Ys VI: The Ark Of Napishtim

I have posted before about the Ys series in most of its entirety, though I never gave any game its own post. Today that changes, because I have finally found and played Ys VI, and I have some thought on it I would like to share.

Ys VI is a weird game for me, all the other games I have played were remakes of older titles, but I don’t think any such thing like that exists for Ys VI, on top of that, it was incredibly hard to find. For some perspective, during my search for Ys titles, I went to the largest video game convention in the state, to Anime Weekend Atlanta, and to multiple used game stores. Only mid-October did I finally set my eyes on the PS2 version of it, and it was completely by chance.

I would consider Ys VI a fresh start for the Ys series in multiple ways. In the west, it was the first title in the series to be released in 11 years, on account of there being 2 Ys fours, and Ys V being so bad it never got localized. It also cemented a new fast-paced, elemental fighting system to the series, which brought it closer to what we know the series as today.

The story of Ys VI is a rather bland one, Adol has fallen off a pirate ship, and washed ashore in the Islands of Canaan. Not long after he sets out on his journey does he get swept up in the Islands mysteries, and eventually be forced to stop some disaster from happening, just another day in the life of Adol Christin. One interesting thing of note though, is that because of this games placement in the overall timeline, Adol’s journeys have gained him some renown, many people seem to know who he is, and refer to him as Adol the Red, which I guess means the only thing he’s really famous for is his hair color.

The gameplay is what really drives an Ys game though, and while it could be said that Ys VI is no slouch in that department, it definitely isn’t up to par with later games. You get a basic attack button, a jump button, and a magic button, and with those 3 things, you can make your way through the game mostly fine. there is also a button to use items, which is fine for healing in tough situations. The game has other little intricacies that take a little more getting used to though. pressing jump and attack will allow Adol to do a jump attack, which is good for getting rid of flying enemies. jumping and then attacking as you come back down performs a down thrust, this is useful for certain types of enemies that a frontal attack won’t work on. There are three different swords in the game each with it’s own element. These are: wind, electricity, and fire. these swords all have unique abilities outside of the magic attacks, but I never quite nailed down the timing. The wind sword adds a whirlwind slash at the end of your normal combo, this can be extended with proper button timing. The electric sword has a lightning stab that happens at the end of a combo, but I could only ever get it to happen every other attempt. The fire sword has a fire wave that you can activate by just holding the attack button. Aa far as combat is concerned, that is the long and short of it.

Ys VI has a few outstanding issues with it, and while some of it can be written off as a product of an older time, some of it is inexcusable. For starters, there is a long jump in the game, which can be used, and in some cases should be used, to clear larger gaps, this is done by tapping the direction you wish to go, and pressing the attack button, then jump. When it works, it works, but I can’t tell you how many time I have slid of the edge of a platform trying to do this move.

The voice acting in this game is also among the worse English dubs I have ever heard. Normally I will defend an English dub, but this is truly awful. There is a bit of wiggle room here, because the mid 2000′s were a weird time for voice acting in video games (insert Tidus laugh here), and there is also codes that let you switch to the less grating Japanese voices. This is the only time in my life I can remember thinking to myself that the fact the entire game was voiced was a bad thing.

I won’t harp to much on the FMV scenes, while they may be some of the ugliest 3D models I have ever seen, it’s honestly just a part of playing a PS2 game, it’s part of the experience, or so I tell myself.

Finally, the PS2 version has no fast travel system, everywhere you need to go must be walked to. This issue has been resolved in later releases.

There is a lot to be said about where Ys VI falls in the series, and the PS2 in general. I shouldn’t expect the experience to be perfect, but where it falters, you can feel it. Also RPG’s aren’t Platformers, please stop.

If you are interested, and can find it, Ys VI is available on PS2, PSP, and PC.

Kyle

Trails in the Sky: A New Face For an Old Series

A few hours ago, I played through the last parts of Trails in the Sky, the first part of a 3 part series, and Falcom’s attempt to rebrand it’s long running Legend of Heroes series. If Legend of Heroes sounds familiar, it is because Trails of Cold Steel also occupies the same overarching story.

For anyone who has played these games, it may not come as a surprise that a lot of what I wrote about Trails of Cold Steel is applicable to Trails in the Sky, as they share a lot of the same mechanics, though because Trails in the Sky is Cold Steel’s predecessor, a lot of it’s mechanics aren’t quite as fleshed out as Cold Steel.

The story for Trails in the Sny puts the player in the shoes of Estelle Bright, a girl who’s father has left to go solve a crisis elsewhere, and is currently in training to become a bracer, which are kind of like mercenaries, but with a bit more dignity. Bracers handle everything from tiny tasks to full blown catastrophes. The entire game follows Estelle and her adopted brother Joshua as they travel the country of Liberl, a neighboring country of Erebonia which was used as Cold Steel’s setting. During the course of their journey though, things get complicated, and they find themselves thrown directly in the middle of a conspiracy.

As I said, much of what applies to Steel applies here in the game play department. The game is turn based, and there are 3 main types of actions you can take on your turns. These come in the form of regular attacks, arts and crafts. while the crafts are mainly the same character specific attacks that I had gotten used to, the arts are a little different. In Cold Steel, the arts you could use were determined by the quartz that you had equipped. While the system is still reliant on quartz, now the arts are determined by a combination of elemental quartz you have equipped, rather than a single art being mapped to a single quartz. This system would be fine, except that in order to figure out which combination of quartz will give you which art, you have to dive through a handful of menus and memorize element combinations, this system didn’t really sit well with me, so I ended up stacking a lot of things together that I thought worked well, but ended up missing out on some good attacks along the way.

Another gripe I have is that some of the dungeons didn’t have a map to go with them. this led to some blind wandering on my part.

Overall, Trails in the Sky was a good game, and I am glad that I went back to play it. I’ll be picking up Trails in the Sky Second Chapter soon, but if you want to pick up the first game, it is available on the PSP and Steam

Kyle

Spider-Man and Black Cat

Let’s talk about that Spidey DLC.

Yesterday I finished The Heist and I’m having some mixed feelings.

The story goes like this (spoilers ahead), Spidey is hot on Black Cat’s trail because she’s stealing flash drives literally hidden in pieces of priceless art. She even plays with Spidey’s head so much so that she has him swinging around the city believing that he has a child with her! In the end it was all a ploy for her to steal the flash drives and keep them for herself. Classic Cat.

Marvel’s Spider-Man for the PS4 was amazing (check out my review on my blog.) I went into the DLC having more excitement than going into the actual game because I had something to base it off of. Buuuuuuut after finishing it in literally under 5 hours, I feel like it could have been better. And by better I mean longer.

The DLC introduces Hammerhead’s gang, much like Fisk’s, you swing around the city stopping crimes, using the spiderbot to defuse bombs, that sort of thing. Unlike the main story however, you only have to stop crimes in like 3 districts. Maybe they’re saving the other districts for the other episodes of the story, who knows. With the introduction Hammerhead we get a new minion to fight and BOY is he annoying. He’s a big guy with a fucking automatic lazer gun thing. I don’t know. I just know that it takes a HUGE chunk of your HP if you get hit just once with it.

The DLC also brings back Screwball and if you want to hit that 100% on the DLC for your trophies, you have to make Spectacular or better in her challenges. They are frustrating to say the least, I had to get @overcastgamesto help me finish them because I really feel like the screwball challenges are just a way to make the DLC longer. Even then it only took him like 40 mins to finish all of them.

Though it sounds like I’m complaining, I really liked the DLC. I loved being back in Spidey’S world just for that short amount of time. His back and forth banter with Hammerheads men is hilarious, his back and forth altercations with Black Cat are seductive and his phone calls with MJ and Miles are cute.

The voice acting and mannerisms that they did for Black Cat is just spot on. I loved every scene that she was in. You can tell that they put a lot of time and effort in to get her character right. I really am looking forward to the next installation.

Somaria

Persona 3: Life on the Edge

The Persona series is my personal favorite game series. I’m not sure why, maybe it’s my love of anime, or the fantastic music associated with the series. Maybe it’s the social-sim aspects of the newer games in the series that I love. Whatever it is, Persona will always hold a place in my life.

My introduction to the series is a little strange, I had been watching a youtuber by the name of superjeenius, on a whim, I decided to check out his let’s play of Persona 4 Golden, and was instantly hooked on the series. Sometime shortly after I bought Persona 3 FES on sale from the PSN and thus my trip through RPG hell began.

The Persona series began its life as a spin-off of Atlus’ flagship series Shin Megami Tensei in 1996. With the popularity of the series however, the Persona series eventually took on a life of it’s own, surpassing its predecessor in popularity.

There are many things from the SMT series that Persona has retained though. Many of it’s core mechanics remain the same, and it still maintains a high level of Atlus’ notorious difficulty. Where it separates from its sister series though, is purely with progression.

In Persona 3 in particular, the player is given a set calendar to work their way through, all in all it amounts to about ¾ of an in game year. This time is where the Persona series shines. While some of this time must be spent doing typical RPG things, a lot of it is left to the player to decide what they want to do with it. You can do things like: spend time with key characters to boost your bond with them, and learn more about them as characters, do various activities that will increase your main characters traits, take on a list of side quests, go do some dungeon crawling, or just go hang out in your room if you don’t feel like doing any of that. There are set dates that relate to story progression, so as long as you keep that in mind, there is really no lack of things to do in Persona 3′s world.

Story wise, the player takes on the role of the silent protagonist, built on the old RPG trope of allowing players to insert themselves into the games. you can give him whatever name you want, especially since his canon name continuously changes. Anyway, the player fills the role of the blue-haired emo boy during a year in his life when he has just come to an island for school. On his way there, strange things begin occurring, a random blackout, coffins in the streets, a strangely large moon, and a girl with a gun In her hand. Together with the rest of the cast, you spend the year as SEES a group dedicated to investigating and ending these occurrences.

While some of the characters can be obnoxious, there is no doubt that Persona 3 is a character driven game. Much or your time can be spent getting to know the characters around you, and what their goals are in life, and as your time with the game goes on, the characters around you grow with you.

Mechanically, Persona 3 is a turn-based RPG. you attack, your opponent attacks, and the cycle goes on and on and on and on, except not really. The battle mechanics may seem simple at first, but there is complexity there for sure.
You have the option to attack with your base weapon sure, and there is merit to that on occasion. Much of what you’ll be relying on in battle though is your persona, the avatars from which the series draws its name.

Each character in your party has their own persona, and subsequently their own base element. Persona’s are based on some character trait that each character has, and everyone gets one. Except this is an anime, so of course the protagonist has multiple. You can amass personas which give you a variety of skills to use in battle through a few different ways. The most common way you’ll likely gain a new persona is through shuffle time, a shuffling card game that can take place at the end of a battle. There are benefits that can be found in shuffle time as well, you can use it to regain hp, or sp, the latter of which is used to perform most magic in the game, you can also find cards that give you money, or even a weapon, though usually the weapons are only good for selling. Another way to get a new persona is through the fusion system, this is a carry-over from SMT. Persona fusion is largely exactly what it sounds like, when desired, there is a place you can go to combine 2 or sometimes more, personas to create a stronger one, most of the time, skills can be passed from the fusion personas to the result persona as well, though during persona 3, there is no real control over which skills get passed down. Finally, using a tool that comes later in the game, you can re-summon old personas.

Personas are important for combat because they allow you elemental attacks. Much of Persona’s battle system relies on finding and exploiting weaknesses of the enemies you are up against, this is very similar to SMT’s press-turn system, though it does take its liberties. Hitting an enemies weakness not only does extra damage, but it also knocks the enemy down rendering them immobile for the following turn, additionally, it allows the character who hit that weakness to attack a second time, either until they break the chain by not hitting a weakness, or they have successfully hit all enemy weaknesses. During the latter case an “All-Out” attack is possible, this is an attack that involves all of your current party members, and does a lot of damage in most cases. All-Out attacks are the most desirable outcome in most battles. Because of this though, you run the risk of burning through your sp pretty quickly, so it’s important to keep an eye on that.
The weakness chart is pretty simple to follow, first are weapon attacks: they read as slash, pierce, and strike, these can be performed with base weapons, and some persona attacks carry these traits as well. Next are the elements: fire, ice, electricity, wind, light and dark. Light and dark are special, because they don’t do normal damage like the other attacks do, rather they are insta-kill attacks. There is one other element known as almighty, but it doesn’t really track as a weakness. What’s important to remember here is that strengths and weaknesses and the effects therein apply to your characters as well, if your weakness gets hit, you will be knocked down, and the enemy gets another turn, more frighteningly though, is that light and dark are insta-kill for you as well, I can’t count how many times I have seen an enemy use these attacks, and felt a knot in my chest as I wait to see if I’m done or not.

Though I would love to continue singing Persona 3′s praises, there are some questionable things that the game does. During battles you have no control over what your party does, only the main character, this was changed in later games, and even in the PSP release of the game, but for the moment, it leaves you helpless as you watch your ai party members do stupid things for the hundredth time. Additionally, your party members can get tired during dungeon exploration, which can be a drag early game because it happens fairly regularly, as they level up, this is less of a problem, but it still happens, and it can be annoying. Perhaps the worst thing though is the actual dungeon itself. The main area you’ll be sinking most of your time into is called Tartarus, a deformed version of the high school you attend, that is now a sprawling 200+ floor tower. Throughout much of the game, the story treats Tartarus as a side thing that can be taken on should you wish to get some level grinding in, but the reality is, finishing Tartarus is mandatory, and they don’t tell you that until the last story beats are happening. When I say 200+ floors, I mean it. Tartarus stands at exactly 264 floors tall, and you have to make your way through each of them. The floors themselves aren’t that big, but they are randomly generated, so memorizing floor layout won’t help. Not all of the floors are immediately available to you though, a new set unlocks after each major story point. For your sanity I would encourage you to take on each set as they become available, because if you wait, you’ll be in for quite the slog.

Despite it’s flaws, Persona 3 is where I discovered my love for not only the series but the RPG genre, it holds a place in my heart that most other games could not hope to have. It can be fun, and engaging, but it can also be frustrating, and painfully boring. I’m sure I will get around to the other games at some point, but for now I think this is good enough.

If you are interested in playing Persona 3, it is available on PS2, PS3, and PSP, in various forms. In my opinion FES is the best version of the game, but your opinion may vary.

Kyle

Before You Cry

Let’s talk about Life is Strange: Before the Storm.

Life is Strange: Before the Storm is a prequel to Life is Strange. They’re both episodic, choose your own adventure type games and they’re published by Square Enix which is crazy.

The gameplay is simple, you walk around and you can interact with your surroundings and people. What you choose to say to people determines the outcome of your story. So even though you’re playing as a specific character, you can really place yourself in their shoes and make real time decisions to make the story your own.

The soundtrack is awesome! It’s a grimy, drunk type of rock and roll. I love it. It further immerses you into Chloe’s shoes.

The story goes like this: you play as Chloe, a really smart, but really angsty teenager working though the issues of growing up and dealing with the loss of her father and the loss of her best friend, Max. Max is not dead, mind you, she just moved away but the emptiness that Chloe feels is very real. The story is written perfectly. My feelings playing the game mirrors Chloe’s. Chloe ends up meeting Rachel and Rachel, while being the free spirit that she is, is dealing with her own problems and it’s all really a complicated, beautiful mess adventuring and being friends with Rachel. Chloe’s story is tragic. It demands you to feel and it is worth experiencing until the very end.

The LGBTQ representation for this game is very important. This game was a quite successful and that goes to show that heartfelt stories can come from characters who are LGBTQ. I was able to appreciate this game that much more because I felt it was catered to me. Finally I get to play as a girl falling in love with another girl and it was nice to feel accepted in the gaming universe for once.

Life is Strange: Before the Storm is available for PS4, XBOX, PC, and even iOS and Android.

Somaria

Japanese Anime Space Music

Let’s talk about Gitaroo Man.

I was 10 years old when my uncle came home with this strange looking, anime inspired game. “It’s a rhythm game,” was all it took for me to be interested in it.

The story is simple, you play as U1 and you’re giving a mysterious, futuristic guitar and you use that to save the world basically from Zowie. It’s made by the same people who made Parappa the Rapper.

Gitaroo Man is rhythm based game and the controls can be hard to get used to. Basically, you use the left analog stick to follow the flow of the music and you use the X button to time the notes properly. For defensive play, you use all for buttons, X, O, triangle, and square, in time with the music in order to dodge your opponents attack.

The music is wonderful. There’s reggae, upbeat eurobeat sounding songs, acoustics guitar songs, opera sounding songs, heavy metal songs. It’s all really good. There’s not one song that I don’t really love. And the art style is quirky.

This game is my all time favorite game. It was one of 2 games that I had for the ps2. It kept me company when times were rough at home or when I was struggling with myself and my anxiety. It will always have a special place in my heart. It’s pretty rare to see in retro stores but if you do see it, pick it up and give it a shot. I’m sure you won’t regret it.

Gitaroo man is available for the ps2 and Gitaroo man Lives! Is available for the psp. They’re essentially the same game.

Super Mario Party: More Mario, Less Party

Super Mario Party recently hit store shelves and Nintendo touted this entry in the series as a return to form for the series, going back to what the series was pre Mario Party 9-10 and some would argue 8. For those wondering if the game lives up to that promise, the answer is complicated.

Mario Party is a series that I have always admired from afar. I owned 1 and 3 on the N64 when I was a child, and when the GameCube hit, I rented 4 and 5. it is only recently that I have had the chance to play 6, and I borrowed 7 from a friend when I was in high school. By the time the Wii rolled around, I had lost interest in playing the series, as the motion controls shoe-horned into every Wii game made it hard to enjoy playing. 9 and 10 were a departure from the series formula, as the company responsible for the Mario Party series was bought by Konami and subsequently shut down. However anyone who has played those games can tell you that they certainly did not live up to the Mario Party name.

When it was announced that Super Mario Party would be bringing back the original format for the series, their was an air of hesitant anticipation around it. In some aspects it delivers, but in others it fails to execute.

Starting with Super Mario Party’s strongest point, it’s minigames. The Minigames in a Mario Party game are a big part of what makes the game a Mario Party game, and the ones featured here are no exception. The games in Super Mario Party are some of the best they have been in a while. Shout outs to Slaparazzi, a game where players must fight each other to get front and center for a picture, it’s a chaotic mess, and one that I feel like I could continue playing for hours. The way that the series has handled minigame practice has changed as well, in the past, there would be a practice round that players could choose if they were unfamiliar with the game. In Super Mario Party, practice takes place on the instruction menu for each game.

While the minigames are certainly a strong showing, as we learned from the top 100, they are only a part of what makes a good Mario party game.

Another piece of this puzzle is the boards, and honestly, this is where the game really starts to slip. for starters there are only 4 boards, 3 to begin with and 1 unlockable board. In addition to the small number, the boards themselves are also tiny. To compensate for this, the dice rolls allowed are extremely limiting. At the beginning of each players turn they are present with a die numbered 1-6, each character also has their own unique die that has a set of numbers on it that can either be helpful or detrimental. Some dice may have multiples of a number making it more likely to roll if you need it in a pinch, others may have higher numbers, but compensate by also having minus coins on a side or 2. Because of these limited rolls however, in some cases it can be very possible to end up some place you absolutely don’t want to be. One of the boards is a series of islands connected by two bridges, but you can also use warp pipes to move to the opposite island from the one you started on. These pipes are activated by landing on either of the two event spaces in front of them. Ordinarily this wouldn’t be much of a problem, however, I rolled an 11 with one of my items, and made an entire lap around one of the islands. This small space, combined with the lower than normal rolls, means that at any given time you have a 1 in 3 chance of taking a warp pipe to somewhere you didn’t want to be. for me, this was beyond frustrating, as this happened to me 7 times out of our 15 turn game. This means roughly half the time I was playing, I was warping this way and that beyond my control.

Speaking of items, the variety in this game is lacking. the mushroom, golden mushroom, and poison mushroom have all made a return, however the way they work is different than how it used to be. mushrooms and golden mushrooms add +3 and +5 to your rolls respectively. where the poison mushroom is a flat -2 to any opponents roll. Other items exist such as the custom dice block, which allows you to pick any number of spaces to move between 1 and 6, the hidden block card which summons a hidden block, which may hold coins or even a star, the coinnado, which takes 10 coins from a chosen player, and the ally phone, more on that later. The big item in the game though, is the golden pipe, this serves the same purpose that magic lamps did in the previous games, it can take a person directly to a star, or so close to it that it would be impossible for them to not get it. Unlike the magic lamps however, the golden pipe is far too easy to come by, you might be given one from a random item space, or you can by them from item shops for the low price of 10 coins. for perspective, in earlier entries, the magic lamp could cost as much as 30 coins, and the star was an additional 20, making for a total of 50. Super Mario Party has dulled the pain though, as stars only cost 10 coins to obtain now, meaning the total loss is only 20 coins. this makes the stars far easier to get, but at the same time eliminates most of the drive to be good at the game. Minigames now award 2nd and 3rd place prizes, though small, it doesn’t take much to reach the 10 coin goal to obtain a star, or t6he 20 coin goal if done through the pipe.

In addition to all of this, the game suffers most from a lack of personality. The announcer sounds bored every time they say anything. The minigame roulette is bland, and the navigation leaves much to be desired. One cute thing that was pointed out though is that whenever the map is brought up, the character whose turn it is will actually pull a map out of their pocket and look at it. Attention to detail like that is something that Nintendo is really good at, it just hurts a little bit that the game itself feels lacking because of the way everything else is.

I won’t complain about the characters, there are a lot of them, and if for some reason you’ve ever wanted to play Mario Party as a Monty Mole, then Super Mario Party has you covered. Variety is never bad. Especially in this case, as their is now an ally system in place. through the use of the ally phone, or ally spaces on the board, a secondary character can be summoned and their character block will be added to your inventory. They themselves can also help with dice rolls, but their dice only have 1′s and 2′s on them, so it doesn’t add much. It is possible to summon a second ally to help you as well. in addition to dice rolls, ally’s also take part in special team minigames where they might be of use.

I really want to like Super Mario Party, because despite it’s flaws, I had a lot of fun playing it. Certainly it is a step in the right direction to returning the series to its former self, but it doesn’t reach far enough on most accounts.

It’s hard to recommend Super Mario Party to most people because while it can be a good time, it will likely get stale fast. However, if you have some friends who don’t mind the same 4 boards, Super Mario Party is available on Nintendo Switch.

Kyle

Ys: Oath in Felghana

Let’s talk about some more Ys.

Ys: Oath in Felghana is an action RPG made by Falcom. It’s a remake of the third game, “Ys Wanderers of Ys.”

You follow Adol to Dogi’s hometown and basically monsters have infiltrated the town and Adol wants to figure out what is going on and how to stop it.

If you’ve played Origins of Ys, the look and play style of the game sort of mirrors that. You can swing your sword to attack and thoughout the game you get magic abilities that get stronger as you open chests and find gems to upgrade it. It’s a fast paced action RPG, add to it the amazing soundtrack and you’re in for a great time.

The game demands you to spend time leveling up in order to move on. It’s challenging and confusing to navigate sometimes. I found myself getting lost more times than I could count (I spent a lot of time complaining about that). I had to get help fighting the final boss because it was just that difficult for me and I was ready for the game to be over.

When the game was over and done with, I felt a sort of sadness (customary when I finish an Ys game). The story was really good and I had become attached to Adol’s adventure.

I’d definitely recommend you pick up this game if you’re looking for something to play. All of the games in the Ys franchise are great. Read my other 2 Ys reviews if you get a chance!

Ys Oath in Felghana is available for the PSP and PC. You can also play it on your Vita.

Somaria

Trails of Cold Steel Part 1: A Double Feature.

Since I started writing these game posts, I have covered two of the 3 main franchises that come from Nihon Falcom. Today it is finally time to tackle at least a portion of the last franchise, The Legend of Heroes.

Though the Trails of Cold Steel games, hereto referred as ToCS, are their own franchise, they are but a tiny part of the larger mythos that Falcom has built with the Legen of Heroes franchise. Stick around the series long enough, and you can see where the games tie into the overarching story that being told. Falcom has built a truly original world through the Legend of Heroes series, and the stories within are ones of military might, and political intrigue.

Inside of this larger narrative lies ToCS, following the most recent events in the timeline, but more specifically following the path of Rean Schwarzer, as he transfers himself from ordinary high school boy, to a full blown war hero.

Like any good anime protagonist, Rean has a few special qualities that help him get ahead of his peer. These special qualities are better left for the player to explore however, so I won’t be divulging Rean’s talents here.

Story wise, ToCS is broken into 4 different games, with ToCS 1 and 2 already being released in the west, currently no announcement has been made about a western release of 3 or 4, though both are out in Japan. Game 1 follows Rean as he gets to know the fellow members of his military class Class VII. throughout the game Rean and his companions are sent to many different cities throughout the eastern half of the country of Erobonia, one of the main countries of the series’ lore. during the course of these visits, Rean and subsequently the player can learn about customs of a city, what purpose it serves to the overall country, and take on side quests to help better the lives of the people in the cities. Overtime though, the story ramps up and quickly barrels towards the beginnings of a civil war between the Nobility, and the Military. The second game sees the continuations and conclusion of this civil war, as seen through the eyes of Rean and his companions.

ToCS and I imagine many of the games in the series, is a turn based RPG, but the way it handles it’s battle mechanics can often make you forget that. for starters, there are many character from which to draw your main party, though the way the way the first game plays out, you may be forced to use members that you might not otherwise use. Each character has their own strengths and weaknesses, but thanks to the games extensive customization options, you can build however you want. This is done through the quartz system. Quartz has a myriad of uses, not the least of which is serving as the magic system of the series. on top of that Quartz can also provide buffs, or passive debuffs on enemies, as well as being used to inflict a number of different status ailments.

In addition to Quartz, each character comes with their own special skills, which in this case are known as crafts, which is the counterpart of the magics known as arts. Finally, each character has a special skill which can cause a lot of damage when used well, known as S-Breaks.

Their are three gauges to be concerned with: HP, EP, and CP. As you might imagine, HP is pretty self explanatory. EP is used to cast arts, and CP is used in crafts, and S-Breaks. strategic management of these gauges is the key to swift victory.

In addition to these mechanics is a link system, which allows for characters to support one another in battle, different links have different effects. One person might heal you on damage taken, another might restore some EP after the use of an art.

ToCS 2 adds a couple more mechanics to the mix. The overdrive mechanic allows for two linked characters to relentlessly attack an enemy for 3 consecutive turns. In addition to this, all arts can be cast on the same turn, where they would be otherwise delayed, and a significant chunk of health and CP is recovered at the start of overdrive usage. Also added into the mix are Mech battles, which are special boss fights fought in a kind of Rock, Paper, Scissors manner but maybe not how you would think. the trick to the mech battles is to find the right part of the opponents body to attack given whatever stance they may be in.

ToCS 2 also adds a fair bit to mobility, where in the first game you traveled from town to town by train, here, that is done by airship. Overworld mobility is also changed though, story events that take place lead to Rean having a motorcycle at his disposal, and later down the line, horses as well.

The story and characters of ToCS is what drives the series. Even though I found myself wishing for a reprieve by the time I finished my 85 hour playthrough of ToCS 2, when it was all said and done, I was sad to see it end.

An argument can be made that the games are a little over-ambitious for the PSVita, loading times and slowdown are rampant throughout both games, but they never really bothered me. What does bother me though, is that occasionally the Voice work for the game seems unfinished. Not that it’s bad, but in the default game sometimes characters would have voiced dialogue and then other characters in the same seen wouldn’t. it’s inconsistent. I hear the PC versions added a lot to the Voice track though, so perhaps this has already been fixed.

Long story short, I love this series. This was my first entry in any game series done by Falcom, and I plan to continue supporting them as a company. as far as RPG’s go this series is only behind Persona in terms of my personal enjoyment. I would encourage anyone to go out and find a copy of Trails of Cold Steel, I really love it that much.

The series is available on PsVita, PS3, Steam, and will be available on PS4 early 2019 in the west. Hopefully Trails of Cold Steel 3 and 4 are coming west soon.

As soon as these are made available for to play and finish, I will be sure to cover them here.

Update: since the initial writing of this review, Xseed has released the PS4 port of Trails of Cold Steel 1. This version brings the games up to a whole new standard. The game runs faster than it ever could on the Vita. A Turbo mode was added. New voice lines were recorded. overall it is a much better experience. Trails of Cold Steel 2 is set to release on May 28th on PS4 as well.

Kyle

There’s Fire Everywhere!

Let’s talk about Overcooked/Overcooked 2

I have said this 1000 times and I’ll say it once more, Overcooked/Overcooked 2 are the best co-op games you could ever play with your friends.

Overcooked is a game that forces you to communicate under a timed, high stress environment. If you want three stars on your levels (and who wouldn’t) you have to work together to achieve it. One person cannot do all or even most of the work if you want to get that perfect 3 star score. There are levels my friends and I had to play at least 10 times, over and over again, in order to get 3 stars.

That all sounds really technical, but making mistakes is where most of the fun comes from. Accidentally falling off the level your in, setting your whole kitchen on fire and not knowing where the extinguisher is, accidentally throwing away plates of food, etc. I’ve gotten so many laughs out of playing this game.

The gameplay for both games is pretty simple, you press Square to chop and X to do pretty much everything else (picking up food, serving, placing ingredients).

Overcooked 2 is more or less the same game but with different chefs, cooking methods, and meals than the first. For instance, in the DLC for this game you have to use a straight up water gun in order to wash your dishes. It also introduced the ability to play online with your long distance buddies. It is impossible not to have a hell of a good time while playing this game. If you’re looking for a game to play with your friends you should definitely support Ghost Town Games and check this game out. It will not disappoint you at all.

Overcooked/Overcooked 2 is available for PC, PS4, XBOX One, and Nintendo Switch.

Somaria