Nelke & The Legendary Alchemists: Ateliers Of The New World Review (PS4)

It's time to enter the world of Atelier once again.  That means taking the role of a cute, little girl in a cute, little world to fight cute, little monsters and...build cute, little cities?  This is Nelke & The Legendary Alchemists: Ateliers Of The New World.

Nelke & The Legendary Alchemists is a different kind of Atelier game.  You have all the things that define an Atelier game.  A cute protagonist, a cute soundtrack, and cute monsters, are all present and accounted for.  As mentioned above, however, this one adds a city-building element.  In fact, the city-building is the main part of the game.

This stylish girl is Nelke, our cute, little protagonist.

In true Atelier form, there's plenty of time management.  In other words, you have to get your butt in gear if you want to win.  Your father sets Tasks you MUST do within a set length of time or it's game over.  It doesn't matter how happy your people are, if you screw up at ANY point it's the end of the game, no questions asked.  The game isn't particularly hard for Atelier veterans, but if you are new to the series, this game will tear you a new butthole.  And the game over screen is pretty dark.

Make sure to keep an eye on those objectives or you'll be up Turd Creek.

What did they do?  Kill the poor girl?

The game is played in turns that span a whole week.  Each week is composed of two days, Weekdays and Holidays.  On Weekdays, you work on the city itself by plopping down buildings and roads.  You also clear district and open up space to build in those districts.  Finally, you give orders to your workers, telling gatherers where to search for resources, fieldworkers what to grow, alchemists what to make, and store clerks what to sell.  Then, you can sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor in each district.

On a Weekday, you can see the status of your city and see what needs to be done.

Nelke enjoys the smell of construction in the morning.

Holidays are completely different.  Here, you can Visit other characters, go on Investigations, and Research new techs.  Visiting characters will strength friendships so they will perform better, get you requests to help increase your approval rating, or even allow you to build new buildings.  Investigations allow Nelke and a group of characters to go out and procure resources and get kill cute, little monsters.  Research allows you to get new technology, assuming you have the correct characters and items.  You also get a picture of Nelke doing cute, little stuff, such a playing the flute or sleeping in a chair.

Holidays let watch Nelke being cute, among other things.

The title of the game, Nelke & The Legendary Alchemist, should tip you off to what else this game features.  It's a crossover game, featuring characters from past Atelier games.  Fans of the series will enjoy seeing their favorites.  The execution could have been better as they just "poof" into existence.  Past protagonist DO get some backstory on how they wound up in Nelke's city, but others will just randomly materialize in whenever they feel like it.

The characters you know and probably love are all here.

These characters don't just appear, walk into a corner, and be confused.  They actually aid Nelke in her quest to build her city.  They will help the city by working whenever you put them in the workforce.  You can make them farmers to grow resource, merchants to generate income, and alchemists to make items.  You'll have to make sure they're all working in harmony or your city will fail and you will lose.  If you want results, you MUST use these characters, not the generic Hired Help girls.

The proper use of characters is the key to success.

Some can also aid Nelke in investigations, where she leaves the to gather resources herself.  Sadly, it's not the full-blown exploration featured in previous entries.  Heck, you don't even control your characters outside of combat.  They simply walk around talking, occasionally gathering resources and getting into fights.  They do this until you reach the end of the path or until they get tired and decide to go home.  It's lame.  I understand that logically Nelke can't spend days at a time away from the city like previous protagonists because she needs to oversee its development, but it's still lame.  Nelke may also randomly decide she wants to chase bugs or start digging.  If you have the appropriate equipment, you can choose to let her do it or keep walking.

Reaching the end nets you treasure or boss battles...

...while not reaching the end means you have to do it all over again.

Investigations are lame, but Nelke "digs" them.

As for combat, you still get to beat on cute little monsters.  Fights happen randomly during Investigations or when building your city.  Battles are snappy and quick.  Characters are divided into attack (who you directly control) and support characters (who you have minimal control over).  There is a level of strategy to the battles when it comes to item usage as you can only use each item once per Investigation.  Not once per battle.  Once for all the battles across the entire Investigation.  This means things can get pretty tight if the enemies are particularly strong on the map you're investigating.  It can mean the difference between finishing the Investigation or running away to get out of taking an ass-whuppin'.

Now, for the little stuff.  The game has that trademark Atelier look.  Everything is cute.  From the buildings to the most intimidating monsters to Nelke herself, the game oozes cuteness from every pore.

The sound is cute, too.  Cute music and cute sound effects litter the game.  Sadly, the voices are only in Japanese.  English voices would have been nice, but that's the way things shook out.

There are other things to do besides simply playing the game.  Going to the Extras menu enables you to do thing, like listen to the music or ogle your favorite character.

Nelke has more to offer the just gameplay.

In the end, I had a lot of fun with this game.  As a fan of the Atelier series and city-builders, I'm happy to see a game like this exist.  As long as you're not expecting a SimCity-caliber city builder, you should have fun.  There are a lot of things I couldn't touch on to keep the review short, but the experience was enjoyable. A cute, little game.  Play it.

Shadow Tactics: Blades Of The Shogun Review (PS4)

Feudal Japan, stealth kills, and a handful of trained killers.  No, it's not the next Tenchu.  It's Shadow Tactics: Blades Of The Shogun.

I can comfortably say that Feudal Japan is one of my favorite periods in time.  From Samurai Warriors to Nobunaga's Ambition to the aforementioned Tenchu, setting your game in the time of ninja and samurai is a good way to get me to play it.  This game takes a more "tactical" approach to the era.

Shadow Tactics is like Tenchu, but with an emphasis on tactics and teamwork.  Like Tenchu, you hop from shadow to shadow, killing anyone who gets close before the know you're there.  You'll need to decide who kill, when to kill them, where to hide bodies, and have a good sense of timing and understanding enemies patrol routes.  Instead of playing as one super ninja, however, you play as a team of five somewhat less-super warriors.  Each brings their own strengths to the table, making themselves an essential part of the team.  This is where to the tactics come into play.  Surveying the killing field and determining when, where, and how to utilize each character and their unique abilities.

Looking ahead and learning patrol route and sight patterns is the way to win.

Understanding each character's niche is key to success.

Another thing that's similar to Tenchu is the enemies.  No, not the types of enemies, but the fact that they are extremely blind and moderately stupid.  For example, if an enemy can see thirty feet, they will see you if you move within thirty.  But you you're thirty-one feet away, it's like they are staring at thin air.  The same thing happens if move into the edge of their sight and you're ducking and not behind any obstacles.  They'll see you if you stand, but won't see you if you duck out in the open.  To quote a funny YouTube video, "Vision!  Doesn't!  Work That Way!"

Ducking in the shaded sight area is good enough to hide in plain sight.

When things get tricky, you can use Shadow Mode to set up simultaneous ass-whuppings in advance.  For example, you may come across two or more enemies that you must kill before you can continue on.  You have to kill them at the same time or you'll get caught and they'll call for back-up.  This is when to use the Shadow Mode.  In Shadow Mode, you control a "shadow" and can move around freely without being seen by enemies.  You simply move the shadow of the character near the enemy you want to kill and the game will que it up.  Then, when you get everything set up to your liking, simply press the "execute plan" button and watch your babies make you proud.  You DO have to control each character's shadow individually, but it works well enough.

The game says it all.

The controls are tight and responsive.  You'll move exactly when you want to move and kill exactly when you want to kill.  The directional pad does a number of things, including seeing where (and when) an enemy is looking, something you'll want during your first playthrough.  You can also check mission objectives, center the camera (useful for finding your own characters), and activate Shadow Mode.  Everything works well.

Well, now it time to get to the little stuff.  The graphics are fine...unless you actually want to see the characters.  Everyone is so small.  They have different colored highlights to help find them when they're hidden, but that doesn't even help sometimes.  For example, I was constantly losing track of Yuki on her first mission because she blends in with the rocks.  Fortunately, the enemies always stand out.  Also, I came across a really bad graphics glitch where the ground turned blue and stayed that way for the whole day no matter how often I reloaded.  It seems like was just a one time thing, so no biggie.

Hmm...now where did I leave Yuki?

This glitch haunted me for an entire day on the worst possible level, at the worst possible time.

The music is good.  It gets you in the mood to turn Japanese and stealth-kill everyone you can.  If assassins had Ipods in Feudal Japan, this is probably the music they'd listen to.  While it's not pure fire, it is good and atmospheric.  There's also voice acting which is okay, save for the terrible accent Hayato's voice actor is trying to speak with.

You can also try different difficulty settings, obtaining trophies, or beating levels in different ways.  The game is kind of short, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing.  It would have been nice to replay levels with different characters, but it is what it is.  To my knowledge, there's no DLC, so what you see is what you get.  Once again, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Shadow Tactics: Blades Of The Shogun is a neat little game.  There's some strategy involved in beating the levels, especially on your first attempt.  There's a charm and, dare I say, a cuteness to it.  The game could have been longer, but at the same time, it doesn't overstay its welcome.  Check it out.

Seagate 4 TB Game Drive Review

So, you've say you've run out of space on you PS4 and have $120 burning a hole in your pocket.  Well, you're just one trip to the supermarket away from salvation.  It the 4 terabyte game drive from Seagate.

Being a hypernerd, life is hard on my PS4.  As a gamer who just happens to do reviews, I play a lot of games and, as a result, tend to run out of space quite frequently.  That's just simply having the games on the hard drive.  When you factor in video clips and picture, space vanishes quite fast.  One of the beautiful part about the PS4 is that you can delete game apps without deleting the save data.  Still, you have to reinstall games and some of them take a very long time to do so.  A game drive solves that problem because you only have to suffer through the install process one time.

Also, some games are HUGE.  For example, Final Fantasy 15 Royal Edition takes 90 GBs of free space to install.  90!  Lots of bigtime titles, like Valkyria Chronicles and Tekken 7, usually require 20-50 GBs.  Then, you have DLC which eats space like Skittles.  Don't even get me started on pictures and video clips.  To put it simply, even with a 1 TB hard drive, you'll run out of space quickly.  If you're a hypernerd like me, that sucks.

But with this little beauty, you likely never run out of space.  It costs about as much as two brand new games, so it's not cheap by any means.  But if you have a large library, you'll want it.  They also have a 2 TB option for about $50  cheaper if you're strapped for cash, but starving for space.

Just plug this little tadpole into PS4 and watch your space problems disappear.

And that's the Seagate 4 TB.  It's good for the hardcores, the collectors, DLC whores, and especially the hypernerds.  It is an investment, but worth it.  Definitely good if you just can't say goodbye to games.

Lei Fang Goes Out With A Bang

Dead Or Alive 6 has given me hours of entertainment.  Fast action and polygonal waifus are the flavors of the month any time DOA is being played.  One thing that may get overlooked are those hilarious moments that come from the Danger Zones littered throughout most of the levels.

I shared one of these moments in an earlier post, when I showed Ayane kicking Marie Rose off a roof, causing her to take a comedic journey to the ground below and die.  Now it's time for Lei Fang to have her moment in the spotlight.  Have a look.

As you can see, Lei Fang is embroiled in an "dynamite" battle with Raidou.  If only she had known that simply meeting Raidou is a "powder keg" because of his "explosive" personality.  Perhaps he got tired of hearing her annoying voice and just..."blew up."

Is it wrong to laugh at this?  Comment and have your voice heard.

Dream Games: Dead Or Alive Spinoffs Wishlist

For those who have been reading my posts, it's no secret to I am a fan of the DOA series.  I may or may not be alone in thinking that the series is the best 3-D fighting series, narrowly edging out Tekken.  But, surely there are other things the characters can do, right?

Yep, I'm talking spinoffs.  They have the balls-hard Ninja Gaiden series and the shitty yet serviceable Xtreme series, but they can still branch out further.  I see great potential in other types of spinoffs starring the characters of Dead Or Alive.  These are just a few that could work if some serious effort was put into them.

1.  A Stealth Game Starring Ayane and Hayate

A stealth game starring Hayate and Ayane has serious potential.

They're ninjas like Ryu but they feel different.  They seem stealthier than Ryu, a trait that could be emphasized in a Tenchu-style stealth game.  Running through the shadows with Ayane and jumping across rooftops Hayate seems like it could be fun.

2.  A Beat 'Em Up Starring Jahn Lee and Lei Fang

Jahn Lee and Lei Fang are capable of carrying a beat 'em up.

If anyone could beat up endless waves of generic thugs and the occasional boss, it's Jahn Lee.  Not one to be outdone, Lei Fang would join him.  They could mow down enemies in a Final Fight or Tekken Force-style game.  A few of the bosses could probably be DOA characters.

3.  A Survival Horror Game Starring Marie Rose

Marie Rose is capable of surviving horror, but she'd better dry those tears first.

There wouldn't be a better protagonist for a survival horror than Marie Rose.  She's small, looks vulnerable, and cries.  She could run, hide, duck, and squeeze away from enemies her martial arts can't defeat, perhaps an army of bloodthirsty Raidou's.

4.  A Rhythm Game Starring Zack

A rhythm game starring Zack...be ambitious.

He's a DJ.  He might as well act like it.  A game that shows his musical knowledge while testing your rhythm would be an interesting idea.  Something like Project Diva could work.

5.  A Platformer Starring Nyotengu

A platformer would allow Nyotengu to spread her wings.

Nyotengu's flight and wind powers have a place in gaming.  Just not in DOA.  There IS potential that she could successfully carry an action platformer.  Perhaps her wind powers could be used for solving puzzles.  A game similar to Owlboy would be a strong possibility.

6.  An RPG Starring The Ninjas

Tell me this doesn't look like an RPG spell.

Ryu, Ayane, Kasumi, and Hayate all have weapons and ninja magic.  The potential for a decent RPG is there.  Momiji and some characters made specifically for the game could round out the party.  It wouldn't be on par with Final Fantasy, but it could still be solid.

7.  An Educational Game Starring Nico

Is there any interest to learn from Nico and be rewarded with fan service?

Learning math, science, etc. from an anime-cute girl could be a powerful tool for teens and lonely college students. It wouldn't be anything to special.  Just some problem-solving.  Then she could quiz players.  Keeping in line with DOA tradition, getting perfect quiz scores could mean earning fan-servicey pictures of Nico.  Any takers?

8.  An All-Female Wrestling Game Featuring Tina

A women's wrestling game anchored by Tina seems like a no-brainer.

An all-female game can work if the mechanics are as good as the fan service.  If there was an all-female wrestling game that had good gameplay, it would be quite the feat.  Being a wrestler, Tina would the big name to draw in those fans.  Ideally, it would be Rumble Roses with much better gameplay.

9.  A Fighting Game Built Around Rig

The best to get take seriously by E-sports might be to "Rig" the game.

One of the of the big things many say hold DOA back is the fan-servicey nature of the women's outfits.  While I believe that's one of the things that sets the series apart, apparently some people don't like it.  A good fix to the problem wouldn't be the strip away a part of DOA's identity, but to create a slightly different alternative set in the same universe.  Rig is the most interesting character in the series, so he'd be a good character to focus on.  Maybe he could bring a few DOA characters with him (such as Bass or Diego), but it would be a brand new game with its own set of characters.  It could be a game that E-sports can take seriously (whatever that means).  It could largely be the same gameplay, so DOA veterans would be able to jump right in.  It could be badass if it happens.

10.  An Action Game Starring Christie

Christie could "play with enemies until they break" and "make them cry some more".

Christie is armed with weapons.  Weapons that she doesn't use.  A solid action game could be just what she needs to put them to use.  Naturally, she should wear a number of sexy outfits that fit with where the mission take place, such as a wetsuit for swim missions or her riding outfit for motorcycle missions.  As long as they make it better than Death By Degrees and they'll have something.

And that's just some of the way they could expand the Dead Or Alive franchise.  Is there a character you think deserves their own game?  What genre would it be?  Comment and have your voice heard.

My Dead Or Alive 6 Costume Wishlist

Dead Or Alive 6 is a pretty good game.  The gameplay is strong, the roster is solid, the graphics are good, and the music is at least half-decent.  On the whole, it's a good game.

DOA is about more than having good gameplay and good characters, though.  The costumes are as big a part of the series as the counter system.  They vary from badass to sexy to weird to...ordinary.  Here are just a few I would like to see return.

20.  Lisa Mach Swimsuit

Hey, Lisa...you doing okay there?

Surely you didn't think this list wouldn't include a swimsuit.  I decided to get this one out of the way early because...do I really have to explain.  It would be nice if this costume wasn't just limited to Lisa.  They should give one to each girl some variation of this.  It would just be nice to get it, though.

19.  Kokoro's Naughty Girl Outfit

Not sure why, but I can't help but think of Tifa when I see this outfit.

A outfit that shows Kokoro's wild side.  A hot little number.  For some odd reason she reminds me of Tifa from Final Fantasy 7 in this outfit.  

18.  Momiji's Shrine Maiden Outfit

Easily my favorite Momiji outfit...for reasons.

A cute little outfit Momiji wears.  I like to call this the Momiji Surprise because...anyone who's used this outfit will know.  Maybe Momiji will come with it.  Who knows?

17.  Ayane's School Uniform

The best of all the school uniforms belongs to Ayane.

My favorite Ayane outfit.  I would love it if they brought back both this version and the blazer-type version.

16.  Lei-Fang's Black Leather Outfit

I don't think I'll ever dislike this outfit.

My favorite Lei-Fang outfit.  Based on an outfit from the original DOA, it's a true classic.  It would be nice if they went back to her original footwear, though.  The heel boots just don't do it for me.

15.  Kokoro's Second Outfit

She's totally covered and still sexy somehow.

A comfortable-looking, all-covering outfit that still somehow looks sexy.  Maybe it's just Kokoro though...

14.  Kasumi's Tanktop, Shorts, and Short Boots Outfit

Kasumi looks so ordinary in this outfit and that's not a bad thing.

Kasumi has a treasure trove of cute outfits and this is favorite.  Makes her look like a regular girl.  There's just something alluring about this outfit.

13.  Rachel's Tough Chick Outfit

Even if Rachel doesn't return, this outfit should.

An outfit looks sexy while making her look tough.  If Rachel doesn't return, they she give it to Tina or Christie.  Nico needs outfits, so she could be a possibility, too. 

12.  Christie's Black and Blue Flame Outfit

The outfit looks cool, but maybe she should at least wear a bra.

A cool-looking outfit that just screams Christie.  It's better than that jumpsuit she wears.  This should have been her default.  I do wonder how she prevents wardrobe malfunctions, though.

11.  Japanese Gym Outfit for Ayane, Kasumi, Hitomi, and Kokoro

I can't lie.  Ayane and Hitomi wear the hell out of these outfits.

Some of the other girls got a version of this outfit in DOA 5.  Only Ayane, Kasumi, Hitomi, and Kokoro looked right in them though.  I like how the blue bloomers go with Ayane's purple hair and Hitomi looks at home in her red bloomers.

10.  Mila's Sport's Bra and Sweat Pants Outfit

Mila's ready for a day at the gym.

A good outfit to keep Mila going during those intense workouts.  Heck, it even comes with a towel to wipe away the sweat.  A practical, sexy outfit.

9.  Tina's Black and Silver Outfit

I can't think of a reason they wouldn't bring this back.

A good outfit for Tina.  The WWE Diva's could learn a thing or two from her fashion sense.

8.  Rig's Prisoner Outfit

Look how cool and tough he looks in that outfit.

Don't now why, but I have a soft spot for this outfit.  And no, it's not because I've been to jail, because I haven't.  He just looks cool in this.

7.  Kasumi's Leather Jacket Outfit

Kasumi brings this outfit straight out of the 50s.

A cute outfit with an old-school vibe.  Looks like it'd be good for a night at a drive-in movie.  Or maybe motorcycling.  Or perhaps going to a roller rink.  An old-fashion date outfit.

6.  Kokoro's Jacketed Exercise Outfit

They're almost there.

They practically have the outfit already.  All they need to do is add the option to put on a jacket.  It shouldn't be too hard.

5.  Eliot's ? Outfit

A guy in a dress or a punk rocker?  You be the judge.

Is it a skirt?  Is it a quilt?  Is it some British punk outfit?  I don't know why, but I like it.  Female gamers and gay guys may appreciate that you can finally get an upskirt from a guy.  Let's just hope he's the only guy who does so.

4.  Pai Chan's Shorts Outfit

Bring this back and bring back Pai while you're at it.

A nice outfit for Pai.  Maybe they could give it to Kasumi or Lei-Fang.  Then again, Ayane has a lack of cute outfits, so she'd be a good candidate for it.  It could work for Nico, too.  Better yet, bring back Pai and give it to her.

3.  Jahn Lee's Shoulder Armor Outfit.

That is a well-protected shoulder.

Sometimes it's the simple things that make an outfit work.  A little shoulder armor goes a long way.

2.  Lei Fang's Lounge (?) Outfit

Whether it's a lazy day or a brutal fight, there's a place for this outfit.

I love the heck out of this outfit.  I can just see her studying at home or even showing up to class in this.  A late-night trip to the grocery store wouldn't be out of the question, either.

1.  Marie Rose's Goth/Loli Outfit

The shawl and headpiece take the outfit from cringy to cute.

Marie Rose's best outfit, yet it's not here.  They have her dressed-down version, the version I don't like.  If the add the shawl and headpiece, the outfit will be complete.

And that's just twenty of the many outfits I'd like to see return in DOA 6, in no particular order.  Agree?  Disagree?  What old outfits would you add?  Have your voice heard.  Comment.