Monthly Archives: September 2017

Raiders Of The Broken Planet Open Beta Available Now

Raiders of the Broken Planet - Dev Diaries #2 [English] - YouTube

Available now as a free download on Steam, Xbox Store, and Playstation Store, the open beta for Raiders of the Broken Planet is live from 10 am GMT until Monday, September 18th at 10 am GMT. After this, the full launch will be September 22nd, and players will have access to the Prologue which features the missions “First Round” and “Hanging by a thread”.

“I am so excited for PC, PS4 and Xbox One players to finally try out the Prologue. The open beta is free to download and will allow players to experience the crazy adventure we want to take them on,” said Enric Álvarez, Co-Owner of MercurySteam. “We hope everyone enjoys the first two missions alongside some of the team who will also be online this weekend. And don’t be afraid to play as the Antagonist – it’s good to be bad sometimes!”

Purchasing a campaign will grant a number of invite passes. These will allow players to invite their friends to play through a campaign with them, even if their friends do not own it themselves. Additional invite passes will be available to purchase in-game.

Retro Review: Breath of Fire 2

by Jason Parker (Ragachak)

December 2nd, 1994

Retro Review - BoF 2 - 1

Editor’s Note: Several screenshots are from other versions of the game: GBA and the Retranslation.

On this date, a revolutionary video game was released. But why is it so revolutionary? What makes this particular title so special? Breath of Fire 2, developed by Capcom really pushed the envelope for the 90s without a doubt. Think back to your classic games: What was the most taboo subject? What was talked about the least? Beyond sex, you degenerate. Religion! Most games that had Churches/Temples had to have their crosses censored because of the Red Cross. God was almost never mentioned. What about God being evil? Nooo, that was most definitely never touched upon. The “evils” of religion were not a topic discussed in a game that I can remember. Sure, there were devils and demons, and evil powerful lords or forces, but they were never the focal God of an entire religion. Despite the (although standard for the 90s) poor, ludicrously poor translation, Capcom took it right to organized religion with their tale of the Dragon Clan (the ancient order) being set aside as it weakened, for a new religion/order in St. Eva.

BoF 2 - Bow

Oh that scamp. But he’s not a criminal. Really.

All is not what it seems with the Church of Saint Eva. Disguised as a pretty standard Church that preaches light and peace, something sinister lurks in their clergy. Every boss in the game that is associated with Saint Eva becomes some horrific monster or devil. In fact, every major boss in the game that I can think of right off-hand (other than beasts in the wild) are men that transform into powerful, frightening creatures with the power of religion. So you play as Ryu, one of the last survivors of the powerful Dragon Clan. In Breath of Fire 1, there was a whole village of them (until you know, the story happens), and as time goes on, of course, their numbers shrink further and further. After falling asleep in the shadow of his mother (The Dragon that defends the town of Gate), he awakens and nobody remembers him! His father, everyone’s memories appear to be erased, or a Rip Van Winkle thing has happened. So now he’s an orphan and meets up with a fellow orphan who just wants to rob the Church. He’s Bow, and he’s going to be your ally! Except don’t count on seeing him in your party for a quarter to half of the game. It’s really frustrating, but I like it as a plot point.

BoF 2 - Barubary 2

Eventually we come back for revenge.

Upon stealing off into the rain, a cave hides a secret: A gigantic demon, Barubary. He reveals that you are special, a child of prophecy, but then he batters you in one titanic blow. Cue story scroll! Your goal is unclear at first, which is pretty great honestly. You aren’t aware that you’re on a quest to save the world from an evil cult religion. At first, you’re just trying to clear Bow’s name of being a criminal. As you undergo this quest for your lifelong friend, a plot hovers just on the edge of your eyesight. That’s one of the things I really love about Breath of Fire 2; the slow boil for the story is masterful, and the characters all more or less have engaging story arcs that explain why they are where they are, or what they’re doing with their lives. Not all of them though. The hidden character Bleu (from BoF1), she remains an immortal sorceress Naga. Spar doesn’t seem to have much, either. The best of all of these has to be one of my least favorite characters, Sten Legacy.

BoF 2 - Sten

“I thought you were dead!!!~”

It does lead me to one of the criticisms of this game: It has a habit of forcing you to use characters you might not want to use/aren’t leveled/aren’t strong. Much of Sten’s side-story forces him to be the only character in your party, and if you didn’t take time to gear and level him, it’s going to be a nightmare, and in that case, I hope you have a save point outside of their castle. It takes forever, it’s nightmarish, and it’s difficult. Rand has a similar arc where he must be in the party, and if you aren’t using him, it’s going to be rough stuff. Spar must be in the party for their arc, but it at least makes a bit more sense. Most of these characters (in my eyes) are not terribly strong in combat when you have to do this, and no power leveling will make it better. The difficulty curve in this game slides up and down at a breakneck pace; but lots of grinding can offset this, as can the Shaman System.

BoF 2 Shaman Girls

They just want to be inside you.

This is an optional system but one that really changed how you approach the game. When you unlock the ability to have a town (Township), you can come across a Witch who has a series of elemental-attuned daughters (Shamans). You start with two, but the others (Water, Earth, Holy, Dark, etc) are scattered around the world and you can find/recruit them. You undergo a ritual and one or two of them can merge into a character to change their stats, abilities, and looks! Except Ryu (Dragon Clan are too powerful) and Bleu (Naga are also too powerful), but everyone else can. Each Shaman affects certain things, and there are preferred combos for characters, like “Devil Katt”. Shin (Devil) is the most ideal for her, and a few combinations will work with it. But the Holy elemental Shaman is useful on too many characters. There are people you might not take with you, because you’d rather have Holy Nina instead of one of the other characters, like Jean.

BoF 2 - Ganer

Keep your eye on the prize.

Speaking of characters, combat’s pretty simple. Turn-based, initiative combat, but it always felt like spells took precedence over skills. Like in its predecessor, bosses, once reduced to 0 hp would recover and have a second wind. This is such a damn annoying feature, and I don’t really get the justification for it. I think if only the followers of Eva did it, it’d make more sense. I do feel like difficulty scaling in this game was crazy and infuriating at times, many of the boss difficulties coming out of nowhere. Lots of bosses had crazy strong AOE powers, and many of the regular enemies would crit, and crit often. Status ailments were another very frustrating and could easily spell doom for your party. Taking the time to level, upgrade gear and always having the right items were certainly paramount in Breath of Fire 2. It didn’t contain many puzzles or traps to solve, but there were far more subtle things to worry about. A prime example is when you’re saving the citizens of a town from a flood. There are parasites on their faces, and you’re supposed to kill the parasites and never attack the people. But you can attack them. Depending on how you handle this and other situations, you can unlock special abilities and skills that anyone can use. It had a surprisingly strong moral compass for how you treated others.

BoF 2 - Fancy Township

My kind of town.

But Religion aside, it had other revolutionary systems, like the Township. Depending on what you do in the game (that’s a very common theme), you can acquire one of three types of towns. It can be a golden city with beautiful brick work, something more common, or basically wood huts. You can expand the village out a bit, and for each house, there are certain people in the world that can fill those slots. So be careful, you might ruin your plans for your town! I’ve done it on more than one occasion, and you can’t kick them out of your town once they are there. Speaking of the town, if you fail in certain objectives, you can get different endings! There’s a bad ending, an okay ending, and a great ending. I won’t say what you have to do, but Eichichi and Ganer are incredibly important to the great ending. You might miss Eichichi though… speaking of her, what a fantastic character. In the retranslation, she’s renamed “Gigi Kupps” which is a play off the original name, Eichichi (which is a play on her having huge breasts and being a cow. It can also be a play off of milk, since she’s a cow). At no point in the game is it required to meet her, so you could definitely miss her and miss an ending. It’s not all super serious all the time!

So Much To Do, So Much To See: 4/5

BoF 2 - Mina

So what’s wrong with taking the backstreets? Okay, I’m not proud of that. But jokes aside, Breath of Fire 2 had such a rich story, with insane amounts of content just lurking in the distance, if you were willing to find it. Hidden items, a hidden party member, extra endings, lots of replay value. You could choose to be mean to people and not get great skills, or you could be a potential saint. There are some moments you can go to areas early, or you have to go back a second time if you want the Shaman that lurks there. This story has something for everyone. The musical score was tremendous, the graphics were pretty, and the enemy sprites were far above anything I had seen at that point. The challenge can be daunting, and having to redo battles over and over because you weren’t prepared? Man, in the 90s this game was rough and unforgiving. But I loved it. I loved the story, it has so many layers to it. The characters grow and change. Rand is more than a Momma’s Boy, Sten is more than a coward who left his army, Katt’s not just a barbarian ass-kicking machine. There are so many damn sad stories in this game. If you want to be moved, challenged, and really be forced to think about life, you’ll play Breath of Fire 2.

PAX West 2017 – Immortal: Unchained Impressions

By Jaime Skelton (MissyS), Editor in Chief

At Gamescom, developer Toadman Interactive and publisher Sold Out announced Immortal: Unchained, a blend of hardcore RPG and third person shooter in a sci-fi setting. We met with Toadman at PAX to get an early look at this exciting new game with a demo of the alpha build.

The titular character of Immortal: Unchained is described as a “human weapon,” once held prisoner for their past deeds. The end of the world is nigh, however, and so the warden decides to unleash him as a final weapon against the apocalypse. With the warden’s guidance, the unchained Immortal must go out and become the hero the world needs.

Immortal Unchained Frosty Survelliance Screenshot

The game takes a third-person approach and features both melee and ranged combat, though it seems likely melee is a last resort. Combat is more tactical than it is “spray and pray,” and has a slight Dark Souls vibe. As they played through the stage, they demonstrated how essential it was to use cover, how positioning played a key role in defeating some enemies, and how aiming for specific body parts on enemies could make an impact. There was also a lot of death – even on an average difficulty with decent gear, the character could usually only take two or three hits.

There are many weapons to be discovered in Immortal: Unchained, and while I can’t disclose how many, it’s more than a handful. There is a wide variety of weapons, and each can be customized to suit the player’s needs or style. While weapons are not equal, the power difference between them is never extreme, which should mean that players can keep using their favorite weapons longer.

Immortal Unchained Plasma Blast ScreenshotImmortal Unchained Plasma Blast Screenshot

I also discovered that weapon drops (which are scattered in chests throughout the world) are all static, not random. We discussed this point at length. The developer explained that because of the difficult nature of the game, they want the player experience to be equal (between different players) and reliable (for multiple playthroughs). Not only could random drops make wildly different experiences for different players, they could also harm the strategies or progression of a single player trying to get through the game.

While I didn’t have a hand on the controls myself, I was able to confirm that Immortal: Unchained will feature both mouse and keyboard and controller options, with free flexibility to use either or both at any moment. The game also features an optional ‘lock target’ feature for those who prefer it. However, rather than neutering the shooting experience, the lock target mechanic allows players to choose where they would like to aim on the enemy’s body. This should mean that the game is enjoyable whether you prefer to free aim, or prefer lock-target aiming.

Immortal Unchained Mean Business' Screenshot

Enemy health is displayed over their heads with a simple two bar UI. The first bar is the obvious health bar. The second bar, however, is a “stagger” meter. When depleted, enemies will briefly be staggered or otherwise at a disadvantage for a short amount of time. Some weapons deal more ‘stagger’ damage, such as melee weapons which can knock down enemies. While it can be ignored, it seems like it is a crucial mechanic to pay attention to when planning your fights.

Ammo is also important in Immortal: Unchained, given it is primarily a shooter. Rather than static drops, ammo is found from enemies. The idea is to make sure that players have a way to always progress, so long as they are engaging. That is to say, ammo should be plentiful if you fight your way through stages, but rushing through or avoiding enemies may leave you short on bullets.

Immortal Unchained Boss Time Screenshot

Another key game feature is the Obelisk. The Obelisk serves both as a save point and a hub for customization – think a bit like a camp in more traditional RPGs. Here players can equip and improve weapons, and level up and boost their stats through resources found. However, visiting an Obelisk resets all enemies in the nearby area – which means you can’t cheese progression by constantly running back to the save point.

While I’m told the game obviously takes inspiration from the Souls games, the inspiration goes further back to Legend of Zelda and Metroid, where difficulty was high, exploration was rewarded, and satisfaction came from mastering the game over time. This “old school” design philosophy shows in Immortal: Unchained, which aims to be difficult not just for the sake of difficulty. I had the chance to watch one boss fight, which strongly reminded me of Metroidvania type bosses that may be difficult, but have clear telegraphs that you can master with experience.

Immortal: Unchained is scheduled for the first half of 2018 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Mighty Party: iOS Worldwide Release

Mighty Party

Mighty Party: Heroes Clash for Apple iOS is a turn-based RPG featuring certain card-battle elements. The game developed by Panoramik Inc (a team responsible for creating Forge of Gods: Tactical RPG) is based on a free-to-play business model with the optional micro transactions.

The game takes players to a fantasy World of Pangea. The plot revolves around unconscious Adam finding himself in Celestial Citadel full of different monsters and bosses. His path is plenty of legendary adventures and great battles as Adam has to save the World and it’s flawless Lilith. He does not know, however, this trip is much more than just a mere form of entertainment and has a real effect on reality.

Collect hundreds of characters, train your Mighty Party to combat any opposition that comes your way! It’s live on Apple iOS right now!