Recent reviews by Kyoka

I don't really enjoy fighting games but this is one I have really stuck with. It sticks very true to the style and animation of the anime, being just as bombastic. One thing you must keep in mind with this game is that it IS kusoge, so don't go in expecting Tekken or Street fighter tier quality. But, for a kusoge, it has really impressed me. Each voice actor for every character going, Japanese and English dubs, have voiced hundreds of unique voice lines each for this game which really impressed me. It also features a decent soundtrack, with each character getting a few tracks each. The models look good and the game is very well animated during matches.

The story follows its own path from the anime (mostly). While the story is a bit weak and the levels kinda generic, can't really expect more from a fighting kusoge. The campaign is about 70% cutscenes though, which I actually like because it shows a lot of flavour from other character perspectives that you didn't see in the anime, but I understand why some wouldn't enjoy that.

The solo play in this game is quite weak. Training mode is decent and allows a lot of options to practice combos and characters easily, but the solo content other than the campaign is pretty lackluster. Survival is fun to practice combos on characters consistently, just the AI is really bad and is very easy to manipulate and beat. Covers are absolutely terrible, probably the worst thing about this game. They aren't fun to fight, have minimal work put into them it feels and just are not satisfying to kill en-masse. This is rather unfortunate because the online for this game on Steam is pretty dead to just match-make. If you want to play online, you will need to join the discord server to organise matches (Which isn't hard really) or ask friends to play with you. Ranked mode is really cool and has a nice progression system. If the game was more popular, it would be more satisfying to grind.

The combat of the game is extremely fun. The combos are quite simple to learn, but you can really modify them to suit the situation and your play style. This combined with the 3D arena aspect make it work surprisingly well. The tracking is good, each character feels very different with nice variety and mechanics. The PC port of the game isn't as bad as it could be but makes the game drop FPS sometimes during certain maps, which can totally whiff certain combos and make your opponent fall out or get up for not much fault of your own. This can usually be avoided by performing the combo presses faster, but that is hard for some players. There are three specials, special attack, special guard break and special triangle, and these are performed by using 2 of 4 metre bars. Metre is decent to come by, and is given from either dealing damage, taking damage, or blocking damage. You do not gain metre passively unless you are valour level 3. If you perform an ability that uses up metre, you become blue barred which prevents you from gaining metre for a short time, but it is reduced if you are taking damage during your blue bar period. This can be deadly as it requires 2 bars to combo break, which instantly interrupts an enemies' combo on you and deals a small amount of damage. Because this game relies heavily on combos, you want to make sure you are in the position to combo break if needed. You can also combo break to interrupt a bloody valour attempt.

This game's unique mechanic is the 'Bloody Valour' system where the two characters fly towards each other and engage in what can only be described as your classic anime debate. It is a funny system that is obviously directly inspired from the anime where the characters do this all the time. My problem with this system is that it is rock paper scissors, but not entirely random, as each option gives you a certain buff if you manage to win with it, so there is strategy involved to your choices. Winning the rock paper scissors will increase your valour level, which generally makes your character stronger in one area and buffs one of their abilities.

Nearly all characters cannot perform TOD combos from valour level 0, but this changes as you gain valour level. At valour level 2, it is not uncommon to perform a full TOD combo, but usually requires at least full metre to perform and the enemy can combo break out of it if given the chance. They are hard though, and it takes a lot of practice to get it right.
At valour level three, the character can perform a "sen-i-soshitsu" which is an insta-win KO ability. They are really awesome and one of my favourite things about this game, even if they are probably a bad competitive decision.

The price tag is very high for this title but I am not really surprised. I didn't expect this game to be very successful in the west simply because it is a kusoge and they never perform well here. Our standards are much higher when it comes to indie games, and the idea of kusoge doesn't really exist for us. But the amount of resources given for this game, most notably the voice acting, is pretty great.

In conclusion, this is a very fun, cool, a bit incomprehensible at times but easy to pick up arena fighter. Perfect for KLK fans of course. It could do with more stages, more balancing and better single player. If you're like me and you find 2D fighting games extremely boring, then you might enjoy this more. It has that 3D smash bros feel, and is all about good movement much more than conventional fighting games. Wouldn't get it for full price but I would on sale. Don't go in expecting some full Arc System Works title - they didn't really make it, just published it from what I have gathered. A+ are the devs and have created the other Trigger title (also kusoge) Little Witch Academia (Chamber of Time) and the animation style is the same, so you might realise it if you're a fan of that.

TotalilatoT

One of those cancer neo-modern FPS games that you should avoid at all costs. I hope you enjoy their sense of justified progression as you are locked from playing characters that might interest you with their grindy character progression system that people will try and justify, all while paying the full game price tag.
There really is not a game with more edge than this, at a point where I don't even know how people take the story or characters of this game seriously with how ridiculous they are. Shouldn't be called a Rainbow 6 game, the previous games were far better.

Ubisoft do it again with the business model of a free to play, or at least a game under £15-$20, with one of the worst online communities out there, but I think that is more a problem with the genre, not the game itself.

As much as I love EU4, I really cannot support the developers with their DLC shillary. This is a great game, but you will be cucked with £15 DLC and extremely misleading overpriced DLC titles. To a new player, it must seem incredibly intimidating, knowing that they will have to spend £100+ to experience the up to date game.

It's about time Paradox really start making some kind of DLC pack. And a proper one, not some ♥♥♥♥♥♥ thing. Or just release older DLC for free. So much content locked behind these terrible paywalls. Pirating is pretty much the only option.

Other than that, the game is brilliant. Thousands of hours of entertainment. If Paradox improve their attitude, I'll delete this and give it a way more positive one, but I just can't support it, even though I really want to.


Anyway, now that is done with, EU4 is as gripping as it is educational. The learning curve is quite steep, and can take a decent number of hours to play confidently, but once you get there it is extremely hooking. Think of the game like a giant sandbox, with tonnes of different possibilities. Every nation in the game playable from all different time periods. Some nations have their own unique events, but overall it does a great job to make every country a unique experience, even the ones that don't have their own idea trees or special events. With their use of religion, culture and geographic buffs, it makes the limitless combinations unique every time.

And also, even if you don't want to or do, this game will force historical and geographical knowledge into your brain. After binge sessions of playing, all I can do is picture map borders in my head, or what might've happened if a country did this one thing a tiny bit different and how that'd butterfly effect to modern day. It really makes you enjoy history you might've thought you wouldn't be interested in, and fleshes it out in a really fluid and non-invasive way. You start feeling random senses of nationalism for whatever country you play, it's a great feeling, makes the game suprisngly immersive even though it really is just a big map. Some days you'll be ruling the waves, ear rape Rule Britannia on in the background, other times you'll be doing the exact opposite, beating England in the 100 year war as France while eaing a croissant to top it off.

The game does a great job of transitioning between the different ages. It starts without the invention of guns, where each unit will be using pikes and swords. As the game progresses, you get access to muskets, cannons and more advanced intrigue. Things change, as institutions and religions pop either advance or invade your lands. By the 1700s, you can really feel the countries having a purpose of existing, even if you've never heard of them before.

With all that said, I still feel like the game was made for Europe. Which isn't a terrible thing. Europe for sure is the most important region in the planet at the time, but just to point that out. That isn't to say they haven't developed other parts of the world. They have a lot, with dlcs such as the mandate of heaven, or dlcs that add way more flavour to tribal nations and indian/middle eastern nations. But that's how it is, it's DLC, so unless you can get that you'll be missing out a lot if you plan to play other areas of the globe.

EU4 is also incredibly RNG based. Nearly everything depends on a random number, not to imply the game doesn't involve skill or tactics, it really does, but a good player can still be held back by unlucky sieges or random stability hits. It's not so bad though, you get used to the RNG aspects and play around and adapt to them.

In conclusion, EU4 is a brilliant game with unlimited sandbox potential. But nearly all the content I've talked about in this review requires atleast £100 spent on DLC alone, not even including base game price. It is for that reason, that I simply cannot recommend it in this state. They built the game with DLC in mind, not saying the bare game is barren (not nearly as bad as CK2 vanilla) but it obviously was unfinished and had the intention of being support by DLC. Which isn't always a problem, but the price they want for the content they give per DLC, with the sheer amount they have these days, it is a huge problem.


Pros:
Thousands of hours of sandbox gameplay
Very educational. Will teach you A LOT historically and geographically.
A huge amount of options and combinations
A lot of unique flavour
Very indepth mechanics
Incredibly satisfying
Can really play it how you want to. Playing it both casually or tryharding feels rewarding
A large potential skill cap
Clean and smooth layouts
Not very demanding at all on your PC
Good Multiplayer!
An incredible amount of amazing mods

Cons:
A large learning curve can put you off
Some very obscure mechanics that are poorly explained
Kinda stupid amount of RNG sometimes
Isn't that uncommon to run into a bug. Usually aren't that bad though
So much trial and error. You're going to have a lot of moments that feel incredibly unfair.
Dumb misleading DLC names and stupid fluff that costs money
And, finally, the reason I can't support the game. But I've been complaining about it the entire review, so you know already.

Ayyy lmao

ayyy lmao

Very pretty, awesome dialogue and amazing soundtrack. This 'game' has all of this. Some will be disappointed as it doesn't provide much, but what it does provide is an excellent 1 hour length journey.

This 'game' isn't for everyone. Don't go in expecting some epic RPG or anything, just go in calm and relaxed, sit back and enjoy the ride.

Oh, and look out for the spooky shades!