Finished Conception. Verdict: Good dating sim, bad dungeon crawler.

Conception_~Ore_no_Kodomo_wo_Undekure!~It took me about 33 hours to finish, but other reviews claim 21-25 hours is the norm. I should have spent less time exploring the dungeons and skipped the final three seasonal dungeons once the way to the last boss opened up. The ending was brief, but quite happy. The kegare are disposed of forever, MC goes back to his world and has a happy end with his chosen girl (Femiruna). I was pretty satisfied.

As I said in the title, Conception is very enjoyable as a dating sim/visual novel, but as a dungeon crawler it stinks. A brief explanation follows.

Good dating sim

+ The character designs are really cute. The 3D close ups are not so cute, but they grow on you after a while.

+ With two exceptions (Mahiru and Ruka) the girls range from likeable to adorable. As romantic interests Tarua and Collette were a little too kiddy for my tastes, but everyone else was very passable. You’ve probably met all their types if you’ve watched even one high school anime before, but they’re well-done archetypes nevertheless.

+ Building a relationship is a low pressure, no failure affair. There are no bad ends, no jealousy events and no way to lock yourself out of a route. Even if you answer wrongly and piss the girl off, just keep talking to her week after week and you’ll eventually get her affection up. Do please go on, this is most interesting →

Conception – I like the characters, but the gameplay needs work

Also the story and some of the dialogue is really vulgar. Not that I expected a game subtitled “Please Bear My Child” to not be vulgar, but I’m surprised how low they sunk. Way beyond innuendo and well into ‘rubbing your face in it’ territory. If you thought Ar Tonelico was too subtle and you really wanted them to stick it in your face – haha stick it, geddit, that’s so naughty, haha – then Conception is your game.

A One-Track Story

The writers went out of their way to make the story as tasteless as possible. For example, the backstory of the dungeon monsters, known as kegare,  is that they’re created whenever people in that world have sex. Kegare (i.e. pollution, defilement) created by Aries people goes to the Aries dungeon and so on. These dungeons are losing their function for an unknown reason, so the MC was summoned to that world to help deal with them. There’s a worldwide ban on sex until MC fixes the problem (yeah, good luck enforcing that). Do please go on, this is most interesting →

Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits (2)

arc the ladIt’s games like this that make me want to quit gaming. Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits is not terrible enough to quit over, but it’s not very good either, so I just keep plodding along and getting more and more annoyed and depressed. According the game clock I’m 22 hours and 58 minutes in. It feels more like 58 hours and 22 minutes. And I think my PS2 can sense my mood, because a few minutes ago when I tried to turn it on, it basically said “Not tonight, I have a headache.” I’ll coax it back to life eventually. For now, though, I’m going to take the opportunity to put this game in hiatus.

What is Arc the Lad doing wrong? Two things. First, the characters are pissing me off. Their decisions are stupid and they are annoying. Darc’s team is still superior to Kharg’s, but Darc himself is a washout. He says one thing, does another, then tries to justify what he does without admitting his true motives. For example he spares traitors and tries to play it off like they’re necessary to his ambitions, but actually he just likes having them around and is too chicken to kill anyone any more.

Example two, he just let the same villain escape for the 3rd time in a row. And that even though the villain himself warned him not to. And if Darc was really serious about unifying the Deimos and killing all humans, why not start with Lilia? Darc is just a mass of contradictions, and not in a compelling way either. Right now I even prefer Kharg to him. At least Kharg is actually serious about being a goody two-shoes.

Second thing wrong, the story is just going round in circles. Darc’s team had just invaded the enemy’s headquarters when I stopped, so maybe something major was finally going to happen, but I won’t hold my breath. Encounter after encounter with the Dilzweld army. The Dilzweld army succeeds in their evil plans regardless. Darc says one thing and does another. Kharg and co. bore the crap out of me. Lilia gets kidnapped. Lilia gets rescued. Lilia gets kidnapped. Lilia gets rescued. On and on it goes. What’s worse, the few moments of manufactured drama never amount to anything. Here’s a major reveal! Gasp! Shock! Horror! And then everything’s back to normal and it’s all business as usual.

I checked a spoiler-free walkthrough and it looks like I’m about two-thirds of the way through the game. If I was almost done I’d just push through, but as it is I’m definitely taking a break. I’m going to try the Territoire demo I’ve been planning to play for like 2 years, and then I’ll start Conception. I hope there isn’t too much talking in it, because I just want some mindless dungeon-crawling right now.

Candy Crush Saga – It’s all over for me! Save yourselves!

candy_crush_saga_download_for_pcI can’t play Wild Arms XF, I can’t play Steambot Chronicles, I can’t stand Disgaea, but 485 levels of Candy Crush? Bring ’em on! My casualization is now complete!

I’ve been playing Candy Crush on my Android phone since early July-ish. I thought I should have at least one game on there, because, why not? And I picked this one because my sister played it and it looked like fun. I’m a very simple person.

485 stages and 65 Dreamworld stages. What a trip! It’s been very annoying and frustrating at times. In fact, most of the time. But now that I’ve finished the whole thing pending further releases, I’m feeling very zen about the whole experience. Right now I’m doing a  victory tour of all the earlier stages, playing them all once just to remind myself what I’ve been through. Level 33! Level 50! Level 65! I never thought I’d finish 76 and 77! The whole stretch in Salty Canyon from 96 to 110!  They all seem so cute and friendly in retrospect, with their little bombs and cute widdle chocolate. Awww… All bets are off as to whether I’ll still be laughing when I replay stages like 418 and 421, the only stages that made me seriously contemplate quitting the game. Do please go on, this is most interesting →

Games I didn’t like, 2013 edition

Disc-smashed-by-hammerTime for another round of games I tried and quickly abandoned. It’s a rather short list this time round, because 2013 was a pretty good year. I think I’m slightly more discerning in the games I’ll even try as well, so that leads to fewer casualties in the long run.

Metal Saga: Hagane no Kisetsu (DS) – I was curious to try something from the Metal Saga series of games, but this wasn’t interesting at all. It was okay-ish when I was driving around in my farm up in the mountains, but the first real mission I got sent me hunting a crocodile on my own, and the battle system stressed  me out. It’s also very clearly a sequel to something, and doesn’t seem like much fun unless you’ve played the original. Quit.

Brave Story: Boku no Kioku to Negai (DS) – Boring game about a boy who loses his memory and goes into the world of a book to get it back. Didn’t get anywhere because I was bored just by the prologue. Long ago I tried another Brave Story game on the PS2 and that was boring too so, yeah.

Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu (PSP) – Another sucky anime quickie cash-in game. I tried episode 1 of the show and couldn’t get into it, but I thought it might make a good fantasy RPG. Guess I was wrong. They let me fight one battle and then talked at me for 30 minutes. I didn’t have the strength to go on after that. Do please go on, this is most interesting →