Senaste recensioner av Mandz

Yey!

Music is great, there's hardly no jank, framerates are high, story is compelling even without much visuals as it was hard carried by the writing and great voice acting and there's enough customization options to express yourself with your very own mech. Campaign itself also throws some good twists to it's themes and gameplay every once in a while.

"I won't miss"

Made me realize there's something for me in the mech genre.
The stagger system applying to everything dampens some of the builds though.

Negative experience at the later half of the game.
Got to the IBIS coral boss using a very involved, varied build and playstyle, and was having a hard time until I switched to a practical, brain-dead build that keeps pressure up without having to reload, then tore through that boss, and the rest of the game, until NG++ end.

While I wish I didn't discover I could play like that, there was not a single instance afterward that stopped me from utilizing this loadout as I waited for the game to come up with a fight that forced my hand. I thought at some point, I will encounter something that has anti-stagger; defenses that grow with intensity that punishes the build I had, forcing me to come up with ways to fight with burst damage instead.

This probably works best in pvp, where players are encouraged to keep the pressure up. I personally didn't bother with pvp as I don't enjoy figuring out meta builds so I'm not too informed on this.

Though even without trying out pvp, I appreciate that the parts were built is such a way that with enough experience you can tell what an enemy mech is capable of with just a single look.

Pulls you in with the incredibly chill vibes and character writing.

Fun gameplay.
Enough variety of spells to help with different situations.
Lightning element could use more drawbacks though, it's kinda OP.
As a magic enjoyer, the special effects are chunky and flashy.
There's enough depth (particularly around mana recovery), that makes it fun when you master it.
Cute anime aesthetic.

Pretty great.
Decent gameplay.
Solid (and unusual) H-scenes.

I haven't played much h-games, but I really appreciate that this one goes out of it's way to minimize jank in both the controls. A few hours in, I was comfortably navigating through the menu to recall clues, check key items, view map without getting bogged down with confusing controls. Appreciated.

(I get the feeling that enemy density and aggression is determined by how much ammunition you have).

• Controls are responsive, though no way to remap keys at the time of this review.
  
• Well animated H-scenes.
  
• There's a difficulty spike on map 4, everything else is ok.
  
• Ammunition is limited, but can be compensated using the melee kick properly.

Tips to others who might have a bad time (somewhat hard).

• Doors and switches have symbols above or next to them, use that when figuring out which button opens what. I only noticed this 5 levels in.
  
• Master the effective range of the kick.
  
  • There's atleast 2 monster types you can defeat without wasting ammo if you do.
• You don't have to kill everything, just remember you only have 2 objectives:
  
  • Rescue target: Each stage has an NPC you have to carry to extraction.
    
    • You lose the ability to jump when carrying someone, but don't fret when you drop to a lower platform, the stage is built in a way that there's always a transporter at the lowest floors.
  • Datacore - Optional item for unlocking more H-scenes.

Oddly enough, after spending some money on the game, the patcher became busted and the game became literally unplayable.

Be warned.

I like this game. I like the world, soundtrack, build variety, dungeons, boss battles...

However, when the DLC/sequel comes out I'll pay very close attention to the control layout/camera controls next time before buying.

Thumbs up.

You're probably getting this game because of one thing. And you'll get that one thing.

Problem is everything else, combat especially.

• Enemy AI is barely there.
  
• Abilities look flashy, but has no tactical depth.
  
• Part of progression is mostly bound to time spent playing, and days spent logging in, not unlike a mobile game.
  
• There's energy spent on the story and cinematics (even has voiceovers), but that gets diluted fast because of the previous point.
  
• Higher difficulty = enemies just have more hp, and hit somewhat harder. Moveset are primarily approach-then-attack, except on the rare cases where enemy is ranged.
  
• While menus are well designed appearance-wise, there's a lot of jank from time to time. Changing audio settings doesn't always kick-in until game is restarted, very minimal control over the UI, weird submenuing for the DLC (nude mod has it's own section in the options panel, yet Haydee costume appears normally as a costume next to all the other body options on the appearance menu, why?).
  
• Missed opportunity: Male body option DLC doesn't come with male animations.
  
• Jank in some of the equipment. Using the katana on the mage character causes her to hold the weapon using the bladed end. Using the auto-hide option on the wings will cause it to appear with every spacebar use, but disappears when activating flight mode.
  
• For a game that encourages you to play as much as possible, there's not a lot you can do outside of the already abysmal combat.
  
• Denuvo.

I've put money into this now free-to-play game to show appreciation for the work of the devs, but there's just a lot of unnecessary stuff in here that feels like frustration mechanics that I'm not willing to put up with.

I'll check on it again after some time.

Love this game.

The artstyle, soundtrack, story all mixed to such a sublime balance that it just elevates itself to a whole new level. If the trailer tickles your interest, the vibe is exactly the same in-game and has to be experienced first-hand.

Difficulty is also just the right amount of challenge, it doesn't feel like grinding is required. Save spots/checkpoints are also plentiful enough that your progress is practically protected every 3-5 sections you clear, though in exchange it means the game is permitted to throw incredibly juicy encounters at you, which it does, unrelentingly so.

Abilities obtained throughout the story is also mechanically varied and can be combined to cover various obstacles provided by the wide range of enemies. Bosses are also a treat, initially coming off as insurmountable, but eventually manageable once you get used to fighting them and figure out the best build to get even.

One of the few games that I played to 100% completion, and kept going still because of NG+ which allows boss rush, challenge sliders, among other things. Luv it~