Game Review--Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked

It's not hard for me to admit. I'm a huge fan of strategy games. I can have fun playing anything from a chess simulation to Civilization and I find that strategy games are some of the easiest for playing in small bursts. Thus, they're a great way to fill a free half-hour where one (such as myself) might want a longer playtime to devote to a regular RPG. Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked is a fantastic example of everything I enjoy about the strategy genre and, as an SRPG, manages to include some of my favorite aspects from RPGs as well. Players familiar with the Fire Emblem or Advance Wars series will already have a good idea of the type of game Overclocked provides. However, in typical SMT fashion, Overclocked has enough unique elements to keep the game totally fresh. The story is interesting, the characters are relatable and the gameplay is fantastic. All around it is an easily recommendable experience.

Atsuro often looks determined and Yuzu often looks scared!

The story in Overclocked revolves around the unnamed hero (the player) and his school friends Atsuro and Yuzu. While the group is in Tokyo one day, the city is placed in lockdown by the armed forces of the Japanese government. From there, the story really begins to take off in typical SMT fashion. Over the course of 7 days (and one extra day in the 3DS "Overclocked" version of the game), these three characters join forces with others, explore the city, and generally get themselves involved in figuring out the mystery of why the lockdown is happening and, eventually, how to get out of it. Without getting into too many details, I can confirm that the plot does in fact revolve around demons. Character interaction consists mainly of scripted scenes in which the player can choose from certain options to progress dialogue. Choices don't have a huge impact on the game, but can affect which routes are available to reach the many different endings of the game. Ultimately, though, the plot and the characters, while solid, are mainly a vehicle for moving the action forward. The narrative aspect of the game is nowhere near as deep as that found in SMT's Persona series, but it definitely succeeds in providing an interesting backdrop for the real star of the show: the gameplay.

Stick Marth in there and you almost couldn't tell the difference

As I mentioned before, Overclocked is very similar to Fire Emblem in terms of its gameplay style. Combat takes place on a grid-based field and, like in Fire Emblem, the player has some control over which characters are placed in which starting locations. Movement, attack power, defense, magic, etc. are all governed by statistics which, in typical RPG fashion, can be leveled up. The player can move his or her characters across the field according to each one's agility and the turn order is kept track of at the top of the screen. When attacking or being attacked, the screen switches to a battle scene, rather than the field map. Combat in Overclocked takes place between teams of three (a summoner and two demons), rather than between single characters as in Fire Emblem. Each summoner and demon have certain elemental strengths and weaknesses, much like in Pokemon. While this is based on the same principle as the Spear-Axe-Sword triangle that governs weapon effectiveness in FE games, it is much more complicated because of the variety of attack types. Fire, Electric, Ice and Wind form the basic magic forms, but as the game progresses, the player can also gain access to Light and Darkness, as well as "Ultima" magic that cannot be blocked. Attacks can also simply be physical. Thus, managing the strengths and weaknesses of your team of demons in critical to overcoming the somewhat unforgiving difficulty of combat in Overclocked.

The second half of combat in the game comes from the skills that demons and summoners can equip. Each character/demon has three active, three passive and one auto skill slot that can be accessed in the team menu. Active skills include special attacks, magic, healing spells, etc. Anything that takes up a turn to use is considered an active skill. Passive skills include buffs such as the ability to strike multiple foes at once or pierce physical defense. Auto skills are skills that, predictably, are automatically activated upon beginning a battle, presuming the qualifications (such as having enough Magic Points) are met. These can include auto-revives or physical/accuracy buffs. Skills are accumulated via a process known as "Skill cracking" in which certain characters target certain enemies at the beginning of battle and, if they can successfully defeat their opponents, gain access to the chosen skill.Once skills have been cracked, they can simply be equipped to main characters; however, adding a skill to a demon's repertoire is more complicated.

Fusion example with a side of demon personality

Demons, much like pokemon in the Pokemon games, level up by defeating enemies and gaining EXP. For some demons with unlockable skills, gaining enough EXP gain also release certain skills for use. However, if the player wants to equip a different skill on a demon there are only two ways to go about it. First, the player can defeat enough enemies to fill their "Magnetite" gauge, which allows them to choose one of the skills equipped on their character and transfer it to a demon in their party. The other way to get demon's with certain skills is, for lack of a better term, "breeding." That's right; the demon fusion for which the SMT series is known again makes an appearance in this game. And again, similarities can be drawn with Pokemon. In certain Pokemon games, leaving two compatible pokemon at the daycare could result in an egg being laid, which would hatch into a new pokemon type. In Overclocked, the principal is the same, but the particulars are different. Two demons combine in the same way to form a new demon. However, in this process, both the original demons are used up. Only certain demon types are compatible and demons can only be fused when the final product is the same or a lower level than the Main Character. Demons that are available for fusion are compiled in the "Cathedral of Shadows" menu, so the player can see which skills and strengths/weaknesses will be carried forward from a demon's "parents." This opens up the door for a huge variety of customization that frequently becomes more a focus of the game than the actual story.

Outside of battle and demon fusion, there are two more aspects of the gameplay that deserve attention. Firstly, related to demon fusion, is the Demon Auction. Although certain demons are only available through fusion, many can be met in battle over the course of the story. Once a meeting happens, the possibility opens for the demon to become available on the Demon Auction, a section of the menu in which players can bid on demons for their party or to use in fusion. Money is accumulated through battle and the auction provides a convenient source if the player ever needs a particular demon for fusion. The other important aspect is the free battle option. Players can move forward in the game through completing story events or battles, which provide experience and loot. However, for those who like to grind, or as a resource for skill cracking, there is also the option to take part in free battles which do not move time forward and thus can be used at the player's leisure. As many of the battles in the game are very difficult, it is a helpful resource to be able to gain a few more levels when necessary.

Now that we've quickly touched on the narrative and not-so-quickly on the gameplay, a word about the other aspects of the game. The voice acting is passable. The Main Character is silent and some of the other character voices can be a little grating, but it never gets so bad as to detract from enjoyment of the game. Music is a familiar metal that is unique in typical SMT fashion and hearkens back to the early days of video games. The graphics are simple and sprite-based, while cutscenes usually take place in an anime style. Ultimately, all of these aspects are solid but not particularly noteworthy; like the narrative, they mainly serve to provide a foundation for the gameplay and really, the game works, so why nit-pick?

Don't worry-the game is not always nearly as serious as the characters' faces in this picture

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked is an easy and enthusiastic recommendation. The narrative and characters are solid, as are the graphics and sound effects, and while they may not draw a player's attachment in the same way as more story-centered games like Mass Effect, they admirably accomplish their purpose in providing a backdrop for the excellent gameplay (and the story even picks up as the game goes on). I spent about 35 hours playing the game as well, so it certainly doesn't lack in the bang-for-buck department. Fusing and battling with demons will keep you occupied for hours and the endless combinations and strategies are just as addicting with this coat of paint as they were in Pokemon and Fire Emblem.

Currently playing: Animal Crossing-New Leaf; Luigi's Mansion 2; Xenoblade Chronicles

Game Reviews in the works: Fallen Enchantress

Book Review in the works: Christianity:The First Three Thousand Years by Diarmaid MacCulloch

Game Review--Growlanser II: The Sense of Justice

This was my first foray into the world of Growlanser and it needs to be said that this is one of those series in which I get the impression that it would have been better to play the first one first. Growlanser I being, however, unreleased in the west, and as I cannot speak or read Japanese, Growlanser II was the next logical entry point for me. By no means a bad game, Growlanser II--like many other JRPG franchises--will appeal to a niche audience. The story is not particularly strong, the world not particularly memorable, the music standard 90s RPG fare, etc. And if you aren't an RPG fan at all, this game will do absolutely nothing for you. However, if you are a fan of character-centric games, strategic real-time combat and dating sim elements, The Sense of Justice might be worth checking out. I certainly enjoyed it.

In terms of story, there is not much to Growlanser II (although it needs to be said that when it came out--2001--RPGs were just emerging from a decade of lackluster stories). Wein Cruz, the protagonist, and a series of companions must defeat a series of threats to their homeland of Rolandia and the world in which they live. Some are purely political threats, others more fantastical, but none particularly memorable. There is also quite a lot of reference to events of the first game and characters from that game even reprise their roles. In fact, although the bulk of the game takes place after the events of Growlanser I, the beginning of The Sense of Justice even takes place concurrently with its predecessor. For someone unable to play the first game, this made things a little confusing for me at times. However, ultimately it wasn't too much of a problem, for a couple reasons: 1) the plot was not deep enough for ties to the first game to have any huge effect and 2) the characters were plenty well fleshed out and really drove the game on their own.

The world of Growlanser II is traversable on the world map, and as he ventures from town to town or event to event, Wein can recruit a series of characters to fight with him. Many join your party as part of the story, but there are also some recruitable hidden characters. Almost all of the characters are pretty well fleshed out. Wein can interact with them one-on-one during events within towns or he can interact with the party as a whole via cut-scenes, but either way, one area in which Growlanser II does not struggle is its characters. There is even a dating sim element for the female characters that can allow Wein to pursue a romantic storyline assuming certain qualifications (each character has a relationship meter that fills based on responses in conversation or story action). Ultimately the romantic plot feels a little rushed and awkward, but it was interesting that it was present in a fairly old game. Though the story is short, and the plot itself forgettable, the characters will stay with you after you put the game down.

Growlanser II's ring system

The gameplay is really where the Growlanser series makes its mark though. Of course, the characters prepare for battle by putting on their armor, headgear, etc. in standard RPG fashion. However, each character also has access to a ring weapon slot. Ring weapons have 3 slots with ratings from 0 to 9 (thus, the best ring would theoretically have a rating of 9-9-9). Characters can place gems in each of these slots, as long as the level of the gem is less than the level of the slot. So in a 1-0-0 ring, only a level 1 gem could be equipped in the first slot, while nothing could be equipped in the second or third. Its a system that takes some getting used to, but no more than in many other solid RPGs. Combat itself is made up of story events and random encounter and takes place upon a square map. However, rather than being turn-based and taking place on a grid, movement is free and combat is half real-time. And by that I mean that once you select the actions for your characters, they continue until either the focus of their action is complete (ie. killing an enemy) or you bring up the menu to change their action. Actions take place according to a battle gauge, as well, rather than being turn-based. So, quicker characters whose gauges fill faster can get off more hits, etc. It's a system that eventually become more popularized in games like Final Fantasy XII, but it was interesting to find it here and for RPG fans who find the turn-based system outdated, this will certainly be a breath of fresh air.

Babe choices....

A uniformly negative aspect of the game was sound. The music is not terrible; its just forgettable and feels as if it was drawn straight from a greatest hits collection of 90s RPG battle music. The real knock on the sound is the voice acting. Some of the voices are bad by virtue of their pitch or sound, a la Hope from Final Fantasy XIII, but my main problem with the voice acting was the delivery. Its abundantly clear that the actors were reading from a script, as there is rarely any emotion that doesn't sound completely fake. However, given the budget restrictions that I'm sure affected first the game itself and then its localization, this is no surprise and I didn't really hold it against the game during my playtime.

Ultimately, Growlanser II: The Sense of Justice only takes around 15 hours to beat. It's got interesting combat and characters that are mostly successful in dragging along a lackluster plot. RPGs are already a somewhat niche genre in today's market and the Growlanser games will only appeal to an even smaller subset of that niche. However, I enjoyed my time with the game and gamers who enjoy some of the things I went into above will too.

Status: Recommended provisionally

Currently playing: Animal Crossing-New Leaf; Luigi's Mansion 2; Xenoblade Chronicles

Reviews in the Works: Shin Megami Tensei-Devil Survivor Overclocked; Fallen Enchantress

Game Review--To The Moon

Note on reviews: All my reviews will be as spoiler-free as possible. Also, because I find number-based reviews to be not-so-helpful, I will not be assigning x/10 or "x-star" scores, though I will give my opinion on whether the game was worth playing.

To the Moon is an indie-developed game by Freebird games available on the Steam store and through the Freebird games website. Over the end of last week, I got the chance to sit down with the game and go through it and was extremely impressed. For those of you familiar with Journey (which I may or may not review at a later point) by thatgamecompany, this was a very similar experience. Both studios were forced to affect the player through gameplay, atmosphere and story rather than graphics or other aspects in which AAA studios with huge budgets have an insurmountable edge. Ultimately, I think both succeeded, although in different ways.

Journey was a visceral experience for me. The silence of the characters in the empty vistas of the game's backgrounds, combined with the power behind the soundtrack to really leave me feeling my way forward--as opposed to thinking about my actions--in a way which is hard to even describe. The impact that a friendly co-player could have was likewise impactful. As I played, I constantly found myself lost in the game with my silent guide (a person with whom I had never interacted though we are now PSN friends because of this experience). To the Moon affected me in a different way, though to similarly positive ends. Where Journey is a game that you feel in the depths of your soul, To the Moon is much more cerebral.

In To the Moon, the player takes control of two doctors (Eva and Neil) in the present day. Eva and Neil work for a company whose job it is to grant the final wish of dying individuals. Though not able to actually change the past, Eva and Neil accomplish their task by manipulating the memories of their client so that they believe their wish to have been achieved (and depending on the stance one takes on memory v. reality, maybe the clients' realities do change). All clients are different, and this one--John--wants to go to the moon. In order to change his life/memories, Eva and Neil travel backwards through John's memories searching for the trigger that would cause his alternate self to visit our closest astronomical neighbor. While at first only doing their jobs, the execution of this search ultimately entails Eva and Neil viewing the narrative of John's life, which becomes the central story of the game. All of the characters of John's life--from his mother to his wife to his childhood friend--say or do things at points that are at first confusing, but make sense as the player moves backwards through John's memories. As Eva and Neil grow more attached to John and his story, so too does the player, and these little puzzles constantly draw one to play through just one more memory to see if a certain theory might be correct.

The vistas in To the Moon can be breathtaking despite graphical limitations

The gameplay of To the Moon is not quite as intellectually challenging as the game's subject matter. Travelling backwards through memories requires finding certain objects that link memories together as well as exploring and discovering enough about each memory to be able to unlock these objects. Once unlocked, each object can be used as a conduit to the next memory, provided the player can solve a tile-based puzzle in which certain tiles need to be flipped to reveal a completed picture. While this could conceivably be a difficult task, none of the puzzles in To the Moon require much thought, and the main thrust of the game is clearly the story. In fact, if these puzzles were very much longer, their getting in the way of the narrative's progression might be frustrating.

The soundtrack of the game is simple, but powerful. 'For River' was an especially moving song for me, and the themes that play during dramatic moments also properly highlight the import of the conversations or actions taking place. Voice acting never detracts from the story, though it rarely adds much to it either.

Yes, those are origami rabbits...why are they there? Play the game to find out!

Ultimately, the reason to give To the Moon a chance will not be found in the gameplay, soundtrack or graphics (simple sprites), but in the characters and their story as it relates to John and his memories. Without getting into any of the spoilerific details, I can assure you that the story kept me wanting to play just a little bit more to find the resolution I sought, whether that was for a simple explanation of a character's action or for the resolution to the ultimate puzzle of John's life: why he wants to go to the moon. The novel mechanic of moving backwards through the memories really did provide a layer of understanding to each of the characters that was unique in my gaming experience and I always felt that Neil and Eva were moving along the same path I was, towards a real identification with John and the struggles and triumphs of his life. Though part of a planned series, this game is perfectly capable of standing alone. The story and its ending will leaves players with a satisfying mix of emotions and questions, an appropriate conclusion to this cerebral experience. To the Moon is definitely an experience that I enjoyed and as a cheaper indie game is undeniably worth it.

Status: Recommended

Introduction

EDIT: I've changed the name and format of the blog. I've decided to simply focus on reviews. If I decide I need a place to talk about sports or opinions on other topics, I'll just start a new blog.

This will be a simple blog and this is its first simple post. In this first post, I will lay out what I hope to get out of this blog, my motivations for writing and how any (theoretical) readers can place themselves in reference to those goals. Here we go:

I'm looking to get a couple of things out of this blog. First and foremost, I know I need to do something to keep my writing skills (relatively) sharp. I love reading and writing, I use these skills for my job, and I'm pretty sure it will be important to my future to maintain at least a modicum of writing ability. Secondly, I'm looking for a forum in which I can lay out argumentation when I find a topic that has enough of an impact on me that I feel I need to say something. The combination of these things means that this blog will probably be more review oriented than "thought" oriented. By that I mean that I plan to focus on my thoughts regarding books, games, possibly food--that sort of thing. I will probably discuss sports every so often as well.

Some things this blog will not discuss: politics, religion, sexuality, etc. Like most people, I do have opinions on these issues (some of them strong) and I am perfectly happy to discuss them. However, I find that these topics are best discussed in person, for the most part, lest misunderstandings occur. That being said, any comments are free game; while the blog itself may belong to me, the comments section belongs to the readers (assuming there are any) and readers are free to hold to discussion of the blog post or to wander as far from the topic as they want.

So that's the plan going forward (at the beginning at least). We'll see how long it holds together like that.

Oh, and given the review-based nature of many of my posts, they might be less frequent in coming than in other blogs. The nature of a review means that I will have to have finished something to review; however, I will try to update as frequently as possible. I plan to begin this week with the reviews of a couple of recently finished games with a book review looming in the near future.