Recent reviews by Bud8013

It's like Crack...

You need to stop playing to eat or sleep but you want more.

I was going to refund it after a bit of playing but slowly started to enjoy the game even with it's problems, BUT...

For starters, I've played the original stronghold and wanted to try out the "HD" update. I say that loosely because of the several unpolished graphics and problems with the smaller details of the game while also still retaining some of the problems of the original. Take something as simple as clicking on a villager, only the basic serf, woodcutter, and female graphics got a update where the rest are grainy and were taken from the original. Several of the cut-scenes portraits are way too zoomed in, resulting in the characters staring at you as if you were in a fish-bowl and their animations cut off way too quickly to have an impact during the campaign. And besides the new campaign, the game doesn't feature a offline skirmish mode, even though the previous game in the series, Crusader, did. Several times I though I plugged a hole in a wall only for them to walk through it, with trial and error due to how the terrain works.

The graphics of the game seem to have been AI-up-scaled with how some are grainy even compared to the original, though I do enjoy the new 3D models they used for the villagers to give them a bit more life and the new "drawn" protraits. Plus the game has a new campaign though it seems it is in parts through the DLC. Sadly, it seems the developers wanted to create level-pack for the game instead of improving the core of the game and the extra expansion.

I want to like this game, but besides the several small issues that slowly build up, I just can't seems to find it even on a -25% discount sadly.

While not a furry, I am a heavy user of the RPG Maker engine and besides the material the game tackles, it is a very good puzzle and exploration game with a focus on gallery material for a $5 price tag. I've played through the original and SPECIAL Edition Act 1 in the past and I really enjoyed it. I think this game utilize the engine to great effect.

HOWEVER I feel that this new version the developer is making which is a free beta if you bought the game, has way too much content to enjoy for a first-time play-through. While the SPECIAL edition is playable to beginning and end from what I remember, it adds too much content for my liking, over-bloating the game to something I feel isn't what was originally envision. I believe the base game is just as enjoyable if more-so.
(An example : You have to go through a several random; if not difficult ; series of events and have to go down a specific route to obtain an different type of transfer scene, just 1.)

I also like how to get one of the endings, you need to either read about it or know something special on how RPG Maker engines work. I got it from just testing it out my first run-through.

Overall. I think for $5 this is a good puzzle game to play-through. Plus most people I've seen only found the game for the material it has and the point shop sadly.

I am one of the ones who originally bought this when this came out back during 2021 and played through it ( Though sadly got half-way through due to getting bored during an point in the game. ) ( Twice ) I've previously played the Star Shift Legacy demo that this game is a side-story to. Being about an 5-6 hour adventure depending on your skill-level, it was an interesting experience. While I have been waiting for Star Shift Legacy to release last year before it got pushed back to the end of the year, which is sad to see but still game-development is a pain sometimes. With the release of Rebellion and the announcement of Freelancer ( A fan-project that the developers decided to bring aboard to hold the release date of the main game ) I decided to play this again after Rebellion's release to catch up with the setting again, ( Though this was while a semi-interesting experience ; though a little old-dated ; discussing the reason that the game went Free due to the developers getting better at learning about the engine and plugin collections and not feeling it was up to their standards. )

The game is really sadly unpolished with several switches and variable checks that don't exist or don't work. Several assets clash with each other though it is understandable for such a small development team. However it can be distracting to see assets you've used in the past with the engine. They should stick with the mix between 1 - 3 artist and not a mix between 4 - 5 + RPG Maker asset packs. The assets are a mix bag though it that is understandable as it is reused form the base game and are more recolors with new assets. The skill system I hope is heavily improved to have more skills in the base game and more. The tactical combat sections also suffer as it is unpolished with enemy hitboxes for AOE attacks and depending on what happens, your ship can randomly take damage. Plus, while the final town you visit is interesting location, you will be walking through corridors that were randomly generated through RPG Maker engine itself sadly. Wish the tower had several floors that you could explore to access a computer to unlock the next floor. And not have the same blob drone designed to waste your time for 3 hours ( Literally ) . And the temple or ( Old City ) could have been ancient roads with abandoned houses that hold the stones and not the same generated hallways that last another hour at worst.

One thing I noticed is that if you equip a item that has a skill connected to it, it is included as a gained skill in the skill-tree, resulting in skipping skills that I don't need. And that several skill just don't feel worth getting even with the bloated experience game. And surprisingly, the double-attack when leveled up to max was still pretty disappointing. I only had one major crash during a battle and a few graphical errors when playing.

Since it's free now, you should at least give it a try. But when you had to pay money for it, I would say it wasn't worth it. Hopefully, the developer will continue to improve and to grow even if this game is surpassed by Star Shift Rebellion's release.
To the developer's health and hopefully Star Shift legacy is as amazing as when I originally play the demo and moreso.

While I really want to like this game, sadly it is very broken and not even playable at some points. The game is dead for 5 years and the developer has abandoned it. Seems his account he connected the game to is heavily private and connected to an Russian account and Russian publisher who produces incomplete games connected to a Mega collection of shady games so I would not be surprised if he's a shady developer who produces very broken games to just sell. Plus it is manually put on sale, so he is actively trying to scam people with spring and summer sales, the hack. Almost a majority of the reviews are fake as well due to most of them having the early access tag connected to them, which is a common tactic to boost the rating before and after a games release.

As some people mentioned, it seems the game is using an earlier build of the game than what it should have released with. Plus several features the game was suppose to come with aren't even available such as the war room or the repair bench. Depending on what happens you could also get a crash either from raiders trying to raid your shop through a hidden influence counter and depending on either what gun you buy that require the repair bench OR if you sell guns in large qualities to groups. I've only managed to get one group to come in a buy weapons in bulk. The developer himself even tells people to just play the game and avoid the bugs through literal use of a guide on the forums ; which is stupid.

Don't buy this game. Just look for another game to spend your 1.99 (0.99 since it's seems to be always on sale).

This game is very niche and underrated compared to other games in it's genre; however I completely recommend this game to those who want an corridor-crawler experience with "HEAVY" RNG dependent game-play. While I can't recommend this game for the $10 asking price, it does go on sale a lot and is worth the 50-75% off price tag for this game. While I did get my money worth from this game, I think this game requires a bit more love.

This game is translated from Japanese to English as many guides point out and the translation quality is rather good, though pretty direct sometimes. And I got this game around the time it was mostly neutral reviews (more negative than positive) as well so it sucks to see many people not liking this game. However, this game is "BRUTAL" if you are not use to the game-play of older RPG's due to the game sometimes causing a game-over situation which can be completely out of your hands. I recommend """NOT PLAYING ALBERT""" for your first few runs, due to him being a neutral middle-ground between high "luck" (Fortune) or high health. The game will require you to play several times to figure out the mystery aboard the ship, and will require both getting an S rank with all the characters AND an F rank to unlock everything.

I just wish there was more content to add to the game, or even a remake of which could improve the systems provided in the game. For myself, I managed to find the assets used in the project and the music inside and they are some pretty good tunes in this game. I really like Stage 3's theme the most. I completely recommend this if you have some leftover cash laying around and want a brain-musher to do something. Please give this game more love.

Whatever they did with the recent update resulted in my Anti-Virus to go ape-mode. It always requesting access to the internet AND is began to tank the performance of my PC.

I have been using RPG Maker softwares for several years now and only now am I having major issues with the MV software because of the update. I also have a higher end PC and it just starts freezing every second.

It seems they are just breaking MV to just get you to buy MZ now even if it is a worse version in my opinion. Whatever they did, it was not for the benefit of the consumer. They didn't even design the UI for the new updates page at all, it justs a blank white screen with empty tabs. Even if you have the updates for DLC and Software addons turned off, it will still open whenever new Assest packs are made available. I think actually made the software malware or adware in effect...

---- you, RPG Maker MV.

My friends just send me links to porn mods for this game.

10 / 10 : Would stare at boobs while fighting zombies.

This review is from someone who played the demo for WAY longer then needed to.
Playtime from demo is about 10 hours due to trying to beat 3 mutations mode from the demo with no outside help. This also takes into account that I am fruitfully watching the development behind the game as well on their Youtube.

This game is amazing from the kingdom management system / wave-based combat. The building of economy between waves is short but meaningful; to the point a single piece of gold can lead to victory or defeat; to the options the different buildings have between each other, to the troop management system; everything in this game is all about feeling. With each enemy unit filling out a use to the player. And with the total use of options the player has, it allows for both challenge runs and challenge + mutation runs for endless re-playable. I have been waiting for a tower defense, management sim like this.

There is huge influence of Kingdom / Kingdom New Lands here as the developer stated that he is friends with Kingdom's developer. For myself, I played Kingdom but the very slow and interactivity for myself made me stop playing them. However, this game is heavily more combat focused with economy management between waves less focused but heavily important. This is exactly what I wanted.

If you are on the fence for buying this game : DO IT
If you have the game and buy a copy for a friend : DO IT
If you find the game on sale and want to buy it : DO IT

JUST BUY THE GAME, IT IS SO FUN

This is a review for those who are interested in the Final Fantasy XIII series (ON PC) :

Final Fantasy XIII-2 is considered one of my favorite games of all-time (ON PS3), and it still reminds me even after finishing the series as a whole. From the music, to the characters, to the progression as a whole, to the semi-linear structure of the whole event, this experience has stuck with me for maybe years (ON PS3). To explain, I played FF XIII-2 FIRST without even knowing it's name due to how young I was stupidly enough. I ALMOST beat the game before my PS3 was stolen and sold for a addiction a family member had, and I never managed to beat it till I became a young adult. After putting the time and money together, I bought the entire series of FF XIII to play (ON PS3). And traveled through it's world.

FF XIII was a beautiful and musical masterpiece <AS A MOVIE> but as a game, it is super slow and tiring. Plus due to my experience of playing the second game first, a lot of events that happen just got me angry or confused (Example with Lighting Punching a specific character and just thinking Lighting was just a bad character from XIII due to my thoughts from XIII-2, which is shocking to see what she is later.) (P.S. I HATE FANG PERIOD but Vanille gets a pass due to who is overall is despite common thoughts. ) Overall, XIII was a great movie to watch but a terrible game to play.

FF XIII-2 doesn't need much explaining of my opinions and with the context of the first game even having a shorten verison in the game really shows what is in store for you. However, with the addition of FF XIII-3, the ending kinda causes a weird "Paradox" to happen due to future events.

FF XIII-3 was... INTERESTING. From a story standpoint, it wraps this up and entire pulls the sheet off the table and causes everything on it to fall and break. The game even pulls the "And the world was turned into Earth and maybe the friends along the way may still be alive" bullcrap the game says. I did enjoy the story bits that expanded what left. The Gameplay however is so different and strange that it was slapping someone in the face. And the system would evolve to help develop future games down the line, but here it just feels werid. Plus the game is also built around an always online system with a lot of mechanics surrounding it and made my experience feel off (ON PS3). Overall, it is interesting to say the least.

Overall, the FF XIII series was amazing for what it brought and what it gave (ON PS3). However, the PC ports of the three games seem to be REALLY BAD. While it seems FF XIII works fine, FF XIII-2 REQUIRES Heavy outside support to even RUN. Plus even with the use of the Patches, it could even not run at all. However, if you can experience this series first-hand and for the first time, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND watching a Movie-based gameplay video on youtube of FF XIII due to it's problems but then playing XIII-2 & 3 to experience the wonder of this game.

FF XIII-2 will forever remain in my heart as one of the most important games in my life and my most favorite game of all time.