Operation Backlog Completion 2025

Oninaki Demo Now Available

 Video games  No Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Jul 242019
 

A demo for Tokyo RPG Factory’s upcoming action RPG Oninaki, which we’ve discussed in the past, is available now on all platforms.

The demo has two modes: “Story Mode,” which takes you through the start of the game (and will let you transfer your progress to the main game), and “Battle Mode,” which gives a deeper look at the combat than what is available in the story demo.

I haven’t finished the demo yet, but I played the start earlier today, and I’m intrigued.

Remember when we discussed the premise of Oninaki and how dark it seems? A world where you aren’t allowed to grieve for dead people and might be killed if your grief prevents someone’s soul from moving on certainly sounds depressing, and it’s even clearer in the demo.

I’m not crazy about the main character yet, but some of my favorite games have protagonists who start out unlikable. I’m interested in seeing where the game takes this grim premise.

Gameplay-wise, I wish it was a turn-based RPG, but the action combat felt fine to me. I also enjoyed the look at daemons, lost souls you bond with to use their special abilities in combat. They have their own skill trees, and it sort of reminded me of Blades in Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

Oninaki’s demo has already left me with a better impression than Lost Sphear’s did, although I still need to finish it. Did you try the Oninaki demo?

J.U.L.I.A.: Among the Stars Starts Strong, Ends Okay

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Jul 222019
 

Saturday was the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, and I decided I wanted to play a space game to celebrate.

I ended up picking J.U.L.I.A.: Among the Stars, a point-and-click adventure game following Rachel, the sole survivor of an expedition to a distant solar system, as she works with the ship’s AI Julia to piece together the mysteries of the solar system and what went wrong.

Adventure games can be hit or miss for me, but right away I liked the gameplay style of J.U.L.I.A. It has a button for you to see everything you can interact with, and the first part of the game focused on exploring to find clues about what happened and how to proceed, such as learning passwords that give you access to datapads used by members of the team.

The main character does not personally visit the planets, but instead sends down a recon robot. Upgrading the robot is another key part of progression, with some challenging (but satisfying) blueprint puzzles required to do so.

After you investigate the first area, it introduces another cool mechanic: an optional feature where you arrange events as they happened, to piece together the mysteries you uncovered. It was a nice way to lay everything out in a linear fashion when you initially learn about it through scattered clues.

Then the solar system opens up and you can visit other planets, so I was pretty excited to see how it would proceed.

Unfortunately, J.U.L.I.A. lost something in the later parts of the game for me. It became a bit less investigation-focused, involved more puzzles that sometimes weren’t explained well, and introduced elements that took away from its initial grounded feeling.

Click for J.U.L.I.A. spoilers
An advanced alien race guiding life in the universe and the museum based on Rachel’s memories… I feel like this entire section could have been removed. Not only does it change the tone of the story, but it also mainly existed to point Rachel toward the way to purify the lake. Having her find the hidden planet (or find answers another way) more natural would have fit the story better, in my opinion.

The game’s big twist also felt fairly obvious, although it made sense and was handled well enough. The ending, however, felt a little lacking to me too.

Nevertheless, there were parts of J.U.L.I.A. that I thoroughly enjoyed, especially in the beginning, and it was certainly a good pick for a space theme. Have you played J.U.L.I.A.: Among the Stars?

Shadows of Adam Developer Announces Two New Games

 Video games  9 Responses »  Tagged with:
Jul 192019
 

In 2016, I backed a turn-based RPG on Kickstarter called Shadows of Adam. You might remember it as one of the games on my list to play this year.

The developer, Something Classic Games, has now announced not just their next project, but their next two projects.

These two new turn-based RPGs are called Pillars of Dust and Quartet.

Pillars of Dust is intended to have an arcade feel and features two characters whose stories intersect and influence each other based on which you play first.

Quartet, meanwhile, is a story-driven game with eight heroes and four opening chapters. From the way it’s described, it sounds like you’ll play each opening chapter and then the characters’ stories will all come together (so pretty much what I hoped Octopath Traveler would be).

I’m interested in both of these, especially Quartet… but I really should play Shadows of Adam first to have a better idea of what to expect. In fact, I plan to start Shadows of Adam soon!

What do you think about Pillars of Dust and Quartet?

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