@@koisj8310 If your standards are low, sure. The unfortunate thing is that Honkai Impact 3rd has amazing writing while Genshin Impact imo feels like a decrease in writing quality so I don't really expect Honkai Star Rails to be that good especially since it's like literally the fifth time they have an alternative universe version of the same characters which has become really stale at this point. Either make original characters or stop making new games.
Valkyria Revolution started as a Shining Resonance clone. When they first showcased it, it was clear that the two games had the same battle system, parallel mechanics and very similar map/exploration elements. However, due to all the negative feedback surrounding there being "Too many Action RPGs" at the time (yes, that was a thing on the JP/JRPG side of Twitter back then, I distinctly remember it), SEGA drastically changed the game's direction to incorporate more "strategy" elements, completely butchering what would have been a pretty solid spinoff (again, the initial pitch was literally steampunk Shining Resonance) on the series and turning it into the abomination we ended up getting.
woah that's insane and how would i have ever known something like this if you never said it and i never stumbled across your comment and read it O: , shining resonance refrain is my fav and probably best AJRPG....
And both games (Shining Resonanse Refrain and Valkyria Revolution) were made ONLY by Mediavision, Sega only published those two games, unlike Valkyria Chronicles series where Sega GE2 (former Overworks + WoW Entertainment) helped them with developing.
Honestly it wasn't terrible, definitely not bad enough to be in the top five worst JRPG's on the PS4. The amount of unnecessary dialogue and lack of dramatic angles in the cutscenes is 100% a valid complaint. And yeah, except some of the later bosses the strategy element is kinda pointless as button mashing will win most minor fights (on the other side I remember the final battle against the Valkyria suddenly requiring perfect knowledge of the strategy system in a bizarre difficulty spike). But while I would never call it a "great" game it still entertained me enough that I saw it through to the end. I would never play it again but it fit snuggly in the "Mediocre games you play while waiting for something amazing" category and I would never have guessed its metacritic score was so low.
@@eriochromeblackt3021honkai is the peak example of terrible rpg's and videogames in general, it's ironic that a video about this topic is sponsored by it
I liked Natural Doctrine, but it is VERY unfair, and I mean that, that 9 enemy ambush was a much EASIER fight than some fights that are VERY shortly after that. I honestly didn't get much farther because of it getting harder, but I still liked what I played.
What finally drove me to rage quit and never play again is the combo system. I can't remember the details but I do remember watching the damn AI spend 10 min comboing moves by moving the goblins back and forth. You can get combos yourself but how you do that goes against all logic for a turn based stratergy like this as it involves doing what should be pointless moves in the wrong direction. Also worth noting that the AI is fully aware it only needs to kill one of your team and does its absolute best to gang up on a single team member.
I just power leveled my chars, the real bad is later in game where you have ALL characters in the battle at same time making each battle last an eternity. A thing I found out about this game is that the AI behavior is determined before the battle, and you can saves to manipulate the battle to your favor, I even beat the hardest bosses in game.got the best gear.
Oh my gosh Taylor, those glitches shown are absolutely hysterical! And I'm surprised that I've never even heard of Arc of Alchemist. I had heard of the other ones, and I knew enough to stay far far away from them too!
You should see the last boss on Natural Doctrine. They actually let party members die there, and I got wiped over 20 times. Once they let me start the game over and put me back at level 1. I was like, no, I'm never doing this to myself again. If they had just let me new game+ with everything, I would have considered it.
With Natural Doctrine, it’s a weird one overall. I can understand the rating it got. I wanna say that beginning part with the orc is trying to show you a mechanic to intercept and counter, which basically makes it where he doesn’t get to attack via stuns. I think I just led him away and ran past or something and came back later? Btw, Did you get tired of the goblin cave music? I liked it initially, but hope you’re ready to hear that loop again and again. Lol Also, you almost have to be a greedy asshole in the endgame (a choice with some items in the game) or you’ll have a magic supply problem (your mages have a very finite resource to cast spells), which will require you to kill goblins in their caves to replenish until you literally can’t due to driving them to extinction and have to wait turns til they repopulate if you’re grinding (hence music loop). I gave up on the final boss due to its bs killing the last shred of “don’t let the game beat you” dignity I had left. I had saved prior to the final part to grind if need be, but nah, that’s torture. I imagine if you play like a greedy bum in two specific choices, it’ll prob make it far easier on ya. Is it hard? Yes, but can be managed. Although, I lost count how many times I lost. I do enjoy the combat style, but wish it was more refined maybe? Would I recommend it? Only to my enemies.
I played Natural Doctrine on the PS3. It went poorly. It felt like a Dark Souls experience if you minus out all the things that made Dark Souls fun. The Battle Mechanics have promise but are too poorly implemented to make you feel like you're doing anything worthwhile. Plus the enemy balancing is broken. There was a secret area in the first dungeon that made me feel super cool when I discovered it, however, there was a big F*** You Minotaur locked up with a treasure chest. So I did what anybody would do, open up the Minotaur's cage to fight the minotaur in the INTRODUCTORY DUNGEON. The thing can one shot characters and your attacks do nothing to it. If it kills you, you have to restart the entire mission and just ignore it completely. The game is a slog to play.
I really liked Akiba's Trip, i hated it at first but it's so... captivating. The weird self aware story, the clunky combat which you can actually master (and boy was that satisfying for some reason), the messed up transitions, the goofy sounds, the goofy concept, all of that made for an unforgettable game, a horribly deformed and flawed one, but certainly a game that i will remember all my life.
It's actually what Akibahara is in real life, when you go to Japan it's exactly like Akiba's Trip no joke. However saying it's hard and clunky and difficult to play well if he had trouble playing this even with the HINT in the title no wonder he gets his arsed kicked in games.
seems kinda interesting actually, if you don't take the ridiculousness too seriously. one of those culture things that a lot of people can't deal with. i may have to check this out at some point.. i'm a big fan of action combat as well, Yakuza 7 was so wasted with its combat system imo. (could be my fault for having that game broken within the first 1/4 of the game... and more money than i knew what to do with) coming from someone who loved yakuza 1 and 2 (2's combat was so much better than 1) on PS2
Have you played the sequel (Undead and Undressed)? Its so much better. I was looking forward to see the roots but the first game was pretty clunky and made me respect how much they improved on the formula. unfortunate that they made a completely different style of game for its third entry (Akiba's Beat) which just doesnt have the charm.
I actually bought Natural Doctrine the day it came out. I was so interested in and thought it would be fun..... holy crap was I wrong. The battle system is sooooo punishing that it became the first ever rpg I gave up on. I ended up returning it within the week for my money back. The only other one on the list I've played was Valkyia Revolution, If I could describe it in one word it'd be "Meh"
I gave up on Shadow Madness, because I seemed to have found a secret boss near the beginning of the game that you weren't really supposed to fight till later. and since it was so brutal and I couldn't win, I felt the game's difficulty curve was too punishing.. and I realized also that bosses scale with your level so there is little reward in leveling up, you don't feel more powerful.
It’s funny seeing on some natural doctrine videos, ppl saying how fun of a game it is and one comment read pretty much bragging how almost had all the trophies unlocked for it, just needed to save vasily
It is the Dark Souls of STrategy Games. To beat the ogre in the first cave, I had to actually fall back to a more defensible location in order to set up an ambush and take him out with. Its not just mindless, "beat enemy over head with sword till dead, heal when needed" that damn ogre hits you once, you are dead.
Valkyria actually has a good story and good character development (you have to engage with these in town). It is also pretty challenging towards the end. Did you know there is magic on it too? I am not gonna say it's an amazing game and it should've been it's own IP due to comparisons with the SRPG, but Valkyria Revolution was surprisingly decent.
The worst thing in VR is begining of game, it's getting better over time, but damn that grind and HUGE difficulty spikes in late game. All boss battles with all generals, especially with Victor and Guiloche are hard asf + you have time limit in late game missions, if you sucks ... well Brunhilde arrives and one shots your team :) Story and characters are very well developed, and ending in this game it's worth pain. If this game would have higher budget, i think it will be great JRPG.
@@nr2676 completely agree. The story in revolution is good. But then the difficulty spike arghhhhh. And that's when the combat was mid to begin with. It was fun for a while, but to grind for hours? Nope!
@@DaakkuuYRS the main problem with this game and Valkyria Chronicles games (and reason why this franchise is still underrated as hell) is Sega. They give them wayyyyyy too low budget.
I remember purchasing Natural Doctrine when it released on PS$, for the full 59.99 when it came out. I took it home, played until the goblin mine and just couldn't progress due to difficulty. I go back to the store and try to return it. They wouldn't let me.
Not only was this a brilliant and comedic idea for a video, but you executed it flawlessly. You judged each one fairly (and BOY was I grateful that you went into this with the mindset of giving each game a fair shake) and gave an authentic read on each game. I sincerely hope you continue this series, considering this made me subscribe to your channel - though perhaps with a system's library that breaks your bank a little less? 😜
Thank you! I appreciate the kind words. I’m really glad you and so many others enjoyed this video. I will DEFINITIVELY do more of this series! I just need time to cleanse my palette of these bad games lol.
I tried and failed miserably with Natural Doctrine and you hit all the points I hated as well. What a convoluted mess of a game. Also, majority of the comments played Valkyrie Revolution which I find amusing, guess a lot of people expected more Chronicles.
I actually got the Platinum on Valkyria Revolution. While it wasn't a new Chronicles that I wanted I did grow to really enjoy the game. It ended up being a bit of a mindless fun game that I'd use as a stress relief much like the Warriors games or Senran Kagura. I'd definitely put it over some other JRPGs I had on the system like Star Ocean Integrity and Faithlessness or Asdivine Hearts.
I actually played Arc of Alchemist, and I enjoyed it. What the game doesn't explain well is that weapons have different attack types. And enemies have weaknesses and resistances to those attacks. It does tell you, but in like a mini brief. I didn't realize that myself until about halfway through the game.
I played a number of these and I am not sure I would call any of them the "worst". I quite liked Valkyria Revolution. It was a bit odd but once you got into the story it was quite interesting. I can name two games that I would put way below any of these. One was the game based "Is it Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon " or DanMachi and below even this is Marchen Forest which I couldn't even finish which is saying a lot. Mostly it was the combat and extremely annoying dungeon layouts for both but also the total lack of any real story.
not being allowed to revive party members in the field is sort of a common trope in dungeon crawlers. Maybe not one everyone loves, but its a feature that has been in constant use since the very first RPG... (though in the first RPG you couldn't revive characters. If they got hit they were dead. You just... replaced them with somebody new with no levels or equipment.)
I played valkyria revolution. In my experience, even after you get through the cutscenes, it is still 45 minutes of scrolling through menus, buy and upgrading gear and the magic gems that give you spells and skills, going through everyone's character abilities that change the way they play depending on party setup(the womanizer preforms better with no male teammates, for example) building the party, then adjusting everyone's AI, All for a five minute fight, but if you don't do that you will have to constantly pause the game to switch characters to make them do what they are supposed to and they will immediately stop doing that and go eff off somewhere off screen, plus they will deal like no damage if you don't upgrade everything at the start of every mission. I was like 12 when i was playing this and only got a hour of time on my ps4 a day, 2 on the weekends, so this game absolutely sucked playing because I would open the game, spend 3/4 of my time dicking around in menus, 5 minutes playing and 10 minutes watching brief and debriefing cutscenes. AND THIS WAS FOR THE EFFING SIDE QUESTS. The actual story missions I could only play on Sundays after church when I had a little extra time.
Honestly this just reminded me how the Natura Doctrine was one of the first things I played on my PS4 and I got so blown up on the first battle that I never touched it since and forgot all about it. But seeing it again in this video... you somehow just sold me on trying it all over again. I need to see for myself. The combat system looks so ridiculously complex that I am honestly intriqued, I love unique combat systems. And the story sounds so weird that I suddenly need to know where it goes. I don't think this was the intended effect of the video, but you sold me on Natural Doctrine.
I don't know if somebody already said it, but the thing you're trying to explain on Arc of Alchemist is called Input Delay. Fighting game players usually know about that since it's a big deal on FG. As you showed, the game have an incredible high input delay. I don't know how this game was approved at all.
I didn't really mind Valkyria Revolution, but then I hadn't experienced the core franchise at the time. And Akiba's Trip is a very niche game with a very particular audience.
I hit such a massive difficultly spike in the last area of Natural Doctrine which soft locked me. Pretty much a rage inducing game for most of the game, as a stradegy noob.
Alright! I tried playing Natural Doctrine three months ago and got stuck on the same battle that you did and rage-quit in quiet frustration. I'm glad it wasn't just me. And that combat system? Needlessly complex. And the story? I don't remember any of it. Lol
I actually kind of enjoyed Natural Doctrine, should be noted, I played on the easy mode, and was completely cheesing the game, like never letting them get near me kind of layered ranged attackers thing that the game tried to discourage, but I did anyway and it worked out well enough. Also, Arc of Alchemist is good for what it's trying to be, as it basically encourages min maxing, grinding, and stat raising...but it's tone clashes almost constantly with itself. Like, the story is that this is the LAST chance for the world, if you fail this mission, EVERYONE dies, and you're competing with two/three other kingdoms to retrieve a device that might not actually exist, and they are willing to kill, and even torture you to get this thing. And then the game keeps doing wacky hijinks in every character's 'sub-plot' cutscenes, trying to get you to laugh, and enjoy being free of the hustle and bustle of the kingdom, and really not take anything seriously. Worse, just to spoil, by the end it turns into a friendship conquers all message that is completely muddled by one of the Kingdoms being a slave state that all but admits it will conquer and enslave the other kingdoms once everything is stable again...but for now they're working with you, so the thing you're after considers it peaceful enough, and even the ending implies you talk them down, a fact that is just stupid. That and the final boss all but demands you fight and kill each other to earn its power, but then acts like you're the dick for fighting.
I really dug Valkyria Revolution and put in about 100hrs even platting the game. I liked the combat, cast , story and was sad when it was time to roll credits. Also your percentage of combat time vs story time I guess can count as true if your just doing the main missions since I put in a lot of time into combat in the game. The biggest negative I have to say about the game is the boss fights because my god are they sponges and theres one where you fight a ship which feels like a waiting game. I still feel most of the hate the game gets is because of its name sake even though its a spin off.
Isn't it a double standard to say a game is bad because it has more cut-scenes than gameplay, but some games with a similar rate get a better opinion? That's not the reason Valkyria Revolution (VR) gets a low score, because the same can be said about the other Valkyria games, or even games like Trails in the Sky, and these get better reviews. VR is a good game, but it's not a Valkyria Chronicles game, and that's the only reason it got bad reviews. Saying otherwise is hypocrisy.
I loved the story of Valkyria Chronicles once you get into it and learn the motivations and such but it takes HOURS to really get into and if your not invested enough (or bored enough)
Valkyria Revolution isn't actually a "Valkyria Chronicles" game. It has nothing to do with the rest of the series and most fans consider it an awkward footnote that's best left forgotten. A result of Sega not knowing what to do with the IP, and just implementing every single thing fan feedback said. Total mess
@@Hugsloth it maybe "forgotten" and all by some, but it is definitely a "Valkyria" game. When characters over lap, wartime battles over lap, and other things overlap and get Involved, than it is part of the Chronicles, though in a different game style.
@@kevynhansyn2902i mean you should play from start to finish to see if it's good or not. Playing 7 hours on a game that you complete in 30 is nowhere near accurate for review.
natural doctrine was a Vita game actually and super punishing yes. Valkyrie is not great but the plot is engaging. Arc of alchemist also not that bad and original (it's a city builder mixed with an rpg which, back then, was very odd) I suppose the glitches and lag depend on PS5's back comp emulation. The switch port I know is also dreadful. None of these are great but Arc and Valkyrie don't deserve the hate in my opinion.
I found it strange that 5 years ago, after playing revolutions and giving a chance with chronicles, I Immediately returned the game as I was not fond with the game mechanics with chronicles. I liked revolutions honestly. Had its flaws, but I still felt engaged with it. Would love to give chronicles another and genuine chance soon
In regards to your experience with Natural Doctrine, I'm going to try to relate to your experience with my first few hours playing Final Fantasy Tactics, which was when I did not yet know how to add more than just the default character to battle (so it was 1 versus like 8 guys)
Hello! Undead and Undressed player here! Not every article of clothing can be removed unless you damage it! Agreed that it sucks. Also, finally. Arc of Alchemist is getting the proper hate it deserves. I heavily disagree with switching any of the games. I'm a guy notorious for finsihing Compile Heart games to 100% on the trophy list, sometimes several times over. I got a review code for that game and dropped it in a few hours. I hate the game so much that I will NEVER play it again.
I got Akiba's Trip on Switch recently, and I enjoyed it. It's dated, and heavily pitched to a slice of otaku culture, but it had enough of the aspects from the better follow-up that I still played through it for an entire story cycle, and will probably go back to get one of the other story branch endings. I do have to agree that lock on would have made a huge difference, and fights against a group are very difficult. Although getting clothing is fairly easy: you have to buy the guide book for the type of clothes.
Honestly the main problem is that we got the far superior sequel first, and yet Marvelous thought a basic remaster of a PSP game - as in lacking improvements to the point where they recorded the new dub at what is clearly PSP quality - would be enough to get people to buy it in the West. It was a half-assed cash-in clearly aimed at the Western market and it's tragic.
To be fair to Akiba's Trip, it's SUPPOSED to be cringey. It's a parody of the otaku culture at the time and takes all the levels of ridiculousness up to 11. The costumes you are supposed to get (yes, even the high school ones) are supposed to be parodies of the various cosplayers that Otakus were/are infamous for in Japan. Since this game was originally only released in Japan, I'm guessing they expected players to already know about that culture. The sequel make the parody elements MUCH clearer to players unfamiliar with the culture, and the devs make the combat far more fun and over-the-top that you go from the negative "I just can't" that you experienced here, to a positive "Oh god what, I just can't" with the sequel. I know this game may have scared you away from the franchise but I highly recommend giving "Akiba's Trip: Undead and Undressed" a shot. It's far more entertaining and plays into the cartoony factor more. The characters still act like the story is serious business, but it really adds to the humor in the second game. Though if you get it on Steam, don't bother trying to play it on the Steam Deck. The cutscenes are upside-down and the sound effects don't work.
I played Akiba's Trip recently for the first time and had a blast despite the bad textures, clunky controls and embarassing dialog. Now I am a master of strip-jitsu and have learned the art of crossdressing. Even though the premise is pervy, it never crosses the line into porn.
I like the Sequel so much, but just now I see the 1st game. I guess the Bug and clunky fight is really unbearable compared to the Sequel; Undead and Undressed. Undead and Undressed is indeed a far upgrade from the 1st game (I played it on PC though, so I don't know about PS version). If you like the 1st game, maybe you can try to play Undead and Undressed. Still waiting for Kati's Route (Director's Cut or something... Man, we really want that sexy Maid 😂).
I'm surprised by how bad Akibas trip is. I played the sequel on the ps3 and it was pretty good. The graphics was still bad but missions were straight forward, fun, and combat was pretty decent. I guess they learned a lot since the first game also the joke dialogue don't get you killed.😂
Yes agree. I enjoy the Sequel, it is a Fun Game, so to be honest, I myself surprised to see how different the 1st game is; A lot of Bug, Clunky Combat, etc...
Natural doctrine is amazing. That battle isn’t even that hard. It’s been forever since I played it but make sure Geoff is your frontline at the end of the turn and learn to maximize your combat links. I wish I could remember the specifics but that game is so underrated and the combat is very deep. And if a battle is really giving you trouble you basically have a get out of jail free card with the mage.
This was a very fun video, I would love to see you try it for other consoles but I worry that it would get too expensive lol. I remember back when Akiba's trips first came out a friend imported it and tried to tell me how amazing it was and yeah... I mean it sounds like the sequels get better or at least more silly but how did they manage to get so many sequels with such a terrible first game... i find it hard to believe the original version is better then the port? I mean I know why it's a decently large series now... it's the fanservice but a game should at least be fun to play! Anyways great vid!
But...none of these are as bad as to be called worst... I even got a platinum trophy in Akiba'Strip 2, which is what you're calling the worst While it's not. It does require A LOT of time to understand how it works, but once you're done with that, you'll be having a lot of fun. But no one will explain it to you in the game. You're a big boy, deal with it And I love it when the game explains nothing and you have to get it by trial and error. It's way more fun that way
I tried Natural Doctrine because the description sounded kinda neat but I'm pretty sure I was as confused as you and got stuck on the exact same mission as you.
I beat a couple of these ones... Valkyria Revolution is a little over-hated but I feel the game has really backwards design, where your characters gain more power and influence as the enemy forces dwindle so the start of every map is about as hard as any match gets excluding bosses. Most difficulty curves ramp up instead of down, it's weird. Akibas Trip I appreciated in a lot of ways but even with my patience and taste I found the Jank bad more often than fun or charming.
Well, I finished Natural Doctrine 2 times and loved it. Yeah, some fights are brutal, but, mostly, those with Extra Enemies and Final Boss. Others need just little patience and some understanding of positioning. For example, enemies can't shoot at you IF you are hidden behind something. Sometimes you need to make a good-old retreat to make enemies into the line so it's easy to kill them. Also bonusesafter lvl up sound not that hot, but they are. And the final moment: some fights (extra) are only after you have more party members. For the story: it's also can be discussed. For example, Orc Chief just tested us. In the world in which only strong survive, and you consider yourself strong, your friends also need to be strong. Just natural rule, as in the name of the game. Can you trust a weak in such world? No. So the moment, we have proved that we are strong, he accepted us. For Valkirie Revolution... I think that many people wanted other thing. Yeah, there are many cut-scenes, but they are good, the story is good, It's not about how oh-surprise-military-genious-commander-with-luck and little country repel the large army. The conflict is more understandable and equal. But still, thanks for the opinion.
@@TheGamingShelf thanks. I understand, that TRPG is the genre that is not for everyone. Well, some of those games. And, of course, the moment, devs are making the game difficult is a big hit to many. The thing is I played almost every TRPG from Japan, including pretty... nicher ones. And many of them are brutally hard. At least, on mid-late game. Games like Agarest, Hoshigami (that one is really brutal on late game), Valkirie Profile Covenant of Plume... It's great genre, but not for all and not really fair sometimes.
At around 11:20 you said you'd get "GetGud' comments over the strategy game. If a system is so unintuitive that you can't understand what you're doing wrong to correct it, then it is a failure of game design.
@@lain11644 same here it was definitely old but but I don’t remember having as many troubles, for example I had to problem getting those musicians clothes. I’m looking forward to play Akibas trip on switch.
@@TheGamingShelf the Secret for the Combat is the wooden sword with that ist was very fun Had a enhanced wooden sword +99 at the end and with the techs you have aoe attacks
Arc of Alchemist and Akiba weren't that bad. You just need to grind alot to cope for the not-so-good gameplay. Overall, I've played far worst JRPG's in my time. Like Magna Carta or Stella Deus. But they weren't on PS4, OK. Also, old RPG's from 3rd or 4th generation could be really way worse than this. To me the worst ever was Unlimited SaGa on the PS2. I was unable to even understand what was to be done. I mean, we start with some kid, and breakable weapons, and there's a foggy map, and you wander, but you never get to reach any point that makes sense or set you on your course for your adventure. There's just no knowing what has to be done and so, you die miserably at the very beginning of the game. I've played shittons of JRPG's in my life, but that one was the most confusing of all. Ans since I had no walkthrough for it, I never was able to unstuck myself. I just sold the game.
Valkyria Revolution has been on my radar for a while now both because it’s a very cheap game to get physically and the fact that Erick Landon really liked it. I can deal with the long cutscenes easily. I did so with Eternal Sonata and the Xenosaga trilogy. Plus it seems like this takes on more of a style of a visual novel and knowing that going into it I feel is a good thing. 13 Sentinels got my attention and it has tons of cutscenes with little gameplay as well. The only thing though based on what you have said is if the story may be boring to me. It seemed like an interesting political drama, but I guess if it never gets exciting I can see why it may be good to hesitate on it? But for less then $10 CIB I may just take a flyer on it anyway?
I bought it (Valkyria Revolution) for $15 off Amazon a few months back off Erick Landon's recommendation and thought it was alright. It does drag a bit toward the end, and the ending left me disappointed; but I've spent way more money on waaaaaay worse games and ultimately felt I got the fun that I paid for!
I say its worth it as I found the characters and story rather good and the more time you put into the game the more you start to learn about the cast. The combat also is fun as well and it plays like more of an action game compared to the main line series and dont worry you dont need to play any of those to enjoy this one.
@@Hugsloth To be honest gameplay wise better experience is more about what type of game you want to play more. I beat VC 1 and I can admit the gameplay didn't click with me and I found myself enjoying the gameplay here more.
Sigh. I flinch every time another game I own ends up on one of your lists. I have a sealed PS3 Natural Doctrine that I haven't opened, and I never hear anybody talking about it online that would compel me to crack the ol' shrinkwrap. I've almost bought Akiba's Trip: Hellbound and Debriefed a couple times, but I'm glad I didn't now. It looks like a straight Vita port with no graphical enhancements whatsoever.
So I just watched it, good job Taylor. I just want to touch on Natural Doctrine ( I think you know already, me popping everywhere when people comment about the game 😅. I mean, I'm kinda excited, nobody ever talks about this game which I love. ) So yeah it's fair to say that the graphics are ugly, the UI is cluttered, the story is as generic and boring as it gets and the characters are just empty shells nobody cares about 😂. Those are all valid points. The only point I disagree is the battle system. The battle system is tight, for real. It was created by veterans of the Final Fantasy Tactics and Ogre Battle franchises. The problem is that the learning curve is really steep and you have no incentive to learn it ( like we said, bad story, bad graphics, cookie cutter characters ). For real, I remember reading the review from IGN and I can't fathom how the reviewer got as far as he got because he didn't understand what he was doing 😂. I grinded those mines, until I felt confident I understood what I was doing, a good couple hours at least, maybe a bit more. For real, when the game came out I skipped it due to the reviews 😅. But a good friend of mine, big fan of tactical RPGs like me, gifted it to me for my birthday and told me I had to play it. And I just loved it. So great video, keep it up Taylor, I love your stuff 😉
@@TheGamingShelf Oh yeah, and a final little thing for Natural Doctrine. The guy that refuses to let you enter in the city and to listen to your report about the creatures, it's because he knows of their existence and he's trying to harness their power and control them if I remember correctly. So he's trying to keep their existence secret. That's why 😉.
as a Vita owner and a Valkyria Chronicles fan (I Played them all, including the 2 PSP exclusives). It really sucks the only valkyria chronicles we got for vita was revolution... Being able to play the 1st or 4th game, or even enhanced versions (maybe remastered) of the 2 and 3rd games on Vita would've been amazing
The worst game I played in recent years is Omega Quintet. It has all of the biggest problems in these 5 games combined, especially the unfair gameplay. It's a turn-based RPG, but the "turn-based" part doesn't apply to enemies. They can break the turn order and go before you whenever there are fewer than 4 enemies alive, and whenever any enemy is below 50% HP. This means you could be wiped out before you even get a chance to act, and even when you survive, you'll be left on low HP, have all your stats reduced to 1, and be inflicted with every status ailment in the game. It's by far the worst kind of artificial difficulty I've seen in over 20 years.
Natural Doctrine is SOOOOOOOO bad! Like what the hell were they thinking?! I tried it on the vita and the whole screen was covered in text. Such a horribly executed idea. This video was so fun to watch! I'd love if you did more of these for different systems although it does sound painful lmao
I kinda liked Valkyria Revolution even though it takes forever to get something out of it - yeah the gameplay to cutscene ratio is just stupid...but I had worse. If anything I think the biggest issue with VR is that the main protagonist, Amleth, just sucks but thankfully it gets replaced by Ophelia who's a lot better and actually gets a lot of development later on: she easily takes the spot in the game and makes the story a lot more enjoyable. The combat is also broken and if you use Sara (or Blum, but Sara is better) you can pretty much wipe out entire groups without breaking a sweat... As for Arc of Alchemist...I honestly thought it had a lot of potential, there was something interesting in it but I believe it was cut down on budget and basically left "as is". There's basically no villain either and the final boss gets introduced without much of a context: he's just the final boss. It's a shame because there is a nice twist in the middle game and a lot of interactions between characters are nice and all, but then you get the unpolished base design thing and the empty world..."sigh" really a shame. Also no idea about the enemies getting zero damage, never had that in my gameplay and I didn't even use the upgrade system until later. Maybe some weapons or armors were required and those are tied to the base building system...and it's easy to break it with a guide too lol
"Like, what if you could launch enemies into the air and juggle them and then slam them to the ground, all with different party members?" Radiant Historia. You want to play Radiant Historia.
I played a good 10 hours of Akiba Strip, It didn't feel clunky to me and I got the band member's set pretty quickly (3 area reloads). Ya, the story is extremely cringy to the point I just muted it and started skipping cutscenes at the master but it did better getting me invested compared other bad games I played.
Your point on Valkyrie Revolution…well, there was a 3DS JRPG that I dropped almost immediately, called Lord of Magna: Maiden Heaven. Some anime harem RPG that I literally only picked up because GameStop had nothing better that day, ended up with 30 minutes of those visual novel style cutscenes broken up by 5 minute stages of actual gameplay. If you guys wanna make a visual novel, just make a visual novel. Don’t promise a more involved game and then only use it as the garnish.
Akiba's Trip is the only one on this list and I really enjoyed it due to the characters and dialogue. It got me laughing and having fun with how silly and over the top it can get. The dialogue and over the top anime comedy is the best part of Akiba's Trip and why I got it in the first place. Well, I love comedy and harem anime so I guess that's probably why I like the game so much cause it gives me the same vibe as those genre of anime. 😅
I bought Valkyria Revolution at launch - not assuming it was like the other games, but having an open mind. Man... even with an open mind, that game sucked. The combat was simplistic and boring. The cutscenes were Kojima-length, with zero of the direction or acting. I played as long as it took for me to get footage for the first and only video I've done with narration (still up on my channel!) and haven't touched it since. I would've been up for boring gameplay if the story was gripping or the characters were compelling... but the cutscenes are just so _lifeless._ The characters have no characterization beyond their appearance. The cutscene I covered in my video was a dinner party scene. A dinner party in which nobody eats or moves. The most active thing in the room is the camera, and if you watch the scene, you know how much of a joke that is. They say the worst thing your game can be is boring. It can be bad, but bad is at least interesting in its own right. But boring is the cardinal sin... and Valkyria Revolution is the epitome of boring.
Taylor, this was really great, and intuitive. You really know how to serve your niche in creative ways. Ass kissing aside, I really liked Valkyria Revolution. It has a few meaningful moments that I enjoyed. But I can certainly understand why it's scored so slow.
I played Natural Doctrine on ps3; hit the same level as a difficulty wall and walked away after about three hours of repeated restarts. At one point I even restarted to see if that would help... it did not.
Ok so I'm going to play devil's advocate for Natural Doctrine so Wall of text incoming: The game is ugly and I won't contest that in the slightest but the game play comes down to basically abusing the everlasting fuck out of LoS. The battle system can be boiled down to this: 1. Unlock the gun for Geoff 2. Geoff will always have LoS of the enemy you wanna kill Team damage is distance between teammates x number of people attacking. 3. I'm not even going to joke it's trial and error The game is unfair I'm not even going to lie, but it's extremely abusable barring the few scenarios where you literally can't win (aka Aslan and the lizard temple) but beyond that this game is generally really fun with a few cool secrets in it. The area you got stuck in can be easily avoided once you figure out how it works (yeah I know BAd GEam DesIGN) but honestly once you learn the combat mechanics you can actually infinitely farm the cave boss (the cutscene where versily dies and Sean Schimmel screams like a pansy) but the versatility and the builds you can make for each character more than doable. I plan on going back and farming the 1st boss (it's scripted for you to run so even when you kill it it just respawns) to see if I can break the game later on, but I totally.understand if you don't want to play it because the AI in Natural Doctrine is Programmed to kill you with extreme prejudice and if you make 1 mistake with your strategy you are 8/10 times more than likely dead.
I think about Valkyria Revolution every now and then, because I was one of the folks who excitedly bought it only to realize it was nothing like a Valkyria Chronicles game. I probably put an hour into it before I shelved it and sometimes I think that was premature. I wish I could say this video brought me some closure, but I'm probably closer to dusting it off now than I ever have been.
I back up Idea Factory and Compile Heart because I want to see them succeed, they have a ton of promise but need to learn better design techniques sometimes. Arc of Alchemist was a game I played to examine their experiments in gameplay design, and I'm glad they went where they did - I just think this one could have benefited from better environmental design and a non-apocalypse story.
They make great games(Megadimension Neptunia VII for example) but then they sabotage them with cheap practices (Didn't I see this dungeon in Lowee and Leanbox too?) and that why they're often overlooked. I've asked friends into RPGs if they liked Neptunia and most of them think Tamsoft who made the spin-off Four Goddesses Online were the creators and Compile Heart were a company they outsourced Neptunia to instead, due to the sheer difference in quality between the 3rd parties and Compile Heart/Idea Factory themselves.
IF and Compile Heart arent new to the industry. They had over a decade to improve, but never did. They just churn out low budget half-assed JRPGs every year and run relatively unique ideas into the ground. When they have something halfway successful (Neptunia) they clearly run out of ideas immediately and just churn out repetitive sequels or give the IP to betrer studios for one-off spin-offs that are just other game franchises with a Compile Heart coat of paint. And that's with their "good" IPs. Their worst stuff is abolute bottom of the barrel.
Natural Doctrine is one of the ugliest looking PS4 games I've ever seen. Beyond just the poor graphics that UI is one of the most confusing things I've ever seen.
What an amazing idea for a video. I don't know how to replicate this idea but it's a massive yes from me. I was hoping for a hidden gem but everything looks so bad.
The thing about Valkyria Revolution is that its split between the present day as a story being told as it was reported and recollections being told by the other soldiers of events that happened. Its a huge disconnect at first but when you realize it, kinda makes sense. Considering how some stories told by news outlets may be drastically different to how they actually played out. Its not amazing by any means but as someone who likes the story of Valkyria Chronicles but dislikes how the combat can get rather Xcom for no reason, like missing point blank shots, I welcome the more active combat system. Arc of Alchemist has a similar feel to playing anything in the Star Ocean franchise on the hardest difficulty, your level has almost 0 bearing on the difficulty of a fight. Currently I am playing through SDR2 and I am 40 levels above the trash mobs with endgame crafted gear and equipment. I am still getting thrown into walls of difficulty, which I expect because its Universe, but its making me wonder how effective stats really are in the grand scheme of things. AoA is still a terrible game, you made it farther than I did before I uninstalled it lmao.
I liked Valkyia Revolution. Has a great story and likable characters. The combat system is pretty deep and is like sorta an *EXTREMELY* light Gambit system from FFXII plus a system that is based on the emotional levels of the battlefield. My only complaint is it gets very hard at end of the game.
Arc of Alchemist literally looks like it suffers from being a Compile Heart game. After they got successful with Neptunia I'd have thought they figured out how to make an enjoyable game, but they can't quite seem to get it. Every one of their games I've played has some weird roundabout way to get stronger that's completely out of left field from other games. Like, I think it's Agarest War Zero where you can't find better gear in stores. You have to go play the combat and focus on getting overkills to get drops from enemies to craft things, and once you've crafted it you can get it to show up in shops in limited amounts, so in the end you have to pretty much craft everything anyway to get anywhere. Which wouldn't be too bad if the game didn't hit you with a difficulty wall in the first few hours that I couldn't circumvent without just getting stronger gear. And yes, their level up system is basically always that you get a level and some points and then have to spend the points to increase a stat. It's actually ridiculous that I can play a game for like an hour now and tell you if Compile Heart put it out or not.
5:22 Oh man... That dual-headed serpent is probably the sole reason why I and many others dropped the game. Took literally 2 hours to beat the darn thing because the game doesn't tell you directly or indirectly how to beat it. And yeah, akiba's trip is just plain boring. That's probably why I got it for free when I bought another switch game. Yep, they literally just gave it to me. They wanted to get rid of it as much as possible, and it ended up in my hands. F.
Everything but Natural Doctrine, I did beat it. The last boss kills off characters in story so i spent like 10hrs retrying to beat it no deaths then raged quit before beating it a week later. Game was hard but fun, got me into strategy rpgs but yeah it is like "Total" Tar on legend difficulty hard, you need a solid plan, proper stacked characters, and an understanding of the cheese arts.
"Playing these games is painful" *IMMEDIATELY plugs two mobile-quality gacha games from a company that spends more money on toilet paper than game development and more money on making up microtransactions than the US spends on its military*
I might remember it wrong, but I read Natural Doctrine review like decades ago and yeah, people really doesn't like it. Not because of the graphics but because of the brutal unfair difficulty. Here's what I remember (and I might remember it wrong)... 1. It's multiplatform. Iinm, it was released both on Vita and PS4... So I guess the dev is lazy and just use vita graphics on PS4 version (but on high res). 2. The game starts pretty easy but quickly ramped up to the point it's almost impossible to finish... And just like you said, one character died means instant game over. 3. This is not a strategy game, it's more like a puzzle game. Instead of allowing player to make their own choice/strategy, you must use what the dev intended on how to clear the stage... Deviate even a little bit could easily mean game over. That's what people who played it say.
number 5 is cherry picking. JRPGs are known for the humungous amount of cutscene vs gameplay. Final fantasy and xenoblade gets praised for it. I do agree though about show don't tell. most players go for the fasty bois usually for combat and had never explored big dick damage classes with slow CD timers. You also criticize it for a hybrid of action/strategy. I think it's fine. having to min/max damage numbers is a charm of its own. number4 no comment. not a big fan of 2d number 3 no comment. not a big fan of turn grid based number 2 not a big fan of the series number 1 deserved just for the delay in an action game
Valkyria Revolution is really slow, but as I'm not a die hard fan of previous games, I really wanted to get into this story and gameplay, but there are 2-3 things that make me drop this game after 3-4 hours and it's already second time I did it. 1) Horrible filter and very low poly foliage. That whitish filter with some type of "net" on the screen makes it look tiring for eyes, and with terrible level details, it gets worse ( except some cool looking city hub). I know they had to release it on Vita, but seems, they just left everything on Vita level. Or PS3 level. 2) Cutscene direction is terrible. You see in some scenes 5-6 characters speaking, but you lose your track who is speaking, as the camera is in such a strange angle, you can't see their mouts (and I suspect it's because they didn't want to spend time adding simple mout movement to all those lengthy cutscenes). They could've at least add their names next to subs, but no, really lazy job. 3) Really bad 30fps. You see, anime like games with 30 are ok for me, I can totally tolerate it, but here we have more action, and the game would be so much enjoyable if it was 60fps. Honestly, I drop it with hopes, that one day by some miracle or emulation, it can be tweaked to 60fps, then I'd love to return to it. Because I think with low details and bad fps the game doesn't give any pleasure to play. But the artstyle, characters, this magic-crystal-punk style univers I like it. Some characters also seem interesting. So if it gets at least 60fps patch or emulation one day, would really love to go back to this game.
are u crazy??? Natural Doctrine is till today my top 3 turn based game EVAAA. The graphics, map/characters design, music, gameplay are just awesome! plus it have a vs and coop mode where we can play as ANY enemy too! i love it!. The only thing I agree is that its way too hard and unfair. But to play vs a friend in vs mod is so damn fun. They should had had make a part 2 on ps5 and fix all the mistakes it had.
5 worst of all time is a terrible title for this. 5 mediocre maay work, but I still had fun with 3 out of 5 on this list. Not to mention this says "5 worst of all time" when PS4 actually has asset flip cash grab rpgs in its store.
