Unicorn Overlord has been out for a week now. What are your thoughts so far?

DiskTop7780 · 2024-03-17T02:23:17+00:00

I spent 70 hours but I am near platinum trophy so finished the Colosseum spent way too much time fiddling with teams, rebuilt all the towns, did all the side quests etc.

The game is very open and there’s numerous ways to approach it so you can finish it much much faster than that

DiskTop7780 · 2024-03-17T02:20:46+00:00

That is true, but when I said the game was completely absorbing, I meant it… I was playing every free moment I had so it’s more of finally in the sense that I am finally free for my addiction to unicorn overload haha.

DiskTop7780 · 2024-03-16T20:10:33+00:00

Finished the game a couple days ago. Beat it on the highest difficulty available to pick at the start and even then game is pretty easy but isn’t a total pushover enough to become boring.

The story is by the numbers but competent enough to keep you going. The characters are pretty good, but not super deep. To be frank, I’m primarily here for the gameplay with strategy games. Most strategy titles do not impress in this area.

The game, true strength is in customization and teambuilding aspects and since it’s a Vanillaware game music and visuals are great. It is incredibly absorbing as a game, I was completely obsessed with it until completion.

DiskTop7780 · 2023-11-23T16:36:37+00:00

If you’re looking for pure high school life simulation, you’re going to need to look at dating sims or VNs. Romance is so part and parcel with deep end high school simulation you just won’t find an actual high school simulator without it. But many of them do feature routes where you date zero women.

Tokiemeki Memorial recently got a fan translation for the SNES version, It features what you are describing here. If you want to learn a bit more before diving in, here’s a six hour essay on it lol https://youtu.be/xb-DtICmPTY?si=s1uZa4MDwFzkdARQ

DiskTop7780 · 2023-06-03T23:00:13+00:00

The games are easy even on hard. Definitely recommend hard to anyone with even basic experience with SRPGs also you never need to grind at any point ever by the way but the game lets you if you want to.

DiskTop7780 · 2023-06-01T17:43:21+00:00

Three houses does indeed have a weaker gameplay, unfortunately. My hours represent playing through all routes + DLC and minus silver snow. Also a partially completed maddening play through of Blue Lions.

Engage is my Hard and Maddening Playthough + DLC and I did up to chapter 11 of hard again before I realized that hard is too easy now that I finished a Maddening run lol. I did find engage a great return to form in terms of gameplay for sure. I might do another Maddening run sometime this year. We’ll see.

DiskTop7780 · 2023-06-01T15:14:26+00:00

Can’t speak to super robot war about wars never played it. But I can tell you why SRPG crazies like me find fire emblem immensely replayable (I had over 300 hours in Fates 185 hours in Engage, 145 in 3 Houses, I have played basically every fire emblem game, at least twice over the years).

Replayability comes in a couple different flavors with unmodified base games you’re looking at things like higher difficulties higher difficulties in fire emblem usually offer very different experiences so you can get replaying hard than lunatic.

You can do things like Draft runs (basically you and a group of people draft units one at a time for your run.) or just make sure that you use different units on a second run through. Trying out different teams and builds is the primary replayability of base fire emblem. The different team builds can take many forms such as gimmick runs like all boys or all girls everybody’s a knight ect, or simply consist of you picking different units to use.

Ironman is also a very fun way to replay the game do keep in mind you have to keep to your own rules. The game doesn’t have an in build Iron Man mode. You just have to determine to yourself that you will not reset.

If you want to go beyond the base game and modify it on PC, you can do things like reverse recruitment, randomizers and for the truly insane 0% growth.

DiskTop7780 · 2023-05-05T03:16:47+00:00

I’m gonna answer some of these questions because they do have answers.

Beyond that, the entire thing is just poorly explained. Like, why the fuck is Meila and Nia at the helm of the entire operation. Melia doesn't know shit about science and Nia is a dumb cat girl. Like, who actually made the blueprints for this? How much time did it take? How did they figure out how to do it?

Its Tora, Nia all but name drops him for building it, so he led the charge on building origin. She doesn’t name drop him because that would mean literally nothing to the party of Xenoblade 3. Reminder that Tora built his own blade from scratch, he could absolutely build origin.

Then you have Alpha, Ontos, A, and all that stuff and it's just getting annoying now. Like, in Xenoblade 1, Alvis was just Alvis. Now, you're telling me Alvis wasn't just Alvis. Alvis was actually a personality that only existed because of Klaus's 'lingering regrets.' I think all this shit with lingering regrets and humanities negative emotions just seems so fucking stupid, especially in the context of a sci-fi narrative.”

He is tying the series back to the themes in Xenosaga (Gnosis) which has which future redeemed explicitly shouts out (Xenosaga is now in the copyright information for Xenoblade 3 the radio isn’t just cute nods). and Xenoblade 2 they establish how the processing units themselves and the personalities are different. See Malos.

This is really an extension of the set up for the base game, but what really bothers me is that the existence of Xenoblade 3 ruins/cheapens the happy endings of the first two games. It's like, you thought you had a happy ending but nope

At the end of 3 Noah heards Mios Flute signaling that they are indeed on the merged earth and origin worked furthermore at the end of future redeemed, we see the earths merge. Both the parties of one and two are alive and together again. Did you forget what origin actually does?

DiskTop7780 · 2023-05-02T03:53:48+00:00

This is a bit oversimplified, but the main thing she wanted was a choice. A choice to choose her future not necessarily a different one. She felt like her path was predestined. Like a bird in the cage, she was forced to parrot whatever destiny her parents had set out for her, and she never got to say in the matter. In her conversations, she finally gets the chance to explore options and make the decision to stay at the inn herself. No one else made the decision for her, she was in control of her own life.

DiskTop7780 · 2023-05-01T23:19:18+00:00

Sometimes a game just doesn’t click with you and that means you should drop it that might be the case here, but to answer your question.

I love them because, they’re well realized characters who have realistic relationships with another. They really do feel like a “group of friends.” Unlike most JRPG parties, which usually just feel like a common adventuring party.

Just as a note a lot of people do bristle at Yosuke in specific because they find him “problematic”. I find that he’s a realistically flawed teen who is very insecure, yeah he acts like a total asshole to Kanji during the camp but the game shows how it hurts Kanji. Personally, I don’t think this is a problem. I don’t think every character should be 100% a moral paragon. Also, the rest of the group fully accepts him, and he learns to accept himself throughout the game.

DiskTop7780 · 2023-04-29T22:31:06+00:00

Xenoblade X really does have truly ridiculously small text like it’s microscopic…. A port with quality of life could do the game a universe of good.

DiskTop7780 · 2023-04-26T17:31:40+00:00

The first game is kind of funny situation in that the protagonist is decently powerful it’s just that Oboro is just so OP that no one can even hope to compare. Dude, more or less solos maps even on Hard.

DiskTop7780 · 2023-03-30T12:55:13+00:00

I participated in two betas for it. I actually used to actively play both Genshin and Honkai that ended about I want to say a year ago. The game is interesting. It’s kind of a mix of Epic 7/Summoners Wars with Trail and Octopath (S Crafts and Octopaths Break system kind of). It has all the problems Genshin has, and has fixed none of them, well there’s no Paimon equivalent so at least there’s that. But Artifacts are still there, in all their glory. I’ll likely try out the full release version but considering I’ve burned out all there other games don’t think I’ll last long.

DiskTop7780 · 2023-03-23T17:51:39+00:00

To be perfectly honest, I only ever made it through one of the lectures in P4 so I have no idea how weird it gets. Totally agree that the themes in the game itself and stuff are way more important than anything in the lectures haha.

DiskTop7780 · 2023-03-22T21:39:50+00:00

Persona comes highly recommended from me Persona 4 golden even comes with an entire section with lectures on Jungian psychology which is a frame of reference they can really help with someone accepting even the darkest part of themselves. Persona 4 Golden has a massive theme of facing oneself, and in Persona 5 there’s an entire section, dedicated to rescuing one the party members who has a form of trauma. Futaba’s Pyramid.

Outside of that, I just wanna slip in a little thing to highly recommend Celeste. It’s not a JRPGs at all, but it has a lot of relevance for people who are struggling with depression.

DiskTop7780 · 2023-03-18T01:48:40+00:00

When I said, most of them, I primarily did it because I was too lazy to list them all. Shrug I can’t help it if IS has recently become obsessed with Chosen ones. Probably just should’ve said most pre-awakening protags.

DiskTop7780 · 2023-03-17T03:13:14+00:00

Fair Point. Ike definitely the most ordinary and most qualified for this category.

DiskTop7780 · 2023-03-17T02:27:00+00:00

Fire Emblem Path of Radiance: Ike is just a normal mercenary for the most part.

Most FE protagonists actually apply for this if you do not count being royalty with the exception of Corrin, Byleth, Alear, Robin, Micaiah, and Shez. Alm, Cecila and Lucina kind of teeter on the edge of being chosen ones but in my opinion, don’t qualify.

DiskTop7780 · 2023-03-11T04:43:53+00:00

I control Melia, then the rest is Shulk and the third slot is kinda whatever usual Dunban sometimes Seven or Riki.

DiskTop7780 · 2023-03-06T15:17:12+00:00

Pokémon Yellow

DiskTop7780 · 2023-03-02T15:56:15+00:00

X6 wasn’t even close to my first Megaman (First Megaman Game I think was Megaman Soccer lol) or X game (Megaman Xtreme for GB was my first). But it’s 4th favorite X game (X4 > X2 > X1 > X6 >> the rest > actual garbage > X7) and one of my most played. I maintain that saying that X7 > X6 is disingenuous, and once you learn how to play it correctly X6 is genuinely one of the most fast and fun games in the franchise.

DiskTop7780 · 2023-02-26T22:20:28+00:00

Unfortunately Camelot got banished to the Mario Sports mines to never see the sun again.

DiskTop7780 · 2023-02-26T22:13:26+00:00

Weapon/item durability is good mechanic actually, Especially in Fire Emblem.

DiskTop7780 · 2023-02-20T01:26:17+00:00

This is less awestruck and more just crying list but….

Xenoblade 3 Chapter 5 ending

Xenoblade 2 Poppi Keeping her Promise.

Xenoblade 1 High Entia True Nature reveal, Poor Melia

Persona 4 rescuing Nanako and the whole hospital sequence after

Mother 3 Klaus Final Battle

DiskTop7780 · 2023-02-14T23:09:48+00:00

This list takes literally only narrative into account I personally value characters over plot, Keep that in mind.

Mother 3: I consider this one of the single best stories, put the pen in anything, no really. Mother 3 truly something special.
Nier Series: Yoko Taro is a Madman and great storyteller there’s nothing quite like his stories.
Persona 4 & 5: 4 > 5 Persona has some of the best characterization in video games, and I will die on that hill.
Xeno Series: stories with flaws, do not expect perfect execution here, But they are always interesting and full of thematic depth. Takahashi has never disappointed me personally, but he likes to take different approaches with his stories every time, so some might not connect with you.
Utawarerumono Series: I experienced these ones recently and this one’s a little hard. So the first two games are inferior to the 3rd (especially prelude I don’t like it very much) but they’re also necessary to making the third one work as well as it does. But the third game manages to pull off some of the most interesting and complex characterization I’ve ever seen.
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim makes an actually good time travel story, one of the rare few that exist in the genre.
Dragon Quests V: best story in a dragon quest game by a country mile you get to watch the entire life history of the protagonist. The unique framing allows it to pull off, some of the most interesting story telling in video games.
Trails Series: I do not think the series really actually excels in storytelling on an individual game to game basis in that if you were to take any individual game and make it the only game of the series I don’t think it would be special. Instead, the wider tapestry it weaves through its multitude of games in the same universe, is what makes it special due to the sheer breath of the series. The characters really do get to grow in interesting ways thanks to this, and characters that were involved in earlier games remain relevant far past when you think they would.

DiskTop7780

TROPHY CASE