[Suzerain of Sheol]

Has anyone played any games by this company? They seem to vary in quality, but I really like a lot of the ideas in them, and some of their games are really good, in my opinion.

They mostly make anime-ish SRPGs, only like 10% of which get a U.S. release.

I've played Spectral Souls: Resurrection of the Ethereal Empires, Blazing Souls: Accelate, Cross Edge, Spectral Force 3, and Aedis Eclipse (though I didn't like its battle system and never got very far in it).

They're sort of like Nippon Ichi's Disgaea games, in that there's a really long postgame and you can get to crazy high level (usually either unlimited or 999).

They tend to have really in-depth equipment synthesis systems that are very fun and rewarding, though the games also have a huge learning curve, usually.

They also made Chaos Wars, which... is a black mark on their name, being the game with the *worst* voice acting in history, but still, they make some awesome, yet underrated products.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

I don't think I'm familiar with that company. I'll have to look them up and see. My friend had a ton of games that we all perused while he was deciding what to keep and what to toss and some might show up there. I certainly haven't heard of many.

Is Chaos Wars the one where it sounds like the creator was testing the dialogue with kids sitting in front of the tv with scripts? Ie. high school play auditions?

[Suzerain of Sheol]

Yes. Actually, in the manual, his children are credited for voice acting. It's at once both hilarious and sad.

And I think I mentioned Spectral Souls to you before, when I was telling you how one of the main characters (Meu, smiley 16-year-old girl) is a sociopathic killing machine at odds with her blissful demeanor.

Yeah, though, the company isn't that well known for a few different reasons. For one thing, their games are really hit and miss, some are great, so are... awful. For another, only a few get localized, as I mention. And also, you in particular probably wouldn't be familiar as most of them have been released on the PSP or PS3.

[Serra Britt]

Some of their games are good and some are bad. I like the ideas they have just some of them aren't executed well, like Chaos Wars...
But for the most part I get more excited about a game when I see their name on it :3

[Suzerain of Sheol]

You know, I was determined to play Chaos Wars. I mean, I payed like 40 dollars for it and I wanted to like it and all... so I was giving it leeway, right up until Hiro joined. As soon as I heard her voice, that was it. You don't *do* that to a character that badass. I nearly snapped the disk in half I was so disgusted with it. I think it's packed away in a box in my closet, at the moment, so... it's safe, for now. :p

Luckily, they made Cross Edge afterward, though, which is how a crossover game *should* be done. The difference is so staggering it's baffling to think those were made by the same company.

[Serra Britt]

Now I'm really going to have to get Cross Edge >< I wanted to get it when it came out but I repeatedly have lack of funds :x

[Suzerain of Sheol]

One of the best things about it was that it came with tons of free and really cheap DLC on the PSN (though given the trouble they're having, maybe that isn't such a selling point anymore...), though, I'm not sure if it's still for sale after so long.

[Serra Britt]

It would be great if it still was, maybe I'll be able to find it cheap somewhere and check when PSN is back up :P

[Suzerain of Sheol]

Probably the best thing about Cross Edge is its combat engine. It's kind of hard to describe, but it's just fantastic once you the hang of it. Battles are frenzied and fun, with an intricate combo system and several dozen characters to try out. It's easily one of the best fighting systems in an RPG I've ever experienced.

And whilst looking it up on Amazon (price seems to be 20 to 40 dollars, depending on if you want used), I came across an IF crossover game called Trinity Universe that sounds like it might be promising. I'm going to have to do some more research, as it's rare and really expensive, so not spending that kind of money unless it's one of the *good* IF games, and not in the Chaos Wars category.

[Serra Britt]

Ooo let me know, though I should probably be making a list or something :P

[Suzerain of Sheol]

Well, I looked into it a little more. The battle system seems similar to Cross Edge, but Trinity Universe is in full 3d, and looks fairly good, going by the videos on Youtube.

It seems like less of crossover game than Cross Edge was, with more original characters. The only guests are from Disgaea and Aterlier.

Overall, it seems to get fairly high reviews, and it's on Amazon used for $35.00, so I'm going to pick it up. It's a shame, Gamestop lists it for $29.00 new, but it's out of stock online and in every store around me.

[Serra Britt]

Aww that's too bad :x Let me know, now I'm really curious :3

[Suzerain of Sheol]

Well, it should be here within a week, so, we'll see. The reviews I've read have all been pretty favorable, so I'm expecting to enjoy it. I just wish it had a few other crossover characters in it. Hiro would have been nice.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

Well, Trinity Universe just got here, so I'll have some comments soon. Hopefully it was worth the purchase.

[Serra Britt]

Oh my, I haven't been here in a while, sorry Suzerain >< So, how was Trinity Universe?

[Suzerain of Sheol]

Well, for one thing, it isn't quite what I expected. It doesn't actually feel like an IF game that much. But I'll get to that later.

The first thing to note is... excuse plot. Seriously. At least Cross Edge had a story you could somewhat get into. This... doesn't really have a story at all. There are two different storylines, so I can't speak for the other, but the one I'm playing now has your main character (the lord of the Netheruniverse) and his fox-girl companion wandering around random dungeons and insulting each other at every opportunity.

Granted, I'm not terribly far into the game, Etna and Prinny just joined my party, but I don't see the story improving.

The gameplay is... a bit complicated to explain.

Basically, there are "objects" drifting in and out of the Netheruniverse, and you don't want them to crash into the main character's city, so you have to destabilize their gravity cores and send them drifting off into space.

You do this by going into them via random dungeons and fighting your way through to the boss. Which is actually pretty well-designed, on the whole. This is the meat of the gameplay.

First thing to note, there are items everywhere in these dungeons, just littering the rooms and hallways, and there's always more spawning while you explore. Not to mention, once you succeed in destabilizing the gravity core, you have 100 seconds to escape the dungeon, during which rare items start spawning.

Secondly, the dungeons are short, no more than a half-hour each so far, which is great for breaking up playtime into little chunks.

Third, you level up fast. My characters gain a level once every two to three random battles. I'm assuming the level cap is at least 999 because of this, since I'm level 30 already and only just finished the second chapter.

Battles are sort of like Cross Edge, though in full 3d, and you can't customize your attacks. Square is your Rush attack for multiple hits, X does a Power attack, Triangle does a Magic attack that hits all enemies, and Circle uses the special skills you equip. There are all sorts of combos and you can link chains between party members, getting special bonuses if you switch members at the right time.

It uses the AP system, and you can skip your turn to build AP for big combos, just like in Cross Edge. There's no Overkill (that I've seen so far) which I honestly prefer, just because Overkill can be stressful when you're fighting postgame bosses and need their drops.

Outside the dungeons, you have your standard shop and synthesis routine, but the synthesis seems unique to this game and I don't recognize any of the items, unlike in all of Idea Factory's other games which seem to use the same item list, more or less. It still works pretty much the same, though, and most of the stuff you pick up in dungeons are synthesis ingredients.

In addition to that, you can make Managraphics for your weapons, which add AP and give the weapon elemental properties, as well as a unique special skill.

There's also a monster fusion system that I haven't really got into yet, but at a glance, it looks like you can breed rare monsters to challenge for high-grade items.

Anyway, looking at the game on a whole, it's different than what I expected, but I'm convinced it's actually a good game, if you like this sort of thing. It's a dungeon crawler, not a story-based RPG. The crossover element is way downplayed in comparison to Cross Edge.

The basic flow of gameplay is as follows:

[Begin Chapter] > [View Event] > [Random Dungeon] > [Upgrade in town] (repeat these two as much as desired) > [Event Dungeon] > [Chapter boss fight] > [End chapter]

It's simple, but it's fun and fast-paced, and you always feel like you're getting stronger. If you like quirky anime humor, than there's really nothing bringing this game down. That's the only thing I don't like about it.

Oh, that reminds me, one other thing: the menu music. It's a J-pop song that restarts every time you open the menu. It can get kind of annoying. Again, though, if you don't mind J-pop, this probably won't be an issue. I find it easy to ignore, though.

Overall, while I'm not as blown away as I was by Cross Edge, and while i wish there were more crossover characters besides Disgaea and Aterlier people, it's still a solid game that's different from this company's other offerings.

Recommended, if you can find it for a decent price.