JRPGs I Played in Winter 2017

For those who don't know, I'm currently living in Japan and I'm from Australia. Australia is generally warmer than Japan and allow me to let my Australian out when I say this: Japanese Winters are freezing! On the plus side, cold winters mean wanting to stay inside and play JRPGs, which means I was able to play quite a bit this season. I mostly mean hours-wise, because I may have gotten a very big Final Fantasy XV addiction, which meant I only tried so many new games while continuing to run around in Recipeh Final Fantasy XV.

Looking back on my JRPG time in Winter, outside of my Final Fantasy XV time I'm really happy with the variety of JRPGs I played. I fell in love two Final Fantasy games, added a fun new mobile game to my regular rotation, played some really great Indie JRPGs from outside of Japan and got started on my JRPG New Year Resolutions. It was a fulfilling Winter of JRPGs, so I hope you enjoy reading about the JRPGs I played.

My Favourite Game of Winter 2017: Final Fantasy XV (PS4)

If it wasn't obvious from the amount of articles and tweets I've made about it, I really like Final Fantasy XV. I like it to the point where I limit how long I play it because it's the kind of game where I could do like I did with Persona 4 Golden and play it and nothing else for nine months straight. I love running around with the group of four so much finding quests, recipes and weird things to fight and having the (sadly now gone) Moogle Chocobo Carnival come out recently to give even more content was pretty much the icing on the cake. I reviewed it properly in another post, but I'm still having a ball with XV and am completely hyped to keep playing it into Spring with the new update just out and Episode Gladio coming soon.

You can pick up Final Fantasy XV for PS4 and Xbox One at Play-Asia.com!*

Fire Emblem Heroes (iOS)

This isn't a ranked post, but I'd probably call Fire Emblem Heroes my second favourite JRPG of this Winter as it's taken over my mobile gaming time pretty much completely (and I may have my characters training on Auto-Battle as I write this). Fire Emblem Awakening has probably been my favourite tactical JRPG experience so far, so having a pocket-sized version of the Fire Emblem games constantly by my side is pretty awesome. Since writing my review of Fire Emblem Heroes, there have been a few updates to it, including events giving orbs and new story, which was exactly what I said I wanted in my review. I hope Fire Emblem Heroes keeps up the good thing it has going because so far, it's a really solid smartphone game.

You can pick up Fire Emblem Heroes in the App Store or the Google Play Store.

Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix (PS3)

When Kingdom Hearts 2.8 was looming last month, I had the sudden realisation that I'm very behind on certain parts of Kingdom Hearts' story. I've played 1 and 2 back on PS2, an insignificant chunk of Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories and not much else. I barely know who Aqua is and she looks cool and important enough in the 2.8 trailer that I decided (with some helpful nudges from lovely people on Twitter) it's time to catch up and if I start now, I might be ready before Kingdom Hearts 3.

I'm starting my Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix journey by playing through the first Kingdom Hearts again because it's been awhile. It holds up really well for a game released 15 years ago and I'm having a lot of fun playing it again because, well, it's still a good game. I am rushing through a little on Easy mode to get to the new stuff faster, but even on easy the combat is still active and rewarding. I'm playing at my own pace but it's a fun world to revisit and I'm looking forward to finally understanding it better.

You can pick up Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix for PS3 and 1.5 and 2.5 together for PS4 at Play-Asia.com!*

God Wars: Future Past (Japanese Demo, PS4)

Despite the fact I don't write my JRPG-specific PSN summaries anymore, I do still lurk the Australian and Japanese PSN every week when they're updated. I discovered very recently God Wars: Toki wo Koete (known in English as God Wars: Future Past) in the demo section of the Japanese PSN and was curious as I didn't know a lot about it. Turns out it's being localised and is scheduled for release around late March, so I plan to do a proper post on it at some point. It had a really nice traditional Japanese feeling in the story and art and the tactical system used some interesting mechanics. I wasn't swayed enough to add it to my must-buy list (which honestly may just be due to my low level Japanese preventing me from understanding the story well) but the demo is over an hour long and interesting enough for those curious.

You can pre-order God Wars - Future Past at Play-Asia.com!*

Tales of Berseria (Demo, PS4)

I had a phase where every time I saw Tales of Berseria, I wanted it more. Because of that, I was pretty surprised when the demo didn't have me throwing my money at it immediately. I think the problem with this demo was that it was too short and tried to show too much. I started off feeling like the combat was cool, then a few tutorials later, it was confusing as ever. I enjoyed the lengthy skits included, but there wasn't a lot of context given so some of the jokes were probably lost on me. Even though the demo didn't have me jumping for joy, I give Berseria the benefit of the doubt as the demo was rather short. The art, characters and story concept still seem interesting, so when I eventually play it I hope it's good.

You can pick up Tales of Berseria for PS4 and PS3 at Play-Asia.com!*

Nier Automata (Demo, PS4)

NieR Automata has been slowly selling itself to me and this demo where I started to truly need it. The gameplay in the NieR Automata demo was much more epic than I expected. Its atmosphere was very unique and the action combat was even more fun than imagined. This demo helped put it into my March must-have JRPGs and I may make an article about how excited I am about it soon.

You can pre-order NieR Automata from Play-Asia.com!*

Kingdom Hearts Unchained X (iOS)

If I'm being honest, I very briefly logged into Kingdom Hearts Unchained X for a special login bonus and haven't played much else since. It's not a bad mobile game by any stretch, it's just the story moves so slowly and there are other stories I'd like to get ahead in more. But hey, it's not leaving my smartphone game collection anytime soon!

You can download Kingdom Hearts Unchained X for free from the App Store for iOS or the Google Play store for Android!

Persona 2: Innocent Sin (PS Vita)

I've had Persona 2: Innocent Sin sitting in my PSN downloads for a year or two so when I finished World of Final Fantasy, after hearing some of my Twitter and Instagram friends suggest it I decided it was time to finally play it. Persona 2 is a very interesting game to play as someone who jumped into the series at Persona 4 Golden - there are no social links and the graphics are pretty dated, but the demon negotiation system I enjoyed when I played Persona 5 in Japanese is there. It's a really cool system to explore in English for the first time and outside of battle, there are some characters I'm interested in learning more about. I'm only about 7 hours in but it's certainly an interesting look into the Persona series' history.

Persona 4 Dancing All Night (PS Vita, Japanese)

This is a random one but when I decided I wanted to platinum something this year, I looked in my trophies and saw I was really close to platinuming Persona 4 Dancing All Night. So now it's back inside my Vita and I did get one more trophy for it, but I'm so close to platinuming Final Fantasy XV that I'm in no rush to get the one in Persona 4 Dancing All Night. It's still a really fun rhythm game though and putting Chie in her special yellow body suit, putting on the ‘Best Friends’ Banvox Remix and making her dance is never a bad time.

You can pick up Persona 4 Dancing All Night at Play-Asia.com!*

Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius (iOS)

Before Fire Emblem Heroes whisked me away from all my mobile games, I was actively planning to complete Final Fantasy Brave Exvius’ story - I even unlocked a new island in January. I don't know when I'll get back to Brave Exvius at this point but forgetting things like the weird Ariana Grande event, it's a good game that will remain on my phone for awhile.

You can download Final Fantasy Brave Exvius from the App Store for iOS or the Google Play Store for Android.

World of Final Fantasy (PS Vita)

I expressed how much I adored World of Final Fantasy in my review and I still look back on my monster hunting journey very fondly. But for the most part I've left it alone since I'm satisfied with the ending. You see, World of Final Fantasy’s ‘ending’ gave me some of the biggest JRPG-story feels I've had in a long time and now that I got the closure I needed in World of Final Fantasy, I want to leave it alone....Except I want Square Enix to make a sequel because collecting and battling with Final Fantasy monsters was freaking awesome and I'd like more of that in my life......Please.

You can pick up World of Final Fantasy for PS4 and PS Vita at Play-Asia.com!*

Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan (PC)

I'm really glad I played Aurion. It may not have been a perfect game, but it had a lot of heart and really great ideas in it. A small piece of me misses having new Aurions to find and learning a little about African mythology through the story. I enjoyed my Aurionic journey with the King and Queen of Zama and recommend it to those looking for a different kind of JRPG.

You can pick up Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan on Steam!

X-Tactics (iOS)

I'm pretty sure I logged into X-Tactics a few times for login bonuses and to try get X-Coins this month. I was considering completing all of the missions in X-Tactics before Final Fantasy Brave Exvius', but I seemed to be a little further into Brave Exvius. X-Tactics is next on my list though, so I hopefully I'll get some time to play it soon.

You can download X-Tactics free at the App Store for iOS or the Google Play Store for Android!

Legrand Legacy (Pre-Alpha Demo, PC)

Legrand Legacy is one of the best indie demos I've ever played. I really enjoyed the timing-based battle system shown off in the demo and the interesting characters that hooked me in early on and the art and ideas all make it feel really high quality. I will patiently wait for the full version of Legrand Legacy to be released and I'm really looking forward to exploring its world and story more. (Also can we all just take a moment to celebrate that Legrand got funded on Kickstarter?!?!)

You can help Legrand Legacy reach its stretch goals by supporting it on Kickstarter!
Also check out the demo on Steam!

March Gaming Plans

My Final Fantasy XV addiction shows no sign of stopping with the update being out by the time this goes up and Episode Gladiolus being released in late March. My season pass and I are very ready for this. Also, NieR Automata looks fantastic and I pretty much need it. And Persona 5's English release is slowly creeping up and while there's no chance of me completing the Japanese version before the English one comes out at this point, I hope to at least spend a little more time with it before playing it in English in April. I'll also definitely be continuing with Persona 2 on my Vita when I'm not home and probably Fire Emblem Heroes. I'm really excited for NieR and Episode Gladio next month though, so I hope they live up to my excitement levels!

Quick note: The next ‘JRPGs I Played’ post will be for March. Usually I've done these seasonally and this was appropriate when I was playing less games and making less articles, but as I'm starting to try keep up with new releases a bit better and get reviews done faster, I want to try doing these monthly to make it much easier for everyone to digest. If you have thoughts about this, please let me know by commenting or talking to me on social media!

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What did you play in Winter 2017? What games are you looking forward to playing next month (NieR Automata hype!)?
Leave a comment below, send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle, hit me up on Facebook, Youtube or Instagram and let's talk!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
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Any link marked with * is an affiliate link that helps supports the site, so if you use it, thank you!

Review - Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan (PC)

Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan is one of the most unique JRPGs I’ve ever played for a lot of reasons. It’s from Kiro’o Games, a game studio in Cameroon, Africa, and it’s based on African mythology, something that I don’t think I’ve ever seen explored in a JPRG world. Reasons like this are probably why it was successfully Kickstarted years ago and would make it a one of a kind experience for any JRPG player looking for something different. Aurion has many highs, such as a deep story that challenges its player to think profoundly throughout the King and Queen of Zama’s story, a fun active battle system and its own different kind of class system. A lack of polish stops Aurion from being a great game, but the variety of gameplay mechanics and philosophical story do make it pretty good.

Aurion centres around King Enzo from the isolated city of Zama, whose world is turned upside thanks to his brother-in-law attacking Zama just after Enzo is wed with his childhood friend and new Queen Erine. This attack results in Enzo and Erine awaking suddenly exiled from Zama and having to find the answers, along with exploring the outside world for the first time. Aurion’s story explores existential questions and the growth of the individual and a relationship, together creating a great sense of purpose throughout the story and the true feeling of going on a journey. The story isn’t afraid to go deep, with the script describing some profound topics such as embracing anger and living with honour. Some of these story moments were let down by a lack of proofreading or varying pacing, but other times there were incredibly strong story moments with such inspiration dialogue that kept me going on my Aurionic journey.

One of the things that drew me into trying Aurion was the mention of a battle system similar to some Tales of games. Aurion features an active battle system in a platforming, brawler-like style that's fun to play if you take the time to master it. There is a variety of shortcuts for commands to perform, whether you're using a regular attack, transforming your class with Aurions or getting help from Erine, who packs just as much of a punch as her husband. These commands can be implemented very quickly in battle when used, but I had trouble sometimes since the commands were so similar instead of getting Erine heal me, I'd make her attack instead even when I was using a controller. I know this problem would’ve been worse on keyboard though, so I definitely recommend using a controller to anyone who plays.

While I found the controls a little tough at time, there’s a fun class system to use in the form of Aurions. An Aurion gives Enzo a set of moves to use, boosts his power and allows him to perform special attacks. Special attacks provide the kind of Dragon Ball Z attack realness that excited the anime fan in me and made Enzo feel like a really powerful character to fight as. The best part is there are so many Aurions to unlock that I was able to find multiple for different purposes, whether for exploiting weaknesses, hitting a bunch of enemies at once on the ground or raining down attacks from above. The best part of Aurions is how they're unlocked, which is either through story moments or by combining them. Even though I couldn't get the battle commands right every time, I was able to get around this by taking advantage of the many cool Aurions at my disposal.

To do battles and experience the story, Aurion’s world full of beautiful art and music must be explored. Exploration is done in many ways: there's platforming, puzzles to unlock blocked areas, the occasional dialogue-effecting choice and even visual novel-style moments to fill in story gaps. Aurion incorporates a lot of different styles into it, which reminded me of older JRPGs featuring puzzles and challenges to move forward. Certain things I loved, such as the interesting and challenging puzzles that used pattern memorization well, but other things were let down by the lack of polish in Aurion. There are certain sweet spots to buttons needed for puzzles and chests that caused to me to be running around in one spot until it let me press the button, text going outside the box and a regularly featured difficult wall jumping mechanic. These small things were regular enough for me to find them in almost every one of my gameplay sessions and while I love the variety in Aurion, I wish the quality of these many mechanics was made a little smoother and better.

Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan is a good first effort for the Cameroon studio, even if it’s a little unpolished. Its profound story features some of the deepest philosophical ideas I’ve seen in games for awhile and unlocking Aurions made its active battle system even more fun. If you can look past the lack of polish, there is a story like no other JRPG in Aurion and a variety of gameplay mechanics to keep things interesting. Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan may not be perfect, but its uniqueness may interest those looking for a new kind of JRPG.

Score: 7.1/10
A unique, unpolished JRPG experience away from the usual JRPG story content complete with Dragon Ball Z attack realness.

You can pick up Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan on Steam
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Will you play Aurion? What's the most unique JRPG you've played?

Leave a comment below, send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle, hit me up on Facebook, Youtube or Instagram and let's talk!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Make sure to follow the blog here, follow @JRPGJungle on Twitter and Instagram, like JRPG Jungle on Facebook and Subscribe to the mailing list and Youtube Channel for updates on content and random musings on JRPG news and games. You're awesome! <3

Disclaimer: I received a code for this game from Kiro'o Games, but I can promise this post is 100% honest and written without bias.

First Impressions: Legrand Legacy (PC)

If there's one thing that can be said about Legrand Legacy, it would be that it has incredible potential. Just from watching its trailer, the well-rendered 3D cutscenes set it apart from a lot of Indie projects and show the tremendous game Legrand Legacy could be. I’m happy to say this potential shines through in the demo of Legrand Legacy, which shows off its gameplay, cutscenes and gives a glimpse into the beginning of the protagonist’s journey. Although it's a pre-alpha version, the 2-hour demo is an incredibly enticing look at a clear tribute to JRPGs, complete with likeable characters, a nifty battle system and a punishing final boss that kept me keen, on my feet and ready for more.

Legrand Legacy is set in the unique world of Legrand, filled with thieves, desert sands and demonic creatures. The protagonist Finn awakens with no memory of his past and having to fight for his life in an Arena. Luckily he wins against the odds thanks to a power from within him, which leads to him traveling with a mysterious mage and starting his journey without any memories to guide him. The characters that he meets and that accompany him on his journey come across as likeable, thanks to well-written dialogue that gives each character purpose and personality from the get-go. While the characters are more serious than silly, small bits of humour are inserted here and there that give the experience a nice balance of light and heavy moments. While I liked all of the main cast featured in the demo, I was particularly intrigued by Finn’s trusting nature and softness. I was a little critical about him initially as he goes from being the tough guy in an arena fight to being a really soft-hearted character, but his subtle caring nature is a nice contrast to his strong-willed sub-characters. All of the characters had very different personalities and I found myself intrigued by each of them in different ways.

Complementing the interesting story are the beautiful 3D cutscenes and visual novel scenes that tell it. I don't play many PC games but I can say the graphics, particularly the 3D cutscenes, aren't far off what I'd expect from a console game. The version of Legrand Legacy available on Steam is a pre-alpha build, so outside of the cutscenes the graphics aren't perfect but all graphics look good at worst, with the gorgeous cutscenes feeling like a fresh cherry on top. The game map and landscapes are also nice to look at and the desert world is complemented by good music and sound effects. It's the combination of all of these quality aspects that make Legrand Legacy stand out as an indie experience and while it's not completely the same in smoothness and polish as bigger games, for a pre-alpha experience it's doing a pretty good job.

The combat system in Legrand Legacy is a turn-based one that smartly takes advantage of the system its played on to make it unique. Accompanying the usual spells and physical attacks featured in usual JRPGs is Legrand Legacy’s Action Circle Tempo mechanic, which involves hitting a direction key indicated in a circle at the right time to either get a Perfect, Good or Poor attack. While I’ve seen this kind of mechanic in other games (namely the mobile game X-Tactics and most rhythm games), in Legrand Legacy the mechanic adds a nice bit of flavour to a familiar system.

Adding more uniqueness to making the most of combat are Grimoires, which are basically magic. Magic will be familiar to most JRPG players, but the way Grimoires are gained is what I found most interesting. They're unlocked through earning points in battle and giving them to the appropriate skills. For instance, a powerful water spell may involve raising your strength or intellect stats, and another power skill may need strength and luck raised instead. This creates an interesting choice between making your character the most skilled or most powerful and while I couldn't work out which was the better choice (and my inner completionist picked having all of the skills anyway), it was certainly an interesting choice that I liked having.

My feelings about Legrand Legacy are mostly pretty positive, but one thing I did find questionable at times was its difficulty. While I initially found the random battles difficult until I got the hang of the ACT system, the real thing I found difficult was the final boss. Don’t get me wrong: as a JRPG fan I love a good final boss battle, but this one kinda felt borderline cruel. The group attacks and the amount of damage that boss is capable of is seemingly much higher than any of the random battles prepare you for. I found myself having to go grind and really get the hang of the ACT system in order to have any chance of winning. In saying that, I did feel determined to take on the challenge (and I won!) but other players, particularly of more modern JRPGs, may not be used to this kind of difficulty. Legrand Legacy does describe itself as a tribute to classic JRPGs and this tough fight certainly echoes the tough boss fights of old JRPGs and ultimately I felt a huge amount of satisfaction when I won, so I wasn't that bothered by it in the end.

Legrand Legacy is certainly a modern homage to classic JRPGs, but it’s also much more than that. With a modern aesthetic which will appeal to fans of modern JRPGs, its characters and unique gameplay make Legrand Legacy its own unique experience, I felt a good majority of my JRPG needs satisfied, with the best part being I also wanted more once the demo ended, which is exactly how I want to feel at the end of any demo. I want to get to know Legrand Legacy’s characters more, see where the story goes and most importantly, play more with the fun, timing-based mechanics. Legrand Legacy has the ambition and execution to be a unique addition to the JRPG genre and I hope that with enough support, whether through its crowdfunding endeavour or otherwise, that this is an experience I will get to play more of in the future.

Legrand Legacy is on its final day on Kickstarter! If you like the sound of it, considering helping Semisoft reach its goal of funding Legrand Legacy here!

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Will you try Legrand Legacy? And if you already have, what did you think of it?

Leave a comment below, send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle, hit me up on Facebook or Instagram and let's talk!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Make sure to follow the blog here, follow @JRPGJungle on Twitter and Instagram, like JRPG Jungle on Facebook and Subscribe to the mailing list for updates on content and random musings on JRPG news and games. You're awesome! <3

Notes: In the interest of transparency, this game was requested consideration, but I can promise this post is 100% honest and written without bias.
Also, digital games are regularly updated and changed. My opinions about this game are based on the condition of the game at the time and with the version I played and may not cover any future important changes to it.

The Final Fantasy XIII Trilogy Is Making It's Way To Steam

From as early as this October, PC gamers will see Final Fantasy XIII make it's way to Steam, according to a blog post on Square Enix's official European blog. The original game in the series Final Fantasy XIII will hit Steam on October 9th, with the other titles appear on the platform by Spring 2015.

Anyone interested in pre-ordering Final Fantasy XIII will also be pleased to hear they will receive 10% off if they order through Steam.

Final Fantasy XIII introduces the trilogy's hero Lightning and the floating world of Cocoon in a quest to save her sister who has been branded with a mark from Pulse, Cocoon's enemy. The game also features an active battle system, differing from a majority of the Final Fantasy series turn-based games.

For more on Final Fantasy XIII, check out our other posts on the series.

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Will you be revisiting Lightning and friends?

We'd love to hear your thoughts, so comment below or send a tweet to @JRPGJungle with your thoughts!

Guilty Gear X2 - Reload Coming To Steam

Last week, digital publishers Kiss Ltd. announced via Twitter that they are bringing Arc System Works' Guilty Gear X2 - Reload game to Steam. The game will be released September 5th. The original tweet can be viewed below:

KISS Ltd are proud to announce that in conjunction with Funbox, we will release Guilty Gear X2 - Reload on Steam on Friday September 5th.

— KISS Ltd. (@KISSLtd) August 18, 2014

Guilty Gear X2 - Reload was originally released in Japan 2003 and in Europe 2004. The game expanded on the original Guilty Gear XX game by adding balancing changes to all characters, two secret characters and a fully voiced story mode for console players. No other details have been released related to the Steam release, so keep an eye out for the game in September.

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Which Guilty Gear game would you bring to Steam? Comment below or send a tweet to @JRPGJungle and let us know!

Have a story about a Japanese game or something else you think we should cover? Email jrpgjungle@gmail.com to let us know!

Review: Narcissu Side 1

Be prepared and bring tissues because Narcissu is up there in the 'saddest things I've ever read' department. I should have been prepared from the start - after all, a story about people with terminal medical illness will never be a happy story. Emotions aside, Narcissu is an artistic and thought provoking story that should not be missed by visual novel fans, especially since it is free-to-play on Steam.

Since this is a JRPG blog and not a visual novel blog, I'll briefly explain what a visual novel is. A visual novel is basically a novel that you would read in a book except with photos, voice acting, narration, music and usually choices you can make that influence the story. The last part is what interested me in visual novels as I always chase different endings in RPG and if I hear a game has multiple endings, I'm in. Narcissu is not a story with choices or any gameplay elements whatsoever but it does have art and voice acting. It is more 'novel' than visual novel, but still a visual novel nonetheless.

The story is told by a nameless male protagonist who is admitted into hospital due to terminal illness. He is admitted to 7F, where patients are looked after while they wait to die. Here he meets a girl called Setsumi, who doesn't say much other than 'Not particularly' initially. It is revealed by Setsumi that she is about to be allowed to go home for a little bit for the third time. But that's not a positive: the patients on 7F have a history of dying before either coming back to the hospital again or before their next trip home. In short, their is no fourth trip home. The story really sets off when the pair end up running away from the hospital in a stolen car, motivated by the fact that neither of them want to die at 7F or at home.

One of the things I found brilliant about this concept is even though it's a boy and girl running away together, Narcissu is by no means a love story. In fact, the protagonist and Setsumi are barely friends before they leave 7F. The story is about two people with a shared point of view and similar fates enjoying freedom in their lives for the first time. A lot of what is interesting in the story is wondering where they will end up and how long their trip will last rather than their relationship, at least until Setsumi starts to become more open.

While the characters are slowly displayed to be a little more complex, not much is explained about how and why both characters react the way they do. There were a few things I would have loved to know. What made the protagonist so impulsive - did he just crack after being oppressed for so long? Why is it suddenly okay for him to steal when he has never mentioned doing anything like that before? He only acknowledges once in the story his actions are selfish. This doesn't make him unlikable, but I had to assume a lot of things about him, such as his reasoning to steal the car was because his family never ever considered letting him use theirs and his other stealing actions are just out of pure desperation. I also had to assume that no one came after the pair who stole the expensive car because they felt sorry for them. Things were explained a little more about Setsumi, but I do wonder about the things that were left out - like why she became so quiet in the first place and why she had money saved up. Making assumptions again, I feel like maybe these were left out so that they could be addressed in Side 2.

The intriguing Setsumi

The emotional story is boosted by it's soundtrack and minimalistic visuals. A majority of the visual novel's music is filled with a subtle, sad and melodic piano that really help set the tone of each chapter. The visuals usually involve a small photo that relates to or shows something for the scene. I loved this art style as it gave enough of a visual to show you what was happening, but still allowed the reader to think of the rest.

Narcissu's menu provides you with two different translations. I tried bits of both English translations and both are well written and polished. What you like will be personal preference - I personally liked the flow of gp32's translation better, although Aiglis' translation is to be commended for being artistic and well written at the same time. Also provided is a voiced or unvoiced option for the story. This will be pure reader preference. The writing is certainly good enough without the voice acting but I rather enjoyed being able to hear Setsumi's tone while she spoke.

Lastly in the menu, I found that the save function didn't work at all. Definitely not a game breaker, but it's worth mentioning. Luckily the visual novel does remember what chapters you have unlocked, so I just chose to read chapter by chapter.

Even with it's imperfections, Narcissu's emotional story hooked me in and when the ending hit, the story gave me a one hit KO directly in the feels. Although it lacks in background story sometimes, the novel is powerful enough to still get it's story across and keep the reader intrigued for the whole three hour experience. If you're a fan of a good story, I recommend going on the minimalist, emotional trip that is Narcissu.

Score: 7.7/10

I read this over a few nights in a little under 3 hours and cried like a baby when it ended.

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You can read Narcissu Side 1 and 2 for free on Steam.

Sunday Musings: Remember That Time When Narcissu Broke Me?

Hey everyone!

This week was ridiculous and not really in a good way. I wish I could say it was because I got trashed, won the lottery and accidentally shaved my head, but that wasn't really it. Instead I went to work, worked my butt off outside of work and weeped like a wounded animal when I finished reading Narcissu 1.

I also posted my review on Child of Light this week (I loved it!) and there wasn't a heap of news to cover. I feel E3 brewing something. I would love to think it's Persona 5. Please E3, give us a longer trailer!

You know you want it.

May next week be full of more JRPGs, kinder bosses, no late work hours, sleep and smiles. And winning the lottery so I can buy even more JRPGs.

Games I Played This Week!!

Blazblue Continuum Shift Extend (PS Vita. Available on PS3, X360 and PC)

All Blazblue games have amazing posters. Fact.

I 100% completed Makoto's story, which was brilliant by the way. Everyone, please watch her family scene. It's totally ridiculous and that's exactly why you need to see it.

Getting 100% completion in Makoto's storyline put me on a very big sidetrack - I realised this game wasn't Persona 4 Arena and I didn't have to unlock more characters to get 100% on characters. So the completionist in me went on a crazy rampage through Ragna and Noel's stories before I realised that deep down I just wanted the true ending. I am sorry Blazblue true ending, I'm coming for you!

Narcissu - Side 1 and 2 (PC, free on Steam!)

I feel really sorry for my boyfriend. There we were, lying in bed Tuesday night. He was reading his book and I had my laptop out to read Narcissu. This was probably a really nice peaceful moment. Then I got to the end of Narcissu. Then I became a ball of snot, tears and sniffles that only got louder the more I tried to suppress them.

The thing about the ending is the entire story sets you up for it. You know exactly what's going to happen really early on. I think the anticipation made it worse but it was still a good read. I'm reading the second one now. So far, no tears.

Final Fantasy X HD (Available on PS3 and Vita. And in non-HD, on PS2)

I'm in the last part of the game and I'm getting destroyed and punished for the JRPG sin (no pun intended) I have committed - no level grinding. I KNOW I KNOW - It's half the reason to play these kinds of games right?!

Honestly, I got excited to play X-2, so I didn't grind. It was a mistake. Now I'm stuck on the first of the last bosses, getting slowly destroyed. I am however making more strategical decisions in battle and I hope this is making me a better gamer.

Steins;Gate (in Japanese on iOS. Also available on PS3 and PS Vita)

This week I translated two sentences in one session. I felt like a Japanese god. (I'm not)

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Also, worth noting - this blog is now on Twitter as @JRPGJungle! Please follow for updates on posts and random posts about what I'm playing. Let me know what you played in the comments or on Twitter!

I'm looking to review more games as well - if any of you would like to tweet me or email me (jrpgjungle@gmail.com) games you would like reviewed, please do and I'll do my best to make it happen if I get enough requests. I'd love to have a big, healthy database of JRPG reviews to help you guys find games and I always happy to play a JRPG for the greater good of my readers.

Have a lovely week everyone!

-Tara

PSN: guittaraxx

Sunday Musing's: I finished Child of Light!!! Back to Final Fantasy X HD

Welcome to my Sunday Musings!

This week was a good week - I only worked three days, I played more games and I feel more relaxed then I have for the last two weeks, even though there was a lot of JRPG news to cover on here. I actually have to be careful about feeling relaxed - I start to become lazy and find it hard to focus. I need to balance my work and play. But I love playing!

Since I don't really have anything 'social' to talk about this week, here are the games I played. And good news: it's a lot more than previous weeks!

Child of Light (Played on PS4. Also available on PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC)

Can you believe it took me over two weeks to finish a twelve hour game? I need to get my priorities straight.

I won't spoil too much of my review right now, but I feel very positive about this game and I felt a little sad to finish it. Child of Light is a stunning experience, I'm so thankful that it exists to give such a fulfilling story to the people who play it. Seriously, just go play it - It's $20 and if you're reading this blog and love a good story, I don't think you'll regret it.

Oh and I got 100% in trophies. #justsaying

(You can read my somewhat more structured feelings about Child of Light in my First Impressions post)

Blazblue: Continuum Shift Extend (Played on PS Vita. Also available on PS3 and X360)

This week I finished Rachel and Jin's story modes and began Makoto's. And I still haven't unlocked the 'true' ending! I'm really enjoyed Jin's story, so far I feel his showed the opposite side of the story and even involved some battle handcapping which was challenging. Makoto will be interesting as she's one of the characters that were new to Blazblue in Continuum Shift Extend. But I really want to get to the end and see the rest of everyone's stories - Arc System Works' story modes are very good at creating suspense!

Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars (Played on PS Vita. Also available on 3DS)

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this game! Before downloading it, I truly thought the game's concept (no pun intended) of a dungeon crawling dating sim with classmating (Atlus definitely did intend for this pun) and giggly girls to be crazy. Too crazy, even for a JRPG! Conception II so far isn't a groundbreaking game, but it is fun and humourous and I want to buy the full version. Try the demo on PSN if you haven't already!

(You can read more about my feelings on Conception II at my Demo Review/First Impressions post...complete with screenshots!)

Steins;Gate (iOS)

Barely worth mentioning this week, but I thought I would anyway. I got through one line of translating and finally got up to Okabe saying something. This will not be a short playthrough, that's for sure.

Cherry Tree High Comedy Club (PC via Steam)

Alright, here's where things get slightly more interesting. I had a crazy urge to read a Visual Novel yesterday! I have no idea where it came from but it was there and it was powerful. This also resulted in my finding the Visual Novel Database this week.

Anyway, I began the free demo of Cherry Tree High Comedy Club and played for about 15 minutes. It reminds me a bit of Persona with it's activities - you have lunchtime, afternoon and the evening as the time periods of a day where you choose what you can do. The things you do during these times either raise stats or help get someone to join your club. Your stats are basically what you can converse with other people about (music, video games, fashion etc.), which will ultimately help you get more people to join the comedy club. So far it's a cute concept, but I'm only 15 minutes in so I probably can't give a professional opinion yet. :)

Narcissu (PC Via Steam)

I daresay this is my first proper Visual Novel. I've played games with Visual Novel elements (Blazblue's story mode and a lot of the dialogue in JRPGs are good examples of this), but never just a pure visual novel. Narcissu is free on Steam and is a very moving story. The tale is through the perspective of a sick person who is admitted to hospital with not a lot of hope of living. However, instead of being constantly grim, the story is moving in another direction. I have no idea what's going to happen, but let's just say I'm hooked for now.

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What have you been playing this week? Did you play any of these games?

Next week I'll be back to Final Fantasy X HD. Maybe even tonight - I'm excited to get back to it. I love me some Final Fantasy! Have a good week everyone!

-Tara

PSN: guittaraxx

Final Fantasy III coming to Steam

A listing on Steam has revealed that Final Fantasy III is coming to PC. While no official date has been confirmed, the game will include new and improved 3D visuals, upgraded graphics, Steam Achievements, easier browsing through bestiary and new visual designs for job mastery cards.

Pretty keen for this, I haven't had a chance to play Final Fantasy III yet. More news as I see it!