Recent reviews by SexyDemonHorse

Started off trying to fund insurgencies in every blue country on the map. Ended up nuking the planet every time. Finally, decided to pretty much ignore sending agents in all together and just relied almost entirely on deplomacy to win people to my side, while assassinating any enemy agents that cropped up and declaring two retaliation wars to win back China and unify Korea. United everyone

Give peace a chance baby!

This game is just as fun and ridiculous as I remember it, but unfortunately I can't give a recomendation because it keeps crashing on me.

This game is a straight rip off of Town of Salem. It's literally the same game with 3D graphics and a different theme. Do not pay money for this game, especially when Town of Salem is still available online for free.

I want to preferace this review by stating I am not an avid fan of either visual novels or romance stories, and was trying something new when playing through this.

I can't say that I'm disappointed I did however, as the story was engaging. The main strength it has comes from the relationship and the fact that the chemistry between the player character and Ceri is genuinly believable. It does a good job of putting you in the characters headspace as the loner highschool student and gets you to sympathize with this lonely introverted girl who's hiding emotional stress. You get truly invested in getting close with her and helpping her through her troubled situation and seeing her through to a happy end.

I can't give anything more than a light recommendation however, because while the relationship is a big strength, it is the novel's only strength. Which isn't to say that everything else is bad, rather that everything else is there to serve its given purpous and nothing more. The family isn't given much characterization beyond a few basic traits and don't play a very large role in the story other than to give arbitrary advice and at one point a contrived plot device. (The father runs a publishing firm that just so happens to run with your girlfriend's favorite author) I don't think the mother had any reason to be in the story at all, and as for characters outside the player's family they're all pretty much forgetable, only there to point the player from point A to B without much characterization given.

The plot itself is also becomes predicitable by the end. We start off with some mystery airing around Ceri and the issues that trouble her, but around the last third of the story things unwind in a way in which even I as a new comer to the gener could accurately predict what was going to happen. This was not helpped at all by the fact that there are several late game dialouges that outright tell you what is going to happen, thereby sapping what little stakes were left in the story out completely. There was real opportunity to drop something unexpected into the mix, a detail or plot development that would've changed things and increased the stakes a bit, but unfortunatly it was an opportunity that sorely missed.

Since this is free however I still recommend the novel for its compeling romance and main characters, just don't go in expecting anything spectacular.

So, after having the developer respond to my earlier review I feel like I can now recommend this game whole heartedly.

My previous complaints were that the way the inventory system works can potentially leave you in a spot that makes it impossible to progress. In short, whenever you use an item in your inventory that item is gone forever, even if you exit the game and reload. As it turns out, there is a way to acquire more healing potions and other items necessary to progress, though the way you do so, while allows you to avoid getting stuck forever, brings with it a whole host of lesser problems. Basically, there's a "Quest Mode" in the main menu, which you can hop on over to at any time and fight a series of enemies which allows you to grind for XP and healing items. The obvious problem with this is that it basically forces the player to exit the main game and grind the items necessary to continue. And while I have nothing against grind, so long as it's optional and the player is allowed to do it at their own volition, it is never a good idea to force the player into doing it. Because while there are people out there who find the exercise fun (I being among them) there's a whole host of others who will find it very tedious and very tiring very fast. To a lesser annoyance, this mechanic also forces you to exit the main game mode and play what basically amounts to a side activity before you can continue, which breaks the flow of the game somewhat. The annoyance is lessened in this instance since the loading screen are few and brief, and you'll be back in the main meat of the game relatively quick, but it's still there, and I still can't help but feel this whole problem could be avoided simply by allowing items to respawn after you die in combat, or reload your game.

Now this has been a lot of negativity so far, but I put it up front because these were serious problems which prevented me from enjoying the game as fully as I'd like to, and the last thing I want to do is give the impression that this game is not worth your time, because it absolutely is.

The combat mechanics are very well executed, similar to other turn-based games such as Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Stick of Truth. And like all good turn based RPG's you'll start off being able to get through by bashing your way through brute force, but sooner or later you will have to adopt a strategy to go along with muscle, and you'll need to think through each of your actions in order to succeed. It starts off simple enough but quickly becomes more complex and difficult as more characters are introduced and new combat mechanics are thrown in. Turn based strategy nerds will find themselves right at home here, and there's also a nice learning curb for newcomers as well.

What sets this game apart from its contemporaries, however, is the unique art style and overall aesthetic of game and story. It literally feels like you're playing a comic book, which may sound like a concept which has been done before, but not like this. Infamous was done in a comic book style, but it didn't feel like you were playing a comic book. TellTale games are done in comic book styles, but they don't feel like you're playing a comic book. This, from beginning to end, feels like you're literally playing a comic book. From the cartoony art style of the characters to the how the whole story is told using speech bubbles and pop-up text, to how every cutscene and even gameplay sections are transitioned using comic book panels, every detail has been fine tuned to give off this vibe colorful comic book goodness. The developer really should be applauded for how much thought went into every detail to make the game feel this way.

Story wise, Light Apprentice is your basic fantasy affair, though with some slight alterations to make things a little more interesting. You play as Nate, a boy who's been trapped in time for a few hundred years, and is suddenly awakened in order to save the world with his mystical power granted to him by the earth. Yes, I'd be lying if I said I didn't see the avatar similarities as well. But where avatar was sort of Disneyfied in its storytelling Light Apprentice is a little darker, allowing you to choose whether to kill or spare your opponents and even decide on some other moral choices throughout the plot. These moral choices spice up the story, though they're not really as complex as we've seen in other games like The Walking Dead, nor are they played around with like they were in Undertale. It's a good addition to the game, but not as well implemented as it could be.

Overall, I would absolutely recommend this game, especially if you're one for a good story and unique style this is a definite buy for you, and I look forward to what the developer has in store for this game as well as their future endeavors.