Последние обзоры Akhlys

Installs rootkit level anti-cheat (EAC)
Store page has no mention of this. I thought steam puts a warning on game's pages with anti-consumer extra software like this. I guess not.
I wasn't even interested in anything mulriplayer. But even if so, there should be a warning.

No thank you, I don't need that crap on my system.

Well.
I love and hate this game at the same time.
On one hand, there's (again) so much side content. Probably more than in any other game in the franchise yet. They basically made their own theme park simulator as side content. It was nothing to write home about, really, but better than it needed to be. And they made their own little pokemon arena battles.
On the other hand, the main story and especially the ending to it was pretty bad. Even worse than some other contenders.

This game was clearly meant as a good bye to kyriu. But thanks to that, it feels like a game where the main hero is sidelined. So much of this game is just "oh wasn't kyriu so great, wasn't he the best", while the actual main protagonist is made to look like a literal child. Sure, the childlike aspects of Ichiban were present before, but here they get turned up to 11. He just trusts people for no reason and the most annoying aspect is, he's never really proven wrong.
Oh you drugged me, stole everything from me, dropped me buck naked on the beach with no identification at all in the full knowledge and expectation that I would be arrested and possibly serve years behind bars, and you did that for idiotic reasons? Don't worry, I forgive you, you my friend now. Oh you tried to rob me at gunpoint? Oh we're best buddies now! And that's just two early examples of countless of such situations.

Also the storyline with bryce, one that is revealed to be big bad 1 later in the game, felt very cut. It's hinted at often in the game that that guy had more power than a mortal should have, lived for 150+ years and so on. Just hints dropped here and there. But... nothing ever comes of this. No big reveal, no scientific experience, no nothing, it's just ignored later on and he becomes just a normal dude.
Also his whole involvement makes no sense at all. I mean, why big bad 2 needs him does make sense, but it doesn't make sense on why he appeared on the radar of our heroes.
To not spoil it, let's just say he searches for something Ichiban does too - But he doesn't really need what he searches, it isn't really of any danger to him. It would be more convenient if he had it, but not having it would be an inconvenience, not a reason to go all out like he did.

and the ending scene.. God the ending.
Our favorite stoic yakuza literally crying saying "I'm sorry" to the dude whose whole purpose is to make the life of every ex-yakuza literal hell. Like... slavery and stuff

So yeah, gameplay was solid and all, loads of side content, but main story was... not my favorite. Some of the yakuza series main stories can be ass, and this is a contender for the worst.
But as far as the game itself goes, it's still fun.
I say get it but expect to be disappointed by the main story

I got this in a big bundle over on itchio quite a while ago and it turned out it was one of the onlyworthwhile games that I didn't already have in that bundle. So I decided to get it on steam to throw the devs some bucks (that's why my playtime here is just half an hour)
It is pretty much a heist-planning-sim. It reminds me of the old game "The Sting!" ("Der Clou! 2") just a bit simpler.
It is not really compareable to games like thief simulator, because the main danger here is alarm systems, not humans.
But as plenty of people know neither game:
It is a game where you simulate heists on your state of the art fictional 80s computer. you start out outside of a building or simlar and need to get inside to steal something specific (or photograph something or similar). The alarm systems are your obstacles on the way and you surpass them by your trusty laptop and it's very simplified command interface. You can, for example, open doors using it, but most doors can only stay open for 3 seconds or the alarm goes off.
During the game you get more and more tools, like a mini-remote-controlled-robot. There never are any human guards, thankfully.
Unlike other stealing type games (like the aforementioned thief simulator/the sting) you're only interested in one thing, you do not actually steal all that isn't nailed down.

Later on there is a sequence where you plan a few heists for more than one person at a time. I really didn't like those because of some clunkyness involved. Thankfully they were over again quick.
The story is.. meh. It's mostly a cheap framing device for the heists, and I already forgot most of it despite having fully played through the game earlier this year.
The graphics, well, look at the screenshots. That's what you get. It's blocky and low res. But other than oher games, in this one it really feels those graphics were used for style, not lazyness. For example, it uses real textures, not 10x10 pixel ugly ones like so many indies I could list. They're still low res, mind you, but with a high enough resolution to not be an eye sore. For how simple it looks, it looks fine.

Now price.. It's currently half off on steam, autumn sale, and I think this price, $10, is a fair price. I'm not sure I'd recommend it at full price. After all, it's an 8 year old indie game that's quite short. I'd say wait for a big sale like the current one.

It's not really an idle game because if you're not playing actively you make very little progress. For example, it has "quests" which are basically "slay X of monster". Half the monsters are flying ones, and you need to actively jump to reach them.

It would still have been fine, the start was rather good.. but around the time you get through your first portal, it becomes a slog.
To illustrate: The last weapon I can buy, at least at this point, is the necklace.
Each gives you ~22 Qa at level 50. A single additional necklace costs 657 Qi or 657.000 Qa. Even with 60 of them (and all other weapons combined, some on level 250) I make 1 Qi a second. 10 minutes just to buy a single necklace, if you aren't actively collecting coins, and that single necklace will not make much difference - and each I buy increases their price considerably, by about 15%.
The next available upgrade costs 7.5Sx or 7500.000.000 Qa - and it's not even an upgrade that would let me make more money. The next one after that is at 100Sx

I could ascend, but that will give me just an about +80% gold per second bonus, which isn't really much at this point.
This goes into another issue. For some reason, either each ascension the "slayer points" (ascension bonus currency) need more enemies killed than before or the enemies after the first portal give you less progress. My first Ascension I got 45 slayer points. I ascended a second time with the same amount of slayer points a seemingly shorter time later. I've been in this ascension (3rd) for a comparable time to the first two, yet have only 25 slayer points. How come?

So basically, I have hit a wall. where every little progress in the game takes days, instead of minutes. Even for an idle game that would be discouraging, after all, part of the fun is looking in every now and then and having new stuff to upgrade, but with this, which is as said not really an idle game, well..

This is more of a neutral. Review #2000 where I say I wish steam would have a neutral rating. But as it stands, I wouldn't recommend this.

Lemme preface saying that it isn't particularly bad, it just has many downsides.

First of all, not too happy with the art style. wanting to make it look like an old arcade game is fine enough, but it's inconsistent. Some times you have antialiasing, other times there are some very ugly pixel steps. Often together on a screen. Back then, people actually manually added antialiasing in art, even did stuff like dithering to make it as good as they could with what they could work with. Here, sometimes it feels some ugly pixel stairs were left in for no other reason than "it makes it look old lol"
As an example, take a look at the fourth store screenshot. Compare the edges of the thong with the enemy in the lower left. One is antialiased, the other isn't, and this discrepancy hits you all the time. Obviously they just transformed the sprite to "turned" with no interpolaton and no antialiasing, but "back in the day" that turned enemy would have been another sprite and would still have looked good, not that broken line pixelated mess.
I know that's a matter of opinion, but personally "making stuff look bad just for nostalgia's sake" never sat right with me.
I'm pretty sure the enemies are higher res in the resources than in the game. So turn them using the original resolution, antialiasing and all, resize them to their "pixel-apparent" size using proper interpolation, then increase them to the display size again with no interpolation. That would preserve looking pixelated while keeping it from looking awful.
Honestly, I don't really get why so many indies want to capture a "crt vibe". I like some pixelated games, Cave Story is possibly my favorite indie game, but it seems the devs went all out for this, with scan lines, screen deformations etc. But you can add scan lines all you want, you will not reach it unless you put some very deep work into it, because the way CRT displayed image was different (duh) and the pixels melted together some. Watch "When worse graphics are actually better" on YT for example. Just making low pixel graphics cannot emulate that, just adding scan lines cannot emulate that. You could probably add a blurring filter to get close, but to really emulate it you would have to emulate the color bleeding and rounding effect, which is probably quite some work for little pay. Just making things pixelated and adding scan lines is like thinking filming black and white without sound emulates the silent film era. So why not make it look good instead? You can stay with low res graphics, just apply antialiasing and all.
anyway, I digressed hard. You can't expect that from an indie game, sure. Just a pet peeve.

Secondly, yeah they wanted the "look and feel" of an arcade game. You still made a pc game, not an arcade game. What is the primary input device on a PC? That's right, the mouse. But that game doesn't allow for you to use the mouse for anything save for "left mouse button = shooting". The mouse doesn't even work in the menu. I'm sorry, I'm not even letting console ports get away with it, so I will not let a made-for-pc game get away with it either.
A bullet hell type of game where you can't even move your ship with the mouse? Really? At the very least support the mouse in menus and default to keyboard-steering with a way to disable that just like you did with scan lines (thanks for that btw)
And to add to the previous point.. Unless you expect every player to have a joystick, a device I haven't even heard mentioned in a decade, you won't replicate the feel of arcade anyway.

I like that this game is game first, prn second. I really do, those are my favorited prn games. But the prn content is so little you really wonder why they even bothered, instead of leaving it as "suggestive", maybe lowering the age rating and having a larger customer base. I mean, I enjoy it, but.. seems like wasted potential. If you make it full on adult, why not have scenes after defeating a giantess? I mean, from the captain conquering her again with charme, to some bondage heavy arrest scenes or something, there's so much that could have been done, but wasn't.

Speaking of missed chances. this could have ben the first game in a long time to emulate the era of the upgrade flash games. Imagine you could use the money to increase the ship speed, maneuverability, weapon power, weapon size, maybe even add super weapons that charge over time. Upgrades that the enemies leave behind more coins. Then increase the enemy difficulty level to level drastically, so you may to have to replay some stages, but then you could make your ship so kickass that you can proceed.
ah well, what could have been. I miss those old games, and it makes me sad no game nowadays scratches that itch.
This is not a point against the game, just some wistful waxing.

all in all, I disagree with some (lol many) design decisions, but it's still a nice game, just not for me. As steam doesn't allow for neutral votes, and I wouldn't recommend it, I'm sorry devs, gotta go with "no recommend"

This is a solid entry of Ys, but far from my favorite. From the 2.5D Ys games, this ranks second. It does not have the issues of Ys Oath in Felghana (way too long distances between save points, a story that could have been made way easier or even solved by the oh-so-wise Big Good from the start) but it obviously lacks the refinement of Ys Origin.

My main issue is that It forces you to grind levels way too often, you often encounter enemies that you do zero damage to until you level up some. The problem is that they're often not dangerous enemies - sure they do a lot of damage to you, but if you're careful, it's not too hard to avoid damage from normal mobs. As soon as you can do damage to them, you can use one or two of them to quickly level up several times by defeating them, leaving the screen, returning, rinse repeat. It feels silly easily defeating and farming level ups from an enemy that, 5 minutes before, you couldn't damage at all.
Other 2.5D ys games have that issue as well, but way less grating. I guess the enemies there have more health but less defense.

The item that lets you regain health while standing still, a staple of the Ys franchise, is only gotten by an optional side quest right before the end of the game. It should really have been a mid-game-item.

The bosses weren't the worst, but also not the best. Way too many bosses only have hitboxes in the air, and jump attacking is cumbersome. Not the worst thing but annoying.

It also has a very hard to execute movement mechanic, the dash jump. You never really need it save for extra content in one area, but it's still prominent in the option menu. As a tip.. use the d-pad, orient yourself where you wanna jump. Let go of the buttons. Hit the direction again just for a bit, let go, wait half a second, then press and hold attack, then jump. That's the only way I got it to work in like half the attempts.

All in all, if you're new to Ys, do not take this one to pop your cherry, but it's not a bad game

This is a nicely made, slow corruption type prn RPG.
It's main negative is..Every tme I think of it to recommend it to someone, I can never think of the name, and it's basically impossible to google. For example, the player character is an ex super agent/super heroine as far as I remember. Google for adult super heroine corruption games and you get 40 games, none of which is this :D

Now, I haven't played it in a while, this is mostly so next time I can just look through my reviews to find it again

This is a tough one.
Would I recommend it in a vacuum? Yeah, it's a nice 2.5D platformer. Would I recommend it compared to other Ys games? nope.
I decided to 'recommend' this game... basically because I just can't get myself to downvote an Ys game ^^;

Now, this game is well liked. I saw so many people that put it on the top of their Ys game rankings. And frankly, I don't see why.
As said, it's not a bad game, but it has a fatal flaw.
The save points are way too far apart.
Imagine playing for 20 minutes, meeting harder and harder enemies. No way to heal yourself save for some rare monster drops that heal like 10%. You clear room after room after room after room. Your health bar gets smaller and smaller. And then it happens, some oger bonks you on the head, you fall to your knees, dead.
You hit retry. You're sent back to the last monument (save point). All your exp lost, all your gold lost, back at square one, 20 minutes just gone. Do it again!
This time you get further. You go at it slower to not get hurt so much, you reach 2 rooms further in. Bonk, dead, another 30 mins lost. Rinse, repeat.
Combine that with tricky platforming later on, where falling doesn't kill you, but sends you back several monster filled rooms.

Basically, until you find the spirit cape (item that can heal you over time when you stand still) this game is very frustrating.
If that game had free saving or roughly double the save points it would be way more enjoyable.

I played through all the Ys games 4 years back. This is the only one I didn't finish. After I fell for the umpteenth time while jumping from slippery block to slippery block in the ice mountains, I remember thinking "why do I do that to myself? This isn't fun" and just stopping.
Well, this time I didn't stop, but I can understand past self.

Fun space exploration game. You land in Unknown Space[TM] and need to make it Known Space[R], pretty much :D

If you played Starcom: Nexus, the predecessor:
"It is very similar to Starcom: Nexus, nearly a level map" is what I would have said yesterday. Today I fired Nexus up again and man are there many improvements that you simply don't notice because it's just similar enough and it has been years. Ship building is vastly improved and way faster, the research tree doubled in size, you have nifty quality-of-life improvements like an autopilot, graphics look better, and so on.
It's just like Nexus, just.. better in every aspect.

It pains me to downvote it, there was clearly put a lot of effort into it.
But I simply can't recommend it. I would put this as neutral (the times I wrote this in reviews is legion, steam please already make a neutral review setting) but as I'm forced, I ask myself "would I actually recommend it to someone?" and the answer is "not really"

It doesn't really have a story, so the first thing you're being struck with "so.. what do I actually do?"
The answer is counter.-intuitive. You think, from the way the intro/tutorial was, that your job was to restore the kobold princes kingdom. What you actually do is.. screw the kobold, sometimes literally, and go and help other pricesses. Which are actually rivals, so you basically help out enemies of the kobold.
I wish the game actually made it clear it was more of a sandbox game and the kobold princess is not in any way more or less special than the other princesses.
The game generally does not like to make things clear to you. I already have plenty of hours in this, but without the wiki, I would have no idea that random smexy encounters with random girls in taverns etc actually improved your standings with their kindgom. It makes no intuitive sense, so why would hyou ever guess it?

The whole intro/kobold questline should probably reworked.
The current intro is, you get a quest to help the kobold princess. You select one of her gifts (sacred candle or chunga root) and go with her to the caves below her castle. You fight some bats, then the dragon princess at the kobolds treasure chamber. The dragn princess then collapses the cave and the castle/kindgom with it, so you get the kobold princess as a follower and the game basically starts out with some teary eyed kobold thinking "what do I do now" and you as he player feeling some responsibility for her -> setting up expectations that the game was about you helping her getting back to power.
Make a new intro that has nothing to do with the kobold. Make it shorter, just a tutorial area. "I got to complete a knightly quests to become a member of knights inc: Secure the chunga root or the sacred candle from a cave filled with bats!" (and once you got one, the game automatically returns to the tavern (to keep it with the "one choice item at the start" - and just like it's currently, you can return later to get the other one)). And during the normal game, when you visit the kobold princess, which may be long after the start, the dragon princess shows up and burns the castle with that having nothing to do with you. you rescue the princess and now you got the princess as a follower.

This sandbox game also has a cardinal sin of sandbox games, a built in time limit. In fact, several of them, but one is particularly annoying.
You can't actually do stuff at your own pace, because some time in, the kingdoms will attack each other and you'll lose access to the princesses if you didn't already build up enough to prevent that.
So if you don't want to be locked out of stuff, the only way to play is basically with the wiki or a guide open and.. that's just not fun. Or you play and lose half the possible paths and then know more on NG+ but this is not outer wilds and playtroughts require quite some time.
I wish the game had some other, non final way to utilize the rivalries. Say, for example, what if you got some income over time, healing items, special powers or something from kingdoms where you bedded the princess, but as long as they're under siege you won't get it? and while they're under siege you can't access that kindgom? That would make you want to cosy up to the attacking princess to get her to stop the attack, which would work nicely with the game.

If those two things were changed in the way i mentioned, this would already make the game like 400% more fun to me.
As things stand tho.. I guess I'm going to uninstall it before even completing one route because playing with a guide on the side so you finish a much as possible in as little time as possible.. Is just not fun.
And having spied some in the wiki, it seems quite easy to lock yourself into one princesses' path without actually wanting to. To be fair, at the time of writing I didn't start any path. But I lready feel a reluctance to start the game up again, which is probably not what you should feel for a game like this lol