Recent reviews by Mykurr

In the near future (past?) no matter where you will be, chances are you’ll probably still be slaving away at your work of some sorts. That’s okay, I love spending my hours especially on paid work time chatting on my social media platform of choice and boy imagine how nice it would be to get paid to sort through people’s drama online? That is the premise of S4U: Citypunk 2011 and Love Punch, and it’s a real treat in how it realises it.

There’s an element of immersiveness in mashing your keyboard to mimic that of typing out the different responses you can make, paired with how the timing of your responses is acknowledged by the game really creates this sense of actually chatting someone. The “someone” itself feels incredibly fleshed out with how the different scenarios (which there are 9 of) each have so much background to all the parties involved with each personality feeling so distinct in how they talk down to the very typing habits they might have. All of this serves back to the amazing world building in fleshing out Castor Yard as a plausible location similar to that of the work city those living in the countryside dream of. I’m reading in other reviews that the localisation has been rough, but by the time I played the game most of those issues were resolved and I had more or less a smooth experience in 100%ing the whole game.

But above everything else, this game feels oddly personal to me. From the presentation of answering everything from a chat app to the dry atmosphere of living in the city, it gives a sense of wistfulness that I feel in my own life. It also helps that the thematic point of interest in technology and AI is very topical especially right now as of writing this, but the game handles that a tad too over the top. Yet that just shows the level of earnestness you can feel from playing a game like this where immersion and emotion really resonate for a cohesive experience.

A brand new start to the atelier franchise, I assumed this would be the perfect start-off point for a new fan to get into the series. It seemed wonderfully ambitious with the open world, the character designs were all completely mesmerizing particularly how beautiful Yumia herself and Nina looked with their enchanting outfits. Trailers appeared to tease a more mature yet emotionally potent narrative especially with how well the presentation conveyed its melancholic atmosphere of what’s to come. Ryza got Atelier on the western market’s map for an enjoyable JRPG, but could this game be the one that will claim its critical success as Atelier’s magnum opus? The Persona 5, The Nier: Automata, The Fire Emblem Three Houses of the Atelier franchise! Well honestly it does not even come close, but there is a certain other game I want to make this comparison towards… Sonic Frontiers. An ambitious open world game with a lot of potential especially in its storytelling, but left a lot to be desired.

Essentially, despite the darker tone the plot for this game isn’t that too complicated to understand. In a world where alchemy is maligned due to the resulting fall of a mighty empire, Yumia joins the research team in adventuring across this foreign land to discover the truth about alchemy in pursuit of clearing its reputation of its evils. There’s a lot more detail to that but the general gist of it is enough of a hook for anyone curious especially to how this might differ to previous entries. Unfortunately, this initial hook is really within the premise the promotional material would show you and not within the game itself, with the flashforward at the start showing the midpoint not really conveying much of an interesting plot line beyond the main character in a perilous situation. The actual start of the story isn’t any better either with it just sort of dropping the player into the setting of exploration without much of an engaging explanation mixed in with the first few party members coming across as awfully dry in their interactions. At this point of the game it's still within the two hour mark on steam so you could potentially get your money back or just close the demo and move onto a different game. It feels quite disappointing, but frankly everything that gets you invested into playing Atelier Yumia is outside the game rather internally within itself initially.

But these characters are certainly a highlight of the game beyond their stellar visual designs. Although I originally described the first members of Yumia’s party as dry, both Viktor and Isla actually have a lot more going on as the story goes with how they are royalty and the effects alchemy and the tragedy its caused has for them. This makes their initial goal interesting to follow, but the villain surrounding their goal, Vesper, is such a non-character there really isn’t much of a payoff to their character arcs for this game which just leaves their journey quite hollow if it wasn’t for the amazing chemistry they actually have with the rest of the cast. Rutger and Nina are probably the stronger characters of the party as their backstories are actually far more relevant to the main plot while also having more fleshed out personalities which got them to steal a lot of the scenes they were in, though it also helps they had the most fun kit to play with for the combat. There’s also some furry waifu in the party and she’s honestly quite adorable in how helpless she is but her whole story was so predictable I don’t feel like mentioning it at all. Nonetheless, Yumia as the main character really does carry the whole narrative with her journey paying off quite well especially by the middle part of the game where the flashforward takes place. Overall the cast of characters is honestly quite reminiscent of the Tales of franchise and although the chemistry does occasionally hit those high highs, it's such a waste that this game doesn’t have the story skits I liked from the dusk trilogy and marie remake that could’ve added those fun banter to flesh out the cast even more. It apes Tales of so much it even follows it up with most villains being one-note and boring besides the one side villain kek.

So the game has a bit of a weaker narrative and the characters albeit charming, just simply aren’t utilised to their fullest potential. Then surely the gameplay loop has to be its main selling point as it's always been with the Atelier games right? The answer to this is… somewhat. Exploration is actually quite rewarding in finding resources through the land and treasure chests for the synthesizing better items for exploration and combat. However, going back to my Sonic Frontiers comparison at the start, these puzzles are downright baby level tile-turning and mix-&-matching. It's quaint for the first few hours but just downright repetitive after a while. Fortunately exploration is more than just puzzles as the energy system is quite interesting in how it enables Yumia’s movement through actions like jumping, going through mana dense areas, and the cool motorcycle. None of these are actually that much of a challenge though but it does present a modicum of stakes within the gameplay and not just the narrative. Combat is actually pretty fun at the start especially with the usual Atelier staple of upgrading your arsenal whenever you hit the roadblock, with the added real-time action combat making the spectacle quite the attraction when it looks like your playable character is doing a sick combo. However, like a lot of the mechanics mentioned so far, the novelty never really lasts as there’s barely much variety or depth beyond matching the weakness the enemy has so you can use the big item move for the extra damage when their shield breaks. Another disappointment on what is otherwise some really good ideas being no more than interesting gimmicks.

So to reiterate, this game shows a lot of promise in how unique it shakes the formula in presenting a really cool interpretation of what the franchise has been about. The narrative tries to portray a more mature vibe and while the characters are likeable in their interaction still leaves a lot to be desired in how they can impact the overall story in their relevance. By going the open-world route, they allowed themselves a myriad of new gameplay opportunities but what ends up being received by the players feels awfully unchallenging, uninspired and gimmicky. This is literally just Sonic Frontiers. But hey, just like Sonic Frontiers, I genuinely believe this can be a STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION for the franchise as I do think the next game can do really well if they gave it more polish. Because it really needs polish, like holy cow optimization really be damned these days with how crunchy the game can feel on PC. I’d still recommend this game though since I think I had a more positive than negative experience with this game and I really want GUST to further refine what they managed to achieve with this game. We will be eating better with the next game surely.

As much as I liked the first game, it was honestly quite barren in its content and even with the expansion there was still more left to be desired. Does this game finally fulfill my cravings left by the first game? Not really. I appreciate it a lot that they cut the full month down to only 10 days as there becomes less empty time where I just skip the days. Cutting down the levels of affection to just 3 phases also helps with this in getting to the fun stuff faster which I appreciated, however here also lies how much smaller in scope this game also has because of this. There’s less unique voice lines for the heroine and by day 3 you’ll probably witness it all if you weren’t already getting bored by the positions. Even the unique scenes seem to be just a little less of what was in the base game’s selection. Frankly, it almost seems like this was made on a tighter schedule or budget as there’s even more hiccups with how the audio quality seems iffy with the echo I can hear from the voice actress’s microphone in a lot of the voice over. If you were enough of a sucker to get the first game I think you’ll be complacent enough to enjoy this, but otherwise I could never really properly recommend the ~Life in the Countryside~ games beyond the gorgeous pixel visuals.

Day will break again... and again... and again...

No but seriously wtf was act 3?

I hate to be that guy that compares everything to Persona, but this is legit what if Persona was about spending time with your cousins in the countryside. It even has a pretty robust calendar system in having a scarce amount of time to do all the events you want. The side activities and mini-games are surprisingly decent and are integrated well enough to make the payoff of the main events worth the build up. The pixelated art style is quite beautiful and adds to the atmosphere, though the lack of voice acting hampers the overall experience a bit. If you do get this you need to the DLC as the added activities with the other girls makes it more worth it especially in making the schedule more challenging in trying to fit more activities and items among the girls. If you have to use a nut per dollar metric it is well worth the dollar as the amount of content in this game is surprisingly vast.

Goated with the sauce.

When it first came out, Sonic Colors was seen as a beacon of hope as a return of the Sonic franchise. No werehog, no bad motion controls, no kissing a human and everything else bad sonic reviewers of the 2010s have already mentioned. Heck, even mentioning how bad that era of sonic critique was is pretty cliche at this point. Now over a decade later, a remaster has come out and it looked like ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. But that’s okay, because sonic fans grew up and are now capable enough of fixing everything Sonic Team screwed up on. Truly, there’s never been a better time to be a sonic fan than right now. But how does the actual game stack up in retrospect?

Funnily enough, a gradual shift has occurred within the reception of certain sonic games. Sonic Unleashed used to be seen as a mediocre entry with the werehog stages dragging down what would otherwise be a pretty good game, but nowadays it's universally beloved among Sonic fans. The inverse has occurred with Sonic Colors where its flaws seem to be more visible in the eyes of many with the abundance of 2D sections and the bloated 6 act structure of every level. Although 6 acts does make it a tad weird as some of it can feel stretched, knowing that it's just chopped up pieces of an act 2 helps knowing that each act is more of an exploration of the different gimmicks of the level with the accompanying wisps that can be used. In this regard, I think Sonic Colors level design is actually brilliant in how much variety it has and how it accompanies the player in exploring its different aspects.

In addition to its accommodating level design, sonic control really well in this iteration with the double jump coming in clutch for a lot of the platforming but also the fact its abundance in 2D sections creates less room for error. People hark on said 2D sections but honestly it really isn’t that bad as they both maintain the challenge and the spectacle I expect from my sonic game. The appeal of this game though, the wisps, is what really brings these strong design elements together. I love that Sonic took a page from Mario’s book in getting different power-ups that can help explore these new terrains. Each of the new wisps are surprisingly unique and well-integrated without ever feeling forced onto you as a lot of stages don’t even really rely on using the wisps. This is essentially how I want a sonic game’s gimmick to be incorporated into the game.

With the Re-Rainbow Mod, this game looks outstanding. I’m still going to give a negative rating overall for this game because the base game is honestly just a downgrade of the original, but the folks working on the mod really deserve me giving credit to them as every stage is even more visually beautiful with the restoration of its original colors and lighting brought to HD. With a game with such gorgeous level themes being that of different planets, Sonic Colors is stunning on another level with the Re-Rainbow mod. It also makes the wisp powers pop out more with the cool spectacle they are with better textures in a better looking environment. Sonic Colors Ultimate with the Project Re-Rainbow mod might be the best looking 3D sonic game in my humble opinion so far.

So should you drop the cash to buy Sonic Colors Ultimate now that there’s a mod that fixes everything? It depends. Feels wrong to essentially reward Sega for the work modders did, but ultimately Sonic Colors was their game that they originally developed. If you’ve never played Sonic Colors, then you might as well jump in here and install the mod to witness one of the best 3D sonic games that isn’t Sonic Generations. If you have played the original game, then only get this if you really want to see what the game should look like in HD if you don’t mind giving that money to Sega’s half-assed attempt at it. Either way, I had a good time at the very least with replaying the game this way.

Definitely get it if you liked the other entries of Class of ‘09. The structure is different from the other games with dense each route is with Jecka’s personal story compared to how the other games show more of fragmented parts of Nicole’s life. If you haven’t played the other games you definitely should, they’re very interesting satirical takes of late 2000s american culture anyone can appreciate even if you aren’t from the whiter suburbs of the US or old enough to care about the late 2000s.

The focus on Jecka is actually something a lot of fans probably wanted considering she’s the second most recurring character besides the main character Nicole in the previous Class of 09 games so it's interesting to see what Jecka’s life is like in the background while you’re out ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ up Nicole’s life. Honestly the most interesting thing about this game is how much it actually references the previous games compared to the Re-Up, with one of the conclusions of the previous route really weaving itself well with one of the routes in the first game. In this regard it paints a cool picture for the Class of 09 lore entirely of how Nicole and Jecka’s friendship works and how they’re both getting screwed over in different ways and oddly becoming kindred souls granted this is never really mentioned in the game, still an interesting perspective the game displays.

Since it’s Jecka’s game it’s pretty novel seeing all the events unfold from Jecka’s perspective, to the point that it gets a lot of criticism of being outright torture porn but in reality it really is the same events, Jecka just happens to actually have emotions and responds appropriately to the messed up stuff compared to Nicole. Also the fact that since these characters are legally 18 within this game that the creator really didn’t try conceal his fetishes this time around. I guess it's just a filter against all the anti-sex puritans who are fans of the series because despite how fetishy it is, it's still very in-brand with the stories it tells.

Two of the five routes are straight up feet fetish routes and honestly they were quite entertaining as one having Nicole being a literal murderer and the other being outright NTR. Very shocking but also what I expected to get out of Class of 09. The FYE route was honestly quite tasteless though in comparison as beyond the crass attempt with middle eastern countries, there just wasn’t much comedy with it. I’ve also seen a lot of criticisms of the groomer route saying it was too far but like, every male adult in the previous games was also trying to groom Nicole? Anyways the main ending that connected to the first game was a cool nod especially since ties a lot of the main themes of Class of 09 as a whole together but it does feel like it was missing the comedic oomph.

Really, this game is kind of missing that snarky punch the previous games have. Sure it is from Jecka’s perspective and she isn’t the character to throw witty insults the same way Nicole does but there really isn’t all that much funny interactions or moments I can easily remember besides the 7 seconds bullying joke. This compounds by the fact that there’s only 5 routes in the game so there really isn’t much variety on the possible scenarios to be in which is a shame since I’d really like to see Jecka doing other things. Also doesn’t help that one of the routes is really boring and doesn’t even have a worthwhile payoff. Another thing I noticed with this game in particular is that there’s an awful lot of screaming=joke compared to previous entries. Sure the joke does land at times, but it feels like copout from being unable to think of more clever punchlines from natural dialogue. It's a bit of a shame but it’s very evident that the writing in this game just doesn’t hit as hard as the first game.

Overall, this game is definitely the weakest entry out of three, but I also want to keep in mind that the creator is working on “the anime” while also working on this so I’m willing to take on its concessions. The game is really not getting some heat for it online but surprisingly a lot of the hate for it feels like stuff that were also in the previous games that just seem worse because of the change in perspective. It's still worth playing regardless if you’re a fan of the games but I’d be lying if I didn’t have some amount of disappointment both in the quality and quantity presented here.

Having issues with stable frame rate despite my PC being clearly powerful enough to run it. The game itself doesn't feel particularly challenging at all with not much besides the action going on at least for the normal difficulty. Story is completely whatever I do not care about what's going on at all. Complete waste of time.

A straight improvement from the first game in every way. The bump system has been further refined so even though it's not too different from the first game, its slightly more consistent with how you approach enemies and such. A lot of the foreshadowing and setup of the story in Ys I pays off really well with the climax of this game, which is surprising considering how far they can prioritize a narrative for a game that originally came out in the 80s. Exploration is also way more intricate compared to the first game, but surprisingly not too overwhelming as the finite amount of paths to take essentially just make it so you’re bound to grab most of the extras by simply wandering around. Boss battles are also way more engaging with the added magic that Adol can do, leading to some interesting strategies with stuff like using homing fire magic or even time magic. You definitely have to play Ys I first before playing this, but if you got some enjoyment from that then this is an obvious must play.