Atelier, Atelier Iris

Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny – Worlds Apart

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cropped-atelier-megafeature-header-1-8868334This post is one chapter of a MegaFeature!
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The Atelier series, as we’ve previously explored, was primarily based around an isometric perspective right up until its shift to full 3D in the PlayStation 3 era.

If anything, this aspect of the game’s overall design and structure is even more apparent in Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny than in its immediate predecessor, with much of male protagonist Felt’s quest consisting of exploring labyrinthine dungeons presented from this distinctive viewpoint.

With that in mind, then, let’s take a closer look at how one gets around in the world of Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny, and how it differs from Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana.

Continue reading Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny – Worlds Apart →

Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy Marathon, Videos

Final Fantasy Marathon: Reunion – Final Fantasy II #14

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With the Emperor defeated, what’s next? Take down the Dark Knight, of course, since he clearly reckons himself well-equipped to lead the world.

Naturally, it’s not quite that simple. A merry jaunt into the depths of Palamecia to track down said Dark Knight results in an unexpected reunion with an old friend… and the setup for the grand finale of Final Fantasy II.

That is, after we take care of some business in the Arcane Labyrinth next time around, of course…

Psikyo Shooting Stars, Shmups, Switch

Gunbird 2: Peak Psikyo

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Speak to anyone familiar with Psikyo’s work, and doubtless Gunbird 2 will come up sooner rather than later.

It’s probably one of the most fondly regarded entries in the company’s back catalogue, and for various reasons. Not only is it a solid shoot ’em up in its own right, but it also had an excellent Dreamcast release in collaboration with Capcom, featuring Morrigan from Darkstalkers as a guest character.

The Nintendo Switch version that comes as part of the Psikyo Shooting Stars Bravo collection sadly lacks this latter aspect — presumably due to licensing issues — but otherwise allows a whole new audience to enjoy this classic blaster. Let’s take a look!

Continue reading Gunbird 2: Peak Psikyo →

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Andes Attack

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Regular viewers and enthusiasts of ’80s microcomputers will doubtless be well familiar with Jeff Minter of Llamasoft by now.

Minter didn’t put out a ton of stuff for the 16-bit platforms, but when he did — gosh, he made that hardware well and truly sing.

A great example is Andes Attack for Atari ST which, as well as being incredibly difficult, is also a beautiful reimagining of one of Minter’s old Vic-20 games. Let’s enjoy the sight of me failing miserably at it!

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Videos, Warriors All-Stars, Warriors Wednesday

Warriors Wednesday: A System of Headslapping – Warriors All-Stars #24

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Today, we manage to bang out quite a few missions, including recruiting everyone’s favourite mechanical marvel from Toukiden.

Horo also believes she has the answer to the widespread amnesia problem certain members of the party have been dealing with: surely a good old-fashioned bump to the head will quite literally knock some sense back into them.

And when that’s all over and done with, we have an important choice to make. Did I choose wisely? We’ll just have to find out next time!

Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Noin

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Gust has always been good at beautiful girls — one might argue the Atelier series has made it its primary selling point over the years. And, of course, Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny is full of them.

A personal highlight for me on my journey through the game was Noin, one of the first characters that male protagonist Felt encounters upon his arrival in the strange “other world” of Belkhyde, and pretty much a fixture in the party for the entire game’s duration.

There’s a shocking lack of fanart of her on the Internet — even Rule 34 let me down — so I feel obliged to show her some love right here, right now. Let’s do it!

Continue reading Waifu Wednesday: Noin →

Psikyo Shooting Stars, Shmups, Switch

Gunbird: The ’90s Anime Shoot ‘Em Up

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In conversation with casual shoot ’em up fans I’m acquainted with, I’ve come to learn that Gunbird is one of Psikyo’s most fondly regarded series.

It’s not hard to see why, either. Although the first Gunbird game predates many of Psikyo’s other works, it features a lot of their most appealing elements. We have the multiple endings and strong replayability of Samurai Aces. We have the strong degree of physicality of the Strikers series. We have the overblown narratives of Sol Divide and Dragon Blaze. And the whole thing is topped off with a ton of ’90s anime charm.

Sounds like a recipe for success to me. Let’s take a closer look.

Continue reading Gunbird: The ’90s Anime Shoot ‘Em Up →

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z: Grand Prix Simulator

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Today we have a game that absolutely, definitely is not Super Sprint, so there.

Yes, it’s CodeMasters’ Grand Prix Simulator, a game that was unironically designed to be “BMX Simulator with cars” and a game that just happens to bear a passing resemblance to Atari Games’ classic top-down racer.

Featuring digitised speech, bricks on wheels and some of the slipperiest handling this side of Vanilla Lake in Super Mario Kart, this game is a good time — albeit one you’ll need a bit of practice to master!

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Podcast

The MoeGamer Podcast: Episode 36 – Psikyo’s Shooting Stars

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Cheer up everybody! Banish those lockdown blues for a couple of hours with a brand new episode of The MoeGamer Podcast, featuring my good self and Chris Caskie of MrGilderPixels!

The MoeGamer Podcast is available in several places. You can subscribe to my channel on YouTube to stay up to date with both the video versions of the podcast and my weekly videos (including the Atari A to Z retro gaming series); you can follow on Soundcloud for the audio-only version of the podcast; you can subscribe via RSS to get the audio-only version of the podcast in your favourite podcast app; or you can subscribe via iTunes and listen on Spotify. Please do at least one of these if you can; it really helps us out!

Or you can just hit the jump to watch or listen to today’s episode right here on MoeGamer.

Continue reading The MoeGamer Podcast: Episode 36 – Psikyo’s Shooting Stars →

Announcements, Community

Around the Network

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Good morning! And welcome to another week of quarantine. I hope you’re all holding up okay and have plenty of video games to keep you occupied. Heaven knows I do. I’ve been preparing for this my whole life!

As you might expect, being cooped up in the house hasn’t slowed me down one bit, as MoeGamer and Atari A to Z are both still going stronger than ever. The Atelier MegaFeature is progressing well, too — I should actually beat Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny this evening, so I can actually be slightly ahead of schedule, too! Wahoo, as Mario would say.

Anyway. Let’s catch up on what you might have missed in the last week. You have plenty of time to sit and read right now, after all!

Continue reading Around the Network →

The best of overlooked and underappreciated computer and video games, from yesterday and today.