'Tis the season to be ranting, fa la la la la, la la la la~
Endless Frontier - Completed two days ago. About 30 hours, final level was 52-53 or so. Final party was Haken, Kaguya, Xiaomu, and KOS-MOS, which feels like the best at the end.
Challenge I thought basically went down the toilet after leaving Formido Heim. I understand that Ezel was meant to be the badass of the human enemies but they seemed super-paranoid of making anyone better than him even unscaled, which is bad because there is still 25% of the game left. Getting the final set of Spirits didn't help. The frue final dungeon fights were fine at least, HOLY CRAP A REAL MT ATTACK but nothing that couldn't be handled. The regen should have been way better on the final at the very least. 3%? Not exactly up to SRW standards.
Only real exception to note here is the random against two Mutants and two Proto Androids which was almost boss-level outside their ability to be statused. Mmm, status.
So yeah, thoughts...
I've already said everything I feel needs to be said about the offensive direction of the writing and fanservice. It didn't really get better or worse as the game went on, so rather than beat a dead horse I will just let my previous comments stand. This is why the game doesn't deserve a high score.
Otherwise... game's SERIOUS PLOT was horrible. Fortunately the game didn't exactly take itself seriously, frequently mocking its own plot. "Wait what is EVERY VILLAIN visiting Formido Heim?" "It seems this world has more princesses than kingdoms." etc. It's not exactly consistent enough in its humour to be another Mana Khemia 2 or even another Mario and Luigi, but it's something I can appreciate at least. Also, with one exception (after the tree dungeon), the game never spent too much time on its plot. Pacing was overall good, which is one of the reasons I never exactly put the game down despite my complaints about it. OH NO NO SIDEQUESTS.
Visually, the game looks like a SNES game on the field but the battle animations are more than good enough, which is very important for a game which is about comboing (see another reason why VPDS sucks). I would have good things to say about the animation cut-ins if they were less fanservicy. (I appreciate every boss having one, in particular.)
Musically, you generally can't go too wrong with SRW music. Stuff like Ash to Ash and Dark Knight never needs more hype, and I also liked how they used some old tracks in new ways (Alfimi's theme becoming a background for the mysterious dungeons). New tracks were generally rather good, particularly the Orchestral Army theme.
Gameplay... again, I've mostly been into. VP and SRW? Interesting mix, and they pull it off reasonably well, with enough challenge to keep it interesting. My biggest objection with the gameplay in the end was the fact that they tied themselves to firmly to certain battle designs. EVERY boss has an attack string, an overdrive (which is either high 2HKO or OHKO), and an almost-MT attack which hits exactly three people and sometimes adds status. And nothing else. This isn't a bad design to base all your bosses around (and the number of bosses and nature of support changed how battles played out significantly) but why be so rigid about it in the first place? Just random, and definitely cut down on how good the gameplay could have been.
I will hype again the game's challenge curve, though. I really, -really- liked how you could usually experiment just fine with different combos in weaker fights, but in tougher fights, you were expected to nail what you'd learned or enjoy blocking and forced evasion. I'm really surprised there are some people who didn't like these mechanics. If they didn't exist the combo system would be
Characters! No DL thoughts, they are all at least High Heavy. Broken cast is broken.
Haken: Probably my favourite. Haken could have been terrible but he was actually pretty damn likable. He's cool but the game's not afraid to make him the butt of jokes. When he learns about his past he's obviously shaken but he doesn't break down and whine about it. He has a bit of a playboy act (probably mostly gotten from his father) but he's actually quite considerate to women and makes relatively few of the boob jokes. No real depth but are you expecting that from EF? REALLY? Anyway, aside from the lack of depth he reminds of Yuri and there's nothing wrong with that.
Gameplaywise, also the best! Well, he doesn't stand out for a while but as the game goes on he takes over as its king. He has good speed, which is essential for randoms, and Snipe, which is brutal (yay turn cancel that doesn't take his own turn). For bosses, he gets Valour which is okay.. then gets Rampage Spectre and gets Overdrive-like damage (or better?) without having to use an Overdrive. Yeah.
Aschen: Liked her dry humour, loooathed her DTD mode. Yeah. So much I stopped using her as a PC.
Gameplaywise, well, I wouldn't have stopped using her if she wasn't kinda underwhelming. She has some decent support spirits but it seemed like they were usually less cost-effective than the versions of others. Early on she had Divine Lancer which was notably better damage than what others had but this vanished long before I benched her (i.e. when other PCs started getting High damage techs), after that... yeah. Probably LVP, everyone else has -something- more notable, but at least she could play healbot with Trust.
Kaguya: She has boobs. And... um... yeah, she's really, really busty. Deepest questions to be asked about her character? Are those DDs or Fs? (Okay, she wasn't objectionable as a character otherwise, but nor was she especially notable. She's like a poor man's Yuna. If the man is poor because he just paid for some massive implants.)
Gameplaywise, she heals well, between the option of cheap ST and MT she is probably the best at the job (never mind her vastly superior SP pool), and I definitely liked her around for bosses. Miracle is evil, later on, and Fury is nice too. Not too impressive for randoms due to unimpressive speed and not much of a spirit set for them (Fury is good again, though) but she could heal battery very well if needed. Probably second best PC, but part of that may be Miracle/endgame nonsense weighing heavilly on me.
Suzuka: What was her personality again? Kaguya's BFF from an enemy kingdom? Was that even explained? Hated her battle style, incidentally. That probably left the biggest impact on me of anything about her.
Gameplaywise, Inspire is cool beans. Yes, it is just a Joss Stick but at 40 SP it's very cheap for the effect of a 500 gold item you can easily run out of. Always used her for at least one boss a dungeon. Besides that she wasn't too notable, game-best speed was awesome but her damage felt low to compensate (and trickier to combo well), so yeah, some balance there. Not the worst PC in randoms but nothing special either.
Reiji: Ciato will be angry at me if I don't mention his ANIME RAGE! This has more to do with some of his character poses than his actual personality, which is to be the straight man. Has a RIVALRY!!! with Saya that isn't explained properly but I partially blame NamcoxCapcom for this.
Gameplaywise, hmm. Soul makes him a good boss fighter (at least until Miracle shows up, he does take a fall at the end), if a one-dimensional one (Faith helps, though). He's not very good in randoms due to bad speed, though does at least have the Accel option to be relevant in round 2. It was annoying how he couldn't be ST healed unless Kaguya or Aschen was in the party. Bit of a middle-of-the-road PC whom I got reasonable use out of but was never wowed me.
Xiaomu: Is the crazy sidekick to Reiji's straight man. And a total internet nerd as a bit of a shout-out to the fans. Largely there for humour, worked decently at it, but her being 700 or whatever is a bit jarring. Shoulda made use of her vastly greater wisdom for the game's serious scenes but I guess they wrote themselves into a corner with her trope.
Gameplaywise, pretty solid all-rounder. Decent speed and Snipe, so see Haken, you know she is going to be good. Guts was a nice upgrade on the usual Vigour. Valour. Attune. Yeah, she is pretty stacked without being incredible at anything. (Not stacked in THAT way. Actually she is, like, the only averagely proportioned female in the entire cast, with Suzuka and Kyon on one side and... everyone else on the other. (God, see what playing EF does to your brain?))
KOS-MOS: XENOSAGA THREE. Noooo~. She brought T-elos into the game and T-elos is just as worthless this time around! Aside from that, KOS pretty much overlaps with Aschen. No DTD mode at least! Not as much snark, but still a lot more than in XS. Also, "How odd. In my time, the internet is for-" *Xiaomu quickly silences her* I laughed.
Gameplaywise, she is kinda like Reiji. Substantially better stats, better healing, Attune and Fury are both nice, cheap revival is cool on a tank, and combos well with cheap Guard if you really need to save Smelling Salts. All she gives up for this is a damage-boosting spirit, which is quite a big deal. Glare makes her much badass in randoms when you get it, but that's pretty late. Still, she makes a very effective tanky supporter as long as you are happy with your finishers.
Koma: Every fetish-filled game needs a catgirl. Fills the requisite over-zealous shopkeeper trope, too.
Kyon: See above, replace catgirl with loli. Her report to Henne was hilarious though.
Cardia: Hey, Echidna was pretty boring, let's recycle her.
Anne Sirena: Dear god, Banpresto.
Bonny Maxmad: I wasn't going to comment on him here, but the DELICIOUSLY EVIL GRIN which he shows only for one throwaway scene in the ending ("Let's just blow everything up. "... with pleasure.") makes me like him.
Henne: Valkyrie equals style points. I'd say she was immesnely stylish in general, but... AVIATOR GOGGLES. What the fuck guys. I guess she does fly. Sorta halfway between Kyon and Ezel as a serious character.
Saya: Grah underexplained crossover villain.
Dorothy: Well the Wizard of Oz references were cute at least?
Shuten: Stupid. Just... stupid. His arguments for fighting you that second time were headdesk-worthy.
Otone: Token ninja, because PIRATES AND NINJAS AND ROBOTS ALL IN ONE GAME? THIS CAN NOT FAIL.
Rubor: Wait why the fuck did I fight you again? You want to pick a fight with the Orchestral Army so you are fighting me? The enemy of my enemy is my enemy? I have no sense of his character otherwise but he is probably the stupidest person in the cast which says something.
Katze: Token gay one. Pretty funny anyway. And I liked how when he got serious he actually moved the plot. Twice!
Ezel: Also gets points for moving the plot. His big reveal is probably the closest I got to caring about the game's story. Oh yeah, and the Orchestral Army uniforms look sexy in the scene where they are all together.
T-elos: Fails horribly, but still better than in XS3. Actually like a 1.5/10 character!
Einst Overmind dude: You sucked in OG2 and you still suck now!
Game gets a 5/10. So weird. Part of me is saying "Well OBVIOUSLY it is better than the SRPG OG games, light-hearted plot and more creative and doesn't have OG1's braindead easiness!" while the other part of me is beating me to death with Code DTD, D-Teneritas (argh too many D's the puns they burn), and the frequently offensive infantile humour. 5/10 works as a weird balance for what the game does well and what it fails at miserably. It kept me playing so a lower score doesn't work, but I am just not -comfortable- actively hyping the game which is what I start doing once you hit 6. Worth checking out if you know what you're getting into and you're willing to try anyway, you'll be able to judge very quickly just how offputting the game's flaws are.
I need either another portable game or to go back to reading. Suggestions?
