Recent reviews by rinimt

**I received a free code for content creation purposes. My playthrough can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGG8_9Thpy4J7beRPM42yNj-ZbA2yU2p2 **

I somehow never played the original release of Breath of Death VII (but definitely meant to), Reanimated gave me the perfect excuse to finally do so. Featuring revamped graphics, Reanimated gives a well-flowing experience through the game, and makes it look nice at the same time!

Dem, our unlikely hero, doesn't want to be the leader... but he's being dragged along. We end up traveling the continent, gathering allies (*having them forced upon us), fighting zombie cars, and ultimately facing down the ultimate evil!

Battles play out in a turn-based matter, and what skills you end up might be a bit different from someone else's, as each time you level you'll need to choose which upgrade or new skill you want! Abilities can hit multiple times, though it did feel like some abilities multi-hits didn't work right? I did start to regret one of my choices as I got later into the game. Not sure if it was a bug or not, but it felt like a skill I had that was supposed to have 3 hits actually did 1-3... maybe. The same with some upgrades you get through leveling, such as passives for "+5 MP at the end of turn"... that I wasn't seeing fire off later on, which was rough as it would've helped my build a *lot*. On the flip side, abilities that go off every turn that you can use at the start? Yeah, those are great. Especially one Dem can get later in the game...

Some of this stuff will (hopefully) be patched, but it was a bit annoying going through with some abilities just not working anymore.

The story is fairly light hearted, and, like the rest of the game, is fairly fast paced. The fourth party member did feel a bit forgotten by the end, like he was just sorta... there?

Long story short, game is a fun little fast paced RPG that'll take you maybe 5-8 hours to beat!

A new mode added in Reanimated is the Dragonduck Mode. I only messed around with this for about ~20 minutes, but I would've loved the option to have checkpoints. Also to be able to just reset certain items, because my furthest run ended with an item I needed getting stuck in a position I could no longer grab it...

Code provided by the developer for content creation! My video can be found here: https://youtu.be/h_TrnRhIqbo

**I haven't played Virgo Versus the Zodiac yet, so my review is based on no prior information from that.**

Ginger's Letter to Santa is a short-ish (~3-4 hour) RPG adventure all about Ginger trying to deliver a letter to Santa! Because let this cookie COOK! You'll team up with a couple unlikely allies on your way to getting to Santa's house, and also have to deal with the Zodiacs trying to stop you! Well, some of them are.

Combat plays out in a turn-based matter. What skills you'll have available to you depend on what equipment you have on, and everyone can wear everything, so long as they have the slots for it! All of your attributes are there, but are named differently. What some of them do? I never really figured those out by the time I beat the game. Destiny is your Health, and Purity is a sort of MP thing.

Counterattacks turn out to be quite good... especially if you combine them with confusion on the enemy! However, counterattacking requires purity, so you'll want to make sure you do actions to maintain it. Or don't, and just spam out different abilities until things fall over.

Status effects in general are... interesting? Some give you bonus abilities to use, some help in... some way? Or you can just throw a bunch of Snowballs. I did that a few times too.

By the end of the game, I was sort of just over combat. Things felt like they were hitting too hard, I was constantly just trying to find the nearest healing spot (either a cauldron or a stove or something), and just ready to be done.

The story is cute, though I got very confused near the end on just... where to go? I mean, I eventually wandered onto it, but then there was something in a later area that was just sort of... there? And I didn't get it.

I'm guessing some of these things would make a lot more sense if I'd played VVTZ, and it's definitely on my list to play sometime. But, even without playing it, you can get a sweet little adventure, though you might face some of the same confusions I did.

Youtube Playthrough: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGG8_9Thpy4IANU61xNB3pZvZcZWdVwlV

Code received from Vicarious PR, but doesn't affect my review! This is still in progress, but I've finished up the first two stories as-of writing this.

Captain Velvet Meteor is set around Velvet Meteor who has newly moved from France to Japan. This persona is his way of overcoming obstacles, with real life events becoming "stories" and "missions" for Captain Velvet Meteor! Each chapter features a different character from Shonen Jump, and so far has brought a different mechanic into each storyline.

You'll primarily be setting about trying to solve the "puzzle" of the level, especially on the turn limit rounds. How do you get to the end, and sometimes how do you obtain the secrets/bonuses of the levels?

The pace is fluid - you'll go from mission to mission, only going back to the map if you actually choose to do so.

In the "real life" story, you'll be able to explore most of the little elements, sometimes finding little secrets. It's a nice way to get extra little bits of story/dialogue as well.

If you're a fan of puzzle and/or strategy I'd definitely recommend checking this game out. I don't typically play many strategy games, but the puzzle bits keep me interested in also figuring out the strategy.

...Or, when in doubt, just destroy everything in your path.

It would be nice if there were checkpoints in bosses, but also I can see why there aren't. At least - so far - you need to deal 3 hits to them, and the puzzle is figuring out how to safely get there while doing so. Waves of enemies, which become progressively stronger, will hound you at every turn during boss fights which CAN get a bit overwhelming.

It also works quite nicely with controller!

My full playthrough: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGG8_9Thpy4KijvMFLz2DLVJGXPeOWLjj

Makoto Wakaido's Case Files is billed as a series of mysteries/cases that you can solve in an hour. It'd be a bit more accurate to say that they can be solved in 1-2 hours, as half of them took me about 2 hours (one just under, other a bit over). Given that there's only four cases, that's half of them.

Each case is fairly straightforward, although some have a couple twists that I'm not sure if some details were maybe lost in translation or if maybe I missed a conversation or two that might've had the hint towards it? Without the couple of twists, though, they are almost insultingly easy and fairly obvious on the "whodunnit" scale.

Speaking of translation, there are some weird spelling errors scattered around.

Of the four cases, the first one had my favourite layout of going area to area. Starting from the second case, you are instead presented with an actual map, and this made it much harder to track where you needed to go. The third case at least generally was tracked and you could only go to a few places, and the fourth one showed who was where (but not always reliable, as sometimes you needed to go to spots with no one).

The game has a "raise a question" system, where you select from a list to present clues you've found to people for more information. They do highlight who will interact with it within the area, at least. However, it can be clunky going in and out of that menu, especially if a single person interacts with several clues you currently have.

There's a hint system for the first three cases, and I only ever used it during the third case when it was REALLY unclear to me on what to use on what.

On the whole, if you're into cases that take about 1-2 hours to solve, this isn't a bad option. If you're used to these kinds of games, though, you might find it a bit too easy, as things are made really obvious at times, but you're still stuck going through the motions to tell the game that you know what happened (which sometimes means having to go through a couple more chapters in that case to get there).

(I was provided with a key by PR to cover the game on YT, and this is based on my time playing it.)

My full playthrough: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGG8_9Thpy4JUZTJziO4TWRv78f9h3CY1

To Aerthen is a retro-inspired turn-based RPG that definitely doesn't take itself overly seriously. Heavily inspired by the older Final Fantasy titles, as well as games like Lunar, you'll find yourself quickly being dragged into stopping Xormoth from taking over the world! His minions don't want that, though.

Lasting around 15-20 hours, depending on how much exploring you do, you'll hit all your typical area types, and fight a whole lot of enemies. Encounter rate is decently high, but it works out for making sure you are well prepared for the bosses, even if you choose to run from some!

Speaking of, the escape rate is 100% (with very few exceptions), so if you're overwhelmed you can quickly get out of danger. No auto saving, however, so make sure you're saving often.

I did find some spelling errors along the way, but the dev has been good on working to swat these down.

My one note I will make on this is that the music does seem a tad imbalanced. Some tracks are really loud, and are then followed by tracks that are way too quiet.

On the whole, this is definitely a more hidden gem in terms of smaller games. Good length if you don't want something overly long, with a good cast of characters that will allow a wide variety of strategies in combat.

A full playthrough of the game with commentary: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGG8_9Thpy4JQb9wgi6Keu0c6hphVcYxT

A short, cute game all about using stickers to solve puzzles. While I didn't go for 100% on getting all the stickers, I got Most Of The Things (I think).

The puzzles are generally straightforward, involving placing the right sticker at the right place. You'll sometimes need to bring NPCs across different screens as well.

A few bits seemed a little wonky on what it counted, such as getting the 4 spectators for the turtle to play. Also had some really weird physics while playing Sticker Tennis, where my ball would suddenly go veering off to the left despite me having hit it last.

Overall, if you're looking for something that you can just chill with, A Tiny Sticker Tale is that. Nothing too demanding of you, just a little bit of thinking to get the right pieces to the right places.

The game is entirely set as a visual novel with a Zero Escape-esque flowchart. You will need to work your way through 4 games up to 16 different endings, and certain key choices set you onto whichever path - and some other choices kill you flat out.

The writing is pretty good, and depending on the order you do things in you'll be left with more questions than answers. That said about the writing, while they've been making fixes over time, there's still some really odd moments of grammar that happen. It's especially noticeable the further you get on particular routes.

All that said, if you're looking for a game of choices and different endings to work towards, then consider giving Game of Fourtune a shot.

You can check out my (in progress) playthrough on YouTube for an idea of how it goes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGG8_9Thpy4Ks1ZiZwN6i7plKSovMqZda

TL;DR: Highly recommend Linked Worlds if you're into RPGs with some strategy involved.

You can find my playthrough on my YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGG8_9Thpy4JIMYhd1MTP9wRKqYMqtxAQ

While I haven't beat the game quite yet, I wanted to leave a review here. I've been greatly enjoying my time playing Linked Worlds, and it offers a unique turn-based grid-style combat system.

Every turn, you'll have the option to attack, use a skill, defend, use an item, or move. Some skills allow you to not use a turn to use it (and one of these is really good, I've found). You can choose between regular skills or dark art skills, and both are good in different situations. You'll want to experiment to see what you like best, but personally I like trying to shoot things from afar until they're in my face and I start hitting them. The grid system lets you get an idea how far things are, and what you can hit.

You'll get regular levels, and you get points as you level up. This can be used in the skill grid to get buffs to stats, "jobs", and skills. You can change these up anytime you're not in combat or a cutscene, though I've ended up mostly not swapping much around. You get more pieces unlocked every certain amount of levels up to a point, and then you'll just start getting points to fill in other skills.

Story-wise, your goal is to defeat the Dark Beast who has resurrected on the other side of the world. You'll have to find your way there, and of course the route initially suggested to you... doesn't work out so well. You'll take detours, find other people, do quests for them, and a month later still probably not be there. At least, that happened to me. Shops and buildings are only open at certain times of day too, so you'll have to keep that in mind as you march east.

There are "rare" enemies to kill that the Hunter's Guild will assign to you, and while they are tough I DO recommend fighting them! You get a bunch of experience and gold for each one you kill, but you'll have to go back to the starting city to get the next one. Thankfully, there is an easy teleport, and as you get far enough shortcuts unlock so you don't have to continuously fight your way back over.

Some of the writing and grammar in the game is a bit sketchy, but as I believe the English version isn't from a native speaker, I can forgive it a bit more. That said, it'd still be nice to see it given a full look over to fix some of the mistakes.

All that said, I HIGHLY recommend the game. It's tough at the start, and some points will overwhelm you. Dying sends you back to your last "safe" screen where the game did a soft quicksave (but still, save it when you're in a screen you can do so in). The game will challenge you, make you think, and make you go AH-HAH! a lot.

Fun little RPG game with a small twist on the usual combat system. You recover a small portion of MP every turn, although you do also have abilities to help recover it (which you can and will use, a lot). Each character has their own strength in what they are best at doing, and it's fun finding them. There's also combo arts you learn over time, which essentially are a power-up for that art (but are only available if both characters can act at the time).

Playthrough: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGG8_9Thpy4LrvM6_vLiNdR209pKL1O8k

My full review can be found on The Backlog[www.the-backlog.net]

Going into the game I was quite interested in the game - I love story based stories and I'm a person who cries very easily. With that said, Till the dawn, waiting did absolutely nothing for me. All it did was annoy me. My controller freaked out during the "maze" sections, causing my camera to spin constantly. Even after I restarted (no auto saves) and got back there without the controller, the graphics of the area were absolutely horrendous on my eyes. Also, my controller randomly stopped sending inputs during the rain section for no reason at all.

The other big part that really just pulled me out of the mood is the grammar. It's so bad, and you get to see just how bad it is from the very start. Also, collars do not work like that... nor do necks.

Give this game a very giant pass. I don't recommend it at all.