Episode 33: Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance – the Eyeliner of Evil Returns

Episode 33: Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance – the Eyeliner of Evil Returns

Platform: Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch

Release Date: 

PS4: JP March 25, 2015. NA October 6, 2015. EU October 16, 2017.

Switch: JP March 3, 2017. NA: May 23, 2017. PAL: May 26, 2017.

Difficulty: Easy at baseline, but the difficulty level is adjustable

Pricing: $49.99  

Podcast: Download, iTunes, PodOmatic

Review

[The Lost join Team Rocket]

The Good

• It’s a Disgaea game! Turn based, tactical combat! Zany hijinks! RED MAGNUS! RED MAGNUS getting shot by Seraphina! SARDINES—wait, no, wrong Disgaea game.
• The characters are really what make the game. The storyline itself is fairly straightforward—Stop Void Dark from taking over/destroying all the Netherworlds while also finding out why Killia hates him!—the characters are what bring the game to life. I was skeptical of Killia at first. He can come off as boring and bland at the beginning of the game, but he grew on me. His being a calmer character helps balance out the over the top party members like RED MAGNUS.
• Lightning disagrees with me, but I’m glad that the developers simplified some of the mechanics, like the mana shop. Disgaea 4 got a little overwhelming with everything that the game had and everything that you had to do to get new skills and boost your character’s existing ones.
• But I’m not always against new systems! I really like the Netherworld exploration that Disgaea 5 added, giving players the ability to choose characters to blast off into netherspace and investigate different netherworlds. It’s a good way to use some of the millions of extra characters you can end up having in these games.

The Bad

• The mini scenes immediately before and after a battle had a tendency to drag on. Especially once you have you have all of your party members and they all have to get in a line supporting/agreeing with the others
• The Killia versus evil Killia talks got a little old and repetitive, but did pay off.
• Getting the DLC characters right away broke the early parts of the games, since they were way stronger than any of the characters—including your main ones.
• The toning down of the early item world levels. If I’m going to the item world, I’m expecting a challenge, not a bunch of levels I can clear in one go while only getting one character out of the base panel.
• I miss the giant geoblocks the last game had. Throwing them at each other and watching a whole chain of them explode was deeply satisfying.

The Ugly

• What Red Magnus does to the toilets of Gorgeous.
• Void Dark’s obsession with his sister.

[Who wouldn't love Red Magnus?]

The Lowdown: If you like strategy games and wacky humor the Disgaea series is for you! Disgaea 5 is also a pretty good entry point to the series. You don’t need any knowledge of the past games for this one’s storyline to make sense and the developers have simplified some systems that were getting pretty bloated in Disgaea 3 & 4. The downside to this simplification is that the early item world levels are pretty boring. This game—and the Disgaea series in general—is especially recommended to people who enjoy grinding their characters to absurd levels of power. 

  

Music Credits

RPG Roundup Theme Song: “Video Game Theme,” J. Arthur Keenes Band. Creative Commons Attribution License.

Disgaea 5 OST

Episode 31: Dragon Age: Inquisition: Part 2—The Trouble With Lord Woolsley

Episode 31:  Dragon Age: Inquisition: Part 2—The Trouble With Lord Woolsley

Platform: PS3/4, Xbox 360/One, PC

Release Date:  NA 11/18/2014, AUS 11/20/14, 11/21/14

Difficulty: Technically you can pick your difficulty level. We found normal mode pretty easy

Pricing: $39.90 for the Game of the Year edition

Podcast: Download, iTunes, PodOmatic

Find Part 1 at our website: talrpg.com!

Review

The Inquisitor is coming for you, Corypheus.

The Good

• The graphics are beautiful and there are a lot more character customization options than the past two Dragon Age games. Inquisition also expands which races you can play as. At last, you be a Qunari!
• The plot and characters are solid. It’s nice seeing some familiar characters—Leliana, Varric, Cassandra, Cullen, and even Morrigan—return and see what they’re now up to. The new characters are memorable and stand on their own instead of feeling like variations on what we’ve seen in past Dragon Age games.  It’s also exciting to watch as the Inquisition grows from a rag tag group of misfits to a formidable and influential organization.
• Inquisition also does a good job with creating side characters I care about. I’d love to see more of Scout Harding and Krem in future Dragon Age games.
• I enjoyed the world building in the two DLCs, The Jaws of Hakkon and the Descent, especially Jaws of Hakkon. Hakkon added more information about the Tribes of the Avvar and knew ways of looking at interactions with spirits—ways that probably won’t lead to demonic possession.

The Bad

• While still engaging, the storyline seems thinner than the past two Dragon Age games. The plot of the story seems to go from a big event to big event, without much connection or build up. There’s also less character development and less interaction with the party members. Additionally, there’s some important information that
• I was hoping for a more in depth exploration of Orlais. In Dragon Age Origins, the player really gets to know Ferelden, In Dragon Age 2, you get to know Kirkwall. In Inquitision…there’s not really any depth added to Orlais. They’re fantasyland France, they wear masks, they’re all obsessed with gaining political power and the Great Game. We already knew this. 
• The developers overcompensated for the complaints about DAII’s lack of exploration and repeated environments. A good chunk of the game is wandering around large areas or areas that give the illusion of space by having maps that don’t clearly show paths. The areas with the illusion of space are the most annoying, since you should be two steps away from what you need, but find that, actually, you have to circle a mountain to get where you need to go. There are still limited paths that you can take, they’re just better disguised.
• Dead enemies that you can loot or plants you can harvest don’t sparkle anymore. I miss the sparkles. L

The Ugly

• Corypheus’ face.
• 

You can never escape Varric's chest hair.

The Lowdown: Although Dragon Age: Inquisition is the weakest of the three Dragon Age games, it’s still an enjoyable game and a solid entry into the series. It expands the world in intriguing ways and the ending of Trespasser has me looking forward to the inevitable Dragon Age 4. Play this game, especially if you’re already a fan of the series, but move with the storyline faster than we did instead of spending all of your time in the side areas.

  

Music Credits

RPG Roundup Theme Song: “Video Game Theme,” J. Arthur Keenes Band. Creative Commons Attribution License.

Dragon Age Inquisition OST

Episode 26: Hatoful Boyfriend – Everybirdie’s on Crack

Episode 26: Hatoful Boyfriend – Everybirdie’s on Crack

Platform:  PS4, PS Vita, PC, OSX

Release Date:  Hurtful Complete Edition: JP 10/30/11, World Wide 2/15/12. Remakes released World Wide on 9/4/14 and 7/21/15.

Difficulty: Ummm…some of the full endings can be tricky to get? It's a visual novel, difficulty doesn’t really apply.

Pricing: $10

Podcast: Download, iTunes, PodOmatic

Terra:  HATOFUL BOYFRIEND WHAT  A GAME

Lightning:  Questions We Had While Playing Hatoful Boyfriend

"Wha..." is the correct response to this game

Terra:  HOW DO PIGEONS HOLD GUNS?

Lightning:  Don't ask me. They developed opposable thumbs?

Terra:  Apparently, since they can also drive scooters.

Lightning:  Let's not even go there. Do they have some kind of prosthetic leg so they can hit the brakes?

Terra:  Maybe they have hand breaks!

brakes*

Lightning:  You can spell.

Unlike this game.

Terra:  Hey, it's designed for birds, by birds, what do you expect. Pigeons probably translated it.

Do pigeons build buildings? Or have they moved into places humans abandoned?

Lightning:  I saw some derelict skyscrapers in the game, so if they do, they don't very well.

HOW DO PIGEONS USE COMPUTERS?

Terra:  WING TYPING

They peck with their beaks?

How do they cook?

Lightning:  They peck with their peckers? Uuuuuuuuuuugh, I went there...

Terra:  You wouldn't be you if you didn't.

How big are these pigeons supposed to be?

Lightning:  It sounded like regular bird size.

Terra:  Then how is the main character being threatened by birds? HOW DO YOU GET KILLED BY THE CREEPY DOCTOR IF HE IS NORMAL BIRD SIZED?

Lightning:  DON'T ASK ME HOW A PATRIDGE CAN MURDER A TEENAGER. SHE COULD PROBABLY STOMP ON HIM

And what does the bird gang do to kill you? Fly in your damn face?

Terra:  They don't even seem to be flying at her!

Actually, I don't think we see any of these birds fly.

Lightning:  Maybe she dies of fear.

From their mohawks.

Terra:  Ride scooters, go for hikes, swim...but no flying.

Lightning:  I said moHAWKS. Get it?

Terra:  Hahahaha

The flying thing is bothering me? Does the game ever reference the birds flying?

Lightning:  I think so...

Terra:  I'm not replaying it to find out.

Lightning:  But they don't care. They love to swim.

Their wet feathers gets the main character hot and bothered, supposedly!

Terra:  There are screenshots to prove it!

We really can prove it.

Lightning:  I'm not replaying it either. Trophies are 100%. NO THANK YOU.

Terra:  Hatoful BF has served its purpose.

Lightning:  Its very shallow purpose,

Terra:  It kept us entertained for a few hours. And ruined the Nutcracker.

Lightning:  Argh, I'll never enjoy the Nutcracker AGAIN.

Terra:  You'll always think of the creepy murder Dr.

Lightning:  And I'll start laughing hysterically if I hear Jingle Bells.

Terra:  Why did this game use so much Christmas music? Was it cheap?

Lightning:  Probably as cheap as this game. WHICH IS A GOOD THING.

Terra:  Final question then: Was this game worth ten bucks?

For the full effect, hum dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy while you look at this picture.

Music Credits:
RPG Roundup Theme Song: "Video Game Theme," J. Arthur Keenes Band. Creative Commons Attribution License.

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy

Hatoful Boyfriend

Episode 24: Dragon Age: Inquisition Part One—Drunken Age

Episode 24: Dragon Age: Inquisition Part One—Drunken Age

Platform: PC, Playstation 3/4, Xbox 360/One

Release Date:  NA & RU: 11/18/2014. AUS 11/20/2014. EU & ZA 11/21/2014, JP 11/27/2014.

Difficulty: Easy—even after upping the difficulty

Pricing: $37-$59.99, depending on platform

Podcast: Download, iTunes, PodOmatic

The Inquisitor, Adriana Trevelyan aka Molly Ringwald

Things Terra Loves About Dragon Age Inquisition In No Particular Order

• So many callbacks to Origins and DA2! Hello past party members! Hello minor character from Oirigins, good to see that being a dwarf who went to study magic worked out for you! Hi Redcliffe! GOOD TO SEE YOU DARKSPAWN. …okay maybe not that last one.
• You can now play as a Qunari!
• Related: The Iron Bull
• Related: Krem
• Mages rule Templars drool.
• Welcome to Orlais, home of fancy parties, creepy masks, and backstabbing assassins!
• Politics and gathering political influence plays a huge role, even larger than it did in the first two games. You get a WAR TABLE and a WAR COUNCIL and are basically kind of building your own little kingdom and army in the mountains.
• Cassandra.
• The return of Varrick and Cassandra’s comedy duo.
• Cullen.
• The way our Inquisitor stares at Cullen’s ass after they make out.
• The Inquisitor and Josephine: BFFs
• Improving and redecorating Skyhold. Will it have an impact on the end of the game? No idea. Is it worth it anyway? Heck Yeah!
• Learning more about Tevintor, home of the creepy slave keeping blood mages!
• Related: Dorian, demonstrating that not everyone from Trevintor is a creepy slave keeping blood mage.
• Miles and miles of areas to explore. Bioware was listening to those DA2 complaints.
• Goat attack!
  

  

I wasn’t kidding about the Inquisitor staring at his ass!

Music Credits

RPG Roundup Theme Song: "Video Game Theme," J. Arthur Keenes Band. Creative Commons Attribution License.  

Dragon Age: Inquisition OST 

Episode 23: Final Fantasy XV: Episode Duscae—Girls, Goblins, and Mullets

Episode 23: Final Fantasy XV: Episode Duscae—Girls, Goblins, and Mullets

Platform: Playstation 4

Release Date: 3/17/2015

Difficulty:  Moderate

Price: Free! …If you bought Final Fantasy Type-0.

Podcast: Download, iTunes, PodOmatic
 

Terra’s Review

Nutritious and filling! Just what you need when fighting goblins!

The Good

• It’s a Final Fantasy game, so of course the graphics and music are amazing.
• The demo featured an impressive open world to run around in and a cave to explore. People who were sick of F13’s hallways are sure to appreciate this aspect of 15.
• Noctis’ car looked pretty cool.

The Bad

• Oh boy, the combat. “Hi we’re a huge mob of monsters and we’re here to attack you and we move super fast and you can’t target us to pick us off one at time and hahaha Ramuh only knows what your AI controlled party members are targeting.”
• I realize this is a demo that’s mostly focused on the battle mechanic, but I wish that it had given me a better idea of what the main character’s personalities were and how they interacted with each other.
• The only female character that showed up was clearly designed for max sex appeal.  She couldn’t at least get a shirt that covers her bra? L
• Goddamn goblins.

The Ugly

• The hair. Just. Gladiolus has mullet and I don’t know what the hell is going on with Noctis’s hair.

The…Huh, I’m Not Sure How I Feel About That

• The Coleman product placement. On one hand, I find it hilarious. On the other, it’s really weird seeing those Coleman branded chairs in a world where the rest of the writing is Final Fantasy rune squiggles.
• The cooking. I like the concept, but it doesn’t seem like you get much control over what the game makes.

 

Behold the power of Product Placement!

The lowdown: I was hoping that the demo would blow my mind and erase all the doubts I had about some aspects of FF15, like the all male cast and the active battle system. Unfortunately, it just reinforced those doubts. I’m not writing the game off and will still play it when it comes out, but hopefully Square will at least make some improvements to the battle system before it’s released.

Music Credits:
FFXIV OST
RPG Roundup Theme Song: "Video Game Theme," J. Arthur Keenes Band. Creative Commons Attribution License.