Recent reviews by sevenfoothamster

I have played many ♥♥♥♥♥♥ games in my life. I consider myself a connoisseur of MMOs and mobile games on multiple platforms.
I'm engaged with so many mobile games they're constantly competing for space on my phone. I've played my share of digital card games as well.
So when I say this game is the absolute ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ mobile game I have ever played, know that it's not something I say lightly.

The game is the absolute worst introduction to Yu Gi Oh you could ever conceive of.

1) It doesn't teach you how to actually play. Sure, it teaches you the game's rules, but nearly all the game's rules are *pointless* because there's a higher set of meta rules that contribute to actually winning the game. "You can only summon one monster per turn"? Yeah, well then you have the "special summon" system that allows you to field 7 or more monsters *on your first turn*.

2) There are hundreds upon hundreds of cards. Nearly all of them are pointless because you can't win with them. One of Yu Gi Oh's biggest competitors is Magic: The Gathering. With Magic, even a new player or someone who has merely a few decent cards can still theoretically win against another new player if they play well. Not here. If you can't absolutely annihilate your opponent on the second turn of the game, you have no chance of winning at all.

3) The matchmaking is absolutely horrendous beyond belief and not at all newbie friendly. If you've ever played an online game with PVP functions, you know that you'll either be matched with people of your relative skill or power level or, failing that, a bot? Not in Yu Gi Oh: Master Duel. You get paired with whales and peoples' alt accounts. I'm no game dev and even I can see this is such a horrific way to maintain player retention that I'll be surprised this game is still around in a year or so. A new player is not a potential source of income. They're a stepping stone for the whales. You are food for the people with money.

4) The monetization is beyond predatory. Usually, a game with deckbuilding mechanics will make an effort to ensure you can't ♥♥♥♥ up early on. To slowly ease you into it to be able to hit the higher tiers. Nah. I played six matches and they weren't actual games. They were "Watch yourself hopelessly lose" simulators. At no point did I feel like I was improving at the game in any way other than recognizing how screwed I was.

5) The game outright tricks you with your very first choice. You're given an option to choose between 3 decks at the beginning. There is a right choice that will possibly let you have a shred of a chance, and there is a wrong choice that will make it so you never, ever win a single game. You can get the other options via the game's solo mode, but why is this a thing? In other games, the idea of your very first choice screwing you over *this* badly is absurd.

6) There's no Draft mode. See, I could forgive the just plain bad mechanics above and the obtuseness if there were a mode where you could choose a premade deck to play against other players using similar premade decks. This is a mode that even a certain colossally powerful MMO with a TCG minigame inside it has going. It boosts player engagement, lets them "try before them buy," and gives every player a *chance* of getting that endorphin rush from a victory. Even the Pokemon Showdown simulator has this feature (Random mode) and they don't monetize at all!

This game isn't "pay to win." It's "Pay to achieve basic competence." And that's a horrible business model for player retention.

And I'm not just salty because I "lost." I wouldn't mind losing my first match if it was at least somewhat close, if I felt like I only lost because of my skill level. I was completely annihilated in my first match and there was nothing I could do to stop it. None of the cards in my deck had any way of preventing my loss, and I was using a deck the game handed me.
It was like playing Street Fighter and getting matched against a guy who finishes you with an infinite combo for your first ever match.

I think back to all the PVP games I've played, and I've never played one that so thoroughly showed me it didn't want my money.

Don't play this game. If you like Yu Gi Oh, stay away. If you like card games, stay away.

I could also get into how the game has some interface bugs when a controller, mouse, and keyboard are all plugged in at once, and is clearly a mobile port, but honestly that's neither surprising nor a deal breaker for me.

The inability for the game to provide a new player with a fun experience, however, is a dealbreaker.

This game has bugs, especially towards the end of the game.

But damn it, I love it.

Do you like CRPGs in the vein of Baldur's Gate? Do you like class/race granularity other games could only dream of? Then this is for you.

I've played through this game five times, and I'm STILL not done. Each and every run had something different to it.

And this is NOT a small game! It's HUGE!

The characters are interesting, the story is...reasonably interesting (it's based on a Table Top RPG adventure path so it can get kind of thin if you don't actually do digging by yourself)

But the sheer amount of variety and ways to approach it make it worth it.

I'd be foolish not to recommend a game I've invested over 300 hours into.

I...have a hard time hitting the "recommended" button. But I'm going to anyway.

First off, this is more of a kinetic novel than a proper Visual Novel. The sprites and backgrounds are more limited than you'd expect from the genre, and there are only really choices at the end.

The art is pretty good. It gives personality to all of the characters with rather elaborate yet simplistic designs and wonderful backgrounds.

And it functions as it should. No technical issues.

However, there ARE problems, mostly in regards to the story itself (which is what you rate when you review games like this anyway):

1) The script is hideously anachronistic. I get that it's supposed to be a fictional world and you have magic and such existing in the game, but there are references to things that really shouldn't exist given the technological level present in the story. The author seemed more focused on telling a specific story than dealing with the small details. If references to French Fries in what's implied to be an ancient Asian country (and I mean actually ancient. There's proof in the game that it takes place thousands of years in the past) ruin your suspension of disbelief, it's not for you.

2) It's DEPRESSING. I'm going to come right out and say it that there's no good ending to the game. There's a "True" ending, but it's depressing as hell. Of course this isn't by itself a bad thing, as there are plenty of games with depressing plots that are VERY good. But it doesn't STOP being depressing. Seriously it needs a fifth ending. I even have ideas as to where and when in the narrative it should be, but hey not my game so yeah. And that leads into...

3) Really the choices don't feel like they matter. All you're really doing is choosing the best way for the main characters' lives to suck. If they even last that long. I mean I hesitate hinting at this kind of stuff in a review but this is seriously a turn off for some people, and if I met the author I'd chastise them for not fully taking advantage of the medium to give a wider variety of endings, so that the player feels satisfied.

4) The villain is horrible. We don't really get to know him, but we're supposed to feel bad for him. Literally every single piece of misery the characters undergo is entirely his fault. There is ONE part of ONE ending when a bit of misery is NOT his fault, and it feels so forced as to have only been added in to make the main characters' lives, again, suck. He's also a terrible leader, strategist, and tactician, and really should have been assassinated at some point in the story.

But the kicker? He never does. And what happens with him in the True End infuriated me and ALMOST got me to click that "No" under "Do you recommend this game?"

So you're probably wondering why I didn't.

Well...it made me care. I like Miyon. I like Gai. I like Sasa. I like Zoluu. The humor regarding Neek was entertaining (even if it did, anachronistically, involve comics). The characters were complex and multifaceted, with tiny bits of nuance given their limited time (which is a running theme in the story, that people are more complicated than you see on the surface)
I wanted MORE from them. And I was inspired to work on some of my own writing.
So, for the price, I'd say I got a lot of value out of it. But I hold out hope the writer can improve.

This is a pretty simple visual novel. It's Yuri-based, which can be a plus, minus, or non-issue for people. The story is pretty straightforward: Your crazy boss has made you the manager of your store, and you have to hire one (or more in the 'harem' ending) new employees to replace you.
It's not FANTASTIC, but it's a good way to spend a few hours. The controls are intuitive if you're familiar with Visual Novels, and the artwork is very nice even if some of the expressions and poses are a little weird.
Mechanically, it has an issue where the sprites and dialogue are linked, so even if a conversation is exactly the same, if the character sprites are different, the Skip function is disabled. This isn't a huge deal if you use a guide, but if you're the type that likes to savescum and figure out all the endings on your own, it can be a little tiresome.
The game doesn't really hide what it is, wish can also be a plus or a minus. There's no voice acting, but the script is tight and mostly logical with the characters having pretty distinct personalities.
Only problem is it's so short we don't really get to know all the characters as much as we could. Which makes an odd bit of sense, considering they're trainees at a workplace. I still would have wanted a bit more characterization, but for what it is, it's fine.
The price point is a weeeee bit high, especially considering the game only lasts about 5 hours if you do EVERYTHING, but I can definitely recommend the game itself if Yuri genre visual novels are your thing.

This was a rather unique experience for me. I've played visual novels before, and I had a cursory knowledge of the source material going in.

In short, this is a visual novel retelling of the story "A Little Princess." It takes a few liberties with the source material such as Miss Minchin's sister being completely absent, and they created one character wholecloth.

Being a visual novel, there's really not much that you can expect from the game. The interface is clean, the mechanics are explained well enough, though the RNG element can make it frustrating if you're shooting for a specific ending. Jessie's route, for example, requires a high number of high count skills, while characters like Mariette and Becky tend to have lower costs. It also completely goes out the window in the second have of the game, where you can completely cheese the system.

How you feel about this game's plot will depend greatly on how you feel about the source material. If you don't like Victorian era novels with social commentary that inflict misfortunate on characters that don't deserve it, you probably won't like it.

I won't go into TOO much detail on the plot, but suffice to say the game takes a turn at the halfway point, and the mechanics do so as well.

That said I actually like it a bit BETTER than the source material. The characters are much more fleshed out and less one-dimensional, especially Lavinia and Jessie, who in the novel were "a rich bully and her hanger-on." Lavinia becomes a much more complicated character, and Jessie actually GETS a character.

About the only disappointment is that some of the stories needed a bit more time to develop. Jessie and Mariette's work out fine, but Lavinia probably could have used a few extra scenes since she undergoes the most drastic change.

Also there's a lack of a "golden ending," you have to pick ONE path to the end, and it's more of a sidestory. The game ends the same way the book does, though Sara may get one more additional companion if she chooses someone other than Mariette or Becky (they go with her no matter what).

And, uh, that brings me to the last point. The sorta elephant in the room: I haven't finished ALL the routes, only half, but 2/3 of those are effectively lesbian love stories. Naturally I'd imagine the total number of lesbians would be 4 out of the 6, as Mariette's too old and Lottie's too young, but I've been wrong before. Safe to say, though, Jessie's definitely a lesbian in this version, and Lavinia's probably Sara-sexual. Though given Sara's personality, it could just be them attracted to HER specifically.

Because...maybe it's just because my experience with the source material is primarily the film adaptations (where the dad is kept alive. Spoiler alert for a 110 year old book: He really IS dead in the novel) and maybe it's the perspective and choice given to you, the player...but Sara feels a little stronger here.

Anyway, in short, I recommend this VN. It's the type of thing I'd like to see more of: retellings of classic stories that give the player more control over events. It would certainly help mitigate possible plotholes.

If you liked Dragonfall, then this game is for you.
I've fallen out of favor with ranking games on a 1-10 scale, so lemme just give the good points short and sweet:
This is a turn based RPG in the Shadowrun universe, and the second standalone expansion. You do not need to play the original or the previous installment to understand this one (though a cursory knowledge of the Shadowrun setting helps.)
If you like BioWare games, especially the classes like Baldur's Gate, get this game ASAP.
If you like cyberpunk and RPGs, you'll like this game.
If you're a fan of later versions of the Shadowrun setting, since this uses an earlier version of rules as its base (and changes those to fit the PC platform) you MAY be put off due to how different it is.
It also doesn't have the deepest of combat systems (your party members aren't COMPLETELY customizable, for example) but it's no shallow pool either.
While the characters are quite interesting, they also don't gel quite as much as Dragonfall's cast did. Interestingly, YOUR character actually has a history beyond "knew a guy" this time around. This may not sit well with some people who prefer to project their own stories on their characters.
Shadowrun is a rather unique setting. Honestly this game is about even with Dragonfall in terms of quality, so don't be afraid to pick it up if you liked Dragonfall.

EverQuest is a very old game. Well, sort of. It predates most of the MMO market by a few years, especially a certain other exceptionally popular game anyone remotely familiar with the genre will instantly know. In its heyday, it was one of the most popular MMOs, with about 100,000 subscribers, give or take. The epic scale of the raids still hasn't been replicated to this day.
But has it aged well? Sure.
EverQuest has always been about change. Sure, you can't have a dynamic influence on the world in most cases, but the game has always been changing. Where once you couldn't do anything without a group unless you were a specific class, now nearly everyone is capable of soloing for experience.
Don't get me wrong, the game is still old and looks old, but there's a wonderful charm to it that other games really haven't come close to replicating.
Oh, and it's HUGE. In the old days, it used to be said that it took six hours to run from one end of the map to the other on foot. Well, the game has gotten bigger since then, to the point that they've added a number of hub zones to make travel easier. The down side to this truly epic size is that very few zones are consistently occupied by players.
There's also a bit of a disjointed aesthetic to the game. While many older zones and models have been updated over time, just as many have not. While Freeport and the surrounding Commonlands have received overhauls to the point it's almost a joke in the community, Qeynos and the Karanas are mostly unchanged from the time of launch, barring a few new quests that make you visit there.
Now, let's talk about the sound. It's dated, sure, but that little factor hasn't stopped people from loving music before. And EverQuest has some real goldies. Kelethin, the sea approach to Freeport, Rivervale...great music that will stick in your mind forever. It's unfortunate that some of this music, such as the Rivervale theme, are in places you'd never normally visit, but sometimes it's worth it just to hear it.
It's not all rose colored glasses, though: The UI is cluttered beyond belief, to the point you'll be glad you can alter it to your liking. The previously mentioned disjointed graphics can also be rather jarring when you compare newer cash shop aesthetic outfits with older, standard armor. Everything works, but unlike most MMOs these days that are like receiving a new toy with karate chop action, EverQuest is like receiving one of those totally awesome playsets...with the words "Some Assembly Required" etched on the front.
But if you ask me, it's worth it.

It's often a fact that the games you play before and after a game can color your experiences with them. At least, if you're the type that plays large numbers of games like myself. War of the Human Tanks entered my library at a time when I was also playing another Japanese tactical game, Fire Emblem: Awakening. Thus it's rather natural that there would be a comparison.
But I find it kind to warn prospective players: Many will compare this to Fire Emblem or Battleship, but it's definitely NOT. Honestly, while it IS a strategy game, it's actually a pseudo-real time strategy, not a turn based game. This caught me off guard at first, so I feel it's fair to warn people.
Now, for those experienced with these types of games, it follows the pretty typical formula: You're in charge of an army, and your job is to accomplish objectives and not lose your command tank(s) before the match ends. The first matches are actually quite challenging as you get used to the systems, but once you start being able to field certain units, the game can become laughably easy. Don't get me wrong, the challenge is still there, especially if you're averse to grinding missions, but if you like the challenge you'll probably find yourself cranking up the difficulty and/or springing for the bonus maps.
So if you like Japanese style indie games with a sense of humor and don't mind sending cute little tank-girls to their deaths (seriously, there's a unit whose specific existence is to suicide bomb the enemy. It's the cheapest unit, and screams that it doesn't want to die as it explodes.) this is the game for you.