Скорошни рецензии на Semaphia

It took me a while to get around to this properly, but hey, I had to let my heart recover.

Some of the short stories are better than others, but all are worth listening to. The "Side Stories" exclusive art is some of the best that Key have produced, and the OST, as usual, never fails to impress.

While it's true that "Side Stories" is rife with design oversights on the technical side of things, on the important stuff, it delivers exactly what you'd expect & hope for - More CLANNAD; tears & laughs included.

I'm a simple guy. I see Key, I buy, and I love.

Hoping we can see more KSL Live concerts, as well as soundtracks for CLANNAD & planetarian available through Steam!

Reading this & any other review is a waste of your time that would be better spent playing one of the best visual novels on Steam, but I'll write it anyway!

Time-travel. An age-old storytelling idea that's often incorporated, but so rarely excuted properly - STEINS;GATE is one of the few exceptions. Not only does it manage to live up to the expectations of the subject matter, it actually exceeds them, while also developing some incredible characters & memorable interpersonal relationships between them all.

Complimented beautifully by some of the best art & a memorable soundtrack, STEINS;GATE becomes not just an easy recommendation, but in my opinion, a must-play.

Tutturu~

Ahh, a spin-off... *Sigh* Okay, I'll play it.

UDG is like catching the clap in a brothel: It's easy, bizarre at times, but you'll still have fun doing it.

It has some novel gameplay ideas that hit more often than not, but sometimes feels like it's torn between what it really wants to be. There's a few moments in the game where a long period of exposition is broken up by moving forward a few steps on the screen, only to be followed by another long sequence of world building & character development: If you're looking to buy this game strictly for the action, then think again.

However, if you've already completed 1+2, & fancy taking another step into the Danganronpa universe & its zany happenings, then UDG really is an enjoyable experience worth playing through.

Open up the Steam folder...
> Tomoyo After
> Soundtrack
> Track 1, To the Same Heights

30 seconds later, crying.

Thank you for making this available through Steam, especially at such a good price & in both FLAC & MP3 (320kbps) variants. I hope we can also see the CLANNAD & Planetarian OST's available soon!

A beautiful piano collection of Harmonia's already stunning OST, presented at such a cheap price in both MP3 (320kbps) and FLAC formats. A wonderful collection of evocative melodies presented in the highest audio quality possible.

Thanks, Key/VisualArts!

It took me a while to get around to this one, as Kevin Graham was never one of my favored characters from the previous games which I loved & finished 3 years back... However, I was more than happy to be proven wrong!

Combat remains the same as SC, which is great in my book. I've always considered Trails games to be Final Fantasy VIII but done right: Limitless customization, amazing synergy between characters & abilities, and most importantly, not being tied behind a card game >.<

Narratively, Trails the 3rd doesn't exist to continue the grand story from the first two games, but instead to reinforce & flesh out certain characters, relationships, and happenings throughout Zemuria, helping to bridge the gap between this trilogy & the multiple sub-series that follow. If you've not played the first two games, then this one definitely isn't for you - On the flipside, if you've beaten FC/SC & are looking to go further along into Zero no Kiseki / Trails of Cold Steel, then you'd be crazy to skip out on this one.

Overall, a must play for veterans of the series. For those looking for a place to start, the first Trails in the Sky game is waiting for you - And I promise you, it's worth it.

Very few games would dare touch on so many philosophical questions in a single offering, & fewer still would come remotely close to pulling them all off. However, to pose such questions with eloquence & grace in such a short form kinetic novel is something entirely unique to this brilliant little game.

A must play - Yumemi's tale is an unforgettable experience, matched beautifully, of course, by a brilliant OST that I really hope KSL brings to Steam soon.

I'll be honest from the start - I really don't know how to go about reviewing this game.

Normally, I'd wait a few days before starting to put my thoughts into words, so I've a small period of time to dwell on the shortcomings, better understand the story, and most importantly of all, be able to properly look back & tell you whether or not the game had an impact on me while playing it; but in CLANNAD's case, waiting for that impact to subside would likely result in never writing a review.

To briskly get the negatives out of the way: Yes, the artstyle isn't for everyone, and the references are sometimes a bit outdated, or even hard to follow if you're not Japanese (although this is alleviated by the Dangopedia), but I never felt like that mattered once I started to get into the story.

The story, complimented so beautifuly by a varied & touching soundtrack... I can't describe it. No game, movie, album, or TV show, has ever made me cry so much as CLANNAD, for both the sweetest & most bitter of reasons. An absolute masterpiece - A game that, before I was even 20 hours through, I knew would leave an impression unlike any other.

The final impression it left me with was simple: This is my favourite game of all time. I'm close to 30, with video games having been a huge part of my life since I was a year old. I've typically favoured gameplay focused titles over VNs & the like, but this game... It's so far ahead of anything else I've ever played that I feel a sense of loss from having finished it.

I don't imagine I'll find a game more impactful than this, but even if I do, it'll always be remembered as that one title that showed me that games could be so much more than I ever dreamed of.

(PS. Please don't use any sort of guide for your first playthrough(s), and please don't give up easily if you're deterred by the artstyle/length - Yeah, 100 hours is a long time, but I promise you, it's worth it).

So, after putting more than 130 hours into the first game, my expectations for Deadfire were pretty high. But does it live up to those expectations? Yes... And no. Mostly yes!

(Keep in mind that this is after my first playthrough on Veteran difficulty, having done a huge portion of the side content).

Let's start with the good stuff.

The storylines, overall, feels stronger than the first game, but the points that tie the two games together are arguably the strongest of the lot. The emphasis on side content & exploration suits the theme, and the setting means that variety is never lacking, but the main story itself just feels a little short & inconsequential, especially when you can finish the game without a final boss to be excited for. The NPC's the player encounters along the way are as varied as ever, but the line-up of potential party members is, in my opinion, no better than that of the first game. Thankfully, some of the stronger characters from the original Pillars return & continue to impress, helping even more to tie the two games together in a really interesting way.

Production value has gone up across the board. The series has retained the beautiful artstyle from the first game, while adding extra goodies like properly animated flora, much improved particle effects, and more fluid animations across the board. There's also a lot more voice acting than there was in the first game, along with a stronger soundtrack that, while sometimes out of place, definitely adds to the overall atmosphere of the game.

Combat is absolutely fantastic! The multi-class implementation is a huge positive, & the level of customization options when it comes to talents, weapons, and playstyle almost make this seem like a game you could enjoy replaying solely for the combat alone. Well, I would say that, but it also leads me to my first major negative:

The game is too easy. In order to weed out any sort of a challenge from Deadfire, I had to resist the urge to use Empower at all, as even a terribly statted default Mage character could take out almost any level appropriate enemy with an empowered Missile spell. They're not the only class at fault, though. Rogues have so much talent synergy that almost any level appropriate enemy can be taken out with an empowered attack from stealth, and most of the time, a non-empowered attack if the conditions are right.

It's also not in the best state technically. With more memory leaks than an Alzheimer's patient, and a framerate that wouldn't look out of place in an art gallery, it's surprising that in my 51 hours of play that the game only crashed once. From what I've read, a lot of this seems to be a problem on Unity's end, so hopefully it'll get resolved sooner rather than later.

My last point, is entirely subjective & should probably be ignored, but... There just feels like there's something missing. Maybe it's the lack of difficulty (that isn't self imposed), or perhaps it is instead how short & sudden the main storyline feels. Could just be my original distaste for the nautical theme, even if I think Deadfire pulls it off magnificently. I'm not sure what it is, but I just know that Deadfire misses it. That something intangible that makes a game feel truly magic - In my opinion, it just isn't there.

BUT!

In conclusion - Is Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire worth playing? I'd say without question, but maybe not for the reasons you'd expect. In a genre typically focused on the narrative, it's the combat of Deadfire that stands out as the highlight for me. The storytelling is overall an improvement on the first game, but there's just that nagging feeling in the back of my mind that something is missing, and I can't quite put my finger on it...

Still, a few good expansions and a balancing patch will hopefully turn what's already a very good game that's already worth playing, into a great game that's impossible to ignore.