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<![CDATA[A-to-J Connections - Gaming]]>Thu, 29 May 2025 02:38:34 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[Game Review: The Bridge Curse 2: The Extrication]]>Fri, 06 Jun 2025 07:00:00 GMThttp://a-to-jconnections.com/gaming/game-review-the-bridge-curse-2-the-extricationBy Al

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, XBox One, XBox Series XS, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC (Steam)

Not too long ago I reviewed a game called The Bridge Curse: Road to Salvation (Which you can find HERE), and gave it a decently high rating. It was a game based on a hit Taiwanese movie, and was developed by SoftStar Entertainment, the studio also behind the Xuan-Yuan Sword series. Recently, a sequel titled The Bridge Curse 2: The Extrication (Hereafter referred to as simply "Bridge Curse 2".) was released on all major platforms by way of publisher PQube. I knew that I had to get my hands on it, and that's exactly what I did. Being a huge fan of the horror genre, and the first game in general, I figured this was a must-review game for me. How does it stand up to the first game? Did it improve on the gameplay elements I criticized in my last review? Is it actually scary? We'll answer all those questions and more in this review. There's a lot to cover in this one, so let's dive right in!

Though a sequel to the original Bridge Curse game, Bridge Curse 2 tells a story that is pretty much completely unrelated to it. This time around the focus is on Wen Hua University, a school that has a long tradition of ghost tales and urban legends. Similar as the setting may be, this school is far more modern and less run down than Tung Hu University. It seems that a "Carnival of Horror" is planned by the students to showcase all the spooky tales surrounding the school, and one group of students plan to film a movie covering the story that might have started them all. This ends up becoming far too real as they come face to face with not only the ghosts from the movie they were planning to film, but all the others referenced in the Carnival of Horror as well. The Bridge Curse 2 takes place over four chapters, each focusing on a different character. Three of those characters make up the cast and crew of the student film, and one of them is a reporter covering a recent disappearance that seems to have some references to the real life case of Elisa Lam. The truth about the college is revealed throughout the course of the game, and you'll also put to rest several of the ghosts who currently call the campus home. Though its only connection to the first game/movie is the college setting, I found the narrative to be more focused this time around. The character shifts happen far more naturally, and the story itself is surprisingly easy to follow considering all the narrative shifts. There were many times where the first game felt like a series of random clips and minigames stitched together at random, while this game manages to weave in all its subplots in a way that feels like an interconnected series of vignettes. Now is also as good a time as any to mention that there is also a sequel movie to the original Bridge Curse film, but it too has nothing to do with this game. In short, this is a truly unique experience in all sorts of ways. Oh, and just in case you haven't caught onto it so far, there is no actual Bridge Curse this time around either.

Not only is the story much better this time around, but the gameplay in Bridge Curse 2 also received a much-needed overhaul too. The first Bridge Curse game featured ghost chases that could easily be cheesed, and this was a big letdown since they were essentially the only true "gameplay" sequences in the game. You were able to basically run through them all, and skip over the stealth elements the game hoped you would use. While you will still do a fair share of running from ghosts in this sequel, it's implemented in a more engaging way. First off is the fact that the stealth elements have been greatly improved, and finally work in a way that doesn't feel broken. Inching towards a ghost, hoping it doesn't see you, finally feels as scary as it should've always been. Next up is the fact that just about every ghost encounter has some sort of unique twist to it. This might sound a little gimmicky, but it does keep them all feeling fresh and unique. Sometimes you'll be armed with a lantern that provides you the ability to drive off a ghost with a special attack, other times you'll be playing red light/green light and staying out of a ghost's line of sight, and other times still you'll be completing a timed "spot the differences" challenge. Each ghostly encounter has a twist, and all of them had the right level of challenge to them too. Nothing ever feels too difficult, but it won't be a cakewalk either.

Surviving ghost encounters is only part of the game, as Bridge Curse 2 actually plays for more like an adventure game than a survival horror one. Much of the game will see you searching for items needed to progress the story, and maybe solving a puzzle or two in order to get them. You'll also have to interact with some characters for hints or progression, though this is rather limited considering the game's small cast. Though I am a fan of this type of gameplay, it's this part of the game that felt the most like busywork. Unlike most adventure games that provide you a large area to work with, Bridge Curse 2 limits you to only the specific areas you need to explore. All non-essential areas will be conveniently blocked off by fallen debris, or simply locked. This essentially means that the game all but guides you to most puzzle solutions, and the only things you'll ever truly miss are optional bits that work towards in-game achievements. Just like the first game, this style of gameplay makes the experience feel very much like an interactive movie than a game. You don't have much influence on what's going on, and you're almost always simply moving towards the next action that will trigger a cutscene. This is the most telling in the ghost encounters, as some will happen totally automatically, and others will be playable. It all makes for rather uneven gameplay, even though I don't think any of it makes the game particularly bad.

Before we move on with the review, let's discuss some of the things that Bridge Curse 2 gets right, and maybe a couple it doesn't. Similar to the first game, you're given a main ghost story that only seems to only be relevant at the very beginning and very end of the game. Much of the middle is filled with encounters with other ghosts, and these other ghosts make up a large chunk of the game. The first game hid a lot of the lore of these secondary ghosts behind easily missable items, but their backstories are better implemented this time around. There's also fewer of both ghosts and characters here, ensuring that each get their share of the limelight. Also, though I can't quite put my finger on why exactly they didn't work too well in the first game, the scares in Bridge Curse 2 felt much more effective than those in the first game. I was creeped out more than once during my time with the game, and it managed to get more than a few jump scares out of me too. On the negative side of things, the standard mouse and keyboard controls can make this feel rather wonky. Though a very noteworthy issue, nearly everything associated with controls can be fixed by using a compatible controller. There were also a few ghost encounters, namely the ballerina scene, where I hit a brick wall. I'm sure I only got through that section with some random luck, but having to repeatedly play the same sequence over and over again can get tiring. Then again, Bridge Curse 2 has more than enough charm to keep players coming back in spite of those minor gameplay frustrations.

The first Bridge Curse game is no slouch in the graphics department, but Bridge Curse 2 easily blows it out of the water. I earlier reviewed the game on PC, since it hadn't come out on consoles yet. I have a moderately powerful PC, but not one that can run the game in its optimal form. Playing it on the PlayStation 5 helped me see what this game can really pull off, and it's almost night and day when compared to the PC version. Don't get me wrong, that version probably looks as good or better with the proper setup, but this just works right out of the box. That's of course the benefit of playing a game on console versus PC, but suffice it to say that I am even more impressed than I was with the graphics the first time around.

I'm starting to feel a bit like a broken record in my repeated statements regarding how much better Bridge Curse 2 is over the original, but that trend holds steady when it comes down to sound design too. This is quite an impressive feat since I considered the sound in the original Bridge Curse to be perfect as it was. Not only does this game feature some of the best I've heard in a game of this genre, but it's implemented in a way that feels very cinematic. I'm not just talking jump scare stings either, as the soundtrack swells and sways perfectly in tune with whatever is happening on screen. It's truly impressive, and something that has to be experienced firsthand in order to truly appreciate. Then there's the voice acting. For reasons I can only assume are commercial, Bridge Curse 2 has an English dub once again, but this time around it's one of the worst I've ever heard. I actually found the first game's English dub to be decent, but the one for Bridge Curse 2 is so bad that I feel it has to be intentional. Thankfully the game retains its Chinese track as well, and I suggest that everyone switch over to that as soon as they boot up the game. Not only is the acting much better there, but it also fits the game's vibe far more than the English one. I know that commercially-speaking dubs are the way to go, but I hope that SoftStar works on a better one the next time around.

This entire review has been a tale of Bridge Curse 2 overtaking its predecessor, but I think I found one aspect of the game where it doesn't actually succeed. Even though it feels like there's more content here than in the original, Bridge Curse 2 is a shorter game. It can be beaten in about 3-4 hours, and its improved chapter system makes it easy to go back and pick up anything you might have missed if you're going for 100% achievements. Though its runtime is notably shorter, I'm fairly certain this is a matter of pacing over content. The original Bridge Curse game had long walking sections, and several "Where do I go?" moments. Bridge Curse 2 streamlines its gameplay, and keeps the action always moving forward in a way where you almost feels railroaded. This does come at the expense of much smaller areas to explore, but I do think the tradeoff works best given how tight the gameplay is. While the original game came with a rather low price of just $19.99, Bridge Curse 2 is priced at a still-reasonable $24.99. Though a bit high considering how long the gameplay experience actually is, I still feel that its pricing is spot on. I often compare cinematic games like this one to paying to go to the movies, and in this case its price can be looked at as something akin to picking up the latest horror Blu-ray release. It may not offer endless hours of entertainment, but there's value in what's here, and it can be experienced over and over again at one's leisure.

A sequel surpassing the original is anything but a new concept, but I'm still amazed at just how much The Bridge Curse 2: The Extrication improved over its predecessor. It's one of the best games I've played this year, and its one that I give the highest of recommendations. Seeing as its now available on all current platforms, you really don't have an excuse to not play it. Grab it on whatever console you own, or on PC if you have a good setup, and thank me later. Now that I've done my part in review the game, I'm off to go replay the original and re-watch both of the movies. See you in the next one!

Check Out The Bridge Curse 2: The Extrication on PlayStation:
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/concept/10009896/

Story: A+
Gameplay: A-
Graphics: A+
Music/Sound: A
Value: A

Overall: A

Pros:
+ Not only a great survival horror experience, but it's also one of the best games I've played this year in general.
+ Has a well-written plot, and features a memorable cast of ghosts and protagonists.
+ Each ghost encounter feels unique, and there's a great deal of backstory that you can uncover over the course of the game.
+ Has a truly spooky atmosphere, and many of the scares will keep you on your toes.
+ Though not easy, the game isn't overly challenging either.
+ Has graphics so amazing that it feels like night and day when compared to the original.
+ Has near perfect sound design. Both music and voice are impressive.

Cons:
- Can feel more like an interactive movie than a full game at times.
- There are a couple ghost encounters, looking at you ballerina performance, that feel somewhat unfair.
- The English dub is one of the worst I've ever heard.
- May be priced a bit too high for some gamers at $24.99.
- There's no actual Bridge Curse in this one... Strange...

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

Just what is he looking at?!?!

#TheBridgeCurse2

]]><![CDATA[A Quick Study Abroad: An Adventure Academia: The Fractured Continent Review]]>Tue, 27 May 2025 07:00:00 GMThttp://a-to-jconnections.com/gaming/a-quick-study-abroad-an-adventure-academia-the-fractured-continent-reviewBy Manuel

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PC (Steam)

Adventure Academia: The Fractured Continent is the latest title in the long-running Class of Heroes series, and it released in December of last year on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PC by way of PQube Entertainment. While the Class of Heroes series is mainly a dungeon crawling JRPG series, Adventure Academia changes things up by moving into the SRPG genre. Nothing is ever that simple though, and it's an SRPG game with quite a few real-time elements to shake things up a bit. Seeing as we're nearing the its first anniversary, we decided that now is a good time to dive into the game and see if it's worth going back to school for, or if you're better off dropping out early.

Even though Adventure Academia is part of the Class of Heroes series, there is no need to have played a title in the series prior to this one. Seeing as the series has a very spotty release history in the West, and isn't exactly the most popular anyway, this is probably for the best. Adventure Academia opens up on the grounds of Obsidian High, a school that trains heroes that fill the magical continent of Pedra. You play as Alex, the son of the school's headmaster who has been missing ever since embarking on an adventure some time ago. He's left the powerful Ruler Orb in the care of his son, and Alex decides that it's up to him to rid the land of monsters, find the source of what is causing the disturbances in the four nations, and maybe even find out what happened to his father along the way. Joining him in this journey is Lazuli, a teacher at the academy whose job is to basically ensure that Alex doesn't get into too much trouble, and Citrin, Alex's childhood friend who is also the shopkeeper at Obsidian High. This trio aren't exactly the most martially inclined at the school though, so various students lend their skills to help them on their journey. Along the way they discovers that the evil of the land is not only causing monsters to increase in number and ferocity, but it's also corrupting students within their home nations. A rather simple story, but one that adds in a lot of twists, turns, and a big helping of some anime tropes too.

If you just look at screens of the game you might assume that this is a true SRPG, like Fire Emblem or Shining Force, but it really does its own thing. You control Alex, and he's able to move anywhere on a map but unable to actually make any sort of offensive or defensive action on his own. Basically Alex's Ruler Orb has the ability to summon up to six students depending on his current level, and it's these students that do the fighting for him. Their range of attack is only relevant to Alex, so they go where he does. These students act completely on their own within that field of movement though, and sometimes can even trail off a bit further than you'd think they could if an enemy pulls them away. If played correctly your party act as a sort of human shield for him, and you can even control the students to some degree. At any time during battle Alex has the ability to pick up and place a student within his field of influence, this is actually also how the units are first placed onto the map as well. You can also use MP to cast spells or to level up any of the characters, including Alex himself. This MP raises over time depending on Alex's level, and basically is the in-battle currency that does everything. Since all units are tied to Alex's placement, each battle sees you place him around the map and the student units fighting/defeating enemies. A battle ends once you've taken out all relevant targets, and you receive gold, SP, and EXP accordingly.

In-between battle you can return back to the school to buy more items, outfit and organize your party, help your party members study, and recruit more students to add to your party. The latter is very important as you start with a base party of three and will quickly want to work your way to the max party size of six. These party members can be pulled any of the game's ten races. Further customization comes from choosing their gender and the traits that change up their stats and how they grow as they level up. You can customize their name and equipment, but each race basically has a built-in class associated with it. This gives off big D&D Basic vibes, where the Dwarves are stocky fighters, the Elves are archers, the angel-like Celestia are healers, and so on. You're also not able to customize their appearance at all, beyond their gender at least, so it doesn't really make sense to have multiple party members of the same race. You can recruit several students into your roster, but are only able to bring six of them with you at any one time. Each student who is in your party gains experience after you win a battle regardless of whether they actually took part in it or not. Students get stronger up via standard levels, and also by completing courses in their base class. These completed courses give stat bonuses and skills, and you get even bigger results when you promote them to the next class/grade. The other way to upgrade them is by buying them new gear, but since so many of these items can be picked up in chests during battle, it's best to make new purchases cautiously. All these various upgrades cost gold though, so you'll want to have an idea beforehand on how you want to grow your party so you can best optimize your time.

Gameplay moves in a fairly straightforward manner where new battles unlock after you beat the ones before them. Occasionally two battles or more will unlock, with only one of them actually advancing the story while the others act as optional sidequests. Each battle has a recommended level, and it's best to take these recommendations to heart as things can go bad in a battle quickly if your units are taken out since Alex is always near them and not able to defend himself. Each battle also has a time limit, though it's often set high enough that most players will never see a battle end due to it running out. I found that it's best to wait out a few minutes in each battle to strengthen up Alex, unlock and place max units, then level them up a bit before setting out. This can be a bit of overkill on some stages with low suggested levels, but is all but required tactics for bosses or tricky sections where a monster spawner has a room-sized mob just waiting for you to cross a narrow path. Also, since battles operate in real-time, it's best to always be aware of what's going on around you at all times so you can react quickly to any worsening situations. A potential defeat can be turned around quickly if you're able to place a unit in front of you meat-shield style, or cast a much-needed healing or attack spell. Overall the mix of RTS and SRPG mechanics means that most battles end rather quickly, barring that initial levelling up if you choose to do that. This gives the game a far more brisk pace than one would find in other SRPGs, and almost makes it a new genre on its own.

Moving away from gameplay, let's talk about visuals a bit. First off, let's get this out the way: I love the art style in Adventure Academia. The character and monster designs are all unique, and feature a lot of variety beyond being simple static images. They work well in the visual novel-style cutscenes in-between battles, and they manage to show off a lot of emotion and character even though their animation is very limited. I guess there's the big negative that you can't really customize your party's units (even in something simple like a palette swap), but it was never anything that particularly bothered me while I was playing the game. Battles themselves feature Paper Mario-esque versions of all units that twist and turn in all their flat cardboard-like glory. I'm sure this was done to simplify the gameplay, and probably so the developers didn't have to create 3D models for them, but it comes off as both cute and stylish at the same time. Seeing them hop around on the battle map, turn and flip, and even get knocked out the battle altogether, arguably looks just as good even though it's not as graphically impressive as it could've been. Character models included, it also has to be said that everything is extremely colorful and vibrant. Even the darker areas of the game are quite a bit brighter than you would expect. I don't mean that the color scheme comes off in a mood-killing way either, more in that the game always looks lively, even when it's showing you something that is trying to kill you. Speaking of things that are ready to kill you, the boss encounters are large and impressive and feel almost impossible to take on each time you face them. Adventure Academia isn't pushing any platform's hardware to its limits, but I think you'll grow to love everything as much as I did after a while.

Sound is another aspect where the game really shines. All the music is spot on, and there's some great original songs that open and close the game. I wouldn't go so far as to say that the game's music is particularly spectacular, but everything fits the mood and gameplay, and there's enough here so that no one track ever becomes overly repeated or played out. I'd probably have to admit that the music is very standard JRPG fare, but it's good standard JRPG fare. The school themes, battle themes, and overworld themes all move things along, and there isn't a bad track in the bunch. Moving on to voice acting, the game only features a Japanese language track, which will probably be considered a bonus to some. The lack of a dub wasn't something that bothered me a bit as the Japanese cast really add a lot to the characters. I was a huge fan of cat-like Felpurr and I'm glad that I don't have to hear a bad anime dub take on their many cat puns and "nyans". Also, pretty much everything in the game is voiced. The cutscenes, the in-game dialogue, even quips and the like during battle, all feature full voice acting that thankfully works to not make the parts that are repeated often annoying. You'll find very little to complain about when it comes to sound, so be sure to keep that volume turned up high!

Adventure Academia features a lot of content, like an insane amount. You can customize your party in lots of ways that will require you to level them up, farm for gold for equipment, and so on. Even if you want to speed through the game, there are a lot of side missions and content to explore. With that said, the game's main section is somewhat shorter than one would expect as players will probably reach the end credits in about 25-30 hours, depending on how fast they speed through those grinding segments. This is definitely due to the faster paced gameplay, but I don't see it as a negative at all. There is still a lot of replayability to be had in revisiting other parts of the game, and building up an ideal party that works for you. I can easily see someone finishing the game and then wanting to try things out with another party build, or even create challenge runs like clearing maps with a single unit. There's also a lot of additional DLC content available if you want to go down that route. I didn't play any of it for this review, but I am very tempted to check it out once I'm finished here. Since the game comes at a budget price of $39.99, I feel that there's more than enough content in the base game to justify the price. This could have easily been a full-priced release in my opinion, and seeing it at such an affordable price has me raving about it even more. You can probably use the money you saved on it not being full-priced on picking up some of that DLC too!

In case it wasn't obvious already, I recommend Adventure Academia: The Fractured Continent whole-heartedly. It's not a graphically intensive game either, so I'm sure you'll have an amazing experience no matter what platform you grab it on. There is no prior knowledge to the series needed, and it's a very unique take on the SRPG genre that is accessible to even the most casual of players. Acquire Corp. really hit it out of the park with this one and I hope that they revisit this style of game again later down the road. Until then, be sure to fill your party with Felpurrs! They can be quite silly, but they know how to get the job done!

Check Out Adventure Academia: The Fractured Continent on PlayStation:
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP4293-CUSA34442_00-TOTOQUEST0000000

Story: A-
Gameplay: A-
Graphics: A+
Music/Sound: B+
Value: A-

Overall: A

Pros:
+ A unique take on the SRPG genre that mixes standard JRPG mechanics with almost RTS-style gameplay.
+ Fast and precise gameplay make this a highly accessible game to both casual players, and fans of the genre.
+ The art style is great and everything looks vibrant, bright, and lively.
+ Music and voice acting are both well-done and add to the overall excellent presentation.
+ Lots of content, and a wealth of DLC, make this a very replayable game despite its relatively short length.

Cons:
- The main adventure can be beaten in about 25-30 hours, which is a bit short compared to other titles in the genre.
- While the gameplay does offer a unique mix it might put off those expecting a straightforward SRPG experience like that found in the Fire Emblem series.
- Since you can't directly attack or defend yourself, it makes winning and losing a battle sometimes feel like it's out of your hands.
- Can be a bit on the easy side once you understand the gameplay mechanics.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

Basically me raving non-stop about this game.

#AdventureAcademiaTheFracturedContinent

]]><![CDATA[Game Review: Mizuchi]]>Sun, 25 May 2025 07:00:00 GMThttp://a-to-jconnections.com/gaming/game-review-mizuchiBy Manuel

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC (Steam)

It's Valentine's Day, and I have just the game for you all! Mizuchi is a yuri themed visual novel that originally released back in 2020 on Steam. It was brought to fruition via a successful Kickstarter, and developer Aikasa Collective recently completed another Kickstarter for a new game. Funding details aside, Mizuchi is now making the move to consoles. It's currently available on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. We're going to be taking a look at it on the PlayStation 5, and seeing if it was worth the long wait. We have a lot to cover in this one, so let's get right to the review!

Mizuchi places you into the role of Linh, a character who you can rename to whatever you wish at the start of the game. She is one of five daughters, and lives a tough life in a small village that worships snakes. One day, while stealing food, she stumbles on a wounded snake who she promptly feeds out of obligation. Linh figures that the snake is near death, but little does she know that this action will change the course of her life. Upon returning home she finds that her childhood friend, named Anh, is back from war. He uses this time of leave to ask for her hand in marriage, and her family's standing in the village means that she has no reason to not accept. It seems like this story is going to have a quick happy ending after all. Unfortunately nothing is ever so simple, as she ends up being betrayed by Anh. Through a course of events that I won't reveal for the sake of spoilers, she ends up being thrown into a snake pit for a crime she didn't commit. Fortunately for her, this pit currently houses the snake she earlier befriended. Not only did the snake survive its wounds, but it turns out that the snake is a shapeshifting creature named Ai. Ai saves Linh by taking her to her remote mountain home that is surrounded by mists. Linh now has no home to return to, and she is to serve as something of a partner to Ai. This is all told to Linh in a matter-of-fact way, but Ai is not exactly acting out of malice. The pair then go about a peaceful, if awkward, co-existence. Not too long after this, a monk named Jinhai arrives to fight Ai. This confusing turn of events gets even stranger when it's revealed that Jinhai will now be living with them too. Despite being a monk, Jinhai is also female, and has a history with Ai that is wrapped in mystery. From there on, the plot focuses on the relationships between the trio of women that live in Ai's house. Linh isn't exactly a prisoner, but she's not quite free either. She's going to have to make a choice. Will she stay with Ai? Or will she run away with Jinhai when the opportunity presents itself?

Like I said at the top of the review, Mizuchi is a yuri themed visual novel, so you can probably guess where the plot goes next. This isn't an 18+ game though, so don't expect things to get too intense. There are also some platonic routes to go through if you so desire, and there's plenty of game that doesn't involve romance at all. Ai is a snake though, so don't expect her to wear clothes. I only really bring that up as I think it's one of the biggest reasons why the game is rated M. There are some scenes that may have also caused the game to get that rating, but I wanted to point out early on that this isn't going to be a full-on eroge. Going back to plot, Mizuchi has a lot going for it beyond romance that makes it a unique experience. Some might already be aware of this, but the story is actually a loose adaptation of the Chinese folk tale, the Legend of White Snake. It only borrows some elements, but it's what drew me to the game in the first place. There was an animated movie that came out the year before this game was originally released, and I'm surprised it wasn't on my radar until now. White Snake aside, the game doesn't actually take place in any single place. Not only does it borrow cultural traditions of several Asian countries, but it's more accurate to say that the game takes place in a pure fantasy setting. These two factors alone make it a game worth playing even if you may not care for the yuri themes. The focus of the story is on the relationships between the three main characters though, so don't expect to fully get away from that if you're only here for the setting. Then again the Legend of White Snake itself is a tale of romance, so I guess it's to be expected.

Though romance does develop between the three characters, it takes quite a long time for it to blossom. You're in for a long haul if you want take on Mizuchi's story, so you might as well get comfortable. There is a lot of will they/won't they type of scenes throughout, but the biggest factor that draws out the romance is the overall pacing. I've played several visual novels that take the "slice-of-life" approach to storytelling, but Mizuchi really takes the cake. This is a game that isn't afraid to take its time, and you better be ready to deal with that. If you're hoping for the characters to start falling for each other right away, you're going to be disappointed to see that much of the game seems to revolve around anything but love. Romance is always present of course, but so are scenes that involve seemingly random conversations about history, cultures, and even society itself. Most present of all is the topic of food. Just about every meal the characters have is presented in full detail, and much of the game revolves around cooking. This did get old after a while, but the pacing was a quirk that I came to enjoy by the end. There's a light, friendly vibe to everything that puts the focus on the characters. You'd think that learning about Jinhai's cooking skills, or Ai's preference for meat, will be unimportant to the core story, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Each interaction lets the player learn more about the characters’ lives in a way that feels completely natural, and it makes the choices between them feel all the heavier. There really is no "right" path to follow here. Jinhai, Ai, and Linh are all flawed characters to a degree, but they're also endearing and charming in their own way. I guess since we spent this bit talking about pacing, let's talk a bit more about characterization.

Considering that Mizuchi is essentially a tale that only truly features three characters, one would hope that they're all written in a way that keeps one invested. While it's true that some may still find something to dislike here simply due to personal preference, I have to say that the game pulls off the job well. Not only will you grow to like them, but you may even wish for their happiness by the end. Since the story goes for the slice-of-life approach, there is no rushing towards a conclusion here. Relationships develop, grow, and change in a way that feels very natural. Tension and drama are always present, but there's an undercurrent of tranquility that runs counter to that. Slow and steady not only wins the race, but it can also win hearts too. This approach to storytelling means that you'll come to learn all there is to know about our trio of characters. Some big interactions are locked away behind character-specific routes, but there's enough for the reader to get a very good perspective on them even if you're just going through it without a focus on picking one pairing over the other. It's not just the relationships that involve Linh either, as the bond between Ai and Jinhai is just as important to the narrative. It also helps that all of the characters are quite endearing. Ai's odd character quirks and flippant remarks could have easily made her unlikable, but that's not the case here at all. The same can be said for Jinhai's calm and stoic nature. It's hard to write characters with these sorts of personalities in a way where they don't become a walking character trope, but the line is treaded very carefully here. The small cast is anything but a detriment, and Mizuchi pulls off a story that rivals that of bigger titles that have giant casts of characters by comparison.

Even though Mizuchi is a visual novel, there still is something resembling gameplay when it comes to the choices you make in-game. That may sound like an odd way to phrase it, but this is the type of visual novel that tracks your choices to determine the ending that you're going to get. I may be reading a bit too much into it, but you really do have to take an exact set of actions if you wish to get onto a specific route. There are five endings in total, with some of them being romantic, and others being platonic. It's not always easy to figure out when your actions will lead you towards one versus the other, but focusing on the character you like is probably the safest way to go. Having said that, I found that it was somewhat difficult to figure things out without consulting a guide. I do think that several of the in-game choices only affect dialogue, but there are some that feel like they aren't important, but can lock you out of a route if you're not careful. This can be pretty annoying if you've already saved beyond a certain point. Considering the game is quite long, it isn't exactly easy to start again if you've messed up. You can make use of the dialogue skip feature, but skipping hours of scenes still means minutes and minutes of sitting there until you get back to the choice you messed up on. I guess this might only be an issue for completionists, but I actually got an ending I wasn't hoping for my first time through the game in spite of making what I thought were the "correct" choices. It didn't sour my experience on the game overall, but it did annoy me a bit that I spent hours to get a conclusion that ran counter to what I thought I was working towards.

If there's one aspect of the game where Mizuchi completely shines, it has to be its artwork. This is a beautiful game, and it's in no way limited by its small cast or very localized setting. If anything, the smaller scope allows the game to fully explore what is present in the game. There are tons of CGs of all the characters, some of them being very impressive, as well as several outfit variations. This isn't a full-on 18+ title, but there are some romantic scenes that are stunning as well. That aside, I was constantly surprised by the ways that the game would break out of its seemingly small scope to give a scene that felt new and unique. This usually came by way of exploring areas not mentioned in the game before, but come in the form of giving us a different view of a character. This is most relevant when it comes to Ai herself, as she has several forms she can take on, each being a work of art in and of itself. I actually think that Ai's design is perfect, and I loved seeing her on screen in whatever form she was in. There's also a level of detail that goes all the way to the background images. Similar to the plot's setting, there are several different Asian aesthetics that seamlessly come together. I guess my only real gripe would be the lack of much animation in some of the scenes, but that's not really a big issue at all. While you won't get anything resembling a fully animated scene, there are plenty of moments that imply action and movement by way of a cleverly-used CG, or by simple camera motions. Though I have nothing else to say on this topic, I will advise players to check out the CGs in the unlockable gallery. They really do all deserve a second look.

My praise for Mizuchi's soundtrack might not be as glowing as my praise for the visuals, but the game does an amazing job on that front too. I've talked about the video game music genre I dub "visual novel music" many times over the years, and the music here falls squarely into that category. For those who are new, visual novel music is the term I use for soundtracks that are good, but are full of music that seems to exist to be solely in the background. Certain tracks may have catchy melodies, but they don't seem to ever get stuck in your head the way other video game music might. These types of soundtracks have music that always complements the scene that they're in, but they very rarely overtake said scene and become the focus. It really isn't a negative term though, it just describes music that rarely warrants big discussion. That said, I will admit that there's a bit of a difference in Mizuchi's soundtrack that I feel is worth pointing out. Due to the subdued pace of the game, the soundtrack almost feels like an extension of the slice-of-life vibes. The music lulls you into complacency, and makes it so that you'll feel the dramatic twists and turns all the better. This is a soundtrack I wouldn't mind having on in the background while doing my writing, and features a similar eclectic mix of Asian inspirations as the game's setting.

While it makes sense that the soundtrack would be a bit more prominent in a game like this, it really has to be since there is no voice acting at all. I was more than a little let down to learn that there wouldn't be voices bringing Ai, Jinhai, and Linh to life. One can make the argument that having no voice acting makes it easier to put one's own spin on things, but I've played other indie visual novels that have voice acting in them. I do realize that this is a smaller release, but I can't help but wish that some of the Kickstarter money was spent voicing the main cast at the very least. Admittedly this would be a lot of work due to the length of the game, but the opposite is true as well. Having to read walls of text in relative silence can be a bit of a strain at times. I did just go on about how great the soundtrack was a bit ago, but it can only do so much heavy lifting. The lack of voice acting is something you will get used to after a while, but its absence does detract from the overall presentation quite a bit.

Those expecting a short visual novel experience will probably be surprised to learn that getting through Mizuchi will take anywhere from 8-10 hours or so your first time through. This has a lot to do with reading speed, but it's still a bit longer than I was expecting. One can't forget about the multiple endings though, so your time can actually double if you want to see them all. There's a lot of content to enjoy here, and I do think the story is worth seeing through to its end, but I have a big issue when it comes to this console release's pricing. Mizuchi's 2020 release on Steam was priced at $14.99, and I think very reasonable. There is a lot of content, and the artwork is amazing, but the small scope of the game, and the lack of voice acting, do bring it down a couple notches. If that were the price across the board, things would be perfectly fine, but that's unfortunately not the case. I know that there is always talk of a console tax, but that doesn't excuse this five year old game being re-released at $24.99. I'd feel the same way regarding price even if I didn't know about its history, but it feels sort of insulting knowing about the post-Steam price hike. I don't want to end this review on a negative, but this was probably the only part of the game I couldn't get behind.

Despite my strong reservations on console pricing, I still have to give Mizuchi a full recommendation. It's a beautiful game with a beautiful story, and it deserves to be enjoyed in any way you can get your hands on it. It's a must-buy for visual novel fans, yuri fans, or anyone just looking for a good game to play. Part of me wants to recommend the Steam release over the console one since you can get the game and the soundtrack for less than $24.99, but perhaps I'm just being too hard on the game for pricing. If you get it on consoles, you still won't be disappointed. Not only was Mizuchi a great game on its own, but it made me interest in looking up other takes on the Legend of the White Snake. I'm also really looking forward to Red Rebellion, the upcoming game from Aikasa Collective. Maybe I'll be back to review that one later in the year? I guess we'll have to wait and see! See you in the next one!

Check Out Mizuchi on PlayStation:
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/concept/10008870/

Story: A+
Gameplay: N/A
Graphics: A+
Music/Sound: A-
Value: B

Overall: A

Pros:
+ A great visual novel that adapts elements of the Legend of White Snake.
+ Also features cultural elements from other parts of Asia in a unique fantasy setting.
+ The main trio are all well-written, and you'll grow to care about the bonds that form between them.
+ The art and character designs are all amazing. Ai in particular has several different designs that are practically perfect.
+ This slice-of-life visual novel is also accompanied by a great soundtrack.
+ Five different endings, some romantic and some platonic, mean that you'll have a lot of content to look forward to.

Cons:
- The game's slow pace can put off some. (How many times do we have to hear about what they're eating for breakfast?!)
- Some of the cultural elements, like untranslated lines, can seem to come out of nowhere.
- The lack of voice acting hits pretty hard here. It can be a bit much to go through a game as long as this one without a single spoken word.
- Considering the Steam release is priced at $14.99, asking $24.99 for the console release just feels wrong.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

Eating this many egg dishes in the US would bankrupt them today.

#Mizuchi

]]><![CDATA[Bump 'em Dead: A Ringlorn Saga Review]]>Thu, 22 May 2025 07:00:00 GMThttp://a-to-jconnections.com/gaming/bump-em-dead-a-ringlorn-saga-reviewBy Manuel

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch

Retro-themed RPGs are rather common in today's gaming scene, but it's not too often when one chooses to emulate games that have a checkered history as far as the internet is concerned. Ringlorn Saga is an Action RPG that plays in a fashion similar to classic NEC PC-8801 games like Hydlide and Ys. Hydlide in particular has garnered a mostly negative reputation ever since gaming YouTube got a hold of it, and it's worth mentioning now that Ringlorn Saga arguably plays the most like that game in particular. This 8-Bit inspired game is developed by Graverobber Foundation, and published by Upscale Studio. It previously released on PC via Steam, and it's now available on the Nintendo Switch. We're going to be taking a look at that Switch release today, and figure out if that Hydlide-inspired formula actually works well in the modern era. There's a lot to go over in this one, so let's just get straight to the review!

Ringlorn Saga places you into the role of Prince Gerhard, the eldest son of King Wilhelm. The King and his sons lived rather uneventful lives until one day they noticed that the friendly neighboring kingdom has suddenly become blocked off by way of a magic barrier. Anyone who goes beyond the barrier is never seen again, and it's said that the only way to dispel it is to kill the one who put it up in the first place. Wilhelm resolves to bring down the barrier himself, and sets out with several knights in tow. Unfortunately for his own kingdom, he never returns from this expedition. It's at this point that Gerhard chooses to go after him, and he leaves his brother Hector to rule the kingdom if neither of he nor their father returns. Danger lies around every corner, and Gerhard is immediately attacked as soon as he crossed the barrier. Left for dead, he is rescued by the people of a nearby town. He's nursed back to health, and sets out to uncover the mystery of what happened to his father, as well as find out who is behind the magic barrier.

The story is a rather simple one, but I appreciate the handful of twists it throws at the player. I didn't mention this earlier, but the entire game is being told to Gerhard's daughter by a bard that Gerhard meets on his adventure. This character spends most of his time drinking and singing in the town's sole tavern, and he instantly became my favorite character in the entire game. There isn't a whole lot more to the story until the very end, though the main quests do provide more insight into the game's world and its inhabitants. The starting village is the only one that stands fully occupied, and you soon learn all there is to know about the terrors that plague them. You also find hints regarding King Wilhelm's presence, but I'll leave that for players to discover on their own. Basic story or not, there's a dark tone to the game that you don't usually find in RPGs like this. Entire towns have wiped out by hordes of monsters and undead, and those mobs still wander about freely. Not only that, but you'll come across several survivors who help Gerhard out of obligation, but simply want to be left to die in peace. It's a surprisingly grim tale, but the tonal shifts do make the game stand out more than it probably would have otherwise. Ringlorn Saga doesn't have a story that rivals the RPG greats, but I do think it stands on par with some of the games it's trying to emulate. On that note, I think it's time to move the discussion over to gameplay.

Discussing Ringlorn Saga's gameplay is quite difficult, as it sounds really odd outside of the context of the game. We're going to tackle combat first, since that's what you'll be doing the most. Those who have played Ys or Hydlide are probably familiar with "bump attack" mechanics, which are a form of attack that takes place when you simply walk into an enemy. You can often take the enemy unaware, but you can just as often be subject to an enemy's attack as well. That's how combat works here, so don't expect to be swinging a sword. Gerhard has to combat stances: Attack and Defense. Defending means you deal less damage but are more resistant to enemy attacks, and Attacking is the opposite of that. Attacking also means you have your sword drawn in-game, and most NPCs won't talk to you unless you're in the defensive stance. No matter your stance, attacks are only as powerful as your Power (PWR) Meter dictates. It fills up quickly, but it goes to zero after each attack. This makes it so that thought has to be put into each attack, as rapidly striking an enemy is ineffective. That's not it either, as there are also three types of attacks that you can switch between as well. These are Stab, Slash, and Bash, with each causing different amount of damage depending on the enemy that you're facing. The game drops some hints as to what monsters are most susceptible to which attacks, but you'll mostly have to figure that out by way of trial and error early on. Defeating monsters grants you experience, and levelling up makes you stronger. Losing all your health doesn't mean a Game Over though, as you're instead taken back to the house you started in, and the only penalty to dying is the loss of some experience points.

Ringlorn Saga's combat system manages to be both complicated and easy to learn at the same time. I just laid out all you need to know in the last section, though getting that to work in-game requires a lot of hands on learning too. It also doesn't help that Gerhard starts out very weak, and you'll most likely stay in the Defense stance until you hit his second or third level. During this time you'll learn the ins and outs of attacking, and also the quirks of how to best take advantage of an enemy's movement. Some enemies move faster than others, but they're almost always vulnerable right after they've taken a step. You'll quickly learn to hit them and run away before they move again, and you'll eventually graduate to learning which attacks you can rely on most, and which enemies should be taken out first. Things get more complicated as the mobs grow bigger, as you'll find yourself switching back and forth constantly between stances and attacks. Since just about all monsters will take some damage from even the attacks their strong against, it sometimes might be easier to just go ham on everything with a single attack and hope for the best. It's best to get the hang of the core mechanics as soon as you can, as the difficulty scales with each level you gain. Though you'll be better equipped to deal with most enemies by the mid-point of the game, this is also when overworld mobs will start tossing in some of the game's strongest enemies. Since enemies constantly respawn, you'll eventually face a never-ending wave of monsters that it sometimes makes more sense to simply move past than fight. That's probably the best advice I can give, as learning when to ignore enemies is as important as knowing how to take them out.

There's more to Ringlorn Saga than just fighting of course, so let's cover some of the other aspects of the game. Like many other classics of the 8-Bit era, exploration in Ringlorn Saga is mostly open world beyond certain areas being blocked off by way of items you have to find in order to progress. There are also caves and dungeons to explore, though you'll want to avoid these in the early sections of the game. Exploring caves and dungeons is also a bit tricky, since these areas start out completely dark. You do gain access to a lantern early on, but it only helps out slightly. There are plenty of items to collect besides that lantern, though there really isn't an inventory system in the game. Most items are used automatically as needed, with little player input involved. This extends to equipment too, as more powerful weapons and armor simply replace weaker ones. On a slightly interesting note, gold isn't obtained by defeating enemies, and there actually is only a finite amount of it in the game. This doesn't really matter much since buying items isn't really a mechanic used here, but I thought it was worth mentioning anyway. There's also an entire magic system that opens up to the player, but it's probably a bit too complicated to explain here. Suffice it to say that you gain magic by completing an in-game quest, and you acquire more spells by "growing stronger". (Read: levelling up) You can go through much of the game without using magic, though you'll have a much easier time if you learn when to best apply it. And that pretty much covers the last bits of gameplay.

I personally had a blast playing through Ringlorn Saga, but even I have to admit that it's a bit rough around the edges. It's more than likely that your first 30-60 minutes of playing will be filled with frustration and annoyance, but I assure you that there is fun to be had once you get over that initial hurdle. The problem is that I'm not exactly sure that many will have the level of patience required to get to the point where the game truly becomes fun. Ringlorn Saga does do a decent job of explaining its gameplay quirks early on, but I honestly think that it was my prior experience with both Hydlide and Ys that readied me for what was to come. Players without that frame of reference will most likely rage quit long before things get interesting, as even I was tempted to do so once or twice. I obviously had a review to write, but I also knew that the game would get easier once I managed to get Gerhard to a better fighting state. This is a wonderful game that wears its inspirations on its sleeve, and it's not often that one sees a title succeed in capturing the essence of the games that it’s inspired by. I know that a lot of the game's charm would be lost if things were made too easy or dumbed down, but I also can't help but feel that it would've made the game far more accessible to those who didn't grow up playing games like this.

I don't really have a lot to say regarding Ringlorn Saga's graphics and music, so I'll cover them both right now. I'll be the first to admit that the look and feel of Ringlorn Saga is something of an acquired taste, but I think it looks great for what it is. It may not be as detailed and colorful as some of the more famous NES/Famicom ports of the Hydlide and Ys games, but there's no denying that the NEC PC-8801 vibes are alive and well here. Having said that, I do have to point out that there are countless retro-themed games out there with better pixel-based graphics. When I say that this game looks like a lost 8-Bit game, I mean that in both positive and negative terms. Stepping away from the visuals a bit, I found that the music leaves a lot to be desired. I'm actually very disappointed by this game's soundtrack, as I was expecting the music to match what can be found in other classics of the era. I know this isn't going to get a Yuzo Koshiro score, but the music here just doesn't sound all that good. There are a couple decent tunes here and there, but most are forgettable, and I grew to dislike the main overworld theme in particular. It's not a deal breaker by any means, but it makes for an uneven experience when coupled with the graphics. I have to commend the developers for sticking to their guns as far as presentation goes, but it's the one aspect of the game that I feel should've had a bit more of a modern touch.

Minor gripes aside, I loved every minute I put into Ringlorn Saga, and I give it the fullest of recommendations. It may be a bit too out there for casual Action RPG fans, but those who have fond memories of Hydlide and Ys will find plenty to enjoy here. Not only is the game fun and rewarding, but you can even pick it up for a very reasonable $9.99. The Nintendo Switch might be on its way out, but I love the idea of playing it on Nintendo's hybrid console. You can also pick it up for Steam, though I wasn't able to try out that version for this review. This game has been on my radar since its PC release, and I'm glad I finally got a chance to play it. I hope that Graverobber Foundation puts out more games like it, and I look forward to reviewing those in the future too. I do suggest they work a bit more on the soundtrack the next time around, but that's just my opinion. Anyway, that's all I have to say for now. See you in the next one!

Check Out Ringlorn Saga on Nintendo Switch:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/ringlorn-saga-switch/

Story: A
Gameplay: A-
Graphics: A-
Music/Sound: B
Value: A

Overall: A-

Pros:
+ A great homage to the Action RPGs that have went on to define the genre. This is a cut above most other retro-themed spiritual successor titles out there.
+ The combat system takes some getting used to, but it helps keep the game interesting to the very end.
+ Not only is the plot surprisingly deep for a game like this, but there's also a lot of humor in the writing that I wasn't expecting.
+ Though purposely difficult at times, the challenge is balanced enough to still be entertaining too.
+ The graphics very authentic to the time period they're trying to emulate, with some great monster designs too.
+ Priced very affordably for the quality, and amount, of content on offer.

+/- Proves that the Hydlide formula could've worked with a bit more polish!

Cons:
- The opening sections of the game feel like a trial by fire. You'll more than likely die a couple of times before you truly grasp what the game expects of you.
- The open-ended nature of exploration means that you're pretty much wandering around randomly looking for things to do. This is the one retro gaming mechanic that I wish wasn't included.
- I personally feel like the music didn't live up to the rest of the game's presentation. There are some good tracks, but most of them were forgettable.
- Though not a short game, it doesn't really invite much replayability once you've cleared it. There aren't even multiple save files to go at the game in different runs.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

#RinglornSagaConsole

]]><![CDATA[A Sword By Any Other Name: A Yasha: Legends of The Demon Blade Review]]>Tue, 20 May 2025 08:07:49 GMThttp://a-to-jconnections.com/gaming/a-sword-by-any-other-name-a-yasha-legends-of-the-demon-blade-reviewManuel

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, XBox One, XBox Series XS, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC (Steam)

I've had the pleasure of playing plenty of action roguelike games in recent years, but I have to admit that things are getting a bit crowded within that particular scene. It truly feels like a handful of new roguelike games release every week, and it can be hard to stand out amongst the crowd. Yasha: Legends of The Demon Blade is one such game, and it's currently available on all major platforms. We're going to be playing it on the PlayStation 5, and see if this game is worth your time. There's going to be a lot to go over in this one, so let's dive right in!

Yasha: Legends of The Demon Blade takes place in a fantasy-heavy version of the Edo period. I actually wouldn't say that the setting resembles anything close to real world or historical, but the game's official description claims otherwise. Either way, this is a world where humans and demons manage to co-exist in an uneasy peace. Occasional fighting and wars do break out, but both sides see the benefits of working with each other over a struggle for supremacy. Humans and demons might well have continued on like this if it weren't for the arrival of a powerful demon known as the Nine-tailed Fox. This all-powerful demon wants to rule the world, and just might have the power to do it. He's already rallied much of the Demon World behind him, and he then declares war on any others that are left. Among those that stand in his way are our three heroes: a human female ninja named Shigure, a demon emissary for the Demon King named Sara, and a humanoid tiger samurai named Taketora. These three are the characters you'll be playing as, and each of them have their own reasons for wanting to stop the Nine-tailed Fox.

One of the strangest aspects of Yasha: Legends of The Demon Blade is that you must play each of the characters' story modes separately. Whereas most games of the genre would just allow you to switch between them in your home base, here you have to go through the entire game three times if you want to see everything the game has to offer. Another odd quirk about this system is that each character has their own story. I know that might sound like an obvious thing to point out, but I mean that each character's story actually conflicts with the others, and there isn't really a "true" single storyline going on in the game. The same cast of characters and villains show up in each of the three main stories, but they have different roles, characteristics, and even backstories. I don't want to give away too much for fear of spoiling plot elements, but a good example of this is Shigure. You'd be forgiven for thinking that Shigure is Yasha: Legends of The Demon Blade's "true" main character, and she does portray herself as such in her own story. If you only played her campaign you'd still believe that she's the main protagonist, but that gets a bit twisted if you play anyone else's. Rather than being the hero destined to save both worlds, she suddenly takes on the role of an empty-headed crybaby in Sara's campaign, and a young child that has to be protected in Taketora's. It made me question why these stories weren't all created to properly tie into each other, and I can't help but wonder if three different teams worked on the three campaigns separately. It makes for a very uneven story, and one that I guess I can't really cover in any great detail here, even if I wasn't wary of spoilers.

I've not played the 2020's roguelike hit game Hades, but every so often I come across a game of the genre that I particularly like, and I'm often told that it's a "Hades Clone". Whether that's true or not is something I have yet to verify myself, but I am starting to notice that there are certain trends one finds in action roguelike games of the past few years. I mention all this to point out that Yasha: Legends of The Demon Blade is as basic as they come, and doesn't really have anything that'll surprise roguelike veterans. Yasha: Legends of The Demon Blade starts you in a central village where you can interact with NPCs and prepare for your next run, with each run being the actual meat and potatoes of the gameplay. A typical run is separated into core areas which are separated into smaller stages. You'll typically fight through enemies in two short stages, face a sub-boss, fight in two more stages, and then fight the area's actual boss. You'll be able to visit a safe are in-between these runs, and it's there that you'll be able to heal and upgrade your skills. You'll also gain enhancements to your weapons by clearing the smaller levels, and other bonuses can be obtained in ways not worth mentioning here. Losing all your health usually means death, and death means an end to the current run. You return back to the village, and you can begin a new run as soon as you're ready. Successfully clearing a run in its entirety actually opens up another chapter in the game, and you can eventually keep playing with ever-increasing difficulty. I'll leave the details of that last bit for players to discover for themselves.

Defeating most enemies will grant you two forms of currency, one to spend in the safe festival area in between stages, and one to use back at the village to unlock permanent upgrades. Bosses will also drop materials to unlock and upgrade weapons. Even though the game implies that some of permanent upgrades might share across all three characters (Why else put them into two separate screens?), they're all locked to the current campaign. I guess that makes sense when you think about it, but it does yet another level of tedium, since you'll be purchasing the exact same upgrades three different times. On the other hand, unlocking new weapons is a bit more interesting, as these can greatly alter how one plays the game. Each character has several weapons to choose from, with some giving bonuses for performing certain actions, or others focuses in on a specific type of attack. Each character starts out with a weapon that's fairly balanced, but you can equip another that better fits your particular playing style. I personally prefer faster light attacks, so I usually went for weapons that favored those. I really have to give credit to the game for giving players plenty of options. Other than weapons and upgrades, there really isn't anything else for players do in the village. There are NPCs to interact with, but they rarely have anything interesting to say. I typically just checked on all my upgrades, made sure my favorite weapons were equipped, and went on my way. I also never figured out how to save the game outside of winning, losing, or suspending a run, so I often left anything having to do with the village until my next session. Yasha: Legends of The Demon Blade offers a gameplay loop that's not without its charm, but there are some aspects that keep it far from perfect.

I didn't really discuss combat up to this point because there really isn't all that much to it. Each character can do light and heavy attacks, and you can dash to get out of most tricky situations. Taketora is a bit unique as his light attack is a long-ranged one, but that's about it. You can also perform special attacks with the use of a shoulder button, and that button also performs several parry-based actions. If there's one thing I absolutely loathed about Yasha: Legends of The Demon Blade's battle mechanics, it's the emphasis it puts on parrying. Most enemies will flash a ring around themselves right before they attack, and pressing the special attack button will allow you to perform a parry. The timing of this is very precise, and there's actually more to it that's hard to explain in writing. Besides simple parries, some can be charged up, and each parry has a powerful counter attack that can be performed by pressing the button again. If the regular parry was the bane of my existence, than the charged parry made me want to rage quit more than once. Not only is the timing of the charged parry even trickier, but you'll often find that you're facing the wrong direction to actually pull it off. The controls simply don't allow for parrying to be pulled off with any semblance of regularity, and the entire mechanic felt broken.

Some of you are probably wondering why I bothered parrying at all if I couldn't pull it off very well, but that's because the game truly does require you to master it. I'm not exaggerating when I say that many enemies require a parry to defeat with anything short of time and luck, and most boss battles will take twice as long to clear if you're not properly executing every parry possible. I mostly soldiered through the game the old fashioned way anyway, but it was anything but easy, and barely much fun. Parrying is also nearly impossible to do when there's more than one enemy on the screen. Sometimes enemies flash close to each other, and the game seems to have trouble figuring out what it is you're trying to do. Other times I'll successfully pull off a parry, only to be hit by another enemy whose attack also breaks the counter I was hoping to land. It really is more trouble than it was worth, and that one wonky bit of gameplay brought everything down a notch or two. It's one of the worst systems I've ever seen in any action game, let alone a fast-paced roguelike. Sadly, it's the only thing that makes Yasha: Legends of The Demon Blade unique, and it's the one aspect of the game I suggest ignoring if you want to retain your sanity.

That's not the only problem I had with the game, as it also doesn't take long for you to see everything that Yasha: Legends of The Demon Blade has to offer. Even though the three characters all have different stories that are largely independent from each other, they all go through the same stages, and fight the same bosses. Speaking of which, the bosses you face will never change between runs, and the stages themselves will often feature the exact same enemies too. I'm sure there has to be some sort of variety to each run, but don't expect too much on that front. There also isn't a whole lot that the character upgrades do. Most of them feel like minor upgrades, and it makes most character builds have a "same-y" feel to them. In other words, it won't take long before you realize that you're playing through the game with a largely generic character, and are clearing the same dozen or so stages over and over again. Some will argue that I'm describing much of the roguelike genre with that statement, but things are different here. I cleared a run fully with Shigure in my first ninety minutes with the game, and was shocked to realize that nothing changed over the next few hours. Sure the game got harder, but it was the same game. It got boring fast, and there was nothing to do once that boredom took hold.

Not only does Yasha: Legends of The Demon Blade get boring quickly, but the plotlines don't do the game any favors when it comes to keeping players invested. Each of the campaigns somehow felt both weirdly complicated, and totally irreverent at the same time. I never really knew if the game was supposed to be taken seriously, and there was also plenty of humor that just didn't land. There's tonal whiplash all over the place, and I never grew to accept the inconsistent characterization between campaigns. I found it very hard to sit through some of the game's dialogue sections, and probably would've skipped them entirely if it weren't for the fact that I knew I had to write about the game. The overall thin story had me wondering if this game was even finished at all.

It's not all negatives though, as I can go on and on about how great Yasha: Legends of The Demon Blade's visuals and music are. I played the game on the PlayStation 5, and it ran without a single hiccup. It didn't push the hardware anywhere near its limits either, so I have to assume that it'll run decently on the other platforms it's on as well. Yasha: Legends of The Demon Blade features a cool anime art style, with the stage, character, and enemy designs all looking unique and interesting. It's actually disappointing that the game is so short, as I would've loved to see more of what it has to offer. There were times where I felt like things vaguely looked like something I'd seen before, but I think that mainly has to do with the generic nature of the plot and setting. Outside of those issues, I don't have anything but positives to say about the graphics. The level of detail is such that things still look great when the camera is zoomed out, and even small things like the Game Over and results screens have visuals that made me want to instantly take a screen shot. Visuals may not be the most important aspect to a game, but they do lift this one above the rest. At least a little bit.

Outside of graphics, the music and voice acting are both top notch as well, even though the latter was brought down a bit by the weak writing. Easily skipped banter and jokes aside, the voice acting does hold up well, and the game does feature a complete English track. I was totally not expecting to find that in an indie release like this, so that was a pleasant surprise to say the least. I'm not sure if any of the voices are big names in the industry, but the cast all do as great a job with their roles as they can. Elsewhere, the music made up for a lot of the game's other failings, and was full of music that fit each and every scene it was placed in. Several tracks stuck in my head long after I was done with the game, and I mean that in the best way possible. It eventually got to the point where I began wondering if I should look up the soundtrack to the game for me to listen to on its own, but maybe this is one experience I don't want reminders of. Good music can only go so far.

At the end of the day, I really don't know what to say about Yasha: Legends of The Demon Blade. It's not a horrible game, but there isn't a whole lot to it. It's priced relatively cheap ($29.99), and looks and sounds impressive, but it's hard to recommend it when there are so many other good roguelike games out there. Maybe if this had released a couple years ago it would've stood out in the crowd, but I can think of several other games that do this gameplay formula far more justice. I guess diehards of the genre might find something to enjoy here, and it is easy enough for casuals to dip their toes into, but there's not much reason to play it beyond that. I'm far from hating it, but I'm also very glad that I don't have to pick it up again anytime soon. I guess you can just take that as you will, and I'll take my leave on that note. See you in the next one!

Check Out Yasha: Legends of The Demon Blade on PlayStation:
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/HP5249-PPSA27100_00-0743603662012908

Story: B-
Gameplay: C
Graphics: A
Music/Sound: A
Value: B-

Overall: B-

Pros:
+ A visually unique action roguelike game that has a charm to it that's hard to define.
+ Just about everything having to do with the visuals, such as character and enemy designs, are top notch.
+ Music and voice acting are both on point, and the game even features a full English dub.
+ The variety in weapons, and play styles between the three characters, does make each campaign feel unique.
+ Though the challenge can be raised once you've cleared the game, the base difficulty is low enough that this could serve as an entry point to those new to the genre.

Cons:
- The reliance on the parry system nearly made me quit the game. Nothing about it feels precise, and the game pretty much requires that you master it if you want to do well.
- There isn't a whole lot of variety here. There are only a handful of stages, bosses, and even enemy types and mobs. It won't take very long for you to see everything the game has to offer.
- It's not only strange that each character has their own campaign, but even stranger that the stories themselves seem totally independent of each other.
- There just isn't enough variety in gameplay and character customization to make this feel like a truly excellent roguelike game.
- With so many other similar games coming out these days, it's hard to recommend one as middle-of-the-road as this one is.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

I did find Shigure's constant appetite to be rather amusing.

]]><![CDATA[Game Review: Class of Heroes 2G: Remastered Edition]]>Mon, 19 May 2025 07:00:00 GMThttp://a-to-jconnections.com/gaming/game-review-class-of-heroes-2g-remastered-editionBy Al

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PC (Steam)

I've already mentioned my love of the first two Class of Heroes titles in my review of the first game (Which can be found HERE), but I think it's the sequel where things really get interesting. Rounding out the new PQube-published Class of Heroes re-releases is Class of Heroes 2G: Remastered Edition available now for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and PC. We will once again be taking a look at the PlayStation 5 release, but I'm sure most of what I'm going to say will apply to both versions. I already know that this is going to be a long one, so let's jump right into it!

The Class of Heroes series isn't exactly known for its strong stories, and Class of Heroes 2G is no different in that regard. You play as a new student at Crostini Academy, and you're tasked with creating and guiding a group of fellow students on the road to becoming the best adventurers the world has ever seen. Once again I'm a little confused as to who exactly it is that you're playing as, since you're addressed directly by several NPCs before you even assemble your first party of adventurers. Third party protagonist or not, neither you nor the characters you create have any particular role to play within the story itself, instead things are driven forward by the game's many NPCs. It probably goes without saying that the cast is just as colorful this time around, with fellow student Olive being your main point of contact between the Academy and your party. There are several more students and teachers for you to get to know as well. There's the silly dwarf student Coppa, the wishes-he-was-a-fairy laboratory instructor Giorgio, the unbeatable swordsmaster Dante, the slightly creepy Vice Principal Vese, the rather sus health teacher Galenus, and plenty of others that I don't have time to discuss. Class of Heroes 2G has dozens of characters of all types, and I'm pleased to say that they're all well-written and easy to love. While I do think that these characters do a good job driving the game forward, the school setting does feel a bit removed from the gameplay. I praised the first game for integrating the Academy itself into most of its other systems, but there's quite a bit of less of that here. While there probably won't be many stretches of the game where you're not reminded that you're simply a group of students, it doesn't really give players the same feeling of your adventures taking the place of attending classes or taking tests. I guess one could just imagine the entire game as a series of afterschool sessions, but I do think it's a missed opportunity to expand on what the first game provided.

In my review for Class of Heroes I discussed my history with the series, and my many biases between the first two games. I basically stated that I loved both games for different reasons, but I feel that Class of Heroes 2G is where the series really gets off the ground. Even though that may sound like I played the second game far more than the first, that wasn't actually the case. I don't want to get too deep into the weeds when it comes to details that don't matter, but it took years for me to finally get my hands on Class of Heroes 2. Basically the original PSP and PS3 versions of the game were released in very limited physical versions only to people who preordered them from a company known as GaijinWorks. This release (at least the PSP version) was first mentioned back in 2009/10, but it wasn't until 2013 that players in the West were able to finally play it. I was indeed one of the lucky few who got both physical releases, but I played them both digitally to preserve what are probably some of the rarest games I own. I immediately fell in love with the original PSP version, but initially cut my time with it short when I learned that an updated PS3 release was coming soon. This release was the actually the one we're reviewing today, and it included all sorts of additions and even full voice acting. Though I did play that one too, I never really strayed from the PSP version. The problem was that by 2013 I wasn't really playing my PSP. I basically only kept it around for Class of Heroes 2, and that meant that my time with it was far more limited than the first game. That didn't mean I didn't enjoy it far more than the first, but I figured it was worth pointing out that my biases aren't based simply on having played one more than the other. With all that in mind, I'll try to keep my comparisons as relevant as possible, and my biases to a minimum.

I could very easily make this review twice as long by simply rehashing what I've already said about gameplay in my review for the first Class of Heroes game. Rather than doing that, I think I’m going to instead focus on discussing what this game does differently, and provide context as needed. While both Class of Heroes games are dungeon crawlers, I like to think of the first one as being heavily influenced by the unforgiving classic Wizardry games, while this one goes for a more player-friendly approach. The steep learning curve is still there, and you'll more than likely have a few encounters that take out your entire party in one fell swoop, but Class of Heroes 2G does a much better job when it comes to establishing better difficulty and progression balance. You once again assemble a party of up to six adventurers, and this time the default party is not complete expulsion-worthy trash. I actually used the default characters as my main party for the purposes of this review, and it's not a bad idea for players new to the genre/series to do the same. If you choose to create your own characters, you'll find that there's a lot of new additions this time around. All the races return, but their bonuses and weaknesses are better implemented, and there is far more variety within the character classes. I mentioned most of the notable races the first time around, but it's worth mentioning that there aren't as many "obvious" classes certain races are forced into. Fairies are still mainly magic users, dwarves still have high strength and the like, Elves make good rangers as always, but you can more realistically put most any race into any class if you have enough patience and determination. Besides the obvious classes like fighter, monk, mage, and ranger, you can also create ninjas, puppeteers, and idols. There are also advanced classes that require stat minimums that have to be met by levelling up in an adjacent class. Each race and class feel far more unique this time around, and there doesn't seem to be as much pointless filler. I did find it a bit odd that just about every class learns magic even if it doesn't seem like they should (Looking at you fighter!), but I guess class growth of that kind isn't exactly anything to complain about.

Character creation and party balance isn't the only way the game is improved, as there are several other quality of life changes that speedline adventuring. For example, magic no longer has a per use cost but uses MP instead. This change means that magic users are far more useful early on as they aren't limited to just two or three spells before they have to rest. Exploration is made easier as fast travel can be achieved once you purchase an area's map and have filled in the relevant areas. This makes the frequent retreads through lower level areas far less of a chore in the long run. The entire alchemy system is made more streamlined, and you no longer have to identify materials before they can be used. Getting rid of that identify step not only ensures that players will actually use the alchemy mechanic, but it's also a big weight lifted off the party's budget. Then there's the alignment system that's been made more refined, which along with synergy is made far less important than it was in the first game. That may sound like a negative, but it actually means that gambits can be used far more frequently, and that you'll have access to more of them too. I can go on like this, but I think you get the point regarding this game's improvements. It almost feels as if the developers put out a survey asking what players didn't particularly enjoy in the first game, and then actually worked to improve the game based on those suggestions. I don't want to make it sound like it's all a cakewalk now, because it really isn't. There simply far fewer aspects of the game that seem to work against players this time around.

Considering the fact that you'll be spending much of your time in dungeons, let's discuss those for a bit. While they pretty much operate the same as they did in the first game, there are some changes worth mentioning. While I already discussed the fast travel bit earlier, the map system makes things far more accessible to the player. You can see warp tiles and traps on the maps, and there are even notations on each exit that indicate where they lead. The first dungeon in the game, The Forest of Beginnings, is also probably the best intro to the game that once could hope for. It seems large and expansive when you first enter it, but you'll quickly learn the layout of its four regions in no time. It also serves as an indirect tutorial to multiple game mechanics as you'll learn about different tile types, monster encounter spaces, the floating mechanic, and even how event squares work. It's a fun little area that you'll see a lot as you'll be forced to pass through it several times in the early game in order to get to the more advanced dungeons in the game. The repeated pass-throughs were rather enjoyable though, as there's probably no better feeling of accomplishment than plowing through enemy encounters that used to give you trouble. There will definitely still be times where you get find yourself in a jam several maps deep, but this is no trial-by-fire first dungeon. Even when you get beyond that dungeon, don't expect to get your entire party stuck in a hopeless situation like you could in the first game either. Hell, I'm not even sure this game even has a party rescue mechanic because I never once had to use it.

Class of Heroes 2G is a very non-linear game, and its story is mainly told via a series of quests. This is my cue to once again say that I miss how integrated the school aspect was in the first game's main questlines. While you still get all your quests from fellow students and faculty, there inclusion could very well be an afterthought. That not to say that the quests here aren't without their own charm. What Class of Heroes 2G ditches in keeping the framing up at all times, it gains in sheer characterization and world-building. Many quests will introduce you to new characters in very a natural way, and you'll come to learn all about them the more you complete their requests. Even though the game feels like it moves quite a bit faster than the first, it has a much bigger world that features many more dungeons, more cities, and even three schools. The other two academies don't come into play until quite a bit into the game, but they're a neat addition nonetheless. Early on you'll find that you have to finish every quest in order for the story to progress, but things become more open-ended as the game goes on. Nearly half the game is made up of optional quests and areas, but I think that's one of the things that makes this sequel far greater. You can never have too much of a good thing, right?

I guess all my talk about gameplay in Class of Heroes 2G is circling around to the point that this probably the single best example of a dungeon crawling RPG of its era that you're likely to ever play. While I wouldn't say that it's perfect, I would say that it's damn near close. It surpasses the first game in just about every way, and maybe is only outdone by its own sequel. (Note: I have yet to play Class of Heroes 3.) I pointed out in my review for the first game that I'd refrain from talking too much about this one, but it seems that I didn't hold myself to that same standard in the writing of this review. I guess that has more to do with the both games being released back-to-back this time around, but it also has to do with the fact that Class of Heroes 2G feels more like an improved redux of the first game rather than a true sequel. There's obviously different characters and a different story here, but everything about it seems to be an attempt to perfect the first game's formula rather than attempting a true follow-up. This was actually a problem I had when I played the game back on the PSP, as it simply replaced Class of Heroes in my rotation in a way that sequels usually don't. I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you're only planning on playing one Class of Heroes game, make it Class of Heroes 2G. You really won't regret it. Now excuse me as I slowly regret making that point in a review that's only about halfway done.

Seeing as both Class of Heroes games have very similar art styles, you'd think I'd have to say that they both fare about the same when it comes to visuals, but I'd still have to give Class of Heroes 2G the edge. Not only do the character, monster, and area designs all look as good as the first game, but there are far more of them too. While I still have the same gripe regarding the rather limited character portraits, the game makes up for it with just about everything else it offers. There's more detail to everything, less reliance on text-only menus, and the various dungeons and base locations have their own distinct look and feel. Simply put, the world feels more fleshed out in ways that are hard to explain. Races like the dwarves, felpurrs, and fairies felt rather generic the first time around, here they have personalities all their own. That may sound like a point that shouldn't be included in a discussion on visuals, but you'll see what I mean once you start meeting students of the various races. I guess I have to say that I miss not having a robust image gallery in this one, but not only is that a rather small issue in the grand scheme of things, but I'm also not sure it won't unlock once I fully beat the game. There still isn't a lot in the way of actual animation, but one could make the point that it's a limitation that's present in many other titles in the genre. Also, while I would definitely expect things to be far more impressive if this was a newly released game in 2024, we have to of course remember that this is an update of a game that's well over a decade old. In that regard I guess we can forgive its few graphical shortcomings, even though I don't think any concession needs to be made in regard to the game's visuals.

Going along with the overall theme of the review, I have pretty much nothing negative to say about the music or sound design in Class of Heroes 2G. The soundtrack is perfect for what it is, even if I do sometimes think that the dungeon music is a bit too dramatic and ominous than it needs to be. Thanks to the overall length of the game, the soundtrack is quite large, and there isn't a bad track in the bunch. In fact, there are several that were stuck in my head throughout my time writing this review. I often say things like: "I'm going to go pick up this soundtrack after I'm done with the game!" but in this case I already have it. The limited PSP release I mentioned earlier came with a 2-Disc soundtrack, and it's been one of my favorites throughout the years. And that's just talking about the instrumentals. The opening cutscene and closing credits feature amazing vocal tracks that have seen heavy rotation in my video game playlists. If that were all I had to say about things it would be fine enough, but unlike the original Class of Heroes, this game is fully voiced. This little touch of presentation brings the entire world to life, and it's one of the main reasons why I keep going back to the fact that I love the game's characters. They're just made all the more memorable and endearing through the voice acting. Admittedly there is no English dub option, but that's never been an issue for me. That said, it would've been nice to have included an English-language option since the game was getting the remastered treatment. Once again, I have nothing at all bad to say about the sound in Class of Heroes 2G, and I encourage everyone to grab its soundtrack after you're done with this review!

I mentioned in my review for the first Class of Heroes game that one of the few things it had over its sequel was its difficulty and hardcore dungeon crawling nature. I have yet to personally compare the two games in regards to how long it takes to clear everything in each of them, but I can say that they both square up rather evenly when it comes down to their runtime. Even though Class of Heroes 2G is a lot smoother in its progression and difficulty, it stuffs in far more content than the first game. There are many more dungeons to explore, more locations to see, dozens of party combinations to try out, and it's simply the more enjoyable experience overall. The biggest factor has to be that it cares far more about your time than the first game did. You can probably clear the main storyline in about 30 hours if you're just running through the main questline, but you're looking at well over 50 hours if you really want to see everything the game has to offer. I never actually completed the game fully back on the PSP, but I recall putting in about that many hours nonetheless. This is quite the time sink of a game, but none of the time spent on it feels like filler. Considering that both Class of Heroes games currently come with the same $19.99 price tag, it probably makes sense as to which game I suggest you go with if you're only going to get one. Once again, they're both great and offer their own unique gameplay quirks, but Class of Heroes 2G is a must buy for fans of dungeon crawling RPGs.

I'm sure it comes as no surprise that I give Class of Heroes 2G: Remastered Edition the highest of recommendations. It's an amazing game that has truly held up over the years, and it's an excellent dungeon crawling RPG. Getting to play it again was a delight, and I hope that this means that we'll be getting the third game in the series soon. I didn't mention it earlier, but there's actually a more recent spin-off game in the series that players might want to check out once they clear this. It's called Adventure Academia, and it's a very different game. Anyway, grab this one on whatever platform you can and thank me later. Just make sure you're not late to class or Dante will make sure you pay for it!

Check Out Class of Heroes 2G: Remastered Edition on PlayStation:
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/concept/10005571

Story: A-
Gameplay: A
Graphics: A
Music/Sound: A
Value: A+

Overall: A

Pros:
+ A near perfect dungeon crawling RPG that improves on the first game in just about every way.
+ Hits the perfect difficulty balance where things never feel too easy or difficult.
+ Great monster, character, and dungeon designs make this a feast for the eyes.
+ Not only does the game feature an amazing soundtrack, but it's fully voice acted too.
+ Even though it moves far faster than the first game, it still features about double the content.
+ Advanced character classes, optimized party setups, and a rich alchemy system give players a lot to dive into.
+ At just $19.99, it's a must buy for any fan of the genre.

Cons:
- Even though it's better balanced overall, it still has a rather steep learning curve.
- While there aren't any character classes that feel useless this time around, there are some that feel far more overpowered than others.
- Definitely more heavy on gameplay over story, so it may not be for those looking for a more plot-driven experience.
- Though it didn't bother me at all, the game doesn't have an English-language dub.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

This game even has its own Tingle!

#ClassOfHeroes2

]]><![CDATA[Game Review: Class of Heroes: Anniversary Edition]]>Fri, 16 May 2025 07:00:00 GMThttp://a-to-jconnections.com/gaming/game-review-class-of-heroes-anniversary-editionBy Al

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PC (Steam)

I'm a huge fan of the classic dungeon crawling RPG series Class of Heroes, and I was excited to hear that the first two games in the series were getting updated releases for modern platforms. Out now on Steam, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch by way of PQube Entertainment, we're going to be taking a look at both games on the PlayStation 5. This review is going to be for the first game, but the second one will be coming soon. Enough with intros, let's get into it!

Even though the name implies that the game is going to be in a classroom setting, I don't think most players will realize how literally the developers take that premise until they get into the game. Class of Heroes puts you into the shoes of a first year student in the recently-opened Particus Academy, and the goal of this Academy is to train young recruits into battle-ready adventurers. There is no main character that you play as, instead you seem to be a third-party student who assembles and leads various groups of other students into the dungeons that surround the campus. Class of Heroes does give you some basic characters to start with, but I found them to not be very optimized. That said, it'll take a long time for new players to understand the ins and outs of character creation, so you'll most likely be stuck with them early on. Even though the characters you play as are all something resembling blank slates, there is an entire roster of NPCs that make of the teachers and other residents of the Academy. These include the drunk dwarf healer at the infirmary, the always hungry Vice Principal Ryna, the somewhat hunky elf Dox who works in the Lab, and your cute classmate Sara. Fans of dungeon crawlers like the Wizardry series are most likely familiar with this story-lite form of gameplay, but it might put off players new to the genre. Rather than judge the game for not really revealing what it's really "about" until well past the beginning, I think it's worth looking at how well it integrates its premise into the standard dungeon crawler formula. Personally, I think it succeeds on that front, as you'll find that most of your quests come in the form of lessons from your teachers, and even the more advanced ones never forget that you're still a student in the academy. While this game will most likely never win any awards for its storytelling, it does a really good job with worldbuilding and in giving you reasons to care about the characters you encounter.

Before we jump into discussing gameplay, I have to get something off my chest right away. I loved Class of Heroes way back when it released on the PSP over a decade ago, and I put countless hours into it back then. It's a great game that I have lots of fond memories playing well into the night. This remake does do a great job of recapturing that magic, but it doesn't bring much else to the table. I'm not one to complain too much when a re-release doesn't add a lot of new content if it does a good job with the base game, but the problem with this release is that it's releasing at the same time as the remake of Class of Heroes 2. It probably goes without saying that Class of Heroes 2 is the far better game in the series, as it's essentially an enhanced version of this first game. (Owing to the fact that this series has always been more focused on gameplay over story.) This is made even more complicated by the fact that a lot of releases of this game come bundled with its sequel. Reviewing it on its own is a task I'm more than up to, but I find it hard to be unbiased when I know that there's a much better version of the same game just around the corner. Anyhow, I wanted to get that out of the way now since I'm sure I'll be referring back to how this game falls short of its sequel many times in the review, and I need readers to understand how similar the two games really are. I'll try to keep it to a minimum though, and even I have to admit that there are quite a few things that keep Class of Heroes unique from the other games in its series.

Discussing gameplay in Class of Heroes is both simple and complicated, as mentioning what it offers is easy enough, but every in-game system has a depth to it that you'll have to experience for yourself to truly understand. The entire game takes place in first person, with all the non-dungeon exploring sections being handled mainly in the form of menus. After you create your characters, or accept the ones you're given by default, you then assemble a party of up to six adventures with which you'll be doing all your adventuring with. Each character has a class, race, and alignment, with several of them being unique to this game. It'll take me far too long to explain them all, but rest assured you're getting far more than the standard Humans, Elves, and Dwarves here. Classes are also fairly unique as while you have standards like fighter, thief, and mage, they're also mixed in with more unique classes like the summoner and the valkyrie. All classes require a stat minimum to go into, so that means that some races are better suited to some classes than others. If you're dead set on creating a specific race/class type, then you'll have to spend time levelling up in an adjacent class until you hit the stat minimum. Oh, and I'm using terms like "character class" for simplicities sake, but the game refers to their class system as "courses". Each character has a set amount of money and equipment which you'll have to get used to as it'll take quite a while before you're able to afford any upgrades. With all that in place, you're ready to begin the extremely long journey of seeing your party grow strong enough so they're not wiped out from a single badly timed encounter.

The stuff you do in the Academy is pretty self-explanatory, and mainly things one would do in any town in any other RPG, so I'm going to focus a bit more on the dungeon exploring here. This makes sense of course, as that's what you'll be doing the most of in-game. Each time you enter the dungeon, you have a chance of coming into it via one of several entrances. This is important as some of these entrances offer far easier challenges than others. There's no readily viewable automap in game, but there is a spell that brings one up temporarily if you have the character class that's able to cast it. Random encounters can happen with each step, but some battles happen on pre-determined spaces indicated by crossed swords. Combat is usually taken in waves, where only the frontlines of both the party and the enemies are able to attack. In terms of your own party, the frontline are the first three characters in line that you'll see on the left side of the screen. The back three characters act as support, and they can only use ranged attacks or magic if they have them available. These same rules apply to large groups of monsters, though they have the ability to change rows in the middle of combat. Since this game leans heavily on the uber-hard gameplay style of the Wizardry series, don't expect battles to simply go your way if you keep up with your strongest attacks. Strategies are often needed for even the simplest of monster groupings, and you'll find that you have to run back to the Academy to rest after every battle or two. This latter point is made even more troublesome when you realize that healing your characters directly is prohibitively expensive. Instead you're going to want to have your priest heal you with their spells and then rest for free (or for far less if you're outside of the academy) to regain their spell slots. This plays a lot like old school Dungeons & Dragons, right down to the lack of an MP system. By the time you survive several battles, you'll start to notice that you don't get a lot of rewards for beating battles. That's right, experience and money are both in rather short supply, with the latter basically being limited to selling off found loot for the entire first section of the game. While this does make Class of Heroes a rather difficult game, it isn't without its own brand of fun.

I probably scared away a lot of potential players by laying out the game's brutal difficulty and unforgiving nature, but make no mistake, Class of Heroes doesn't pull any punches and I'm not exaggerating in the slightest. Things cans actually prove to be so difficulty that you can actually get yourself stuck in a dungeon, without enough resources to properly find your way out. Thankfully (I guess?) there's an entire mechanic that centers on retrieving lost party members by creating and sending in an entire second team. This was something I was very familiar with during my time with the game on the PSP, and I'll admit that I had to do it early on when I lost my initial party (made up of the default characters) in the second dungeon of the game. While this may sound like anything but fun, there is a sense of accomplishment once you realize that you've built your party up to the point where they're crushing monsters that formerly gave them trouble. Let's not focus on the fact that it'll take several hours of gameplay before you get to that point. That's actually one of the biggest problems I have with Class of Heroes versus Class of Heroes 2, the time it takes for you to be in the "tutorial" part of the game. Depending on how you play, it can take between 5-10 hours just to get strong enough to finish the initial batch of quests, courses, and dungeons. It's all very slow going and it won't be until several dungeons in that monsters will start dropping enough money and loot for you to even upgrade your equipment, or even think about playing around with things like the alchemy system. There are some quirks that can speed the process along, but it really should be marked as a detriment of the game that one of the best ways to get through the early sections is by essentially cheating. There's a very deep game here for those willing to put in the time, but the question is whether anyone is willing or able to.

Even though I have some misgivings about playing Class of Heroes in a modern setting, there's no denying that this is a great looking game. The monster and character designs are all on point, and the anime style is the best the JRPG genre has to offer. There's even some unique touches to the world that are easy to miss early on. While the game offers a cat-people race in the form of the Felpurr that I'm sure everyone will love, it also has a dog-like race in its take on dwarves. They're not the only one to be different than what you'd expect either, as the gnomes are actually doll-like automatons, and this send-up of classic fantasy tropes can be seen in several of the monster types too. Admittedly there really isn't anything in the game that could count as animation, but it looks so great that you probably won't notice that most of it is made up of static images. Speaking of static images, one of the coolest things included in this version of the game has to be the image gallery that's available from the options menu. This gallery features tons of concept art, manga panels, and all sorts of promotional pieces taken from various points in the game's life. I spent so much time perusing the gallery, and my only gripe with it has to be that I can't just save the pictures to my hard drive so I can have them accessible outside of playing the game. Since I feel like I'm raving about the game's visuals a bit too much here, I guess I can point out the only real issue I had with them in general: the lack of variety in character portraits. For a game that all but requires to create several party members in order to complete it, I found it very odd that you're only given two portraits for each race, one for male and one for female. There isn't even any variant for classes, even though all the portraits seem to show them in their "default" one. That's not really a big issue though, and it's one of the few that's shared with its sequel.

The sound design in Class of Heroes is a mixed, as I feel it's somehow one of the strongest aspects of the game, yet also one of the weakest. Going for the positives first, the game features a very robust soundtrack that doesn't have a single bad track included. The school themes are relaxing, the dungeon themes are ominous, and the battle themes get the blood boiling. There's even a cool song for the opening cutscene. I have no complaints at all when it comes to the game's music, and that same sentiment extends to the sound effects too. Sound effects are often overlooked, but Class of Heroes has some thwacks and bangs that really make it feel like damage is being done to whoever is on the receiving end of attacks. There's even some monster battle and death cries that live rent free in my head even now. Simply put, there's a lot to love about the sound design but it does have one big flaw: a lack of voice acting. Let me start by pointing out that there are indeed some vocal bits here and there, mainly in the form of battle cries and the like, but the game is pretty much silent for most of its runtime. I know it's unfair to keep comparing it to Class of Heroes 2, but it's so jarring to experience that game being fully voice acted, and then coming back here to nothing but silently scrolling text. Back during the game's original PSP release, I didn't notice nor care that there wasn't any voice acting, but seeing as these two games are being released simultaneously, I can't help but feel that it's yet another aspect that makes the first game feel inferior to the second. The lack of voice acting is by no means a deal breaker of course, but I can't help but wish the developers went that extra mile for this re-release.

If you're planning on picking up Class of Heroes on its own, you're looking at a very long game. It may not seem like it'll take a long time to complete the core questline, but you'll quickly realize that much of your time will be spent making refining and retooling your party. Class changes will come and go, and you'll probably end up shuffling between a dozen characters. I bring all this up mainly in regards to the game's longevity. Even if you speed through the game, you're looking at a very old school-esque time of about 50+ hours. You can easily spend more time on the game than that of course, and I'm pretty sure I logged upwards of 100 hours back on the PSP. This leads me to what I'm sure is my last point of comparison between this game and Class of Heroes 2: its gameplay loop. If you're looking for a hardcore dungeon crawler that is tough-as-nails and gives no quarter, then you might enjoy this game more. If you want a far more balanced experience, that feels like it's more aware that your time is precious, then you might want to skip this game altogether for its sequel. One can argue that you can just play both, but these aren't story-rich games, there's really no reason to play one over the other beyond preferring their gameplay styles. No matter how you look at it though, this is quite a long game and it's very much worth its $19.99 asking price.

If you're a fan of dungeon crawlers, and want your games to be a bit more on the old-school Wizardry side of the difficulty spectrum, then you're going to want to grab Class of Heroes: Anniversary Edition. It's a great game that offers up a very challenging gameplay experience. If you're looking for something a bit more casual though, then you're probably better off picking up Class of Heroes 2 instead. This all of course only really applies if you plan on purchasing each game separately, as there are physical and digital collections that bundle them together. Maybe go with that latter option and get the full Class of Heroes experience. If you choose to play the first game though, be sure to clear out your week, because you're going to be here a while!

Check Out Class of Heroes: Anniversary Edition on PlayStation:
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/concept/10008370

Story: B
Gameplay: B-
Graphics: A
Music/Sound: B-
Value: A

Overall: B

Pros:
+ A great chance to revisit a classic PSP dungeon crawling RPG on modern consoles.
+ Lots of character customization and creation options in terms of stats and abilities.
+ A challenging, difficult game that feels rather unique even in its own series.
+ Excellent art design, visuals, and music make this game pleasurable to all the senses.
+ Lots of content at a very reasonable price.

Cons:
- Is somewhat hard to recommend picking this one up on its own when Class of Heroes 2 is also available.
- There are some gameplay elements, like the class change mechanic, that feel a bit too complicated for their own good.
- Difficulty spikes are all over the place, and it's easy to get yourself stuck in a dungeon.
- The lack of voice acting really stands out here.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

A man after my own heart!

#ClassOfHeroes

]]><![CDATA[A Bad Moon Rising: A Raging Loop Review]]>Wed, 14 May 2025 10:14:59 GMThttp://a-to-jconnections.com/gaming/a-bad-moon-rising-a-raging-loop-reviewBy Manuel

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, XBox One, XBox Series XS, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC (Steam)

I have found memories of playing Among Us during those awkward pandemic years, and the game we're going to look at today took me back to the days of calling each other "sus", or accusing my friends of going through the vents. Raging Loop is a visual novel that comes to us from developer Kemco, and publisher PQube. It's been out for quite a while on all major platforms, including mobile devices, and we're going to be looking at it today on the Nintendo Switch. This is a game that's been on my radar since even before the Among Us days, and I'm glad that I finally got a chance to play it. There's going to be a lot to go over in this one, so let's just get straight to the review!

Raging Loop places you into the role of Haruaki Fusaishi, a Tokyo resident who is currently on a trip through the Japanese countryside following a break-up. His carefree jaunt through the backwoods is cut short when he gets into an accident after a creepy conbini visit, and crashes his badly-insured motorcycle. Not sure where to go to get help in such a remote region, he's thankfully rescued by a college student named Chiemi Serizawa. Chiemi is a resident of a nearby mountain village named Yasumizu, and she invites him back to her place to spend the night so that he can hopefully fix his bike in the morning. Despite the setup, nothing happens beyond some heavy drinking, and the night goes off without a hitch. We don't know it yet, but that will be the last "normal" night of the game. The following day Haruaki realizes that he's in a rather sticky situation, as the entire town is suspicious of him, and seems to have customs that are at odds with the modern world outside of the mountain. I use the term "entire town", but the population is barely over a dozen people. More resolved than ever to get out of Yasumizu as quickly as possible, Haruaki begins the process of fixing his bike, and promises to take Chiemi for a ride once he does. That date is not to be though, as a mist settles upon the town, trapping the residents in a supernatural prison. Not believing the local superstitions regarding wolves, Haruaki steps out into the mist and comes face to face with a huge, half-human, half-wolf creature; a werewolf. This werewolf wastes no time ripping Haruaki to shreds, and thus ends the game.

I'm only half kidding as the game has several more hours to throw at you if you're willing to stick through it, but this is indeed the first ending that you'll get. There is no way to avoid this ending, and that's because Raging Loop isn't your standard visual novel. Those familiar with the genre are sure to be familiar with how they usually flow. The story will move in one direction, and you'll occasionally be given a fork in the plot that comes in the form of a dialogue or action choice. Typically this will move the plot in another direction, sometimes putting you onto the road to a particular ending. This makes the entire genre resemble something like a Choose Your Own Adventure book, but that's an overdone comparison. Raging Loop does have a couple choices that are totally open to the player from the get go, but many of them will be locked with keys. Keys are exactly what they sound like, but in this case they unlock branching choices that are closed off to the player their first time through. Keys are obtained by clearing certain sections in the main game, or by reaching an ending. The game goes out of its way to tell you that dying is often the best way to get out of being stuck, and it proves its point by making you die within the first hour or so of gameplay.

Even though I'm willing to admit that the key system is unique, I can't help but feel that it adds a linearity to the game that isn't in most other visual novels. There are several endings that you can see, but you're mostly limited to seeing them in a pre-determined order. It sort of feels like the weird ending of Wayne's World where the duo keep changing the way things actually ended. It also doesn't help that the choices you're force to make are very often obviously "wrong". For example, Haruaki gets killed because he decides to go against what he'd been told to do, and venture outside into the fog. Anyone who's ever seen a horror movie before knows that this is the worst possible decision one can make, but you're forced to go through with it. There were several other Bad Ends that caused me to wince and grown when I realized I had no other option open to me besides the absolute worse one. Some choices even have multiple keys needed to unlock them, and it feels like a grind to make it to the actual end of the game. There is an in-game flow chart that helps you see what paths you haven't gone down, but the backtracking does become tedious after a while. I did find it kind of neat that the looping mechanic was integrated into the story, as that wasn't something that I was expecting to find. I don't want to give away too much of the details for fear of spoilers, but it's revealed early on that Haruaki can recall all the previous attempts he made at getting through the game's horrific scenarios. He remembers each time he failed to solve the village's mystery, and he very much remembers that first time the werewolf killed him.

Seeing as that pretty much covers all you need to know about gameplay for now, let's go back to that story. You first new task in Raging Loop's second playthrough is to keep yourself from getting killed by the wolf, and then progressing into the game proper. Not getting killed is literally as simple as not going outside, so it's now time to learn what's actually going on in Yasumizu. The full explanation of the village's curse is a bit too much to cover here in this review, but I'll try to give all the key details as I can. Yasumizu resides on a mountain that is believed to have been protected by a group of spirit animals since ancient times. These animals' main task was to protect the humans living on the mountain from the malevolent spirits brought on by the ever-encroaching fog. The animals and humans lived in a perpetual state of peace, but one of the spirits, the wolf, sometimes acted in a way that harmed the humans. Things continued like this until one day the other spirits decided that they would betray their bonds, and kill the wolf. The wolf felt wronged by this turn of events, and took this as a sign to throw in his lot with the demons the spirits were supposed to guard against. From then on the village of Yasumizu was cursed to face to wolf's wrath whenever the mist comes, and somehow this superstition has stayed alive to the modern day. The thing is, this wolf isn't just a creature that comes and goes in the night. It's a spirit, and that means that it possesses one of the residents of the village, and causes them to do the actual killing. No one currently alive in the village knows of a time when the wolf has come, but they've all prepared for it. Ready or not, the mists are back, and so are the wolves. I didn't mess up with that plural just now either, this time around the village has to deal with two of them.

I bet you're asking yourself how the villagers of Yasumizu figure out who the wolf is. Well, they play a game of Werewolf of course! I don't want to go too in-depth regarding the very real game of Werewolf, but I'm sure everyone is familiar with Among Us. Werewolf is basically Among Us, but with werewolves in the place of impostors. Among Us is actually far more recent than Werewolf or Raging Loop, but the comparison fits. In short, the villagers must decide who the possessed one is through their own wits. Once the wolf arrives, the villagers gather in what is known as "The Feast". This isn't a group meal though, it's a solemn gathering where the entire village must make a very serious choice: pick one among them to hang as a potential wolf. Not being an actual resident of Yasumizu, Haruaki does not take part in this gathering, and this is free to get himself killed all on his own. The villagers are only allowed to hang one person a day, and the wolves are only allowed to kill one person a day. This little game of cat and mouse goes on until one side is completely wiped out, though the humans do have some help in the form of the other animal spirits. These spirits help eliminate potential suspects, and also let the humans know if the one they hung that day was really a wolf or not. The problem of course is that no one can really know if the other villagers are lying about their given roles or not. It's a game of trust, and that's in very low supply in this particular village. Even though the spirits give the humans some cool parlor tricks to help fish out the wolf among them, much of The Feast is simply the villagers arguing with each other, calling each other sus, and ultimately voting on who is to die that day. Things obviously get very dark, very quickly, and I'll of course not reveal one single aspect of The Feast itself to keep any potential surprises intact.

I have mixed feeling when it comes to Raging Loop's core concept, as I truly do think that a visual novel that's centered on a real game of Werewolf can be something really amazing. It essentially could be a more countryside take on games like Danganronpa. The problems lie with how this game chooses to handle its own storytelling. Right off the bat is the fact that by the game's very nature, at least two characters will die every day. This is to be expected, but it doesn't change the fact that those two characters, as well as the two the following day, will most likely be given the short end of the stick when it comes to characterization. I don't really have time to get into the thirteen residents of Yasumizu, but each of them are characters I wanted to learn more about, and about half of them aren't given more than a couple scenes of screen time. There is an epilogue that "fixes" some of these issues, but I doubt many players will make it that far. The entire issue of characters dying too early is further compounded by the fact that the game seems determined to shock the player by tossing in all sorts of nonsense that makes the body count go ever higher. I won't go into details, but the wolves don't even have to lift a finger regarding most of the deaths. I will admit that some of the twists really worked, but I couldn't help but wish that the game had a setup that allowed you to get to know the characters more before it began killing them off in seemingly quick ways. I think the rushed pacing is due to the game's mobile origins, though that's little consolation when the most interesting members of the cast are casually killed off-screen in the name of getting things moving. Things oddly slow down once the cast is whittled to almost nothing, but I found it hard to keep my interest steady. I think I'm going to leave my discussion of the plot here, simply because I feel that this review is already getting a bit too long, but suffice it to say that I did enjoy my time with the game, even though I think it could've used some heavy rewrites and plot re-workings.

I'm not sure what it is about Raging Loop's art style that strikes me as odd, but I came to realize that I didn't care for it much after about an hour or so of playing it. The game of course has an anime look and feel, but I'm of the mind that it more closely resembles what a non-Japanese studio would create when trying to emulate the style. That's of course just my opinion, but there's other aspects of the visual design that I found to be lacking. I'm not sure if it's due to the game's mobile roots, but there's very few actual backgrounds and CGs considering how long of a game this is. It didn't take long for me to notice that the Feast scenes only have one CG, and that there's only three or so death CGs as well. That may not sound like a big deal, but there's literal hours of scenes between those handful of images, and it makes for a very boring experience visually. It actually gets worse than that even, as several scenes don't have any imagery to go along with them at all. There are an embarrassing number of drawn-out scenes that are accompanied by single-colored screens. It got to the point where I started to suspect that the game was actually incomplete. It's truly is shocking how little variety there is to the graphics, though I can at least say that the game does have some interesting designs when it comes to the creatures and tutorial scenes. The tutorials were probably my single favorite part of the game, which I know is a weird thing to say. It's sad that seeing them is optional, and equally sad that the game isn't very consistently good in most aspects in general.

Judging the sound of Raging Loop is a bit more difficult, since I think that its two main aspects vary quite a bit in terms of quality. Longtime readers of my reviews (Surely you exist, right?) will know that I often use the term "visual novel music" to describe a type of music that sits in the background inoffensively as one reads said visual novels. It exists for the sake of existing, and countless visual novels have soundtracks solely made up of music that would fall into that category. One can make the argument that since visuals novels involve lots of reading, you don't want intrusive music to distract one from the plot. I would counter that by pointing out that great music is the best partner to any type of scene, but I think you get the point. I've had the pleasure to cover several games in the past that have broken out of the stereotype of visual novel music, but Raging Loop sadly isn't going to be one of them. Its soundtrack is by no means bad, but it doesn't stand out either. If pressed, I'd describe the music as "serviceable", while also admitting that it's a bit generic and bland. It gets the job done, but that's it. The other aspect of sound that I want to talk about is voice acting, something that Raging Loop gets down near perfect. This is a game that keeps its Japanese voice track completely untouched, so those looking for a dubbed release won't find it here. I personally don't care about such things, especially when the performances are as good as the ones found here. Every single voice actor brings their A Game to the table, and they help flesh out the characters in a way that the game itself doesn't. This is especially important for the characters that don't get a lot of screen time, as they are at least memorable at the end of day. It more than makes up for the just okay music, and helps move along the scenes that are just static images of nothing. Taken with the music, it's a mixed bag, but one that leans more towards the positive than the negative.

No matter how you cut it, Raging Loop is a very long game. Getting through all the endings will take most players about 25+ hours, and it will take even more if you want to clear all the optional routes. Those times can vary greatly due to factors like reading speed, but you might as well clear a weekend or two if you're thinking about picking this game up. I admittedly threw in the towel long before the 100% mark, but I plan to get there eventually. The Groundhog Day-esque bit of having to constantly backtrack to fix one's mistakes did get old long before the game was done, but the story kept me interested long enough to get to the final ending. A lot of that was due to me simply wanting closure to the various plot threads left hanging, but sometimes that's all that's needed to get one through a really long game. This is a visual novel that is sure to occupy your time for quite a while, and you can get it right now for just $29.99 on all its platforms. Also, seeing as it's been out for quite a while now, you can most likely get it at a far lower price than that if you're willing to wait for it to go on sale. I truly do think it's worth picking up even at full price, but you can get even more bang for your buck if you're able to get it on the cheap.

Even though parts of the game rubbed me the wrong way, I still think that Raging Loop is a worth playing. It has a great premise, and the full reveals are not what you expect them to be going in. Those twists and turns might have been one of my complaints, but I can't deny that they were effective. This is one of the most shocking visual novels I've played in a long while, and it's upsetting that it fell just shy of being perfect. A bit more work in the writing and presentation departments, and I'd be giving a far more solid recommendation. Visual novel fans are sure to appreciate the key system, even if it does railroad players a bit in the first dozen hours or so. Those able to get past those first dozen hours are in for quite a treat, though I don't know if there are a lot of gamers with that level of patience. I still say give a shot on whatever platform you can, maybe even make a game night out of it with some Among Us too. Anyhow, don't be sus, and be wary of your neighbors turning into werewolves. See you in the next one!

Check Out Raging Loop on Nintendo Switch:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/raging-loop-switch/

Story: B-
Gameplay: B
Graphics: B-
Music/Sound: B
Value: A

Overall: B

Pros:
+ A great visual novel with a unique premise.
+ The key system manages to do something nearly impossible: changing up the mechanics of a visual novel.
+ Though I didn't cover them too much in the review itself, the cast of characters are all unique, and you'll want to learn more about them.
+ Twists and turns are to be expected in any game, but the ones here are truly effective.
+ Not only is the voice acting great, but it also helps with some of the weaker characterizations.
+ You get quite a lot of content here for a decent price.

Cons:
- Most aspects of presentation, like the visuals and music, are quite a bit below typical visual novel standards.
- Since the plot involves a high stakes game of Werewolf, many characters die before players will really get to know them. This is a game that could've benefited greatly from a longer prologue section.
- The key system means that most of the "good" options will be closed off to you at first, and also makes it so the game feels surprisingly linear.
- There are a shockingly low number of CGs and images used in the game. There are long stretches of the game where you'll see the same image, or a single-color screen.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

Chiemi is best girl though.

#RagingLoop

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