Drakengard 3

I loved this game just because of its lore. The story is interesting and original, though a bit confusing and it needs some research (like reading novels, buying dlc...) and would have been nice that the full story was integrated in the main game. The characters are interesting and fun, though as usual in Drakengard they are a bunch of depraved people who I can't feel any empathy for them, well I feel sorry for Mikhail ;\.

The game gets played similar to Dinasty Warriors but with way less troops and very linear scenarios, slashing trough weak soldiers I barely had any problem beating the entire game. There are also a few stages that are played with the dragon which are fun bun not very challenging.

There are 4 kinds of weapons that can be improved and are played a bit differently, but it the end I didn't find much need to change weapons and went always with the sword, which I used like only 3 different sword on the entire game.

A major complain, I reached a point in the story where the game forced me to have all the weapons available to continue, which means like 6-7 hours of grinding or buying the very expensive dlcs that costs me more than the game, this sucks.

Graphically is weak, it has low detailed textures and enviroments plus has many framerate drops too. Music is awesome though, I love the last boss song ^^.

If this team really developed Nier, I don't get why this game looks and plays so worse, Nier graphics were way better, more stable, it didn't have linear enviroments and gameplay was better polished (not to mention the companion AI...), I think it could have been an excellent game but this is a long step backwards.

Did I like it? Just because of the lore, could have "played" it youtube.
I think you will like it if you:
- Like the drakengard/nier world

I rate my experience with a 5.5 out of 10.

Mind = Zero

I'm gonna make it sound bad:

At first look is a Persona copy&paste, because the story is about some schoolboys that can invoke "spirits" called MINDs and a part of the story develops with similarities with Persona 4 but I think that's it. It doesn't have social links, rumors, press turns or any kind of persona customization.

It's all about exploring dungeons with 1st person view, watch dialogs and go back to explore again. I found exploring those dungeons very fun, they aren't long or "laberynthic" enough to get tiring (aside from the post-game one). The world map is divided by regions and waypoint based, similar to Persona 2.

The combats are turn-based, using a 2 health bar system, one for the character and another one for his MIND. When the MIND is summoned it's the one that takes damage and also gets drained over time, to recover MIND's health it needs to be summoned back leaving the character health exposed to damage. I think it is a very original system, but the random combats (sometimes the randomness is a bit unfair) are pretty easy, I usually choose auto+fastward to deal with them. Only on the bosses is where it gets fun, those are very long battles and require some strategy with the summoning.

Customization in my opinion lacks a bit, there's the usual equipment which is okay and then a set of cards that give the player different skills, passive (ex. +30 defense) or active (like a magic attack). Those cards can be improved and upgraded by using another cards, but in the end it doesn't have much deep. I finished the entire game by just using passive and healing skills, I didn't use a single magic spell.

The story is fine, some characters are very fun (like Leo in my opinion) and it develops just find though in the end it falls into jrpg cliche, like for example if the chosen one is male, he is the protagonist, if the chose one is female, she gets kidnapped.

The dungeon graphics feel a bit dated, but thats okay to me, the character design is pretty cool and the vita screen makes it shine a lot. Voices and music are okay.

The game may not be very deep and has low production values, but surprisingly I had fun playing it.

Did I enjoy it? Yep
I think you will like it if you:
- Like easy Dungeon Crawlers
- Don't expect a complex game.

I rate my experience with a 6.5 out of 10.

Final Fantasy XIV

The second version of the second mmo featuring a world with a few Final Fantasy details like summons, black mages and chocobos.

Gameplay is the very standard "World of Warcraft" style, quests and more quests about deliveries and defeating monsters all the way to the max level where the player will start attending bigger and spectacular dungeons and fights. The combats are cooldown based with a way slower pace when compared to other games.

The amount of content is decent but lacks many basic features. The story may be cool, but it isn't what I'm looking on a mmo so I skipped most of the dialogs, there are some unskippable ones, I didn't like this because affects the game's pace.

Graphically looks very good. The interface, special effects, monsters and characters details are awesome, specially the clothes that feel very realistic. Enviroments have nice textures and modeling but they feel a bit generic and not very fantasy like. Music has nice calm melodies, with is nice to avoid repetitiveness on a mmo.

Overall is a good and addictive mmo, but it is too standard for me and has nothing special to offer rather than the FF theme.

Did I like it? Yes, but...
I think you will like it if you:
- Aren't tired of mmos

I rate my experience with a 6 out of 10.

Bayonetta

Again an excellent action game from Platinum games, this time with the old Devil May Cry style but with its own personality.

Combat is simple but fastpaced, intense and challenging enough to not get repetitive. Plus it has a decent amount of customization, very similar to the Capcom game.

As usual the amount of content is low but to compensate the replay value is high.  The story is good enough though the main character behavior can turn off some people ^^.

Graphically looks okay while keeps the 60fps (thanks!), the enviroment is mediocre but there are some very cool enemy designs and special effects.

Did I like it? Yes
I think you will like it if you:
- Like action games

I rate my experience with an 8 out of 10.

Vanquish

  

I hate shooters but love Platinum games, so I had to try it and I loved it.

Mainly because is a nice demonstration of how action games should be, challenging and fast paced action where the player can't abuse the care-bear mechanics like the cover system.

The development is very nice though the difficulty curve is a bit high at the beginning, but once learned it is very fullfilling. My complain about the Platinum mechanics is that when I want to play the game after a few months, I need to do the tutorial again because I forgot about how to play it properly.

The content is scarce but the replay value is high with many optional things to do and different difficulty modes.

As usual, the story is just an excuse for the gameplay and it doesn't hurt. Graphically is detailed but it looks a bit low resolution.

Did I like it? Yes
I think you will like it if you:
- Aren't scared of challenging games
- Like action games

I rate my experience with a 7.5 out of 10.

Skies of Arcadia

Finally a decent RPG for the Dreamcast. A long, typical, turn-based rpg which I enjoyed a lot but I think it missing the spark to become a master piece.

Gameplay is based on random turn-based combats and heavily focused on dungeon exploring. Combats are fun but lacked on the customization side, and dungeons are a bit bland, but passable.

The plot is about sky pirates, with many original details but with the usual japanese Infinite Justice behavior from the main characters.

So we get many cool flying ships with an okay world map to explore. The exploration is motivated by many hidden treasures/places to find which is nicely rewarded. On the bad side, there are random combats even when exploring with the airship.

We also find a few ship vs ship combats, it is not a very deep but the originality is appreciated.

Graphically looks very nice, the town design is a bit lacking but the rest looks pretty enough, specially some effects.

Did I like it? Yes
I think you will like it if you?
- Like jrpg
- Don't mind the dated graphics

I rate my experience with a 7.5 out of 10.

Soleil

A very unique action rpg.

While it looks very much like any other 16 bit rpg because it has many enviroments with the usual sprites, real time combat with Enix style, towns, many places to explore, etc.

What made a unique experience to me were the animal skills, when I found an animal I got a new skill that allowed me to progress on the game but also to find new areas and secrets on the places I already visited. For example the Cheetah allowed me to run faster and jump to places that were unreachable before.

The story starts very typical with the child & his house but I found that the development is fresh, entertaining and made me to always want to progress, the game is not very long though and there isn't much replay value. Music and graphics aren't superb but still very nice and unusual on the Megadrive.

Did I like it? Yes!
I think you will like it if you:
- Like 16 bit action rpgs

I rate my experience with a 8 out of 10.