Tag Archives: Nintendo

Temtem Review

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It’s time for another super long Switch game in Temtem. This one’s basically a Pokemon homage for the modern audience. In some ways it definitely surpasses Pokemon like the fact that the story can get a lot more out there but on the other hand it does have some extra issues like endless battles that do bog it down somewhat. So it’s a good game but not nearly as good as it could have been.

The game starts off simply enough with your character getting his first Temtem. He can finally travel the world and fight all of the Dojo Masters. Unfortunately his journey is interrupted by the fact that a big terrorist organization is making a move on the planet. They are building some kind of super Temtem to take over the world. The lead will have to stop these guys while also improving his skills, but what can one kid do?

Basically this is like the plot of the original Pokemon game but with a few additions and twists. Additionally the game definitely has fun being really self aware about the whole thing. You are often given 3 dialogue options, usually a nice one, a mean one, and a random one. I certainly had fun playing around with the responses. Note that this doesn’t actually change the story or anything like that but at the same time it does give the lead some personality. Also the characters do actually react to what you’re saying which is nice. In Harvestella this didn’t really happen as the two options were almost always pretty much identical.

I wouldn’t say that most of the characters are all that memorable but I did like the final boss because of how insane he got and I also enjoyed the general. The rival Max started out good but basically fell off a cliff. Where the game gets a bit dicey is it tries to be as edgy and modern as possible which works in some ways like this game having a body count and you getting to fight unwinnable battles. Where it doesn’t work is with the game getting rather PC and shoving a bunch of iffy romances at your face. The game constantly trying to ship me with the rival was pretty awful. At least there’s always an option for you to tell him to back off or just be really mean to keep it from happening but making that a main plot point was definitely not a good idea. A ton of the NPCs you beat up also have romance drama going on, at least two being story plots you can’t skip so the game wanted you to absolutely know where it stood on the gender politics. It’d be nice if all of that could have been sidelined so I can focus on the actual game!

To the rest of the plot, at least the lead actually has real character and can talk. That’s a big departure from the classic Pokemon games where this was absolutely not the case. Even now Pokemon doesn’t really do that and I think it will be years before it’s ready to be more of a full RPG the way this one was. The game doesn’t want to invite too many comparisons to Pokemon beyond all of the inevitable ones so it does go and switch all of the type advantages. Because of this it took me forever to learn them and even by the end I was mostly working off of memory from when I fought the Temtems. I still couldn’t tell you most of the types.

As this is one of those games where you are always online, the game is constantly saving. That’s good because the game crashed several times where I definitely would have lost some data but fortunately in this game when you restart it takes you to the exact point where it crashed. Literally if you’re mid battle you will respawn on the same turn within the same battle. So that was definitely cool. You also have a portable Pokemon center of sorts which you can use to recover all of your health once after every poke center visit. This is huge because otherwise I would have to be going there constantly.

As I mentioned earlier there are tons and tons of fights and they generally keep really close pace with your Temtem. So you can probably beat maybe 2 of them before you have to go and heal. So with this item you can do 4 fights before you have to reset. There is no EXP share or anything like that so most likely by the end of the game you will have 2 super powerful Temtem and the other 4 would be fodders. I basically resorted to just catching my last ones in the wild since they would at least be level 70 that way but my main two were both over level 90. This made the final fight tough since there’s a timer and I had to keep on reviving the main two but it worked out.

You need to watch out for the fact that money is hard to come by from Pokemon encounters though. In fact I think you don’t get any money from those so you need to fight with trainers a lot and that money goes really quickly. It makes losing really high stakes since the game saves so often and then you don’t have enough cash to buy more revives. You can always grind out more levels of course if it gets to be too much though. Fortunately I didn’t have to much after the first chunk of the game, for the most part it stays manageable. Just pick your main two Temtem carefully so that you have a balanced form of attack. I used a thunder type and a bug type which covers most matchups.

The soundtrack is a bit more on the forgettable side so you likely won’t be remembering too many themes. The graphics are also not super impressive, they do the job but ultimately I wouldn’t say that they’re high tier or anything. This could pass for a much older game than on the Switch but it feels like it’s an indie title to an extent so this isn’t exactly coming with a Mario budget or anything like that. It could have probably put some more effort into it, but it’s not bad at least.

One thing this game really lacked was a better fast travel system. There are large parts of the game where you’re running from place to place and it just takes a very long time. Being able to teleport to a town once you have been there would be huge. The main Pokemon games have always done this so Temtem deciding not to bring that feature along was a big mistake. Maybe they thought it would feel too similar but there are tons of ways around that and most RPGs have fast travel so it shouldn’t have been a big deal. In short, this game’s biggest weakness is easily that it is missing a ton of quality of life features. It feels a lot grindier than it needs to be with all of the constant fighting and that means there is less time to just enjoy the story even if the story could have also been better. There are a lot of elements that I liked but also things left on the table. For example the climax is a huge missed opportunity. Lets just say that you’re expecting one more huge battle at the end the whole time and then it just doesn’t happen. I was really surprised about that. It may have also been a budget thing but it was absolutely not a good idea.

Overall, Temtem is a good game. It’s held back a bit by how hard the game is being drawn out towards the end though. There are just so many battles. They may not be super tough but you still have to go back to the healing station each time after fighting them and this gets old quick. Especially because the minion spawn rate is rather high too so you have to be running away a lot. This is a game where you will need to have a book or something with you while you are playing for all of the dead time. It’s a turn based combat game after all so there are a lot of animations and the battles tend to be a little on the long side. It could use some Asdivine Hearts quality of life features to cut out animations and speed things up if you ask me. Still if you want a Pokemon type game with a story that can go a bit harder than the main games then this should be right up your alley. It’s not like there are a ton of Pokemon type games out there either so you need to grab each one that you see.

Overall 6/10

Final Fantasy III Review

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It’s been a very long time since I completed Final Fantasy II. Finally it was time to get back in there for the third game. This one changes some things up with the mechanics and it’s pretty interesting how each of the first 3 games have had something experimental going on. I wonder if that will keep going with each title or if it’ll eventually settle into what I consider to be the classic RPG type.

The story starts with a vague message about light and darkness as we then cut to the main characters who are about to be tasked with saving the world. We’ve got a fairly varied crew here with a princess who is being a bit of a rebel, a classic hero type, a body guard, and other colorful characters. They have to bring the light back to the world and it turns out there are two worlds around as well. As you go to each land you learn more about the people and the troubles befalling them. The game’s early enough where I wouldn’t say the story is particularly deep but it is definitely there throughout compared to the first two games where often times there wasn’t really much dialogue happening at all.

Additionally a big change is that the main character himself can actually talk here. Trust me that’s a big change from the first two games where he was completely silent. I wouldn’t say that any of the characters particularly stand out though so that will be a job for the 4th game or maybe the installments after that. For now that just hasn’t happened yet and I would say the same is true of the villains. So that’s also part of why you won’t remember the story too clearly by the end either. You’re really here for the gameplay more than anything else so lets jump into that.

This game uses a classic level up system. You fight enemies in turn based combat and get stronger. One big change though is instead of an MP system you have magic divided into levels and none are learned as you level up. You have to buy each spell and then equip into the level slots for each character. Whether the character can actually use the spell will ultimately come down to which class you have equipped. Some classes simply can’t learn any spells and others can learn some but not others.

Aside from leveling up your own level you also level up the class that you have equipped as you go through the game. Everyone starts off with a standard class and then as the game goes on you can go into other ones. Ultimately I would say to leave Standard as soon as possible since it won’t help at all in the end. Also the reason you want to switch sooner than later is each class starts back at level 1 which lowers your attack power by a whole lot. For example if you’re level 70 but with a level 1 class then you’ll be hitting so weak that you may get folded by a level 40 opponent. Your equipment still comes into play as well but it can be tough enough to find strong weapons as it is.

I changed my class several times during the game which isn’t optimal so find your favorite one soon. I recommend one top tier healer class, 2 attacking ones, and then a dark mage. With that squad you will be well equipped to take on just about every challenge. I’m not going to say it is literally unbeatable or anything like that but it will be a very strong squad that is hard to stop. I was finally able to beat the game after getting everyone to level 75 and it still wasn’t what I would call easy so keep that in mind.

The final level is a boss rush of around 10 bosses which is really hard to deal with. You do get healed after 5 of those fights at least so you should plan them out well. In general this is one of my issues with the game though which is that you can only save outside of a dungeon. Some of these dungeons are fairly long so going all the way through one and then dying is rough. I lost to the final boss several times and it would always take around an hour to get back to where I was. It did help inflate the play time to over 40 hours but I think the game could have been a little more user friendly in that respect.

Meanwhile I also think the equipment could be a little less fussy. When you change classes all of your equipment is taken off because different classes accept different things. So often times you would have to go find a shop to get some equipment but most of the time the shop wouldn’t have all of the options. This then takes you back to square 1 which isn’t easy. Mix that in with a lack of a good map and that could make things tricky as well. Some of these issues really just come down to the game’s age but others are just game design choices that I would say did not work particularly well.

The graphics look pretty solid though and the soundtrack is on point. I would say the technical aspects are on point and of course I really can’t complain about the length. Being over 40 hours is really fantastic so I can’t possibly fault that. I don’t think you’re going to get much better than that in any RPG when going through the story since that’s not even counting the post game. There’s definitely a lot to do here so you’re getting a ton of bang for your buck. While it will take you a while to beat the game, there is always a lot of hope due to the nature of a level up system like this. For example if I had still been stuck I could have tried switching classes again, hard grinding to level 80, etc.

Now there is one huge pro tip I would mention now since I didn’t learn about this until the final boss. You can use any kind of spell on all allies at once by pressing the right arrow on your D Pad. Why? Who knows, but it’s a really good hidden feature. I started using the heal on everyone at once which was a massive game changer. I can tell you now that I would not have been able to defeat the final boss without that. Honestly I wonder if I could have beaten him at a lower level if I’d known about it sooner. So yeah this is a tip I recommend you really take to heart.

Overall, Final Fantasy III is a pretty fun game. The gameplay is fun and the overall experience is solid. I had some problems with a few of the gameplay mechanics here and there but in the end you’ll spend dozens of hours here and will be glad that you did. Final Fantasy is always the first title you think of when discussing long RPGs and the length here certainly lives up to it. You have to put in a lot of work to get to the end of the game but it’s all worth it and you will feel a tremendous sense of pride and accomplishment.

Overall 7/10

Cubix Robots for Everyone: Showdown Review

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It’s time we all talk about the big robot series from back in the day..Cubix. Cubix is one of those titles that I never got to watch while it was airing but the main robot had a very distinct design. After playing the video game I can see how the show would be fun but unfortunately the game itself dropped the ball a bit. I was expecting a lot of fun action gameplay and things like that but instead it’s a timing game. That’s fairly unique since there aren’t many games with this style but it doesn’t have enough depth to pull this off.

The game starts with the main characters realizing that a lot of robots are suddenly going haywire. Their malfunctions are putting everyone at risk so the heroes have to put a stop to this. The villain takes this opportunity to make a move as well so now the heroes really need to watch out. If they don’t handle this perfectly then they are going to be in massive trouble. Fortunately they are up for the task…possibly.

There isn’t much of a story to be honest though. That synopsis is basically it. The heroes go from area to area destroying the robots…well I should say purifying them. Each time you fix a robot you add him to your team and then keep the fighting up from there. Each time the villain runs off and the heroes have to catch him again. There’s definitely not much in the way of variety here, this just isn’t that kind of title. The story shouldn’t take you longer than a few hours to complete.

There are 40 Cubix in the game and you gain one every time you win a fight. Some are obtained through collectibles in the hub world and others must be from a different mode since I completed the game with 32/40. There is platforming elements to the game as you have to solve puzzles like moving blocks and such but ultimately this just felt like filler.

While the timing gameplay wasn’t my favorite, it’s clearly the meat of the game so you should just stick with that. Basically when it’s your turn to attack you have to press A while the wheel is on your color. Then the opponent does the same. This continues on until you have taken all of the opponent’s health away. Of course the timing isn’t very precise which is a huge issue because that’s the point of the game. Another issue here is that there is a whole type system but the in game help screens don’t have the right ones.

For example it says that water is weak against…water as the weakness and when you try to use a water attack it isn’t super effective. The whole chart breaks down very quickly so I recommend just throwing out attacks and keeping track of the type advantages on your own. The system won’t be very helpful this time I’m afraid. Then you also have special abilities to speed up the wheel, reverse its motion, deal double damage, etc. Using each ability strategically is absolutely key if you want to win.

The game can be reasonably challenging and I actually did lose once or twice. There isn’t really anywhere to train either as far as I could tell so if you truly get stuck then that would be tricky. Your robots gain a level up every time you win with one of them but there are no minions in the whole game. So if you have already beaten the boss then there will be nobody to fight. It does force you to get really good at the game though.

As for the graphics, this is definitely more on the movie-tie in level. It doesn’t quite look as good as Mario 64 or the X-men game for SNES. You can tell who the characters are so that much is clear but there is basically 0 effort put into this one. The soundtrack is also extremely forgettable so you won’t be remembering the tunes for very long either. Mix that in with how short the game is and perhaps you will have trouble remembering the game as well. That part I don’t think is as much of a risk just because the timing system alone makes it fairly unique and easy to remember but not for the best of reasons.

There was potential here to be sure with the voice acting and gameplay but there isn’t enough to keep you here. You will be ready to leave right away since no aspect of the game is particularly strong. I should emphasize that the game isn’t bad but without anything particularly good about it, it is stuck right in the middle. You can get the game for very cheap which is good but if you haven’t played this title before, you aren’t missing much. You can absolutely just let it be forgotten to the years of time.

Overall, Cubix just isn’t the kind of game that is going to win a bunch of awards. I basically bought this game on a whim so it’s not like I expected a whole lot but even I thought it would be better than what we had here. It just could have done a whole lot more with the robot concept. Why didn’t this play out as a robot fighting game right? Give it the Gundam gameplay and I’m sure it would have been good. Ultimately this wasn’t how it was meant to be though. If they ever make a new Cubix game someday I would keep an eye out for it but otherwise I suppose this might be it for my Cubix adventures.

Overall 5/10

Shadowverse: Champion’s Battle Stats and Records

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Stats time!

Play Time 43h 36m
Trophies 57%
Platinum 2/19
Gold 16/31
Silver 17/33
Bronze 37/43
Different Cards Owned 632

Class Levels

Grass 28
Royal 23
Sword 20
Dragon 40
Shadow 44
Blood 24
Haven 46

Shadowverse: Champion’s Battle Review

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Shadowverse is one of those games that always looked pretty fun but I can’t say that I knew a whole lot about it. It was a hype game with a fun color scheme but yeah that’s the extent of it. Well after playing through it I can safely say that this is a great game and one that you should definitely check out. There was a whole lot of effort put into this one and you can feel it in all of the small details.

The game follows the adventure of Terry (Or whatever else you name him) as he learns about the game of Shadowverse. It turns out that he is actually quite the prodigy at it and starts winning tournaments quickly. He joins up with a local club at school and that’s good because they desperately need him. If one of their members does not win the national championships then the club will be disbanded. This sounds like a job for Terry and trust me, he’s up for the task!

One aspect that was impressive right out of the gate was the full voice acting. Yes this game has every line read out loud which is great. It really makes this feel like a true AAA game all the way through. It enhances the story since you really feel the stakes this way and the fact that even side quests have voice acting and everything is cool. It works as an extra incentive for you to really play through the adventure. Either way it’s long as the game’s story is well over 40 hours. After that you enter the post game and I haven’t started that one so I can’t say how long it is but I bet it’s another 5+ hours in there.

So you don’t have to worry about replay value. Even outside of all story content there are in-game trophies to obtain and a lot of side quests to complete. You can also work on obtaining all of the cards in the game which is actually more achievable than usual. I came super close to getting them all myself after all. The character cast is likable and the story is strong. It’s not going for an end of the world kind of vibe to be sure but it still brings the tension since your club is at stake.

Now for the gameplay, with so many different card games out there I’m sure the creators had to think carefully to make this one stand out. Well, they definitely succeeded. First off, you can only own 3 of a card so that makes it feel less infinite since after you’ve obtained around 1900 total then that means you’ll have them all. You build your deck with monsters and spell cards so there are two base types. You each start the battle with one energy and it goes up to 10 by the end of the battle. You each have 20 life points and the first one to hit 0 loses.

Beyond that it will take a lot of trial and error but the game really gives you the tutorials in a way that is very easy to understand. The explanations were definitely high quality and you can view them again at any time. There are also over 200 duel puzzles which help you understand more of the specific mechanics built into each clan. Each of the different types of cards have very different strategies and by the end you will want to have more than one deck. For example I had a shadowcraft deck for attack and a havencraft one for defense. What do I mean by that?

Well, when playing a blood deck that is built on damaging the user, I’d go for Shadow which is based around dealing damage to the enemy quickly. It’s a perfect counter so it works well. Then if an opponent is using a slow burn deck like Royal, I would bring in Havencraft. It has a card that basically works like Exodia, if you summon it then you win the duel by default no matter how many life points your opponent has. That part was really cool, I built a deck around that and it helped me win a ton of battles that would have been really tough otherwise.

The game is very friendly when it comes to setting up decks. For example whenever you defeat someone then you get a copy of their deck recipe. You have to get the cards yourself but once you do, then you can set that up as a deck. It revolutionizes deck building which can take hours and hours in a Yugioh game since it’s all manual. This one actually gives you some help which was nice and it’s an incentive to find every duelist and take them down. I ended up only having a little over 30 deck codes out of over 100 so you can tell that I didn’t fight as many as I could have. Once I had my 1-2 punch setup I just figured I didn’t need them.

Meanwhile the graphics here are really solid. The characters are all very colorful and we actually get fully animated cutscenes in addition to the CG ones. That was really cool and also made the game feel more special. Finally there’s the soundtrack which is also really good. There are quite a few really epic tunes in here that get you into the flow of the duel. The game spared no expense.

Overall, Shadowverse is a great game and one that I definitely recommend. It also serves its purpose in getting you more hyped to watch the show since the game was so engaging. I dare say even the Yugioh games can pick up a few things from this one like the deck creation enhancements which do make it a lot more fun. At the end of the day it’s too strong to call this the best card game out there but it did exceed my expectations and I was definitely satisfied by the end.

Overall 8/10

Fire Emblem Engage Stats and Records

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Stats time!

Play Time 26h 49m

Character Levels

Alear 20
Folgado 19
Pandreo 20
Yunaka 31
Veyle 38
Framme 20
Mauvier 19
Timerra 13
Goldmary 16
Seadall 24
Merrin 20
Jade 10
Rosaldo 11
Panette 11
Diamant 3
Vander 4
Ivy 1
Bunet 1
Zelkov 17
Kagetsu 1
Alfred 11
Celine 10
Alcryst 13
Louis 12
Chloe 9
Amber 11
Etie 6
Citrinne 10
Lapis 10
Boucheron 6
Clanne 4
Jean 1
Anna 5
Hortensia 19