I would really love to get these right now:
Might & Magic VI,
Reals of Arkania Trilogy,
Freedom Force,
Jagged Alliance 1,
StoneKeep,
Siege of Avalon,
Borderlands series,
The Last Remnant,
Drakensang 1 & 2,
Heroine's Quest
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Open Call for Reviews
- Thread starter felipepepe
- Start date
Might & Magic VI,
Reals of Arkania Trilogy,
Freedom Force,
Jagged Alliance 1,
StoneKeep,
Siege of Avalon,
Borderlands series,
The Last Remnant,
Drakensang 1 & 2,
Heroine's Quest
I'd love to review M&MVII as you know, but I'm not that keen on doing VI. Only played it 1½ times and feel that VII is superior.
I could do Drakensang 1, but my review would be negative and basically call it a poor man's Dragon Age: Origins, which I'm not sure you'd be interested in?
I could do Drakensang 1, but my review would be negative and basically call it a poor man's Dragon Age: Origins, which I'm not sure you'd be interested in?
Yeah, I still have your M&M VII draft with me, just waiting for someone to do IV :/
Calling Drakensang a poor man's DA:O is pretty accurate, but the real issue is that I want a review covering both games at once...
Calling Drakensang a poor man's DA:O is pretty accurate, but the real issue is that I want a review covering both games at once...
What is the angle you're looking for JA (retrospective or more of a simple review/overview)? And how much space?
I need something around 4,000-4,500 characters.
There's no style guide to follow, all I ask is that someone who never heard about Jagged Alliance (or only played JA2) can understand how the game plays & why it's cool. You can add historical context, dev trivia, personal experience or whatever else you think might help get the point across.
Lurker King
Self-Ejected
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2015
- Messages
- 1,865,419
Neanderthal
Arcane
Alright if I have a bash at a Freedom Force review? As well as sequel should I also mention modding for game, which is pretty solid an still ongoing?
Please do! I tried to get the guy who hosts a Freedom Force mod website, but he never replied... this will be a 2-page review, so about 5,000 characters. And yeah, feelfree to talk about modding, we can add a infobox with some recommendation as well.
Neanderthal
Arcane
Right ho, PM you wi words sometime afore weekend, gonna load it back up an hav a play for reference..
GarfunkeL
Racism Expert
Did you have a preference for the format? I forgot what you told me before. Can I use .docx?
Anything is cool, you can just PM it to me or paste the text on the email body...
Neanderthal
Arcane
Icewind Dale 2, mind if I have a crack at it? Might take a few days as I want to play a fair bit of it.
Sure! There's a IWD I review in the book already, give it a read to build upon what it already says.
Neanderthal
Arcane
Right ho, cheers.
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2011
- Messages
- 99,677
GarfunkeL
Racism Expert
You're welcome :D
Yeah, was gonna post here, but Infinitron stole my thunder... baka.
Another one I'm really happy with is DWARF FORTRESS:
Was one of the hardest reviews to find a good writer & edit, but I think we pulled it off just right.
Another one I'm really happy with is DWARF FORTRESS:
Was one of the hardest reviews to find a good writer & edit, but I think we pulled it off just right.
purpleblob
Augur
That new ME2 review is spot on. So glad someone volunteered to re-write this. Whoever wrote the first one was just a blind fanboi.
Mozg
Arcane
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2015
- Messages
- 2,033
Yeah, was gonna post here, but Infinitron stole my thunder... baka.
Another one I'm really happy with is DWARF FORTRESS:
Was one of the hardest reviews to find a good writer & edit, but I think we pulled it off just right.
Rage wars -> wage wars.
Would you be surprised if I told you he came from the BioWare forums?
Oh well, that was almost 3 years ago... I sure learned a lot about how to deal with this. Having an article on Kotaku promoting the project is useless if only fanboys will come of it. :/
I have seen your email felipepepe, but today turned out to be a pretty busy day. I will reply as soon as I can.
Sengoku Rance is a game that tricks you. From the goofy opening scene, you realize you are delving into a casual eroge RPG, and from the first bit of strategic-level combat you would understandably come away with the belief that taking over the entirety of this fictional version of Japan that serves as the backdrop is going to be a cakewalk. Then, after you've taken over a couple of rival clans the others begin to see your rising power as a threat. Alliances are formed against you, and when you attack one clan another might decide to come to its aid. Inevitably, you'll find yourself fighting on several fronts and having to make hard decisions on where to send your generals and about their troop compositions. Just a few hours in, Sengoku Rance suddenly becomes challenging. Every time one of your commanders falls in battle, there is a chance he or she will be killed by the enemy, further depleting your forces. As you begin to figure out how to balance these new challenges, the game changes again and a new, seemingly overwhelming force comes onto the stage and time now works against you. Eventually you see the inevitable defeat and start again from the beginning, wondering how what seemed to be such a simple game became so damn complicated. You might have to play through another such one or two lost games before understanding everything that makes Sengoku Rance ticks and get into a rhythm that results in victory, though I doubt it would be one without the loss of some favored general.
The storyline also tricks you. The plot starts off simply enough, with the titular Rance being given control of a Japanese clan, its land, and its armies. Rance is to control this territory for the clan's sick ruler and try to unite Japan into one solidified nation. The idea is simple enough, though Rance himself is a self-destructive character out to get drunk, get rich, and molest women; and that's not in the order of preference. The protagonist is not a person you would want to be near, for he's likely to see other men as a competitor and be ready to act violently against them if they are a challenge to his claim on a pretty woman. And as a woman, you would have to be constantly armed and on guard if he set his eyes upon you. Rance is set-up as an id character, whose base thoughts are what he acts upon without filter. He is meant as a parody of the RPG hero, who travels with scantily clad females, always seeks to rescue a captured young woman, and uses violence as a solution to 99% of encountered problems. Rance is also always ready to delve into a dungeon, slay the occupants, and take their stuff because he sees himself as a hero and thus has a right to kill any non-human whenever he feels like it. This is even when the monsters appear non-threatening and beg to be spared. So when you play a Rance game you know what you are getting yourself into.
But this is where Sengoku Rance changes things up a bit. There are at least six canonical games in the previous series, and a large majority of the characters from those past games end up here, with a long and shared history with Rance already established. Although you can blame short-sightedness or even some sort of Stockholm Syndrome on their relationships with Rance, this is the first game where Rance is surrounded by such a large group of established friends with a shared history. When they suffer, he suffers and shows a larger amount of compassion towards them than he had in previous titles, although at first he will act true to form and still try to push them around. And when they are lost to him or die, Rance seems unable to act and despondent.
In many other games, the loss of a close companion is a trope in itself, acting as an emotional motivator for the hero to square his jaw, grab his blade, and beat the final boss. Often, the player is affected more emotionally than the character they are playing. But Rance suffers loss in a more real manner in Sengoku Rance, entering into a cycle of depression that he won't be able to pull himself out of even through the end of the game. Sengoku Rance starts as a comedic parody, transitions into a game about responsibility to friends and allies, and closes out towards grim horror. It's a gradual change done seamlessly well, and Rance begins to show traits of empathy and an understanding of loss that is more impactful coming from him than it would be from many other generic stock heroes. It's quite a work, with multiple endings available after the canonical one, and I highly recommend everyone giving it a try even if eroge is not your thing.
The storyline also tricks you. The plot starts off simply enough, with the titular Rance being given control of a Japanese clan, its land, and its armies. Rance is to control this territory for the clan's sick ruler and try to unite Japan into one solidified nation. The idea is simple enough, though Rance himself is a self-destructive character out to get drunk, get rich, and molest women; and that's not in the order of preference. The protagonist is not a person you would want to be near, for he's likely to see other men as a competitor and be ready to act violently against them if they are a challenge to his claim on a pretty woman. And as a woman, you would have to be constantly armed and on guard if he set his eyes upon you. Rance is set-up as an id character, whose base thoughts are what he acts upon without filter. He is meant as a parody of the RPG hero, who travels with scantily clad females, always seeks to rescue a captured young woman, and uses violence as a solution to 99% of encountered problems. Rance is also always ready to delve into a dungeon, slay the occupants, and take their stuff because he sees himself as a hero and thus has a right to kill any non-human whenever he feels like it. This is even when the monsters appear non-threatening and beg to be spared. So when you play a Rance game you know what you are getting yourself into.
But this is where Sengoku Rance changes things up a bit. There are at least six canonical games in the previous series, and a large majority of the characters from those past games end up here, with a long and shared history with Rance already established. Although you can blame short-sightedness or even some sort of Stockholm Syndrome on their relationships with Rance, this is the first game where Rance is surrounded by such a large group of established friends with a shared history. When they suffer, he suffers and shows a larger amount of compassion towards them than he had in previous titles, although at first he will act true to form and still try to push them around. And when they are lost to him or die, Rance seems unable to act and despondent.
In many other games, the loss of a close companion is a trope in itself, acting as an emotional motivator for the hero to square his jaw, grab his blade, and beat the final boss. Often, the player is affected more emotionally than the character they are playing. But Rance suffers loss in a more real manner in Sengoku Rance, entering into a cycle of depression that he won't be able to pull himself out of even through the end of the game. Sengoku Rance starts as a comedic parody, transitions into a game about responsibility to friends and allies, and closes out towards grim horror. It's a gradual change done seamlessly well, and Rance begins to show traits of empathy and an understanding of loss that is more impactful coming from him than it would be from many other generic stock heroes. It's quite a work, with multiple endings available after the canonical one, and I highly recommend everyone giving it a try even if eroge is not your thing.
Deuce Traveler thanks for the text bro, there are two things I need:
1 - Briefly introduce the Rance series.
2 - Explain how the game works. Sure, I must control Japan and fight strategic battles, but how?
1 - Briefly introduce the Rance series.
2 - Explain how the game works. Sure, I must control Japan and fight strategic battles, but how?
I can make those changes. Still in the 4000-4500 character limit? What I have above is 4650.
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