12 Yrs♥$✓#
Been playing this over the last few days, currently on chapter 11, steam time ~16 hours. I haven't really been finding it that difficult, I've failed a few missions but mostly due to making stupid mistakes or misinterpreting an objective. Like on chapter 10 I got all the way to the end of the level, cleared the entire route out except an Ace popped out of nowhere and downed one of my characters, that was ok I thought, I was just about to end the mission but the objective was to get Welkins to the end and I hadn't moved him the entire game. Silly mistakes like that. Most of the difficulty is coming from being unprepared for surprises, some of which can be ludicrously punishing. I passed chapter 7 first attempt but I got lucky in that I moved some units early that paid off big time towards the end, the surprise there almost wiped me out.
So far though the game, I'm enjoying it mostly but I do wish there was more holding it together. While the combat system is very interesting there's just something about it that doesn't work for me. It's hard to pinpoint what it is exactly, just feels like it should flow better than it does. Still, I'll wait until I've finished it to make a judgement on it.
So far though the game, I'm enjoying it mostly but I do wish there was more holding it together. While the combat system is very interesting there's just something about it that doesn't work for me. It's hard to pinpoint what it is exactly, just feels like it should flow better than it does. Still, I'll wait until I've finished it to make a judgement on it.
10 Yrs✓#
Yudaii
10 Yrs✓#
Yay, I just finished the game. It took 20 hours 30 minutes, according to the time the game shows on a save file, though it probably took around 30 hours. I loved Chapter 18's ending with Isara's plane, she saved our butt so many times! I think the game has a great conclusion, too. I must say, I rushed a bit towards the end of the game, starting at around Chapter 15, because the game is pretty challenging to me (but that's because I'm bad at strategy) and the battles got tedious after a while. But I insisted on finishing the game to see the story, which was worth it.
12 Yrs♥$✓#
Completed this earlier and as I said in the Wins thread, I enjoyed it for the most part but to be completely honest I think it's a tad overrated. The game is relatively bare bones when it comes to content, to the point where it almost resembles playing a dvd extras menu for most of the game. I wouldn't have minded so much but I wasn't entirely engaged with the characters and storytelling. The overarching plot, the topic of war, the plans etc. I found all that interesting but at the start the game seemed like it was going to be taking this very serious, albeit slightly fantastical glimpse at a war torn world, but then it constantly and consistently undermines it's own tone and goes "full anime". At the end of the day it felt like this game wanted to be an anime so badly but was stuck being a game, and I have a feeling that if it were just an anime it would have been received as being pretty mediocre but as a game it's novel and executed well enough that it stands out. So yeah, the stuff that's driving the plot forward I liked, all the melodrama I could do without, or at least not handled in such a cliche anime fashion.
Aesthetically I loved the game, it looks great. I love the design of the technology, both the war machines and the valkyrian stuff. The characters as well are all fairly well designed, and thankfully not over-designed like many other anime-esque games. Also not overly sexualized, which is great, to the point where they do some weird fan servicey stuff at a few places and it feels really odd and out of place. Sound wise, it's a bit of a mixed bag, some weak sound effects on most of the weapons, nothing really feels that impactful but it's serviceable.
The core gameplay from the battles though is where the game mostly tries to shine. I think they wanted to make a really tactical game, but it feels so flawed in so many ways. I hate it when games rank you for a start. It means that once you've struggled against an enemy for a while, fighting tooth and nail to come out victorious, your victory is greeted by a D rank or something, it doesn't feel good. And a lot of the maps come with those surprises or stipulations that make planning ahead very difficult without foreknowledge, and the fact that to get A ranks you basically have to blitz the map with a single unit in most cases just highlights how badly balanced the game really is. Even when not playing for A ranks, especially since it was the first playthrough, I was finding myself using Scouts anyways because trying to keep everyone else on pace and move forward tactically was just too inefficient. Shocktroopers for example I wanted to use so often but they were so limited in movement and range , even with their new weapon, it wasn't worth using them. I also really did not like that using specific characters gave you bonus move points, there were a few other characters I would have preferred to deploy during missions but couldn't because I had to reserve at least those 3 spaces out of the usual 10 while maintaining a balanced force overall. I also think the game has a really bad way of conveying information to the player, which in many cases it just doesn't do. Like most of the boost skills increasing stats, don't tell you by how much, the ranges on yours and enemy weapons are difficult to gauge (as in at what distance is someone going to start counterattacking, intercepting etc, most of the time you just have to guess, enemies ranges are indicated by the their "line" turning red but you have to guess when that is most of the time) and there were a few other things I can't remember off the top of my head at the moment.
That said when it works it works well. And if you just get past the relative imbalance with the classes it's a lot of fun to deal with most missions. Lots of well designed challenges, a few frustrating but they never really felt impossible which is good. And the grading system combined with new game + etc. there's a ton of replayability if you enjoyed it which is great.
Anyways before I ramble too much, like I said, I enjoyed it for the most part but I do think it's somewhat over rated. If I were giving it a score, it's around a 7/10 where most people are suggesting 8 - 9 /10. Any lower and I think it would be an insult to how well executed it was as a package. And the mechanics are definitely an attempt at innovating something even if they weren't executed perfectly. Same with the story, while I may not have enjoyed every aspect of it, I imagine others really got maximum enjoyment out of the whole 30ish hours.
Aesthetically I loved the game, it looks great. I love the design of the technology, both the war machines and the valkyrian stuff. The characters as well are all fairly well designed, and thankfully not over-designed like many other anime-esque games. Also not overly sexualized, which is great, to the point where they do some weird fan servicey stuff at a few places and it feels really odd and out of place. Sound wise, it's a bit of a mixed bag, some weak sound effects on most of the weapons, nothing really feels that impactful but it's serviceable.
The core gameplay from the battles though is where the game mostly tries to shine. I think they wanted to make a really tactical game, but it feels so flawed in so many ways. I hate it when games rank you for a start. It means that once you've struggled against an enemy for a while, fighting tooth and nail to come out victorious, your victory is greeted by a D rank or something, it doesn't feel good. And a lot of the maps come with those surprises or stipulations that make planning ahead very difficult without foreknowledge, and the fact that to get A ranks you basically have to blitz the map with a single unit in most cases just highlights how badly balanced the game really is. Even when not playing for A ranks, especially since it was the first playthrough, I was finding myself using Scouts anyways because trying to keep everyone else on pace and move forward tactically was just too inefficient. Shocktroopers for example I wanted to use so often but they were so limited in movement and range , even with their new weapon, it wasn't worth using them. I also really did not like that using specific characters gave you bonus move points, there were a few other characters I would have preferred to deploy during missions but couldn't because I had to reserve at least those 3 spaces out of the usual 10 while maintaining a balanced force overall. I also think the game has a really bad way of conveying information to the player, which in many cases it just doesn't do. Like most of the boost skills increasing stats, don't tell you by how much, the ranges on yours and enemy weapons are difficult to gauge (as in at what distance is someone going to start counterattacking, intercepting etc, most of the time you just have to guess, enemies ranges are indicated by the their "line" turning red but you have to guess when that is most of the time) and there were a few other things I can't remember off the top of my head at the moment.
That said when it works it works well. And if you just get past the relative imbalance with the classes it's a lot of fun to deal with most missions. Lots of well designed challenges, a few frustrating but they never really felt impossible which is good. And the grading system combined with new game + etc. there's a ton of replayability if you enjoyed it which is great.
Anyways before I ramble too much, like I said, I enjoyed it for the most part but I do think it's somewhat over rated. If I were giving it a score, it's around a 7/10 where most people are suggesting 8 - 9 /10. Any lower and I think it would be an insult to how well executed it was as a package. And the mechanics are definitely an attempt at innovating something even if they weren't executed perfectly. Same with the story, while I may not have enjoyed every aspect of it, I imagine others really got maximum enjoyment out of the whole 30ish hours.
10 Yrs♥$✓#
orngcav067
10 Yrs♥$✓#
... Boss tanks are the worst. Any good tips on getting through these levels without Welks being obliterated?
12 Yrs♥$✓#
Pretty much every tank has a different strategy to bring it down. If you mention which one you're facing I might be able to help.
9 Yrs✓#
hello_world
9 Yrs✓#
I beat it! Just missed the 'deadline' by one day... completed it yesterday.
So what did I think? This was the first tactical RPG for me so even though I'm accustomed to JRPG and stuff like that. This was a bit different, I would say it's more like Civilization but with a small task force going by mission to mission. But then again, it's not even close to the Civ games at all.
At first I thought it was hard to get into and I still think the game is pretty hard since you have so many options. I mean, how many snipers should I take with me, and when to move soldier A and B etc. there is also an unevenness to the missions. I believe chapter 7 was the hardest one actually, could be due to it being early in the game and I didn't know everything yet but still that mission should have been further into the game. The final missions weren't that hard actually.
Overall a fun 'new' experience for me, the game looks superb on the PC but it still feels like a game from the last generation, some weird hit-box things and a clunky menu system. There is new game plus, but I will pass on that I got what I wanted from the main game. Too bad the sequels didn't seem to hold up after what I read.
So what did I think? This was the first tactical RPG for me so even though I'm accustomed to JRPG and stuff like that. This was a bit different, I would say it's more like Civilization but with a small task force going by mission to mission. But then again, it's not even close to the Civ games at all.
At first I thought it was hard to get into and I still think the game is pretty hard since you have so many options. I mean, how many snipers should I take with me, and when to move soldier A and B etc. there is also an unevenness to the missions. I believe chapter 7 was the hardest one actually, could be due to it being early in the game and I didn't know everything yet but still that mission should have been further into the game. The final missions weren't that hard actually.
Overall a fun 'new' experience for me, the game looks superb on the PC but it still feels like a game from the last generation, some weird hit-box things and a clunky menu system. There is new game plus, but I will pass on that I got what I wanted from the main game. Too bad the sequels didn't seem to hold up after what I read.