Recent reviews by ladynadiad

This game was great back in 2016 when it was actually doable to complete it. But 7 years of constant updating and new DLCs has resulted in me losing all goodwill I had for these devs. Players should be aware that even with sales that all DLC will cost more than a brand new retail AAA game and this game will take over 2000 hours to 100%. If that appeals to you and then knowing that after spending all that time and money that they can just add more DLC and you still want to buy it, it's a decent enough game. Though I think the old UI was much better and miss the preview image that wouldn't interfere with the puzzle.

There is a fine line between enough content to keep players engaged in a long term and overdoing it. Too little and players just move on to other games. Too much and they get overwhelmed and may even be deterred from starting. PPU is definitely on the end of too much. This game takes longer to 100% and costs more than most MMOs out there, except an MMO is likely to be far less tedious.

Edit: 12/20/2024

So new UI exists and it has some pros and cons to its update:

Pros -

+Sort by size finally exists. I know I suggested that like 3-4 years ago, About damn time and it's a nice feature once you figure out where it is
+They finally fixed the annoyance of being unable to grab pieces n the top right corner
+The faded image that shows as an overlay on the puzzle is really nice and almost replaces the reference image that still can't be placed anywhere without blocking the puzzle like in the original UI

Cons -

-The abomination that is now the trays is awful. They are hidden and if you want to use them they block a large potion of the puzzle. Too bad if you want to use them to keep tabs on certain pieces, sort them, or just put aside stuff you've put some effort in finding and could not
-Still no reference image that doesn't block the puzzle or the pool in some manner.
-The onslaught of DLC is still insane and still overpriced.
-I'm sure it's now more like 2500-3000 hours to 100% this for the very limited time you can.
-Piece placing sensitivity no longer can be adjusted resulting in you needing to have the piece placed pretty much exactly where it goes to lock in. This is the biggest thing that makes the faded overlay not quite as helpful as it could be.

Still can't recommend this one unless you don't care about completion or hate yourself Only thing this game does well is serve as an example of games that have too many achievements and DLC and a practice that needs to be abolished already along with showing that a 5000 achievement limit is far too large.

So not only is this game a really bad version of Picross, but it lacks cloud saving. This is a really poor thing for a game with in app purchases since you can lose your data if you computer has an issue like mine did.

So yeah, definitely not recommending because this is about the only game I own that I've lost game data in when my laptop died. Good thing I didn't make any in app purchases that I could have lost.

I'm so surprised this gem of a game doesn't have more reviews! It's such a nice little game, not too long and not too short, has a nice story, nice characters and plenty of old school charm.

Valiant: Resurrection actually feels like it was very much inspired by Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals. Agro is a hero that is much like Maxim, who goes around saving places from powerful beings. Except in Agro's case it is the fallen titans and his end goal is to bring back the woman he loves. The dungeons also are simlar with the puzzles to solve within them. The overall feel of doing all sorts of small things to accomplish a greater goal and watching as your hero earned the trust and adoration of numerous people as he traveled from place to place just felt very much the same and in a good way.

You'll do a bunch of little quests to help out the people of each place you go to. A good amount of the game is just doing stuff for others whether it be helping to prepare for a wedding, healing a queen or trying to earn the trust of another leader to gain information. It was nice to be able to go around and just help people out and it really fleshed out the culture of Asteria quite nicely and in a game as short as this it was refreshing to see a well built world with interesting races and cultures. A human like Agro was actually something unusual for Asteria which is a world filled with many unusual races like mermaids, harpies, spectres, frozen, ifrits and more.

The game is overall about 10 hours long. It didn't feel too rushed or too drawn out, more just about right, though truly I wouldn't have minded a bit more since it was so enjoyable. About the only major objection I had was that the game was overall a bit on the easy side. None of the puzzles were too difficult, no achievements were missable or too hard or required grinding. As long as you didn't excessively avoid the random monsters in the dungeons and didn't skip most of the sidequests the game was quite fair and balanced.

Overall pros:
+NIce setting, story and characters
+Party was well-balanced and each character is useful and good in battle
+Interesting setting and world-building. The world seemed to come alive more as you explored and progressed
+Wonderful old school charm, very reminiscent of classics like Lufia 2
+Lots of stuff to do, plenty of optional quests, hidden secrets and even an optonal boss


Overall drawbacks:
-A bit too easy, strategy for bosses was sometimes a bit repetetive.
-A bit on the short side at 10 hours to get 100% of the achievements

Overall, I'd recommend this game to fans of old school RPGs and games made in RPG Maker. It's definitely a nice little hidden gem that will keep you entertained as you discover more about Asteria and save its people from the fallen titans. Also for people like me who like achievements, it's a very reasonable game to 100% and all the achievements work perfectly.

Also, since I did buy the guide as well, I will add a small note about it. Very wonderfully written guide that was a very complete walkthrough and included all the secrets. I only found one error in the whole thing and it was just an optional treasure chest that has special conditions to unlock (said chest requires having found gnome rooms 1-20) to open it. The game doesn't absolutely require it to find everything or get the achievements, but it is a nice addition if you want to find all the secrets or are having trouble with a dungeon.

So do you like solitaire games? Then go get Regency Solitaire or Faerie Solitaire. Those are much better games than this one is. The main reason why I'm giving this a not recommended is the fact that there is a pretty hideous bug that when you quit the game it records the hand you were on as a failure and moves to the next one, even if you didn't start that hand. That's pretty bad for a game that is meant to be more on the casual side and played off and on to relax, not to be played in one sitting. Though thankfully the game's achievements are easy enough that unless you quit during like every hand, you'll be able to get them all even with this bug.

The other issue I had with the game is that even on the easier of the two modes, it was very luck based and not skill based for a large number of hands. After about two of the chapters all of a sudden you get layouts with a lot of blocked cards and very little ability to get a combo. To be quite honest if you don't get the achievement for a 20 combo before restoring the fire amulet in the human realm, you aren't very likely to get it because getting any decent combo without saving up a ton of wildcards is not happening with those layouts. You'll get very sick of Seth's laughter for leaving more than 5 cards quite quickly because you'll be hearing it a lot. Of note, I played on casual, though I am a perfectionist. Between this and the bug I had to deal with not being able to perfect every level.

Another issue that is present is that at times the music just stops for no good reason.

Put simply, this game is a promise of a solid game that really needs some work and I'll gladly edit this review if some of these issues get fixed, though truly these sorts of issues should have been worked out before release, not after. The artwork is very lovely and the music when it actually plays right is relaxing. The game can be fun when I'm not getting frustrated at retrying a level a bunch of times just to get less than 4 cards remaining. Edit to add: The dev has responded that the bug causing fails in hands cannot be fixed.

As it stands now, I can't recommend the game outside of a much better sale or in a bundle because it's more frustating than relaxing and fun and a game should get harder as you progress, not easier It also mostly gets easier because you get amulets and power ups to be able to deal with the frustrating factors of luck playing such a role.

Whisper of a Rose is a very well done RPG Maker game about a girl named Melrose who has a pretty awful life and very much wants to find some way to escape it. She finds a device called the iDream and uses that to escape into her Dream World.

But she ends up finding out that the Dream World isn't as nice as she thinks it is. After all, not all our dreams are nice and happy, there are plenty of nightmares as well.

Whisper of a Rose takes us on Melrose's trip through the Dream World. Everything in the game is based on things that happened to Melrose and her own fears and wishes. Even her own repressed memories show up at times. The settings range from rolling hills to unpleasant forests and swamps. And all Melrose wants to do is find a way home.

Overall pros:
+Lengthy game, it took me just under 30 hours to beat it, though that included having to redo some stuff when I was defeated.
+Gorgeous settings, you can barely even tell it's RPG Maker
+Wonderful soundtrack. All the music fits great with the scenes and the battle themes are just amazing. You can get the soundtrack for free at the dev's website too.
+Very responsive dev which is always a good thing.

Overall cons:
-Never thought I'd say I wanted random encounters in a game, but this game really would have been better off with them. Visible encounters just don't work here with how difficult it is to avoid enemies and how they immediately respawn with no chance for immunity to avoid the encounter. Monsters also don't stop while you grab treasure which leads to encounters you may not want. (Edit: This has been improved upon as well with a short delay between respawn and an item to avoid encounters. New Game+ mode gets an important item to allow unlimited avoiding of encounters)
-Regular battles can get lengthy and tedious. (Edit: This has been improved upon and they are much shorter as long as you aren't avoiding everything and not upgrading equipment)
-While there is a quick means of travel, it only covers limited areas and you'll be backtracking a bit for sidequests, which makes the encounter annoyances even greater because you'll get stuck fighting some monsters when you just wanted to make a quick run to grab an item.

Achievement wise, it's not an easy 100%. You'll need two full playthroughs to 100% the game and there are a few missables. It's about 30 hours per playthrough from the looks of things if you want to be sure to miss nothing. There is some replay value though since you get some new stuff on a second run and there's one sidequest that can only be finished on the second playthrough and it nets you the best summon in the game.

Still, it's a very good game and I do recommend it. It's not exactly short and sweet, but it's worth playing all the way through.

Also a little tip for anyone playing it: don't sell your initial armor for any characters. You'll need that later if you want to get the best stuff in the game. It's doable to beat the game without it, but more difficult.

I will just say that I cannot recommend this game enough. It was truly a very amazing conclusion to the series and anyone who just dismisses these games for being made in RPG Maker is missing out on a great RPG. Though I do feel that while this game could in theory stand alone, all the best moments mean so much more when you have played the first four games and really understand just how much everyone went through to finally make it to the grand finale.

About the only real drawback is that you do have to level up all your characters pretty high to have a shot in the final showdown, it's recommended to just max them all out. That definitely took quite a bit of time, but the game does give you a very ideal chance to pull this off by basically having the plot send you off to go grind a ton.

I also do feel that it is obvious a lot of care was put into the dialoge for the tournament. The dialogue between your characters and their opponents not only does a great job of characterization for everyone, but it varies depending on what your current score is, whether you won or lost that time, and what the character's overall win/lose record is. Some of the dialogue is downright hilarious. The characterization here is really great as well. By the end of it I really had a good sense of what the Mystrock Lords and Ladies were like and actually even came to find a few of them to be interesting characters. I definitely liked Gisele and Mai a lot. Nate also was pretty interesting even if he was obviously meant to be hated. Truly, all of them were interesting characters with distinct personalities and that shows the love that was put into the final showdown. What was even more neat was the fact that enough care was taken to give each of them their own battle theme. The soundtrack in this game was quite good even if it's been good in all the games so far, but this one just had some added stuf that did a great job of making all the scenes all that much more emotional.

However what really makes the game is the ending. Even though it's pretty obvious that since we're playing as Marine and her friends that the true ending is for her to succeed, how this happens is not something that would be easily guessed. I won't spoil it, but it definitely got quite the reaction out of me. To me any game capable of making me feel something for the characters and events is doing it right.

I also feel this game did a much better job with the realism and having everything be well explained by the plot and done so well. For example the game gives a beautiful excuse to have the Bear unable to be in your party for most of the game because you'd rely on him too much and not train the rest of the characters if you could. The plot that came with that reason then gave a great excuse to use all those characters you haven't used since they games they joined in, though at times it was annoying because you'd get a party that really wasn't good and would need to grind a bit to have a shot. The monsters in this game are definitely tough!

Overall pros:
+Quite a lengthy game, you're looking at about 30 hours of playtime and the tournament is actually not a large chunk of that.
+The characterization is top notch here.
+Very challenging monsters and the tournament is also pretty challenging as well even if the battles are shorter there

Overall cons:
-A lot of grinding. While it's not as bad with it actually being justified by plot much of the time, there were points where it dragged because you needed to grind up a not so hot party.
-Definitely going to want to get the guide for this one because the parties switch up so often and you have to be well prepared to even have a shot. The guide does a great job of advising without spoilers on how to prepare for all of this, howevr.
-As of now, the game has 6 broken achievements so it cannot be 100%ed without cheating. The dev is aware and has been good about fixing them for other games, but it is likely to take time. Edit: As of 3/26/18 the broken achievements have now been either removed or fixed and the game is capable of being 100%ed.

So in the end, I very much recommend this game and truly, play the series from the beginning if possible. The series ends up running at about 90 hours of play all together and a very large amount of that is very good and leading up to an incredibly epic conclusion that will mean all that much more if you started from the very beginning. The final conclusion will mean so much more when you truly understand all the things Marine has done to get to this point and it really starts off with that fateful day when Marine left Green Grass, tripped on something and met a little fairy who decided to live in her earring from then on and it means so much more if you get to see Marine grow from being a weak peasant girl to being a capable martial artist who inspied others to join her on her crazy quest to challenge Mystrock.

So now on the 4th game of the series and all of Marine's distractions from the previous games are now coming back to haunt her. She's got a week to find herself four more warriors or she fails and the only place left to scout is pretty far away.

To boot, this game is incredibly punishing for the fact that she has such a strict time limit. Of all the games in the series, this game has the most missable achievements. Also your equipment becmes more limited because your characters need to start training with stuff they can actually use in the final tournament in the next game. Bye bye weapons and awesome armor. Now you get bare hands and light equipment and only get body armor for three characters for most of the game unless you use the not so great characters who won't be in the tournament.

So obviously, the challenge is amped pretty far up to 100% this game. I'll say right now, get the guide if you want all the achievements. This game has a good one and it does give the missables. The only thing it doesn't have is a few achievement specific ones, pretty much the achievements for kills with two of your new warriors. Also make sure to check the Steam guide here because that will give a good rundown on what to ensure you have started or finished before each point of no return.

Storywise, this game ranks up there with the 3rd and 5th games. There's some very good emotional moments and a lot of it is accented by the fact that they are so pressed for time. Seriously, they barely get the last warrior registered in time. Like down to the very last minute. Two of the warriors will probably come as a surprise because you've known them since the first game.

Another nice thing is that you really get some great lore on how the tournament works and also finally get to meet all the opponents via scenes that happen throughout the game as it gets closer and the folks in Mystrock realize this tournament is happening. I definitely advise watching the optional intro because it gives some great info.

Definitely a very recomended game. If you can only play a couple in the series, I'd advise to not miss 3, 4, and 5.

Overall pros:
+Like 3, it has the sidescrolling element. The dungens are also pretty complex and will test your skill and endurance. You'll grow to very much appreciate SP regenerating items in this game.
+The system for bare hands ability is pretty neat. Number of hits the character lands will level that up and as you use a character more they start hitting more. Those levels also will fully carry over to the next game, so it's worth it to start building that up now.
+You can use most of your characters for most of the game so you can definitely try out a bunch of combos and start getting to know who is going to be your best and who is going to suck.
+Jeanne is back, though she can only cure status effects, heal and boost. But she does get a full party heal now. She's definitely more balanced and doesn't make the game a complete breeze to use all the time. Also for any ambushes she automatically is summoned which is nice.

Overall cons:
-There were a few things that were just so out there that it was nearly impossible to suspend belief. For example, you get your second to last warrior so hey, let's stop and grind out 1k kills with him for the achievement and also backtrack to finish a pointless quest. There's a few other points that spoil the plot a bit more. Expect to need to suspend disbelief a bit on how this works.
-The characters really suck in the beginning because you start with bare hands levels of 1 on everyone and lose some levels from the previous game if you imported as always. Thankfully this is dealt with pretty quickly, but it does make the first couple of areas a bit harder than they needed to be.
-So many points of no return here. Pretty much about every dungeon is one to a degree. If you want to 100% the game in one playthrough, expect to be referring to guides a lot because everything has to be done very precisely and with little room for error.
-Most of the animal kings in this game aren't at all challenging. Only maybe two of them actually offered any real challenge to me.

So yes, definitely recommend this game and also to grab the guide as well. It's about 15-20 hours to 100% it as long as you don't miss anything and have to reload. Save often and you should be fine. Storywise, it's a great game and well worth buying.

So now we're at the third game of the series and after the events of the second game, Marine is now left without her very very useful fairy companion and only has five out of thirteen warriors and not much time left along with not many places left to explore.

The third game picks up where the 2nd left off. Also, this time you get to keep the characters you recruited in the second game for the whole adventure. You'll also be able to pick up Hirado for part of the game and Karine until the ending.

One thing that is different in this game is a good chunk of the dungeons are more side scrolling and you jump from place to place. There are still dungeons that are the more traditional top down view as well.

Overall, this game has a much more solid story and more interesting characters than the second game had and one of the better endings. This is a lot more solidly recommended than the second game was and overall the 3rd and 5th games are probably the best in the whole series, with the 4th being close behind. This is definitely where the series starts to shine.

Overall pros:
+The side scrolling perspective is pretty neat and changing things up makes things more interesting
+Definitely a lot more customization is possible here and there are multiple solid parties to have.
+The lack of Jeanne for the game actually does make it more challenging and you have to change up your tactics.
+A very good plot for this game to add to the overarching one.

Neutral points: (Stuff that may be good to some and not so good to others)
&The banter between Jack and James. It can be considered funny to some, but may be grating to others.
&For a large chunk of this game it seems like Marine is being distracted from her quest to help Jack and Salome and it's repeatng the same issues as the second game had. It actually ended up being to her benefit, but we won't find out why until the beginning of the fourth game.

Overall cons:
-If you are importing, the cap to imported characters is even more annoying in this game. The biggest annoyance was having to spend a good amount of time to get Abu back his Cure KO ability. That does give this game a slower start than the second had.
-If you are a completionist, this game has some very annoying missables.
-There's a really annoying bug that randomly unequips the Eternity Trident from Salome late in the game and it can happen at very frustrating points. Make sure to check after every battle to ensure she's still got it equipped because if she goes back to human form, you have to rest to get her back to mermaid form.

Also a note on this game's official guide as well. The guide for this game is the worst of the series. It's worth getting on sale because it does have some useful tips and the maps are great to have. However, expect to also have to look elsewhere for quests and secret rooms since those aren't all detailed in the guide. Also, the guide posted on Steam is a great supplement to help with 100%ing the game.

So overall, very solid entry and after playing this one I can see why the series is so well regarded and very much recommended.

While I do recommend this game and playing the series in order to get the full experience, I'll be honest and say this installment is probably the weakest overall. It starts off great. You get to see Mystrock finally and the sheer difference between the peasants' way of life and that of the Mystrock citizens which adds to the overall lore of the series and we also get some more details about what Marine's quest is going to involve and actually get to meet some of your upcoming foes.

Then the game takes a bit of a nosedive when you end up with just Benoit and Marine again and are looking for some more warriors.

The game definitely suffers a lot from the fact that Marine is easily distracted from her quest by her emotions. We learn in this game that she very much wants to know what happened to her mother and she'll always help a person in need even if that may delay her a lot.

So overall it is a fun game, but it has a lot of low points and starts well and then sinks a bit untl you get some more party members and does finally improve.

Overall pros:
+More of a choice of party this time around. You'll have more than 4 people available so you can try out some different choices.
+Some great backstory and character development for Marine and Benoit and there are plenty of fun parts to the story.
+The ability to import your save from the 1st game is really nice to help give an edge. Also this game does have available some stuff that will be invaluable even through the last game.
+Some of the more annoying achievement typs from the first game weren't included here which made it more fun to 100%. There's no achievement for not using go-through, which makes it far more bearable to backtrack and no achievements for finding orbs

Overall cons:
-When importing you don't keep all your gold, stats and levels so the game can start off a bit harder than the end of the first game was due to this. Importing does have an advantage because you'll have more gold and levels and you'll have most of your items as well.
-Way too much focus on a certain massive spider and Jezebel's griffin. The sheer amount of time spent on these quests made it very hard to suspend disbelief on how realistic things could be.
-A decent amount of backtracking will be needed if you want to finish all the quests.

Overall though, I do think the game is worth playing because the plot will enhance your experience in later games and many items you pick up in this game will be very valuable down the line. While it is very possible to play the later games without having played all the previous ones, you'll be at a disadvantage for not importing a save and the overall experience will not be as good because you will have missed some plot points. In good news though, the low points don't last too long, only up until you get your first warrior in this game. There are enough good points that it's worth its asking price and you'll get a good solid about 15-20 hours of play from it.

Edit to add: After having finished the whole series I do want to add a couple of points to this. This game definitely is one that sets up some plot elements that will be fully resolved in the 4th and 5th games. So while you can understand 4 and 5's plot fine without this one, it will mean a lot more if you've played this game and seen the setup.

Also, in the last area of this game you can get 99 diamond nuggets with a bit of grinding and also max out on some powerful healing items that can't be bought in any other games. That fact alone will make things much easier in the later games, especially the achievments for earning gold. Those diamond nuggets will save you a ton of grinding for gold and will help with some boosts to party members to make up for some of the losses you can take from starting a new game.

Greyfox is a short and sweet little game made in RPG Maker, thugh I'd not call it an RPG since it really is more of a point and click adventure type of game. The premise is really interestng as it is modern day.

You play as a young girl looking to better her life. She quits her job and moves to a town called Greyfox with no promise of a new job or even a place to live. Then you meet a strange woman who tries to deter her from staying and she leads the main character through a set of dreams where she gets to live the lives of other people in the town.

Good points:
+Interesting premise
+The four characters your main character gets to walk around as are interesting.
+Lot of stuff to discover and people to talk to, obvious care was taken at constructing this little town.
+Multiple endings

Neutral points:
*Rather short, I was able to get all the achievements in less than two hours

Not so good points:
-The main character really was lacking in any characterization
-The characters whose lives you lived were in some cases very stereotypical elderly people even if they were interesting.

Overall though, I'd recommend the game. It's short and simple, but also not very pricey. It's definitely a game to pick up and play and you can easily finish in one game session. The premise is definitely unique and a refreshing change.