Tuesday 29 April 2014

First Impression: Muramasa Rebirth and Atelier Totori Plus

i have done a dangerous thing... buying more then one game at once... i tend to only beat one and forget the other title... though muramasa seems pretty quick paced so i'll try not to let that happen.

So PSN is having it's golden week sale, lots of vita and ps3 titles were on sale so i decided i was going to try an atelier game since they look so darn cute.

a friend of mine also convinced me to get Muramsa and for 8ish bucks... it was a good price so i figured why not?

I'm in the very start of both of these games but i still think it's enough to base my opinion on.

Muramasa Rebirth
This is the second Vanillaware title i have played... the first being Grimgrimoire...
now i have mixed feelings about Grimgrimoire since it was fun but once you unlock the big things (specifically dragons) the game gets WAY too easy... i beat it with a friend in an afternoon... when it ended both of us were really surprised. However the painterly style of the art was truly unique and quite stunning even if there are some oddities with anatomy. (the artist really seems to like characters that have itty bitty heads.)

Still my friend assured me this game was quite fun as long as i didn't play on the stupid difficulty.
So i started playing and yeah... it's fun. The combat on the surface looks like "Mash button then win game" but there is quite a bit of depth to how the fighting works. the voice acting is really well done and the story seems interesting enough for now.

Theres only one itty bitty problem.

Today i went for my test to see if i had carpal tunnel, turns out for now they don't think i do but the test hurt my wrist more then i initially realized... and after i was done with the first boss i had to save and quit and hope that in a few days i could actually play it.
Still really like what i've seen so far and it's on sale for 12.50 unless you have PS+ (which you should have if you have a vita, ps3 or ps4... it's worth it) then it's 7.50


Atelier Totori Plus: The Adventurer of Arland

Immediate first impression: holy crap this is pretty
second thought: hm, with my hair this length i could cosplay totori.... wait is her skirt semi translucent near the bottom? screw that... (also last time i had to sew ruffles i wanted to cry... and that was just for flonne's costume it's not even that ruffly)

Like Muramasa this isn't my first gust title.
I played Mana Khemia on PSP and i seem to be the only being on the planet who loved it... yes it was buggy and yes it froze on me a few times (once immediately after beating a tough boss)... i didn't care i was having fun.
I was told these games don't have much in common with Mana Khemia...
i respectfully disagree.

the combat (while slightly different) immediately reminded me of mana kehmia, the icons over the stuff to gather, the animals that you can hit before battle (yes lots of games do this but still... and in this game they aren't generic blobs of different sizes denoting difficulty so thats a bonus)
side note: when i first saw totori's out of battle pre attack thingy... oh god it's just too darn cute... there are sparkle.... SPARKLES i say!

anyways back on topic... the alchemy is also very similar... it's updated and changed of course but yeah it all feels wonderfully familiar.
also i love gust music... i don't think i could listen to it out of the context of the game but within the game it's just wonderful and happy.
The only thing i'm worried about... is the time limit.
now i'm pretty sure mana khemia had some time limit stuff but i don't think it's as strict as this game is... so i'm a little worried...

but in the end i'll just save more and hopefully it all works out and i don't get a bad endings. thogh if i do i probabyl wont mind playing again cause everything is just so adorable.
oh and the english voice acting is fantastic, i'll check out the japanese voices later cause why not but yeah loving what i've been hearing so far.

It's not as low prices as muramasa but at 28 on sale and 19.60 if you are ps+ it's a pretty good deal. i am greatly enjoying it, i probably wont get the other one now cause... i don't wanna buy too many games at once (this is why my collection isn't terribly large, i try to beat 1 game before i buy more... doesn't always work but i try) but next time it drops in price or goes on sale i'll try to get meruru (or rorona if we ever get that one on vita)

ah but who cares abotu these games.... Ys Celceta is on sale for 28/19.60 (ps+) so everyone should go get that.
and persona 4 golden
and ToS Chronicles (though fun fact, ToS is my least fav Tales of game... ToS2 is better though... but i'm the only one who seems to think that way)

just check out the list yourself if you are in North America http://blog.us.playstation.com/2014/04/28/golden-week-sale-celebrates-japanese-games-2/
ok time for more utterly adorable alchemy.


6 comments:

  1. If you like Totori you can easily grab all of the other Atelier titles, they're pretty much all similar after all :D It's a great thing you buy only one or two games at a time though, I stopped doing that once I discovered Steam >.<
    About ToS, yes you're actually the first person I know who likes the second chapter more than the first one :P I'm really curious to see it for myself but unfortunately it will take a while before I'll be able to play them :/

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    1. yeah once i realized how it had all the elements from Mana Khemia that i enjoyed (except the crafting grid thingy but you can't get too greedy) i figured it was going to be a fun time.
      I actually have very few games on steam, mostly Ys and that one where you play as a merchant (which is WAY too much fun for a game where you play as a merchant)
      i dunno i think because to me my computer is the thing i work on having games seems a little counter productive (at least thats what i tell myself.)

      As for ToS2, i think i like it more cause Lloyd isn't the main character... I can't stand Llyod... there are other reasons like the art in 2 is way nicer, the character arcs are not as predictable in 2 and i found the fact that you really only use the main two characters quite refreshing.
      Also i find the first Tales of game you play tends to be the fav and a lot of people started with Symphonia while i started with Phantasia... so maybe that adds to my dislike of symphonia... Though i could do a whole entire post of my opinion of the Tales of games... still i hope it doesn't take too long before you have a chance to play it!

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    2. I guess the fact you see PCs this way is actually a good thing, at least you won't end up buying several games which you won't play for months XD Seriously though, the nice things about computers is that they're all-arounders, plus there are a lot of indie games that you can't find anywhere else :)

      Yes, I guess not playing as a character you hate is a pretty good reason to prefer the sequel XD And I agree about your theory of "the first you play is your favourite", I think it's like that for Final Fantasy too and probably it's true for every big saga :P
      Anyway, thank you! I still have lots of titles to start (e.g. Tales of Xillia, since we're talking about that), but it's just a matter of time before I play ToSC too :D

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    3. i do love how things like computers have opened doors to people doing things independently or self publishing, yeah sometimes you get less then stellar product but when it works it's wonderful.

      *thinks on final fantasy* hm... i don't think ten is my fav and it was my first... but it does have my favorite soundtrack... but again, didn't like tidus so yeah...
      i actually don't have a fav FF game... it would be 7 if 7 wasn't full of space...

      anyways hopefully both of us can work to finish more games! even rpgs which can be so long ><

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    4. Oh yes, sorry, I had in mind the whole FF 7 / 8 debate when I was writing that :P For me they're both masterpieces, though I slightly prefer 7, probably because I played that first (but who knows?). Others I know prefer 8 for the same reason. The only theory I managed to come up with is exactly the one about "which one you played first" :P
      Anyway, you sure you're not confusing the two titles? The one with the (kinda creepy) space sequence was 8, in 7 I think it was present in a marginally manner if at all :)

      I sure hope we will! Summer is not that distant and people have more free time those months :D At least, usually <.<

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    5. 7 has a giant meteor heading towards earth which they show a few times and that puts it squarely in the pile of stuff i cannot handle... never played 8 but i have heard about the creepy space bit so yeah... avoiding for the sake of my mental health. *nods*

      free time is nice, though considering how cold the winter was this year (at least where i live)... i am not looking forward to summer, i bet the humidex will be through the roof.

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