26
Рецензирани
продукти
0
Продукти
в акаунта

Скорошни рецензии на Siloam

< 1  2  3 >
Показване на 11 — 20 от 26 постъпления
54 души намериха тази рецензия за полезна
7 души намериха тази рецензия за забавна
64.1 изиграни часа (63.8 часа по време на рецензията)
⠀⠀⠀⠀ – ✤ – New Content Review – ✤ –
For returning veterans that just want to know what’s new in this version of Hakuouki, I offer a glowering review:
Because of space limitations, this review was continued from the Kyoto Winds page. See the first part here.

Game Content Differences
Includes:
⠀⠀ ✿ Demon of the Fleeting Blossoms, Part I
⠀⠀ ✿ Demon of the Fleeting Blossoms, Part II
⠀⠀ ✿ Stories of the Shinsengumi: bonus scenes
⠀⠀ ✿ New scenes, routes, music, and CGs

Does Not Include:
⠀⠀ ✿ Zuisouroku (Shimabara, snow, festive night)
⠀⠀ ✿ Adventures of the Shinsengumi (cat scenes)
⠀⠀ ✿ Stories of the Shinsegumi: letters
⠀⠀ ✿ Hakuouki Memories: Short Stories
⠀⠀ ✿ Memories of Love
⠀⠀ ✿ Various hilarious CD dramas
⠀⠀ ✿ Reimeiroku (with Ibuki)
⠀⠀ ✿ Urakata Hakuōki (different cast)
⠀⠀ ✿ Yuugiroku (chibi mini games)
⠀⠀ ✿ Sweet School Life (high school version)
⠀⠀ ✿ Bakumatsu Musouroku (3D hack&slash)

Artwork
The new artwork doesn’t have quite the same, natural aesthetic as the old, but it does look like quite a bit more effort was put into it, and not just on the costumes. They do all have new recolors and fancier clothes; Shinpachi looks less like a clown. And there are -lots- of new backgrounds and CGs, all of which are lovely. Most impressive to me were the new character models though. Their eyes express their feelings and personality superbly well: suspicion, disappointment, expectation. They can seriously read your soul.

Gameplay
It’s a port, so expect bugs and unnecessary demands on your CPU. Fullscreen didn’t work for me. It warped the image so badly that I had to play windowed. Running Borderless Gaming (from Steam) was the only workaround, but then I had to fight wonky Steam overlays and a fussy Application Frame Host. Big mess. Many lag.

There is now more and better sounding music. New animations (blood spatter, mist, snow, character overlays) and sounds (crows, cicadas, dogs, etc) add to the atmosphere while flash-bang sword animations detract because you are too blinded to read half the combat text. The characters still blink, but they don’t breathe or look particularly animated as they did in the PS3 version.

Don’t be fooled by the cringe-worthy old-man puns in the achievements; it’s still a classy game--just not committed enough to find an experienced translator, it would seem.

English Translation
Which brings me to the really, really terrible translation. It’s grammatically accurate (mostly), but someone had the bright idea that peppering random slang into the text makes it seem more relatable or something, but then used that slang completely out of context and at all the wrong moments without understanding the nuances, culture, social appropriateness, and feelings associated with it. It feels like someone played Russian Roulettes with a thesaurus from the 60s, and lost. This was by far the most disheartening aspect of the entire game because it is pervasive. It just makes me sad because I love this game and how it so reverently yet entertainingly deals with a very sad and serious period in time, so I am embarrassed by such an unprofessional translation waffling between purple prose and Scooby-Dooh vernacular, knowing people won’t be able to see past it to the much better writing in the original Japanese. The respectfully literal translation of the original content was perfectly fine. I can see that they made an effort to brighten this version by using action, romance, and slang specialists, but the Frankenstein script that came out of it is nauseating.

Blue Language Alert: in Japanese the language is probably at a PG rating (officially CERO C ≈ ESRB T). In English, the game is rated MA for language. Why?? In the new scenes, even sweet, innocent little Chizuru cusses…all the time. Kazama is no longer the suave anti-hero he was; now he just sounds like a schoolboy hooligan with a potty mouth. It’s profanity to the point of distraction, a symptom again of an over-confident translator thinking that Japanese tough-guy language is the equivalent of English ⁴chan vulgarity. This game is for ‘maidens,’ not truckers. The inappropriate and out-of-character word choices (e.g. Okita) actually make me like the characters less. A simple native check is all it would take to fix this. I’m sorry to be so critical, but this is a novel: the words are important.

Rating
Speaking of language, I would have previously put this game at a PG13 for swearing (I’m looking at you, Hijikata), mild innuendo, and, well, blood-fetishes. But it’s gone way beyond that into MA territory this version by including Hijikata’s metaphors in Technicolor, strongly suggestive vocabulary, and a raρe scene—or I assume that’s what it was; but, once again, it might have just been the really awful translation.

New Routes
Whereas before I would have said that every route was fantastic and worth playing through, I can’t say the same for the new content. They spared no expense on the voice actors for the new routes; the three new heroes all being from the top five list in Japan. However, the routes, in general, are considerably shorter and by far more poorly written: too preachy, absolutely too tell-and-not-show info-dumpy, rushed, and lacking the character depth and sincerity of the originals. While they do add a deeper look into the mythology of the furies, they’ve lost the theme and quality of meaning the old routes had, and are now merely lazy recaps of better writing. They consistently have terrible wording and, to put it simply, are just plain boring. But some routes are better written than others (Sakamoto, Sannan). I admit that it was hard to feel attached to any of the new characters; the brief but imposing appearances of the original crew just made me want to go back to them—every time.

Yukimura is quite a bit more spunky throughout. I suppose the devs were listening to everyone’s complaints about her passivity since the new characters frequently tell us how clever, strong, and capable she is (unconvincingly). But she has changed a great deal in one thing: her thirst for romance in Edo Blossoms is by far more erotic (though that’s a strong word here) than I remember the previous routes being, losing the endearing innocence of the older stories.

If you haven’t played since PS2, then you’ll be very happy with the new scenes first released in the Vita version. They blend in perfectly, expanding the story and quietly leading into the romance later with the characters we know and love. You’ll know you’ve hit the new content for this version when the mic can no longer handle Nagakura’s manliness, and the translation suddenly sounds as awkward as a stoned baby-boomer trying to fit in with high schoolers. Then Yukimura will proceed to explain the personalities of our heroes to us because the writers thought that would be easier than actually writing story. There really is nothing original or interesting about the new content except all the editing errors: sentences cut off and missing, often conflicting. Real sloppy copy. In addition, the sudden interjection of ‘nibbling’ in every single romantic scene as they swap out writers for added lustiness is indescribably annoying and disruptive. With such an old and successful franchise, it truly surprises me how unprofessional this new content is.

For more specific details, you can find my review of the individual routes here.

So Is It Worth It
If you’ve taken the time to read this absurdly long review, then yes, for you, it’s worth it to get this game—one more time—with all its added flaws, for no reason more than that there’s more Shiranui.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀╔⠀⠀⠀ ╗
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ 誠
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀╚⠀⠀⠀ ╝
Публикувана 15 септември 2018. Последно редактирана 13 април 2019.
Беше ли полезна тази рецензия? Да Не Забавна Награда
24 души намериха тази рецензия за полезна
52.2 изиграни часа
For those who have never played Hakuouki, I offer a glowing review:
If you have played a previous version of Hakuouki and just want to see what’s new in this release, I have a review on Edo Blossoms that discusses only the new content here.
Firstly, this is an otome so the target audience is teenage girls, and the situations and story do reflect that, but the character development, theme, and historical focus seem more refined than a typical for-girls story, landing this in the josei category of literature. Secondly, though it promises romance, this is only the first half of a two-part game ending on a cliff-hanger; the romance doesn’t show up until the sequel, so be prepared to double the price tag. I’ve only played two visual novels like this—loved this one and hated the other—and being a bit older than the target demographic, I’m likely to offer a different view than others who are more experienced with the genre.

The voice acting, without exception, is superb. Every romanceable character is unique and interesting, though nearly all of them take some warming up to and are given plenty of room for character growth, and the story’s subtle characterization truly makes you want to learn and understand your potential love interest. However, these men are soldiers, and I think the game does a pretty good job of constantly reminding you that their priorities are soldiering and not wooing little girls—until the end (in Edo Blossoms) when everything starts going to pieces and the only one who can save the day is you! I really cannot express how excellent the story-telling is for these true-to-history men struggling to find their path and purpose under the leash of fate, nor how cleverly their personalities are revealed through both amusing and heartbreaking interactions between such diverse and fun characters.

However—I’m speaking of the original content. The new scenes, translation, and romance, dispersed throughout every route in this new version, in fact ruined the whole thing for me. If I hadn’t played the original and didn’t know about the gem hidden underneath all the new garbage, I certainly would have given this a negative rating. If you want to hear me rant about the horribly written new content, feel free to read the second half of this review in Edo Blossoms. But I can’t quite bring myself to betray a story I loved for so many years.

From the beginning, there has been plenty of criticism for the protagonist, and in part I support that criticism: she’s passive, inept, dumb as a doorknob, and is pretty much good at only two things: preparing tea and cleaning. -.- (Not true: she can also cook, sew, and kiss your booboos better.) However! Remember the time period: there weren’t too many girls running around town with swords, or who were allowed to be particularly assertive (especially when surrounded by the absurdly forceful and violent Shinsengumi warriors—warriors, not a host club). But, to be honest, I found that somewhat refreshing. In a gaming world where protagonist females have to be butt-kicking, male-dominating, ego-wielding combatants, it was nice to be reminded that women can have multiple qualities that have nothing to do with killing people. And Yukimura, the protagonist, has many—and they happen to be things that girls (or anyone) could actually emulate in a normal world and still have friends. So I like her, even if she is a dimwit. But she grows (by Edo Blossoms), like any good character should. And eventually they will stop telling you to go bed on time.

If you really want to be concerned about something, you’d be better off worrying why there’s an entire game dedicated to a defenseless girl attracted to the bestial side of men who, pitying their carnal lack of self-control, enables them to hurt and use her. But eh.

Truthfully, after the ‘now with added romance’ aspect of the expansion, I’m reluctant to recommend the game at all. The new ‘romance’ is way too heavy, and the smutty descriptions they use are uncomfortable, ill-fitting, and laughably silly most of the time. The transition into them is equally jarring, as though they called in a special harlequin translator just for those scenes with no regard for the theme or characters. Really, the best word I can use to describe it is stomach-turning. If this is a concern for you, there’s always the option of playing an older version where the romance is far more innocent and sweet.

I’m not a huge fan of the supernatural aspect of the game either (or Kaoru’s nonsensical whining)—the story really didn’t need it. And I really don’t want to see men licking blood from veins. But some people like that it seems. Maybe you do. Maybe you don’t. Fair warning.

The crown jewel of the game, however, is the history. Oh the people who wrote this game loved their history! And because of them, I love this history now too. The Shinsengumi were remarkable men with remarkable stories, and in this game you will hear them all and live in the emotion of it and experience the confusion of a nation-changing era. I appreciated too that, though this is an otome, there is still so much sword fighting and discussion about warriors!—like the writers knew that us ladies like to see some martial action too, and want to know what it feels like to be in the middle of a battle. But there is also a very respectful treatment of what it must feel like to be a soldier, in their successes and loses and confusion over right and wrong. I don’t typically see that in a made-for-men war story, so this one feels somehow more honest, and you can see the hearts of men exposed in ways I think they would not be so willing to show to their comrades, but only to a woman like our protagonist.

I really don’t recommend planning on playing all the routes (unless you really want the achievements) because by bachelor number 12, you’re going to get pretty sick of ground kicking, screaming furies, tumbling down the same ex machina hill over and over, and Amagiri’s patronizing interruptions. But I can guarantee that it’s going to be hard to choose just one route, so you can anticipate putting in at least 20 hours per game (50+ if you want the achievements).

In deciding your new romantic pursuit, I’d suggest just playing the game and following around whoever looks most interesting, but I also suggest starting with one of the original characters because their routes are lightyears better than the new content. The following link is a preview of those original characters plus a review of the still interesting but poorly presented routes from the new content: Individual Character Review.

So here’s the real question. Should you save 60$ dollars (hopefully less on a good sale) and just watch the anime? Yeah, probably. However, if you really want to admire these men and find out their whole story and all their personal struggles, then you’ll need to play the game. You’ll get a peek in the anime, and the pacing’s definitely better, but you really only get to follow one man’s story. Also, you will cry. But you will cry more if you play the game first. Then, after you’ve done both, and you need to stop crying, watch the movie because it’s beautiful, high quality, and the music still makes my heart seize up when I listen to it. If you’re not into the romance (or creepy blood-letting), and would prefer the PG version, the anime is likely the best version of them all.

Because of space limitations, this review is continued on the Edo Blossoms page here.
Публикувана 15 септември 2018. Последно редактирана 13 април 2019.
Беше ли полезна тази рецензия? Да Не Забавна Награда
11 души намериха тази рецензия за полезна
0.0 изиграни часа
As other reviewers have mentioned, there are six stories about 2 minutes long each. That's a pitifully small amount of content for the price. The content itself was wholly underwhelming. Of course the stories don't really contribute to anything; they are simple vignettes of everyday life with a hint of possible romance. But the dialogue itself is stale, poorly translated, and pretty much a rehash of personality traits we already know through much better storytelling in the base game. If you're desperate to hear a characters voice one last time, then I suppose you can get this for a couple bucks, but don't expect much.
Публикувана 6 август 2018.
Беше ли полезна тази рецензия? Да Не Забавна Награда
3 души намериха тази рецензия за полезна
2 души намериха тази рецензия за забавна
4.0 изиграни часа
I related too much to Neil.
___

Music: good
Humor: good
Story: new
PCs: amusing
NPCs: hollow
Gameplay: tedius
The Feels: stilted
Romance: absent

Публикувана 13 юни 2018.
Беше ли полезна тази рецензия? Да Не Забавна Награда
3 души намериха тази рецензия за полезна
9.2 изиграни часа
Worth the clunk.

Yes, it's clunky. And yes, you spend a lot of time running into walls and fighting a mouse while the counter runs down, but, the story is worth it. It's got enough intrigue to keep your on your toes, but not enough stress to have you constantly reloading saves to make a better dialogue choice.

I can easily compare this to Mass Effect with a twist of Goldeneye--a far less well-developed game with rather stereotyped characters, but still fun for the flavor.
Публикувана 13 юни 2018.
Беше ли полезна тази рецензия? Да Не Забавна Награда
159 души намериха тази рецензия за полезна
6 души намериха тази рецензия за забавна
976.8 изиграни часа (819.1 часа по време на рецензията)
I’ve put more than twice as many hours into Dragon’s Dogma as I have Skyrim—and I kind of think that’s saying enough.

But I also think that Dragon’s Dogma deserves more. It is absolutely a unique game, and so I think it calls for a different kind of review.

I actually went hunting for Dragon’s Dogma. I knew what I wanted: a game with an NPC companion that was my own: one that I could create, one that had a personality of its own that I didn’t have to just pretend existed, one that had more than a handful of generic lines and didn’t break out into windy monologuing only when it progressed the story.

So the internet gave me Dragon’s Dogma. And Dragon’s Dogma gave me my pawn. He is my pawn: an NPC hand-crafted to behave the way I want him to, talk the way I want him to, and look the way I want him to. It’s kind of like having a self-groomed cat that actually listens to you and seems genuinely concerned about the traumatic events that your character must experience—and about as intelligent. And when you feel as though you have perfectly expressed yourself through your pawn, you may share him (or her) with the world and pray that he is as useful (and fashionably dressed) as you’d like to think he is. And then, of course join the fantastically supportive Steam community where you can marvel at, laugh at, and occasionally dismay over the AI antics of your shared pawns.

Of course Dragon’s Dogma offers more than just customizable NPCs. It has a somewhat interesting story, a mildly exciting world, and a memorable if not entirely likeable cast. And Troy Baker.

Combat, however, seems to be the main demographics’ draw. If you like the idea of crawling up a dragon’s knee so you can stab its heart while your pawn staggers it with arrows and your friend’s pawn tanks for you while your other friend’s pawn hangs back so she can conjure up the biggest, doom-ridden maelstrom spell she can, then you’d probably like this game. If you don’t like getting ganked by lowbie bandit mobs within the first 30 minutes of starting, then you may not like this game. And yes, there will be times when you run for your life, or die.

On the whole though, I highly recommend it. And if a mix of Dragon Age, the Sims, and a little bit of Pokemon woven into a Nihilistic setting of charmingly archaic dialogue and devoted NPCs that call you master sounds interesting to you, it is absolutely worth every penny and multiple playthroughs.
Публикувана 23 ноември 2017. Последно редактирана 24 ноември 2017.
Беше ли полезна тази рецензия? Да Не Забавна Награда
27 души намериха тази рецензия за полезна
1 човек намери тази рецензия за забавна
7.1 изиграни часа
Let me begin by saying that Myst, to this day, is one of my favorite games. I played it the year it came out and it defined me almost as much as it defined the genre of gaming it created. In the following years I played every Myst sequel, read all the books, and bought all the remakes and soundtracks. I preface with this to say, RealMyst: Masterpiece is terrible.

I understand that the first neophyte steps I took onto Myst Island, shrouded in mystery and its share of bewildering puzzles, can never be replicated. Nor has the aesthetic ever been so beautiful as it is in my age-gilded memory. But the graphics in this ‘masterpiece’ are indeed terrible. It’s distractingly terrible. But not nearly so distracting as the nauseating movement, unpredictable controls, and constant crashing (you could blame my computer).

If you have never played the Myst series, then it’s hard to say if you will enjoy this game or not because it really is dated. I’m not sure anyone can have that sense of abandonment that the very first strangers to Myst had because we have now become so used to games dropping us into a situation we have no idea how to handle. But the story behind it all is, even now, unique and beautiful, especially if you continue into the sequels.

I have always enjoyed the puzzles of the Myst series because they feel as though they were built by engineers. They feel practical and organic. They build on the experiences you play through. They make reading the stories and carrying your ‘Myst Notebook’ around with you exciting because you feel like you are studying a new culture and journaling your own progress through a world. In fact, if there was one thing that I think makes the Myst games unique, it is their exploration of culture.

If you could go back in time and play the game in its original form, I would suggest doing that exactly. And then I would give this Masterpiece Edition a huge thumbs down and say, don’t even look at it. But since this ‘Masterpiece’ is the only version you are likely to find, I would still say that the game is worth it. It’s challenging and touching and in truth a (poorly aging) masterpiece.
Публикувана 16 ноември 2017. Последно редактирана 16 ноември 2017.
Беше ли полезна тази рецензия? Да Не Забавна Награда
4 души намериха тази рецензия за полезна
13.6 изиграни часа (9.1 часа по време на рецензията)
Cheers to a quick-paced, atmospheric, (crime) drama with refreshing puzzles (and not too much math).
Публикувана 11 ноември 2017.
Беше ли полезна тази рецензия? Да Не Забавна Награда
15 души намериха тази рецензия за полезна
10.7 изиграни часа (1.2 часа по време на рецензията)
I am drawn to any game that boasts a noir-style detective narrative, and when I saw that Benoit Sokal was the one behind the beautiful Art Deco environment, I just knew this game couldn’t fail. But…it did. In Sokal’s defense, the backgrounds are gorgeous and the story—even the dialogue—is everything you’d expect from a crime novel. But what made Syberia so special for me was the enchanting atmosphere and memorable characters. Sinking Island, unfortunately, had neither. It had matured to a gritty crime drama with a gilded backdrop, but lacked the depth, charm, and humor of Sokal’s first games such that you are left with mundane narrative and cold, disorienting environments.

While beautiful, the Art Deco building seemed somehow out of place, and, despite the daunting number of scenes you had to walk through over and over and over, there was just one building and it all looked pretty much the same. Beautiful! But monotonous. The transitions themselves were also confusing and tedious (and glitchy). To be honest, I really came to hate the building and all the stairs that had to be climbed so that, unlike other games, I wasn’t excited about entering new rooms. Rather, I was relieved when the number of environs started shrinking.

Others have mentioned that the mouths of the characters don’t move. You get used to it, I suppose, but it does feel very strange when most of the game (if you aren’t trekking across the beach again) is staring at people’s faces. The characters themselves are almost entirely unlikable.

The most novel and fascinating aspect of the game is the clue collection device. It did make cross-referencing notes extremely convenient, but even it seemed like a good idea that didn’t quite go far enough. A true murder board could have had a character relationship tree and a timeline to fill in. A map would have been nice too. I ended up referencing my hand-written notes far more often. But that was how much of the game felt: someone had a great idea and a great story, but the programmers just couldn’t pull it off, so the environs feel wasteful, the characters feel bland, and the progression is unmotivating.

I hate to be so critical of a game I really intended to love, but I do kind of feel that if you just download some backgrounds you’ll be getting the best part of the game.
Публикувана 27 декември 2016.
Беше ли полезна тази рецензия? Да Не Забавна Награда
2 души намериха тази рецензия за полезна
371.9 изиграни часа (12.0 часа по време на рецензията)
I thoroughly enjoyed this game, but then I do really love hanafuda. I'm going to mention some of the downfalls, but on the whole, it's still worth getting on sale.

The tutorial was quick and sent me away with a "well, just go try and learn on your own" feeling, but it was enough. The quick reference was super-helpful, but don't expect much else from the interface. The multiplayer is pretty much empty, but it's easy to set up games with friends.

My biggest frustation is that my virus protection eventually identified this game as a trojan and despite a couple hours of trying to find a workaround, I got caught in an endless cycle of downloading and dequarentining and re-identifying it as an exception etcetera. I'm tired of fighting it and ended up deleting everything.

If you can sneak it past your security, I deffinitely recommend this highly addictive game.

___
Update: It looks like the devs have reported the false-positive to the virus checkers and now it's working! Good job, boys!
Публикувана 25 декември 2016. Последно редактирана 25 февруари 2017.
Беше ли полезна тази рецензия? Да Не Забавна Награда
< 1  2  3 >
Показване на 11 — 20 от 26 постъпления