A large game that amounts to less than the sum of its parts. It was difficult to decide on 3/5 rather than 4/5 as having a decent amount of content, which is sadly the exception on this site, is rare but given the inconsistency of that content and the speed at which it is doled out it’s a solid 3/5.
Some aspects are above average, the illustrations are sadly inconsistent but even accounting for that they are mostly good with a fair number of quality ones and just a few absolutely abysmal pieces that ruin any potential a scene had.
The story is inoffensive if forgettable where from the outset you are presented with a number of origins, almost like DAO except missing most of what they added to that game both in terms of gameplay and story. These origins have no real bearing on the story which like a Bioware game has good/evil choices which true to their inspiration have few if any reasons to pick an evil choice aside from the occasional scene locked behind corruption.
One aspect that is below average, that makes it especially tragic that they elected to use RPGM, is the gameplay.
There’s really not much to say, other than avoid it, about the combat system. I played on normal which is only one of the five but the fact they decided on five different difficulties is itself a red flag. I gave the game a chance hoping normal would give me a streamlined but still occasionally challenging experience. Instead, you get a boring combat system that is totally trivialized once you unlock the ranger class and just spam the volley of shots or whatever it’s called and the MC just oneshots almost everything. You’d be wise to just take the built-in skip combat feature the game presents you with fairly early on because it’s a mistake to engage with this system even if you like RPGM stuff usually.
The gameplay flaw that really gets me though is the maps. It is rare that the maps in a RPGM game make an impression such that they even warrant discussion. I honestly can’t even tell you what is RTP as I’m not some snob who disdains using that stuff or whatever but this game’s maps will stick with you, they’ll make you appreciate any game that respects your time and has reasonably constructed areas to explore for content.
The real offender here is the “home base”. Early on the game foists a castle on you, in a manner so perfunctory it’s almost humorous, and boy it couldn’t have been implemented in a more frustrating manner.
It’s really sad to think about the castle in this game, it’s so big and SO EMPTY. You’ll spend hours walking through these empty halls looking for scenes that come few and far between. Even with a guide it’s not fun to navigate when every room is so unnecessarily huge and, almost without exception, empty.
It’s sad because I can imagine that when they came up with the idea of this castle it was something they were passionate about. They laid the foundation for what could have been the most impressive home base in any RPGM porn game. The castle could have started out empty but gradually grew and grew. It could have ended up a vibrant center of your power filled with many memorable characters major and minor. But that’s not what happens. The game would simply have to be absolutely enormous in scope to really fill out the whole castle and more of a kingdom simulator instead of the traditional JRPG format that it is. Another reason is overall there’s a distinct lack of any effective attempt to construct a living, internally consistent world.
As I said you’re given this castle for no real reason, you didn’t earn it, so it makes sense you don’t really feel like you’re actually a ruler of any sort. I can’t claim that there was no attempt at worldbuilding, there are books scattered about that contain lore that left no impression good or bad and have no real use or implication outside checking the “we tried worldbuilding” box. The societies, kingdoms, and races presented have no substantial political struggles or events of any kind conveyed that aren’t almost immediately resolved by the protagonist, so you don’t really get sense of a living world.
Getting away from the sad state of the gameplay there is one thing in particular I appreciated. That thing is the Nexilim. Essentially a race of horny dickgirls, which for me is great, that are open in their acts of debauchery but have the conscientiousness to segregate their children from such acts. They also look like Sith which is unusual and refreshing if obviously unoriginal. Someone who is passionate about the lore, if they exist, would mention how they reproduce with… alpha females or something but they are almost totally absent from scenes aside from one that is illustrated poorly.
The worldbuilding around the Nexilim is largely a standard fantasy Orient though mostly in aesthetic. For example, the janissaries are lifted directly from the ottomans as the elite military of the Nexilim race. Though the force presented ingame is bereft of the complexity of the actual historical corps. This was done to fit the Oriental theme which is fine with me; I like the Orient. I actually appreciate how they created an Oriental society that at face value seems exotic in a decadent and debauched way but actually has the aforementioned safeguards for children and a corps whose virtues are to some degree communicated in Tishtyra.
Tishtyra is the Nexilim party member, who is my favorite companion though she doesn’t really have much in the way of competition. She is a studious and talented warrior and mage as a result of her Janissary training and is principled and idolizes a prior hero of her order and strives to live up to their legacy. At least that’s how she operates in the narrative. You would hope that would translate to the gameplay but no, in the actual combat she’s about as useful as a fucking paperweight.
Still, between Tishtyra’s character and the overall structure of Nexilim society the game does a decent job of subverting expectations in regard to a fantasy Orient society. Sadly, the plot and actual content in the zone itself is predictably very shallow. There is a great deal of wasted potential here as there is most everywhere in this game.
Some aspects are above average, the illustrations are sadly inconsistent but even accounting for that they are mostly good with a fair number of quality ones and just a few absolutely abysmal pieces that ruin any potential a scene had.
The story is inoffensive if forgettable where from the outset you are presented with a number of origins, almost like DAO except missing most of what they added to that game both in terms of gameplay and story. These origins have no real bearing on the story which like a Bioware game has good/evil choices which true to their inspiration have few if any reasons to pick an evil choice aside from the occasional scene locked behind corruption.
One aspect that is below average, that makes it especially tragic that they elected to use RPGM, is the gameplay.
There’s really not much to say, other than avoid it, about the combat system. I played on normal which is only one of the five but the fact they decided on five different difficulties is itself a red flag. I gave the game a chance hoping normal would give me a streamlined but still occasionally challenging experience. Instead, you get a boring combat system that is totally trivialized once you unlock the ranger class and just spam the volley of shots or whatever it’s called and the MC just oneshots almost everything. You’d be wise to just take the built-in skip combat feature the game presents you with fairly early on because it’s a mistake to engage with this system even if you like RPGM stuff usually.
The gameplay flaw that really gets me though is the maps. It is rare that the maps in a RPGM game make an impression such that they even warrant discussion. I honestly can’t even tell you what is RTP as I’m not some snob who disdains using that stuff or whatever but this game’s maps will stick with you, they’ll make you appreciate any game that respects your time and has reasonably constructed areas to explore for content.
The real offender here is the “home base”. Early on the game foists a castle on you, in a manner so perfunctory it’s almost humorous, and boy it couldn’t have been implemented in a more frustrating manner.
It’s really sad to think about the castle in this game, it’s so big and SO EMPTY. You’ll spend hours walking through these empty halls looking for scenes that come few and far between. Even with a guide it’s not fun to navigate when every room is so unnecessarily huge and, almost without exception, empty.
It’s sad because I can imagine that when they came up with the idea of this castle it was something they were passionate about. They laid the foundation for what could have been the most impressive home base in any RPGM porn game. The castle could have started out empty but gradually grew and grew. It could have ended up a vibrant center of your power filled with many memorable characters major and minor. But that’s not what happens. The game would simply have to be absolutely enormous in scope to really fill out the whole castle and more of a kingdom simulator instead of the traditional JRPG format that it is. Another reason is overall there’s a distinct lack of any effective attempt to construct a living, internally consistent world.
As I said you’re given this castle for no real reason, you didn’t earn it, so it makes sense you don’t really feel like you’re actually a ruler of any sort. I can’t claim that there was no attempt at worldbuilding, there are books scattered about that contain lore that left no impression good or bad and have no real use or implication outside checking the “we tried worldbuilding” box. The societies, kingdoms, and races presented have no substantial political struggles or events of any kind conveyed that aren’t almost immediately resolved by the protagonist, so you don’t really get sense of a living world.
Getting away from the sad state of the gameplay there is one thing in particular I appreciated. That thing is the Nexilim. Essentially a race of horny dickgirls, which for me is great, that are open in their acts of debauchery but have the conscientiousness to segregate their children from such acts. They also look like Sith which is unusual and refreshing if obviously unoriginal. Someone who is passionate about the lore, if they exist, would mention how they reproduce with… alpha females or something but they are almost totally absent from scenes aside from one that is illustrated poorly.
The worldbuilding around the Nexilim is largely a standard fantasy Orient though mostly in aesthetic. For example, the janissaries are lifted directly from the ottomans as the elite military of the Nexilim race. Though the force presented ingame is bereft of the complexity of the actual historical corps. This was done to fit the Oriental theme which is fine with me; I like the Orient. I actually appreciate how they created an Oriental society that at face value seems exotic in a decadent and debauched way but actually has the aforementioned safeguards for children and a corps whose virtues are to some degree communicated in Tishtyra.
Tishtyra is the Nexilim party member, who is my favorite companion though she doesn’t really have much in the way of competition. She is a studious and talented warrior and mage as a result of her Janissary training and is principled and idolizes a prior hero of her order and strives to live up to their legacy. At least that’s how she operates in the narrative. You would hope that would translate to the gameplay but no, in the actual combat she’s about as useful as a fucking paperweight.
Still, between Tishtyra’s character and the overall structure of Nexilim society the game does a decent job of subverting expectations in regard to a fantasy Orient society. Sadly, the plot and actual content in the zone itself is predictably very shallow. There is a great deal of wasted potential here as there is most everywhere in this game.
