Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE (WiiU)

 I am absolutely astounded by how much fun this game was once I got into it.  I've played a lot of RPGs and this one was quite surprising.  The setting wasn't the most unique but the characters we well done and the combat system was well thought out and balanced.  If I had to compare this to another game, it is close to Persona 5 but the life simulation aspects aren't as deep.  That isn't a bad thing though, I actually enjoyed this more than Persona 5.

To start, this is definitely a play on a Shin Megami Tensei game.  If you have played any of the games in this series (which includes Persona), you should feel right at home.  Where the combat differs is the use of "sessions."  These allow you to link one character's actions with others in the party and later on with the whole cast.  If you know what you are doing by hitting enemy weaknesses, you can chain sessions together long enough to take out a whole party of enemies.  It is definitely a unique take on the classic SMT style RPG and I enjoyed linking sessions together to complete whole battles without having enemies even get a chance to act.

The story and characters, while not as deep or long as Persona 5, felt better.  Each character in the party grows with the main character and each has their respective story line.  There isn't a social link system but you still get some decent side-stories and learn a lot more about those you will be spending your time with.  Some of the story elements are really corny and the ending is pretty cliche.  The best part though, this game doesn't waste a lot of the player's time.  Rather than the multiple hours between dungeons like in Persona 5, sometimes it is a 15 minute segment and you are onto the next task.  It was definitely much appreciated that I didn't have to sit through hours of nothing to get on with it.

The graphics and music are great for a Wii U game.  All the characters pop and the idol segments were well animated.  There were times I was watching some of the idol cutscenes and wondering if I wasn't playing a rhythm game.  Of course, this was a Wii U game.  So the load times were a little long but nothing that it was a unplayable.

It really is a shame we will probably never get another game like this.  The battle system was fun, the characters were good, and the Fire Emblem references were awesome.  This was truly a very unique game and well worth a play if you want an RPG to get through.  Although not as long as other games in the SMT series, it doesn't waste time and let's you get to where you want with little in the way.  It also has some difficulty, which is expected given the pedigree of the series it is loosely based on.  Definitely worth a play.

Sorcery Saga: Curse of the Great Curry God (PSVita)

 Rogue-likes are difficult sometimes.  This game was no exception.  I honestly never thought I would beat this game but somehow managed to clear it.  Through all the unfair and random challenges, there is a decent game with some interesting ideas.

If you have never played a rogue-like before, they are usually randomly generated dungeon crawlers.  Where enemies will move either with player movement or player action.  Sometimes there is a penalty for dying, in this game you lose all your unequipped items and levels.  That means you start each dungeon at level 1.  

Where it gets annoying is that the game is very dependent on equipment.  You can equip a weapon and a shield.  There are two types of weapons, swords for more physical based usage and staves for more magic oriented usage.  I never found a real difference and used a staff for half the game and a sword for the latter half.  You can upgrade your weapons with give them a + number next to them.  This raises the weapons stats by 1, which raises your stats by the same amount.  Equipment is very important.

Now for the annoying part, this game does everything it can to destroy your equipment.  I've never played a games where luck was so much a factor that if you didn't get absolutely super lucky, you were dead.  As you travel through dungeons with your cuddly but deadly little monster friend Kuu, all sorts of enemies would attack you.  Some are simply just going to attack you.  Other though run a gambit of cursing your equips or items, knocking off your equipment, or downright just turning your items into worthless onions.

Sometimes a run can get to be so unfair and you just have to dodge out.  Luckily, there are items for that.  Most often I would have to bring to dungeon exit Transport Books because one would always getting eaten by an enemy or cursed.  Kuu, if still alive when you die, will save your equipped items.  If Kuu is dead though, you lose everything.  

Kuu also loses hunger as you wander around a dungeon, so you always have to feed him things.  Anything, somethings will hurt instead of help, but most things will boost his hunger and he does level up every so often.  His skills are very useful but sometimes very harmful.  One in particular, that makes it so he eats anything he walks over is really mean as if you forget to pick up your equipment that got knocked off by an enemy, Kuu will happily munch it.  Losing hours of progress you have made on making said equipment.

Another important aspect in this is making curry while in a dungeon.  It requires four things, a recipe (which you learn from bringing ingredients back to the curry restaurant in the hub), ingredients, rice, and spice.  Curry can make or break a run, if you use the right curry it can boost your levels to insane amounts.  The biggest issue you will run into is a lack of spices.  They are way rarer than they should be but it always pays off to make curry when you can.

All in all, this was fun at times but very frustrating and not for everybody.  If you can't deal with losing hours of progress because your magical cat or whatever Kuu is ate your sword, don't try this game.  It is short if you get really lucky.  Finishing it, really made me want to try curry.

Nexomon (Switch)

 Collecting monsters is always fun.  Pokemon really set a huge bar for the genre but a few titles have reached similar heights.  Dragon Quest Monster and Yokai Watch are two series that I've played that are just as good.  I have to add Nexomon to this list now.

I went into this game not expecting much, this is a port of a mobile game to the Switch and honestly way more fun that I thought.  I've played some really bad monster collectors (Monster Crown...such a bad game) and this game surprised me.

The concept is pretty simple.  You start with one Nexomon and grow your team.  As you proceed you find better or rarer monsters to add to you team.  You level them up and they learn new things.  This game does some really neat things.  First thing that comes to mind is the fact that your monsters don't forget moves they previously learned, they are treated as skills that you can toggle off and on.  You can only select 4 per Nexomon but it is so nice having choices and not being punished by experimenting with a new move.

Instead of moves having a certain number of usages, your monster has stamina and each move uses a set amount.  Once a monster runs out of stamina, you either have to heal it with an item that is always plentiful or let them rest in the battle to get a little big back.  Leveling up your monster will also refresh both stamina and health.  

There is a story but it isn't super serious.  There is a lot of fourth-wall breaking and they really don't take some things seriously.  The characters are all kind of one-note but I didn't go into this to play a game with a story.  It is passable and does move the player through the whole game.  The music is also decent.  Some of the tracks are forgettable but some are pretty good.

If you like Pokemon and want to try something with some different ideas, try this out.  It is pretty fun and competently made.  This is actually the first game made in Unity (that I know of) that I've played that hasn't crashed or just been super janky.  I had some fun and nothing really got super challenging.  The story, characters, and music aren't terrible but if you feel the need to collect a bunch of little monsters, this is a good game.  Some of the monster designs are pretty good and it was always neat to see what was in the next area.