Rooksburg Reviews: Pokémon Conquest

Pokémon Conquest for the Nintendo DS ('Nobunaga's Ambition' in Japan) is arguably the most overlooked game in the Pokémon franchise, and that's quite understandable; it is the first attempt at a more mature game by the Pokémon company, has a completely different playing style from anything else in the franchise, and borrows heavily on Japanese references that will be lost on a Western audience.  That being said, I believe it's certainly worth a second look and this review should help explain why:

Gameplay:
Obviously this is the most jarring aspect to new players.  This game is a Tactical Turn-Based RPG, meaning
it plays similar to Final Fantasy Tactics, Fire Emblem, and Advance Wars, though with a slight twist- namely the inclusion of pokémon.  On the world map you can manage your kingdoms in a simple manner- you can battle and attempt to recruit wild pokémon and warlords, you can mine for gold, spend gold in shops, or develop existing areas to increase power levels of wild pokémon or buy better items, etc.  Each kingdom can sustain six warlords, and each warlord has a set number of pokémon they can control, generally only extending to 3 or 4.  In combat each warlord uses a single pokémon, determined before battle starts and unable to be switched during battle.  Interestingly for this genre, each pokémon can use only one move determined by the pokémon's species- and generally the more powerful moves will have greater limitations to consider, such as recharge times and splash damage.  Overall this offers the same flexibility as other tactical games, but also makes the game feel more akin to a game of chess where each move must be carefully thought out.  Or it would, were it not for the horrific miss chances on attacks.

The dual screens are utilised well; top screen shows
unit information, bottom shows the battle itself.

User's speed determines accuracy, which is displayed each time you make an attack.  The majority of the time, this will be between 92-96%.  Despite this, I have fought many battles where I've missed 5 times in a row, and that's not taking into account abilities like 'instinct' that seemingly have a 50% chance miss-chance on top of the attack itself.  Prepare to rage a lot in this game, and I'm in awe of you if you manage an iron-man playthrough.

The Story:
The main story follows the hero/heroine, naturally played by you, as they attempt to unite the warlords of Ransei against the warmongering Nobunaga.  Legend says that whoever can successfully unite the land will be deemed worthy of gaining an audience and possibly befriending a powerful legendary pokémon.
Unfortunately the main storyline is possibly the reason why this game is so overlooked; there's very poor pacing, you can't evolve your starter until late in the game, and the characters look interesting but ultimately lack substance.  It may be ironic, then, that on completing the main quest everything is turned on its head as you find out every warlord you encountered (and then some) has their own story to tell- you can pick from 37 stories in total, each comprising a full game in themselves.  As they concentrate on specific characters and often contain a lot less kingdoms to worry about, there is now a lot more characterisation and better pacing; and because captured pokémon are carried over to these stories each could be considered a 'New Game +' feature.  It would be tempting to consider the possibility of if these stories were sidequests in the main story, or if they were simply available from the start, but unfortunately I think the way it's presented is the only way it could have worked.  Which is a pity, as few people will have the patience to complete the main quest so will never experience the mastery of the additional stories.

The Characters:
Interestingly, every single character in this game (excluding the hero/heroine) is based on a real life historical
figure.  The majority of characters you encounter will be generic carbon copies of about 6 templates, but each kingdom has warlords associated with it.  These warlords, whilst being considerably over-the-top, all have endearing features conveyed simply through facial expressions and the few lines of dialogue they have- though again I stress that little of this will come across in the main story.  Each character also has affinities with a certain type of pokémon, and within this type there will be one specific species that will be a 'perfect link'; this partner pokémon will appear next to the warlord in conversation, and only with a perfect link will a pokémon be able to reach its full potential.

The Art/Music:
I hesitate to call it 'graphics' as the only graphics to speak of are in battle; the rest is beautiful drawings.  Clearly a lot of effort went into this game's artwork, from the simple kingdom designs to the glorious cutscenes, but especially to the warlords who each wear elaborate clothing that perfectly matches their personalities whilst also dropping hints as to their perfect pokémon.  As for the in-battle graphics, little can be said about them; the models can be a little off at times, but move animations are smooth and the terrain is as accurate as you can expect from an isometric grid.
The music matches the artwork in terms of quality, and I could happily listen to it at any time.


Conclusion:
When this game was first announced I could barely contain my excitement; a mature tactical pokémon game incorporating Japanese history sounded like a dream come true.  Then I played it, got halfway through the main quest, and ragequit from the miss-chances.  About a month ago, when I was without internet, I picked it up again and am now on my tenth post-game quest, truly amazed at how different it is after completing the main story.  I still get messed up by miss-chances but if I'm having a particularly bad time I'll just wait an in-game month and it generally sorts itself out- and the fact pokémon carry over between stories means it keeps getting easier.
I won't blame you if you don't get on with this game, but if you at least like the concept then I promise you it gets better after completing the main quest.

tl;dr review:
Gameplay: 7/10.  An interesting take on the genre, but those miss-chances really let it down.
Main Story: 4/10.  Generic domination story.
Post-Game Stories: 10/10.  Better pacing, better character development, and each is a different challenge.
Characters: 5/10.  The majority are carbon copies that share names with historical figures, and the important characters only develop in the post-game stories.
Graphics: 6/10.  Not amazing, but serve their purpose.
Art/Music: 9/10.  Excellent character art, if limited.  Likewise for music.

Overall: 7/10.  Flawed, but rewarding if you persevere.

Rooksburg Reviews: Dungeon Keeper 2

To start with, a disclaimer; I did not play the original Dungeon Keeper aside from a quick playthrough of the first mission before playing this.  Unfortunately, if graphics don't have a timeless quality to them then I'm quickly put off so I skipped ahead to this game.  Therefore, I can't address any of the 'which is better' arguments.

Dungeon Keeper 2 (which I'm constantly reminding myself doesn't use 'II' instead of '2') is a strategy game developed by Bullfrog, and is quite unlike anything that came before it- apart from its predecessor, naturally.

Previous strategy titles were either Command and Conquer style, i.e build an army base and attack another army base, or they were Theme Park style, i.e micro-manage some sort of business venture peacefully.  This game could be considered a combination of the two.  In it, you play the role of an evil overlord who is trying to wrest control of the portal gems- magical items that when combined will allow passage to the overworld.  To do this a base of operations must be built, providing facilities to keep your creatures happy and train them up ready to take the fight to the lord of the land, all the while defending yourself from pesky heroic adventurers.  Where this differs from other real time strategy games is the fact you have no direct control over your minions; all you can do is guide them to what they should be doing.  The most control you have is picking up and dropping creatures near their task and hoping they do their jobs, or through the use of possession spells.

The UI shows everything you need to see without getting too cluttered.

The level design is extremely well done, unlocking something new with each land you conquer in the campaign.  In many games this would get rather repetitive, starting from scratch each time, but this game will always give you different challenges to face- one level will have you taking your time to build an overwhelming force to defeat a powerful foe, another will have you hurrying to intercept someone before they can escape, another will have you fighting against rival keepers and destroying their bases.  Along with the narration this makes the game constantly feel fresh, and with each level able to be completed in an hour then you won't get bored easily.

Each room you build will attract a new creature, and each time a new creature arrives it will be introduced by your mentor so you'll know exactly what to do with them.  It's well worth your while to attract as many different creatures as you can as they all perform different roles, and to add to the challenge there's no knowing if you'll get the creature you want even when you have the right room for it- a portal can only attract 15 creatures, so if you attract as many creatures as possible straight away to defend against invasion then you may not have room for new creatures to fill new rooms.  By the same token, you may decide a particular level won't need traps, so you won't build a workshop, meaning you won't attract trolls leaving room for other creatures.  And if you decide after all that then it's still not enough, you can capture enemy heroes after defeating them, converting them to your cause through use of the torture chamber.

No I'm not going to address feminism in this review.

Speaking of the torture chamber, it should be noted that this game has a 'Mature' rating.  In my opinion this is unfounded; in ESRB's opinion it's due to excessive gore and violence.  Here's my rundown of what this game contains, for anyone interested: On defeating a creature, they are knocked out.  If they are not transported to a prison, they will die and leave their corpse and a puddle of blood.  If they die in prison, they dissolve into the ground and become a skeleton.  When tortured, a creature will shout in pain though it's far from traumatising.  Mistresses will sometimes climb on torture equipment themselves, and moan in pleasure.  And of course there's the theme of the game which is having fun being evil.  I have not encountered any drug references, swearing, or nudity- if this game was released now I would rate it Teen, and based on the humourous cutscenes I'm guessing that's what the creators were hoping for.

On completing the game I would say there is a lot of replay value, again because of the variety of levels in campaign mode.  If you don't feel like going through the campaign though, there's 'My Pet Dungeon' which is like a sandbox- each dungeon has set conditions, like some will have less gold or spell limitations, but in all of them it's up to you when you unleash your enemies.  The true purpose of this mode is to help you remember the basics of the game, as each dungeon is a tutorial in itself, going into great detail about all the rooms and creatures if you haven't played a while; an excellent idea as there are so many games I've left for a couple of months and forgotten half the features for, requiring me to start all over again.  Then of course there is the (rather limited) skirmish mode, which is fun but does have a limited variety of maps available.  And the multiplayer mode which has the same limitations as skirmish, but does still have an active online community- and if you ever want more maps then there are packs available to download if you look for them.

So how well has this game aged?  It was released in 1999, and the game has quite clearly aged since then,

even compared to 2001's Startopia (a similar game created by some of the same production team).  However, it's easy to ignore the graphical limitations especially when there's such good gameplay.  It also has a lot of charm you don't often get in modern games with various quotes when you reach milestones ('an imp can do a good impression of you' on reaching 20 imps, 'neutral creatures regret they can't attend' if there are unmet neutral creatures somewhere, etc).  Incidentally for the best easter eggs, play this game between midnight and 3am.  Ultimately you should play this game now before the graphics become too unbearable, as HD patches can only do so much.

tl;dr review:

Graphics 7/10- a bit jarring at first but tolerable.  Make the most of it while it lasts.

Sound 9/10- very atmospheric, though you may have explaining to do when your gf or mum's in the room and you pass over the torture chamber.  Mistresses can be loud.

Gameplay 10/10- very addictive, and if you start to get bored it's generally a sign you're powerful enough to complete the current map.

Story 6/10- it's nice to have a story at all compared to some games in the genre, but there's no conclusion.  This game was clearly set-up for a sequel that never came.

Overall 8.5/10- As the tagline says, 'It's good to be bad'.  Rarely do building/RTS games keep me captivated to the end without feeling stale, but this one has- and with its style and sense of humour it's been enjoyable at every stage.  My only hope is that the graphics will stay bearable in years to come, or that a faithful sequel is made to conclude the story- it will be great to see Horny get some fresh air.

Rooksburg Reviews: Pokémon X (Part One)

Sorry for the long gap guys- this has mostly been due to various training courses, and making sure the previous post was fresh on here (incidentally if you haven't already, fill in this survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WDHGNDS ), but for the last few days it's been more because of this:

That's right, I got Pokémon X (and my fiancée got Y) and we've been pretty much playing them all day every day since.  Over 4 days we're still only halfway, having just beaten the Lumiose City gym, hence why this is only a 'part one' review.

The 3D.

Its no coincidence these were launched
at the same time as Pokémon

This is what has been on everyone's minds since a 3DS game was announced- what will the 3D be like?  Honestly, it's not bad- but it's not great either.  Firstly the overworld is not in 3D; only selected areas, and battles.  When it is active, it's quite subtle and adds depth rather jumps out at you.  In my opinion, this is much more effective and easy on the eyes, though it can be difficult to keep the 'sweet spot' to avoid double-vision.  That being said, you could turn off the 3D and it won't feel like you're missing anything at all; there's a reason why the 2DS was launched to coincide with X and Y.


The new pokémon.
Every new generation introduces a ton of new species, and X and Y are no exception; however they have introduced a lot less than usual (the count is currently around 70 and unlikely to increase).  It is likely more will be introduced in this game's sequel, but I can let it slide for this release as there are so many new features introduced.  Most controversially, these games also introduce Mega Evolutions- evolutions that can only be activated mid-battle, if a certain pokémon is holding a certain item.  Allegedly only popular pokémon have mega evolutions, Charizard and Mewtwo getting two, though there have been interesting choices like Kanghaskhan and Pinsir that have also gained evolutions.  To me, mega evolutions are wholly unnecessary and don't add an awful lot to gameplay (other than taking up a large chunk of the plot), but may be interesting competitively.  As for designs, that's subjective but in my opinion they did better than Gen V- I'm spoilt for choice as to which new pokémon to add to my team.

Mega-Evolutions would be much more useful if more were available mid-game

The new gimmicks.
Along with the pokémon themselves, every new game tends to have its own gimmicks and this one's no exception.  Most prominent are Pokémon-amie, and Super Training.  Pokémon-amie lets you play minigames with your pokémon and feed them treats, raising their 'affection' value.  This causes flavour text to appear in battle ('Fennekin awaits Dan's orders', 'Charizard's in a bit of a pinch and looks like it might cry'), giving a more personal experience to games- and a lot more heartache in Nuzlocke runs.

The cutest feature GameFreak have ever added.

  However it also has benefits like increased crit chances, increased evasion chance, and even the possibility of a focus-sash like ability where the pokémon survives a hit with 1HP left.  Super Training is similar, in that you play minigames with your pokémon, but in this case the purpose is to raise your pokémon's 'effort values'- a previously invisible score that decided how many points your pokémon gains on level up in certain stats.  In all cases the games are easy enough, not as boring as Gen V's dream world, and give you something to do if you're fed up with constant battling.  Most likely you'll spend a lot of time in Pokémon-amie during the game, then switch to Super Training for post-game competitive team raising.  The other new gimmick is trainer videos, but you're unlikely to spend much longer than 10 minutes fiddling with them.


The story.
As with other titles, the story is pretty generic- you're a young trainer sent out to become champion and fill
the pokédex, and along the way legendary pokémon and an evil team will get involved.  The pleasant surprise in this game, is that the legendaries have only had a couple of passing references and there's only been one scenario involving Team Flare so far- this is a welcome change from the Team Rocket dominated Gen I and II, and the hundreds of legendaries in Gen IV, and just as I start missing those elements then it looks like it's all kicking off now I'm leaving Lumiose City.  NPC dialogue also seems to have improved, though the progression is still very linear.

The multiplayer.
Possibly the most welcome feature of these games.  You can now interact with anyone at any time.  The O-Powers feel a little cheaty, but they do come in handy and give friends a purpose other than someone to trade with or battle.  The GTS has been improved, as you can exclude 'special' pokémon from the requests so no more 'Zekrom lvl 9 and under'.  However in it's place, there's the Wonder Trade in which you offer a pokémon and get a random one in return; as is to be expected, this is littered with early-game rubbish and it'll require a lot of luck to find anything useful.

The randomness.
Part of the Pokémon series' charm is the randomness you encounter, and this gen has possibly raised the bar on that front.  So far I've encountered strange men down dark alleys, a gliding ghost in an office, many Espurr that appear to be mind-controlling people with their cold, dead eyes (including me...), and a slightly awkward firework display with a girl I only met a couple of days ago.  And not forgetting the NPC dialogue, claiming fedoras are fashionable, telling me my power levels are over-9000, and telling me that Gary Oak/ Blue visited recently (one step behind him again!).  Then there's the gym leaders...

Criticisms so far.
Despite having over 40 hours on this game in 4 days, I still have criticisms.  So far these are:
Framerate drops.  Not by much, but noticeable and makes me cringe a little when it happens.
Lacklustre 3D.  It's nice to have on at times, and in the areas of the overworld where it works, but more often than not I find I'm switching to 2D if only for battery's sake.
Uninteresting gym leaders.  I know in Gen V the leaders were involved far too much in the plot, but at least they had some input.  So far only one gym leader appears to have any significance, and even then it wasn't for long.
Mega-Evolutions.  I'm not against the concept, but if you're going to hype them up so much then let me use something other than Lucario or Ampharos.  I'm annoyed I have to wait for postgame for things like Absol, Mawile, or Bannette.
Gifts.  I don't want your stupid Kanto starter, Lucario, or Lapras- I want to catch my own.  And I don't want the EXP share that early in the game, and affecting my whole party- I know you can switch it off but I don't want to start struggling only to have a friend tell me to use 'easy' mode.

Also, not really a criticism, but there's so many pokémon in this game... It's really hard to pick a team.  I could raise them up after completing the game, but that wouldn't be the same.  I could have a huge rotation of my team, but that'll require a lot of pokémon-amie-ing.  If ever there was a need for a second save file, this is it.

That's all I have to say for now, but once I complete and play a bit of post-game I'll have more to say.  So see you in a couple of days then!

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