Kira-SR

A never ending Legend of Generations and a cycle of Life and Death

if i had to use a phrase to summarize this game it would be: Wake up Samurai, we got Demons to burn.

Getsu Fuma Densetsu - Undying moon, does exactly what it intends to do. deliver a Feudal Japan inspired rouge like experience like no other. no strings attached, no catches. it does what it wants to and doesn't nudge you for more than it is worth for. which is a great plus imo, and a welcome surprise coming from Konami and its butchering of Contra it did years ago and the Pachislots it spits out like a running nose in a flu.

Graphics:

the game is gorgeously done, and animated with a cell shaded style that references the traditional paintings of Feudal to Meiji Era Japan. the style this game has is Exquisite and extremely unique in what it does, and something i don't see every day from other companies and that i genuinely thought was impossible to emulate with 3d Graphics. but the guys that made this game pulled some black magic outta nowhere to make the game like it is. believe me and the screenshots, the artstyle are not cutscenes or something beautifull made just to sell you a game. it is present trough and troughout the entire adventure, and it made for quite a refreshing change of pace.

it also made me see a new perspective on the different culture japan has, in its more traditional sense of the word. how they view and interpret things like hell, and demons, in a very very different way. this is how you do representation right in my view, you show other peoples points of view, how they interpret things and their tales and stories all arround. and this game delivers in spades.

Gameplay:

i know the old cliché phrase here, but it is genuinely true in this game: it may seem super complicated with all the stuff trown at your face on the begining of your adventure, but trust me, it is very very easy to pick up once you do understand what the game wants to do and what is happening on your screen. but extremely hard to master. this is a roguelike game, so be prepared, because you gonna die... A LOT, and this game does NOT pull any punches, especially with ennemies that might seem innofensive, but that does accumulate their damage to devastating combos on you if you are not paying atention. the more flames of difficulty you unlock when you end each run and add them to the next run, the substantially harder the game becomes, and the game will not be ashamed to kick you in the nuts if you zone out.

so the mechanics are simple: spread troughout each phase are souls and materials you gotta collect to improve your chances of survival, traversing the various pits and locations of Limbo and Hell. for each blue soul you acquire, you gain a status that you can add to your character, that changes if you accumulate 2,3 or 4. you gotta not only accumulate your souls to add the desired effects like health (that requires 3 accumulated souls before you confirm your decision) and That extra potion that can mean the difference of life and death (requiring 4), but also you gotta power up your character so your blade doesn't become dull against the bosses, with main weapon up (1 soul) and sub weapon up (2 souls), creating an interesting element of risk reward to the player while going trough the stage. you gonna be asking yourself a lot of times: "do i invest in my attack so i can cut down all the demons :tm: , or should i hold them to get more life or that potion i desperately need to end the run, and what if i don't find more chests in this stage and have to face the boss as is, untill i vanquish it and get access to the 4 blue souls it gives me at the end of each boss kill?!". your fingers will be itching to upgrade, your mind will be racing if you wanna accumulate to preserve your lifebar, and the agony of running arround with very low health with just one blue soul remaining to get that potion that can literally save your life will be real.

not only that, you will also encounter purple souls arround. those you can use to rank up the weapons you can acquire troughout the stages, or activate their special properties once you unlock them via physical materials. a weapon can require bones, blood and the flesh of those demons so you can add more special buffs to your weapon that are unlocked permanently for further use, but that should be activated at each run with your purple souls for each weapon type you encounter. you will want to unlock and upgrade those weapons to have all their effects active because they do a substantial difference to your damage and are the difference of life and death in this game. ranking up the weapons also makes their attack stronger, but the more you rank up, the more expensive with the in game coins you collect trough smashing furniture or decoration on stages and souls, those weapons are to keep them up to speed. so you gonna be constantly weighing up wether to keep the current weapon and save your purple souls to rank it up more, or if you should collect another weapon on the floor that has a bigger rank than the one you are holding. and this gets even more complicated when you acquire the "bloodthirsty" weapons unlocked, that are excelent, but either very rare to appear to you, or very expensive to buy on the shops present in the game, so every decision counts.

also, troughout your journey you will be joined by allies and rivals, from a Kunouichi wanting to restore things to normal in regards to her existence and "Twin sisters" (if i elaborate it will be spoilers) that sells you goods and upgrades your weapons, to Rivals like a person Fumma is looking for troughout hell and the boses that can go from gigantic, to ultra-tactical. every boss has patterns that are great to memorize, but that will punish you without mercy if you get them wrong, keeping the challenge for Fumma and his allies up troughout the adventure.

the game also presents advanced mechanics like the Just attacks, when you attack the monster just as it lowers its guard to hit you, the Sneak attacks when you hit two ennemies at once or one that didn't notice you were there, and even special moves specific to each weapon, like a Parry for the Katana that is hard to pull, but once you learn how to pull it, it is extremely satisfying, or the big rolling aerial attack with the maces, or even the shinobi style rolling slashes with the double blades, every weapon and daredevil action gives you advantages, and all of those giving a massive boost to the damage you inflict to the monsters, provided you fulfill the conditions to do so. also present in this game is "Demonization", each ennemy Fumma or his playable allies kill, gives the character a chance of awakening a boost that only grows more and more for each ennemy you kill without taking damage, or for each succesive strike you do on a powerfull foe. depending on how demonized is your character or how many strikes you did to a monster without taking damage, you can even get a chance of doing an execution attack, a special attack that not only insta-kills an ennemy/deals MASSIVE ammounts of damage to bosses, but pushes all other ennemies away from you affecting them and pushing them off balance for more combos to be linked.

Soundtrack:

Masterfully done. from tunes already present from other games, like the heavy metal one from Ryukotsuki, to more tense filled ones like the Limbo, the Boss fights of a Certain Hydra, to the phantasmagorical ones like the Snowy Pass and the Promenade of Pleasure and ruin ,and the more energectic like the Sub-space citadel, or the Cocytus theme. there is always a tune that is not only in character with the general style of the game but with what is going on with the screen. the sounds are crunchy and always in character with the theme of the game, using even traditional japanese instruments while leveling up or in the main getsu estate.

Story:

i won't go into much details, because i want you to experience it first hand. but to summarize a little bit:

it all begins when Ryukotsuki, a demon that opens a chasm and lets other demons invade the mortal world, is back from the dead, reviving every thousand or so years after its first defeat by the hands of the founder of the getsu estate (reminds you of a certain Count that is from another franchise of Konami?! the appearences are not coincidental). so it is up to the current Fumma, descendant of the founder Fumma, to not only seal the big monster but venture to the depths of hell and beyond to discover whom... or what... awakened that monster, the gods themselves and demons all arround.

how will Getsu fumma advance trough his journey? will he honour his ancestrals, or will he be doomed to forever be reborn and reincarnated to take on the madness that awaits him?! and what about the allies and rivals he will encounter on his journey?!

Final Veredict: 9.5/10

i gotta admit that i wasn't expecting a game so good like this to grab my atention, especially from a super obscure franchise of Konami that i first heard about, in Harmony of Despair. but honestly?! when i saw that the game got a reimagining and in english i've got to give it a try. and thank goodnes i did, because it didn't dissapoint. it is guaranteed to glue you to the screen. be frustrating you or be being a game that gets exilirating at each step and stage you go foward, every demon you seal, and every step you go foward.

it just escapes being a perfect 10/10, because it can be extremely punishing, and not be for everyone. it is for me, but i can see it not being for other people. but still, i would recommend you check out this gem. no microtransactions, no catches, just you and the game. the way it was meant to be, in a cycle of perpetual life and death, that is undying moon.

a Game of Action,Adventure,Jankiness,Broken stuff, and Cheese, that got released 10 years too early

ah frontiers... if i had to describe this game i would say it is a 30 hour,extremely experimental, easy to platinum adventure, covered in cheese.

is it a good game: Yes, for the most part

is it a good Sonic game: Depends on what you're looking for

is it a good overall Action Adventure game: Kinda... it is very short for this genre, there is better, but this is a good game overall.

ok, so let's start with the positives:

The Story:

Emotional, Serious, Competent and Engaging up untill the last boss. i was real curious to see how it would roll, and for 99% of the adventure it did not disapoint.

So in a nutshell and without spoilers: a once peacefull chain of islands in the middle of nowhere starts for an unknown reason attracting the Chaos Emeralds. wanting to know what was going on, Eggman, Sonic, Amy and Tails gets into the island to investigate.

Eggman completes his new Invention, an A.I. named Sage, to interface with the secrets contained within strange ruins. of course the whole place starts acting up, and Unknown ennemies appears, Making Eggman, Amy and Tails dissapear. Now, stranded, with more questions than answers, and missing his friends, Sonic must journey trough those islands and not only save his friends and Little by little discover the Secrets of the islands, and its former inhabitants, but also must race against the time because he is slowly being consumed by a unknown digital infection.

it is a very mature toned story, with real stakes (unlike forces was), and real consequences. at some moments i was at the edge of my seat, wanting to know what would happen next, and it delivered. it at times felt like the old Phantasy Star games, from the Mega Drive era. you not always know where to go, and must explore the island in every way and shape possible to progess trough the game.

The Music:

the sound department did an outstanding job on this one. from the calm and foreboding themes of the islands, to the themes of the boss fights of the smaller titans, to even the Mega Kaiju fights that has a Heavy-metal vibe kinda inspired by Dragonforce and Sonata Arctica for example. it is quality stuff, every single music on this game was well done. if they ever one day sell the O.S.T. on steam, buy it. it is, as always with the sonic games, a great listen.

ok, the compliments are over, now let's talk about the problems this game has:

The Graphics:

At first glance, the game looks gorgeous. the islands and natural enviroments are well modeled. and using my 2070 RTX to the full hability, i managed to get a smooth 60FPS experience troughout.

but it felt like they forgot some basics of game design here. the mini challenges for the island tokens or secrets are full of default assets, like platforms and other interactive stuff, that didn't mesh well at all with the big, open, and natural scenery arround the player.

a lot of people are complaining about pop-in, but to me this has a very simple reason: the use of those assets that were NOT baked into the main island archive. loading something akin to a million instances of objects on screen would certainly be impossible with the big draw distance given in the game. it is janky, yes, but someting unfortunately not solveable given that loading not only all the models (wich ok, imo would be possible given how low poly the platform is), but the physics of those models (and THAT is where i think it lies the problem), would render the framerate impossible or simply crash the program. this is one of the things that i understand as a game designer and that is unfortunately unsolveable untill we have much,much,MUCH better and faster GPU,RAM,and CPU technology on hands.

this thing of using default stuff and proping it up like it was roblox was a poor decision by the Gameplay department, or maybe they just didn't have enough time from trasforming those default assets and baking them into the natural scenery of the island. but i understand that integrating it would make the development take at least 5 or 6 more years. would be much polished, yes, but i don't think SEGA would wait them given the game took 5 years already.

and if you are thinking: ok, but what if we load the models without the heavy weight stuff?! well, it would certainly lead to even more weird things happening, like things cliping trough Platforms with no collision, ennemies going past the ground and stuff. so, the pop in, as ridiculous as this sounds, is the best way to make the presentation as best as possible.

and to be clear: i am not defending this. they could had invested more time into baking more scenery elements on top of those platforms, and eventually replacing them with natural scenery into the bigger island so this issue would not apply at the end of the day. but honestly, it would take maybe more 5 years of Dev time so the game would be complete. something that in an ideal world would not be an issue, but given how this is a coorporation we are talking about, it seems like 5 years dev time is the maximum of risk a company is willing to take nowadays (remember MGS:V?! yeah...). if it takes too long and the coorporatiion doesn't see returns, they start to get jumpy... "Eto Capitalism", as doktor would say. (and tbh, ignoring the pop in issue wich would take 5 more years to solve, i'd say the game needed a bit more of polishing on top of it. maybe 1 or 2 more years to polish the bugs, and the jankiness of the physics too... would take forever, yes, but would make the game be even better than it is today. even considering we have an island that is completely empty, and that is not even an island after all. yes... compare Kronos and Rhea Island and you'll see that... they are in fact the same island, divided in two sections. even the map of both islands shows this, WTF... and again, the Rhea island part of chronos island, is completely empty. there is NOTHING, NOTHING there, serving only as a lore dump palce of a map that was cut literally in half. showing that YES, this game would have a much bigger scope than we think. adding even more to the 5 or 6 years of dev. time i've estimated.

The Gameplay:

the game has a quite sizeable open world... you will spend 5 hours average for each of the 5 islands of the game, solving puzzles, defeating enormous ennemies, and really facing tough opponents if you are not prepared. you really need to learn how to parry and dodge properly, and some ennemies and bosses will be merciless with you if you are not up on your toes. especially the bigger titans wich Sonic fights with a little extra help... that, at the end of the game felt super overused. but i'd be lying if i didn't ejoy every single moment of it.

but the open world sometimes felt bizarrely, unpolished. sonic's habilities in my opnion did translate somewhat poorly into the open world... some places can be that should be hard to get, can accessed if you know what you're doing, or rather, if you know how to propel sonic of slopes, use your boost, double jump over slippery surfaces (and this is a massive bug), and launch him literally miles high glitching some parts of the scenery.

it is this kind of jankiness i didn't expect to see again... i mean, since the Adventure games i didn't see such janky quirks here and there... that isn't to say these games are bad, oh no... both frontiers and the adventure series are good games, but be warned that the game can be broken in a million pieces if you know how to exploit it.

it felt, honestly unfinished. had the devs and the QA team got 1 or 2 years more dedicated exclusively to fixing gameplay things, i guarantee we would have a much more polished product in this regard. but hey, this game took 5 years to develop. in an ideal world, a game would only release when it was absolutely ready, but like it was with MGS:V Phantom pain, once again money spoke louder, and SEGA was jumpy for revenue.

also, Sonic in the Cyber Space, Controls a bit more roughly. there is no drift in this game (i mean, there kinda is, but it is not something you can do at will, and it only appears in one stage. 3-5) the Boost now can't be done at all times, and you gotta plan your moves carefully. double jumping+homing attacking things will not allow you to use the bost immediately, raising the skill cap a tad bit. Rails are slower than air boosting and the Propell Rings can give you an edge when it comes to geting S ranks.

Not to mention the complete Lazy excuse of reusing levels. i know that it makes sense in the story of the game, but come on... there are some of them that are blatant (Modern Chemical Plant,Classic Sky Sancturary, Classic Green Hill from generations are clear examples). there is some however that i can justify the reuse (City escape and Sky Rail form SA2 are clear examples), but for the most part it is just snippets of 0'50-1'30 stages. Extremely short bite sized parts that at the end of the day, don't feel that they add much, and that was an afterthought, once again giving credibility to when i say that this game was Rushed, up and down and all arround.

The Cheese:

this was what surprised me the most. you can cheese this game, completely. the Big the cat fishing minigame is BRRRROOOOKKKEEEEN. you can have tokens, free levels ups, heck... i was worried i would end up giving Elder Koco a Stroke because of how many levels i made the poor guy give to me.

and it doesn't get any harder. even on the maximum dificulty, the Cyber Space stages (with the rare exception of 1-2, wich is hard, but not impossible to beat), are easy easy easy, super easy. 2 runs on each stage for the most part is all you gonna need to do, one for locating the red star rings/ending with the ring quota, and one for speedrunning the stage. the times in all stages are ultra-forgiving, and the Red Rings, with extremely rare exceptions, are all in your face, on the default route the player would take, AND, they CAN be all collected on a single run (unlike on Sky Sanctuary on Generations for example). even with the nerfed sonic we have on the cyber space stages.

also, some elements of cyber space can be bypassed completely. the "Deja-vu I've just been in this palce before" Stage 3-5, can be completely cheesed if you jump over the green speed pads that grants the Drifting for sonic, not to mention, drifting here feels more like sonic is walking on a surface covered in butter... there is some skateboarding levels that aren't much stellar also... but they are kinda fun to play.

PC Optimization:

Poor at best, atrocious at wose. i never seen a game run better on windowed than on fullscreen. WTF... also, Fullscreen is a complete Danger to the game.

lemme give ya some examples:

Alt+Tab= Crash

Controller Disconnected = Crash

Geting the game in Windowed mode on the options menu = Crash

Using Steam's DS4 Remaper = Crash and the game does not even gets past the first Sega logo.

this is simply unnaceptable. yes, i made it work on my PC, yes it run at 60FPS, untill i decided to either do an alt+tab, or accidentally disconnecting my Gamepad. then the game just Panics and crashes completely.

it was a full chore to get this working as intended. and this is the third game ported to PC that has this issues. 3 TIMES.

this time i got a RTX2070, more than enough to run the game with ease and without problems... but WE gotta solve yours, don't we?! in this regard Sega can Shove it where the sun doesn't shine. im tired of this bullshit.

for the love of god SEGA, just get a team that can actually do a good PC port... 3 companies, and ZERO success... -_- it is not that hard, even.

So my final Veredict:

Graphics: 7.5 (i would give 10, were not for the rushed content, overuse of default assets that are copy/pasted and the pop in of default platforms, like this was built in roblox. the assets are of high quality but it is super noticeable if you got a keen eye.)

Gameplay: 7.5 (again, it would be higher if it got time to be polished. this game feels and probably was rushed to hell and back. it is fun, but janky as hell)

Music: 10 (i have only praises for the sound team. the music of this game is amazing.)

Story: 9.5 (i would give it a 10, if it wasn't for the lackluster final boss... you're kidding me that we gone from an open World Sonic game to a Nier Automata Hacking stage as the final boss,right?! WTF...)

Extras: N/A (Get the standard version, Deluxe is simply useless for this game. Unless Sega is going to release some DLC with more story content and not only one cosmetic stuff and pre-order bonus that are consumeables i'll not even consider this.)

PC optimization: -1.5 (The optimization is trash. for the love of god,just get a team that can actually do a good PC port... it is all that i ask)

Final Veredict: 7 (-1.5 for the poor Optimization of the PC version)

it's a good game. but Could be much better if it was given more time to be developed. i know what Sega thinks, and i know that a 5 year dev. cycle is excruciatingly long for SEGA. but let's stop worshiping money for the love of god. let the game be finished. let the game be QA-ed. let the bugs be ironed out. give time for the game to be whole, SEGA, even if it takes 10 or 15 years of dev. cycle.

and to be perfectly honest with you i am worried if this is the direction they are going with Sonic games, like they said on their posts that this was a new era for sonic. if this era is of: pop in, dev. cycle hell, long time to finish and be pressured to be rushed and crunched, the Sonic Franchise will hit another dark era like it was in 2006 once again. and i don't want this for the series as a long time fan.

Give the game the time it deserves next time, SEGA, please.

Recommended Buy Price: BRL R$200 300 is a bit too much. give them 250 if you're really feeling generous. but i'd say wait for a sale that drops the price of this game to at least 200 or less. it's good, with tons of content, but very unfinished.

this has potential, but it is not yet fullfilled.

okay, so... Android hunter A. this... is a good game... i not gonna lie, i was having fun from beginning to end with this one. but it is undeniable that there is a LOT, and i mean, a LOT of things that needs to be adressed still, because this seems like a beta of the game. a very well polished beta i might add. but not a full game, YET...

Gameplay: the core controls are there. the dash feels responsible, the running animation is well done. the shooting feels crunchy. but the wall jump needs a Lot of rework. it is functional, and i got used to it, unexpectadely quick. but the slight delay of the dash wall jump, having to press Circle before pressing Cross to jump can bug your brain at first. the delay for that action should be minimal. also, the knockback from the dash wall jumping should should make you rise higher in my opnion. A has an air-dash like X in X5 and X6 with the armors, and he is very very fun to play in my honest opnion. Ai patterns of bosses needs reworking in my opnion, they aren't dificult and you'll have no problem at all memorizing their patterns, if much i died on the whole game, it was 3 or 4 times, excluding the final boss of course, that hits like a truck, but once you bend your knees and crouch, the first phase becomes ultra-cheeseable. the second phase tho... it's a joke... you'll have a chance to take a cheap shot at first, but other than that, the pattern of that boss is even EASIER than of the first phase. i mean... okay... that's a first. and no boss rush. yet... just the boss being edgy...

The graphics: they are serviceable, here and there i saw low resolution textures, but nothing that took my immersion away. the character models are very well done, but the animation could use a little more polishing and be more fluid in my opnion. wich makes the bosses movements feel unatural. i dunno if the team programed the game in a low resolution or if my PC is too powerfull that run faster than they programed, but those extra frames made me chesse a good part of the game.

The story: i... did not understand anything. nothing at all. it is clear that the story was not written in english for the most part. was it because i did the bosses from the right, first?! i mean, some of the bosses have generic megaman dialogues, that could fit in any game of the blue bomber, but others cite a guy that is not mentioned anywhere previous. i was completely lost. i killed the final boss without even knowing who he is.

The customization: lacking. i was expecting better. it was the thing that made me buy the game, but the thing i least liked. it is serviceabe, and it will have more options in the future... so... yeah... it is too soon to judge...

Music: The stage themes are... pretty catchy actually... and the music was very energetic. of course the atmosphere is ultra edgy, but tbh i did not mind thaat much... it was good. except for the naga boss that i don't remember the name... that... bonus boss fight there, was the most wtf thing i saw in any megaman like game. not that is bad... it was funny as heck... but bizzarre to me... maybe it is something cultural i did not get...

So...

Graphics: 8 (it does their job. they are very well done, but nothing very extraordinary. and Unreal does wonders to this game. the drawn mugshots are very well done, but the operator mugshot i felt it was... inconsistent, if that's the word?! i dunno...)

Gameplay: 7 (the core fundamentals are there... BUT... there is things to be corrected.)

Music: 8 (catchy, but nothing worthy of an oscar. the stage themes tho, i would actually put some of them on my music playlist)

Story: N/A (i did not understand one bit of it. so i not gonna judge something i did not understand. altough i should give a penalty once i learn the lore of the game)

Final Veredict: 7/10

Honestly, i wish steam had a neutral button. i am Still Iffy i should recommend this or not. extremly rough on the edges still, but there is fun to be found here provided you can run it without much bugs. they are here, make no mistake, but they didn't hinder my experience per say, yours tho... could be different... so take my recomendation with a pinch of salt. and get it on a good sale. it is worth trying if it is R$25 or R$20, but more than that... i would say wait for updates so the game earns its wings... i still dunno if i should mantain this game on my library or not tho... i had fun... but... i had problems too...

Perfectly Average

i would recommend this game based only on its merits. it is a perfectly average game.

but there are sins in this franchise's games that i cannot forgive anymore. i'll explain down bellow, so let's go:

The Gameplay:

Fatal Bullet is a game that has the fingertips of Dimps all over the place. it has a fun core structure with its combat and Shooting Mechanics. and it let's you trace your path as you like (unlike another SAO game *cough cough* Lycorys *cough cough*).

you run, you shoot, ocasionally use your photon sword to slap ennemies in the face if that's your thing, and go area to area trying to explore the world of Gun Gale Online. seems perfect, right? well...

even tho mechanically, the game is sound, it starts to show its rust beneath the shiny facade. this game was glued with spit. ennemies act extremely erratically, charging you or even ignoring you at times (a certain pink haired girl is the most glaring example of this). most of them have extremely, and i mean, Extremely easy weak points and Fuck me buttons on their backs or on their heads. Bosses are a Complete Joke, being ridiculous to the point of normal ennemies (like the facsimilies for example), being much much much more of a threat than the main baddies with their extremely obvious weak points. if it glows, or seems to be a weak point, you probably should shoot it. 9 times outta 10 it is a weak point and you gonna get a cri-hit out of it.

and some of the bosses are enlarged versions of normal ennemies with a newer coat of pain on top of it. i know, that doing new ennemies is Hard, i am a game designer and i know how things works, but come on... if you wanna sell me a game for R$ 120+, for the love of god give me more of an effort. if i'm not shooting on Scorpions or wasps, i'm shooting small dinky robots, or massive behemoths with obvious weak points on their heads or their backs. and this gets old quick, fun shooting mechanics or not. not even the final bosses like the GM, or the Hierophant were much of a threat, they just hit like a truck, making them frustrating rather than chalenging.

The Story:

HUGE, and i mean, HUUUUUUGE missed oportunity. if the only thing you care is for the anime and their harem plot, then this is for you. but if you're like me that was actually enjoying the set up this game was giving and the vibes about the world that is there but is not explained, then, nope... this game does not deliver.

i would not mind the quirkness of SAO here and there, with Kirito and other characters appearing, as Optional, but i want the focus to be on the game, rather than this being a "game within a game that is within a cartoon" (Japanese animation fans triggered right now, but i don't care anymore). i want the game to focus on Glocken, on Flügel, on what the hell happened with the world and why is it destroyed. not on "oh the game is like this because... reasons, it is an MMO. now play with Kirito/Asuna and Shinon will ya?!". seriously, there was a HUGE oportunity here on exploring the lore of GGO, and it was all wasted. i still wanna see more of it, about the buildings arround me, about the people and the cities, and places that are now destroyed and full of literally terminators. i want an explanation on that, instead of a kirito harem simulator.

and the afinity system is downright cringy at times... for the Arfa-Sys i can even think it is kinda cute, and that would make sense, but for the other characters... is downright strange with Kureha (even tho she wants to be with you, if you know what i mean), even going borderline CP (i mean, seriously Zeliska... you're what?! 30/40 yo woman wanting to date me?! you know that FBI exists for a reason, don't you?!). and how about itsuki... oh my fucking god, that guy... i can hear My chemical Romance Blasting full volume every single time this guy is on the screen, irradiating from him. i mean, good lord what the hell. "i am all alone so, screw that i gonna screw you over". it was Obvious from minute one, when he appeared that he would be the villain. and no, i'll not put spoilers here... if you thought that he was anything but a villain the moment you put your eyes on him, i think you may have a problem.

Spiegel on the other hand, at first i thought he was even WORSE than Itsuki, but when the story of the game got into his arc with his companion (and this i will not spoil), then i understood why he was like that, and i was like... heh, okay, i can see this happening on the real world. a downright crazy guy obsessed with a girl that wants nothing but distance of him, because of his obsession. it is a real portrait of a psychopath, even tho his stuff in the end does a simple 180 degree spin, wich is absurd in my opnion, i mean, you can see how he hesitates when it comes to that, on how he doesn't want to do it to her... but then... he does it anyway as if she was not the reason of his obsession. WTF...

and then the support cast. Sinon is Ok, and even veeery relateable, and i think is the best written on the entire suport cast. but the others... they fall like a stack of dominoes. some of them only serving to please the kirito pimp, others being downright creepy like leefa or sillica. there is even jokes about how the guy is literally surrounded by girls all the time in the game, and even tho this was mostly intended as comedy, it felt as cringe to me most of the time. and then there is the downright cartoony relationships... Strea (and i know i gonna anger a friend of mine, since he likes her as a character) and her reactions felt forced to me... and made my suspension of disbelief go trough the floor and to the core of the earth. Klein is simply comic relief, and made me go... ok,Arfa-Sys let's get to Flügel and live there on how much shame i was feeling for the guy... and Agil... yeah, his scene was made to be done in a comical way too, but it fell flat for me. but at least wasn't thaaat bad like the Zeliska Bed scene one... that isn't to say that there aren't wholesome moments on this game... Kureha has some good scenes, and even tho her motivation is simply crap in my opnion (hurr durr i want power... Poweeeeer i say... fight me brooo), you can see that when she snaps out of it, she can be a good character, and i can see the PC having a good relationship with her, likewise with the Arfa-Sys, that is simply an airhead sometimes and have the worthy nickname of "aho-Sys" by klein, and when i saw that i was like: hey... that's a clever joke. and the Zeliska/Daisy scene with the dress, even tho was kinda strange, it was palatable in a good way... but wasn't enough to take that bad taste from the bed scene from my mouth.

The Music:

Some hit and misses here and there. the music for the first area is bland and unispired, but the music progresses well troughout the game, the second area music even tho still kinda bland, already gave me a vibe of "this is a desert area", and could use more instruments from Arabic Cultures/ African origin to spice things up, the third area music tho (old south), hit me in the feels like a truck, it is Sad, extremely Melancholic and fits Perfectly for the City and desolate ruins all arround you, really passing the vibe of Apocalypse that the game wants to show you. if only the other 2 previous areas had musics that represented them but with the same melancholic vibe like the old south one, the Music would be perfect. i mean, take Nier-Automata's desert theme and overlay into the Solitary sands area, and you'll know what i'm talking about. the "final area" of the game (not counting the DLC here, and i'll explain bellow), Forgotten Forest, is... Okay... it has the feel of Final Area of the game, and gives you a push to go inside the Flügel. it inspires adventure. and would be okay in any other game... but the area and the music does not fit with the theme of "post apocalypse", likewise with the Flügel appearing intact. seriously... would it be ask for too much to have that area be the Flügel in ruins and have a more melancholic scenery (like the forest kingdom from Automata, or even Mystic Forest for Sonic Forces, as weird as it might sound). i mean... it simply... doesn't fit... because there is no ruins there... and it contradicts the whole lore of GGO. it is not a bad area and music by any means, but i was hoping something that would hit me more in the feels like the two previous areas did (especially the old south area). the dungeons tho... Bland,Bland,Bland... as Bland as it can be... a succesion of corridors and warehouses with completely intact supplies inside of it. in some areas, the dungeon makes sense (Glocken/the Metros on Old South/Flügel), but in others it is simply soo far of, it is completely immersion breaking. take the Lighthouse dungeon for example, i think it would benefit much more of a linear upward design rather than the subterranean area it is. i mean, come on, guys... don't just copy and paste areas here and there just to enlarge your game. give effort to it. like in the metro areas and boss areas of the old south for example. there it makes sense to be a more industrial/subterranean setting. i mean, even the boss that drops the AMR-Tiamat (wich i couldn't be evne bothered to remember his name, even tho it is one of the most unique monsters of the game, remembering more the Oger-tails from god eater series for example) has a more thematic area than the lighthouse. there is areas where it really nails the atmosphere, like with the supermutant inside one of the metro areas. but others simply falls flat in such a way, that is immersion breaking to eleven. and the music, my god, have different music of each dungeon. the dungeon theme gets OLD, real fast, real quick.

Graphics:

they are good. yes, they are good. and they don't look much demanding either, even if this game is running on Unreal 4, one of the most demanding engines on the market. i did not run into problems, and managed to run the entire game in a solid 50/60fps. and when the developers put effort, i could really see the potential there. the old south area is really a testament on what this game should be. if the lore you wanna pass is "doomed world with lost technology, with machines roaming to kill you", then, more areas like the old south would be welcomed, and feel right at home with the lore you wanna present. but seriously, who am i kidding. the lore was an afterthought, and it was constructed arround the game, and not the other way arround, the way it should had been. again, come on guys... explore the lore... you have a gold mine in your hands waiting to be mined. stop focusing on the pimp and focus on the game. the customization is okay, and altough not impressive as the copious ammount of stuff that PSO2 have, it is very serviceable. and can be good fun if you wanna do multiple characters with multiple playstyles. you just gotta grind for it. but that's the fun of the game. i just wish, they was smarter to account for that fun. make the ennemies be more unpredictable, take away the obvious weak-spots, of if you wanna leave them, at least make the ennemies protect them more actively, and not be on my line of fire like dumbasses. not to mention, i finished the game only using the Sirius gun, wich is one of the first guns you acquire, and i can tell first hand, that gun at least, is broken. let's not kid ourselves here. it is BROKEN. minces the meat of anything on its path without any dificulty, and my god, when i got to use two of them... the ennemmies dropped like flies.

so, you may be thinking, okay, so far an average game worth playing... so why the "not recommended"?!

Various Reasons Really..

First of all, the Business Model Applied by this game: even tho this game has an online element to it, i think that you should NOT slice the story of the game in parts. and this is becoming a common pratice of BA-Nco. seriously, the price we pay for the game is ENOUGH, give us all the content. 2020 for me is the limit date for them to erradicate this pratice. if i buy a game with a deluxe edition in the future, i expect all content. and i am being leinent still. because there should be no "base game and complete game", just Game, period. aditional content should be used to atract more people post launch, not to gauge more money from your supporters. this is wrong and it is a pratice that should be stoped immediately. and i'll get harsher and harsher every year that goes on, up to 2025 not allowing any game to have any paid DLC anymore. it is not acceptable, never was, never will. and you ned to learn your lesson.

Secondly: Lycorys as a whole. i know it is from another team, but the distribution is from the same group. and BA-Nco is not meeting their obligations into providing us with good games. this one is Okay at best, and totally harmless at worse, but Lycoris and Jump Force are Jokes. and even tho i wanna have more content on my game, it makes me simply angry that my money is going now to projects that are simply failed. Get-your-crap-togheter BA-Nco. i don't want to see you become an EA, and if it depends on me, i'll not let it. but for the love of god, stop with the bad pratices and salvage your current projects first before engaging in new ones. you owe that to your costumers.

Thirdly: MTX in Lycorys. Seriously?! SERIOUSLY?! is this a joke?! we are in 2020. this is UNNACEPTABLE. MTX is a no-no for me. and if a game has it, it gets an automatic demotion. and i am preemptively punishing you because of it. you guys can think what you want about what i am about to do, and that i should focus on this game on its own merits, but that's NOT how this works on the real life. our money that we spend goes into the company and into new projects, and the cycle goes on and on. and if i have the oportunity now to see where my money is going (since, let's be honest Fatal Bullet is finished), i can determine if my investment is being used correctly. and i am seeing that it is NOT being used correctly. so no, i cannot recommend this, because my money will be invested in crap. and the only way that i have to punish them, is show my disatisfaction by voting with my wallet. if this works or not tho... it is a history for another day, and can be discussed bellow. but no, i will NOT tolerate what they are doing with Lycorys and their fighting franchises like SC and Tekken. this is a step on the wrong direction, and this is the only way i can show them.

and Lastly: because the game is done lazly as i said before. put more variety, and effort on your work. we are in 2020, and rehashes over and over again is unnaceptable. the standards are higher and we expect more from you. and i'm sorry, if you cannot adapt, then you'll dry up and die. Dimps is as Guilty of this as BA-Nco. put effort on your work, and make the AI SMARTER, not dumb with a huge hit power. Artifical dificulty in this day and age is a sign of lazyness and it is Unnaceptable. work more for it.

Final Veredict: 4/10 (-3 for the shit you're doing with Lycorys and your business model)

on its own, this is a perfectly average game. but when you put into account Dimps Lazyness, the basic bugs on the scripting and in the Localization in PT-BR that a programer on elementary school would solve in 2 minutes given the time, the MTX business model BA-Nco wanna follow as of now and the slicing of the game. i simply CANNOT, CANNOT, and CANNOT recommend this game for anyone. and it is with a heavy heart that i say this, because you can find enjoyment in this game despite its flaws, and it is a good game to be played. but the errors of BA-Nco,Dimps,AQuiria and the guys that are managing the SAO franchise are killing for me. not to mention the cringe. FOCUS ON YOUR GAME, and forget about the anime and being self indulgent for a second, for the love of god.

i am not happy... not at all... the new wave of Redesigns everyone is experiencing is just terrible. just ubeliveable. the job of designer is just being taken to the drain with these new "redesigns", and seriously it makes me wanna puke. why?! it is simple... no one redesigning websites have any idea on what the hell they are doing anymore. first let me show you good examples of redesign so you can understand where i am coming from:

the good:

STEAM APP

the steam redesign on its library and user interface is by far the best of this new wave of stuff that those guys are doing. the interface on the library menu actually displays the games i have now, like... and actual shelf of games. and the new freatures are... while very, and i mean VERY sweetened to the point i get diabetes for just seeing them... at least are not something that wanna make me vomit. it is perfectily tolerable. could be better, but perfectly tolerable. Deviantart hold up. before you come with torches to burn me up, listen to what i have to say... OF COURSE the new design have problems... a LOT of them tbh. and for someone that writes stuff using the old Stash, it is very noticeable... i miss too for example, the thumbnail my written stories had when i published them. it gave charm and something that the reader was able to look foward to. there is a workarround on this, but it only works if your publication is displayed on group pages. it is not good, but at least i can swallow it. and there is things that genuinely made the site look better. the collor pallete is good and changeable, and tbh, it is a good decision that they made it so you can interchange it in a non intrusive way, even tho it is hidden under your profile button... it's meh but tolerable...

now for the shitfest: Facebook:

oh, my fucking god. this site changes interface more than my sister changes clothes. and everytime it changes, it is WORSE than the previous change. the icons are a joke, the layout is pandering for mobile users (even tho the page of a multibillion dollar company should be responsible to detect what the HELL am i using via the screen resolution), not to mention, they always come with something ridiculous. Reactions?! shit implementation. page cleaness?! shit implementation. overal visual?! looks like a fischer price toy. for fuck sake... this is a lost case... and it was the main reason i don't use facebook unless i am obligated to... and since the college is on recess... well, i don't have to use it at all. hahahahahahaha.... Youtube and google in general:

what the fuck is this shit?! WHAT... THE FUCK... IS THIS SHIT?! take facebook problem on the redesign quality, and amplify it a million. that's what is the new "Polymer" redesign is. honestly... do the designers of that site have 2 fingers up their asshole?! because it feels like it. they tried to simplify the design and "modernize" so much, that it became this monstrosity we have today. Video player so big that it makes me feel i am a 90yo with myopia. outlined buttons... THOSE FUCKING OUTLINED BUTTONS OF LOGIN, using the most ugly shade of blue you can find on the collor table... and dear god... what the fuck they did to the search bar?! It is gynormous... the size of the blocks of information is simply inconsistent over the modes on the main page... and again, the fucking outlined buttons and symbols... not to mention, that fucking bell... yes... that fucking bell... can go all to hell. it is like the site is actively trying to piss me off... and succeding at that... what happened to the 2013 design?! oh yeah, it was trashed for the pre-polymer one, that was abohernt, but at least tolerable... the new one tho... fuck that shit... fuck that shit and fuck google for implementing that design. seriously, as a fellow designer... this new abomination of a design makes me wanna put a knife trough my heart. and i did not make a big case, because i could avoid it using a script... well, guess what... NOT ANYMORE... they might as well put an information box saying: "ha-ha... too bad, so sad, you gonna use polymer and like it, you have no choice", seriously, this is worse than a kick on the balls. i don't drink and cannot (my heart fails at any sign of alcohol, it kills me), but i am starting to reconsider after what happened today. because it is absurd beyond limits to let those "designers" (that from designing stuff they clearly don't know jack shit) run loose on this redesigning trend. we gotta have quality of control here... or we gonna end up with a site that looks like it was done in plain text and Mspaint in a few years from today.