Armello is a strategy board game with card and dice mechanics implemented into. There's multiple ways to win but you have to strategic about it. While there is a story. There isn't much to it. You generally get a prologue on how to play the game and that's pretty much your story. The rest is on you.
-Planned for Offline Play
Story
The story is certainly engaging enough for me to get sucked into it. But anything outside of the prologue well there is none??? The kingdom of Armello was once ruled by a noble king who united all of the clans together. But of course that harmony is disturbed by an evil darkness called "The Rot" that slowly decays one's mind and drives them to become power hungry dictators. So the King suddenly starts making moves that breaks the alliance of all the clans of Armello. And now there's a 4-Way battle for who will rule the kingdom.
That's pretty much it. There is more backstory in the form of E-Books but I haven't bought those yet. Not sure if I should.
Gameplay
The gameplay is surprisingly deep. It's pretty much in a sense a simplified D&D session. From what I hear D&D sessions get far more complex than this game. It's you versus 3 other clans. And there's multiple ways to win the game.
Politically - You earn the King's favor to the point that he gives you the throne.
Kill the King -You manage to slay the King therefore making yourself the new king
Corrupt the Kingdom - By making yourself more infected with "The Rot" you eventually overpower the king making yourself the new Lord of Calamity.
Purify the Land - Collect Spirit Stones and purify the kingdom
So you have a lot of ways of going about it. Earning prestige, gaining allies, etc. You move around the board and make decisions to save towns, set traps for the others, gain experience. It's where the card aspect comes into play. By gaining cards you can get equipment, spells, traps, and allies. Each have there own check. Like equipment sometimes requires that you have enough gold to even equip it in the first place. Spells obviously have a Magic check. Traps depend on various stats like your prestige. Allies I find are generally free.
While moving around the board each area you come across might have a Peril. A challenge to take. Some you can avoid and take the easy way out but you get less rewards. But others you have to fight and pray you come out on top. To help with this. You can actually burn your cards, use them in an alternate way to make the challenge a bit easier for you. Then it comes down to a dice roll. If you roll enough to clear the challenge then all's well. But if you don't you fail and take damage.
For battles. You roll to determine how many attacks and blocks you'll get. The more dice you have the better your chances. Getting die is dependent on your character and cards you have. If a character dies. They're sent back to there starting point and lose prestige. But if you lose to a Rot Infected character. That character also becomes infected. Quite a lot to consider.
During my play I did end up making some bold moves and praying the AI wouldn't catch on to my plans. Another part I ended up making desperate moves just to win. So I could see games getting crazy and easily a game where you try to hold a player underwater. In my opinion getting prestige and winning the King's Favor each turn seems to be the best plan. Each day while you still hold the King's favor you can affect everyone on the board. Like making every other player pay there taxes (how evil).
I only scratched the surface of how deep the gameplay goes.
My Only Disappointment
Probably my main disappointment in gameplay is that after the prologue that's pretty much it. I was expecting there to be a single player campaign with each clan/hero. But nothing. After the prologue you're immediately thrown into the game. No story after that. I guess you make your own story.
Well if you to take my point of view from this prologue. I could see myself as someone trying to unite the 4 current clans. There's plenty more thanks to DLC but I'll focus on these 4.
The Wolf Clan is the hero. Thane has decided since the King is corrupt, breaking alliances, and oppressing the people. He needs to go. You could probably convince him that there's another way through gathering the Spirit Stones.
Mercurio of the Rat Clan. They're just siding with ones with power. They know what's going on and through trickery would look to usurp the throne. Although that can't possibly go well considering they're willing to infect themselves with The Rot.
Amber and the Rabbit clan once had the King's favor. But due to sudden changes she has to focus on reestablishing her clan politically. She would be key to reuniting everyone or at least taking down the King.
Sana of the bear clan. They knew this day would come and have prepped for The Rot. Getting the Spirit Stones together to cleanse The Rot would be key. If you side with her you could save the world.
Now obviously the problem would be getting everyone to listen and make alliances. Even if you made an alliance it would be shaky considering that they would never agree as to how to save the world.
Music
The music fits the mood. I mean it's not a war. So I don't expect some crazy battle music. But it definitely sets the mood. So I have no complaints about it. I imagine during main games you probably won't focus on the music.
Graphics
I'm honestly impressed by the graphics. For one this runs pretty well on my Desktop and my desktop is pretty much out of date by a few years. I enjoyed the Prologue movies.
Overall
I'd be more impressed if there was a single player campaign. I wish there was a single player campaign. I mean this series even has a book series that acts as the game's prequel to it all. My main problem with this is that like many games there's a huge focus on playing online rather than offline. I don't mind this but it is hard to get friends together to play games like this. Still a great game and I wish I got around to playing it sooner. I had this on my steam for years but never had the time to actually play it.
Dead or Alive 3 was pretty much my first and technically only Dead or Alive game. I didn't know anything about the tropes or what people apparently loved this game series for. Or maybe I should say I ignored it. Years after this I would say around the time I was in my 20s. I realized it.
Generally I liked this series as it's another 3D fighter that looks good. There's honestly not too many 3D fighters out there. There still isn't. It's mainly 2.5D now for the sake of time, effort, and price. I didn't really recognize the sex appeal of the game. Least not until Extreme Beach Volleyball came out and made a killing off it's girls. I generally just played along with my friends talking about the endings for certain characters. Like Helena and Christie's endings.
It has one of the best Fighting Game Intros I've seen.
Unforntunately I had to change the song to something less copyright. The original song "Nine Lives" from Aerosmith was used here. Good choice. Even though I haven't looked up the lyrics to it. The beat works for it which is generally what's important. Most songs for videogame intros have little to do with the theme of the game in the first place. It's just a really good beat. Anyway since I didn't want Aerosmith's legal team on my ass for having there song in game, I changed it.
Lust Sin from Blazblue. It fits, least from the beat and I'm not using the LA Vocal version.
Graphics
Well this was made by Tecmo and Team Ninja. And honestly considering the previous Dead or Alive games looked great on PS2 and Dreamcast. This obviously leveled up.
Now if we're gonna refer to the stage backgrounds you can obviously tell especially on higher end TVs that the backdrop is just a still image. I'm also not sure but I think there's some raytracing in certain stages. If you don't know what Raytracing is (I didn't know until Spider-man Miles Morales was released). It's basically the reflection of light on objects. You don't see it a lot in games cause that's a lot of work. And if you do it wasn't done too often.
I guess should stop dodging this. The character models. I have to say these are excellent character models. You might be thinking that I'm referring to the females. No. I mean in terms of this game. The character models interacting with each other and various objects is better than even some of the modern games. I played King of Fighters 14 and OMG King of Dinosaurs happens to clip through everything. Not just this tail but his head too. I know some things can't be helped like Tekken and Soulcalibur with create-a-character and customizations. But sometimes it feels incredibly jarring to see things clip through textures or interact weird cause it wasn't meant to. Now Dead or Alive isn't perfect in this regard either. If you look hard enough you can find some character models clipping through textures or weird interactions. But at least DoA manages to care about this stuff far more than other games.
If you want me to talk about the boob jiggle. Whatever. Yeah it's there. I'm not the right person to judge but to be honest I barely notice it. To me it's one of those things where it has to be blatantly obvious or someone annoyingly yells it out. This game doesn't have "The Age Slider" that apparently DoA2 had. The Age Slider was a setting in the options menu asking a player there age. The higher the age the more you saw the female's boobs jiggle. So obviously ppl would set the age to maximum to get the most jiggle they could ask for.
The character endings while they make as much sense as any other fighting game of old. The FMVs definitely got there money's worth. I honestly enjoy see Leon dance or Lee Fang beating the crap out of a bunch of thugs. If we're gonna talk lewd again. Well this game definitely is playing with a thin line. Least when it comes to some endings. Christie's ending is her walking out the shower then chilling with her puma before another mission comes up. During this ending clothes are rather minimal. I guess it was enough to not make the ESRB rate it M. Another example would be Helena's ending with her in beach wear going for a swim. The camera definitely pushes your eyes in certain directions. Those endings are playing with fire. But then you got Hitomi's ending where you'd expect something also lewd but no. Hitomi's just kicking her father's butt.
The character interactions in story mode are something of note as well. Some are obviously cheesy. While others definitely show some emotion. Jann Lee definitely has the cheesy stuff. Ayane shows the most emotion.
The costumes also make me question if this is okay to show on Youtube. Most of the costumes are okay and honestly I like there looks. Then there's others where I'm worried if Youtube will show up and mark the video inappropriate for most audiences. But considering this is 2021 and Street Fighter V gets away with things far more risque than what DOA could produce. Maybe I'm fine in this regard???
Gameplay
Finally can get off graphics. Gameplay is a double edged sword. There's things I like about it. Then there's things I hate about it. And there's things that absolutely frustrate me.
Pressure Based Inputs ???? 🤨
So the controls are pretty simple and there's 2 styles of controls. Xbox being technically the first to try this for there fighting game. You can use normal style controls which has a lot more inputs but that's if you choose not use an analog stick. The input can be a bit more complicated with Analog input off. But at least you get what you want. Then there's "analog input on". This is a crap shoot as it uses pressure based inputs.
So certain moves were done either by lightly tapping the punch, kick, and guard buttons. Or with a hard press. This is a crap shoot at best and definitely not for people who like to smash buttons on there controllers or get frustrated easily. These pressure based inputs can mess you up quite a bit. Giving you moves you didn't want at the worst possible time. So you wanted a punch combo that's just 4 punches. Well too back you're getting the move mapped to a hard press punch instead cause you pressed punch too hard. If that wasn't bad enough there's some combo strings that require you to go from light to hard back to light press in the same string. Not fun. It is fun knowing that certain moves are easier however. Like Hayabusa's Izuna drop in pretty much 1 button 3 times as opposed to a massive amount of D-Pad input. None this helps on certain fights though like the final boss. More on that guy later.
Controls
Aside from the pressure based buttons. The controls are pretty smooth and responsive. Most games I find myself having to mash out motions just to get special moves. This one not so much. I find myself preferring analog input cause it's a 3D Fighting game. So I want to use the analog stick to move around in 3D. I wish I could keep the Analog input but remove the pressure based buttons.
True-Combos Don't Exist?????
This is a bit loose. But doing combos seems to be a matter of what moves you actually input. You could just punch all day and get a combo but the guy getting punched can counter it. See if you use a move repeatedly you have a chance of recovering and countering there obvious combo attempt. The only times combos seem to be true is if you knocked your opponent airborne or landed a strong counter it. Otherwise you're not truly doing combos.
Game Modes
There's quite a number of game modes which in terms of a fighting game this is a bit more than the average fare these days. Story Mode, Vs, Training, Time Attack, Survival, Team battle, CPU Exhibition. While each mode is generally short. You get a lot of mileage out of them. And it's still more than average of today. Today you'd be lucky to have more than Arcade, Vs, training, and online.
*Sidenote: Fantasy Strike, a fighting game I've played a few years ago. You have to pay to get replay mode unlocked. Geez."
I enjoy the CPU Exhibition as you can watch the CPUs duke it out and control when the game goes bullet time and how the camera moves on the action.
Difficulty
Aside from the controls giving me issues at times with the pressure based sensitivity. The AI in this game is pretty demonic. Honestly it feels like it doesn't matter what setting the AI is on. They seems to kick your ass if and when they feel like it. I think the difficulty setting is just a placebo. Usually when I play story mode there's always one or 2 fights where the AI just becomes a wall that I have to surmount. Reading my buttons to just making me taste the dirt on the ground. I'm stuck there for quite a bit. Other times I'm stomping the AI left and right with simple commands.
The Final Boss
This guy named OMEGA (or as the story puts him as Genra) is truly a cheap boss. When you encounter him he feels like your fighting Virtua Fighter's Dural where it's just an optional fight. But no you gotta beat this guy to get the ending.
First the camera angle changes which will disorient most players. The camera goes for a 3rd Person view behind the player. This makes it look like you should now be pressing up on the Analog Stick or D-Pad to move forward instead of Left or Right.
Then the 2nd thing you'll note is that this boss has projectiles. Something none of the other characters have. And Omega like to spam them. He has:
A Shockwave that can be blocked or jumped
A Fire Wave that has to be ducked and can't be blocked
A multi-firing projectile that has to be sidestepped and can't be blocked.
Omega likes to shift between these projectiles. Sometimes to the point that he makes Marvel 3 Morrigan players and Injustice 2 Deadshot players to be completely innocent with there projectile usage.
The worst features is fighting this guy up close. He's incredibly difficult to read. Having decent High-Low mixups is one thing. Another thing is being unable to tell if he's blocking or not. Mainly due to the camera angle but you can't really see if this guy is blocking until it's too late. And usually if you're attacks are blocked expect to get thrown and then deal with more projectile spam.
Another is that when you knock this guy down. He creates a shockwave that damages you and knocks you down. You have to be blocking for this. And the icing on the cake is that during this fight your health is slowly draining. Yeah this boss is unfair and is the last wall standing between you and your story mode ending. I've had sessions where I'm stuck on this boss for an entire hour cause everything I try gets stuffed by projectiles or something else. This guy honestly ruins Dead or Alive 3 for me. And I question whether or not do I prefer this boss or the thing in Dead or Alive 4 that I fought? Both give me nightmarish thoughts and both would be on my list of hardest/cheapest fighting game bosses to exist.
Music/Sound
First off I don't know Japanese or whatever language they're speaking. I don't know cause my mom walked in on a session before and said that they're speaking Korean. I would personally prefer if they spoke there native language just for more added charm. But honestly I don't care too much.
Now the music. The music is a treat. Even if they picked songs from Aerosmith and The Beatles for certain tracks. The OST is a must listen. Tecmo and Team Ninja have always done great with there soundtracks. It's generally forgotten at this point.
Overall
Not the best revisit. I didn't like dealing with the final boss and I questioned myself on how I put up with the awkward pressure based controls. Still a good 3D fighter though and I don't see too many of those around. I think the latest 3D Fighter is Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown??? which is another expansion on the same Virtua Fighter 5 from way back in 2006 sheesh. Anyhow, I'm glad to have covered this again. Even if Youtube reception seems to only pay attention to the female character videos.
Genres: Role-playing video game, Platform game, Indie game, Adventure
Publishers: PQube, LookAtMyGame, Arc System Works, Look At My Game
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
So the game's name "Aggelos" has the meaning of "angel, messenger, the messenger of God". Huh...never thought of that least till I reached the ending.
Aggelos is a RPG, Platformer, Adventure game. You play as a hero (who's name escapes me cause I don't think they even mention his name.) But like most adventure games you're the destined hero to save the kingdom. Your task is to gather the 4 elements and put a stop to Valion who intends on taking over the kingdom of Lumen. There's honestly not much story past this. So your job is pretty straight forward. Enter the dungeons, beat the bosses, get the mcguffin, repeat. Simple and like very old school Adventure games back in the day. It's trying to use the formula's of such games like Zelda and Wonder Boy.
Gameplay
The gameplay is easy to pick up and play and you'll either get hung up on the difficulty or some random thing you have to do. Most puzzles are essentially figuring out how to get from point A to point B then actually doing so. Some of this can be a matter of patience, to the point that you begin to question if what you're doing is really worth the effort. Like certain dungeons requiring me to do precise platforming to reach a switch if I fail to do so then I have to restart the process from the beginning. Other puzzles either require some exploration or had me doing some action(s) I wouldn't normally do anywhere else.
The difficulty is a bit of an annoying point for me. While most of the dungeons and it's enemies are relatively easy. There's either one or two enemies that are essentially damage sponges that I came across. Or its the boss fights. While most can be conquered through the simple task of leveling or coming back later with stronger equipment. I felt it really annoying that enemies just eat up a lot of damage before finally dying. The boss fights were essentially damage races as to who's gonna die first. At first the bosses are easy, then they shift to a phase that leaves you little room to attack and/or dodge. I found myself just saying forget dodging and attempt to tank the damage while wildly swinging my sword in hopes the boss dies before I do.
Another annoying bit I feel is that a lot of the sidequest aren't really sidequest. Whether it's an optional power up, extra life, or equipment. This all felt required to progress. Many of the sidequest aren't exactly obvious either. I either stumbled across them or used a guide. Maybe I could do without the extra life and I can make that up by playing better. But at the same time everything felt required. Like the Sword and Armor of Aggelos as well as the temple to power up the equipment. I shudder to think how much trouble the final bosses would be without it.
Graphics
The graphics are easy on the eyes. Enemies are well designed and either there size or shape gives the proper menacing feeling. I didn't have to strain my eyes to see something or attempt to figure out what an object is. Everything moves smoothly as well. There wasn't any lag or random issues with frame rate while playing. Which is a plus cause there's a lot of games out there that are dependent on frame rate to function properly.
Bugs and Glaring Problems
I looked up reviews after finishing. 1 comment that many people say I don't agree with. The other is completely true.
The issue people have with controller support. I didn't have that at all. With either control pad I used for this game. The first being an Xbox 360 Wired Controller. The 2nd controller I used later on for comfort being a HORI Fighting Commander for PS4. This game fully supported both of those without the need of a 3rd Party Program. And I started this game days before it's official release. (Only reason I finished it now was cause I had other games to play)
The 2nd issue I read commonly across reviews was the game taking quite a bit of time to load. Particulary when you open the menu. I actually was worried sometimes when I paused to open the menu as the window would say the game isn't responding. Uh oh. But then it would load. But the time between that was noticeable when compared to the rest of the game.
The only other bug I came across which I can't really reproduce is that I somehow despawned a boss. When I opened the menu to heal myself. Loading back to the fight the boss was gone. Music still played. So I got worried and was about to get angry. I opened the menu and closed it again and it was back. Weird.
Overall
Well if you want old Platformer Adventure game that isn't staggering your budget Aggelos is the place to go. I'm not big on the ending. But this game also encourages some replay value by having higher difficulty modes, a death counter, and a ranking. So this game rates you like it's a Resident Evil game. Basing it on how many times you died and how long you took.
I like this game but not enough to give a 2nd playthrough unless there was some sort of secret extra ending. This took me a little less than 10 hours to beat and I got 99% completion I guess the last percent is maxing out my level cause according to the guides I did everything.
You got 15 bucks then go ahead. It's worth the time.
Happy Odaiba Day. Which I'm told that's related to Digimon. I guess I was a bit early with Digimon videos this time around. So here's something that popped up while recording other stuff.
You really only need to worry about the 2nd Tornado landing appropriately. Which you want to aim towards the opponents feet.
Follow with F-air Normal then Grab. (You might end up skipping the F-air part and go straight to grab).
Only downside is the grab isn't always free. Your opponent can get lucky and mash grab landing there's before you do. And this works with both Wargreymon's.
Only other thing I have is a trick I'll post hopefully sometime this week related to 2 Player Mirror matches.
Well took me forever but I'm finally playing this game. Generally what stopped me before was many reasons. Religious stuff, family stuff, The fact that everybody and there dog has played this and uploaded almost every single detail of the game (Kinda shooting myself in the foot on that last one). So yeah that's why Persona 3 FES is gone. I might go back to that one day.
I kinda felt like doing this on a set number of days session. Although after a few hours of recording I'm not 100% sure on that. Just depends on how I feel.
I should also add I want to play through this my way. Not the optimal way. The optimal way requires future knowledge, luck, and RNG manipulation to get things perfect. It's also rather dumb cause to me it feels like you're removing a good chunk of the game by doing that. It's why I had to wait forever. I didn't want to remember every choice some person made on there playthrough and copy it.
Anyway this will pretty much be a Saturday upload. Unless something comes up. I might just shift it to a different time slot.
So this session nothing much happens. Just getting long introductions out the way.
So anyone can just file a content ID Claim and anyone can deny your dispute.
As usual with how Youtube is these days I recieve a Content ID Claim for a video I literally just uploaded. Cause FYI bots now scan your video before it fully uploads. After examining the Claim on my video. I find that it's completely incorrect. Not completely unusual. However this had a different ending than the 1 of 2 outcomes I usually expect. Instead of my dispute being accepted or rejected by the companies in question. Instead a completely different company denied my dispute!
So early this month I received a Content ID Claim from Warner Chappell, Sony ATV Publishing, & PEDL. I disputed the claim cause what was being claimed is completely the wrong song. So simple mistake obviously. After jumping through hoops I contacted each of these companies (2 of them being the same company) about the dispute to hopefully speed up the process.
*Sony ATV Publishing and PEDL are the same company just operate in different countries.
Today I get a notice saying a completely different company VCPMC_CS denies my dispute. This company wasn't listed at all in the original Content ID Claim and still isn't. What do I do? I can't even find this company anywhere.
What's the point of the dispute system when some completely different company can deny your dispute?
To give insight to what's being claimed. A battle theme in my recent Dissidia 012 Final fantasy video was being claimed as "Final Battle (Final Fantasy X)" Not only is this the wrong song being claimed in the video. But this song doesn't play at all in Dissidia. The actual song that plays is Saber's Edge -Arranged- version. After noting that in my dispute i proceeded to contact these companies to let them know and hopefully speed up the process. Letting them know of the problem.
But instead I get a company that wasn't even listed in the claim to begin with denying my claim. How is this possible? I had to go asking around and none of the answers were positive at all.
First the company VCPMC_CS happens to be another one of the many Music Collection Societies.
VCPMC = Vietnam Centre for Protection of Music Copyright.
Second it's possible (But I'm not convinced) that an additional claim was registered after the initial notice was sent. In which case why isn't it noted then when I check the claim a 2nd time?
The initial claim being made on my video. I disputed it due to the song name being incorrect. Note that only Warner Chappell, Sony ATV Publishing, and PEDL are the only Copyright Owners noted.
My dispute being denied by VCPMC_CS. A company not at all listed in the claim.
Since it was denied I had no choice but to mute that section of the video. Appealing the decision risks me getting a Copyright Strike or Facing a Lawsuit. Despite my dispute being correct. I do not possess the means to confidently appeal this.
I have contacted the companies about my Content ID Claims. None of them have answered at the time of this post. Many of them requiring you to jump through many hoops to find proper contact information. Most response I received was an auto-email bot.
I honestly feel bamboozled. A random company can just step in and deny a dispute being made. Despite my dispute being correct. Just feels like people with money bullying those without money cause they know the other guy can't fight back. While I could appeal the decision that would mean that I'm subjecting myself to getting a Copyright Strike and/or facing Lawsuits.
So we're just forced to take L's while these people get away with whatever they like?
Apparently this has happened to many other people as well. But seems that mines is a unique case. And I cannot get in contact with Team Youtube to receive some type of help on this.
For those that didn't know. On January 6, 2021 Capcom released a statement talking about there Video Policy. Essentially a set of guidelines to say what you should or should not upload to sites like Youtube, Twitter, TwitchTV, Facebook, Your Own Website, etc.
While there's many reasons we can speculate as to why this was done. There's no confirmed answer and it drives from the main point. Many content creators of all sorts from people that Livestream, Upload Youtube content, fan artist, alike have read over this and found ourselves confused, concerned, angry, or just plain didn't care.
Two days later (January 8th, 2021), Capcom's twitter page post a tweet response to this saying that they understand our concerns and asks us to post questions to hopefully clarify there video policy guidelines.
Well you can be sure I did so. And I honestly want to make sure these guys see it cause I don't think tweeting these guys questions will do us any good. I would rather contact someone at Capcom directly concerning this. However there's not much I can do in that department. There's no phone number to call, no e-mail address I'm able to send my questions to. On there website they have a support page but it's tailored towards games specifically.
Capcom Support said that the support page was meant for Games and redirected me towards there tweet.
I wish I could find there legal team to call cause that's what I want to contact. They would generally know better. And Again I don't really trust a tweet. While you can do business there. Social Media forums have a bit of a problem where things can get easily buried under post made by others. Twitter is definitely no exception. So there's a good chance my posts may not get seen at all. To give an example. Without a link to there Tweets about Video-Policy, I couldn't find the tweet by digging through there twitter page. It was buried under multiple retweets for different games.
Anyway hopefully they see my questions and concerns and not ignore it.
But again for repetition sake to hopefully get this noticed. These are my questions. Hopefully before more questions come up.
How does this affect people that just play the game or do speedruns?
What if the video was just showcasing a certain move in the game that isn't "modded". Does that have to follow Audience-Appropriate guidelines? Cause I've read comments on such videos and it sometimes makes it sound like it's for a much older audience.
Does this apply to artwork? In particular fanart of characters? Some of my friends read this and complained that they can't draw there favorite character anymore.
How does this affect various sites that host Capcom related content such as the Capcom Wiki?
Where is the line drawn on Twitch/Youtube emotes featuring Capcom characters? Despite being considered fanart of characters used as emotes and notifications.
For fan created content are we not to credit CAPCOM for use of the character's sprites or models involved in the creation of the fan content?
Do we have any examples to go based off of?
I honestly hope that this doesn't get buried and ignored. Especially when viewing this from other sources who have an opinion on this make this sound even less friendly than what it is. I wish I could just ignore this but I do have a love for certain Capcom series such as Mega Man, Breath of Fire, Plasma Sword, etc. I don't want to suddenly stop sharing my love for the games.
Well been awhile since I tackled one of these games that I may or may not play in the future. I've actually had a growing stack of these that's probably about to topple over on me if I keep ignoring it. So might as well start here. Also new year. So I guess try and start strong??? I dunno.
Anyway Brok the InvestiGator. I stumbled across this game while combing through Twitter post. The game's website describes it as;
"The first "Classic Adventure" mixed with Beat'em Up and RPG, inspired by cartoons from the 80's/early 90's. What kind of detective will you be? "
Well I did grow up in that time. So I'm guessing Darkwing Duck, SwatCats, Goof Troop, Ninja Turtles, Street Fighter (The bad animated one), MK (The bad animated one) Sonic, etc.
My experience (You don't have to read Spoilers and all that)
So I start the game and...wow already in a disaster situation. Brok wakes up in a daze and the apartment's on fire with no way out. This isn't a typical left the oven on fire either. Someone set this up but no time to think about that gotta get out of here. While this is one of the many "Point and Click" adventure games that seem to have mixed reactions. I can tell you that this doesn't strike me as the "Sierra" style adventure games. The stigma that Sierra games carry is that you can get killed at anytime for anything. While that's not completely true. It's more like you get killed for not using common sense. Like you decided to stay and watch as all the guards are taken out by a genie when you should've been running after the guy trying to kill the princess. There are other silly deaths but a lot of is easily avoided by common sense. Anyway Brok the InvestiGator IS NOT A SIERRA style adventure game.
This game isn't going to kill you from a lack of common sense or exploring everything. You need to explore and figure out how to progress. Which is generally done in a few clicks. I also like how I can switch from using a controller to using a mouse and keyboard at anytime. Most games I played seem to have a problem with that. This isn't one of those. If you play with a controller the mouse pointer automatically moves to areas of interest for Brok to investigate.
So we need a way to put this fire out or to get out of here. Brok finds a robot. Maybe that can help...No instead the Robot thinks we're a burglar and tries to kill Brok. It fails to notice that the entire apartment is on fire. Technology people. I actually fear that this is how Technology will go in the future. Heck even now. That we get something to help us for convenience but when an emergency happens, that technology is completely useless. Anyway this is our first combat sequence. Combat controls are simple. Attack, Jump, and Block. I'm actually not used to seeing block in a Beat'em up. Blocking in beat'em ups is usually Don't be there but stand above, below, or behind the attacker. So yeah blocking is new. The combat isn't really anything special right now. But I did notice that Brok has a Dragon Punch. So we might be getting somewhere with these completely unsafe moves. LOL
You can sense attitudes? Did Skynet or MasterMold take over?
After beating up 2 robots. We make it to the backroom. Oh no there's a woman trapped under a bookshelf. We gotta help! Lia uses her dying words to blame Brok for everything that's happening. Brok tries to lift the shelf but can't do so even after finding an object to help lift it.
COME ON MAN!!! USE THAT ADRENALINE!!!
Despite all attempts we can't save her and Brok decides it's best to just wait it out till it's over. She complains that Brok was never there and Brok has what looks to be an episode of repressed memories. Then he wakes up from the nightmare. Oh good I hope.
World Building
So now time for some world building. Well Brok lives in what looks to be a one bedroom apartment and it's pretty rundown. I guess that's his roommate sitting on the side over there. Pile of dirty dishes. A broken cleaning bot. I'm guessing this is a dystopian future.
Brok gets a call from a client. An officer who's incredibly stressed out about something but can't talk about it over the phone. He leaves his address and hangs up. Maybe this guy has some info that could get him killed? Conspiracy??? Eh...we'll get to it later. I don't see a clock anywhere so we got time.
What could you possible call a detective for that you'd be worried the line would be tapped?
No that's not his roommate. The cat character playing on his tablet is Graff and happens to be Brok's adopted son. He took him in after the accident with his girlfriend Lia. Graff doesn't really open up too much and I'm honestly too afraid to press further into his life. Although I do have some qualms about who's turn it is to do dishes, not going to school, and locking the door to his room. I mean you could clean those dishes...despite it not being your turn (sorry kind of a pet peeve there). But let it be. Can't go triggering landmines.
NO WE DON'T IT'S BUSTED AND SHOCKING PEOPLE!
After giving him some pocket money (and I feel like I should've thought about that) Graff mentions the Science Fair being later that day. I'm already having a bad feeling that Brok is gonna mess up big time here.
So we get outside and check the mail. Oh boy bills. And to make matters worse the bill states that, "FOR THE SAKE OF SECURITY" you basically have to pay it in person. Yeah right security. Too many real world things can be applied there.
Well try to go out the door and well...it's blocked by the cleaning bot. Brok tries to take it down and it shocks him. Well another quick puzzle. Grab this stick and there we go...broken robot but it's removed at least. Brok says he'll fix it that he has a friend that can. And apparently it has cat hair in it??? Graff denies it has anything to do with him. I'm not pressing it not enough info to go on.
So Brok has high cost bills, a stressed son to take care of, and a job that probably doesn't pay well. What else can we add?
Well how about a caring heart? Making our way outside. We see a guy getting beat up by 2 punks for money. Probably mafia. Brok can't stand to see such a sight and we get into combat again. Well the beat'em up is showing some elements again as we have the age old technique of getting grabbed by one guy while the other takes shots at you. After the fight. Hey...leveled up. So I can choose to level up Brok's HP, Attack power, or Special attack. Oh there's specials? Can't wait.
Well we got a Dragon Punch. So combat is starting off on the right foot.
So we talk to the guy we rescued. His name is Tramp apparently??? He talks about how he has a disease that's killing him and couldn't get the medicine to prolong his life so that's why he owes whoever those 2 rat guys were working for. He goes on about he's a vet and essentially discarded by the military after a war. Brok insists on helping the guy even so much as offering his own home. Tramp declines and says that he shouldn't get too involved as those guys will come back. I kinda agree with him there. See while Brok has a big heart. The problem is that if he's messing with some gang or whatever and they come after him they might go after Graff, you know the adopted son. But Brok insists on helping Tramp out. Tramp hands him a medical prescription. If possible we might be able to get the medicine he needs. So side quest. I actually do want to help him out since I'm playing as Brok. I'm honestly not sure if I would've let him get beat up either. X_X
Main Client Sin
Moving on to our main client. We find hey a machine to pay invoices and a get a daily pill...except it's broken. Sigh...so we're totally living in a dystopian future. Moving on..in order to access our clients apartment we need a code. He left it in a text message.
I can't fix Brok's life but I'm not about to let a puzzle stand in his way.
But we got a bit of a puzzle to solve. In order to enter the code we gotta press the right buttons and this isn't a simple numpad. Each button adds up the numbers in a certain way I also can't go backwards if I mess up. After messing with that we make it to the client. The client's name is Sin (weird name). Sin apparently lost his "Crippling Gun" and is stressing out about it cause he's new to the police force. He says if he goes in he'll be fired on the spot for not having it and he has no friends to help bail him out. Brok proves that he's horrible at haggling but agrees to find the gun for him. At least charge enough to pay your bills man. -_-
Do I look like I have credentials? Although you look more like a janitor than an officer so...
Further investigation of his apartment. We find that this is also a rundown apartment. But also multiple wine glasses, a family picture, drugs? This guy might have more problems than just simply losing his gun. But he's the paying client so, lets not push our luck here. I forgot to bring up another problem we have with this client. He lost his gun in the dome and you need a special ID and apparently a DNA scan to get past the security check. Brok says he'll find a way pass cause he has a friend that's a hacker.
Pretty sure we could get arrested for this. And I'm not sure how far "I'm a Main Character" rule will let us slide with ransacking our clients house.
And it was around this point I stopped. I wanted to keep going but I had so much to do that day I decided to leave this for later. I was already an hour in and I have a few guesses as to what's going on here.
Sidenote: A thought occurred at the end that what if I get punished for not locking the door. I do have a key to the apartment and I walked out without locking the door. Oh CRAP!!! X_X
Thoughts on the World Building
So this game takes place in a Dystopian Future. Usually this means wasteland territory where technology and even civilization is in small pockets. Not entirely true. There's usually a class system involved. The rich class (and some of the middle class) usually live in domes or some area of safety where they have a sense of security and sophistication. They don't care what's going on outside there wall as long as it doesn't interfere with there lives. When it does that's when they complain.
I look at this and feel like I can relate somehow. And I'm not even a vet.
Everyone that lives outside this dome is pretty much the Middle to poor class. Everything's rundown the people that run the city don't really lift a finger to help and when they do it's not the help that's wanted. They'll do things that'll help there public image but continue stepping on those beneath them. But essentially everyone that doesn't live in this dome is left for dead. Meaning free reign for gangs, mafias, whatever to show up and start taking advantage of the weak.
So yeah Brok has it rough. Although he's probably the guy people can trust since or try to take advantage of cause of his skills. He's a detective and doesn't necessarily answer to anyone. But he needs money and considering where he lives. Definitely some moral choices will have to be made.
The TL:DR
I have guesses on where this story will go based on the prologue. I also feel like Brok is gonna have it rough for a very long time throughout this game. Well if I'm behind the wheel I'll do what I can to avoid these pitfalls the gator is moving towards. Although BROK ISN"T MAKING THAT EASY!!! He's making me want to jump in the game and help him out personally.
Gameplay
YUCK!!! Ants!!!
Gameplay the adventure aspects is not a Sierra style game where you die cause you lacked common sense. I appreciate the ability to switch between using a controller or a keyboard on the fly. Also things aren't completely hidden as with certain adventure games or needing a very specific spot to click.
The combat I feel is a wait and see scenario. While it's definitely not going to be Streets of Rage 4 (or Fight'N Rage) it's not bad. It has the typical beat'em up aspects.
Story
I may want to jump in this game to help you. But I can't help you with bills.
World building is done well. I'm not left here thinking about a random plot point that felt important but never gets explained. I'm already sensing conspiracy but we don't really have an antagonist yet. Well I've only play for an hour so who knows maybe that will show itself later.
Music and Sound
I would have to listen to the background music on it's own. But I don't hate it. I mean it could have absolutely no music and I would get bored of the game. So we get a pass there. If you're going to ask me about voice acting. I don't have problem with it. As long as you can read your lines I'm fine with it. There are some games out there where the actors can't even read or say there lines right at all and it gets produced into the game. I also couldn't tell you what's good voice acting and what's bad voice acting since that seems to vary from person to person.
Overall
I want to see where this story leads. I do have this constant feeling of being want to jump into the game and help him myself. Which is good cause that means I like the story so far. This game clearly made the narrative it's focus which is a good choice as well. It also has bits of comedy which I do love for a game to have. It can't be despair hour 24/7. I'm rather looking forward to playing this one.
Other Screenshots
So are rats squealers? Do moles count as squealers too?
So vegetarian???
Where have I heard school being referred to as the "Consciousness Center" before?
I have absolutely no faith in this science fair project of yours with a name like that.
Not gonna question your faith but I believe you shouldn't be selling things related to said faith.
Why do I hear "They're Back" from Streets of Rage 4 playing?
