Hey Hey Heroes, Travelers, and Wandering NPCs, today, April 18th you can purchase the Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds Limited Edition set from the North American IF online store for $72.99 USD! The European IF online store opened up pre-orders a few hours ago and the LE can be purchased for £62.99!! Please note that billing for the LE will take place about 7 days prior to the game’s official release!!
First, I’m baaaaack! Well, sort of… this is one of the two year end posts I told you all I’d be writing, I’m just posting it a day early since I’ll be on a plane back to DC on the 30th…
A little while ago, my dear friend Leafy asked me if I planned on doing a top games list for 2016 and at the time I gave her what I thought was a pretty solid, Nah… I’m terrible with lists and schedules so I go out of my way to avoid them when I can. But, as we got closer to the end of the year I found myself thinking about all the games I’d played throughout the year; the good, the bad, and the meh titles and before I knew it this post kind of wrote itself! So here I am, a few days before the start of a new year running through my favorite games of 2016…
Now, I will say this in advanced, not all of these games were released in 2016, most were, but there are a few titles that were released prior to this year… Also, I am not including the Voltage games I played (save Liar), because I plan on doing a separate list for that. Finally, before ya’ll start grabbing your torches and pitchforks because your favorite game isn’t on the list, or you don’t agree with my picks, remember this is my list, if you have suggestions feel free to tell me about them in the comments section (I am always open to game suggestions)! *claps hands* Let’s get this show on the road!!
Continue reading “A Year in Games: My Favorite Games of 2016”
Before I start this review I have a confession to make, I didn’t buy this game when it first came out… I actually waited until it went on sale during one of PSN’s Flash Sales, so I don’t have any buyers remorse like some folks do. In fact I think I came out like a bandit with this game, because to be honest, Norn9 is worth exactly what I paid for it (and let’s remember that I paid $35 for Alice in the Heart)!
I try to remain neutral when starting a new game, that way I can be as unbiased as possible in my reviews. However, with Norn9: Var Commons that was easier said than done… Since it’s release in the West, Norn9 has been met with some pretty mixed reviews. On one side of the spectrum are the positive reviews which praise Norn9 for it’s unique plot and interesting characters. Then there are the negative reviews, that point out the various inconsistencies between routes and the gratuitous liberties Aksys took with the translation from Japanese to English. So, I didn’t know what to expect when we in That Game Club decided to pick up Norn9 as our next group gaming experience.
*Disclaimer: All images and screenshots from Norn9 used in this review belong to Idea Factory and Otomate. Please if you are interested in the game, purchase a copy from your local game shop, Aksys, Amazon.com, or the PSN Store!*
I can’t tell you how happy I am to be done with this game! It has been a long road to this point, and let me tell you, playing every route in a game is definitely a full time commitment. I have seen good, bad, and just plain ugly in this game, just to get to this point. So after watching Ukyo kill the MC with absolutely no warning what so ever in just about every bad ending of the game, I was a little curious about how his route would play out. I guess I was expecting some big character revelation or something, perhaps even a little explanation for his actions throughout the game…And you know what I got? Exactly that, this route is what is considered to be the canon route. Everything is explained, and I mean everything, the events of the other routes, Ukyo’s random bad endings, even Orion.
So, I landed every single bad ending this route had to offer (and there are SEVEN of them) before I could land even the normal ending. This route is not for the faint of heart, you really have to work to earn your happy ending!
*Side Note: I will not have an MC/Heroine section in this review…I feel that there just isn’t enough about her to fill an entire section in this game. I was actually really disappointed by the MC in this game.
Disclaimer: I don’t own these images, they belong to Idea Factory…and this goes without saying, but there will be SPOILERS under the cut…
Continue reading “My Lover Has Had a Hard Time: Amnesia: Memories-Ukyo Review”
Toma…Toma, Toma, Toma…sigh…Toma…I know I said this before, but I really have mixed feelings about childhood friend routes. Some are amazingly sweet, especially when executed well, while others…not so much. I don’t really like childhood friend stories at the best of times and from what I’d seen of Toma in Shin’s route, let’s just say that I was not overly thrilled to play his route. I didn’t need to get the end of Shin’s route to suspect that beneath his big brother act was a seriously twisted and messed up individual. The first indication that this route was different from the previous three was the addition of the Doubt indicator on the Parameters screen. The second indication was the fact that his Suspicion indicator is maxed out from the beginning. None of the other guys started at 100% Suspiscion, not even Shin, and he was accused of pushing the MC off a cliff. And even then I had to work for it! So then, I began wondering: What makes Toma so special? Why is his route so different? Well I’m afraid the answer is simple…he’s batshit crazy psycho insane in love with the MC.
*Side Note: I will not have an MC/Heroine section in this review…I feel that there just isn’t enough about her to fill an entire section in this game. I was actually really disappointed by the MC in this game.
Disclaimer: I don’t own these images, they belong to Idea Factory…and this goes without saying, but there will be SPOILERS under the cut…
Continue reading “My Childhood Friend is Kinda Crazy: Amnesia: Memories – Toma Review”
