well.

 Runner-up:

 I had forgotten how much fun Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom could be, and I think it's in big part due to its simplicity and flashiness. And major props to Capcom for developing such a good port, Street Fighter X Tekken would sometimes drop frames, but UMvC 3 runs silky smooth. And you get everything the Console version had to offer. I still have a few issues pulling of some moves, like L-Trigger snap backs, or the few inputs that require pressing both Launcher and medium attacks, but that's on the Vita itself and not the port's fault.

Review #326: Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3(Vita)

 Guess this is a good excuse as any to revisit Marvel VS Capcom 3

 It should be known that I'm a bit of a fighting game aficionado. I follow the competitive scene surrounding fighting games, even if I don't play competitively myself, and I love all fighting games alike, not favoring one company over the other out of fanboyism. Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3 was a bit, deservedly, of a controversial release, coming out less than a year after the vanilla release. Opinions may vary, but I thought UMvC 3 was brilliant, and being a fighting game lover, now I've means to have it on the go.

 Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3 offers a 48-character sized roster, 50 if you have both DLC characters, which, unless you've bought them previously, can't be obtained now due to licensing issues. The roster is a bit hit or miss, Marvel is well represented having characters from all over their world, albeit prioritizing characters with movies or movies that were on the way, like Rocket Raccoon. Capcom's side however lacks a bit of diversity. Resident Evil gets Chris, Wesker, Nemesis AND Jill(DLC), Devil May Cry gets Dante, Vergil AND Trish, Darkstalkers gets Morrigan, Felicia and... Hsien-Ko...? Seriously? At least Ultimate's newcomers added variety with Phoenix Wright and Frank West, but one can't help but wonder why not cover more series, like Onimusha, Monster Hunter, Power Stone or even Sengoku Basara. Heck, I'd take Regina over Jill in order to represent Dino Crisis! Basically, you mileage will vary on how much some characters deserved a spot on the roster or not. The stages selection is undoubtedly lacking, but they make up in quality.

 So, how does MvC 3 play? You pick a team of three and pit it against another team. You've 6 buttons: Light attack, Medium Attack, Heavy Attack and Pop up being your primary means of offence, and then the shoulder buttons are used to either tag in either partner or call them in for an assist attack. It's simple, fast and works very well. Using all those tools, alongside a bevy of special and super moves performed by inputting different directions on the analog nub or digital pad, you can perform combos to rack up more damage. The game is very beginner friendly, as mashing will result in an spectacle of flashy stuff happening immediately, however, someone who knows what they are doing will easily over power a beginner, but the latter will have fun anyways since simple combos are easy to perform. There's also a few more advanced techniques, like forcing the opponent to switch into a different character, pulling off sequential supers with different characters, or pushing your enemy back while guarding if you're inclined in learning the game. There's no real tutorial on these, and the game doesn't come with an instruction booklet, unlike the console version, so if you want to learn these, you are on you own, but there's more than enough information online.

 This port can be commended for delivering everything the Console version had. There's the online mode, on which I couldn't find any matches, both ranked and unranked, the 'Heroes and Heralds' mode where you try to collect cards, as well as every offline mode: Arcade, the Galactus mini-game, Training and Mission(10 trials per character). There's also a new 'Touch' mode, which is basically an Arcade mode with extra touch controls for easier supers, not very noteworthy. Now then, if there's one pet peeve I have when it comes to fighting games is VS CPU modes. I don't mean Arcade, I mean the ability to fight against any CPU I want at any time. It used to be a no-brainer, but at the time of UMvC 3's release, some games, this included, started forgetting about it. When it comes to portable fighting games, I think that this is more of a necessity, as finding people who own both console and game as well is a bit tougher than bringing a buddy home, and you won't always have access to the Internet. As far as I'm concerned, this is a huge omission in this game.

 Another thing to commend this game for is how smoothly it runs. I didn't come across any form of slowdown whatsoever, and the game looks phenomenal. In order for it to run so well, some concessions had to be made: Stages lack animation, being completely static, and the special effects, such as those of hitting an opponent or projectiles have been turned into oversized pixelated sprites. It might take a bit of time getting used to the latter, and the really huge specials like Thor's tornado or Iron Fist's aura special look laughably bad in comparison to the beautiful 3-D models, but it doesn't get in the way of enjoying the game at all. While the Vita, as most handhelds are, is ill-fitted for fighting games, controls were responsive and tight. The game offers a 'simple' mode, but you should ignore it, or you'll end up with a wrong idea about the game, and end up bored with the repetitive gameplay. Y'see, simple mode makes it so that Light Attack turns into your ONLY combo, Medium attack is used to pull off two, and only two, special moves while Heavy attack will perform Super moves. It's very dull and saps all the creativity and fun out of making your own combos and the fast paced combat.

 Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3 on the Vita is a fantastic port of a fantastic game. The controls are not the best due to the Vita itself, but they are manageable, and I feel that the lack of offline VS CPU kinda kills some of the replay value for me. But all in all, they crammed the entire console game into a tiny Vita card, sacrificing very little and keeping everything that matters intact.
 8.0 out of 10