Summer’s drawing to a close in Arland just as it’s starting to get nice and warm for springtime here in the UK.
Today our brave little alchemist takes on her toughest challenge yet: dealing with a comic misunderstanding involving a gentleman friend and her parents! Oh no!
She also does a bit of alchemy and indulges in the usual Puni abuse. She does still have a job to do, after all…
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
Side note: since starting Dynasty Warriors 8, in which they pronounce everyone’s names quite differently from earlier Warriors games, I have become aware that I am perhaps pronouncing… well, everyone’s name wrong. Tai-shuh-tsuh, indeed.
Anyway. That, hopefully, will not detract too much from your experiences with the ever-expanding series that is Warriors Wednesday. We’re continuing to make it through the Wu campaign of Warriors Orochi at a pretty decent pace — even if a few things do happen to go a little bit wrong this time around!
Hit the jump to see how things went in the latest mission for our brave heroes and overenthusiastic heroines. Hi-yaaa!
Continue reading Warriors Wednesday: In Case of Emergency, Use Taishi Ci – Warriors Orochi #25
As I noted last time, I’ve primarily been spending my time in DW8XLDE so far in the Story mode, so I thought I’d talk a bit about that today.
The Story mode (or Musou mode, as it was called in some earlier installments) has changed its form and structure numerous times over the course of the various Dynasty Warriors releases, but it has always focused on one thing: retelling the story of Romance of the Three Kingdoms by showcasing a number of its most significant battles from several different perspectives.
DW8XLDE’s take on Story mode has a few interesting wrinkles that provide it plenty of replay value… and give the game as a whole a significant amount of content even before you get into the more freeform, strategic Ambition mode. Let’s take a look.
Continue reading Delving Into Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends Definitive Edition – #2
This article is one chapter of a multi-part Cover Game feature!
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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.
This article is one chapter of a multi-part Cover Game feature!
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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!
Today’s Atari ST game is one of my favourites from my childhood… and a cool example of a developer thinking creatively.
Interphase, developed by The Assembly Line and published by Image Works and Mirrorsoft, is a game about infiltrating a building. The twist is, you don’t control the one doing the infiltrating; instead, you are hooked into the building’s electrical systems, manipulating them from an abstract 3D representation of “cyberspace”, while your off-screen companion is doing the difficult bit of actually getting through the building.
It’s a really cool game, and one that had a decently long lifespan too, thanks to its original commercial release being followed up by the complete game being given away as a freebie on an ST magazine’s cover-mounted floppy disk — ST Format, if I remember correctly. It remains solidly playable today, and well worth a look.
Follow Atari ST A to Z on its own dedicated site here!
If you are one of the many people disappointed in the recent news surrounding Sony cracking down on content with even the slightest whiff of “adultness” about it, you need to start paying attention to the Japanese PC games market if you’re not already.
Parallel to all the kerfuffle surrounding the cancellation of Omega Labyrinth Z and the news that Xseed was being forced to cut out the “Intimacy” feature from the upcoming Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal, the localised Japanese PC games market has quietly been becoming an even more open and welcoming place to fans of games with adult content than it was already: just recently we’ve seen the release of AliceSoft’s excellent Evenicle on Steam, MangaGamer is continuing to work on English versions of the Rance series… and a long-running, well-received series of fantasy-themed games is getting a much-anticipated localisation.
I’m talking about VenusBlood Frontier, an upcoming Kickstarter-funded localisation project that, as I type this, you have a little over a day to back if it sounds like something you might want to see more of. Hop on over to Kickstarter if you’ve already made your mind up… or read on if you want to know more.
NOTE: For those who care about such things, I am a Kickstarter backer of this project but am otherwise unaffiliated with either Ninetail or JAST USA. Continue reading VenusBlood Frontier: Divine Conquest
Our adventure through the original Warriors Orochi continues with another of the Samurai scenario’s side stories.
Nobunaga and company take on a rescue mission to try and find a new ally. Will they be victorious first time? (No.) How about the second? (Nope.) Maybe third time’s the charm?
Hit the jump to see how these brave but occasionally incompetent warriors got on with their latest challenge.
Continue reading Warriors Wednesday: Still Not Sure How To Pronounce “Cao” – Warriors Orochi #4
The battles continue in Warriors Orochi as Nobunaga and friends attempt to rescue some peasants from a fate worse than death. Or just, you know, death.
I’ve been having a real blast with Warriors Orochi so far, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how the series develops over time. The prospect of the upcoming Warriors Orochi 4 incorporating elements of Greek mythology is tremendously exciting to me, but I’m having fun with the Chinese and Japanese heroes in the meantime.
Hit the jump for the new video.
Continue reading Warriors Wednesday: Know Your Place – Warriors Orochi #2
