But the game will still come to $50 after getting all the DLC I’m interested in (the extra episodes plus Lightning character). Dammit Squenix this is why I can’t give you perfect scores lately no matter how fanciful your graphics and junk are.
Story:
Characters:
Graphics:
Sound:
Gameplay:

Replay Value:

It’s been too many years since I’ve had the support system enjoyment of the GBA games and player control that isn’t ridiculously limited like the Wii game~ And I skipped Gamecube completely. And the DS games were just remakes which I played and got bored of relatively quickly.

But THIS one’s kept me going. Mostly cuz I’m a girl and I want those support conversations. DEAL.

I am bawwww at the lack of S level supports for same gender characters. I want my bromance and sisterhoods too, kthx. But I AM wonderfully pleased at the sheer amount of supports in this game overall. Mmmmm~
Story: Didn’t follow most of the hype for this game, so the story came at me completely new. I heard whifs about multiple generations, but the way it plays out is refreshingly unique to me. I like. A lot of the plot turns and stuff aren’t particularly groundbreaking, but it’s easier to follow than a lot of the roughandpuff tyrannical plots of some of the older games, which quickly bored me.
Characters: Right at the start screen I was fairly impressed at how detailed you could customize your personal unit (Literally the “My Unit”, which everyone shortens to MU).

Back on the sheer amount of support conversations… more on this later!
Not only are there support conversations for the main “current time” cast, when the characters from the 2nd generation come in, it’s a whole new set right there as well.

MU has support conversations with almost every support character in the game, including those from the 2nd generation.

One odd thing about the whole system though, is that all of the S-level support conversations involve marriage proposals. You get used to it, but WOW people accept proposals so easily in this game. If only real life was that simple. XD;
Graphics: I really like the art~ The art for a lot of the download content is really quite cruddy to be frank (or just old), but that’s download content.

I remember loving up the art for Fire Emblem 6 and 7 to bits and pieces, I even have the artbook :D So yum.
Sound: 10. MORE INTO THIS LATER. This music is just really nice.
Gameplay: The Double system is the most unique addition to this FE game. The only thing I find slightly awkward about it all is that the enemies never use it themselves. Otherwise I find it a totally welcome new element to the gameplay.

They’ve removed the item weight to the system as well as the magic strength/weakness against other magic. I didn’t care much for either of those elements, so eh.
Replay Value: There’s quite a LOT of replay value, based on the support conversations alone. You’d have to have… sooooooo many playthroughs in order to have a complete index for the support conversations. Unless there’s a way to get them all unlocked without having to do so many.
Overall: 10. Debated whether to give this a 9 or 10… D: At the moment the only reason I’d give it a 9 is because of the lack of S grade supports for same genders, but that’s probably not too fair considering the huge surplus of supports anyway. XD I’ll give it some more thought.

I first fell in love with Fire Emblem with game 7, and have been fairly disappointed with every title I played following, but THIS title definitely redeems itself for all the waiting for an EXCELLENT new title to the series. While some other gamers would cry thorns at some of the simplification, such as the item weight and the magic triangle, I don’t mind so much and I appreciate the new elements they put in instead.

To be fair though, I DID completely skip the Gamecube generation and am still interested in going through Ike’s adventures some day. Need to find the time :V

Wiki

Does this really need a review? XDDD Just noting it down for reference anyway.
Story:
Characters:
Graphics:
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Overall:

Official Site

I got up to chapter 4, but have lost so much interest in the lackluster story+battle system+characters that I don’t think I’ll keep going. The whole battlefield song business doesn’t really do anything to me. I wish they’d just animated this instead of made it into another half-baked game =w=;

Production IG animated Shining Hearts but it ended up being a boring less-than-mediocre harem show with no action >_>;
Story:
Characters:
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Sound:
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Overall:

Official Site

Random rantings/SLIGHT (extremely vague) SPOILERS under the cut until I get things organized (I refuse to post any heavy spoilers from beyond the anime, since you should go enjoy the game yourself if you want that.)
Story:

Characters: More on this later.
Graphics: 3D – The updated graphics on this game are good kita!!! More on this later.

Animated cutscenes – I’ll be honest on this one, the animation for this title, aside from the opening and beginning clips, are not nearly as impressive as they are for the previous games. Some scenes, especially later on, just look plain sloppy and are WORSE quality than the TV anime, which just hasn’t happened for the game series before.

It’s either a sign that A) They shifted budget to put more quality into the TV anime (this makes me laugh with the 2ch poster who went “there’s no value in putting serious effort for animation on the 3DS!” as a parody of Shindou’s “there’s no value in playing soccer seriously!”), B) they gave in to tight deadline pressures, C) Someone has bad oversight.

…or a mix of all the above. On the A part, considering the terrible sales for the 3DS, Level-5 probably did some major budget shifting to adjust for the population. Maybe if this first GO title and the TV series do well enough, we’ll see better animation in the next game… (follow-up notice, GO Shine/Dark 3DS sold 135k its first week, when the 3rd DS game sold 500k in its first)

B part, Level-5 obviously wanted this game in before Christmas, also to tie in with the movie and everything else planned around the time. When you set that goal with so many parts involved, it’s not something you can extend deadlines with like Inazuma Eleven Strikers.

C part… kind of in connection with the B part, when you’ve got deadlines approaching, you let things go by even if they aren’t completely satisfactory :\ LEVEL-5 prides itself in producing high-quality games though. I’d rather they extend deadlines to polish things up without any cracks than to release something with regrets, but then again, the animation is only a small part of the game experience here.

But yeah, the downgraded animation is definitely a first happening for the Inazuma game series. At least the quality of the rest of the game makes up for it, but it’s still a BIT of a disappointment for me. And the opening sequences for both games are STILL very epic anyway, high quality compared to the TV series there. XD
AND there’s more GO to come, so there’s PLENTY of room to make a revenge comeback 8>

more later~

Sound: Props to this, it starts off with all the familiar OST from the anime, then it gets more impressive as the game proceeds. BGM are also unlocked extras after clearing the game.

While I still prefer Mitsuda Yasunori’s music in the long run, the RPG feel from this Terada Shiho composer is very well played :>
Gameplay: More later.

Essential gameplay changes from Game 3 on the DS:
-The 3ds analog also navigates past dialogue. Fastest way :3
-No time counter shown during technique usage (but time still runs :\)
-Hissatsu tactics run the time counter too (also not shown). While I’m at it, Avatar usage also runs the counter.
-No scene cutouts for possession fights, ball trappings (kind of makes up for the tactics/Avatar time runs).
-Addition of tapping the ball to get players nearby to zone in
-Addition of opponent (with the ball) tapping to get multiple players to zone in on him/her.
-Addition of Avatars (herfderf). Max 3 Avatars on the field at a time per team, but no limit to amount of Avatar users overall. Also, the opponent AI is kind of cheap in that they have almost no wait time in between Avatar summons, while you have to wait 10 seconds.
-Small amounts of TP still get used even if you fail a hissatsu technique/lose a hissatsu technique faceoff.
-Changes in stats. Example: Catch stat also affects trapping success
-Dance (performances) after scoring can be customized per player. Otherwise they’ve taken out other players from joining in (from what I’ve seen so far, buu)
-Random encounters -> Symbol encounters. No random battles, but instead there are people you can challenge, and later on, battle people who chase you when you get near. XD; Also, no punishment for losing 5 vs 5 battles. Good deal.
-Ah yes, encounters increased to 5 vs 5 instead of 4 vs 4 in previous games. Provides more flexibility, and is a welcome improvement.
-Recruiting involves looking for “community masters” around the maps, using friendship points to put people on the “call” list, then getting the listed required items in order to “call” the person you want to recruit. You can “call” people you’ve bought with friendship points using any of the community masters, but you have to go to the appropriate community master to buy the person first.
-ALL hissatsu techniques can be customized! (main key characters’ natural 4 are locked until the first game clear. Also, Tsurugi’s __DD cannot be overwritten). Each player still learns 4 naturally as they level. Assuming the first four moves have to be learned first before they can be overwritten.
-Leveling system is easier since characters can reach their max potential without worrying about leveling “correctly” at earlier stages. (This is the equivalence of not worrying about things like EV points in Pokemon)
-For total amount of players you can have, there are 7 pages each with 16 slots = 112 players. At least that’s up from the measly 100 in the previous games, but wahhh~ I will still need to be selective about who to recruit in which version.
-AI has changed in that characters with B-type hissatsu (Block status, like Ryuusei Blade) will tend to crowd near the goalkeeper rather than go after the offense, and characters with Chain hissatsu will try to dive into your shooting range to boost your chances of making those chains. It’s pretty useful.
-Some hissatsu shoots that were previously just normal moves have been given Chain status, such as Emperor Penguin No. 2 :D
-The “records” list is quite empty compared to the game 3 imo… instead of showing your top strikers and appearances, you get the basic stuff and percent completion for extra routes, player binder, etc.
-One change I really do not approve of– about 2 full seconds have to pass before you can stop a replay, and like usual you can stop during a cutscene move. Unfortunately, that means you end up rewatching at least the first shoot almost every single time. The only way to prevent this is to have a decent length of fieldplay that doesn’t switch screens (for example, doing a lot of passes) before each time someone scores. I spent wayyyy too much time trying to tap my hell way out of this stupid change, and only until around 45 hours of play in, I found out it just has that pointless time lag for some reason.
-A huge majority of the hissatsu from the DS series are NOT in this game whatsoever. Also, no transfers available from the DS series. The old hissatsu that ARE available are pretty much the ones you see repeated in the GO anime, such as Eternal Blizzard.

Replay Value:
Overall: 9.
I thought long and hard about giving into all of my biases and giving this game a 10. I realllly wanted to. But I just can’t.
So what brought this score down:
-0.3 points from sour grapes of not being to enjoy getting a lot of players/teams I wanted without having access to another 3DS console with the opposite game. Yes, this can potentially be cleared in a whiffy if I just get that access. It’s still a down point from how I play it. At least in Pokemon, you can trade things from other versions using the world wifi network. Everything with Inazuma besides download content has to be done through the local wifi.
-0.3 points from the replay junk. It gets THAT bothersome in the long-term. XD;
-0.1 points for a watered-down selection of hissatsu techniques. After being spoiled by the final DS game set, it feels awkward to have to be downgraded with less than a dozen each or so block and offense skills. And a lot of moves are just variations of the old moves, although still interesting. I’m guessing Avatars sucked out most of the creativity/development time/budget/whatever for this title.
-0.3 points for lack of any compatibility whatsoever with the DS series. Maybe someone can let me know if Nintendo is to blame for this rather than LEVEL-5. Either way, I would have loved over 9000 if all the hours the old Inazuma fans put into the older games had some kind of benefit for the 3DS series. I hate to say this, but Pokemon has the upper hand again in this aspect.

Despite the few disappointments, it’s still totally worth everything I spent to get the games. XD; The Avatar system, while it feels kind of redundant after a while, makes for an interesting challenge. In my case, it’s certainly given me an easier time to get S rankings in the extra tournaments.

And hey, this score is certainly better than the score I gave for the first DS game, naturally. XD The Inazuma series has come pretty far and has the potential to do huge and great AWESOME things in the next title!

Vague perks:
-wwww Achilles on Megane’s desk.
-”Yuuichi-san” hehe
-Bowling Eleven… Well. Inatter. The entire thing.

more later~

Old play log:
12/16/11: Just got my games and started on Shine, only to remember that Fudou’s on DARK. Hiroto was calling out to me. XD;;; I’ll need to start Dark soon though to get those online bonuses.

12/18/11: Cleared Shine… Got my preorder downloads on Dark. Going through postgame material on Shine for a bit before proceeding on Dark!

12/25/11: oya. 48 hrs in with some idling here and there and my Tsurugi is lvl 99 ^^;; This never happened in my previous games xDDDD tte ka why are he and Aoyama the first to hit 99 of all people

Shine:
Buy Inazuma Eleven GO ~Shine~ at Play-Asia.com
Also available at CDJapan

Dark:
Buy Inazuma Eleven GO ~Dark~ at Play-Asia.com
Also available at CDJapan

Pokowiki
sakura / communities

Title: Kami Naru Kimi to 神なる君と
Console: PSP
Genre: Otome, Visual Novel
Language: Japanese
Company: Idea Factory
Summary: omg this MIGHT be the first Idea Factory game I could score as high as I do for Takuyo games? (I guess I really liked their Fushigi Yuugi games too but that was in great part due to my Nojinii bias). I hope it doesn’t disappoint because it’s got me nicely from the start.

*edit* Anddddd it does not disappoint…! My first high score for an Idea Factory game.~ If you like Takuyo’s otome games, this one should be right up your sleeve too. Also, for anyone who wants to CRY THEIR EYES OUT IN LOVE…~

But word of warning, I’ve only played Narumi’s route (but I won’t spoil, it’s best to experience the love yourself!). XD;
Story: As the game implies, it’s about gods. Japanese traditional shrine/temple gods. Specifically, you become one. Nice catch, huh. But apparently, you still have to prioritize being a high school girl before being a god. It’s all good. XD There’s a good amount of gag mixed into the story despite getting very down-to-earth in many places.

The first half is general storymaking, while the second half revolves entirely around you and the guy you’re going after. In the route I chose, there’s plenty of heart-clenching love story to go even after the confession. HOW that happens, I won’t spoil. Just that… IT’S A SUPER PLUS. I bawled my head off despite knowing in my head I was going to get myself a HAPPY ending, and it was beautiful.
Characters: Like Takuyo’s games, the girl in this title actually has some PERSONALITY. YES. You’ll see it come out in her dialogue, the events in the game, etc.

Sakaki Narumi – Hoshi Souichirou (cool childhood friend)
Ninokami Yuzuru – Narita Ken (cool… catboy)
Takekiyo Yakumo – Hatano Wataru (older athletic “brother” type)
Mizuniwa Rei – Iguchi Yuuichi (younger genki… ghost)
Amatsukuni Hoshien no Mikoto – Sakurai Takahiro (your predecessor god)
+ some subcharacters…

Word of warning, I’ve only played Narumi’s route. XD; Once I set myself on a guy I REALLY like, it’s hard for me to get the heart to try anyone else from the same title ^^;

Btw, Hoshi uses his cool low voice for this one. His character is just 100% cool, in a GOOD way. kamisama…!
I think this is the first time I went for a true childhood friend route. And it just hooked me in this time.
Graphics: 10. Honestly some of the CGs are a tiny bit awkward to me, but I really shouldn’t be complaining considering just how GORGEOUS they are.
Sound: 9. Nothing absolutely OMG GODLY music, but it’s beautiful in the right parts and entertaining in the right parts.
Gameplay: Strongly visual novel with traditional choice-making, and a smalllll choice-making twist for the first half of the game. Close to midpoint, I read up a guide and was surprised to see so few choices required for a route. I got a little nervous, but turns out I had no reason to be. If anything, I would relate it to Panic Palette, where the first half involves a little more general “gaming” action, and the second half revolves entirely around you and the guy you’re going after. There’s even less to do for Kami Naru Kimi to, but that’s not a bad thing. You just get more nice visual novel instead.
Replay Value: The word index that gets unlocked after a game clear is hilarious (have to clear other routes to complete the index). Every term has a narration by the characters. Narumi’s are hilarious. :DDD
Overall: 10. Despite my presumptions on Idea Factory games, this one just blows the rest I’ve tried out of the water. In a good otome game, I need a world I can get sucked into, where the characters ACTUALLY INTERACT with each other, where there are both lighthearted and heartbreaking moments… down-to-earth moments… full-on trials and tribulations of love (that aren’t just ridiculous)… this game has it all.

Btw, my end bias for this strong rating is because this Hoshi is so crushable for me. THIS HOSHI, Hnggggggggggggggggg!!!!

I’m under the assumption that this game didn’t get very much marketing? Not enough people talking about it. Maybe because the cast isn’t as extravagant as other titles lately? Is Hoshi turning people away from the game? Is that really it? D8
Oh also, a much more extensive review with all the spoilers if you’re interested. Since I probably won’t end up playing the other routes just because of how I am, this was a good read for me AFTER finishing my route. XD; But I’m personally very set on not giving spoilers on my end.

Official site
nihaa

Unlocked all the pieces in a couple hours and am just playing it casually on my transit time from/to work when I feel like it. There’s not too much to say about this title, but that’s not a bad thing at all. :3
Story:
Characters:
Graphics:
Sound:
Gameplay:
Replay Value:
Overall: 9. It’s just a solid rhythm game in general, plus all my bias points for AWESOME SEIYUU/ELEMENTS GARDEN MUSIC. Hell yes.

This is me being totally picky, but I would’ve liked to been able to play the extra Miyano Mamoru songs such as the anime op Orpheus and the original PSP game opening. Was REALLY glad to have Maji Love 1000% on there as the last piece though. So fitting. 8D

年間を通して温暖な気候に恵まれた環境、肥沃な大地の恵み、交易で栄えている町。
それを狙う海賊や諸外国など、全ての災厄からこの島を守るために立ち上がったのが「アルカナ・ファミリア」＜神秘の家族＞と呼ばれる不思議な力を持つ組織である。

彼らは島でも有名な気の良い名物ファミリー。
けれどこのファミリー、少し変わったところがあるようで……。
Characters:
Graphics: Visually this game is VERY impressive for an otome game. It runs like a visual manga. And the first chapter especially is packed with fresh images.
Sound: 9. The soundtrack is definitely another strong point of the game, it just sounds NICE. It would’ve been even more perfect if there was just more variety. But it was good enough for the duration of the game.
Gameplay: Usual “pick who you wanna bug for the day” daily life. There’s some random “battle” aspect of the game where you’re just given a limited time to press a button, basically a (somewhat predictable) reaction test. It’s really gimmicky imo though, since you’re only tested about a dozen times in any route.
Replay Value:
Overall: 7/10. While the game is great visually, the actual otome content is terribly faint. The post-game content is kind of nice, with the cast messages built in-game along with some nice fanservicey voices for each unlocked ending. XD; But I really can’t rate this game any higher unless it had better otome content, and it didn’t. It was more about general plot which was all kind of nurui~ :\

The cast is still wonderful though.~ Actually, I personally wish this hadn’t been an otome game at all. The characters were great enough without any woman in the picture, and there wasn’t enough lure in the “win and you can marry my daughter” catch that begins the entire game’s premise. I much would’ve rather played this as a general all-guy RPG. Would have been delicious~~~ XD;

Finished my 2nd playthrough. I must suck since I didn’t get the alternate ending even though I picked the 2nd choice for all those creepy red screens, so I ended up just watching it on Tudou. >_> Will probably end up creeping slowly around my 3rd playthrough with a guide to get all the side junk I missed. Thank goodness just about everything carries over.
Story:
Characters:When I played the demo, I couldn’t stand playing anyone except Ace in the end. Supposedly they improved camera functions and some other things in this release, so we’ll see how things go. Still, I will not be surprised if I steady with Ace ANYWAY for Kajikaji… XD;

Done some light exploring with the other characters. I definitely prefer the range characters (Ace, King, Deuce, Trey etc) over the pure melee. If I stick with melee, I like Jack’s style, just not his speed and dodging much.

Graphics:
Sound:
Gameplay:
Replay Value: Some reviewers even go as far to say that the first playthrough should be seen as the first half of the full gaming experience, while the second playthrough becomes the second half. While I wouldn’t say it’s THAT wonderful, the extra content in the second playthrough is rather generous. More later
Overall: 10. Actually, this comes VERY close to a 9 for me when I consider the price of the game and the slightttt hype disappointment I got when I heard it would be on 2 UMDs.
Other disappointment points would be the final boss battle and wanting even MORE cutscene loveliness to reach the level of depth with the characters that this title could have potentially and frankly, quite EASILY achieved. (Level-5 has spoiled me)

Still, in relation to PSP RPGs, and in relation to the Final Fantasy series, it’s an excellent title. I think this is also the best gameplay experience I’ve had for an FF game.

And the CAST is the best ever in FF. God they should just make a CG movie out of this. It’d be over 9000x more entertaining than Advent Children.

If you yourself have lost faith in the FF name or Japanese RPG genre, don’t miss out on this one. Maybe in the end for me, turn-based quickly turns repetitive for me, while action still leaves good challenges. And even for an action RPG, Squenix has disappointed me with their Kingdom Hearts series multiple times already (also disappointed with what they’ve done to the Seiken Densetsu series after the SNES generation). Crisis Core was decent, but Type-0 blows Crisis Core out of the water.

If I get the time, I’ll expand the other sections, but just leaving this as a disorganized ramble for now.

benri
benri2
Alternate ending