Évaluations récentes de Tablis

This is a bargain bin bootleg Puzzle Quest. Surprisingly enough it's not entirely bad. I mean... it's pretty bad, but also... charming? It lands a terrible first impression via the facial expressions of the 3D models but does get better afterwards. The player controls a party of three characters who have different playstyles and only at a time can fight. Achievements are very easy to get and not even tied to finishing the story. It's just stuff like "win any 40 battles", "get level 7" etc. One thing I don't understand is why this game is tagged with the "Sexual Content" tag. The unlockable art is essentially pantyshots, which is not even softcore - that's just standard fare in the anime vibe. There is an "adult patch" but apparently the only thing it does is make breasts jiggle more and honestly I wouldn't've noticed it if the forums hadn't told me. I enjoyed it.

The difficulty level in this DLC is all over the place. Bosses 2 and 4 are the hardest, the rest is pretty easy. Completing all of them individually unlocks a separate Arcade mode button which works just like in the base game - gotta fight all of them one after another on top difficulty. It was more challenging than the original Arcade mode, took me more time and I almost resorted to cheating (but in the end didn't have to). You will have to max out Miel in the shop to stand a chance, which requires some repetitive grinding but not a lot (I recommend the 3rd opponent on 4-star level). Definitely get this DLC if you're getting the game, as it almost doubles the content.

The shooter component is solid and competent, the art is adorable but the adult content (unlockable "scenes") is lackluster; it's there but... meh. What I'm saying is, if you're going to buy it, buy it for the gameplay and consider the porn a secondary bonus. No patch is needed - delete a file called "Censorship.PNG" in the local game files and restart; this approach is really commendable, as it does away with having to download .exe files from shady websites (no offense devs, luv ya). Individual opponents can be tackled on one of 5 difficulty levels, but one achievement requires completing all levels in succession on max difficulty, and this is going to foil some people. Again though - and I'm not a genre expert - the game seems casual for a bullet hell and I managed to do it without cheating, so there is hope. You need the DLC to 100% achievements. I had a lot of fun.

I'll get the big ticket claim out of the way right at the start: this is (unexpectedly) a masterpiece. It's been languishing on my pile of shame for years and I only decided to finally pick it up after being impressed by Hades. Best decision of the month. This is like a holotype of what indie games should aspire to be. The skill system is complex, with a lot of choices to make but it's entirely logical and it doesn't feel like there are "wrong" combinations. Combat is an ingenious mix of realtime and pre-planned (think VATS in the more recent Fallouts). Difficulty level is not adjustable but it isn't terribly difficult, especially once you find some skill combinations that work well for you. This is not a game to rush through. Take in the sights, the sounds, the VR-noir ambiance. Let its atmosphere - its greatest forte - take root in you. Appreciate the detailing of news console interfaces, stop and hum a tune (there's a dedicated button for that), lay on a hammock and admire a sunset which may or may not exist. In my opinion this atmosphere is more important, more central to experiencing the game than the action-gameplay proper itself. Art direction, writing and voice acting are all top notch. The main story is relatively short so normally a value-minded person such as myself would frown, but this warrants an exception. Wait for a sale if you must, but do try it. This is art.

There isn't a lot of tower variety, but this is partially offset by various upgrade options. A novel twist (at least for me) is that the player's base also has built-in turrets and these have their unique upgrade options. Graphics are good and the game engine runs smooth. There is almost no story to speak of, and what little there is consists of asinine attempts at political commentary, the kind that Russians just can't help themselves from delivering. Getting 100% achievements is not difficult at all because they are detached from the chosen difficulty level. Overall a pedestrian but solid tower defense.

Only covers the absolute basics, so the people who stand to benefit the most are those who know next to nothing about HTML & CSS. Because those who do have some experience likely won't learn anything new. Still, I suppose it was unreasonable to expect more. It's alright.

This review is based on Act I alone and I probably won't update it later because I'm lazy. Subverse is an amalgamation of three genres: visual novel, shoot-em-up and tactical turn-based combat. The first of these is excellently executed. Voice acting is brilliant, the 3D models and 2D backgrounds are pleasing. Writing is... was a bit too meme-spouty and 4th-wall-breaking for me. But I ended up viewing it as quite good once I got used to it.

The two combat components (aka what most will view as the actual gampelay) are visibly weaker. They're not bad per se. They're "correct" and that's all. Average, 5/10 craftsmanship. There is some generic progression here but all of it seems uninspired. With my - perhaps unreasonable - hype, I expected to get the next Ikaruga and XCOM and this is definitely not it, but it works.

Most of the porn is spun away from the flow of the story into a separate gallery-like mechanic, where individual scenes are purchased with points and launched at the user's discretion. A lot of people are unhappy with this, but to me this is an almost revolutionary breakthrough, which gives the player more control of the pacing. So simple, yet nobody has thought of this before?

A minor annoyance is that there are too many loading screens - for everything, even conversations. And here comes a major annoyance; here is the thing that pisses me of the most. There is very little content available right now. A few hours' worth. After more than 18 months in production and with that Kickstarter budget I genuinely expected the whole thing to be ready. Imagine my surprise when the Act II card rolled, I cleaned up all the sidequests and planets and... that's it? Terribly embarassing. Yes, the remaining content is going to be released in chapters but they are taking unacceptably long.

Because of the above I was totally going to give it a thumbs down. After more careful consideration, I will not. This is because of what Subverse represents. The idea that porn deserves to be as high-budget as anything else and that it can be mainstream. That porn is normal. And I don't want to feel like I'm in opposition to that. I recommend getting this - when all of the story content is out, whenever that may be.

When people say this might be the best roguelite ever, they aren't kidding. The delightful English voice acting deserves particular mention. It took me around 80 playthroughs to get all the achievements yet for some reason I never felt bored and had not exhausted all the dialogue opportunities with most of the gods. The only possible issue I can see someone having is that there is perhaps too much to read; more than one would expect in this genre and it does feel like a visual novel at times if you want to converse with everyone. For me that's just more content. Also Artemis is best girl.

In the nineties, a brilliant tactical game called XCOM: UFO Defense came out. Its heritage has been continued in recent years by the official XCOM remakes. These turned out surprisingly well, but some grognards felt those were too casual. Xenonauts aims to be a remaster of the original and is targeting such people as their audience. The flow of the alien invasion is almost identical, as is the story progression. The Sectoid, Floater, Chryssalid etc. all have their equivalent here. Notably the Cyberdisc has been replaced by a much less threateninng one-tile (as opposed to four-tile) drone, but that might have been due to the Normal difficulty on which I was playing. There are other welcome changes in the design: soldier wounds are less punishing and heal faster. The ability to airstrike (destroy) UFO crash sites for a moderate reward. Autoresolving air combat and indeed a more robust air combat system. And most importantly: the council of funding nations now acts more predictably, with (sort of) constant feedback and their support being on a sliding scale coupled to clearly understandable actions, as opposed to the terrifying randomness of "who will defund me at the end of this month".

The biggest disappointment has got to be that the maps are no longer randomly generated. I ended up getting this déjà vu experience of "oh... I remember this shed and road combination, so on this map the landed UFO is just north-west of here". And it was. Speaking of north, UFOs are always aligned on the north-south axis, with the entrance always on the southern surface, which leads to a strategy of sweeping north. And there is a myriad of little bugs in the tactical combat. Jumppacking through the roof of your dropship. Not being able to land on certain roofs or containers for no discernible reason. Clipping through certain overhanging walls. The sound of boots clanging on a metal floor can loop infinitely if interrupted by a menu at just the right moment (happens more often than you'd think). The ballistic trajectory (aiming) system feels a bit wonky as well - small obstacles such as a flimsy fence in the line of fire cause more of a problem than they should.

The game starts in 1979, when the Cold War is in effect. The visual aesthetic is appropriately retro with an industrial feel. I have some issues with how human faces are drawn here, but not enough to comment further. Static backgrounds on base menus (barracks / lab / workshop / storage) show the interiors become ever more futuristic as time passes and alien technologies are incorporated into the workings of the agency. The ufopedia-equivalent is adequate; reading the few paragraphs of text accompanying a new technology being unlocked is perhaps my greatest joy the thing I look forward to the most when playing this kind of game. And here the descriptions are to-the-point and sufficiently sciency.

Nowadays I have less time to commit to playing than I used to. With less time, I unashamedly demand the games served to me to be more casual, so I don't get stuck (which is how I hope this works, but probably I just got bad). Not only was this game too hard for me (on Normal), it kept the pacing of the original. Which means the last third of the campaign felt like an utter chore. It was just the same-y wave of battleships, carriers and assorted hanger-ons every four days, chock full of aliens in the best armors and with the best weapons. And there is no protective item against psionic powers. I ended up save scumming and hacking like crazy just to see the ending and be done with it. And I feel zero want for another go. Is it a fault of the game? Not necessarily - I was not the target audience to begin with. But if - like me - you're not hardcore anymore, maybe stick with the main line of XCOM remakes.

I spent a bit wondering whether this should be a thumbs down, because while I did extract a decent amount of enjoyment out of it, I do not see myself recommending it to anyone, and that is the question being asked. As a workaround lets say I recommend it only if you're willing to play on Easy.

I originally completed this in 2015 and now I've come back to 100% the achievements (and write a review) so I'll keep it short. The visuals have aged exceptionally well by my 2020 standards! Both the backgrounds, 2D character art and 3D assets still look great. Really though, almost everything about this game feels so wholesome and wonderful. I barely remember the story by now but I can still feel the echoes of how much pure joy this had brought me five years ago. Five years! I can't recommend this enough, although you either have to already be into anime tropes or be quite openminded about these as the Neptunia franchise doubles down hard on some of them. Speaking of... despite all the spinoffs that came out since then I still think this is the best entry point into the franchise. As the first game in the series it makes an effort to introduce the characters, setting, lore etc. with the right pacing and order. The only downsides I can think of are that some of the achievements are regrettably grindy and that I get severe display issues in any resolution above 1920 x 1080 windowed. And that it ends.