Category Archives: Cover Games

The major, feature-length articles of MoeGamer. Each month, a single game or series gets the Cover Game treatment and is explored over the course of at least four articles.

428 Shibuya Scramble, Cover Games

428: Shibuya Scramble – The Mechanics of Storytelling

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When we’re talking about conventional games — particularly today’s games — it’s important to consider them from a wide variety of perspectives.

Typically, we look at a game from several different angles: the way it’s presented through its sights and sounds; the way it plays through its mechanics; and, where applicable, how it handles its story.

When contemplating visual novels, the balance tends to be a little different. We tend to up the focus on narrative considerably, and in many cases mechanics don’t enter the picture at all — many visual novels simply don’t have any! That is, unless you’re 428: Shibuya Scramble, in which case your narrative and mechanics combine together to produce something exceedingly interesting…

Continue reading 428: Shibuya Scramble – The Mechanics of Storytelling →

Atelier Arland Trilogy, Videos

New Game Plus: Creating Explosives – Atelier Rorona DX #3

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When returning to a game for a second playthrough, it’s always incredibly satisfying when you manage to complete an objective well ahead of “schedule”.

Despite only certain things carrying over to a New Game Plus run in the various incarnations of Atelier Rorona, you can still bash out a lot of the early game content very easily, leaving you with plenty of time to make money, grind for experience, build up your relationship values and just generally have a good time in this pastel-coloured world.

Hit the jump to see just how quickly I managed to satisfy the second assignment…

Continue reading New Game Plus: Creating Explosives – Atelier Rorona DX #3 →

428 Shibuya Scramble, Cover Games

428: Shibuya Scramble – Introduction and History

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Every so often a game comes along that really makes you sit up and pay attention.

Sometimes it’s because it features a beautiful refinement or evolution of some established mechanics. Sometimes it’s because it really pushes graphical technology forwards. Sometimes it has famous names attached to it.

And sometimes it’s 428: Shibuya Scramble, a title so far removed from what we traditionally think of as a “video game” that you can’t help but notice it.

Continue reading 428: Shibuya Scramble – Introduction and History →

Atelier Arland Trilogy, New Game Plus, Videos

New Game Plus: Furaipan Da Yo – Atelier Rorona DX #2

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Our (re)adventures in Atelier Rorona DX continue! Now we’ve finished the first assignment in this New Game Plus run, what’s next?

Well, there are plenty of options. Complete some quests, go out exploring, craft some items, make some materials and turn them into weapons and armour, fill out a bingo card, buy some beehives…

Hit the jump and see what Rorona got up to while waiting for her first deadline to hit.

Continue reading New Game Plus: Furaipan Da Yo – Atelier Rorona DX #2 →

Atelier Arland Trilogy, Videos

New Game Plus: Producing Sundries – Atelier Rorona DX #1

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It’s time for a new series of New Game Plus, in which I take a game I’ve already beaten and explore its postgame content and/or New Game Plus modes.

With the Atelier Arland Cover Game feature now done and dusted, that would seem like an ideal time to immediately revisit those games and see what happens on a second playthrough, right?

We get underway today with a new beginning for Atelier Rorona DX: The Alchemist of Arland on Nintendo Switch.

Continue reading New Game Plus: Producing Sundries – Atelier Rorona DX #1 →

Project Zero, Videos

New Game Plus: Five S – Project Zero #12

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This is it! This is what it all comes down to… what I’ve been training for.

Will that tortuous Nightmare mode playthrough of Project Zero, along with finally clearing out that pesky ghost list, prepare me for a long-overdue S-rank clear of any of the missions in the game’s Battle mode? Will my epic battle against that dead guy in that one closet have all been worthwhile?

Find out on today’s episode of New Game Plus, only on MoeGamer. And, err, YouTube.

Continue reading New Game Plus: Five S – Project Zero #12 →

Atelier Arland Trilogy, Cover Games

Atelier Meruru: Arland Comes Together

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Atelier Meruru: The Apprentice of Arland, the thirteenth mainline Atelier game and the third in the Arland series, first released in 2011.

It is a longstanding favourite of many enthusiasts of the series with good reason, and absolutely a suitable high point for the whole trilogy to wrap up on… that is, until Atelier Lulua comes along and confuses everyone by turning it into a quadrilogy! But more on that another time.

Providing some of the most refined mechanics in the Arland subseries along with a satisfying and enjoyable narrative to follow, Atelier Meruru combines elements of classic and more modern Atelier games. The result is a really great game featuring one of the series’ most appealing protagonists. So let’s dive in and take a look!

Continue reading Atelier Meruru: Arland Comes Together →

Atelier Arland Trilogy, Cover Games

Atelier Totori: Arland’s Middle Child

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Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland, the second installment in Atelier’s Arland trilogy, is in that unenviable position that all “middle children” end up in — perhaps more so than most.

Originally offering considerable improvements over Atelier Rorona’s first incarnation — particularly in the graphical and mechanical departments — Gust’s tendency to put out “Plus” versions for its Atelier games means that Totori has ended up, in some respects, now being the most dated of the Arland trilogy even once it, in turn, got its own “Plus” and “DX” rereleases, the most recent of which is on PlayStation 4, Switch and PC.

This isn’t to say Totori is a bad game, mind you — far from it. Just… don’t take anything for granted! Let’s have a closer look.

Continue reading Atelier Totori: Arland’s Middle Child →

Project Zero, Videos

New Game Plus: Nightmare Finale – Project Zero #11

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This is it! It’s nearly over! Yes, today we clear Nightmare mode on Project Zero for the first time.

The last night in the game was actually a whole lot shorter than I remembered it being, but at least there’s only one wandering ghost to pick up on our ongoing quest to clean up the ghost list.

Hit the jump to see how the buildup and the dramatic conclusion to Miku’s story went this time around…

Continue reading New Game Plus: Nightmare Finale – Project Zero #11 →

Atelier Arland Trilogy, Cover Games

Atelier Rorona: Arland’s New Beginning

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As we’ve previously explored, the Atelier series is no stranger to rereleases and remakes — and at the time of writing, Arland trilogy debut Atelier Rorona has had more than most.

Initially releasing in Japan in 2009 as Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland before being localised by NIS America for North America, Europe and Australasia in 2010, the game was subsequently completely rebuilt in 2013 under its new worldwide publisher Koei Tecmo as Atelier Rorona Plus in an attempt to bring it more in line with the subsequent releases in the series. In 2015, Japan got a unique 3DS version of the game. And in 2018, Gust and Koei Tecmo brought Atelier Rorona DX — pretty much a port of Atelier Rorona Plus — to Nintendo Switch, PS4 and Windows PC.

Keeping one game relevant for nine full years and counting is no mean feat. So let’s take a closer look at some of the reasons this game might have stuck around for quite as long as it has!

Continue reading Atelier Rorona: Arland’s New Beginning →