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Forums > Contributor Zone > RotW: 30th May -- 5th June

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Author: EmP (Mod)
Posted: June 08, 2016 (05:08 AM)
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Review of the Week is a reader’s digest of sorts, featuring all the reviews written in a given week, and then judged by a self-important author with delusions of grandeur. That’ll be me today. Only the top three reviews shall be mentioned, in order of relevance. No reviews from the judge will be permissible (though, under a snazzy new rule we just invented, will be then eligible for the next week. Take that, tradition!), and in the event that another writer submits more than one review for the week, only the review the judge deems superior will be included.

The following are words placed strategically in a kind of order.

Random Props

Both Robotic_Attack and Latinnus are turning out greatly improved work. I’ll be expecting them to put in considerable challenges to RotW spots shortly if they keep this up.

His review isn’t eligible until next week due to deep rooted bias, but that Gary Hartley bloke pulled off what has to be considered the best tagline seen in decades. Would it have been better if not kneecapped by the character limit? We may never know.

Defend Your Life [PC] by Jason

Jason’s review squeaks in this week after much deliberating. Joe’s cycled in and out of the rankings so much that I wrote him a blurb which, I guess, I’ll recycle as feedback. Jason’s won out in the end – and I know this isn’t the greatest praise you’ll ever get – because it was a solid, functional review. This was enough to beat out a couple of improving writers and an ambitious but flawed effort. There’s not really a lot else to mention – it’s not the easiest genre to make engaging. But it’s a dependable, even-handed opinion that you can rely upon. And I’ve just destroyed Jason Venter’s rock star credentials

Alphadia Genesis [AND] by Overdrive

You had me at “The game uses a whole new engine that reminds me of the PlayStation classic, Wild Arms” I only carried on reading as a personal favour. Once I had I found it sounds nothing like Wild Arms! Is it just because the battles use 3D models that you dropped this mouth-watering comparison tease? Boo! Boo, to you!

This is fine old-school JRPG dissecting. You get across the fact that the game has its own sense of charm, but over-inflated its life span to its own detriment. You do have one awful transition joiner “As I mentioned, the plot is more engaging than the one offered”. You’re better than that. Still, padding was a big thing back in the day, but it wasn’t usually as obvious as you make it sound in this case. It was a good plan to focus in on that.

Although, it’s worth noting that you admit to lowering the difficulty twice in the review, both for different reasons. That came across a bit odd.

Escape: Close Call [PC] by Pickhut

Pick’s review is a savage beat down. Not in the snarky sarcastic way you’d expect to see from more bitter writers, but instead, the game is torn apart using facts. It’s a novel new approach, certainly. It’s also really good; nothing is left unstomped as Pick turns over each aspect of the game and then explains why it doesn’t really work. The introduction of grind into racing games isn’t a new phenomenon, but rarely has it sounded so poorly implemented. It’s like dumping you at an end of game boss and asking you to fight him over and over again, slowly giving you the tools you need to win rather than have you earn that. It’s a very poor substitution for having a gamer come back to your game for something functional, like fun.

I read it when it was first posted, and I’ve read it a couple of times over the course of RotW, and it’s hard to pick out any real flaws. You sound like you found a better strain of Julai. I still hate that I had to play that. Just putting that out there.


For us. For them. For you.

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Author: overdrive (Mod)
Posted: June 08, 2016 (07:50 AM)
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Thanks for the recognition! My first reappearance back in RotW since it got brought back!

1. Yeah, the Wild Arms comparison came solely because of how you have the same sort of overhead 2-D perspective for the world and inside dungeons, but go to 3-D models for battles. Wild Arms is the only notable console game I can think of which does this and that's a big thing for one of Kemco's teams. Exe-Create has two engines they currently use -- this one and the most attractive 2-D fighting screen for Kemco games, which gets brought out for the Asdivine series. Hell, with one of their recent games (Glorious Savior), they even added cel-shaded battle graphics to the 3-D fights, so they (at least) are still refining their system.

2. Well, technically my two reasons for lowering the difficulty were the same, just phrased differently. I ran into a boss in the final dungeon who just obliterated me by spamming a killer attack. To beat it, I'd have had to grind for a good bit, so said attack wasn't so damaging to my overall health. By this time, I was getting burnt out on the game and didn't want to spend a bunch of time doing that, so I just lowered the difficulty. Might have been one of those times where I said the same thing in spirit, but it looked different in actual execution.

At least after a few weeks away from it, I'm playing it again so I can finish off the postgame boss to get the true ending. Mainly fighting bonus bosses for the ultimate equipment and then grinding a bit on Metal Gelatin Island to get my stats up to where her big attacks aren't taking 70-90% of my party's health. This is the first Kemco game where I've felt like doing the postgame stuff (for their games with it) is definitely worth the time, so that's something!


I'm not afraid to die because I am invincible
Viva la muerte, that's my goddamn principle

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Author: honestgamer
Posted: June 08, 2016 (02:19 PM)
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My first appearance, as well. I might manage more of them, if I can just turn in reviews regularly again. Maybe now that I've finished the term (and will be taking what looks to be a lighter course load during subsequent terms), I can find more time to play and write about games again. A guy can dream, right?

Congrats to those others who placed. It was another great week for reviews!


"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." - John F. Kennedy on reality

"What if everything you see is more than what you see--the person next to you is a warrior and the space that appears empty is a secret door to another world? What if something appears that shouldn't? You either dismiss it, or you accept that there is much more to the world than you think. Perhaps it really is a doorway, and if you choose to go inside, you'll find many unexpected things." - Shigeru Miyamoto on secret doors to another world2

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Author: dementedhut
Posted: June 08, 2016 (10:20 PM)
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Thanks for reading and liking the review enough to give it RotW! Though, your claim that this could possibly be worse than Julai horrifies me...

"It’s like dumping you at an end of game boss and asking you to fight him over and over again, slowly giving you the tools you need to win rather than have you earn that."

You know, this actually sounds like a game that exists. I swore I played or at least heard of a video game with this concept before, but nothing comes to mind.

Anyway, congrats to both OD and Venter for their respective reviews, as well!


I head spaceshit noises.

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