Recent reviews by SinicalGeek

I figure that I should pipe in as I see many who have this game on their wishlist. I have put about 30 hours into the game so I qualify for at least a first impression. First and foremost, if you are looking into buying Agarest you have to realize that you are buying a dating sim (although simplistic) wrapped up inside of an RPG. The objective of the game is to defeat the boss of each generation and then to pick one of your companions to mate with so that you can continue towards your ultimate quest which spans multiple generations. Each generation will have you playing as the offspring of the last hero and companion that you picked. This is the story all wrapped up short and sweet.

The appearance of the game is a mixed bag. The CG (as they call it) are actually still shots with text that carries the story forward. The art and quality of the images are amazing (subjectively speaking). This remains true for the towns where you will spend your time crafting and upgrading weapons/armor. The battle system where you will spend the majority of your time shows the age of the game. The graphics are comparable to the Playstation 1 capabilities. Your party of heroes are cut down to chibi size and some of us who may be spoiled by newer generations of games might be slightly let down here.

As I mentioned above, the battlefield is where you will find yourself 90% of the time. This is both where the game shines as well as where the game begins to lose its glimmer. To start off, the battle system uses a turn-based grid system with both a move phase and then an attack phase. Each character uses Attack Points (AP) that they expend by both moving and attacking. The shared expense of the AP for both phases adds a strategic element to the gameplay. Obviously you would regret not moving your party member in a effort to conserve AP to find out that now your character is too far away to initiate any attacks against the enemy for example. The most strategic element of the battle system is the inclusion of a linking system which in short allows you to string attacks together.

There are some negative things to say about Agarest. You will find yourself fighting the same enemies over and over and over again. The battleground where you take on enemies will change into new scenary but only when you enter new areas which can take hours to advance through. This redundancy of core game mechanics dulls the experience and soon you will find yourself selecting the AutoBattle mode whenever you can putting your attention elsewhere. This becomes increasingly frustrating if you sludge through eight or nine battles fighting the same enemies in the same battle area just to be awarded by a 10 second still picture of a character who you are not interested in.

With all this said do I recommend this game? Well yes and no. It depends on what you are after in this game. If you are wanting the experience of a RPG similiar to other AAA titles that have branded themselves as must plays... then No. This game falls short in too many areas. Although the game opens up with its own crafting/upgrading system and many achievements to work towards, the gameplay is not diverse enough to keep the traditional RPGer happy. However, if your main reason for buying this game is to see attractive Anime girls appear on your screen, collect trading cards/backgrounds, and/or enjoy casual dating SIMs this game could be for you. The artwork is stunning. The content shifts from mild to erotic which will please many fans. If you are going to give Agarest Genertions of War a try just don't go in expecting more than what it promotes itself to be.

The Last Remnant is one of the best fantasy role playing games from the 2009 era that I have played on PC. The visuals are what you would expect from a modern day game and the cinematics remind you of playing a Final Fantasy game.  The Last Remnant received below average reviews on the Xbox 360, but don't let that dissuade you from giving this one a try on the PC. Most of the bugs/problems were fixed outside of some noticeable texture pop-in. You can pause anytime in the game including the CG scenes! You can even skip the CG scenes if you doing a 2nd play through. The auto save feature will save your progress after each battle ensuring that you will never have to replay an hour of gaming session due to your gamble on a strategy to defeat an enemy. These are the features that I have been waiting for ever since I started playing RPGs.

A few things to note, this game requires a lot of forum reading. Not as much for the story progression as it is fairly linear, but more to understand the mechanics of the battle/formation system. Square Enix took a new direction in the battle system allowing for a very diverse and strategic game play but the in game tutorials will leave you scratching your head as to what is happening during the battles. This has to be the biggest issue that I have with the game. After reading the FAQs and forums I found that many others had the same questions that I ran into and most where answered in depth by users in the Steam community.

In summary, if you don't mind doing a little reading to nail down the game mechanics and you enjoy turn based battle systems I would highly recommend the Last Remnant. The price even when not on sale is well worth the content and enjoyment that you will get out of it. This is a AAA title from Square Enix with an Indie price tag. Go buy it right now if you are a fan of Fantasy RPGs!

Dungeon Siege III offers an enjoyable story driven dungeon crawler experience with RPG elements built in to help replayability. Shockingly there is still an active community so it is easy to find others to play co-op with. For the price you get a ton of content and the visuals up to par with other modern AAA dungeon crawler releases.

Another awesome deal. Borrowing from the creative styles of platformer king Trine, Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams brings something new to the table with two alternate worlds that are switched between by the player that completely changes the environment, objects, as well as the creatures that inhabit them.

At $3.00 right now on Steam, I would recommend this title to any fan of platformers or just great music!

If you catch the revamped Tomb Raider on sale go for it. Great story and amazing visuals (Not just Lara my friends). I recommend a controller to get the true value out of the half fps/half platforming game.

Do I even have to elaborate. Go buy it if you haven't!

Great sandbox style game simliar to GTA but more on the ridiculous side.

Buy this and the first game if you haven't ($3.00 right now). Pretty fun 2D puzzle game with amazing visuals.