Recent reviews by Semaphia

Yuzosoft titles have always been a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, so how does Parquet compare?

Starting with the positives, all the hallmarks of a Yuzusoft title are on full display. The visuals are spectacular, the overall experience is incredibly well polished, and the OST is both pleasant & well produced. It's not a surprise at this point, but it's great to see their presentation continue to be among the best of the best.

The lead characters are also some of the best in a Yuzusoft title, and the premise of the story is interesting, & ultimately fulfilling with some reasonable highs throughout. However, its shorter nature & a few incredibly predictable twists make for an narrative that feels a little bit forgettable at times, though the characters are strong enough to carry the experience.

Overall, it's a title that does more right than wrong, ticking all the boxes you'd expect from a Yuzusoft title, while sadly coming up a bit short narratively compared to their longer reads. Still a worthwhile read, but far from a great one.

Hou+ finally brings the original WTC story up to parity in the West, but it's not what I'd consider essential reading for anyone other than the most die-hard fans.

Higurashi Bus Stop is perhaps the most compelling feature of the package. It's a short 2-3 hour story that predates Onikakushi as a genesis point for the entire franchise. Some of the character names are familiar, but the story itself is considered non-canon for a reason. Still, it's really interesting to see the ideas that birthed the franchise, seeing which ones made it, & which ones didn't. For fans of Higurashi, it's a very interesting read.

Outbreak & Kamikashimashi are arcs like any other, without the rise before the fall setting the scene & getting you invested like one of the original chapters. Being thrown in at the deep end led me to being a bit less invested in the story as a whole, but I did enjoy the finale, so I do consider it worth reading. Still, it's lacking the overall development of the OG arcs, so temper your expectations going in.

(I just skipped through Mehagashi for the achievements, but if the idea of a fanservice arc tickles your fancy, well, enjoy).

The expanded staff room/dialogue from Ryukishi is undoubtedly the most touching content in Hou+. It's interesting to get an insight into what motivated him starting out, the lengths he went to to deliver WTC chapters at the breakneck pace he did back then, and what he hopes to achieve going forward. I'll keep my fingers crossed that it'll finally be returning to & finishing Ciconia, but I have my doubts that'll happen any time soon.

Overall, it's a solid package with some interesting material, but if you're happy with the ending of your own Higurashi journey then don't feel like you must read this one. If you're a die-hard fan however then there's some real insightful stuff here that you won't want to miss.

Katamari Damacy is a short but incredibly sweet one-of-a-kind experience where you play a twin-stick controlled tumbleweed pusher in his quest to roll up everything from the smallest pin to the biggest tower blocks. It took me a few levels to get going, but once it clicked for me & the OST really started to shine, I was smiling all the way through to the final credits. There's just so much charm & attention to detail here that it's hard not to fall in love with the world KD paints.

The only criticism I have is that, despite it running at 144+ fps, it's very clearly rendered at 30 fps, which left me feeling a little bit motion sick on some of the later levels. It's not a criticism, but it's worth noting as well that this is a very short game, though replayability is high thanks to hidden objects & goal-driven nature.

Wannabe lone wolf-types can only dream of the levels of indifference NPCs in Katamari Damacy display while watching their children get rolled up into a makeshift tumbleweed of plants, random furniture & small animals before getting yeeted into the sky to form a new cosmos. The parents... They must be so proud!

Key's best work for more than a decade!

Stella of the End is the beautiful tale of a cold & calculating lead character & his empathetic (though often illogical) companion; Chalk & cheese protagonist/sidekick combos are nothing new, but rarely are they pulled off this well. I found myself empathizing with both of the main characters at different times throughout despite their wildly differing world views, feeling everything from anger to sadness along the way. Ultimately, the story is one of humanity itself, as the battle between logic & emotion is one we all face on a regular basis. The strongly defined lead characters are the stars here, though the world itself is also well-built, & the story is compelling throughout thanks to a few strong supporting cast members.

One of my biggest criticisms of Key's (non-planetarian) kinetic titles is that they usually lack the character & story development required for any sort of meaningful payoff. SotE being double the length of the likes of Loopers/Harmonia gives the VN a lot more room to breathe, without it getting into territory where others (though not myself) would consider it too long-winded or dreary. The result is a title that feels perfectly paced throughout; condensed, but not choked - a FLAC file instead of a WAV (CLANNAD) or a low bit rate MP3 (Loopers).

The translation seemed stiff at times, but the more I read, the more I felt it was a deliberate choice to better reflect the cold & logical protaganist. There were times where the translation was a little bit off/straight up wrong, but thankfully these are few & far between, & don't detract from the experience as a whole. The music, voice acting & art all shine brightly, with the soundtrack especially having some real highlights, so I'm hoping we'll see the OST for sale soon after launch.

From a technical standpoint, having Japanese/English/Chinese text is a very nice addition, & being able to swap quickly between them with the "L" key is a boon for anyone looking to improve their language skills. I had no technical issues with the game, though YMMV as with any PC title.

Overall, while it doesn't quite crack into my top 5 VNs of all time, Stella of the End is a spectacular achievement, & a strong reminder of what Key can do at their absolute best. The character development, story pacing, & level of polish are right up there with some of the studios best works, and for me, SotE stands above anything else I've read in the AI/Android genre (including the excellent planetarian).

(PS: While it's true I'm a big Key fan & I received a review copy for SotE, I feel that in no way has it impacted my ability to provide an honest review. As an example, I was very critical in my review of "Loopers" to the point where I couldn't recommend it to anyone but the most dedicated Key/Ryukishi fans. If it seems like I'm full of praise for SotE, it's because the experience warrants it).

A really solid mob story backed up with beautiful visuals, delightful period accurate music, & surprisingly good AI that makes the shooting sections that little bit more enjoyable. Driving is a treat as well, but be aware going that it makes up a huge portion of the game since that seems to be a pain point for a lot of people.

£35 is a fairly hefty ask for an 8 hour game though, so I'd suggest waiting for a sale if you plan on picking it up.

A great time!

Dives take place in a variable hole of limited breadth but plenty of depth, with deeper regions containing pricier but also more dangerous & resilient sea life. There's a real sense of adventure that comes with a limited oxygen capacity & fearsome aquatic life that can end your dive before it's really begun. While it's not a hard game, there's a real risk/reward to be had throughout the game when it comes to dangerous species like sharks, whose meat might be valuable, but at much higher potential cost. Utilizing the gold you make from selling your sushi is the key to upgrading your gear to go deeper, while also making sure you have enough to run the business. During the story you'll also unlock several items that'll make your trips more fun & open up new opportunities for you.

The management side of things is enjoyable with enough layers to keep you invested, with more being unlocked as you progress through the campaign. There's hundreds of dishes & ingredients to be found & mastered, so making the most of what you have access to is important. Add to that fish farm & farm management later in the game, staffing concerns & more besides, you'll find there's plenty here to min-max if you're into that sort of thing.

The cast is fun & expands nicely alongside minigames, collectathon side content, and a story that's charming despite being a little bit all over the place later on. The game is packed to the brim with references & nods to other games that I'll not spoil here, but they definitely hit the mark more often than not.

It's not all good however. The game has some puzzle segments which aren't really puzzle segments as much as they are time wasters due to their ridiculous simplicity, but that still doesn't stop Dave telling you "huh, maybe I should pull that lever" - well, yes Dave, thanks for the tip. The final few acts of the game in general feel a bit scatterbrained & rushed, but they don't detract too much from the overall experience as you can fish/collect/cook as much as you want in the post-game anyway.

Overall, while far from perfect, Dave the Diver's addicting gameplay loop, charming presentation & lovable cast make for an experience I won't be forgetting any time soon!

It's been ten years or so since the record breaking Torment & Pillars kickstarters came along & revitalized the CRPG genre seemingly overnight, & in many ways, Baldur's Gate 3 shines as the crowning jewel of that decade long process.

I've given myself two weeks to reflect on BG3 since my maiden playthrough (where I went for 100% in acts one/two & a decent amount in act three but not everything due to bugs/issues), & my TL/DR is pretty much this: It's a very good game and a very good CRPG, but high production values don't make a very good game an all-time great, & despite all the praise for Larian's polish & attention to detail (which is true for most of the game), the final act feels undercooked in places, there are/were bugs, the ending misses the mark, & the companions are so desperate to bang I felt like my PC belonged in an anime harem.

Still, its peaks are incredibly high. Player creation is particularly strong, & the world is fun to explore & exist in - in no small part due to brilliant sound & artistic design. The dialogue is very good, the story is solid, & you can interact with pretty much everything you can see in a way very few other games manage to pull off. Act two is an all-time great for theme & delivery, with the chapter finale going down as one of the greatest I've ever experienced.

As for mixed bags, the voice acting is great, but the masculine PC options feel a bit limited/samey, to the point I was never really satisfied with how my dwarf sounded. I'll never be sold on turn based over RTWP for 90% of encounters, especially when there's (potential) encounters that pose no threat but will still take several minutes to get through due to a high number of spaced enemies, though I do understand that's a preference thing, & I will admit it does work well for certain encounters throughout the game.

Overall, I'm very happy it exists & I'm glad I played it, but its iffy final act & bugs/gaps in the writing/logic left me feeling a bit underwhelmed when I look back on it now, even if the game does so much right besides that. It's still a very good game with some exceptional moments, but would I call it an exceptional game? Probably not, but given Larian's track record of fixing up their games post launch, I'm pretty sure it'll get there by the time the inevitable definitive edition comes around.

Either way, buy it & make up your own mind - Larian absolutely deserve the love they're getting with BG3, even if I'm finding the critical reaction to it to be rather hyperbolic.

Ryukishi x Key, what's not to love?! Unfortunately, a hell of a lot.

Starting off with the positives, the premise of the story is actually solid (albeit fairly unoriginal), & the characters involved have potential. They're well voiced, (mostly) well illustrated, and the background art is stellar throughout. The translation also felt quality throughout.

Besides that, I'm struggling to come up with many positives. The pacing leaves everything feeling very underdeveloped & scatterbrained, mostly due to an incredibly poor build up to the finale. Some lines feel out of place/poorly timed, as if they were shoehorned in because a certain narrative checklist needed to be ticked off. The final few scenes of the game are typical Key, but without the proper build up & character development the end result was something flat & uninteresting. I also found the OST to be uncharacteristically disappointing, though I'm sure I'd enjoy it a bit more if I'd found any pleasure in the story itself.

I'm a big fan of the works of both Ryukishi & Key so I can't deny this one left me feeling more disappointed than most. The premise & the characters really deserve a better VN than this, but sadly, despite its good intentions, the whole experience falls well short of what I've come to expect from either entity.

(PS: If you've already read Loopers & found yourself disappointed by your first Ryukishi/Key VN, please, do not take this as indicative of the regular output of either. The "When The Cry" titles by Ryukishi & the classic titles from Key such as Air/Clannad/Planetarian/Little Busters are so much better than what is seen here).

Mixed feelings, but a recommendation all the same.

Starting with positives; the presentation? Astonishing! The art is some of the best I've seen from a VN, though the 720p resolution certainly holds it back a fair bit. The OST is very enjoyable with a fair amount of whimsy, & I found the voice acting to be very believable throughout. The translation is good, though the number of errors seemed to creep up the further I made it into the read.

The story however failed to convince me at times, despite the strong cast of characters. There's little to nothing that stands out as subpar, but there's not much that stands out as exceptional either. While there's better stories out there if you're into futurology ethics, if you're happy enough with a good cast of characters & a story that has its charm but will lead to a few eye rolls then absolutely give it a try.

Overall, Atri is certainly not a game without its merits; the presentation is fantastic, it's packed full of charm, has a strong cast, & the story itself is coming from a good place, but it doesn't break new ground, & there's other titles/mediums that broach this futuristic debate in more meaningful ways. I'd still recommend it, but temper your expectations heading in.

Challenging & satisfying!

The gunplay is a hell of a lot of fun thanks to a wide variety of weapons, modifiers, support items, quests, classes, explosions... And headshots! There's something about the headshots in Synthetik that just feel right. Gameplay features like richochets also allow for some fun moment to moment gameplay, & the whole thing is tied together with a tight audio/visual presentation.

The game is difficult but fair. I've seen people say they didn't complete a run until 100 hours in & while I think that's probably at the extreme end, I'm still not there myself, but I'm having plenty of fun discovering new weapons & areas regardless. Global chat is a welcome addition, & the community as a whole seems helpful/fun.

There's some issues with performance spikes as mentioned in several of the negative reviews which can absolutely kill a run if it happens in the wrong place at the wrong time, though they tend to be few & far between. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem likely to be patched since the sequel is in Early Access, but hopefully they'll come back & fix the problem at some point.

Overall, it's a VERY enjoyable rogue-lite with satisfying mechanics, plenty of replayability, and a friendly community - Just be mindful of the small spikes that may or may not be patched.