Samantha Lienhard's Blog, page 153
March 16, 2016
Mediocre Monster is an RPG from the Monster’s Perspective
I’m back again to tell you about another Kickstarter project, and this one looks really cool.
Mediocre Monster is an RPG told from the perspective of a monster. And not just any monster. A random encounter monster.
You play as Gob, a weak monster RPG heroes will face early in their adventure. He has been assigned to face the heroes of the epic RPG “Legend of the Adventure.”
He needs to react appropriately in battles, drop items when defeated, and give the heroes exp. As he’s promoted, he’ll not only earn a higher salary, he’ll also be able to fight in new locations and gain palette swaps!
Doesn’t this already sound like a delightful parody? It gets better. Why does Gob need to work so hard?
Because his home town fell into disrepair after monsters abandoned turn-based RPGs for the mobile market and the mayor squandered the town’s funds on free-to-play games.
If he can’t pay, the town will be used for a casual city building sim.
In addition to fighting heroes, Gob will also work to restore the town. Gold is used to buy new buildings and improvements, and you can also invite new monsters to live there. Repopulating the town opens up more opportunities for you.
Mediocre Monster sounds incredibly fun. I love turn-based RPGs inspired by classics like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy, and this one has a fantastic twist on the usual formula.
It’s planned for the PC and has already been Greenlit for Steam. Backers will receive both a DRM-free copy and a Steam copy. It hasn’t met its goal yet, though, so if this sounds as much fun to you as it does to me, I hope you’ll back Mediocre Monster on Kickstarter and/or spread the word!
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March 14, 2016
New Tales of Berseria Trailer Hints at Expanded Lore
I’m excited about Berseria, but I have some misgivings about it being set in the same world as Tales of Zestiria.
It’s a far-distant prequel, but since Tales of Zestiria’s worldbuilding is one of the things that fell apart and caused my lackluster review, I worry Berseria might suffer from the same issues.
On the other hand, this is their chance to smooth things out and establish working lore for this world.
The newest trailer makes me hope they’ll do just that. Let’s take a look.
This trailer is cool for a lot of reasons.
First, we see a man who appears (at least from this distance) to wear Shepherd-esque garb walking away from a balcony. It’s unclear if Shepherds already existed at the time of Berseria, but there is a “savior” Velvet wants revenge on.
The trailer then plays “Burn,” Berseria’s recently-revealed theme song, and we see Velvet swordfighting a man in white. This man was previously introduced as an exorcist, like Eleanor, whom Velvet also fights in this trailer.
Exorcists protect people from daemons, which seem to be an early version of hellions. Some daemons can keep their reason, such as Velvet and Rokurou, the dark-haired man she’s shown back-to-back with.
The closeup of Rokurou includes a quick glimpse of Velvet and Eleanor in the field behind him. Perhaps although the exorcists begin as Velvet’s enemies, Eleanor at least will become an ally at some point.
The trailer also shows Laphicet, Magileux, Bienphu, and a couple new characters.
First, Rokurou fights a man (at a volcano?) who hasn’t been revealed, but while that could be a minor antagonist, the trailer also shows a woman in white who seems prominent.
She appears in the fight between Velvet and Eleanor, and then again beside Magileux. Her attire, the way Eleanor appears to be guarding her in the first scene, and the scepter she carries all suggests she has authority. Perhaps she is a high-ranking person in the Abbey, the order of exorcists.
After a few scenes showcasing Magileux, the woman in white appears to strike her.
Everything about this trailer is really cool, but one more small detail caught my attention. Velvet says the name “Artorius.”
Tales of Zestiria contains an important location called Artorius’s Throne, but it’s never expanded upon. As I traveled through it, I kept asking myself, “Who is Artorius? Why is this place here?” It felt completely irrelevant to the plot and world.
Click for minor Zestiria spoilerArtorius’s Throne is the final dungeon, and the apparent base of the main villain. Yes, the villain’s base is named after someone who is never even mentioned.
If Berseria plans to include Artorius, perhaps show Artorius’s Throne in the past, it gives me hope it will straighten out the jumbled world Zestiria created.
What do you think? Will Berseria save the Zestiria universe or fall prey to the same mistakes? Let me know your thoughts on that and this trailer in the comments below!
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March 11, 2016
Last Chance to Bring Beastmaster & Prince to the West
By now you probably know that while the dark, twisted part of me writes Lovecraftian horror and loves Silent Hill, another part of me plays games about lawyers and bird romances.
(Don’t worry, my look at bird lawyers is on the way.)
So when I saw a Kickstarter to localize a game where you interact with princes who have been enchanted into animals, with a special “Cuddle System” where you pet their animals forms, I laughed for a while and then said, “This is adorable, I want it.”
Beastmaster and Prince is an otome game (visual novel marketed to a female audience, usually romantic) about a young woman named Tiana who wants to be a Beastmaster. She meets four princes who have been cursed into the shapes of animals: one became a lion, the second a wolf, the third a duck, and the fourth a rabbit.
While searching for a way to life the curse, Tiana learns of a conspiracy within the kingdom.
The game was pretty popular in Japan, and now Gloczus, Inc. and b2g Studio hope to bring it to the West.
However, this project is for more than just the original Beastmaster and Prince game. It also includes the Snow Bride fandisc which continues the story, as well as additional side stories.
It will be the complete Beastmaster and Prince experience, with the original Japanese voice acting, available for Steam. After its Steam release, they may consider a Vita version, as well.
If the Kickstarter project meets its goal, that is.
It suffered early on from a disorganized setup and lack of higher-tier goals. Since then, it’s improved a lot and more backers have joined us… but will it be enough? At the time I’m writing this, Beastmaster and Prince has 26 hours left to make the remaining $78,000 it needs.
So if a game about curses, princes, animals, and romance sounds good to you, or if you just want to support otome localization in general (as they hope to bring more otome games to the West if the market is there), head over to the Beastmaster and Prince Kickstarter!
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March 9, 2016
Tales of Zestiria: What Went Wrong?
It’s finally time to review Tales of Zestiria.
My screenshot Let’s Play stands as a testament to the way my feelings toward Zestiria changed. It went from being a game I loved to one I can’t honestly recommend. By the end, it left me with many questions, the most important of which is simple:
What went wrong?
See, Tales of Zestiria isn’t a bad game. It’s not like Sticker Star, where I can rant about how awful it was, or even Final Fantasy XIII.
For about 40 hours of Tales of Zestiria, it was fantastic. I thought it might be better than even Tales of Xillia, which I loved.
While Zestiria still doesn’t have a world map, it has much larger areas to explore than Xillia, which made it feel more like I was on an epic journey. The awesome soundtrack helped, too.
You gain certain field actions you can perform, such as casting flames ahead of you. This reminded me a bit of the Sorcerer’s Ring in Symphonia, and I enjoyed using new powers to pass obstacles I couldn’t cross before. This comes into play for puzzles in dungeons, especially the trial shrines. Characters also have support abilities, which allow you to do many things, such as detect discovery points, make recovery items, and (my favorite) increase your movement speed after a battle or overheard NPC chatter.
The combat system is controversial, but I didn’t mind having the two human party members locked into my battle party. Since each seraph was tied to an element and could be switched out instantly, the restriction never bothered me.
And Tales of Zestiria is funny.
I praised Xillia for its humor, but parts of Zestiria felt like outright comedy, such as Sorey’s poor acting attempt where he described himself as the “son of a provincial lard.”
The character interactions are fantastic and led to some of the funniest skits I’ve seen. Whether it’s Edna’s sarcasm or Lailah’s vow causing her to go into random mode, they were thoroughly entertaining.
The story had plenty of potential, with Sorey as the messianic Shepherd up against the Lord of Calamity, and a convoluted “malevolence” system that could have been really cool if they explored the depths of its shaky morality.
And then it all falls apart.
This isn’t like Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright, where I can still enjoy and recommend it despite an awful plot twist at the end. I loved Zestiria’s early story, but that love was founded on the belief, the assumption, that it would come together in a satisfactory way… and it doesn’t.
Tales of Zestiria can’t keep track of how malevolence works. Foreshadowing and even plot points come to nothing. Its villains barely get character development (for a full, spoiler-filled rant on how Zestiria fails its villains, go here), loose ends are often wrapped up by characters speculating on what they think might be the case, and a critical plot item is left unexplained because the character involved “forgot.”
Instead of deep, its morality system becomes downright bizarre as it tries to put forth an extreme anti-war message while one of the heroes is an assassin who never feels guilt. The protagonist slowly accepts killing is necessary, while lamenting his lack of alternatives despite never going out of his way to look for an alternative.
The plot slowly falls to pieces, and all the awesome buildup beforehand feels like the scattered remains of a different, better story.
I believe Tales of Zestiria’s story was radically altered during development and the writers had to scramble to finish it. It’s the only explanation I can think of for the sloppy way it handles certain plot points. And don’t expect the DLC to fix anything. Alisha’s Story is one of the most pointless bonus chapters I’ve ever seen.
Click for Alisha's Story spoilersIt actually ends without the protagonists ever encountering the DLC’s main villain or knowing who he is.
To make matters worse, he’s a villain who died in the main game, and his return isn’t explained, either.
What happened, Zestiria? What went wrong?
If you asked me when I started the game, I would have recommended Tales of Zestiria in a heartbeat and said its critics just nitpicked minor issues. Now, however, I can’t honestly recommend it. All I can do is look back on those early hours and dream of the game Tales of Zestiria could have been…
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March 7, 2016
Ace Attorney 6 Cover Art, Returning Characters, and More
This weekend gave us a huge amount of Ace Attorney 6 news.
The biggest announcement was probably the return of Maya Fey, but we also have cover art, a new trailer, the Japanese release date, pre-order bonus information, a demo, and more characters.
The box art, pictured to the right, features Phoenix, Maya, Apollo, and Nayuta. When Nayuta was first revealed, his gender was in doubt, but he’s been confirmed as male.
It’s still unclear if a second main prosecutor will be featured, but Nayuta’s place on the cover suggests he’s the most prominent. It seems as though he will appear at least once in Kurain, while Leifa will appear at least once in Japan/California.
We don’t know who the detective will be yet, either. Fans went a little crazy over “detective Jesus,” but the character in question is just a witness (possibly the culprit). Let’s cross our fingers for the return of Gumshoe, Ema, or both.
Maya will be Phoenix’s assistant in Kurain, as she went there to further her spiritual training. She looks a lot like she did in the trilogy, though not identical, since she’s older.
Check out adult Maya in the new trailer, subtitled by Bolt2nd.
Apollo’s assistant will be Athena. So far, they’ve only referenced Phoenix and Apollo as playable characters, which means Athena probably won’t lead a case this time.
We don’t know how many cases there will be (I’m hoping for 6), but two bonus “non-canon episodes” are available as pre-order bonuses. One is set in Kurain and features Phoenix versus Edgeworth, while the other is set in Japan/California and features Apollo versus Klavier.
The Kurain episode also includes Pearl, while the Japan/California episode has Jinxie.
I like Jinxie, but I didn’t know she was popular enough to warrant a return, even in a bonus case. And is that Pearl and Bokuto on the stand together? Will Ace Attorney 6 have cross-examinations of multiple witnesses?
The wording suggests these bonus episodes won’t be full-length cases, but they’ll still have investigations and trial sections. With any luck, they’ll be pre-order bonuses in the West as well… and perhaps made available as DLC later on.
Like in Dual Destinies, each attorney has an alternate DLC costume, also available as pre-order bonuses: Phoenix gets Furio Tigre’s suit, Apollo gets a boarding school uniform, and Athena gets a Trés Bien waitress outfit.
Ace Attorney 6 is set for June 9 in Japan, with no word yet on its localized release date. Japan also has a limited edition, which includes a CD, tote bag, art book, and keychains.
An Ace Attorney 6 demo is available and can be played in your browser. It’s entirely in Japanese, but it’s worth a look to get a feeling for the game.
What do you think of the latest Ace Attorney 6 news? Share your thoughts on Maya, the bonus episodes, and everything else in the comments below.
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March 4, 2016
Please Say Color Splash Isn’t Sticker Star 2.0
When a new Nintendo Direct was announced for yesterday, I was excited. (If you missed the Nintendo Direct, you can watch the entire thing here.) More than anything else, I hoped the rumored Paper Mario Wii U game would be announced.
And it was.
And it was heart-breaking.
My first worry was when he referenced Paper Mario as being in the “action adventure genre.” Did they forget these are RPGs?
Then he mentioned colors and paint. I wanted to think “cool,” but all I could think was, “Why another gimmick?”
Then he mentioned Prism Island, and I felt a ray of hope. A new region! Surely this will mean new characters and an intriguing plot!
… *sees no one but Mario, Peach, and Toad*
Make it stop!
Paint Hammer… restoring color… restoring color to Toads… Toad House… no no nononono! I swear, if this is as annoying as rescuing Toads in Paper Jam…Painting cards to start battles? What the heck? I want to believe this is like Paper Jam’s battle cards, but I can’t help but see Sticker Star’s stickers.
Special cards… GIANT FAN…
It’s Sticker Star 2.0, isn’t it?!
GameXplain looked at Color Splash in the European and Japanese Nintendo Directs as well to find more footage, but it doesn’t get any better. It shows more “characters,” but by that I mean Toads and a Shy Guy. It also shows the conclusion of a battle and Mario’s reward: coins. They just cut it off before showing his exp gain, right??
Why, why, why is this happening?
How did we go from this* to…
*sigh*
Aside from Prism Island, the one bit of hope I see in this trailer is that the paint can appears to be a new character. While he could be another Kersti (please no), maybe he’s just the only partner or original character revealed so far.
At least the Nintendo Direct also revealed the English title for Genei Ibun Roku #FE, one of my most-anticipated turn-based RPGs. It’s called Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, a title weird enough to put Kingdom Hearts to shame… although TMS is SMT backwards! That will be out on June 24…
I don’t know when Color Splash will come out, and unless they release a new trailer showing a story and characters, I don’t really care.
What about you? Do you see any reason to be excited for Color Splash, or have you joined me in singing Paper Mario’s funeral dirge?
*Yes, I like Super Paper Mario. I loved its story and characters. And while it didn’t have turn-based combat, at least it was fun, something I can’t say for Sticker Star’s battle system.
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March 2, 2016
Sword of Destiny Bridges the Gap
For years, reading the Witcher novels in English was a tricky matter because the translators skipped Sword of Destiny. At last, that is not the case. While I read the Sword of Destiny fan translation to understand the story, I was excited to finally get an official copy.
Sword of Destiny bridges the gap between the short stories of The Last Wish and the novel Blood of Elves. While it’s another collection of short stories, it contains important details for the overall saga, particularly in the stories “The Sword of Destiny” and “Something More.”
The overt fairy tale nature of The Last Wish is gone. Sword of Destiny still contains ties to fairy tales and legends, such as the role of mermaids in the heartbreaking story “A Little Sacrifice,” but also shows more of the dark fantasy elements found in the later novels.
While only a couple of its stories directly contribute to the saga’s plot, the others are enjoyable on their own and provide additional character development for important figures like Yennefer and Dandelion.
All the elements work together well. In particular, one discussion in “A Shard of Ice” about the elven legend of the Winter Queen references a myth, contributes to characterization, sets up the short story’s theme, and foreshadows something which in retrospect is quite important to the series:
“It’s not a legend at all, Yen. It’s a pretty description of the hideous phenomenon that is the Wild Hunt, the curse of several regions. An inexplicable, collective madness, compelling people to join a spectral cavalcade rushing across the sky. I’ve seen it. Indeed, it often occurs during the winter. I was offered rather good money to put an end to that blight, but I didn’t take it. There’s no way of dealing with the Wild Hunt…” (91)
Like the rest of the series, despite portraying a bleak world, Sword of Destiny also contains some humor, through both quirkiness [at one point Dandelion mentions four princes, “exasperating brats called Putzi, Gritzi, Mitzi and Juan Pablo Vassermiller” (242)] and irony, such as Geralt denying the existence of destiny while destiny all but hunts him down.
Finally, Sword of Destiny has some emotional moments, with the conclusion of “Something More” being particularly heartwarming.
If you’ve read The Last Wish, this is the book you should read next. If you jumped straight to Blood of Elves, this should clear up any confusion. In any case, I highly recommend Sword of Destiny for any fan of The Witcher or dark fantasy.
It’s great to see this book finally available, and the last two are finally receiving official translations, as well. The Tower of Swallows will be available this May, and Lady of the Lake will follow in 2017.
And guess what? I’ve finally begun playing The Witcher!
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February 28, 2016
Ask Bandai Namco to Localize Tales of Innocence R
Many games in the Tales series have been localized, but not all of them. A few main-series titles never made it out of Japan, including Tales of Innocence R.
Tales of Innocence was initially released for the DS. It tells the story of a merchant’s son who rescues a fugitive and learns he has special powers from his past life.
Like Tales of Hearts, another DS game, it was remade for the PS Vita. However, while Tales of Hearts R was localized, neither Innocence nor Innocence R ever was.
Today, Mission Atelier is hosting a localization campaign for Tales of Innocence R. If you’re interested in playing this game in the West, today’s the day to tell Bandai Namco!
There are several ways you can show your interest.
Send a physical letter to Bandai Namco:
BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc.
1740 Technology Drive, Suite 600
San Jose, CA 95110
Call Bandai Namco:
Phone: 1 (408) 235-2000
Toll-Free: 1 (888) 776-2626
Send a message to or leave a comment on the official Bandai Namco Facebook page
Send a Tweet about it:
Send a Tweet about it to Gio Corsi using the #buildingthelist hashtag:
You can find more details about the game and campaign at the official event page. While I don’t know much about Innocence R, I want to play as many Tales games as possible, this one included.
What do you say? Let’s get Tales of Innocence R localized!
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February 26, 2016
Pokémon Sun and Moon Confirmed for Holiday 2016
Yesterday, new trademarks were discovered for Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon, along with logos for said games. This prompted rumors that those would be the newest Pokémon games.
In today’s special Pokémon Nintendo Direct, the rumors were confirmed. Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon will be released in the holiday 2016 season.
We know next to nothing about them, except their names and that they’ll be compatible with Pokémon Bank (as will the Virtual Console releases of Red, Blue, and Yellow).
This seems to crush any chance of a Pokémon Z, which gives us two Pokémon generations in a row with no third version (although Black and White received direct sequels).
Despite my love for Pokémon Black and White, I wasn’t a big fan of Pokémon X and Y, so I can’t say I’m disappointed.
I look forward to seeing more from Pokémon Sun and Moon! What are your hopes for the newest Pokémon games? Sun and Moon, hmm… perhaps the story will involve OUTER SPACE!
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February 24, 2016
Nostalgia: Two Worlds | One Soul Kickstarter Now Live
You might remember Nostalgia: Two Worlds | One Soul, an upcoming PC and Wii U game inspired by Ace Attorney and Zero Escape.
We first looked at it last August, and I shared new Nostalgia screenshots in December.
Since then, I’ve contributed freelance work to Nostalgia, so it holds an even more special place in my heart.
Therefore, I’m excited to announce that the Nostalgia: Two Worlds | One Soul Kickstarter is now live.
Nostalgia is about a girl named Alice who was forced to participate in experiments meant to determine whether or not an alternate universe exists. Set 12 years later, the game will involve both the characters and their alternate universe counterparts.
Gameplay is split between choice-based visual novel sections, escape-the-room puzzles, and occasional battle sequences. There are multiple endings.
The Wii U version will have features exclusive to the Gamepad, such as object scanning. Some puzzles will also be different depending on which version you play.
A prototype demo is available, although I had trouble getting it to run.
If you like what you see and want to support Nostalgia: Two Worlds | One Soul, tell your friends about it or visit the Kickstarter page.
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