Unicorn Overlord - Tactical RPG by Vanillaware

[flyingjohn]

Huh, didn't know that. I would assume there would be a major outcry and lots of negative reviews from that.

Most people don't care since they are already using a controller anway. But here is plenty of bithcing on the steam forums.

 

[Demo.Graph]

The only reason they aren't making a PC version is because the CEO hates PC. Making a Xbox version and not a PC version for a Japanese game is just pure stupidity.
But it is his studio, so he can do whatever stupid decisions he wants to.

You have a source for that? Would be interesting to read.

I believe (that is, I don't have a source but believe it to be true from personal discussions) that many small Japanese devs have an informal obligation to not publish on PC for some years after initial release. All major Japanese publishers are affiliated with console manufacturers (or are manufacturers themselves), so there's an incentive to provide exclusive content for them to stimulate sales. And nobody wants to disrupt the console market as not to endanger the stability of Japanese gaming industry as a whole.

 

[Jaedar]

The only reason they aren't making a PC version is because the CEO hates PC. Making a Xbox version and not a PC version for a Japanese game is just pure stupidity.
But it is his studio, so he can do whatever stupid decisions he wants to.

You have a source for that? Would be interesting to read.

I believe (that is, I don't have a source but believe it to be true from personal discussions) that many small Japanese devs have an informal obligation to not publish on PC for some years after initial release. All major Japanese publishers are affiliated with console manufacturers (or are manufacturers themselves), so there's an incentive to provide exclusive content for them to stimulate sales. And nobody wants to disrupt the console market as not to endanger the stability of Japanese gaming industry as a whole.

I could totally buy this if the game was on switch/playstation only, but it's also on xbox. Or is it just that PC is seen as a threat to switch/ps, whereas the xbox isn't? (Which might be true, it seems latest xbox sold half a million in japan, compared to 30 mln switch and 5 mln ps5)

 

[Grunker]

So it seems like everyone and their mother loves this one, it's that good, huh?

I got a Switch, I might take it for a spin if it's got the Codex stamp of approval.

 

[Reinhardt]

so them not having an organization that could handle a 6th seems unlikely.

they are 30-40 people studio, not 100s or 1000s.

 

[Jaedar]

So it seems like everyone and their mother loves this one, it's that good, huh?

I got a Switch, I might take it for a spin if it's got the Codex stamp of approval.

I quit 50% through, but I had a good time for the first 10-20 hours.

Historically speaking, this means you will probably love it.

It has a demo, and the saves transfer, so try that. It is very generous with how much game content you get.

 

[Grunker]

So it seems like everyone and their mother loves this one, it's that good, huh?

I got a Switch, I might take it for a spin if it's got the Codex stamp of approval.

I quit 50% through, but I had a good time for the first 10-20 hours.

Historically speaking, this means you will probably love it.

It has a demo, and the saves transfer, so try that. It is very generous with how much game content you get.

Brill. Just out of curiosity, what didn't you like?

I quit the Ogre Tactics remake about 50% through as well, it was just too simple for me to enjoy and the story while inoffensive didn't really grab me (which I'm expecting to be the case with this one as well).

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Aren't ports very (if not most) often done by third party now? There are companies here that specialize in this thing and would do it for some vodka and out of sheer happiness that someone is willing to sign a contract with them.

Also, this game's p. boring.

 

[wolfbane]

Too much RNG to keep track of stuff and model fights in my head, so I just look at the combat preview.

You were trying to calculate it in your head?

The game gives you all the info you need. Though the combat preview did change sometimes, bizarrely, I have no idea why lol.

 

[Grunker]

Though the combat preview did change sometimes, bizarrely, I have no idea why lol.

Haven't played it but the reviews I watched all said the combat preview changes based on fight-specific modifiers

 

[wolfbane]

Haven't played it but the reviews I watched all said the combat preview changes based on fight-specific modifiers

Yeah, what I mean is that the combat preview would say I would kill the enemy unit, and then when my unit finally got there, suddenly the enemy actually had an advantage.

That can and will happen if the opposing unit is in a garrison and some soldiers who were dead got revived, but this was happening to me on a garrisoned unit with no casualties whatsoever, among others. It was rare but I have no idea why it happened lol.

 

[Yosharian]

I mean yes third party ports are pretty hit and miss, that's fair. But honestly the bar for ports of JP games is not particularly high. Even if it didn't have ANY MKB support I suspect it would still sell well. And it's not like this game is technically demanding like some console games. It's a 2D autobattler for fuck's sake.

 

[Jaedar]

Just out of curiosity, what didn't you like?

Unclear. It started to feel quite unfocused, and my primary tactic became more "lul, throw strongest units in a stack at the enemy and laugh" instead of the more tactical formation juggling early. It is also a very long game.

I kinda want to call it out for being too easy, which is true, but also once it became complex enough (ie 4+ units in every formation, each with items, tactics, etc) I just can't be arsed to try and keep track of it all and create specific formations to deal with things. In part its that there are a lot of moving parts, but fights are also a total chaos engine where just changing inconsequential things will change a fight from total victory to total defeat. So instead I just end up using the same few formations and let the battle prediction decide who gets to do each fight.

The game is also quite long, and the cool artstyle can only carry it for so long.

Yeah, what I mean is that the combat preview would say I would kill the enemy unit, and then when my unit finally got there, suddenly the enemy actually had an advantage.

Partly it's just rng, crits can change a lot. Partly it's that the preview doesn't take support units into account.

Too much RNG to keep track of stuff and model fights in my head, so I just look at the combat preview.

You were trying to calculate it in your head?

The game gives you all the info you need. Though the combat preview did change sometimes, bizarrely, I have no idea why lol.

Yeah, how else am I going to make tactical decisions and arrange my formations? Not super detailed obv, just "hmm, why does this fight go completely differently if I move my backliner to a different backtile?"

 

[Reinhardt]

just "hmm, why does this fight go completely differently if I move my backliner to a different backtile?"

like moving it from the tile it could be targeted by column attack? truly a mystery.

 

[wolfbane]

To be clear, I don’t disagree that the tactical element falls apart a bit at the end. I hardly count that as a weakness of the game, but moreso of the genre. It’s hard for the AI to put up meaningful resistance to your doom stacks. At one point I had to start switching my units around more because I had 2 doom stacks that would utterly destroy anything, but some maps needed more than just 2 units lol.

Though I was impressed when the AI did manage to get a good Arrow Rain on me, and the Bastorias maps were actually pretty good for tactics, especially if you choose to fight the bear and the wolf at the same time (during that one side quest)

But similarly to Fire Emblem (and history I guess lol), mounted units are supreme and flying units are excellent glass cannons. Alain’s promote was outrageously powerful, as was Clive’s with a magic attack spear.

The other killer unit was Virginia, she could pretty much solo most stuff, but give her Tatiana, a hammer soldier with the infinite AP +1 on kill skill, and a radiant knight and hardly anything could stop them

EDIT: geez this is making me want to play it again lol. Maybe I should play the Ogre Battle games though, since they’re the inspiration and I’ve never played them

 

[Reinhardt]

the bear and the wolf

best map in the game as i said earlier. especially after full moon raises.

 

[Yosharian]

Seems to be that the biggest issues are the units that can hit every enemy unit. Once you get those and start powering them up, the strategy goes out the window. Row/column attackers are bad enough, those are already strong, but hitting every enemy in the field is kind of crazy

 

[wolfbane]

I mean are those really “issues”? It’s pretty fun, also enemy units get the same skills you do, aside from Alain’s special skill. Doom Knights still are tough to kill even at endgame, and there are tons of them in the last few maps lol. Also I think Galerius would be pretty tough without all of the stuff we’ve been talking about. He still took like 5 or 6 strikes to take down for me. That map was infinitely harder than the True Ending map, which is ok I think, the True Ending map is more of a celebration of the game than a real challenge I think. Same applies for the bonus map unlocked after the True Ending. It’s kind of like the piggy sequence in BOTW or the dragon sequence in TOTK, more of a spectacle than a challenge.

 

[Saark]

There's no real evidence to suggest that bringing the game to PC would increase profits? I think you have brain damage.

Increasing revenue doesn't necessarily mean increasing profits if the cost of making it happen in the first place or a delay in future releases offsets the gains from selling on steam. It's inarguable that the game would be selling decently well on steam, it's a matter of resource allocation, training/tech and how much it would delay future releases. I can't say that that's a guaranteed win over not doing a PC port, not with confidence anyway.

That doesn't even go into the issue of whether it might impact quality of the final product if they end up sticking some poor schmuck to do the pc porting instead of working on the game itself, which would definitely have an effect. Clearly the devs don't particularly care for PC gaming either way, so even just agreeing to an outsourced PC version of the game might have detrimental effects on the current staff, if they feel that the company "is going downhill" by going on the PC. It's stupid, but you never know with creative people, they're weird that way.

I'd personally be happy with a PC port, but I kinda get why a studio of their size doesn't give a shit about it. They don't care about the money, and they seem to be happy just working from one release to another. They're basically a japanese Iron Tower only they didn't have to throw in the towel after the second game, but have been operating in this way for almost two decades. I don't know where I read it, but I seem to recall someone mentioning that Vanillaware also develops on incredibly archaic tech, which might have something to do with the lack of PC port too.

Making a Xbox version and not a PC version for a Japanese game is just pure stupidity.

From what I gather, quite a few JP devs are hesitant to do PC specifically due to fear of piracy (they're still going after people uploading ROMs of games from 25 years ago) and their work being messed with, which is a lot more difficult to do on console. In some cases there's also issues with licensing when it comes to music or voice actors. It's retarded, but the entire situation with Takuya Kimura's agency essentially blocking a PC version of another game in the Judgement franchise, should have given everybody some sense over how ridiculously silly japanese are when it comes to PC gaming. If some of the JP voice actor agencies, for example, would keep you from making a PC port, that'd be a serious issue to be considered as you'd essentially have to chose between more sales via PC, but less star-power by not having access to the "best" voice actors. I don't know the market well enough to understand whether this is a common issue, but there are at least a few examples of studios not wanting to work with VAs that are unionized or music licence issues (we've seen that in GTA, for example).

Having your game on PC means there will be a lot of derivative work and random media using your game's assets, whether that's actual models or character designs, not to mention people could very easily make porn with it or do a plethora of other things the devs didn't intend. Devs, talent agencies or individual personalities in the JP video-game scene simply dom't wanna deal with all of that, and they think that not releasing games on PC has a significant enough impact on reducing the amount of headaches. As far as the japs are concerned, a lot of the cultural decline has come alongside the growth of pc-gaming and the internet in particular, and they wouldn't exactly be wrong either. With Kamitani being an oldschool artist, it's not too far fetched to imagine that this is a core reason behind Vanillaware not doing PC games.

 

[Grunker]

Partly it's just rng, crits can change a lot.

Crits aren’t RNG though?

 

[Reinhardt]

I mean are those really “issues”? It’s pretty fun, also enemy units get the same skills you do, aside from Alain’s special skill. Doom Knights still are tough to kill even at endgame, and there are tons of them in the last few maps lol. Also I think Galerius would be pretty tough without all of the stuff we’ve been talking about. He still took like 5 or 6 strikes to take down for me. That map was infinitely harder than the True Ending map, which is ok I think, the True Ending map is more of a celebration of the game than a real challenge I think. Same applies for the bonus map unlocked after the True Ending. It’s kind of like the piggy sequence in BOTW or the dragon sequence in TOTK, more of a spectacle than a challenge.

lots of advanced classes are actually annoying to fight. like full werebear frontline with supports, for example. or even gladiators or hoplites. or pretty much anything on last continent with almost everyone being airborne. it's fine for your doomstack, but weaker squads will struggle.

 

[wolfbane]

lots of advanced classes are actually annoying to fight. like full werebear frontline with supports, for example. or even gladiators or hoplites. or pretty much anything on last continent with almost everyone being airborne. it's fine for your doomstack, but weaker squads will struggle.

Oh yeah the owl supports are annoying as fuck lol. Werebears aren’t as bad as the Angel Armor units imo

 

[Reinhardt]

lots of advanced classes are actually annoying to fight. like full werebear frontline with supports, for example. or even gladiators or hoplites. or pretty much anything on last continent with almost everyone being airborne. it's fine for your doomstack, but weaker squads will struggle.

Oh yeah the owl supports are annoying as fuck lol. Werebears aren’t as bad as the Angel Armor units imo

i played ng+ with only girls and losing knights and their ability to decimate infantry was really noticeable at late stages.

 

[wolfbane]

Yeah the Soldier class (?) the one with a lance, is pretty powerful even late game, and a pain to deal with lol

 

[wolfbane]

knights and their ability to decimate infantry

Gryphon Knights should be able to fill that slot pretty handily with their row kill skill, right?