The Legend of Legacy

I actually wanted to end the year with a anime review, but since my procrastination skillz have prevented me from finishing Kill la Kill, I guess I'll have to make do with a game review instead ;) Ah, tis life in a nutshell. Wow, it looks like realizing that I'm literally one day away from the new year has made me kind of philosophical. But enough of my wacky musings, and onto the real meat of this post!

I'm always excited about playing Atlus games, especially those that sell themselves on having exploration and adventure. One reason is that I might have been spoiled by Legends of the Titan (Another game with 'legend' in it's name. Coincidence?) and the Persona series. 2015 was a great year for 3DS games in my humble opinion, and though I did not pick up the latest installments of the Etrian Odyssey franchise such as the Untold: The Fafnir Knight or Etrian mystery dungeon, I did however, do myself a favor and picked up The Legend of Legacy instead!

Keep in mind that I have not finished the game since I'm stuck at the final boss (>:|) but after 40 hours or so of dungeon crawling, getting mobbed by various monsters and the like, I think I can safely give my opinion on the game while simultaneously avoiding any sort of spoilers.

I went with Eloise for my first and only playthrough, and I'm glad to say that I quite liked her. I don't know what made me choose her out of the colourful cast of characters, but I normally never chose any sort of 'Mage' type characters in game, so I probably chose her based on her gorgeous character design. I was torn between her and Bianca (the amnesiac) but eventually I jumped the wagon and went with Eloise.

She's a pretty entertaining character, her speeches are sometimes peppered with heart or star emoji's, which I personally find quite hilarious since this contrasts with her true personality. From another review I read of this game, the person admits that Eloise resembles an anti-hero more than your typical goody-two shoes, sacrifice everything hero that you normally take control of. Her motivations are quite selfish, and to see her internal monologue and sarcastic quips is a real treat! We need more characters like this.

I started out with Owen and Lars, but eventually I switched them out for Filma (the frog) and Garnet (the stern looking warrior beside the frog). Your party conists of three characters, including yourself, and is pretty flexible in terms of choosing who want to party up with since you can switch them out at the nearest inn. As with typical Atlus RPG's the gameplay is unforgiving and tough when you first start out. Forgetfulness or overconfidence will prove to be your undoing when you accidentally bump into a pack of monsters or heaven forbid, one of the mini bosses that are littered throughout some maps.

There is not much to say story wise, seeing as most of the information you glean comes from a smattering of flashbacks and finding artifacts to unlocking the mystery of the island. In fact, the real meat of the game is in the details, namely, the gameplay. It can be trying at times, but ultimately The Legend of Legacy proves to be a solid RPG in terms of game play. Anyone who wants to be invested in a good story however, will find this game to be quite disappointing.

Art/Animation is really nice. The backgrounds are beautiful, and the maps you visit all have their own unique atmospheres and obstacles to overcome. The sprites in the game (meaning your characters and enemy monsters) are great as well, but the only thing I found lacking was the lack of variation in the monster sprites. Even though the monsters you fight in each place are different, the sprites that you see or come across when you're not fighting are pretty much the same. It's unfortunate but it doesn't take anything away from the experience so I guess that can be overlooked.

Game play is great. Each character can unlock different skills depending on what weapon they're equipped with/ what you chose to equip them with, and this means that the characters are highly customisable and allow you to mold your team into the most efficient, dungeon explorers you'll ever need. You can speed up battle animations by holding down the 'A' button (something I only discovered 20 hours into the game) and it's hard to go back to slug through battles while waiting for your enemies turn to end.

And with more skills comes the annoying part, to select the skill you want, you need to go through all the other options and this can become tiring, especially when you're engaged in a ridiculously long battle with a boss. It does get boring, and I wished that they had added some sort of shortcut button to save me the effort of clicking the arrow button hundreds of times every time I wanted to select a different skill. But nevertheless, it's something that you'll learn to live with. The minor framerate problems that occur during battles with many enemies at once also show that this game is not perfect.

Music is another superbly done aspect of the game as well! They were a feast for the ears, and two of my favourites include  the battle with the Shadow giants and the last boss. On the flipside, the music you hear can make you scared as well like it did me, I can't tell you how panicked I would be when I accidentally ran into a monster and the battle song started playing. I would compare the soundtracks to each map like a calling card of sorts - easily recognisable and very unique.

Overall, I didn't regret putting in all the hours I did. The Legend of Legacy was pretty good, and I would recommend it to people who like dungeon crawlers and character driven games.

Pros

+Great gameplay
+Characters are very customisable/Character classes are not limited to the skills they start out with
+Beautiful art/animation
+Brilliant music
+Challenging
+Varying enemies both difficulty wise and appearance wise

Cons
-Minor frame rate issues
-Quite grindy
-Attack menus could have been done better
-Fights get boring quickly

Overall score: 7/10 

Parasyte

Parasyte has got to be one of the most surprising shows I've watched this year.

The anime follows the life of Izumi Shinichi, whose right hand had been forcefully taken over by a parasite aptly named 'Migi'. Shinichi struggles to coexist with the new creature that has replaced his hand, Migi's cold and apathetic personality constantly clashing with his own caring and kind-hearted one.

But trying to keep this new secret from getting out may be more difficult than expected when Shinichi finds out that Migi is not alone and that his own kind, dubbed 'Parasites' are  all over Japan.

Story-wise, I am pleased to say that Parasyte was pretty interesting and kept me guessing. As our main character Shinichi tries to hide his new 'friend' from the people around him, other parasites which have successfully taken over the host (by reaching the brain) also pose a threat to him, since Migi is deemed as a failure of sorts by his own kind.

The pair face many obstacles, and in between Migi's search for truth about his existence and Shinichi's ongoing struggle to survive what comes his way, they meet many dangerous characters ranging from a intelligent parasite and a notorious serial killer.

I like that Parasyte kept me in suspense most of the time, the foreshadowing was done fairly well and there are many emotional moments and amazing action sequences that'll leave your jaw hanging. Seeing as the parasites can take the form of anyone or anything, fights never get boring and the creative use of their shapeshifting abilities was a spectacle to behold.

This is not to say that the anime is without any downsides though, but it isn't anything so remotely bad that it would turn you off before you even started. Parasyte started out slow, but in my opinion it did it's job of creating tension and had good payoffs in the end. While the tone of the show did get draggy and slower toward the end, it didn't take away any enjoyment I'd experienced in the previous episodes!

The characters in parasyte are no pushovers. I like how Migi and Shinichi's personalities  balance each other out. After the first few episodes, I began to realize that Shinichi's reckless and self-sacrificing behaviour is more or less kept in check by the cold and rational Migi. I can't count how many times Shinichi might have gotten himself or someone else killed without the parasite's intervention. But that's not to say that Migi is without his flaws too!

Also, you could also say that Migi is the physical manifestation of Shinichi's consciousness. You know, that nagging voice in the back of your mind, the one that warns you before you pull some stupid shit.

Parasyte is quite dark too. Not like 'Madoka magica' dark, but something comparable to that of 'Psycho pass'. As the anime goes on, I came to see that many of its characters, both antagonists and protagonists, are not bound to the norms of 'morality'. Despite his protests, Shinichi himself operates in a morally grey area, and even the police have questionable ways of trying to rid Japan of parasites.

Parasyte shines because of it's brilliant characters, and most, if not all, are fleshed out during the course of the anime. There are some cliched stereotypes here and there, but that is to be expected. The main thing, is that the characters are not confined to roles of the 'bad guys' or 'good guys'.

Let me just say that Tamura Reiko is my favourite character in Parasyte. She's one of the characters who can keep Shinichi on edge, and the reactions she can get out of him is always a treat. Her social faux passes gave me good laughs time and time again simply because it's so amusing to see a 'superior' species struggle with mundane stuff and saying things weird things out of the blue. There were a few moments in which Tamura Reiko stole the show, and I absolutely adore her for it!

Animation is done by Madhouse and while it's not as gory as some have claimed it is, there is several disturbing moments that made my stomach turn. But fortunately, nothing so utterly horrible that it would scar you for life. I give the anime props in how they designed the parasites; indeed there are generic looking ones but for the most part they vary in looks, and it did creep me out at some points.

Overall: Parasyte was a pleasant surprise. The ending was kinda meh in my opinion but to its credit, it did tie up most of the loose ends and was fairly satisfying.

 Must watch : 4/5