Nerd Battle: Laura Matsuda vs. Zarina

She's Latina.  She wears a sexy outfit.  She has funky hair.  It's Laura Matsuda from Street Fighter 5.  Or is it Zarina from King Of Fighters 14.  Yep.  It's Nerd Battle time.

Laura Matsuda is Street Fighter's newest "it" girl.  She is the older sibling of arguably the worst Street Fighter character ever, Sean Matsuda.  Laura, however, is a unique character, not content to be a Ryu/Ken clone like her younger brother.  Barring that, there are two VERY obvious reasons why she's more popular than him.

Zarina is a member of Team South America in King Of Fighters 14.  As the only female on the team, that automatically makes her the hot one.

So who looks better?  Both girls are hot and wear primarily yellow outfits (though there are other colors available).  Heck, they both even wear thongs, though Laura's butt is still covered and Zarina's is still mostly covered.

If only she wasn't wearing those tights.

See?  Zarina's wearing pants...barely.

Zarina looks a little more feminine, but Laura is hot still hot enough to where it's not too much of an advantage.  Outfits, on the other hand, put Laura way over the top.  She has more and they are sexier as well.  Laura takes looks.

This outfit is just one of the reasons Laura takes looks.

So, how about fighting?  Zarina uses a capoeira-type fighting style that's primarily kicks.  There's a lot of flash and finesse in her style.  Handstand kicks and super farts propel her to victory.

Look, ma!  Two hands!

Zarina can kick her ass off, no doubt about it.

Her pants are cutting right through her own legs.  I wonder if that hurts.

A kick that takes great arm strength...I think.

Zarina super powerful fart, in action.

Laura, meanwhile, uses a family style of jiu-jitsu.  As such, she's quite brutal and rough on her opponent.  She breaks arms, breaks legs, and breaks necks, on top use using rough-looking throws.  She also has some punches, powerful kicks, and (my favorite) electric dandruff.

Say goodbye to Cammy's arm...

...and Cammy's leg.

She just killed poor Cammy.

"Zap, zap!"  Eleectric dandruff.

A little something extra for Cammy fans.

So if Laura and Zarina met and got into a fight, who would win?  Anything is possible, I find it hard to believe that Laura could lose.  She has too many answers for too many situations.  Her throws are brutal and usually lead to something getting broken.  She can match power for variety in terms of kicks.  She even has a projectile with her electric dandruff.  She doesn't have a REAL keep-out move, so if Zarina built her battle plan around jump attacks, perhaps she could win.  On the whole thought, Laura has the advantage here.

I have reason to believe this is how Zarina would end up in this fight.

So, there you have it.  Zarina may be slightly hotter, but Laura's outfits help her win in looks.  In combat, Laura wins, because her fighting style is versatile and brutal.  Laura takes this Nerd Battle.

Agree?  Disagree?  Make your voice heard.  Comment.

Nobunaga's Ambition: SOIA Created Forces Guide

Nobunaga's Ambition: Sphere Of Influence Ascension is a monster of a game.  Ambition accurately describes what you'll need a lot of to beat it.  Your goal is to conquer all of Feudal Japan, one castle at a time.  For strategy game fans, it's quite the experience.

While simply playing the game is ambitious, there's nothing more ambitious (and rewarding) than going at it with a created force.  The thought of building a force from the ground up and thrashing Japan's greatest generals is a thrill that's beyond thrilling.  It's also impossible for a first-timer who doesn't know how the game works.

The first thing you'll notice after plopping down your created force is how much weaker you are than everyone else.  It doesn't matter if you put one measly scrub in your ranks or 300 gods with maxed out stats.  You start with ONE castle, while everyone else usually starts with a higher soldier count and some daimyos start off with lots of castles.

Of course, as mentioned before, that's a part of the fun.  Turning a staggering disadvantage into a baffling victory is the ultimate experience.  In order to do that, however, you need to learn how to survive.  These are just a few tips to start you off and make your conquest a little easier.

1.  An Exclusive Club

Make sure the people you want to use are set to "active".

Before you even plop your force down, you have to determine who's going to be in it.  A force of between 15-25 officers of varying quality to start is good if you want to play fair.  You also want to make sure they each have high loyal (a low Req. Loyalty score) to keep opposing forces from simply stealing them away.  Nothing sucks more than having your best warrior stolen by a nearby daimyo and having them march on you with a 5000 soldier unit a few months later.

2.  Your Wish Is Their Command

While it may be tempting to be a retainer, playing as the daimyo give you ultimate control right away.

Will you start off as the daimyo or as a retainer?  Starting as a retainer will enable you the build an army quickly.  But you'll have no control over where you march, only if you march if you're called by the daimyo.  Being the daimyo, on the other hand, gives you the ultimate control.  When you march, who you march against, who leads the march, and who you befriend is totally up to you.  Being a retainer and climbing up to reagent will give you the same authority over YOUR troops, but your daimyo will still have his own army which you won't have control over.  Also, you can only claim castle you take from the enemy your daimyo orders you to attack.  You can still attack the castles you aren't ordered to attack, but your daimyo will control them, not you.  You can grovel to your daimyo for control over castles and officers, but that's just extra hassle.  For this reason, I recommend starting off as the daimyo yourself.  It's harder starting, but you'll have all the control when you finally do grow into a powerhouse.

3.  Location, Location, Location

You can plop a castle down on any white spot, but be aware of who your neighbor are.

Easily the most important part of your conquest is where you start.  Do you pick a big city that will develop quickly, but is near a major daimyo?  How about a small city in the boonies that develops slowly, but won't get attacked by a castle-devourer within six months?  Most places have their advantages and disadvantages.

4.  No More Lonely Nights

Build up trust and become allies with more powerful forces before they attack you.

Created force almost always start as the weakest force on the map.  If you start off near powerhouses like the Hojo and the Date, you'll be raped and killed.  This is where alliances and coalitions come into play.  If you plop down near a major force, this is the only way you'll survive until you get strong enough to challenge them.  This is also how you keep from getting castles taken away immediately after you conquer them and keeping your own castle safe after you've committed to a march.  Remember, you can have more than one ally.  Just make sure you can afford to keep it going.

5.  Come Back When You Grow Up

When you first start off, you won't be able to march right away (or you won't if you're smart).  Your starting force is so paltry, even a weak daimyo can fend you off with ease.  As a rule of thumb, you should only march on a weak castle (3000 HP or less) after you've gotten at least 1700 soldiers.  To take stronger castles (over 3000 HP) you'll want 4000 soldiers.  For mega castles (7000 HP and higher) don't even try unless you have multiple castles (perhaps 3 castles and 9000 soldiers) or have powerful clans as reinforcements.  Getting the aid of small tribes (not clans) can help your numbers (especially during early marches and defense), but they tend to be unreliable.  Long story short, don't march until your force is ready.

6.  The Way To A Man's Heart Is Through His Stomach

As you can see, conscripts (the hut icon) will only grow as large as supplies (the bales icon).

To build up a high soldier count quickly, you may be tempted to plop down two or three Warriors' Quarters and let the soldiers march in.  However, you need the food to feed them.  Your conscripts (soldiers) will stagnate when your supplies (food) stop growing.  Three farms or two paddies (if you have the good fortune of being near a river) will be enough to build a decent force.  Make sure to Invest in your food makers and Warriors' Quarters to squeeze out all the food and soldiers you can.

7.  Know Your Enemy...And His Friends

Check to see who else you could be fighting before committing to a march.

Marching on a weak daimyo or powerful but small daimyo can be tempting.  Before doing so, it's recommended you check to see who they are allied with or you could be in for quite the war.  For example, you may find it tempting to wipe out the Tendo clan early on.  However, they happen to be a vassal of the monstrous Date clan.  That means if you're going to fight the Tendo, you'd better be ready for a potential fight with the Date.  Or the Ashikaga clan have everyone in the middle of the map as an allies, so starting a fight with them could large to a huge war that you can't possibly win in the early game.  Wait for some of there alliances to end or get some decent backers of your own.

8.  Carving Out Your Slice

Once you've built up your force and created some alliances, your next goal should be to get four or five castles under your control quickly.  The major daimyos will only get stronger as time goes on, rarely getting weaker.  Establishing a five castle area will aid you in greatly with your economy, food for marches, and troop strength.

9.  A Well-developed Body

As you can see, this daimyo has five castles, making him a force even the big boys have to worry about.

Once you've got five or so castles, you can attempt to take on the big boys (the Date, the Ouchi, among others).  Before doing so, however, you'll want to upgrade your castles to get the most out of them.  Your starting castle should have at least 4000 soldiers, 5000 HP, and your best warrior.  Your other castles should have at least 2500 soldiers, 3000 HP, and good warriors.  Good warriors (officers with high LEA and/or VAL scores) can make the most of soldiers and make life miserable for enemies.

10.  Look Before Crossing The Street

From here, you can decide who, how, and when to attack.  You're off to a solid start.  Which direction you go from here is up to you.  Good warriors, troop strength, and alliances are your best friends.  Try not to take on too much too soon and even godly daimyos, like the Hojo, will crumble before you like stale crackers.

Was this starting guide helpful?  What are your tips and tricks?  Let your voice be heard.  Comment.

Tokyo Xanadu Ex+ Review (PS4)

Put on your school uniform, grab your cellphone, and prepare to save the world.  Don't forget to bring your friends.  It's time to get into Tokyo Xanadu Ex+.

In Tokyo Xanadu Ex+, you take the role of Kou and his friends as they leap into portals called Eclipse and beat the crap out of any monsters they come across.  As Kou, you must not only hack and slash your way though dungeons, but build up links with your friends, like Persona or Trails Of Cold Steel.

Our protagonist, Kou Tokisaka

Speaking of Trails Of Cold Steel, there are subtle (and not so subtle) references everywhere.  From the television in the Star Camera store showing footage of Trails Of Cold Steel 3 to minigames in the arcade named after Rean and Alisa, it's hard to miss.  Well, it is made by the same company.  There are also a few Y's references.  There are probably some others I missed or don't recognize, but that's beside the point.

Just one of several references to the Trails of Cold Steel series.

Anyway, as mentioned before this game is a hack-and-slash dungeon crawler of sorts.  It's not just mindlessly running around whuppin' ass, though.  The elemental system plays apart in how effectively you can fight.  Now you can kill enemies all the same, no matter what your element is.  This game, however, give you bonuses (more on those later) for killing enemies with the proper element.  To get maximum points, you have to switch characters frequently, depending on what element the enemy you're facing is.

Try to hit enemies with a character whose element they are weak to.

About your attack party.  You can bring up to three characters at a time into a dungeon.  You can usually bring any three characters in (though characters can be forced on you by the story), but you should build your party around the enemy's make-up to maximize your fighting ability and bonuses.  You only use one character at a time, but you can switch between them freely as the situation warrants.

Timely switches will help rack up those bonuses.

Each character has a number of a number of moves with which to dole out beatings and rape with.  Everyone can melee, shoot, and use super moves, among other things.  While everyone has a move for every situation, some characters do things better than other.  One character may be a better shooter, while another may be better at attacking in the air, etc.  Naturally, some characters will feel better for your playing style, so trot out a party you can work with whenever you get a chance.

Use this screen to plan your attack party.  As you can see here, sometimes characters are "locked" into the party.

You can also customize your characters' weapons, attaching things such as status effects and character buffs.  To a far lesser extent, you can also edit your their appearance.  Want your character to wear sunglasses?  Just buy some and plop them on.  Don't like Sora's school uniform?  Put her in her gym outfit instead.  Changing appearance doesn't help or hurt your stats, so you can use the outfit you want without fear.

You can replay the dungeons as many times as you want with any characters once you beat them.  This is mostly so you can grind and level up your characters so you don't get your ass kicked in later dungeons.  You can also try to get the highest score possible by getting as many level bonuses as you can.  You get graded on five bonuses; time taken, damage taken, elemental kills (which is why party structure is important), objects destroyed, max combo.  You can achieve the highest grade without getting them all, but it something you can shoot for if you're a perfectionist.

A general description of the bonuses and how to maximize your score.

The story has a little bit of everything.  High school, drugs, street gangs, yakuza, friendships and other relationships, and other stuff are all explored here.  There's something for everyone.  Now, being story-driven game, it risks having the dreaded Too Much Talking syndrome.  It just manages to avoid it, which will keep you interested in what the characters are doing.

You'll never think of Eclipse gum the same.

We have a martial arts instructor, a teacher, a yakuza, and a student in a shrine.  What a gathering.

On another note, the kid NPC's seem to speak too much like adults.  Seriously, when was the last time you've heard kids under twelve talk like this...

How old is this kid?

And how freaking old is this kid?

What about the other stuff.  The graphics are alright.  Basically, it looks like an HD version of Trails Of Cold Steel.  In other words, it looks like an anime.  This anime feeling is boosted further by the anime intro that plays before every chapter, like each chapter is an episode of said anime.

The environments in the "real world" look pretty good.  The dungeons are a little bit of a step back, but not much.  Dungeon-crawling is simple (you won't get lost), with small deviations here and there that lead to treasure, switches, and monsters to kill.

Now THIS is how a city should look.

Some dungeons actually look good, but most are generic and simple mazes.

The music is pretty good, especially when you're in a dungeon or fighting a boss.  The boss theme in particular is simply orgasmic.  Almost every dungeon has it's own theme which does a good job of either representing the dungeon you're in or getting you into the action.

The boss theme is pretty darned good.

Outside of the main story, you can talk to minor characters to attempt finishing their backstories.  There's also another mode that allows you to admire the characters in any costume and environment you've unlocked, as well as looking at their various actions.  And as is usually the case which games these days, there's DLC if you want it.

The character viewer let's you view your favorites under various conditions.

On the bad side, there are no English voices.  Some would say that automatically makes them good and they'd be wrong.  I don't understand Japanese, but I do understand cadence.  Sometimes the actors are phoning it in.  For the most part, the voices are okay thought.  Also, there are a few mistranslations, missing words, and typos here and there, but nothing too painful.

As a whole, the game is one that's hard to stop playing.  You have good music, solid graphics, a multi-faceted story that keeps you interested, and satisfying combat.  There are a lot of elements I didn't touch on here, to keep this post a respectable length.  In short, I can definitely recommend it.  Play it.

SG/ZH Review (PS4)

In SG/ZH, you get a three way collision of epic proportions.  Short for Schoolgirl Zombie Hunters, schoolgirls, zombies, and guns all meet in what could be a dream come true.  Miniskirts, blood, and low intellect are all present and accounted for.  What's right and what's wrong?  Let's see.

The first thing you see is a cute anime girl with a big gun.

This game answers one question that's always been eating me alive (no pun intended) when I play an Onechanbara game.  Is there anyone else fighting for survival in this twisted world or is it just Aya, Saki, and whoever else the creators feel like trotting out?  With this game being set in the Onechanbara world, the answer is yes.  It is kind of neat to see who else is out there killing zombies.

You'll be happy if you like killing zombies.

Now being a part of Onechanbara comes with two things.  The first is zombies.  The second thing is T&A.  You take the role of five schoolgirls, all armed with guns and skimpy outfits.  You can put these girls in a variety of outfits, including just their underwear.  So, if you ever wanted to fight against the zombie apocalypse with five underdressed anime girls, this is your game.  In fact, sometimes you're encouraged to strip to "distract" zombies.  However, these girls aren't nearly as hot as Aya, Annna (or is it Anna?), or Kagura.  Perhaps they beat out Saki (though she still wins in terms personality and fighting style).  If you're looking for eye candy, the main series offers better girls.

You can use the girls as they come...

...trot them out in their underwear...

...or tart them up any way you like.

The gameplay, however, is slight departure from Onechanbara.  Whereas Onechanbara is mainly hack-and-slash action, this game as mostly a shooter.  For those who've play the Xbox 360 game, it like playing as five slightly different versions of Annna.  There is a melee attack, but you be using guns to blast heads for the most part.

As for the shooting, it feels...off.  The gun selection is fine and the guns all feel different, so that's not the problem.  Aiming is the flaw.  The reticle is feels slippery.  It moves too fast and just doesn't seem accurate.  And you can forget tracking down a moving target.  Even slow-moving enemies are hard to hit.  For the fast moving enemies, all you can do is spray and pray.

The melee attack is good for getting enemies off you when you're surrounded.  It knocks enemies down and away.  It can even one-hit kill annoying little bastards a particular type of enemy.  It's useful, but has its flaws.  The first is that there is no combo melee attack.  The second is that it won't knock down big, lumbering types.  The third and most fatal flaw is the stamina bar. which effectively limits the melee attack to a desperation attack.

Use the melee attack to nail zombies that get to close...

...but it doesn't really work on these big guys.

On to the other stuff.  The music is meh.  You may recognize a song or two from an Onechanbara game, but for the most part the music is a step down from that series.  It's not total garbage, but lacks that the charm the main series has.  The main series had catch songs like "Danger In Disguise" and head-rockers Saki's theme.  This game has...yeah.

The graphics are okay.  Some of the zombies look creepy, like the "dog" types who look like two S/Mers torsos sewn together.  You'll recognize some from the main series, like the cops and the ravens.  Some zombies have "buffs", which you can easily be identified by what color they are.  Runners are red, those who explode upon "death" are yellow, zombies who explode and poison you upon death are green, etc.

These "yellow" guys are really dangerous unless you're near them when they "die".

There is plenty of length and challenge to go with it.  Unlike most Onechanbara games, which end right at the peak of fun, this game goes deep.  The challenge picks up after mission 1-7, giving hardcore players something more to look forward to than just girls in their underwear.  Naturally, in a game where you're getting swarmed by endless foes, there are going to be cheap shots and sucker punches.  Be prepare to take plenty of them.

I have a few pressing questions about the game, though.  What exactly is an "oufit"?  Why is there an underwear timer?  Why do some of the girls do something in the story that's completely stupid or totally lacking in logic?

This is where you change a girl's "oufit" and view the underwear timer.

In the end SH/ZH is just meh.  The action is intense, the graphics are decent, and heck, the girls are even kind of cute.  There are, however some flaws that keep it beneath Onechanbara.  The aiming is trash sometimes, the music is weak, and cheap shots are aplenty.  There is nice length and decent challenge and the gameplay isn't bad.  It's worthy of playing.  Give it a try.

Nobunaga's Ambition: Sphere of Influnence Ascension Review (PS4)

First off, let me say that I am fairly new to the Nobunaga's Ambition Series.  This is only the second NA game I've ever played.  My first was Iron Triangle, a game I wanted to love, but wound up hating with every fiber of my being.  The game was simply impossible to beat, no matter how much food and gold I saved up or what force I started off as.  Even creating officers didn't help.  It was a nightmare.  That said, I kept giving Iron Triangle a chance because I have a soft spot for strategy games and like this particular time in Japan's history.

Considering my experience with Iron Triangle, you'd figure I'd be turned off to the NA series.  A number of things lead to my purchase of Sphere of Influence Ascension.  One, I was looking for a strategy game for the Playstation 4 and I hadn't been impressed with what I'd been hearing and seeing about Romance of Three Kingdoms 13.  Then, there were gameplay videos (thank God for Youtube).  Also, for as bad as Iron Triangle felt, I still attempted to play it, so I was willing (even wanting) to give the series another try.  Finally, the price was low (I got my copy for twenty dollars) so it wasn't too risky.  Simply put, I thoroughly researched the game and decided the risk was worth taking.

As of this writing, I haven't play the original Sphere of Influence, so I don't know how it compares to that, but compared to Iron Triangle this game is a dream.  First, let's talk about the premise of the series before we get into the meat of the review.  Your goal is to pick your favorite Sengoku-period warlord and conquer Japan.  It's just that simple.

As you can see, conquering Japan is no small feat, as you have many enemies trying to do the same thing.

This game takes this formula a step further.  You can play as any officer in the game and control him or her until the game ends.  From the lowest scrub to greats like Nobunaga Oda himself, you control this officer's fate.  You can climb the ranks and make your officer the greatest warlord Japan has ever seen or you can make him stay a lowly ass-kisser.  You can keep him loyal to one master or jump from daimyo to daimyo.  The choice is completely yours.

This leads us to the ranking system.  You can play as a daimyo (the warlord) or of his underlings from regent (second only to the daimyo) to a retainer (the lowly ass-kissers).  Gameplay is different at every rank (and fun to boot).  As a retainer, you are given land by your daimyo to build up.  Along the way, you need to fulfill missions (if you wish) to earn honor.  This is how you climb ranks.  Eventually, you'll be offered a promotion, which you can refuse.  If you take it, you'll gain more powers to help your ambition.  Beware though.  Each rank has clear strengths and weakness (even daimyo), which I won't get into here.

Starting off as a retainer net you a house and a plot of land you can develop to your liking.

Eventually your plot will grow into a bustling town.

As mentioned before, you can betray your daimyo by going to another clan.  Once you acheive a certain rank or popularity level, you can even break away from him and start your own clan, taking all the land he gave you control over.  Needless to say, this is awesome, as it gives you a sense that you truly control your own fate.

Speaking of starting your own clan, you can create an officer and plop down a clan in any free city on the maps.  Yep.  If you don't like the options you are given, you can make an option of your own.  This had it's advantages and disadvantages which I won't get into here, but it adds a layer to the gameplay that simply didn't exist in the series before.

About the created officers.  You can create over 1,000 of them.  Feel free to create as many gods and/or scrubs as you'd like.  You can create entire families and kingdoms of your own, deciding when they're born, when they die, who's a legend, and who's lucky to be alive when all of the fighting as over.  You are only limited by how much inspiration you have.  Heck, sometimes your created officers will just pop out a random, computer-generated kid for no reason, adding to your strength.  It is worth noting that even though you can create 1,000 officers, your can only have 350 of them active at once (minus their random children).  That's still plenty, though.

On to the other stuff.  The graphics are okay, but really show the scale of the game.  As you might guess, conquering Japan is no small task and hence, the map is not small.  There is decent detail and you'll know what stuff is.  When units are on the battlefield, they appear as an arrow when moving and as a Tetris block when fighting.  However, when you zoom in, you'll see the individual soldiers (which is sometimes overrepresented).  On the bad side of things, when starting off as a retainer, the plots of land you start with tend to look the same, no matter which daimyo you serve.

A tactical view of a castle battle, but you can...

...zoom in to see the action...

...and the carnage thereafter.

The music is solid to good.  For the most part, it does what it should do, which is give you a sense of your situation.  When you're at peace, the music is relaxing and peaceful.  When marching, the music takes on a heroic theme.  When the enemy is marching 15,000 soldiers on your small castle housing only 1,000 soldiers and 1,000 HP, the music says, "Uh oh, you're in deep shit now."  Even the title screen does what it's supposed to do, with a theme that's peaceful while also letting you know how big of quest you're about to embark on.

There are multiple time periods to start in, ranging from the birth of Nobunaga in 1534 to the final battle for unification at Osaka Castle in 1614.  There are also quite a few difficulty settings.  You can decide who your created officers serve (if anyone), where and when they show up, or if they are used at all.  You can create events and set the conditions for them to happen, as well as the fallout from said events.

When all is said and done, NA: SOIA is a massive game that can be tackled in many ways.  There's no limit to how you can conquer Japan or who you can conquer it with.  The graphics and music are solid at worst.  Plus, there are lot's of things I didn't touch on here.  There's simply too much to cover in this one review.  The title is quite niche, so it's not for everyone.  Only tacticians need apply.  If you happen to be a fan of strategy games, don't miss it.

Trails Of Cold Steel Review (PS3)

Embark on an epic quest with a group of talented high school kids.  Magic, civil warfare, and class exams all come together in Trails Of Cold Steel.  Well, let's get into it.

Trails Of Cold Steel is a part of the Legend Of Heroes series, focusing on Erebonia and a coming war.  It's up to a class of high school students to figure out who starting it and, if they can, stop it.  Enter Class 7.

Class 7 has many similarities to a certain class of students in a legendary RPG series.  They're mostly kids (the teacher gets in on the fun sometimes), they're all badasses, and (most notably) they wear red capes.  Unlike that other class, though, Class 7 is filled with lively and likeable characters.  Not really a dull one in the bunch (Alisa is kind of a bitch, though).  The one you'll be seeing most is the protagonist, Rean Schwarzer.

Rean Schwarzer, our protagonist.

Class 7 is the best of the best, a team of ass-kicking specialists.  Each character has (mostly) unique weapons and fighting styles.  They can also punish enemies with arts and crafts.  No, not paintings and toy models.  Arts and crafts are basically a character's magic and skills.  They also have impressive looking super moves.

Character interactions can be funny or confusing.  The rivalry between Jusis and Machias might make you laugh.  The rivalry between Fie and Laura make you say, "That's stupid."  And Alisa will make you want to say, "It was an accident!  Shut up and get over it!"  For the sake keeping things spoiler-free, I won't say why these rivalries exist or how they turn out.

Machias may look like a nerd, but don't tell that to his shotgun.

Gameplay is interesting.  Going to school and building links with Rean's classmate almost immediately reminded me of the awesome Persona series.  Fortunately, that's where the similarities end.  Combat is an interesting mix of RPG and SRPG.  You move your characters around the battlefield, positioning in ways that will allow them to kick them most ass possible.  With good observation and planning, you can pile mountains of hurt on your foes.  It's a close as you can get to being an SRPG without actually being one.  The one bad thing about combat is that it takes so long to get to it.  This game has a bad case of Too Much Talking Syndrome.

How bad is it.  I actually fell asleep during some of the talking sections.  It's not that the conversations are bad.  They are just too darned long.  The story and meaningful sections (particularly when they're talking about the underground tower) kept me engaged, but the miscellaneous scenes were like an electronic sleeping pill.  At least there were no side effects.

Another bad thing is that you can't always put together the party you want.  There is a story reason behind this, but it still sucks.  For example, you may want Fie in your party, but the game will stick you with that douchebag Alisa instead.  The parties they force on you are still pretty good though.

On to the other stuff.  The graphics are cute, but nothing special.  The music, on the other hand, is pretty good.  From the relaxing overworld theme to the energetic battle theme to the epic boss theme, there's a lot to like in the music department.  There's also some DLC if you like that type of thing.

The graphics don't exactly push the PS3 to it's limits.

In the end, Trails Of Cold Steel is a neat little RPG.  If you like RPG's, it's a good experience.  Story-heavy (with too-long cutscenes), strong gameplay, excellent music, and graphics that aren't terrible make this an RPG to play for those who haven't moved on to the PS4 yet.  You'll need patience (and perhaps a lot of coffee) to get through the cutscenes, but your patience will be rewarded.  Play it.