Operation Backlog Completion 2025

Cartagra: Twisted Murders and Romantic Encounters

 Reviews, Video games  1 Response »  Tagged with: , ,
Nov 082021
 

Going into this October, I had one visual novel already lined up for Celebrating All Things Spooky.

I’ve heard great things about the mystery visual novel Kara no Shojo, and earlier this year I picked up a bundle that included it and its predecessor, Cartagra (warning, link is NSFW).

Cartagra is often described not only as a murder mystery, but also horror. It’s an eroge, as well, so I expected a murder mystery horror story with occasional sex scenes.

You’ll notice it didn’t make the cut for Celebrating All Things Spooky. Let’s take a look.

In Cartagra, you play a former police detective turned private detective who has been asked to look into the disappearance of a young woman. Yet as he investigates, he becomes increasingly embroiled in the bizarre serial killings terrifying the city, even though it isn’t officially his case.

It is a dark story, that’s for sure. The murders are pretty gruesome, not to mention the bad endings that the visual novel describes in detail. Some parts were pretty unsettling to read.

But what surprised me was how big a role the protagonist’s relationships played. Even though only one character’s route actually runs to the end of the mystery (and most of the others are bad endings), the detective practically has a harem. Everyone wants him, and your choices will determine who he has sex with, often enough that it can’t be dismissed as just an additional aspect of the story.

So what I expected was a murder mystery horror story with occasional sex scenes, but what I got was a murder mystery romance story with lots of sex scenes and occasional horror elements.

Now, don’t take that to mean I disliked Cartagra. It was an exciting story with unexpected twists, likeable characters, and some interesting ideas. It just wasn’t what I expected, and it definitely didn’t fit in with spooky games month.

(Since I started Higurashi as an emergency replacement, I’d say it was a win all around.)

I’m Excited for the New Star Ocean Game

 Video games  3 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Nov 052021
 

Near the end of October, we also had another big JRPG announcement, a bit of an unexpected one: a new Star Ocean game is in development.

Star Ocean: The Divine Force is the sixth entry in the series, set after the events of the fifth game but still earlier than the last game in the timeline.

It stars two protagonists, Raymond (who looks significantly better in artwork than his game model) and Laeticia, and you’ll choose whose story you want to follow.

Their meeting is the spark for the game’s story, but the official blog post about the game says your choice of who to play will determine “the events that take place during the story, including the allies who’ll have your back by the end of the game.”

Exploration looks like it will be a big focus, with a lot of verticality involved since you can fly for short distances.

I’ve seen a lot of people criticizing the game’s visuals, and I don’t really get it. Aside from the character models, which I’m not crazy about, I think Star Ocean: The Divine Force looks beautiful. The environments especially stand out to me and make me want to explore this game’s world.

It’s so pretty!

Now… back in 2015, I was also pretty excited for Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness, which got a fairly negative reception when it came out.

And… I still haven’t played my copy of Star Ocean: Till the End of Time.

Since then, however, the first Star Ocean game was remastered, so I intend to pick up Star Ocean: First Departure R to try it ahead of this game’s release. I keep hoping they’ll remaster or port the second game in English, though, since that’s supposed to be one of the best in the series and is difficult to find nowadays.

Here’s hoping The Divine Force will be an excellent return for the series when it comes out next year! What do you think of the newest Star Ocean game from what we’ve seen so far?

Impostor Factory is Another Emotional (and Sometimes Creepy) Entry in the Series

 Video games  3 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Nov 032021
 

Among our long list of exciting games that came out this year is Impostor Factory, the third main entry in the To the Moon series.

I played Impostor Factory immediately after it came out, but since that was right ahead of October, its review got put off all this time!

Now, I honestly considered making it the first “spooky” game review of this October. Impostor Factory begins with a man named Quincy arriving at a mansion to attend a party, and it isn’t long before strange things start happening. Creepy things.

Yet despite the creepiness in certain parts of the game, I decided it was too much of a stretch to include it. So, it’s finally time to talk about Impostor Factory.

Unlike To the Moon and Finding Paradise, Impostor Factory doesn’t begin with Neil and Eva visiting someone’s memories to fulfill their wish. It feels unrelated at first, but don’t misunderstand, it is definitely a main entry in the series rather than a spin-off, and the reasons for that become clear as you play.

It soon becomes another emotional story through a character’s life. The format might be different, but the feelings are the same, and there’s a plot twist partway through that makes everything mean so much more.

I’m not sure I can give any specific details without brushing on spoilers, so I’ll just say that while you shouldn’t expect this to be a conclusion to the overarching story, I think you’ll enjoy Impostor Factory if you liked the previous two (although it seems like it’s a somewhat controversial one among fans). For me, I’d rank this second in the series – it didn’t quite hit the emotional highs of To the Moon for me, but I enjoyed it more than Finding Paradise.

So if you haven’t played Impostor Factory yet, be sure to get it. I just hope we won’t have to wait too long before getting a fourth main game in the series!

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