Recent reviews by Jay RPG

In.fking.credible

Will post a full review once I've finished writing it but in the meantime here is a few quick notes that should answer some questions I've seen floating around:

- This is as close to a 1:1 remake/remaster of the original PSP game as possible. There are no story changes and no real changes to the amount of content in the game (missions, mini-games, etc).
- This is not Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2, it has very little to do with FF7R at all. Crisis Core Reunion is a prequel to the original FF7 that tells the story of Zack.
- The Action Combat feels much like it did on PSP, it has not been massively changed but it has been tweaked to play better on modern platforms, and the QoL additions make the whole system feel smoother and more enjoyable.
- PC Performance is excellent. No stuttering or frame-pacing issues. I've played for over 40 hours now between my desktop (5800x / RTX 3080ti) and laptop (11800h / RTX 3060) with no issues to report.
- Yes, some of the new English voices give worse performances than their counterparts in the original (in part because there are basically no changes to the script, timing, or animated lip sync so the new VAs aren't able to perform naturally, they're being forced to mimic previous performances within very strict timing and delivery requirements.) This isn't helped by some really poor mixing that often drowns out the vocals. This is really my only complaint. If you're planning to play with the Japanese dub, you've got nothing to worry about.

Scarlet Nexus is an Action RPG 4 years in the making. Developed by a new team at Bandai Namco made up of Tales series veterans, God Eater developers, a few members of the Code Vein team, and a portion of the division that assisted Nintendo with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

- Gorgeous cel-shaded visuals.
- Some of the most unique enemy designs you're ever likely to see thanks to a collaboration with an award winning Japanese independent artist.
- A compelling story full of twists and turns with dual protagonists that each get their own story route.
- Music that pulls from a dozen different genres but still manages to feel cohesive and sound great.
- A fun cast of characters with plenty of humour, and really addictive action combat.

The PC version is well optimised with minimal issues & the M/KB support/layout is great (controllers also supported). No Denuvo or additional DRM and you can run the game with an unlocked frame rate. Unfortunately there's no official ultra wide support at this stage.

Full Review:
https://youtu.be/cZVcwQD7d-g

Issue: Game speed is too quick, character moves in fast motion

This is a remaster of a PS3 game, some of the game logic/physics are tied to framerate. The game engine is designed for 60fps but the internal framerate cap isn't working correctly. You can easily fix this issue by setting the max framerate for the game .exe in the NVIDIA Control Panel (or AMD equivalent) to between 60-70. (Nvidia control panel > Manage 3D Settings > Program Settings > Max Frame Rate)


Issue: Game speed is too slow, FPS is locked to 48fps

This is a bug related to Vsync (Vertical Sync). Make sure Vertical Sync is forced/turned off in the Nvidia Control Panel or AMD equivalent.


Issue: Stuttering, FPS dips

This only affects controller users and is allegedly a very common problem with the Steam Input API. You can either play with a KB/M or disable the Steam Controller Input in the game's properties on Steam so the controller defaults back to a less buggy input method.


You'll likely only experience one of these problems, if you have any at all. Other than these issues the PC version is solid. It doesn't crash, it runs very well once you've got the proper FPS cap in place, it looks great, and it's a very good JRPG.

"[It's like] a softcore hentai version of Donkey Kong 64 because it's somewhat like a collectathon third-person shooter. There's [kind of] freeplay exploration sections, missions with specific objectives, boss fights, and bonus levels. Usually you don't start a new chapter with a specific goal, it's only after you start exploring one of the girl's rooms that a new mission comes to light, and even when you're on a mission there are a bunch of optional collectables. You can choose to go directly to the room where your mission is, if you even know which one it's in, or you can freely go into one of the others. Each room has an assortment of coins, points of interest, and girl's underwear that you can collect.

You can also use your happy bullets on girls who aren't currently your target to lower their inhibitions and get more information, which is just a fancy way of saying it's another optional collectable. At the end of a mission you'll be graded based on time, damage taken, coins collected, and information revealed which pertains to happy bulleting girls and inspecting points of interest.

The psuedo boss fights come at the end of each chapter and generally involve one of the girls needing to stopped, calmed down, or brought to her senses. You'll need to shoot a bunch of different pieces of the girl's anatomy with your happy bullets while dodging the various projectiles flying towards you, oh yeah.. and there are also these squid things that attack you for some reason.

Anyway, once you've finished loading the girl up with happy bullets, she'll be so hot and sweaty that she just really needs a bath, and this is where the bonus levels come into play. You get a limited number of happy bullets, shooting the girl earns you coins, and periodically she'll do a sexy pose so you can jump on and (I think) dry hump more coins out of her. From a story point of view this is actually pretty funny because Bee-tan always makes some whacky excuse pertaining to the mission for why they need to observe the girls in the bath but really Bee-tan is just a horndog.

...

All jokes aside, this game is really weird, it's quirky, it's silly, it's very not-safe-for-work even though there is no nudity, it's not going to blow you away with amazing graphics or great music, and the gameplay mechanics are fairly shallow but I tell you what, it can be a bit of fun.

It got more than a few giggles out of me with it's silly writing and over-the-top situations, the PC port is well done on a technical-level, and it's plenty engaging. I'm not sure who I can recommend this to exactly but if it sounds like your kind-of thing I don't see any reason why you shouldn't pick it up."

https://youtu.be/LzWuHgnhNYA

Fate/EXTELLA The Umbral Star is probably the best Dynasty Warriors-esque game out there. The soundtrack is fantastic, there's a compelling story that even non-Fate fans can follow with relative ease, and the gameplay is great fun.

The PC Port is flawless, it's incredibly optimised and runs at very consistent framerates. You can see a direct comparison of graphics and performance between this PC release and the original PS4 release here: https://youtu.be/HPf6OtdTxD0

If you didn't pick it up on the PS4, or the Nintendo Switch, there is no better time than now. With full controller support, and excellent performance, the PC port is every bit as good as it was on the PS4.

Original PS4 Review: https://youtu.be/5qo_7V3HvME

I can't overstate the soundtrack, it is really fantastic, I still listen to the soundtrack in my regular playlist every day.