Otakuism

Definitely not my play through.

TWilight refrAIN is the sequel to Eikyuu Loop’s previous game TWilight INSanity. On the surface both look like touhou clones but they’re unique and very fun in their own right. In Twilight Refrain you can choose from three sets of twins and during game play you can switch the twins for different attacks. One will use a narrow, more powerful shot while the other uses a wide shot. The third set of twins, the blue pair, play a bit differently, with their attacks having more of a homing theme. Each twin pair has nine different configurations to choose from. I have no idea what they all do, but they seem to effect the power of your attacks and your speed. This whole setup is similar to Impressionable Night actually.

During game play there’s also your “bomb” setting, for lack of a better term, though it’s not actually a bomb. It clears the entire screen of bullets and powers up your own attack temporarily. If you get hit the bomb setting automatically activates which can be helpful. There’s a spirit bar to show how many times you can use the bomb setting, and you don’t actually die till it runs out.

Difficulty wise this game is definitely a challenge. The curve is a bit better than the Touhou games, but by the end it’s still throwing a massive number of bullets at you. Thank god for unlimited continues or I wouldn’t be able to experience the whole game so easily. There’s seven stages total, each one featuring a miniboss and a boss. The miniboss is the same in every stage, and is also oddly enough the final boss.

The game also has a massive story to it. Characters talk a lot and there’s even decision points which effect which stage you go to next. I actually missed stage two completely on my first play through. The latter stages branch out significantly based on your decisions. Of course, the whole thing is in Japanese and I have no idea what the story even is, so it’s more of a pick and hope you got it right deal through out. I’ve gotten bad ends on both my play throughs, but I think that’s just cause I die too much. Damn moon twin priestesses boss.

Graphically the game is great, on par with the latest efforts from ZUN and others. Many of the stages have 3D backgrounds and one has a cool effect where a storm starts as you get closer to the boss. The bullet patterns are bright and very creative. The regular enemies are polygons, circles, and weird wooden boxes; all rendered greatly though. I like the character artwork a lot. It’s a different artist from Twilight Insanity, but they’re very cool. Sexy and cute at the same time. The only thing is, I think one of the twin pairs is a guy/girl pair, but I can’t tell if that’s actually a guy or not! My only complaint is that the final boss uses BLACK BULLETS AGAINST A WHITE BACKGROUND! GAH MY EYES! Everything else about this game is great though. Fun for novice players like me who just want a distraction for an hour and the hardcore players. A worthy sequel to Twilight Insanity.

Gaming Sidenote: I also tried the Ether Vapor Boss Rush extra that was released. Just like it sounds, it’s only a boss rush mode, though it does allow you to use the super powered fighter from the final boss fight for all bosses. Very cool, but not worthy of an actual post. I also need to try Subterranean Animism soon. It has a nuclear crow from hell for crying out loud!

Akihabara Channel reports that a new site, MangaGamer.com, has popped up claiming to release downloadable english translations of visual novels. Already the site features D.C. Da Capo and Suika A.S.+, both titles from the developer Circus. Obviously the real question is how good are the translations going to be. The translations already on the site are a bit clunky, but very readable none the less. If all this works out well then this is very exciting news for visual novel fans. The site says it’s going to open on July 3rd, so more information should come in then.

The trailer for Minori’s latest game ef - The Latter Tale came out recently and like every other Minori work features the beautiful animation of Makoto Shinkai. This one is just stunning to me, ever more so than the trailer for the first ef. ef - The Latter Tale is scheduled for release on May 30.

I can confidently say that UBW is a definite step up from the Fate route, mainly because all the arcane little rules and weird pacing are not done here. With the groundwork out of the way UBW hits the road running. There’s almost a constant sense of urgency and battle, far better than the “fight Saber/learn magic from Tohsaka” days of Fate. With the storyline moving away from the anime things feel very fresh now, even if I did know what was going to happen. Shirou vs. Archer and Gilgamesh was a joy to finally read.

If there’s one thing UBW makes clear, it’s that Shirou is fucked up in the head. In Fate all one saw was his stubbornness, here we get even more of what makes him tick. His whole ideology is borrowed from someone else, he has no idea how to have fun at all, and even if he knows his path is going to lead to a miserable death he heads down it anyways. Guy’s even more messed up than Shiki. I’m not quite sure how Rin fell in love with him. Rin is awesome in this route, also. Full blown tsundere attitude here. Her freak out moments were the best.

But the real star of the route is Archer, in all his manly, twisted glory. Every single scene with him was awesome, and by the end he really is a complex character in his own right, much more so than any other character. He may be a grouchy, cynical, and sarcastic bastard, but he’s a true hero aka. he’s GAR, people! The main theme of the story - what is a hero? - continues in this route, being questioned every which way but not outright rejected. No, that’s what Heaven’s Feel is for. As for Heaven’s Feel, let’s just say the long wait begins anew. If it comes out in 2012 then we’ll know the prophecies are true and it is the end of the world. But at least we’ll have Heaven’s Feel to play, so everything will be A-ok.

But sadly it isn’t in Japan and Type Moon has taken down the page for their latest fake game/in-joke: Rumble Moon Wars! I have no idea if that is the actual title. Sounds like it should be.

Type Moon has the weirdest sense of humor from any company I’ve ever seen, blame Nasu and Takeuchi, but this one just comes flying out of the sky and slams you into the mat. Takeuchi probably came up with this one; an excuse to draw girls in skimpy outfits again obviously. Nice outfits, too.

I really wonder how much effort goes into these April Fools jokes. Effort that could be spent on, I don’t know, actually making a game? I’m playing through UBW right now, should finish that soon, and it’s reminding why I actually like Type Moon. Still doesn’t stop me from being annoyed as hell at them. It’s been almost four years with nothing but FSN spin-offs, albeit Fate/Zero was a very cool spin-off. And no one better tell me Tsukihime 2 is their next game. Nasu is so fickle he could still dismiss it outright. It’s not real until I see screenshots. Just give me something new Type Moon, mainly so I don’t have to listen to people debate power levels for the umpteenth time on Beast’s Lair.

And this just makes me lol uncontrollably. I’ve seen way too many Tiger Dojo’s (gotta catch ‘em all!).

Delicious Rin route.

Mirrormoon releases the Fate/stay Night Unlimited Blade Works patch. Never thought I’d see the day. Know what I’m doing over spring break now.

None of these gameplay videos are my own. I’m not that good.

Ether Vapor is one damn fun game. I first knew this a year ago when I played the trial, and now finally the full version is released. Ether Vapor is an old school shooting game with a twist; the stages can be horizontal, vertical, or 3D, often in the same stage. The 3D parts are really interesting and involve you shooting down a bunch of missiles for bonus points or attacking a giant battleship. The only problem with the 3D sections is that there’s so much going on it’s hard to tell if that laser or missile will actually hit you or not, so you end up just dodging randomly. Even that is still fun, though.

The more traditional sections are just as good, featuring a good array of enemies and bosses to challenge you. In the game you get three weapons: your main gatling that when charged fires a giant laser, your winder that fires off to the side and when charged blows up like a bomb with the added effect of neutralizing any attacks in the area, and your lock-on laser which will lock onto a single target and fire away. Great for bosses and enemies in the background you can’t hit. The game is very good looking for a doujin 3D effort and almost looks like something that would come out of professional studios. Don’t ask me what the story is. It’s probably the normal “the enemy is so advanced only this single fighter can get in to destroy them.” There is a pink-haired loli piloting a spider mecha, though.

The game is pretty difficult so far, but for pros it probably wouldn’t be that difficult. After you reach a stage in the main game you can go select it to play for practice, but you have to beat it in the main game to advance. There’s also this cool little feature called Over Kill that gives you more points based on how badly you own an enemy. It’s pretty fun to use giant lasers on small airplanes. It’s not a Touhou shoot ‘em up, but it is a great shooter. It has enough creativity, challenge, and explosions to keep me interested. Now I just have to beat the game. Damn pink-haired loli spider boss.