Posted by exodus on January 08, 2016 at 18:33:03 EST.
I played a bunch of 3DS demos (and full games), so now I'm gonna talk about them!! Everything is inside!
- Legend of Legacy. Very bad name for a video game, people need to stop recycling the same three words. The demo is rather unusual in that it can transfer over directly into the full game if you pay for it, and you can play for something like 5 hours before it makes you stop. Unfortunately the battle system didn't grab me, and it is mostly battles. That said, it is *interesting*, in that you get upgrades based on what attacks and formations you're using, and filling in the map is kind of cute. Also, if you are about to die you can just run away, and get back to the beginning of that area, which is not too punitive. But absent a lot of *interesting* exploration and objectives, this one just didn't stick with me at all.
- Project X Zone. I finally played this and man, it is so ridiculous, I am definitely buying it. You all likely know, but it's Sega/Namco/Capcom/Idea Factory characters all put into groups. Weird matchups aplenty, and who has any idea who any of the IF characters are, but the system works well, the story is universe-smashing the likes of which the current "marvel universe" wishes it could handle. Gonna play this one.
- Yokai Watch. The demo can be beaten in less than 20 minutes, or you can take two hours to do it by investigating everything that's there. If you've any affinity for cute games like Attack of the Friday Monsters mixed up with Pokemon, you might as well just try the battle system in 20 minutes and then go for it, because the 3 hours I spent *are not* saved over to a full game. I really liked this one, but I'm quite sure I'd never finish it, either. The battle system is fine, but finding things and talking to a bunch of dumb critters is quite enjoyable.
- The Legend of Dark Witch. This is a fairly simple platformer, but I kind of liked it? It's not too expensive so I might go for it. Level design is okay, there are secrets and upgrades, so... it's fine?
- Fairune. There's a demo, but it was cheap so I just bought it at some point, and didn't play it til now. This game has an Ys-like battle system, but even simpler. Enemies at your level do 1 damage to you, and you do kill them instantly and get 1 XP. Enemies above your level do 2 damage to you, you still get 1 XP and kill them instantly. Enemies 3 levels above can't be damaged and do lots of damage. The game is all about exploring and opening up new areas. It's got secrets, lots of cute stuff, and a couple bad level design decisions, but it's worth the (I think) $2 it currently costs. Also roughly a 2 hour game the first time through.
- Nanon Assault EX. Another Shin'en game. I just don't really like their stuff. It's meant to be a twinstick shooter but they put it on the 3DS and made the right stick the buttons. This would work *okay* if they hadn't made the buttons relative to the orientation of your ship. So it's not like X shoots up and B shoots down, it's that X shoots left and Y shoots right, and it can be completely disorienting. Also has a panzer dragoon style section that is completely boring.
- Mercenaries Saga 2. just not that interesting.
- Swords & Darkness. A hack and slash game from Arc System Works that doesn't feel like anybody spent any time on. Absolutely forgettable. (in fact I had to look at my downloads to remember that I'd played it).
- Puzzle and Dragons Z / Super Mario. Turns out I like this system a lot more when the gatcha and free to play systems are removed. Pretty fun.
- AeternoBlade. I named this game, and some dudes I know made it, but it's pretty pedestrian. Aims to be a metroidvania but lacks the oomph behind the attacks, the nuance of animation, and just feels... like it's there.
- World Conqueror 3D. A daisenryaku style game that didn't grab me.
- Undead Bowling. Very Simple 2000 series style, where you bowl down waves of zombies that approach, but it didn't grab me now that I'm old and cranky.
- Slime Morimori Dungeon 3. This was not a demo! I got this one in japan and used one of the region swap tricks to load it up. I know we all(?) liked Rocket Slime Adventures, so I figured I'd talk about it here.
Pros: Much of the rocket slime stuff you love is here, with platforming/stretching adventure bits and tank battles replaced by ship battles.
Riding around in your ship is fun, especially since you can make it jump. that's the only reason I see for this game to be in 3D.
Since you've got a ship, there are more secret thingies to uncover, which is nice.
Cons: Basically feels really loose. They spread everything out even further, so your "hub" is basically your three friends (saving, ship parts, etc is done by them), which is convenient. But it doesn't feel as much like a cohesive world.
Level design is pretty uninspired compared to the last game, but basically fine.
Does not look very nice. the 2D sprites feel lifted out of the last game, and placed on pretty poor 3D backgrounds. Since they didn't want you to be able to see behind walls, they make the bounding box the visible area of the 3D, so you'll be rolling toward what looks like the floor, but it turns out the wall is leaning over it in the 3/4 view, so you can't get past it and bounce back. annoying.
the ship battles are not as fun as the tank battles. still good though, and you can collect blueprints for new parts from the folks you defeat, which you can then buy in the store. kind of fun.
That's it! I'll let you know as I play more things!
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