NSFW Review of "Eiyu Senki"

"Features":

Loli (skippable, except for 1), bondage (light), virgins

I will not be responsible for any offense taken for you continuing to read this if you do not like the above.

Eiyu Senki is a turn-based RPG made by JAST. The goal is to take over the world and meet the heroes that are fighting or hiding all over the world.

Grade:

Plot:
You play as the only male hero in the world, who appeared in there from our world (I know, pretty cliché, but bear with me). You can name him yourself and, after that, the story actually takes off.
You are first tasked to take over Zipang (Japan) as an introduction to the gameplay.
Afterwards, you move onto the mainland and start to take over East Asia. From that point onwards, you can choose what direction to take yourself, although it is usually made clear which country (or faction) is the easiest and the most difficult to defeat.
The goal is to take over the world using all the heroes you collected.
While doing so, you will meet more heroes who join you and a lot of events to get to know them.
The majority of the heroes have an H scene at or near the end of their events.

Gameplay:
The game is split up in turns. Every turn, you can take a certain amount of actions, which increase in number at certain story points. Every mission you do takes up one action point and you can replenish them by going to the next turn.
If you are at war with a faction when the turn ends, you can get attacked.

   Heroes:
Heroes are necessary for every aspect of the game. They are the fighters, the ones you speak with during events, and the ones that are needed to fulfill the requirements of non-attacking missions.
Getting heroes can be done in a variety of ways, but the most common way is by conquering territory. As a rule of thumb, you will get at least one hero when you beat a faction. The second best way is through introduction events.
Heroes can only be used once per turn, including with battles and can only be used again once the next turn starts. This means that, if you are at war, you may want to skip to the next turn earlier while keeping more of your heroes so that you can fend off attacks.

   Hero stats:
Heroes have 2 kinds of stats: Expert and battle stats.
Expert stats are necessary to fulfill mission requirements. These can not be increased in any way.
Battle stats are vital during battles and determine the amount of damage you do, the amount of damage you take, the waiting time in between skills, and the starting battle order.
Battle stats can be increased by using items and by battle effects.

   Missions:
Missions are divided into 4 main categories: Story, battle, character conversation, and item/money events. Battle events can overlap with character conversation and story events.
Battle events are missions in which you fight with a group of enemies. Battle events always have a sword icon. With battle events that are not specifically attacking a territory, only the selected heroes can participate in the fight.
Story events have a flag icon and will continue the story, either the main one, or the story related to the faction you are currently fighting.
Character conversation events have the face of the main hero involved as an icon. Completing these events requires that the hero in question participates and will reward you with items, money, additional item slots, skills, and/or a scene.
These events will get you to get to know the heroes and is certainly worth trying out, as some of them might actually surprise you.
Lastly, item/money events have a chest or a coin stash icon. Doing these events rewards you with items and money, respectively.

   Battles:
Once a battle starts, you can place up to 6 heroes on the left 9 tiles of the field. The enemy already has all their units deployed (except for very specific battles).
Every hero has their own moveset and and attacking range. Every battle requires placing your heroes in a way to maximize damage done and minimize damage taken.
The more troops your hero has, the more damage they do. This also means that if they lose troops during the fight, their damage output decreases as well. This also counts for enemies.
You can increase troop size by buying troops for them on the world map and you can replenish lost troops for any hero by using money as long as they have not been used this turn.
As such, troop size is both a measure of health and attacking strength. Defense has nothing to do with troop size.
Ancient heroes are different kinds of heroes that have HP instead of troops. They can not heal using money or increase their HP except by winning battles with them, but their damage does not decrease when they lose HP. Their HP regenerates when going to the next turn, even if they have been use this turn.
Troop and HP *can* go higher than 9999, but not by spending money, only by winning battles with them.
During battle, both sides get brave points. These brave points fill up the bar at the top of the screen and allows for the use of stronger skills by spending them.
Another aspect that is important during battles, is the "Hate" stat. This is a hidden stat that is (to my knowledge) never explained during the game and it works like a Aggro stat. The more Hate you have, the more likely the enemy is to attack you. There are items you can use to increase or reduce this stat.
After a battle, you will receive 10 troops or HP for all the heroes still standing and an additional 10 if the fight went very well.

   Skills:
Every skill has a target area, a delay, an effect area, and a type, . Attacking skills also have a damage multiplier and the stronger ones may also have a wait time.
The target area is different for every skill and is displayed in a 5 by 6 area.
The delay is the time it takes for the hero to get another chance to use a skill after using the current one.
The effect area is different for most skills and is displayed in a 3 by 6 area.
The type is one of the most important aspects (besides the damage multiplier) for attacking skills. Some types of skills are super effective (pokemon style) against certain enemy unit types. As an example, gun type skills are strong against melee type heroes. For the table, look in the tips and tricks section.
Lastly, skills usually have a number on them. This number signifies the amount of brave point needed to use the skill. When a skill has no number on its type icon, it can be used regardless of brave points.
Every hero also has a passive skill that unlocks when their character events reach their end and usually either increase allies' battle stats or reduce enemies' battle stats. This only works if the hero in question is in the right position, as specified in the passive skill description.

  Items:
Heroes can equip and unequip items on the world map when they have not been used in the current turn. Items can be gained during any kind of mission. The item description tells you what it does and equipping the right item to the right hero can make or break a battle.
Items are almost exclusively for use during battle and will never be consumed.
The only item type that does not have a clear explanation are the Hate items, which have been explained "Battles" category.

   Territories and factions:
At certain points, you can initiate war with a faction. Every faction has their own requirements to be taken over, but usually it requires you to take over a particular territory.
Every faction has their own average troop size and unit types, which also decides their difficulty when fighting them.
Once you declare war, you can not ask for peace anymore unless it is specifically story-related.
Any faction that is at war with you and has a direct connection to your territory, can attack you once you end your turn. In my experience, they can attack up to 2 times per turn per faction.
The less territories the opposing faction has left, the weaker their units tend to become.
If you manage to defeat a faction before certain requirements have been met, or you obtain a certain territory before certain conditions have been met, you can obtain an item. Accepting this item can increase the difficulty of the other factions and the game will tell you when accepting an item will have this effect.
As a rule of thumb, getting all the territories of a faction beats that faction.
Territories, once conquered, generate money for you every turn, which you can use to heal or strengthen your troops.

Voice acting:
This game's major story events and character events are fully voice acted (with the notable exception of the main character). Keep in mind that, since this is originally a Japanese game, the voice acting is in Japanese. If you do not like Japanese (for whatever reason), you can simply turn this off in the options menu.
And yes, the H scenes are also voice acted.

H scenes:
The scenes consist of still images with text and voice acting. The majority of heroes have H scenes.
H scenes can be re-viewed in the gallery accessed from the starting menu.

Graphics:
The graphics re pretty standard according to modern standards. Very much VN (visual novel) style, the characters and the environment are clearly drawn. The battles in particular give it more of a 3D feeling.

Tips and tricks:

• For a list of skill types and type advantages, look here.
• If you want to go easy mode, never accept items that increase difficulty.
• If you either want all the items, or want to go nightmare mode (maximum difficulty) you can find the conditions here.
• Rasputin, despite her type disadvantages, is an absolute tank when placed on the frontlines (especially if you give her the cauldron you get after her first character event).
• If you want to go for criticals, Goemon is your best bet. Load her up with critical damage increases to maximize her damage.
• It is recommended you do all the character events to get the strongest possible heroes.
• Do not fight more than 2 factions at the same time (excluding Babylon), unless you want to make it *incredibly* difficult for yourself.
• Can't conquer Babylon? Stay at war with them (they will not attack you) and come back after conquering some more.
• Do introduction events immediately when able. You will usually get a hero from it, but it seems like they can disappear after a while.

Good points:

• Strategic gameplay
• That feeling you get when you CONQUER THE WORLD HAHAHAHA (just kidding, but it is a good feeling)
• Deeper characters than most other games of this type
• Difficulty based on your performance, rather than a setting
• Voice acting

Bad points:

• Not always clear what you should do next
• No explanation about some smaller aspects of the game
• The basically useless gunner passives
• Ivan (personal issues)
• Ivan the TERRIBLE (still personal issues)

Conclusion:

A good and time-consuming game for anyone who likes strategy games, more interactive visual novels, interesting and quirky characters, or who likes to conquer the world for once.

Seriously, it is time-consuming if you really get into it, but it is a lot of fun.

Review of "Persona 4 Golden"

Persona 4 Golden is a turn-based dungeon exploration RPG with relation- and dating-sim elements for the PSVita.
The franchise is one of the biggest among Japanese RPGs and a lot of spin-offs have been made of this game and its predecessors.

Grade:

Plot:
The story is about Yu Narukami, a transfer student to a small village in Japan. Just as he arrived, weird things start to happen. Specifically, a string of murders that are rather bizarre because the bodies look like they have been dropped from the sky, and the fact that Yu can push his body through tv screens to enter another world.
Yu and his new friends, including a big toy bear called Teddie, then start to explore the tv world and find it has a relationship to the string of weird murders and decide they want to save any new victims.
They find they can use special powers in the tv world, called "Persona". Yu has the special ability to carry multiple Persona at the same time (but only use one at any given moment).
The rest of the story kicks of from there.
You, of course, play as Yu Narukami, who you can rename at the start of the game.
The story is very linear and is entirely based on the calendar. Because of this, time management is key.
At certain dates, new dungeons become unlocked, which you have to clear before a certain date or you get a game over.

Gameplay:
The gamplay is mainly split into 2 parts: The tv world and the real world.
Most things take up time and you only have 2 time slots a day, so choose wisely.
Going into the tv world will take up both time slots and can only be started in the first time slot.

   TV world:
The tv world is all about going into dungeons to level up, obtain items, save the person at the end (if applicable), and obtain Persona.
The dungeon's floors are randomly generated, except for a couple specific ones. Usually, these set floors have midbosses or dungeon bosses in them and an event to accompany them.
Bosses will not respawn once you beat them, but getting to the end of a dungeon you have saved the person of before CAN get you into another boss battle. You can get items, tons of exp, and a Courage increase if you beat them.

   Shuffle time:
When a battle ends, you have a chance to get "shuffle time". This event allows you to choose out of a set of randomly chosen tarot cards and can get you extra experience, a Persona, extra money, some healing, and a variety of other effects that the description explains very well. This is the main way to get more Persona in your team.
Clearing out a hand of "shuffle time" guarantees a "shuffle time" after the next battle and gives you an additional 2 card choices. This chain can be continued however many times you can get it to repeat.

   Persona:
To explore dungeons, you need to get, train and use different Persona or you will die very quickly.
Even more so, because you will get a game over if Yu dies.
Persona are the beings that allow you to use magic and other abilities in the dungeons. Every Persona has its strengths and weaknesses.
The game makes a distinction between 7 main elements. These elements are: Physical, Fire (Agi), Ice (Bufu), Electricity (Zio), Wind (Garu), Light (Hama), and Dark (Mudo). Having a combination of Persona with at least a resistance to every element is highly recommended. Having a combination of Persona with attacking abilities of each element is also highly recommended, as some enemies absorb every element but one and you can not beat them if you can not use that element to attack.
Persona can hold up to 8 different abilities at once and can get new ones through fusing or leveling up.
Keep in mind that only the Persona you have active when the fight ends and those with the "Growth" ability get experience from the fight.
Persona can be obtained randomly in dungeons, by buying them from the "Velvet room" or by fusing them.

   Velvet room:
The "Velvet room" is an area that can be accessed from both the real world and the tv world and does not take up time. It acts as a shop and a forge, if you were to compare it to other RPGs.
In it, you can record your Persona and buy them as you recorded them for some yen (Japanese currency and, subsequently, the game's currency) and talk to its residents.
You can also fuse Persona by offering up some of the Persona you have on you. The new Persona will get some abilities from the Persona you offered up, selected by you. This allows you to make insanely strong Persona if you know what you are doing. Fusing a Persona can also give it additional experience if the "Social link" of that type is high.
Lastly, you can give and buy skill cards. These cards can be obtained from the dungeons and allow you to give your active Persona the ability it corresponds with. Giving a skill card to the vendor in the Velvet room allows you to buy the skill card by unlimited quantities, so, if you have the money, it is highly recommended you give new cards to her immediately.

   Real world:
The real world is where you go to school, explore the town, level up your "Social links", generally continue the story, and a lot of other things. Going into everything you can do would make this review quite long and is not very necessary, as it is pretty easy to figure out for yourself. Suffice to say, is that there is a lot to do.
The 2 most important things to do in the real world is to level up your "Social links" and increase Yu's social stats.

   Social links:
Social links are the measure of how close you are to certain people or groups. Every social link stands for a tarot card and has a level of 0 through 10 (0 being "not found yet"). Once you found social link-related people and started a social link, you can increase it by spending time with them (usually 1 time slot) and making the right choices in the dialogue options that tend to pop up. Every Persona has a tarot card type as well, and carrying a Persona with a type that is the same as the person you are spending time with, will increase the amount of relationship points you get for your dialogue choices.
Some specific social links level up throughout the story or by doing certain sidequests. For these, carrying a Persona of that type has no effect.

   Social stats:
Yu Narukami has social stats. These social stats are a measure of how good you are at certain social aspects and you can increase them through a variety of activities, ranging from working and going to school, to folding origami and eating at a restaurant. Getting these stats up is sometimes necessary to complete sidequests or to start a social link.
Every one of the 5 stats (Courage, Diligence, Understanding, Expression, and Knowledge) can have up to 5 levels and you can never really see how far you are to getting to the next one. Just keep getting points for them and they will level up eventually.

   Sidequests:
There are a lot of sidequests in the game. Usually, sidequests require you to find an item in a dungeon and give it to the questgiver. Some sidequests are quite obscure and require some problem solving or exploring to get done.
Once a sidequest is done, you can get items, equipment, money, or a social link level increase.
Some sidequests also require you to have unlocked particular areas or dungeons.

   Equipment:
Every character in your party has 3 equipment slots and a costume slot. The equipment slots are for a weapon, some body armour, and an accessory. You can find these in dungeons, get them from sidequests, or buy them from a store in town. This store gets more equipment when you sell it particular sellable items. A message will appear once you have unlocked a new piece of equipment in the shop. These particular sellable items are regular drops from enemies in the dungeons.

Graphics:
The graphics are 3D and quite detailed. The movement of the characters is quite smooth, the dungeons each have their own style, and the town is pretty clearly a bustling town. Events with the characters have custom animations that fit incredibly well.
Sometimes, there are some 2D animations in an anime style. These are generally very short, but (again) fit very well. In fact, they grab your attention because of the difference in graphic style.
Conversations are usually in Visual Novel style, with text in the bottom and 2D characters on the side when they are talking.

Music:
The music is generally very instrumental. Barely any singing can be found in the music.
Battle music is fast and clearly present, helping you feel pumped for the fight.
Background music is different in every major area, including the dungeons, and usually supports the theme of every individual dungeon.
Boss battle music is clearly that: boss battle music. It makes it clear that this enemy is strong and you need to be careful, but it also pumps you up.

Endings:
There are a couple of endings in this game. There are a couple bad endings and a couple good endings. For the "true" ending you need to do very specific things during the course of the game, and for the bad endings it is usually pretty clear when you are heading for one. Generally, the bad endings are the result of a very stupid conversational choice, like choosing not to help people in the tv world.

New game +:
After a good ending (i.e. finishing the game), you can start a new game+ (henceforth: NG+). NG+ allows you to carry over your items, money, Persona records, and social stats. NG+ does not carry over your social links or character levels. For this reason, it is highly recommended you get a couple of good Persona recorded and ready, as well as the money to buy them, and to get your social stats maxed out in the first run.

Tips and tricks:

• Again, SuperButterBuns made an amazing video to introduce you into the game.
• For a social link guide, take a look here.
• Highly recommend using this (or any other) guide for all the tests and question in school in the game. The questions are rather random and you will most likely not know most of the answers.
• Are you low on HP or SP? Use a Goho-M or another such item to exit the current dungeon (and save the floor you were on) and go back to an easier dungeon to use shuffle time to heal up. Seriously, you can keep going forever using this trick once you have cleared the first dungeon.
• Clear a dungeon immediately if possible or take a few days to clear it as fast as you can.
• Do not forget to save and have multiple saves, so that you can easily go back to an earlier one if you mess up badly.
• The only social links that have additional effects are your team's social links, the Hermit social link, the Jester social link, and the Aeon social link, so focus on those first. Specifically the Lovers social link. Seriously, its effects are really good.
• Black Frost is OP. Get it. Specifically try to get it with the "Null physical" ability. Seriously, you will not regret it (I used Black Frost as my main Persona for the entirety of the game the moment I got it).
• Use Naoto once you get her. She is objectively the most versatile of your allies.
• For an additional dungeon, get the Aeon social link maxed out asap.
• You can romance multiple girls at the same time, but make sure you do not go on dates if you do. (Dates are not actually necessary to increase social links).
• If you try to open a chest and someone has a bad feeling, do NOT open it or you are in for a bad time, UNLESS you are extremely high-leveled. The creature in it may not be worth much money- and experience-wise, it does give you a really good weapon if you manage to beat it.
• Grind, grind, GRIND!

Good points:

• "Collect them all" vibe.
• Clear, but rather deep, battle system.
• Interesting and quirky characters.
• Solid story.

Bad points:

• VERY grindy.
• Only characters that fight with you gain experience.
• Very repetitive dungeons in the randomly generated areas.

Conclusion:

Most people who like Japanese RPGs have probably already played this, but if not, I highly recommend you do. Not many RPGs are as unique as the Persona series and the focus is (surprisingly) a little more on the story than the gameplay. For this reason, I would also recommend it to people who want to play games for the story or for getting to know the characters.

It has made me smile and laugh out loud very often and that is never a bad thing.

Review of "Fire Emblem Awakening"

Fire Emblem Awakening (henceforth FEA) is one of the last games in the turn-based tactical RPG series Fire Emblem. FEA introduces some new features and a 3D mode, since it is the first Fire Emblem game on the Ninitendo 3DS.

Grade:

Plot:
The story is about the main character (you) that you can, to an extend, create yourself. You can choose your gender, height, hair style, hair color, and voice.
Important to note is the fact you can choose a strength and a weakness. Choosing a weakness of luck will lower all your stat caps a little (this is, obviously, not good).
After character creation, you wake up on a field, where Chrom, his sister, Liz, and their guardian, Frederick, come to greet you.
The tutorial map starts soon afterwards, where you have to beat a group of bandits with the four of you. The gameplay mechanics in the game are explained from this point onwards in a way that incorporates it into the story.
You, quickly afterwards, meet some interesting enemies. Quite zombie-like, these creatures are called "Risen" and become the "generic" enemies afterwards.
After that, the story focuses on multiple wars with Chrom's kingdom at stake, that you have to take an active role in.
In the first couple maps, you will get a lot more party members to work with. They usually have a conversation to give a clue towards their personalities.
During the entirety of the game, you come closer to realizing the significance of you and Chrom's place in the world and your partnership gets tested on multiple occasions.

Mechanics:
After character creation, which is fairly easy to understand and make use of, you get thrown into the first battle almost immediately. The explanation of the mechanics is pretty well done (although a bit cryptic at times) with handy cue cards on the bottom screen to give more specifics.

  Maps:
Every map has a goal to achieve. This goal can range from "beat enemy X" to "get on tile Y" or "hold out for Z turns" and a couple others. Every goal is clearly stated at the start of a map and can always be looked up on the lower screen.
When starting a map (except the first few) you go into a battle setup screen. Here you can choose the characters you want to use, manage their inventory and skills, change their class if possible, and a couple other features that are either very clearly explained or easy to figure out.
FEA is based on a grid. All your (and enemy) characters are on the grid and can block opponent's access to tiles they are standing on. This makes blocking passages with strong defensive units a very viable and useful tactic.
Every tile has a certain field type. Some field types deal damage when standing on them at the end of your turn, while others make it harder to go over them and/or give you defensive boosts. The forts and gates in particular are good to keep in mind, because they give high defensive boosts and give passive healing at the end of the round. All tile effects apply to both your allies and your enemies.

  Classes:
Every unit has a class. A class specifies its looks, stat caps, weapon use, skill gain, and weaknesses.
There are some characters, like the main character, that have unique classes. These unique classes, just like other classes, have their own strengths and weaknesses, but are generally not obtainable by other units (unless in VERY specific circumstances).
Once a unit reaches level 10 or higher (level 20 HIGHLY recommended) and you have a master seal or a second seal, you can change this unit's class. The master seal makes the unit go into an advanced class and the second seal makes the unit go into another (or the same) base class. In both cases, the unit starts at level 1 again and will usually lose a couple stat points. This decrease is not very significant compared to the stat gain while leveling up, so do not worry about it too much.
Some unique classes can not get promoted, but the units using the class can change to another class using a second seal.
For a simple representation of what the master seal and the second seal do, think of it like this:
The master seal moves your unit's class upwards (an upgrade).
The second seal moves your unit's class sideways (changes it).
You CAN use a second seal on a promoted class and this will allow you to go back to a base class or go to another promoted class instead.
Every character only has access to a particular set of classes. There is no way for the first generation to get access to more classes, and the second generation is completely dependent on their parent's base classes. The main character and its child(ren) can use almost every single class.
Some classes are gender-based, so they can only be accessed by people of that gender, even if their parent has the base class.

  Skills:
Another important feature to keep in mind, is skills. Skills are special (either passive or semi-passive) abilities that can drastically change the course of battle. They vary a lot and can deal extra damage, increase your stats, buff allies, allow your unit to survive a killing blow, give extra movement, give passive or active healing, give you extra attacks, etcetera. Any unit can only equip 5 of these skills at a time and it can not be changed in the middle of playing a map.
Skills are obtained through leveling up as a specific class. Usually, the better skills come from the promoted classes, but there are some neat skills in the series of base classes as well.
Once obtained, the skills can never be forgotten. They can only be equipped or unequipped at that point.

  Dual system:

FEA adds a very new feature to the series. Namely, the dual system.
The dual system allows for 2 units to stand on the same tile and support each other.
There is always a unit in front and a unit in the back. The unit in the back is completely safe from harm, as long as it stays in the back and the front one does not die.
The dual system works in three different ways simultaneously. The first is dual support. Dual support gives stat boosts to the front unit. The stats boosts in question depends on the character and the class of the supporter.
The second is dual strike (or dual attack). This one allows the supporter the chance to attack whenever the front unit is attacking, even if the enemy is normally out of reach for them. The chance of a dual attack happening is based on the relationship between the characters involved. Skills can be used while dual attacking, as well, but not all of them. The supporter's attack ignores some enemies' defensive skills as well.
The third and last one is dual guard. This allows the supporter the chance to defend the front unit, completely nullifying the damage to both. The chance of this happening is generally lower than the chance of a dual attack and is also based on the relationship between the characters in question.
The movement of the group is completely dependent on the front unit's movement. This means that a group of a slow foot soldier (read: on foot) in the back and a fast flying unit in the front can go very far in a single turn. This particular combination can even stand on tiles that are normally not accessible to foot soldiers.
The dual system is very useful for attacking as well as defending and using it is rarely detrimental to the battle. Getting a unit out of a pinch can be done quite easily with this system as well.
The front and the back unit can be switched when it is your turn, but only once per group per turn. Switching to a fast unit to move over to an enemy and then switching back to the strong unit being carried can not be done in the same turn.

  Relationships/support:
If characters that can have a support conversation stand next to each other when one of them is in a fight (the dual system counts here) the characters will get support points with each other. Once their support reaches a certain point, they can have a support conversation. These are generally very funny and/or informative in nature and act as a means of getting to know the characters.
Getting the support level up between 2 characters increases the dual system's effects.
In support conversations, there are 4 ranks: C, B, A, and S. The first 3 can always be accessed one after the other if the support level is appropriate. The S rank support can only be done between particular characters and has them marry. Once married, their dual system effects are maxed out and, if the main character or certain female characters are involved, they can get a child. This child "grows up" instantly and can be put in your army after helping them in their fight. The game explains the reason for them becoming available so quickly very well, but explaining it would go into spoiler territory, so I will not.
Chrom is quite special in terms of relationships, because he has to marry at a particular point in the game. If he is not married at that point, he will instantly marry the marriable woman he has the highest amount of support with, skipping the other conversations entirely.

  Child characters:
Besides the normal characters that you can get while playing through the story, there are also child characters (second generation and a single third generation) that you can get. Child characters are dependent on their mother, the main character, or Chrom. If one them marries, their child's challenge map (paralogue) will appear. Once you enter said paralogue, the child character gets their stat, skill and class rolls. Generally, the stronger the parents at the time of the roll, the stronger the child. Classes get inherited from both parents and gender-specific classes turn into different classes if the child is a different gender. Lastly, the skills inherited from the parents is the last skill in both parent's skill list (except for Chrom, who gives specific skills to his offspring). The main character's child(ren) will be able to use every non-gender-specific class as well as gender-specific ones of the other parent.
Because of how this works, be very careful when you enter the children's paralogue to make sure you get the best setup.
All child characters start at level 10.

  Map system:
In between battles, you go to the map screen where you can go to different places to shop, battle Risen, do paralogues, or go for DLC maps.
Risen can randomly pop up on any map that is already cleared and provide opportunities to get experience and items. On the highest difficulty, these encounters will be almost impossible to beat, unless your team is pretty much maxed out in every way.
In the map screen, you can also forge some items, making them stronger by adding damage, critical hit chance, or hit chance. Doing this requires funds, so make sure you only do it for the weapons you use a lot.
The next stage is always very clearly marked.

  Game modes:
At the start of the game, you can choose the difficulty and the game mode. The hardest difficulty will be locked until beating the game once.
The game modes are Casual and Classic. Casual allows your units to "die" in battle and not be permanently gone, while Classic will have your units disappear forever when they die in battle.
For the best Fire Emblem experience, I recommend going Classic, especially if this is your gateway into the series (since the other games in the series tend to go Classic automatically).

  Weapon triangle:
Understanding the weapon triangle is a must for higher-difficulty play. It works as follows:
The hit chance of a weapon is increased if it has an advantage over the enemy's and a lower hit chance when it has a disadvantage. As a general rule of thumb, swords are good against axes, axes are good against lances, and lances are good against swords.
There are some weapons that reverse the weapon triangle, so be on the lookout for those. Those weapons usually have "slayer" in the name.

Characters:
The most important characters are the MU (My Unit, your own character), Chrom, and Lucina.
The MU is generally calm and calculating, with some funny quirks here and there when you go through certain support conversations.
Chrom is the serious prince of his kingdom, but has a soft spot for his allies. He is very level with just about everyone, despite being royalty.
Lucina would be spoiler territory, but suffice to say she is important and quite a lot like Chrom in many ways.
All the characters can usually be categorized by a couple main attributes, with some unexpected quirks strewn throughout the support conversations. Personally, some of them put a big smile on my face, sometimes out of surprise.

Graphics:
The graphics of FEA are sprite-based, except for the battles themselves. The battles themselves are highly detailed and fully 3D models of all the characters are involved.
The 3D function of the Nintendo 3DS can be utilized both during battles and on maps. Because 3D functionality tends to strain your eyes a little, I recommend not using it full time (or, if you do, on a low setting), but seeing the environment or battles 3D is certainly worth seeing every once in a while.

Music:
Like the majority of games, the music does not overpower the gameplay. It tends to support the game and the specific scenes it plays in very well.
Overall, the music is rather calming in the menus and interactions, with a couple spikes for important scenes and battles.
The map music tends to pump you up for battle by having a marching style.

Tips and tricks:

• Try to get every recruitable character. Sometimes they are enemies and you need to talk to them to get them. Do it. Just about every character is worth it in some way, even if only for the support conversations.
• Want to know all the classes and the skills you can get from them? Look no further than here.
• Want to know the characters you can get? Look here for where to get them. You can click on their names for more details.
• Galeforce is a very good skill to have, because it allows for hit-and-run tactics (amongst others). This can only be gotten from Dark Fliers, which is female-only, so try to give it to male children through inheritance when possible.
• Watch out for skills like Counter, Lethality, and Breakers. Counter is a skill that returns any damage done by melee attacks as long as the user does not die. Lethality is an instakill move when it triggers. Breakers make it a LOT harder to hit an enemy with that weapon type.
• A third generation child is possible. Marry the MU to any second generation child and his/her child will be third generation.
• You can walk an extra tile by having someone go into a tile with someone else (dual system), then moving that unit as far as possible, and then dropping off the unit being held.
• You can chain-move a unit using the above trick, but instead giving the held unit to a new unit at the end of the movement. Very useful for getting slow units to a specific spot on the map quickly.
• Choose wisely when to do the children's paralogues, because their rolls are very important for their usability

Good points:

• Very good gateway game for the series.
• Funny and interesting supports.
• Solid tactical gameplay.
• Keeps with the formula of the former games.

Bad points:

• Higher difficulties are insanely difficult to start out and stay that way if you do not use DLC.
• The dual system is OP. Enemies can not use it and you can abuse it.
• Can be repetitive (especially when leveling).

Conclusion:

FEA is a solid game for any fan of tactical and/or turn-based games. If you like funny interactions, you will probably also like this game.

In the Fire Emblem community, FEA is widely considered to be one of the easiest games in the series and would therefore be a good gateway into it. Keep in mind that, if you go for the other games, you will have to have experience with at least the weapon triangle and Classic gameplay and could possibly get overwhelmed by the difficulty.

NSFW Review of "Kamidori alchemy meister"

"Features":
monster girls, elf (only 1 path), loli (light, only 1 path)
If you do not like these, I recommend you stop reading, as this game is probably not for you. Otherwise, go ahead :)

Kamidori alchemy meister (henceforth KAM) is a top-down dungeon crawler and strategy H game with a crafting shop simulator.

Grade:

Plot:
KAM has an episodic story with 3 possible routes near the end. Every route is for one of the three main heroines as seen above. Every chapter has certain quests you need to complete and a couple of sidequests, as well as events based on the level of a character.
Sidequests and events usually have a chapter limit, which means that it has to be done/completed before that chapter starts, or it can not be completed anymore.
The story is about Wilfred Dion, an aspiring alchemist in a city full of them. The leader of the city is selected out of the highest ranking alchemists by the current leader, if possible. Wilfred aspires to become this leader.
On the way he meets a variety of creatures, a lot of which turn into allies. The most important ones are the three main heroines: Yuela, the swordswoman, Emelita, the small mage, and Servalwi (Serawi for short), the elven archer and healer.
The story has a couple twists and turns, but, other than when the routes branch off, no game-changing changes.

Gameplay:
The gameplay is divided into three major parts: The dungeons, the shop, and the crafting.

  Dungeons:
You will probably spend most of your time here. The dungeons can be accessed from the world map and allows your team to explore the dungeon, collect resources, and kill creatures.
The dungeons are turn-based and grid-based. Your team moves first and then your opponents do.
You can not move over tiles occupied by enemies and enemies can not move over tiles occupied by you or your allies.
Below you can see the dungeon screen of one of the earlier dungeons you will go to.

You can take up 'til 9 people with you, including Wilfred. This is not the only restriction, however, as every character takes up a certain amount of command points to stay in the field. The stronger units often require more command points. The command point cap never depletes, but it is dependent on story progress.

The minimap in the top-left shows every area that you have already explored, as well as where all the visible units are and which areas are "yours".

There is a rather unique system in KAM. The dungeon is divided into areas and those are divided into tiles. Every tile can become a color (grey being the default one) by having a unit of that team stand on the tile. If a character of a certain color is the only one standing in an area, the whole area turns into their color. Movement on an enemy color is severely restricted, while movement on your own color is normal and sometimes increased. Once you return to a dungeon you have already been to, all the tiles stay the same color as when you left, except for the tiles with enemies on them. Grey enemies do not take over areas, even if they are the only ones in the area.

In a turn, every character can either move and use a melee attack, only move, or use a ranged attack. AoE (area of effect) attacks have to recharge after using them.

There are a couple more things, like healing points, teleporters, and the like in the dungeons, but the game does a good job of explaining those in the intro.

There are 2 things in the dungeons that require special attention though. These are the mining and the foraging tiles. These can only be accessed once every time you enter a dungeon and can only be gathered from by people with a specific skill. These tiles contain items that you need for crafting.

There is a wide variety of enemies in these dungeons. Utilizing elemental weaknesses and strengths is vital for survival.

Dungeons can also have tiles only accessible by characters with specific skills. For example, lava tiles can only be walked on by characters with the "firewalk" or the "fly" skill.

  Shop:

The shop is where you sell your products and it is vital for survival and making money in the game. If you go into the negatives for the first time, you get scolded and get a loan. However, if you go into the negatives a second time, it is game over, so be careful.

The shop is divided into 4 parts: The garden, the front, the back, and the living quarters.

All of these areas have different effects and can be upgraded to a maximum of level 10, with every upgrade increasing its daily upkeep and its size, as well as its stats.

The garden can produce daily items and can sometimes show an event.

The front influences the amount of clerks you can have, the amount of items you can put up for sale and the amount of money you make for each item sold.

The back influences the cost of crafting and the mutation chance of certain items.

Lastly, the living quarters influence which items you can create.

All of these areas need to be upgraded once per chapter to go to the next one.

The blue tiles are areas furniture can be placed on. Furniture increases the stats of the shop and do not require additional upkeep.

You can assign which items to put up for sale and which characters will be selling these items. The characters you select will become clerks and will not be able to go to the dungeons with you while they are selling.

The shop screen is also where you can view new events once they pop up. They are marked by a star above the head or heads of the person or people involved.

  Crafting:

Crafting is vital for your survival, both in terms of combat and in terms of finances. You can create furniture, potions, armour, weapons, and a lot more. Some items are only meant to be sold and can not be used for anything else.

Crafting an item requires specific materials. These materials can only be found in dungeons, either by mining or foraging, or by defeating certain enemies.

The more difficult the item is to create, the more the item is worth, generally.

At certain points, you will be able to create keys and armour. These can not be created again and have very specific uses. Keys can open any door that is their type (i.e. the bronze key can open bronze doors, the silver one can open silver doors, and the golden one can open golden doors).

The armour is specifically for one of the 3 main heroines and is either focused on a single element, with its elemental weakness, or balanced for all the elements.

This armour can only be unlocked through events with side characters and only if they reach a certain level in or before certain chapters.

Every single armour that you or the 3 main heroines can equip, can be upgraded by using money and, sometimes, craftable items. This way, you can get skills and stat boosts for that character when they equip the armour. Every time you upgrade armour and get a stat boost, you can choose which one you want and this can be changed at any time in the crafting menu.

The more you craft, the higher your crafting level becomes. A higher crafting level unlocks more items to craft. Some items require your shop to have certain stats to be unlocked as well.

  New game+:

This game actually has new game plus, where you can choose between a variety of options. There are certain events, items, dungeons, and characters that are locked in the first playthrough that become available in all subsequent playthroughs.

The options include, but are not limited to: Keeping the levels of your characters, keeping your money, having all already unlocked characters unlocked from the start, and keeping all non-key items.

There is even an option to unlock the cap on the enemies' levels to give yourself a challenge in your new playthrough.

H content:

As a H game, this game obviously has H content. I chose to start with this one, because it is relatively tame (compared to the majority of H games nowadays) and more gameplay focused. The H scenes are certainly not bad though.

Every female playable character has at least one scene (usually more) and every main heroine has multiple on their respective routes. It generally takes a while to get to your first scene, but it will most likely feel like nothing because the gameplay is distracting enough. For this game, the H scenes are a nice extra touch, rather than the focus.

There is a gallery mode where you can view any scenes you have already seen, if you are so inclined.

Graphics:

The conversations and events are VN (visual novel) style. Very standard for japanese RPGs and it does not diminish the experience. Everything else is sprite-based and it seems to be quite detailed.

The combat is less fluid than the map movement, since the characters do not move during battle, but that is a minor point overall.

Endings:

Not counting game overs, there are 3 endings (that I am aware of). One for each heroine's route.

Since I have only played through only one route so far, I can not say for sure what the quality of the endings is, but I can at least tell you that the one I have seen is fitting and actually felt quite good and complete.

Tips and tricks:

• If you are a completionist, try to level up all the characters you get evenly and do the quests whenever they pop up to get as much unlocked as you can in the first playthrough.
• Want to know what levels your characters need to be in which chapter to get events? Look at the bottom of this page.
• For the shop, focus on knowledge, prices, tools, and sense when you are starting out. Getting a second clerk may be handy too.
• Do not buy anything right after the introduction. Your upkeep can easily get you in the negatives if you do.
• In dungeons, get 100% of the tiles in your color to have the game show what you need to do for additional rewards the next time you go there.
• In new dungeons, grab an area immediately when possible. It significantly decreases the enemy movement ability in that area.
• Uya and Wilfred can be very fast and are the 2 explorers of the group. Use them to find secret areas, collect faraway items, forage, and mine. Especially when they have "swift".
• You can lure enemies into a trap by having a mage standing out of enemy range and having a tank lure it over.
• AoE damage also hits your allies, so be careful when using it.
• Do not go over your command point limit. If you do, your movement cost is at least doubled.

Good points:

• Interesting, engaging, and quite unique combat system
• H scenes :P
• New game+
• Crafting system
• Shop simulator
• Interesting environmental tiles

Bad points:

• Sometimes repetitive
• Occasional difficulty spikes
• Game over when going into negatives
• Non-moving battle sprites
• Not being able to move and attack in the same turn, unless you are melee
• There are some escort missions (usually not too difficult though)
• Non-playable character allies tend to dive headfirst into danger. Luckily, these kind of missions do not appear often.

Conclusion:

For anyone looking for a H game with actual gameplay, I would highly recommend this one.  very solid game with some minor irritations. If you like monster girls, you will probably like this game and if you do not like them, I can tell you that the majority of them are optional. Their scenes are optional as well, but you would be missing out on quite some gear if you skip them. Lastly, if you like dungeon crawlers, this is very likely your type of game.

Review of "Osu!" (indie)

"Osu!" is a rhythm game designed for the pc (Windows) and has been ported to various phones. This review will be based on the pc version.
Osu! seems to be quite clearly based on Japanese rhythm arcade games.
It contains 4 game modes, each one with a completely different style.

Grade:
Since the game varies widely on which songs and which game modes you play, I can not give a definitive grade.

Gameplay:
The standard game mode requires the use of a touchpad, a touchscreen, or a mouse. In this game mode, you have to click on circles in order and follow trails on the rhythm of the music.

The second game mode is "Osu! Mania". This game mode only requires a keyboard and it simulates a piano. Hit or hold the keys when a note hits it to proceed. Fantastic for when you are traveling.

Osu! Mania can have 4 keys, 5 keys, 6 keys, or 7 keys to play with, scaling up the difficulty with each addition. Below you can see an example of a 7 keys Mania level.

If moving is more your forte, rather than pressing, you can try "Catch the beat". This game mode has you play as a catcher with a plate, who moves sideways at the bottom of the screen to catch the fruit that is falling in the rhythm of the music. This game mode requires only the keyboard.

The last game mode is "Taiko". This game mode is based on drums and also only requires the keyboard. The notes come from the right and you have to hit the right key when they reach the left side.

Additional features:

The charm and flexibility of this game does not come only from its game modes. There are a couple extra features that can enhance your playing pleasure.

The first of which is the options. The options allows you to change the skin of your game, making it look completely different and sometimes enhancing your gameplay. It can also change certain game modes to come at you with the notes at a set speed. Experience with the options yourself to see all it has to offer.

The second feature is replays. You can watch a replay of the run you just did on a song and you can always watch the replay of your best run for every song. If you are online, you can even watch the top player's runs on the song you want to try.

The third feature is online play. You can play solo and have your best runs stored on the Osu! server, so that you can replay them later. Online play also keeps track of your progress, by giving you a level based on the amount of songs you have played and the skill you have displayed during play. Additionally, you can receive badges if you hit certain milestones.

Online play is not the only thing you can do online, though, as there is a multiplayer feature in place as well. There is a chatroom you can open up at any time (even while being in a run, but that is not recommended) to chat with anyone you like. You can decide to play together with a group of people, trying to get the best score out of the group on the selected song.

Last, but certainly not least, you can add and create beatmaps. Beatmaps are the "levels" you play through and you can add them whenever you want. This is where the real versatility comes in, as you can probably find a beatmap of your favorite song and play that by yourself or with your friends. Even if there is no beatmap available for your favorite song, you can simply create one and share it with the community.

You can install a beatmap by copying or dragging it into your Songs folder or by dragging it directly onto the Osu! icon in your taskbar. Keep in mind that you may have to refresh the game (F5) to get the new beatmaps to load.

Graphics:

The base graphics are nice enough, but I would still recommend getting a skin. Especially since some songs are very hard to play because of the standard color scheme.

There is a wide variety of skins available and some of them even change your gameplay, to an extend. As an example, there is a skin that turns the 5 key levels of Osu! Mania upside-down, so be very careful when selecting a skin.

Tips and tricks:

• This is very much a skill based game, so start easy and slowly make your way into more difficult territory. There is a rating system to help you distinguish between easier and more difficult songs.
• Getting overwhelmed? Try to find an easier level with the same sequence of notes to get you used to the sequence.
• Want some beatmaps? You can find the vast majority here. Keep in mind that you have to be logged in to use the search function (yes, I do not know why either).
• Like a particular game mode? You can find beatmaps specifically made for that mode on the beatmap listing site (in the options at the top after logging in)
• Want to cheat? There is a cheat menu available at the bottom of the screen when in the song menu. I would not recommend using it, not because it is bad (it isn't), but it kinda destroys the purpose of the game.

Good points:

• A rhythm game like the arcade games some of us have been longing for
• Beatmap creation
• The community-driven system
• The 4 different game modes
• Can be played quite easily during travel (except for the standard game mode)

Bad points:

• Your account and progress not being updated when you do not play online
• Finding intermediate beatmaps to help you get used to more difficult ones
• The difficulty spikes because of the point above
• Having to log in to search for beatmaps

Conclusion:

Osu! is a game that anyone who likes music and/or skill-based games would most likely enjoy. I recommend you at least give it a try, as it is free and light-weight. Personally, I have nearly 40 beatmaps and the game itself on a single 15GB USB, with 10GB to spare.

Review of "Kingdom Hearts Birth by sleep"

Much like other Kingdom Hearts games, Kingdom Hearts bbs is a 3D JRPG focused on whacking stuff with a key while exploring worlds and meeting its (usually Disney) residents.
I will base this review on Kingdom Hearts 2.5 remix for the PS4. If there is anything different from the original, it will not be included here.

Grade (for the lazy people):

Plot:
The plot of the Kingdom Hearts series is, despite it containing a LOT of Disney characters, surprisingly serious and deep and Kingdom Hearts bbs is not letting up on that.
The game has 3 main characters: Terra, Ventus, and Aqua. You can play through each of their storylines separately and see everything that happens from their perspective.
All three go to the same worlds, but will have completely different experiences and characters they meet. However, all three stories tie together quite neatly.
It is important to note that there is no way to switch between characters once you have chosen one. The only way to play as a new character is by starting a new game. You can skip part of the intro when you start a new game after finishing someone's story.
All three are aiming to become Keyblade masters (the name speaks for itself), but only Aqua manages to get that title at the start of the game. This sets up the character dynamics and relationships right off the bat and gives you clues on what is going to happen later on.

Gameplay:
The gameplay is the strongest point of the game. Every mechanic is explained sufficiently when it comes up, so you will not have to worry about it if you do not understand something I outlined here.

    Fighting:
Although whacking enemies using X is pretty effective, sometimes you need a little more "oomph" to your attacks. This comes in the form of the command deck. The command deck is a deck you can stack commands in (surprise, surprise). These commands can be activated during battle and then get a cooldown, to stop you from spamming them. Generally, the stronger the attack, the slightly longer the cooldown.
This is not the only thing that helps you fight. You can also use something called D-links. This allows you to get a set of commands from the person you are D-linking with and get the finisher specific to that character.
D-links can be upgraded by using them and then getting "D-link prizes" that drop from monsters while the D-link is active.
Although D-links are pretty handy early game, they become pretty much obsolete late game because your commands are significantly better than anything you can get from D-links.
Also, from my experience, some boss battles do not allow you to use D-links.
Another part of your combat abilities is your finishers. These allow you to dish out some extra damage (and sometimes other effects) once you have charged it up. Every D-link has its own set of finishers and every main character has their own finishers that you can upgrade by having them equipped and then fulfilling the requirements for the upgrade.
Finishers will not be very useful if your fighting style uses a lot of command styles though, as they replace your finishers. Command styles are activated when you charge your finisher and used particular commands to do so. They drastically change your character's fighting style for a short amount of time and come with their own finishers. These finishers tend to be more destructive than their normal counterparts.
There are 2 more things to know about fighting in Kingdom Hearts bbs. The shotlocks and melding.
Shotlocks are abilities separate from the command deck that charge during a fight and can attack multiple enemies at once. Using them has a special mechanic that allows you to "select" which enemies to hit and how often. Fully using a shotlock goes to a special finisher as well that asks you for timed button prompt to deal a LOT of (usually homing) damage to enemies.
Lastly, melding. melding is an integral part of the game. It allows you to get new commands and passive abilities. These passive abilities can help you out quite a lot. There are abilities that get you extra experience, extra attacks during a combo, extra damage, extra healing and a lot more.
Once you max out a command, by having it in your command deck during battle, you can use it to meld and, if it has a passive ability, that ability will become yours, permanently.

    Mini-games and collectibles:
There are quite some mini-games to go through if you are interested. Keep in mind that these are optional, except for one per main character in Disney Town (one of the locations you will go to).
There are 3 major ones in Disney Town, one for each main character. All characters can play all mini-games, but only the reason for one of them gets explained. For Terra, it is the racing mini-game, for Ventus, it is the rhythm mini-game, and for Aqua, it is the "fruitball" mini-game. As stated before, these get explained sufficiently when they come up.
There is a fourth (hidden) mini-game in Disney Town as well, but it does not actually keep score. Any more on this I consider a spoiler. Pretty fun if you manage to find it.
Every world (except the first one, the last one, and the arena) has an "unversed symbol", an black-ish, purple-ish orb with a purple sign in it. This gives you access to a mini-game as well. This mini-game is completely dependant on the world it is in and (sometimes) the character you are playing as. Just follow the instructions in the top-left of the screen to finish them with a good score.
There are 2 more major mini-game locations. First is the arena, where you can fight enemies and extra bosses for points and then buy commands and items with these points. Second is the command board. The command board makes use of the commands you currently have in your command deck to play. It is basically a type of Monopoly, except the streets are now commands. It is quite lengthy to explain the details here, so I will refrain from doing that. It will be explained once you unlock it and try it.
There are 2 types of collectibles in the worlds, both of which are recorded in the journal. The first type is treasure chests, which usually contain commands and (sometimes) items. The second type is stickers, which you can stick onto a picture to unlock more items. At first, your picture is as empty as this:

Putting stickers on them in the right place awards you points. Get a certain amount of points and you get an item or a command. Keep in mind that you can get 7 points if you place them in the right spot, so try to do that if you want all the items and commands.

Graphics:
Although not quite as beautiful as the opening cinematic would want you to think, the game is quite beautiful and quite detailed, except for NPCs. There is a severe lack of NPCs and this sometimes becomes painfully apparent.
Other than that though, the graphics are not disappointing in the slightest. They did not inspire me with awe for its beauty either, though.
It fits and does not diminish the gameplay. That is about it.
(The opening cinematic is beautiful though: Kingdom Hearts bbs opening cinematic)

Music:
The music in Kingdom Hearts in general is beautiful, specifically the famous intro screen OST and "Simple and Clean", the song used for most openings and endings of the series.
The background music during the game is not too noticeable but adds the right feeling to the majority of the situations, changing to combat music during combat and to boss music during boss battles. Nothing major there, but very fitting.

Endings:
There is a special ending once you complete all 3 paths on Proud difficulty or higher and complete some additional objectives as well. Other than that, all 3 main characters have their own ending that intertwines beautifully with the others' endings. You may even become emotional at some point near the end.

Tips and tricks:

• Play in the order given by the game for the best experience story-wise (that is: first Terra, then Ventus, and Aqua last)
• Get the Ventus D-link maxed out as early as possible when playing as Terra and Aqua, because it makes your attacks significantly faster and you are reeeeeeeeaaaaaally slow in the beginning.
• when you die, keep in mind that "Continue" puts you back in the last room you entered before the fight you died in and "Retry" starts the battle over. Do not make the same mistake I did. 
• When playing as Ventus or Aqua, get "Time Splicer" as soon as you can, because it is OP. Preferably have 2 of these in your deck near the end of the game.
• Always have 2 cure spells equipped in your deck. They can really help you out in a pinch.
• The big purple/red hopping enemies with the cranks on the back need to be attacked from the back, or they will become invincible and then go homing suicide bomber on you. You have been warned.
• If you are a bit lazy, you may want to meld a command with "Exp walker" as soon as you are able.
• Want to meld with more knowledge of what you are doing? Take a look at this melding guide.
• Want to unlock all finishers for every character? Take a look at this finisher guide.

Good points:

• Solid gameplay
• Good story
• Amazing music (at least the 2 mentioned)

Bad points:

• Slow start
• No way to change characters mid-game
• Some of the earlier sections are HARD (specifically the escort sections)
• Escort sections (can you see I really dislike those?)
• Some mechanics becoming basically obsolete late game

Conclusion:

Sorry for this lengthy review of this game. It is just that I wanted to portray it as accurate as possible. The game is great and can really get you going into the series if you have not tried it yet. I would highly recommend trying this game if you are a fan of JRPGs or 3D fighting games (or both, of course). For a starter guide and an amazingly funny review, go see Superbutterbuns' video on it.

Review of "The Witness" (indie)

"The Witness" is a puzzle and exploration game for the PS4. The main objective is to walk around, finding puzzles to solve, solving them, and taking in the view.
The game is set on an island devoid of people, except you.

Grade (for those that do not want to read the entire thing and just want to know whether or not the game is any good. Why are you here if you do not want to read the review?):
A solid

Plot:
The plot of "The Witness" is quite obscure. There is commentary on a variety of subjects, but there seems to be no main plot. The main theme seems to be "solving problems", but a lot more can be gleaned from this experience.

Gameplay:
Gameplay is the meat of "The Witness". The game has a very minimalistic approach. You are supposed to find out everything by yourself, including the rules of the puzzles. The only instructions you get are how to move, how to start a puzzle, and how to sprint.
The beauty of this game's gameplay is the fact that you will almost never get blocked out of an area because the game does not want you there. Instead, it is your own lack of knowledge that keeps you out.
The puzzles themselves are maze puzzles. You start at the big round spot and go to the tiny outcrop at the end, while following the rules the board sets for you.
One of the first puzzles you will find is like this:

Saving is done automatically after every puzzle. It can be a bit confusing at first, since there is no indication of the game saving your progress, but it does not break the immersion either.

Graphics:
The graphics have a rustic charm to them. It is not quite real-looking, but the environment fills you with awe, nonetheless. People who enjoy just looking at a beautiful game will not fail to meet their needs here.
The majority of the beautiful areas can already be reached very early on, so if you want to explore and take in the view, you are free to do so.
Taking in the view is not only nice, it is sometimes necessary to solve some of the puzzles as well. The game incorporates perspective and the environment in its gameplay incredibly well.

Music:
Just like the gameplay, the music is very minimalistic as well. The background music is basically non-existent, which is a rather bold decision to make. It fits incredibly well though, as the (lack of) music will not distract you from the beauty of the game either.
Music, or more specifically, sounds are sometimes very important. You can hear where you are when you are close to a waterfall and some puzzles require you to use your ears.
If you are tone-deaf, you can skip these puzzles, but if you are not, figuring them out feels great.

Endings:
Discussing endings can not be done without spoiling the game, except for the fact that they fit incredibly well with the themes of the game.

Tips and tricks:

• If you do not know the rules of the current puzzle, look around the island. There are introduction puzzles for every type of puzzle that will ease you into that particular type. There are 2 of those "tutorials" right outside the starting area.
• If you have no idea what the rules are for a puzzle, come back later or look at it from a different perspective. Coming back later will only give you a fresh mind and possibly more knowledge on the different puzzles. It will not change the puzzle itself.
• The lake is your friend, if you know how to use it.
• The town is probably the last area you want to go to, as it incorporates all the other types of puzzles on the island.
• Taking in the environment can be quite important.
• There is an end to the game, but make sure you have done everything you wanted to do before ending the game.

Good points:

• The minimalistic approach
• The insane cleverness of the puzzles
• The visual beauty of the environment
• The clever perspective-based puzzles and "easter eggs"

Bad points:

• The shortness of the game (would have loved to see more)
• The sound-based puzzles (why?)
• The difficulty spikes

Conclusion:

This is one of the best puzzle games I have ever played. It is ingenious and fresh and keeps you on your (mental) toes at all times. I highly recommend this game for those who like intelligent games that really require you to think and for those that love to explore beautiful environments.

SPOILER content (i.e. Do not read this if you mind being spoiled or want to experience everything yourself first!):

There are two endings that I know of, and they are both beautiful in their own right. The second one can be found within 5 minutes of starting the game, but without the knowledge you get while playing the game, you will most likely completely miss it.

The first ending is a bit bittersweet, as it resets all your progress that you worked so hard for, but it allows you to start over with a fresh look on your face and more knowledge than you know what to do with.

One of my favorite mechanics of this game is the environmental puzzles. It makes you look at the environment in an entirely different way once you find out about them.

To my dismay, I have had to look up a couple puzzles because I could not figure it out for the life of me, especially the sound-based puzzles (the ship one in particular).