Bandai Namco has announced their next two DLC characters: Goku and Vegeta! This time it’s their original, Dragon Ball Z forms in their original gear!
Yearly Archives: 2018
Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker – Base Battle Trailer
In “Base Battle” in Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker, players will strategize with their team and use different class types to outsmart and outfight their opponents.
Fallout 76 Gameplay Playlist
Today we have four videos from Fallout 76 that show off gameplay from leaving the vault, an intro to the C.A.M.P. system, Nukes and more! Oh, West Virginia. You’re still beautiful, even after the Fallout.
Shining Resonance Refrain Review
by Andrew Skelton (Outfoxed)
I grew up fondly with the Shining series. Shining Force was one of my initial forays into strategy RPGs, for example, and it and its sequel provided me countless days, weeks, possibly months of enjoyment. I fell out of touch with the series after Shining Soul II, mostly as I lacked a SEGA Saturn for Shining Force 3. Shining Resonance never saw release stateside, but the company is seeking to remedy that with Shining Resonance Refrain, releasing for the PC, PS4, XB1, and the Switch. The game contains all the DLC released for the original title, and adds additional story content with two spoiler-iffic characters joining your party from the start. How does the game stand up in these modern times? After all, this was a game that launched nearly three-and-a-half years ago for the PS3.

Girl Meets Dragon
Shining Resonance Refrain follows Yuma Ilvern, a young man with a troubled past, on his quest to prove himself useful to his rescuers. Oh, and he just so happens to possess the powers of the legendary Shining Dragon. He’s rescued from imperial forces by Sonia Blanche and Kirika Towa Alma, and they petition his aid in helping the kingdom of Astoria fend off attacks from the selfsame Empire that had kidnapped him.
As is typical with most JRPGs, you can expect the usual suspects of plot twists, reveals, and betrayals along the way. There may not be anything particularly revolutionary about Shining Resonance Refrain’s story, but it’s still solid. In fact, it feels almost a homage to stories of RPGs in the so-called golden age of JRPGs in the late 90s to early 2000s. My major complaint is that Yuma doesn’t feel like a protagonist at all when you start, which I know many players may find completely jarring and unacceptable.

That Backwards Life
SEGA provided a copy of the PC release of Shining Resonance Refrain, so I will be discussing those controls specifically. You have the option to use keyboard, keyboard-and-mouse, or a compatible controller. The middle option was honestly a bit surprising; not many RPGs like this opt for a keyboard-and-mouse setup. Controller support seemed just fine, but I’d advise against trying to let Steam handle configuration (I actually had to disable it in order to get controller functionality).
Keyboard controls are also kind of a mess by default. Thankfully, everything is rebindable, and if you decide on the keyboard/mouse combination, I highly recommend you do so. I even rebound the controls on the controller to be more in line with other, similar games (seriously, why are the attack buttons bound to B and Y on a 360 controller by default?). You’ll thank yourself for this decision come combat time.

Small World, Big Exploration
You can break down the gameplay in Shining Resonance Refrain into two categories: exploring and fighting. Exploration, in this case, means traveling through towns and dungeons, talking to NPCs, and finding treasure. This is your standard fare for a JRPG. Thankfully, there’s a lot of places to explore, and the environments are varied and beautiful. The main town feels sufficiently alive, which is good, because it’s the only town you’re going to see throughout the entire game. You’ll also want to get used to the fact you’ll be running everywhere, since you can only teleport back to town by use of an item (which also doesn’t work everywhere).
Combat itself is simple. You initiate a fight by running into enemies on the field, and if you surprise them, you get some time to attack without reciprocation. There are three types of attacks to unleash: a basic attack, a power (or break) attack, and skills. You can chain these abilities together to perform rudimentary combos. The real core of combat, however, comes in setting up character bonds using certain titles you gain throughout the game. This further determines resonance effects on whomever is in the center, which can range from buffing said character, to debuffing or damaging whichever opponent they’re attacking. You can only control a single character in a party of four, but you can change between them at any time. Just get used to going into the menu every single time you want to, since there’s not a simple key to change.

Save the World? Maybe Later
Like most roleplaying games, sidequests abound, and these quests tend to be tasks to fetch a specific number of items or slay a specific amount of enemies. You can get some pretty decent rewards by completing these quests, though, so they’re definitely worthwhile. Most of the time they don’t take you terribly far out of the way of where you’ll be going in the story anyway. Plus you get to have some interesting events with random NPCs along the way, which really helps to immerse you in the game world.
Not satisfied with sidequests? Later in the story you unlock the ability to delve into Grimoires. These are dungeons you can tackle that will scale to your character’s levels, and can offer you great loot for completing them. You are locked to the party you select when you enter, so choose wisely. Additionally, you can use various crests you gain throughout the game (via monster drops, dungeon loot, etc) to enhance each Grimoire dungeon, adding additional challenge to each foray and providing the possibility of even better rewards. The way the game scales in difficulty, you’ll definitely want to utilize these dungeons to power up your party further.

What is Alchemy, Anyway?
While simplistic in nature, crafting in Shining Resonance Refrain is very useful. Aside from the normal restoratives and combat buffing items, you can also craft what are called Aspects. Aspects give a variety of character benefits, from increased power or hit points to being able to run away faster. Every character can equip a certain number of Aspects depending on what their specific weapon is tuned for. You heard me, tuned. Every character has a weapon called an Armonic, which is effectively a weapon and an instrument combined into one.
In order to make these Armonics stronger, you tune them using various musical scores you can find throughout the game, either via the story or sidequests. Different tunings have different powers to them. For example, Kirika’s base tuning makes her healing spells more effective. In addition to the main effect of the tuning, each also affects your stats in some measurable way, such as increasing defense instead of strength, or balancing these stats. You can also level the tunings to increase the gain of these statistics. They allow you to customize your characters in ways to support whomever you’re using as a primary unit.

Never Had a Friend Like Me
Some of you aren’t going to like what I’m about to tell you: Shining Resonance Refrain is also part dating simulator. Though not on the level of, say, a visual novel, characters build bonds through conversations in town and by being used in battle together. These bonds will also increase their chances to use resonance in battle. In town, or at a campsite, you can speak to your party members, and many times you’ll be given a choice of response. Choose the correct response and their affection increases. From there, you can invite them on a date that night, for some additional story scenes. You’re not limited to opposite gender choices here. We’re all friends here, right?
There’s also a healthy amount of party banter as you’re exploring the various fields and dungeons of the game too, that simply happen randomly. These can give you an option to respond, though I never actually encountered any bond changes from these events; I imagine it’s very much within the realm of possibility. All of these bonds culminate at the end of the game, though it’s up to you to get there to see how.

Final Verdict: 3/5 (Good)
Shining Resonance Refrain isn’t a bad game, by any stretch. It’s colorful, it’s mechanically sound, it’s got plenty to do, see, collect, and more. The problem with Shining Resonance Refrain is that it doesn’t do anything great. Combat is repetitive, the story cliche, the characters fit into nice little tropes all around. I don’t think I ever found a practical use for gold in my entire time playing. It’s bogged down by these little nuisances that really should have been resolved in an updated version like this. Playing the updated Refrain mode of the game with two characters that are important to the antagonist’s side from the very start is a very strange decision too. If you’re a fan of JRPGs with an action focus, and are a fan of the Shining series, it may be worth your while to check out Shining Resonance Refrain. For those on the fence, just realize there’s precious little new to be found in this title.
Note: A game key was provided for review purposes.
Sea of Solitude
Atmospheric third person exploration platformer revealed at the 2018 E3 EA conference.
When Kate’s loneliness transforms her into a monster, she will have to turn to other monsters if she wishes to become human again.
Jo-Mei Games
Jo-Mei Games
Warlords Awakening Early Access Giveaway
We’ve partnered with Playwith Interactive to celebrate the start of Warlords Awakening‘s early access on Steam!

Prepare yourself as you step into a world writhe with chaos. PLAYWITH Interactive Inc. presents Warlords Awakening, a new MMORPG that will place you on a journey to become an Elite Lord with an action packed story and ominous monsters around every corner. Explore and conquer the world of Epheia together with the cute and dashing pets to choose from. Epic dungeons and raids await you, as well as the loot they bear. It is time for….Warlords Awakening.
Your key allows free access to the game (worth about US$11.99) on the day of Early Access due 26th of July, 2018 on Steam.
To Redeem your Key:
- Launch the Steam client software and log into your Steam account.
- Click the Games Menu.
- Choose Activate a Product on Steam…
- Follow the onscreen instructions to complete the process.

The Banner Saga 3 Press Preview
by Jason Parker (Ragachak)
My apologies, friends! I meant to get this out weeks ago, but I simply have been swamped with work and it just kept falling to the wayside. But I received an early preview of The Banner Saga 3 and was given some pretty specific instructions on what not to talk about (story stuff) so I don’t spoil it for anyone. Unfortunately, I have not played much of The Banner Saga 1 and 2. Not because I dislike them (because I love the concepts for them immensely), but time is at a premium. But after playing a few hours of the final game in the series, I have to go back and see how we got to this very dark point in the timeline. This is the final game of the series though, and we’re going to go out with a bang. There’s an encroaching darkness, and it’s seeping into all aspects of the game. There’s more decay, and there are some pretty tough decisions for players to make. I do love a good dark timeline, and this definitely fits that bill. This is a land of hardship, sorrow, and darkness. Are your friends truly your friends? What does the entity writhing in the darkness hold? What will your Banner tell at the end? That’s intense, and I love it.
I do love a good turn-based strategy and I was terrified when my characters started perishing in battle; after all, I’ve played Fire Emblem and Final Fantasy Tactics, so I know what that can entail. Thankfully, they don’t die forever and simply are injured. Simply being in battle seems to have a chance for a character to be injured when taking damage, and you’ll see the consequences of that battle after you receive your rewards. You can take them with you, but it comes at a very serious cost: They come in with lower strength for X amount of days, and letting them rest in camp will fix it right up. Fortunately, you have a roster of plenty of characters to pick and put into battle, so it’s not a bad idea to juggle them around to keep everyone leveling up, being promoted (using renown from battle) so that way you always have someone who is ready to go. So from there, we march off into battle. One of the only complaints I had was that I could not see a way to toggle on enemy movement. If you click on an enemy, the game will show their potential movement, but there does not seem to be a way to turn it on permanently. The UI is very easy to understand though, and I appreciate that there’s a clear indicator of who is coming up and when at the bottom of the screen so it’s easy to keep track of and plan ahead.
That’s imperative for Tactics games, you need to know who is moving and when, so you know how to react or plan ahead for what the current calamity is. This is a game where you need to be aware of so much, even down to where a character is facing when they walk. I wish I could rotate someone when I end their turn because I’ve accidentally had my shieldbearers face off in a weird direction and though it doesn’t affect block chance, I wish it did. I shot at an enemy facing away from me and still only had a 20% chance to defeat their block/deflect chance. This franchise does something a little different in combat that I was frustrated with at first, and that’s the block/HP system. I grew to enjoy it though after a few battles. You have two numbers, which are displayed on a banner. The number on the blue half is block/defense, the red is the HP.
When you attack, you have an option to target the defense, or to attempt to break through and hit the HP itself (which has a percentage chance that is visible). This affects ranged units, anyway. Melee units can choose to weaken defenses for your ranged units or choose to just deal health damage and kill them themselves (and claim the renown for the kill). I love this idea because you really have to juggle and consider what you’re doing with your attacks instead of “target him, kill them, move on”. Morale matters and you also have another stat, “Willpower”, that does not replenish. Using it will make you move farther and hit harder, but it does not regenerate. You have to use skill points to get it back. This is yet another thing you absolutely must consider in order to be successful.
You have objectives in each battle of course, and the next thought is if you want to simply complete that, or murder everyone. Personally, when I’m told “If you kill the guys in blue, everyone else is likely to flee the field”, I’m going to do just that. I’m not risking my Caravan being injured over my personal greed and bloodlust. But here is where I had my first serious quandary. Back in games like Final Fantasy Tactics, you had to make decisions that didn’t really matter outside of gaining/losing Brave. It didn’t feel like it mattered unless you were min/maxing, or wanted an easier wincon for a particular stage. But in The Banner Saga, these choices made outside of battle not only matter, they’re hard to make! The first major one I can think of was when we came across the horse-born, and as it turns out, they slaughtered a village, took their goods and were going to give them to us. They did this before we got there, so it was probably simply them marauding and conveniently giving the goods to us. Do we condemn them and say they’re on their own? Or since the deed has already been done, use it to our benefit? That was the choice I made, but I did not arrive at it easily.
The Hype is Real: The hype is also warranted. Playing The Banner Saga 3 makes me regret not playing the first two when I had a chance, but I’m definitely going to go back and do just that. The choices are difficult, the gameplay is very solid, and the aesthetic really sells it all and puts it together for me. There were some minor bugs I dealt with, but it was a beta build, and that’s bound to happen. But I do want to circle back to the aesthetic. I’ve played a lot (and I mean a lot) of Viking/Norse-themed games, but I have never played one before that captures that art style in quite the same way. The look and feel of The Banner Saga 3 are incredible, and I felt like everything I did, said, and performed in battle mattered. You have to be careful and thoughtful, be aware of hazards in battle and consider both word and deed. The Banner Saga 3 goes live on Tuesday, July 24th, and I cannot express enough how much I enjoyed it. Whether you have played the other two games or not, if you’re seeking a strategy game that will get in your head and your heart, this is the one for you.
Dig or Die
Inspired by games such as Terraria and Starbound, Nicolas Gadenne of Gaddy Games has created the sandbox adventure, Dig or Die. With more focus on base defense and less on grindy digging, Dig or Die offers a unique experience in the 2D sandbox survival genre.
As a marooned employee of CRAFT&CO you’ll need to use your company’s own technology to stay alive, explore, build, and research a way off the planet.
Features:
Base Defense: Nightly attacks will test your wits as you must build a base with defenses to withstand the onslaught of the native wildlife.
Physics: Liquid flows and blocks fall, so no skybridges in this game! Beware of heavy rainfall, lest you find yourself needing to grow gills.
Less QQ, more Pew-Pew: This is a true sci-fi game, with no swords or sorcery. High intensity laser battles will win the day in Dig or Die.
Gaddy Games
Gaddy Games





