Capcom Arcade Stadium - XB1 Review

Capcom Arcade Stadium by developer and publisher Capcom—Microsoft Xbox One review written by Nick with a copy provided by the publisher.

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Capcom Arcade Stadium is an interesting compilation – both in terms of the games and how the product is structured. Is this a great collection of older games? Absolutely. Are the other bells and whistles included in the framework pretty cool? I would have to say yes to that as well.

To start with what this is – think of Capcom Arcade Stadium as a hub of sorts. You can download this title for free, and it comes with one game so you can see how it all works. The included game is 1943: The Battle of Midway – which is a smart choice. This is a classic vertical shooter that still holds up pretty well today. It also gives you an idea of how the games themselves are treated.

There are quite a few features within the framework. You can play with the visuals in a variety of ways such as rounding the corners like you are playing on an old school CRT screen, or pushing the image to full screen, or keeping it narrowed with wallpaper on the sides. Many of the games have both English and Japanese ROMS, and you can toggle between the ones that have both. Also, some of the nicer quality of life options we’ve seen in collections like this over the last few years surface here as well: save states, rewind, daily scores, time challenges and more. Those people who want the hardcore experience of dropping in quarters every time you die (and these are arcade games – they were designed to swallow your quarters by the dozen, so you will die a lot) can muscle through it like the good old days, and others who prefer to experience later levels and see what all a game has to offer can accomplish this as well.

One new system in place here is called CAPSO. It is a sort of overarching scoring system where each of the lesser games and scores feed into this greater score. Most of these games were not designed to be beaten, layered with deep narrative and progression options. These are action titles where the objectives were usually more about getting high scores – and CAPSO plays right in that mindset. The system also keys into unlockable cosmetic items for those who like to have some carrots dangled in front of them.

Most of these titles were ones I played heavily when I was younger. In particular the 80’s through the mid-90’s were my jam, and many of these titles were frequently played by me. But there are some titles in here I have never played or possibly even heard of before – and that is awesome to see as well. That being said, the collection of games does feel like it is missing some notable games as well. Fan favorites like Street Fighter II, Legendary Wings and Bionic Commando are fantastic, but I was a bit surprised at the lack of Darkstalkers, Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow of Mystara and Black Tiger to name a few. However, the way the package is structured, it would be easy for them to add more games – similar to how Zen Studios adds pinball tables to its collection.

This is evidenced in how Capcom Arcade Stadium is actually purchased. While you can get the hub software and 1493 for free, there are 31 other games to be played. There are a trio of ten game packages themed around different time periods. I will list them out here:

●     Capcom Arcade Stadium Pack 1: Dawn of the Arcade (’84 – ’88) 

○     VULGUS

○     PIRATE SHIP HIGEMARU

○     1942

○     COMMANDO

○     SECTION Z

○     Tatakai no Banka

○     LEGENDARY WINGS

○     BIONIC COMMANDO

○     FORGOTTEN WORLDS

○     Ghouls 'n Ghosts

●     Capcom Arcade Stadium Pack 2：Arcade Revolution (’89 – ’92)

○     STRIDER

○     DYNASTY WARS

○     FINAL FIGHT

○     1941 - Counter Attack -

○     Senjo no OkamiⅡ

○     MEGA TWINS

○     CARRIER AIR WING

○     STREET FIGHTER II - The World Warrior -

○     CAPTAIN COMMANDO

○     VARTH - Operation Thunderstorm -

●     Capcom Arcade Stadium Pack 3：Arcade Evolution (’92 – ’01)

○     WARRIORS OF FATE

○     STREET FIGHTER II' - Hyper Fighting -

○     SUPER STREET FIGHTER II TURBO

○     Powered Gear - Strategic Variant Armor Equipment -

○     CYBERBOTS - FULLMETAL MADNESS -

○     19XX - The War Against Destiny -

○     Battle Circuit

○     Giga Wing

○     1944 - The Loop Master -

○     Progear

There is also a bit of wiggle room to purchase some things separately (like Ghosts ‘n Goblins as a standalone title, or invisibility that allows you essentially play through a game much more easily and on a single life (yeah, that one is a little weird to me personally). Given this structure, there is certainly room for Capcom to add more titles down the road should they choose to. As a consumer of the games, I found the selection to be pretty diverse. There is a certain amount of repetition (the 1941, 1942, 1944 and 19XX titles are pretty similar, and you get three flavors of Street Fight II in this collection of 32 games as well. It is especially noticeable in the third pack where you get 2 each of 19—and Street Fighter II). In terms of the types of games you are looking at overall, the theme is action. Again, these are arcade classics, so you have fighters, brawlers and shooters as the genres heavily represented here.

The good news is that many of these games, like 1943, hold up pretty well even today. Obviously some better than others, but if you’re looking to scratch an action itch? There’s lots of options here to choose from.

Summary

Capcom Arcade Stadium is a large collection of action games that shooter, beat-‘em-up and fighting fans are bound to enjoy. The emulation is solid and the various features that are part of the wrapper help to pull the entire package together. Quibbles include some similar titles that add repetition to the library and perhaps the way that the packages are purchased – but they are the most minor of concerns compared to what is an overall excellent collection.

Score: 8 / 10

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Beautiful Desolation - PS4 Review

Beautiful Desolation by developer and publisher The Brotherhood—Sony PlayStation 4 review written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

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Starting off on a stormy night in South Africa, Beautiful Desolation is the story of two Brothers and their relationship after the events of humanity's first contact. Having lost his wife on that first night while on the way to pick up his older brother Don, as Mark you'll have to navigate your way from post contact mid 1980s into an unknown time far from anything you could have ever imagined.

Beautiful Desolation is one of those titles that will not be for everyone due to its pacing. Set in a third person isometric view, you'll have to do as much exploring by foot as you will creative and often convoluted puzzle solving in order to figure out your actual next step. With nothing to really guide you at times but your own character's resources, there's going to be plenty of back and forth as well as head scratching on what your next move is supposed to be.

Now throughout my time with Beautiful Desolation, there was one thing that constantly nagged at me. Was this really the appropriate avenue for the experience? There's nothing wrong with how Beautiful Desolation is designed per say. Visually, it can sit up there with others such as BlackIsles' older work like Planescape Torment and inXile Entertainment's newer work like Torment: Tides of Numenera. That said, I found myself continuously thinking that maybe a point and click style would have served as a better medium.

The reason I say this is while it is nice to be able to run around and explore the environments, the usage of "explore" is light at best. Most of the time while running through environments you'll simply be looking at the scenery. In each environment there are points of interest but these points of interest are specifically for you the player more than for your actual characters. Oftentimes they'll just be descriptions of what can be seen lying about such as giant fossils or overgrowth or the quality of the water that stands between you and where you want to go. Finally, unlike most third person isometric adventures, there’s not as much that you can do when comparing it to the likes of Divinity Original Sin 2, Pillars of Eternity 2, Baldur’s Gate III, Wasteland 3, Pathfinder: Kingmaker, etc.

So it's for these reasons that I think that a point-and-click style would have served better than a top-down third person isometric view. Even the interactions with the environments require you to load up your inventory and you select as you would in a point and click. As a final point on this is that generally once you’ve been through an environment, you’ve pretty much seen all there is to it so having to tilt your joystick to run through it all over again is just tedious. I wish there had been an option to allow for a cursor mode to allow the pathfinder to do the work for you with all of the back and forth required at times to figure out the smallest thing.

All of this said though, the experience that The Brotherhood have put together is a good one. The story is enticing so regardless how I felt about the mechanics I kept going back for more. Hell, I also wanted to know more which is probably why at times I was a bit disappointed that once you’ve talked with a person, they were no longer available unless the quest line brought you back to them hours down the line. I would have liked more conversations in this world, not just ones tied to the main storyline. If things were going to be convoluted, at least throw me actual red herrings.

Getting into Beautiful Desolation itself, this story is one of your telling. Trapped in the future that they know nothing of, the story of both Mark and Don is really whatever you want it to be. Starting all the way back to that one night where everything changed, Mark was on his way to pick up Don and what you were going to do was in your hands. Were you going to bring him home? Were you going to bring him to a shelter where he could get help? And how soft of a touch were you going to use as this was apparently not the first time that a good amount of alcohol was involved.

This relationship is as much a focus as the journey to make it back to their own time. While not coming up as often as I would like, there are still a fair amount of conversations in which both Mark and Don can either mend or further break their already strained relationship. This is also taken a step further in which Mark can also create or keep separate a relationship with an Agnate (a form of sentient robotic life) named Pooch. Your choices in how you speak to them and make decisions will ultimately decide how your adventure with them ends. It also helps to define who “you” are as Mark in this strange world.

Now my wanting of Point and Click aside, I’m not entirely sure the transition to console was the smoothest. For hours, I was stuck searching EVERYWHERE for where to go until I realized that Beautiful Desolation released back in February on the PC. Checking Steam’s Discussions, I found the developer’s own everything you need to know guide and from this guide, I checked where I had landed, and nothing more as I didn’t want to spoil it for myself, and then scratched my head. But “I did that” I thought. Turns out, from the beginning hiccup that I was getting in which a prompt would continuously get in my way, very late game, or late game to me because of my choices and paths walked, the actual interface was glitched not letting me scan an item that was at this point paramount to having in order to getting the last required item and seeing the end.

Unlike a lot of titles though, I find myself truly unsure of where to set Beautiful Desolation. On one hand, the world looks and sounds amazing, the voice overs are incredible and unique between the various peoples, and there’s more than one way to go from start to finish. On the other hand, once you’ve seen each part of the world, there’s really nothing left to see a second time as it’s rather empty short of maybe having a new conversation pop up. What Beautiful Desolation does, it does well, but it’s just not enough to hold itself up as on a twelve hour playthrough, I may have only really had an hour’s worth of dialog. The rest was running around and hoping that the combining of items in my inventory works.

Summary

So overall, while it does a great job at telling the story of two brothers and their relationship for better or for worse which adds replayability to see how different decisions will impact it, Beautiful Desolation will not be for everyone. With some complex and often convoluted puzzles offering zero hints of how to proceed and often seemingly empty environments with nothing to do, it’s hard to recommend it to everyone, BUT, if you are a fan of well written narratives, cryptic puzzles, and some very well designed anything but human creatures, I wholeheartedly suggest taking a few cracks at this adventure and what it offers.

Score: 7 / 10

 

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Biomutant - PC Review

Biomutant by developer Experiment 101 and publisher THQ Nordic—PC (Steam) review written by Robert with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

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Biomutant is the long-awaited open-world post-apocalyptic action-RPG from Experiment 101 and THQ Nordic that focuses heavily on a unique martial arts-style of action, exploration, and morality. With its lush yet radioactive world, martial arts-based combat, and interesting Light/Dark morality system, Biomutant’s inspirations are easily picked up on and are clear throughout the 15 to 20-hour main quest line.

Experiment 101 has done a fantastic job adapting and deepening the morality of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic with The Outer Worlds’ vibrant Steampunk aesthetic, and Fallout’s post-apocalyptic appeal blended with Jade Empire’s martial arts setting, all the while adding their own twist to each of the various inspirations. While Biomutant is an enjoyable romp through a gorgeous world full of interesting twists, enjoyable combat, an excellent crafting system, and a unique leveling system that physically changes your Ronin, it is also important to note that Biomutant can often feel shallow, confused, and at the worst, in direct conflict with its own presentation.

Set in a stunningly crafted post-apocalyptic world, Biomutant was an absolute joy to explore. From abandoned cities that felt eerie and often sad, to gorgeous farms and small villages that nestle right up into the thick grass and luscious forests broken only by the biohazardous pools and radioactive mobs. Oddly enough, while exploring, I often found myself saying “Man, this feels so much like X game…” from the Breath of the Wild-like exploration and traversal to the excellent sound effects and background music that made me think back on my time playing Ghost of Tsushima, to the heavily atmospheric experiences commonly found in Nier: Automata while searching the ruins of an abandoned city.

This is where Biomutant both excels and stumbles- I am not entirely sure I played a game in recent years where I was regularly thinking about other games while playing a particular title- in the same respect, Experiment 101 seems to have taken inspiration from some of the absolute best titles to have released in the last ten years, all the while making their own mark on the format. In retrospect, this is likely found in the weird pacing issues that lead me to feel that places Biomutant squarely in its own path.

I found that the slow narration, where every animal in the game uses this fake language (similar to how the Sims uses a gibberish language) that is then translated by the fantastic narrator, the downside? The gibberish is painstakingly slow (fortunately, you can reduce the amount of Gibberish, though I found it awkward when doing so). Where I feel that Biomutant is in direct conflict with its own presentation is in the pacing that is sabotaged by the slow narration / conversations- take an early series of quests as an example (and largely, the main quest itself) where you’re tasked with choosing which Tribe you are going to assist; the narration in all of its molasses-in-winter pacing, is talking about how imperative it is to move quickly to assault this other Tribe, as the quest-giver meanders on through 13 minutes of exposition (6.5 minutes of gibberish, 6.5 minutes of the Narrator translating said gibberish) that tries to explain how their Tribe are essentially pacifists … but that in order to bring the conflict to an end, you need to go destroy the other tribe, all the while trying to push the sense of urgency for the grander tale.

This then feels at odds with the actual gameplay in that the combat is fast-paced, exciting, and brutally interrupted whenever an NPC wants to have a chat- you will be forced back into the slow-paced conversations. It is jarring and incredibly difficult to not just skip through the dialog altogether; by the time I was 10 to 12 hours in to my 30 or so hour playthrough with my Agility-build, I had to consistently remind myself to not skip the dialog and cutscenes- it can be exceptionally frustrating, especially when combat can feel so engaging and exciting, only to have it ruined by what is perhaps the slowest NPC conversations I’ve seen in decades.

Outside of the frustratingly slow pace of conversations found in Biomutant, I did find that the Narrator did a spectacular job and was not alone in his excellent translations- every element of audio is near-perfect, from the lilting and soothing soundtrack to the rustle of leaves in the wind and birds chirping in the background, to the hilariously well done “thwacks”, “bangs,” and “booms” that are accentuated by the old comic book style text that appears on screen (think the 1966 Batman TV series). I did find that there were a few areas, most notably some of the quest hub areas where audio mixing was a little strange when transitioning from wilderness into the village- when entering some of the village/forts/hubs, it’s almost as if the audio didn’t know which track to prioritize, so you would be walking up to the entrance of a fort, like the Myriad tribe’s fort, and the wilderness effects (like rushing water or wind in the trees) would suddenly get really loud for a few moments, then die down to nearly muted with just the sound of your footsteps being heard. Outside of those few oddities and the excruciatingly slow dialog, the sound engineers at Experiment 101 did an absolutely fantastic job (and honestly, I hope we get a full OST for Biomutant- would love to get it on vinyl).

Actual gameplay, when not at odds with the bizarre pace set by the dialog with various NPCs, is engaging, if horrific when using keyboard and mouse, especially given the fact that skills are based on combos. For example, there is one skill that requires you to (while in the fast-paced combat), tap the Alt key then the left and right mouse buttons, then hold the middle mouse button and tap an additional key that you then finish up with by tapping F on the keyboard- all the while you’re trying to move about using WASD. Perhaps I’m just aging a bit faster than I’m willing to admit and my hands are no longer able to contort themselves while rapidly smashing buttons, but one thing is for sure … play Biomutant with a controller. Once I hooked up my trust Xbox One controller, it was smooth sailing from there. Beyond the poor keyboard and mouse implementation, combat is engaging, exciting, and once you get into a groove, downright exhilarating.

Once you’re able to pull off perfect parries and well-timed dodges, you will flow throughout the battlefield and will truly feel like you’re in a Kung Fu films (“Kung Fu Hustle” regularly came to mind). As you level up and choose the different stats, your little Ronin will physically change, which in turn has an impact on how combat “feels.” Dumping points into stats like Agility and Stamina will in turn see you streaking through the battlefield with your weapons of choice (I liked the staff or 2-handed swords, which were at odds with my Agility build, but I didn’t care- I was having fun!), whereas placing levels in Vitality and Strength would evolve you into a more muscular, tank-like brute. I didn’t spend much in the Intellect, Charisma, or Luck stats, which will see your bartering skills, psionics/Ki Energy, or critical hit/loot chances increase, though I did put enough in to get a few of the early skills- which was enough to guarantee a third playthrough for me; the flexibility in evolving your Ronin into multiple areas almost guarantees high replayability- I actually found myself enjoying the playthrough on my second character (my tank-like build) as I was able to skip a lot of the dialog without fear of losing out on important story cues- I’d even hazard to say that I enjoyed Biomutant more in the second character moreso than the first.

Along with the more traditional ability score-based leveling, you can also get incredibly crafty with making your own weapons and armor- everything seems to be customizable, right down to your own resistances, which are handled somewhat separately from your ability-scores. Add to it that you can also pick/choose different skills based on your weapons of choice, broken up into classes/categories for both melee and ranged, such as unarmed, 2-handed, dual-wield, etc. This is where I fell victim to my own tastes as I was suddenly switching out weapons and armor solely based on whether I looked good in them or not- fortunately there is enough leeway in Biomutant that doing so didn’t punish me like some games do when you switch weapon or armor-types midway through.

Honestly? I loved the crafting system; I’ve found myself caring far more about a game that allows a player to be creative with the crafting elements- it’s as if the game is allowing you to inject some of your own personality and tastes into the game, which in turn makes it all the more endearing. Combine the enjoyable crafting and customization options with the Jedi/Sith-like “Light” and “Dark” morality system that doesn’t punish a player for going one way or another. In my main playthrough I was able to grab everything I wanted from both the Light and the Dark trees without feeling terrible or punished for leaning one way or the other. I do plan on replaying a full Light and full Dark playthrough while attempting to stay away from the opposing side.

Though Biomutant has taken inspiration from many titles that came before it, Experiment 101 has put together a title that, though not perfect, is certainly worthy of multiple playthroughs. I think that is Biomutant’s biggest win- few games in recent years have offered enough variation that multiple playthroughs are actively encouraged. I do think there were some ideas or implementations that were big misses, though, too- in the early parts of the game, I found it as if the game was condescending in its presentation (largely in the tone of some of the early narrations) all the while it was becoming a bit too preachy; the first two hours or so of the game felt as if Experiment 101 was implying that regardless of the situation, you should always listen to your parents (not a bad thing), but no matter how bad you were, as long as your actions were “for the greater good,” all will be forgiven; I also felt that early missions were really trying to hammer-home just how terrible humanity really is, and how bad we are for the environment. I can’t help but feel that though these are important messages, they should be handled with care- not used as a bludgeon to legitimately make your player base feel bad for simply existing. Fortunately, though, as the game wears on, these messages are softened and Biomutant becomes a more enjoyable experience; it’s just that early presentation is very rough.

Summary

With its stunning views, excellent combat, and fantastic audio design that is marred only by the incredibly slow pace of dialog, Biomutant is easily one of 2021’s more exciting titles. Few games in recent years have encouraged multiple playthroughs the way that Biomutant does and that in and of itself is a feat to behold; engaging combat, smart environment design, and an enjoyable leveling and crafting system are held up only in its initial run by odd pacing. Fewer still can say that the subsequent playthroughs are actually better than the initial experience- a rare feat indeed. As it stands, Biomutant is an enjoyable experience, if not perfect, but given time may sit in the pantheon of greatness with the very titles that gave it inspiration irrespective of their specific genre.

Score: 8 / 10

 

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Hood: Outlaws & Legends - XB1 Review

Hood: Outlaws & Legends by developer Sumo Digital and publisher Focus Home Interactive—Microsoft Xbox One review written by Nick with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

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Hood: Outlaws & Legends is an interesting idea as it pits players versus players versus the environment in relatively briskly paced online matches. The game deserves credit for trying to do something unique, but there’s so many unpolished edges that hinder the overall experience.

The setting is one of my favorites, taking characters from Robin Hood lore and putting them in a gritty, engrossing setting. The premise to each match is to pit a four player team against another four player team. They are not only working against one another, but also coping with the AI controlled characters in the environment that are working against them too. The teams have the same goal – take the key from the sheriff, unlock the vault, steal the treasure and get it safely to an extraction point.

There are plenty of online competitive staples sprinkled in here. Most of the AI enemies are little more than fodder that in a one-on-one situation, seldom pose a serious threat (outside of the Sheriff, who will absolutely maul you if he gets too close). But they can summon reinforcement and cause changes in the environment that make the encounters that much more dangerous, and when sprinkled in amidst the player versus player carnage. There are respawn points that can be captured that give you strategic advantages when you die and have to jump back into the fray.

Structurally, there is a lot to like about Hood: Outlaws & Legends. The stages are interesting, with gates that can be dropped, a sense of verticality through various towers and staircases as their maps span a handful of different environments. Creeping through foliage, shooting at enemies out of windows and using ropes to scale stone walls are all interesting aspects to the stages that make them feel well designed and interesting to get to learn and explore.

There are four characters that can be chosen from as well, and each one serves a purpose that ties into the environments mentioned above. This is one of the areas where Hood: Outlaws & Legends feels like it has a ton of potential, but also has a tendency to fall a bit flat. Ideally a team will be constructed from each of the four characters / roles, since they each serve a distinctive purpose. There is the titular Robin Hood, who naturally attacks with bow and arrow and is terrible in melee combat. He is the scout of the team, often scaling towers and peeking out of windows to tag enemies and points of interest for the rest of the team and trying to combat enemies at a distance.

Next up we have Marianne who is all about the stealth. She can be absolutely lethal creeping through the shrubs and assassinating enemies who walk too close to her. She is often your best bet to get the key without combat, because she can pick the Sheriff’s pocket and is quick in reaching the vault to unlock it. However, she loses a lot of her efficacy when it comes time to actually fight in close quarters, similar to Robin. John is the big, bruising character he is often described as in many other stories. He is all about the close quarters combat. He is also able to raise some of the gates that the AI guards close, opening up shorter, more direct paths for teammates. He also comes in handy during the final part of each mission, when you need to crank a pully to extract the stolen treasure, as he can do that faster than anyone else. If these things make John feel like he’s more useful than the aforementioned two characters, that is because he is.

It also plays into the final character, Tooke. He is another melee-based character, who can heal allies, carry the chest really fast and in general is capable of taking a licking similar to John. By all accounts, Tooke is seen as probably the most overpowered character in the game. While the ideal scenario is to see one of each character in a party, each contributing in their own way to the mission’s success – the problem is that this is seldom how it plays out unless you are up against another similarly constructed team. Early on, when I first started playing at launch, most teams were pretty well-balanced like this. However, as people started to gain familiarity with what characters were really the most useful, it was not unusual to see a team of three Tookes and a John up against teams of two Johns and two Tookes. The stealth components are then just cast away as everyone focused on brute forcing one another.

So there are some clear balance issues. These not only relate to the classes, but matchmaking too. It is not unusual to see two or three level ten or under characters with a level sixty-something that dominates the proceedings because they know their way around the maps or have some handy unlocked perks. That is always the risk with something like this – you want to have some nice progression in there, and Hood: Outlaws & Legends has that between character ability perks and oodles of cosmetics that can be unlocked for your characters. I love that kind of progression, though it can create imbalances when you have such disparate leveled characters tossed together. Conversely, I get it because if they are too narrow in their team-building, it might be challenging to get two full teams of four assembled in a timely fashion. To Hood: Outlaws & Legends’ credit, I was generally hopping into matches rather quickly.

I would say that Hood: Outlaws & Legends is at its best when you are communicating with actual friends and not just working silently with random pick-up groups. Also, with only four characters, a handful of maps and a single primary gameplay structure, things can grow a bit stale rather quickly, which may hurt the game’s longevity as well. Hopefully the developers have some more content coming sooner than later and they can figure out a way to steak the game balance, or I fear that Hood: Outlaws & Legends just won’t be played heavily in a few months or so.

Summary

By and large, I really enjoyed Hood: Outlaws & Legends. The game’s setting and structure are interesting and an expertly executed heist is very rewarding, especially when you get to unlock some new progression items for your characters during the early levels of gameplay. Unfortunately there are still plenty of rough edges, from questionable enemy AI, class imbalances and uneven matchmaking that combine with relatively shallow content that could give Hood: Outlaws & Legends a somewhat short shelf-life if the developers don’t address those concerns.

Score: 6.75 / 10

 

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Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and The Mysterious Journey DX - PS4 Review

Atelier Mysterious Trilogy Deluxe Pack: Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and The Mysterious Journey DX by developer Gust and publisher Koei Tecmo America—Sony PlayStation 4 review written by Richard with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

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Fresh off the platinum from Atelier Sophie DX, we are now moving into the second game in the “Mysterious Trilogy”, Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey DX. Also like Sophie, I am only a few trophies off the platinum for Firis. As a direct sequel to Atelier Sophie, you don't need to actually know anything about Atelier Sophie to play Firis, although it does help. With some changes made, both positive and negative, let's take a look at Atelier Firis.

Atelier Firis tells the story of Firis, a young girl, Firis, who lives in an isolated city known for its ore and mining. She is trapped in the city by a large stone door that only lets certain people through, or something like that? The door mechanics aren't really explained, but basically Firis is a young girl trapped inside her village. One day, Sophie comes by, literally blows up the door trapping her inside, and then decides to teach Firis alchemy, as Sophie thinks that Firis has the talent for it. Unfortunately for Firis, the mayor/elder and Firis' parents don't want to let her leave. To prove she can handle herself, she has to complete tasks for the residents using alchemy. After completing the tasks laid out by the elder, Firis is allowed to remain outside, but only if she manages to pass the License exam held in Reisenburg.

Atelier Firis plays a little different from its predecessor in a number of ways. In terms of main gameplay, what you will notice right off the bat as a difference from Sophie is that there is a time limit. Two of them, actually. The first time limit is about 30 days to complete the tasks for the residents, and then you have a year to reach and pass the alchemy exam. If you manage to pass the exam, which isn't too difficult, then you have as much time as you want in order to get a character specific ending, or all of them. If you fail the exam, you still “finish” the game, but will unlock a “new game +” where you can carry over select items and proficiency. Time will pass as you walk on the field, create items using alchemy, or gather items.

Next up is the changes made to the alchemy system. Like in Sophie, you are tossing materials of different sizes onto a grid, trying to fill out colour bonuses to get certain effects. In Firis, this has evolved a little, as there are “bonus lines” you can fill in that will give you different boosts. The basic idea is that you are trying to make an item out of base materials, which have certain effects attached to them, and you can put those on items, while trying to make high quality items. Like in Sophie, you have an alchemy level that will increase the more items you make. Unlike in Sophie however, the Alchemy level needs to meet or exceed the level of the item in order to make it. Additionally, you can transfer up to 3 item traits between materials, but unlike in Sophie where this number is based on alchemy level, the trait transfer is based on filling in bonus lines, and item proficiency. Item proficiency works similar to alchemy level, as you make an item, it and all the directly related items will earn exp. There are four ratings: bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. Higher levels will provide different bonuses, such as more traits to transfer, a quality bonus, or an increase in consumable item uses or the number of items made.

Combat is also a little different from Sophie. While combat is still turn based, with speed determining turn order and frequency, gone are the “stances” from Sophie. You still have your basic attacks, skills, items, and run commands. Enemies will have different weaknesses to both weapon and element types, which you can use to exploit enemy weaknesses. I'd like to point out here that unlike in previous Atelier games, where you can get by on levels and base equipment, Atelier Firis basically makes items the only really worthwhile method of damaging some of the late game enemies. When your normal attacks hit for 100, and your items hit for 1,500 damage? Yeah, guess who's using a lot more items in this game. Also, quality affects item efficiency by a huge amount. I have a 250 and 500 quality item, both with the same traits, and the 500 quality item does about double the 250 quality item. Unlike in Sophie as well, quality doesn't really affect weapons or armour, just accessory bonuses and item power. Also, adventurer level, which is responsible for giving you base stat increases, does a lot less than in Sophie. While the 20 level cap is gone, you earn a lot less stat increases than in Sophie, so just be aware of that if you're coming from Sophie.

Movement on the map and exploration are the key components of Firis, as the main focuses is on the alchemy component. Depending on how you feel about this, you're either going to love or hate Firis for a few different reasons. The travel speed is rather slow, and while the run button helps, it still remains slow until you unlock the speedier travel option in the post exam period. Your container for alchemy materials is also really small. I believe Sophie started with a 5,000 capacity, whereas Firis starts much smaller, although you can expand that. Couple the time limit with the exploration and gathering that consumes time, and you might be worried about missing the deadline for the alchemy exam. Well, don't worry, because you have plenty of time to explore and make it to the exam on time. I explored as much as I could and spent time crafting high quality and trait gear and items, and still had 151 days left by the time I made it to the exam, so don't fret over that too much.

I should mention here that there is no “world map” in the same way Sophie had it, as all the areas are interconnected, and you have to travel from one place to another. With the introduction of the portable Atelier, this is a lot more feasible than the stationary option from Sophie. There are also a lot of costumes included in Firis DX, most come with some really helpful effects, such as reducing travel time, or increasing exp earned from synthesis. In fact, most of the different outfits in Firis offer some sort of bonus, and you may find yourself swapping between them quite a lot. New Game + provides all the effects to all the outfits, meaning you can wear whatever you want without worrying about effects. Pro tip, you can actually “New Game +” by sleeping away your days at the start of the game as soon as you leave Ertona, and then you can get that costume bonus.

I have to say, Firis looks quite nice graphically, with plenty of sprawling and diverse areas to explore and harvest from. Speaking of harvesting, no longer do you just walk up to a spot and press 'X' to gather. Well, you do, but there are also trees, logs, and boulders that you can make items to help in gathering. For example, you can blow rocks up with bombs. I'd also like to say that the music in Firis is really great. While there are a few remixes from Sophie, there are also a lot of new and catchy tunes that you'll be sure to enjoy. What you probably won't enjoy is the LP system. Like in Sophie, you have LP that reduces as you perform actions. In Firis you start with 100 points, and if the LP gets low enough, you have a detriment in battle, and if it completely runs out, you need to stop to take a rest. If it runs out again? Then you're sent back to the last campfire/atelier rest stop and lose a bunch of the collected items. On a related note, losing a battle also sends you back to the atelier while removing a number of harvested items. The problem with LP though is that you'll find it depletes really fast.

Now, one of my biggest issues with Firis, apart from the container capacity, is how the recipe book functions. In Sophie, all the recipe hints were fairly self explanatory, except maybe two or three. In Firis, unlocking recipes is done by performing certain actions, which will give you a base idea for what you're making. Then you need to perform more of those actions to give a better hint, and then even more of those actions to actually unlock the recipe. It's really frustrating not knowing how many recipes I've unlocked vs. how many more I need, or what the requirements are when I can't even tell what type of item it is. Fortunately, if you aren't a fan of doing some of the more annoying tasks, you can spend idea points to unlock the recipe without performing all the actions required for it. Idea points are gained from side quests, a new addition from Sophie, where you can talk to people or go near certain landmarks, and Firis will have a quest to investigate or complete. Some of these will give items or money, but almost all of them give idea points. It should be noted that some of them are also repeatable.

The last thing I want to talk about here is the exam itself. I think you only need 50 points to pass the exam, which is actually really easy to do. That being said, the exam is three parts, of which I personally scored a total of 374 points. Granted this is me with my end game acceptable items and gear, but the exam comes in three parts, and the first part is a written test that had me sweating. No really, whoever came up with those questions is one of the biggest sadists I've ever heard of. “Magician's wisdom is earned through the combination of what two traits” my arse. You ask me about Ultimate Destruction, Well Rounded Power, All Skill Super, or a more useful combination trait? Sure, no problem, but asking me which area Griffon monsters DON'T spawn in? Hell if I know that. At least it's only 20 questions, so do your best everybody!

Summary

Overall, I quite enjoyed my experience with Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey. I can't really say I liked any more or less than Atelier Sophie, but that isn't a bad thing. There were some good changes, and some changes that frustrated me. I liked the more open world concept, but the skimpy container and the looming time limit put a bit of a damper on things. If you enjoyed Sophie, I can basically assure you you'll enjoy Atelier Firis with its sprawling landscapes and more in-depth alchemy process. So get the cauldron stir stick back out, cuz it's time to do some magic.

Score: 8.5 / 10

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Days Gone - PC Review

Days Gone by developer Bend Studio and publisher PlayStation Mobile, Inc.—PC (Steam) review written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

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While "Zombie Apocalypse" stories are quite literally a dime a dozen, there are a few that stand out from the crowd. Having exclusively originally released for the Sony PlayStation 4, Days Gone by Bend Studio has made it over to the PC and it granted me a wish that most only ever dream of. I got to play Days Gone for the first time again.

Released back in April 2019, I didn't really sit down to Days Gone until sometime into late November when Izzy bought it for me while we were out running errands. Having sat down to it, reviewed it for the PS4, crowned it a guilty pleasure in my 2019 Games of the Year selection, I was shocked at how new everything felt while loading it up on the PC and with an Xbox controller to boot.

The story starts off with our protagonist Deacon St. John saying goodbye to his wife Sarah as she's medevaced out on a helicopter as Deacon stays behind to help his best friend Boozer that wouldn't make it out of there alive with his own wounds to tend. Fast forwarding to two years later where Deacon never got to meet back up with his wife as the camp they were to meet up at was overrun, it doesn't take long for things to re-go to shit as Boozer is once again wounded and in a chase, Deacon loses his own motorcycle essentially keeping the two of them in the middle of nowhere Oregon for the foreseeable future.

Essentially starting off with nothing and the stage set, the "world" for the most part is at your fingertips in a non linear style of storytelling. Instead of throwing you on massive quest after massive quest, or on some small quests in between larger ones, it's basically both. Days Gone unlike a lot of others will tell the entire story over time but how you get there is really up to you. Do you need to do it all? No. Major plot points will cover what you need but often you may not even know what's major and what's minor in the overall game until the moment has passed keeping things interesting enough as you are never quite sure where something could lead.

Now, unlike a lot of PC only players sitting down to Days Gone for the first time, this is my third time experiencing the story. The first is my own original playthrough where if I wasn’t reviewing something else I was playing Days Gone making Izzy grumble that I was shooting zombies yet another night instead of co-oping something we had on the go. The second, is when Izzy herself found out the addiction of taking out these same zombie hordes as she Platinumed it (something I myself have not done). So with two separate times through the story, the first in the driver's seat and the second in that of the passenger, sitting down to it again has given me an even better appreciation of how all of the elements come together.

As I said just about a year ago now, Days Gone is not a masterpiece in any way but it still manages to provide a great adventure in an Open World which for it to draw me in says something as I tend to stay away from Open Worlds often getting bored without the lack of direction that they hold. Playing to this aspect is something that Bend Studio have managed to do well as with the non-linear story, it doesn’t matter if you’re doing missions for one camp or another, it all comes back to play into Deacon’s adventures to find a way to keep Boozer alive from his latest injury while also preparing for both of them to leave this “shit hole” that they find themselves in.

This is probably one of the biggest draws to Days Gone as it allows you to get to better know the characters of the world that you find yourself in with Deacon. Unlike a lot of other Open Worlds, this one revolves around certain groups of people instead of just pockets of random one time quests that will never string themselves into something more than a bit of extra experience in order to level up. As the various storylines move forward, the shades of grey of each person’s decisions, the lengths that they are willing to go, and the motivations behind them really help to sell that with all of the brutality, death and destruction to go around, no one out here is really a good guy. People just exist and do what they need to survive and the dialog that follows either makes you love or hate them.

To further this point, the story is told in a mix of in person cutscenes, over the radio conversations, and “offline” Deacon rants which are always something to hear especially when it’s in relation to “radio free Oregan, the truth will set you free. Often being able to keep moving around the map to get from one point to the other for the first time, picking up resources, there’s never really any downtime. If it so happens that you are ambushed by a pack of freakers or attacked because you went too close to a marauder camp, the conversations will pick back up once you’re done the fight, meaning that you’ll never lose out on something that could have been important which I really appreciated. Oftentimes, conversations will be cut off because of a fight or a cutscene and then nothing making you miss out and having to reload if you wanted to find out what was said. Here? You’ll never miss out on anything.

As for the gameplay, it’s a solid enough third person action, stealth, shooter style. Using a combination of items, Deacon can use melee weapons such as knives, bats, 2x4s, ranged weapons such as pistols, shotguns, crossbows, and then throw tables such as molotovs, pipe bombs and actual grenades if you find them. Don’t want to make noise? By crouching down and sneaking up on enemies you can silently take them out and save on things like ammo which is sometimes in short supply especially if you come across the scariest thing that Days Gone can throw at you. Hordes.

Now, there are a ton of freakers out there. These are basically zombies. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes including a god damned BEAR. ZOMBIE BEAR. Like… zombies aren’t bad enough you had to go and make a bear one? Taking things like the bears and other special types aside that show up over the course of the story, nothing is scarier than coming across a horde even if you think you’re ready for it. The story will bring you against two in particular as you have no choice in the matter, you’ve got to face them if you want to make it to the end. As for the rest though? If you want to check out all of the possible locations for upgrades and resources, you’re going to have to fight them off and one “Deacon St. John” on foot or a motorcycle is not enough for hundreds of freakers running straight for you.

Not only is the sight one to make you cry, but the shift in the music also makes it a lot more tense and even if I’ve been through a few times now? I totally forgot about how early that you can come across them as I was trying to get something out of a Nero Checkpoint and then the horde started to pour out of a train on the overpass above. These moments remind you that while humanity is scary with their guns and their explosives, there are plenty of other things out there like these hordes that are even scarier as there’s no sneaking up on them.

Now unfortunately, it's entirely possible that not everyone is going to be able to experience Days Gone in the same manner that I have. Having started off trying to run things off of my laptop with an i5-4670K 3.40GHz, 32GB DDR3 2400 MHz and a GTX 1060, I just couldn't get it to run without the worst case of choppiness that I've ever seen. Loading up my actual PC running an i9-10900F CPU @ 2.80GHz, 32GB DDR4 at 3200 MHz and a GTX 3080, wow. Adding in an ultrawide display? This is why I said above that it was like getting to replay something for the first time. While yes, I obviously know where the story was going, the world looked better. I could see more detail and I could in general just see more as I had a wider field of vision. The downside to this is that I don’t think anyone running older setups will be able to see the same thing or even run it if my laptop was any indication.

So overall, while the graphic upgrades to Days Gone on the PC (as long as the PC can handle it) are amazing especially compared to either a Sony PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 4 Pro, Days Gone is still the same title and that’s not a bad thing. Between the non-linear storyline that lets you explore at your own pace and the solid gameplay design that is just as easy to handle twenty, thirty, or forty hours down the line as it is in the beginning, there’s plenty to do, love and explore in a world that’s seen better days.

Score: 8 / 10

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Side Note: Short of some of the shadows, I was almost able to get Nioh 2: The Complete Edition running just as nicely off my laptop as on my PC so I know it can still “run”.

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