Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Kuro no Kiseki Lets You Switch Between Action and Turn-Based Combat

 Video games  1 Response »  Tagged with: ,
Mar 102021
 

Ever since Falcom said the next Trails game would feature a new combat system that includes action and real-time elements, fans had been arguing over what this meant for the series.

The few details revealed after that only increased the confusion about whether or not the next game, Kuro no Kiseki, would feature an action combat system or not.

Now at last, we have our answer! During Falcom’s 40th Anniversary live stream, they shared new details about Kuro no Kiseki’s characters and battles, including footage of the new combat system.

(I’ve avoided reading about the characters and setting since I’m so far behind in the overall series, but you can get the full details from Gematsu.)

Yes, Kuro no Kiseki features an action-based combat system… but once you start a battle, you can seamlessly switch to command-based combat to choose attacks, Crafts, Arts, etc.

It really does feature both, and it hasn’t abandoned turn-based combat.

I had concerns when they first announced the real-time elements, but this actually looks pretty great!

The action combat seems basic right now, but I like the way you can switch straight into the command-based mode (with what appears to be free positioning ahead of your action) and how that appears to be a significant portion of the combat, not an afterthought or compromise.

Meanwhile, they also announced a Trails of Cold Steel anime that will tell an original story (and apparently is getting its own tie-in game, although fans expect that to be a mobile gacha game).

I’m way far behind in my Trails playthroughs and still hoping to hear news of official Crossbell localizations when I get that far, but maybe by the time Kuro no Kiseki is coming out in English, I’ll be all caught up and ready to go!

What do you think of the Kuro no Kiseki combat system? Do you think this method of blending action and turn-based combat is a good idea?

Jake Hunter Detective Story: Memories of the Past Has Some Fun Cases

 Reviews, Video games  6 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Mar 082021
 

When I started thinking of playing another 3DS game, I decided to check my 3DS to see what game I’d left in the system.

To my surprise, I found Jake Hunter Detective Story: Memories of the Past, which I hadn’t played and didn’t remember prioritizing, but apparently at some point it was the next game I intended to play.

So why not? I decided to play it.

Memories of the Past is a visual novel adventure game in which you play a detective investigating various cases. It contains six cases, but the Jake Hunter release history gets a little complicated, so let’s talk about that first.

The series began all the way back in 1987 on the Famicom and saw consistent titles across a variety of platforms from then on, including a line of mobile games.

The first five cases in Memories of the Past are actually the first five mobile games, the first four of which are remakes of the original four Famicom games.

Finally, the sixth case is titled Memories of the Past and was created for this DS game. In fact, while all six cases are unlocked from the start and I played them in order, the game clearly intends for you to start with Memories of the Past, because it prompts you within that case to play through the others, creating a single continuous experience instead of treating each as a separate game.

(If you play them separately, like I did, you can skip the previous cases in Memories of the Past, but it still quizzes you on the major points.)

Gameplay-wise, everything is handled through menus. You won’t be tapping around the environment to search for clues, but rather choosing “Inspect” and then picking an area/object to inspect from the list that comes up. It can be a little tedious, since occasionally it needs you to inspect things multiple times or in the right order, but it’s fine.

It also frequently quizzes you on the current case’s events to make sure you remember the important details.

I found the first three cases to be pretty straightforward, entertaining enough to see how the mystery plays out, but not too compelling. The fourth was probably my favorite, with two alternating points of view and a story that had some fairly emotional moments.

The fifth case was fine, and the sixth was interesting in how it tried to bring things together, but not particularly noteworthy on its own in my opinion.

In addition to the main six cases, there are also a number of “Jake Hunter Unleashed” cases, shorter mysteries with chibi art and an emphasis on humor. They essentially feel more like puzzles, since they give you all the evidence and witness testimonies right away and you need to figure out the truth.

One more thing I want to mention is that this is another series that decided to change its setting to America for the localizations. Unlike Ace Attorney, where changing the names makes sense for the pun-based humor, there’s no reason for that to have been done in Jake Hunter. I assume they thought western audiences would be less inclined to buy “Detective Saburo Jinguji,” but honestly I find “Jake Hunter Detective Story” to be such a bland title I’m not sure it paid off.

Anyway, Jake Hunter Detective Story: Memories of the Past was enjoyable enough. I wouldn’t say it’s a new favorite, but I’m intrigued enough to check out the next game that was released in English…

…which is not any of the five Jake Hunter games that came out after Memories of the Past, but rather the next one after that, Ghost of the Dusk. (And so far they’ve skipped over the next game, Prism of Eyes, despite it getting an English rating, so staying up to date with the Jake Hunter series doesn’t seem like it’ll get any easier anytime soon…)

Bloodborne is a Beautiful, Wondrous Nightmare

 Reviews, Video games  6 Responses »  Tagged with:
Mar 052021
 

Bloodborne is a beautiful game.

Maybe that’s not the term you might expect to come up first when talking about FromSoftware’s nightmarish action RPG, set in the monster-filled city of Yharnam, but it’s a thought I couldn’t escape as I played.

I love Bloodborne’s architecture and overall aesthetic. There were so many times during the game where I’d stop to admire the breathtaking view I’d discovered, and one point in particular when I stopped what I was doing to just take a walk through the then-familiar streets of Yharnam to see how things had changed.

You might have guessed this, but I love gothic horror.

You know what I love even more than gothic horror? Cosmic horror.

So Bloodborne, with its gothic horror setting that spirals into increasingly cosmic horror themes as it progresses, is a game after my own heart.

I’d been interested in Bloodborne for quite a while, but I was wary of it since it leans toward faster-paced, more aggressive combat than Dark Souls (which I played slowly and methodically, with great reliance on my shield). It took some getting used to, but once I got into it, I fell in love.

Like with Dark Souls, death became an expected part of the experience for my in Bloodborne, and it wasn’t long before I knew a boss fight meant that would be my Bloodborne focus for quite a while. And once again, it became addicting, a situation where I always felt like I either was getting better at the fight or was so close that surely I’d win next time.

Partway through my playthrough, the DLC went on sale, so I picked up The Old Hunters and played through that fantastic experience as well.

Bloodborne is dark and creepy, sinister and ominous, and yet also beautiful and wondrous if you’re into that style of horror that I am. While the moment-to-moment story felt more in the background and the NPCs didn’t leave a big impact on me, I latched onto every shred of lore and backstory I could find and delighted in the dark picture it presented.

Some of the boss music is amazing, too.

I also just love the way the scope expands so much from those early hours of the game. Similar to how a JRPG might have you start out in a little village with tiny quests and go on a world-spanning adventure, the situations I was dealing with by the end of the game made me look back at the start and shake my head at how much simpler everything seemed back then.

Anyway, 80 hours later I finished my Bloodborne playthrough, and I can see myself returning to it for a second playthrough someday.

In the meantime, I’m looking forward to taking a break from constant death but then eventually moving on to another FromSoftware game (which will probably be either Sekiro or Dark Souls II, or a Souls-like such as Code Vein)! How do you feel about Bloodborne?

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