DanganRonpa Now Available on Steam

Danganronpa is a game series in which you find yourself captive by a cute but terrifyingly evil teddy bear who wants to play a game with you and the other students. The only way to graduate from his twisted school is to get away with murder. He encourages you and the others to kill each other, and once a dead body is discovered there will be a trial in which you and the other students decide who the murderer was. If you guess correctly, the murderer is punished by the death penalty, if you are incorrect however, it’s you and the other students who will be put to death and the murderer allowed to roam free.

It plays very similar to Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney games. You investigate the crime scene and talk to other NPCs, and object to their claims in the court room while putting together your own case as to who you think the culprit is.

This is the first of 3 games, plus a few side-games. At this time no announcement has been made to port over the remaining games. The 3rd and most recent game has not been released yet and was announced at the Tokyo Game Show in 2015.

I am hoping for them to port the 2nd game as it is a lot more fun because the 2nd game has multiple endings and the first game does not. I still really enjoyed my time in Danganronpa but I feel it could have benefited from a less linear style and multiple endings that depend on your actions.

DanganRonpa Now Available on Steam was originally published on

Oops.

I must appologize if you received our weekly email numerous times today. I use a plugin called “MailPoet” to send the emails for me – I don’t know what happened as I’ve been using it for a few months now without any problem, but today I got our email from my website at least 5 times.

I took a look at the plugin to see what was going on – and I saw about 7 more “sending” or “waiting to send” which I of course promptly deleted.

I’m really sorry that this happened. I take spam very seriously and just want you to know that you can also always unsubscribe by hitting the link at the bottom of the email.

I’m going to leave it “in play” right now, but if the error occurs again next week, MailPoet will be gone and I’ll have to use Mailchimp or similar services.

I’m also going to contact MailPoet and seek advice on fixing the issue or see if anyone else is experiencing this.

Oops. was originally published on Geeky Sweetie

Broken Age – Point and Click Adventure Game for PC – Review and Giveaway

Our new alternate winner is Ccaminha – Congrats, an email will be going out shortly to inform you of your prize. Please reply to that email letting me know you’re interested and I will send over the key.

EDIT: TatsuKaji never claimed his prize, so we will hold another drawing for an alternate winner sometime this weekend (Approx 3/20/16).

We’ve gained a lot of members since announcing this contest, so anyone that posts between now and Sunday will go into the drawing. 🙂

EDIT: The contest is now over. Congratulations to TatsuKaji – please check your email and reply back to receive your free steam key. If you’re not interested, or already have the game, please also reply back so I can draw an alternate winner. – If I don’t hear back within a week I will draw another random winner.

 

Title: Broken Age

Genre: Point and Click Adventure Game

Platform: PC

Release Date: January 2014

Where to Buy: Steam

Geeky: 3/5

Sweetie: 5/5

Overall: 74 / 90 82% B- “Very Good Game For Girls”

Concept: 10/10 – The Point and Click genre was really popular back in the 90s, but then it just faded away. In a record breaking kickstarter, Tim Schafer, creator of other Point and Click titles such as Grim Fandango, Psyhconauts,  and the Secret of Monkey Island, successfully funded his return to gaming by reaching his kickstarter goals for Broken Age, his first new game in over 16 years.

Broken Age was hyped that it was supposed to revitalize the genre and bring it into the modern age. Most critics say that it fell short of it’s expectations – however, I really enjoyed this game.

Gameplay: 8/10 It features cute story book styled graphics and typical point and click game mechanics. Interact with your environment, solve puzzles, talk to NPCs etc. The puzzles are challenging and thought provoking and you want to keep playing because of the cute characters and story. However some of the puzzles can be frustrating at times and there will be times when you spend time just using every  item or talking to every NPC and back tracking back through places trying to find if you’ve missed something. This can sometimes take away from the fun and screw with the pacing of the game, but it’s much better and much preferred than a game in which the puzzles are too simple.

Story: 7/10 There are two games in one essentially as you switch control between the different characters freely throughout the game.  In one world you’re in a very primitive like setting where the people believe in offering tribute to monster-like “gods”. In the other world you’re in a scifi setting, in a spaceship with robots. I don’t want to spoil anything for you, so I’ll keep it brief / vague. The story is very cute, in some points it has child like innocence but it’s always tinged with a deep sad and lonely feeling. At first the story doesn’t seem connected, but the more you play, the more things fall into place. It can sometimes be annoying when the story progression is held up when you get stuck on a challenging puzzle. Also for over a year, the game was incomplete, Chapter 2 did not release until April 2015. It is provided for free and is not DLC. However, since when many of us first played the game, we were left waiting with an open-ending for what seemed like much too long. My biggest complaint with the story is simply that it can be jarring switching between worlds/stories. Still I loved solving all the mysteries and how slowly and carefully the story was revealed.

Characters: 10/10 In the primitive world you play a very strong willed African-american girl which is a refreshing choice of characters as minorities and females are often under-represented or relegated to mere sidekick status and rarely ever appear as the main hero. She challenges the beliefs and ways of her people. She dares to ask questions and be different

In the space world, you play a lonely little boy who is fed up with his mundane routine boring life. While the ship provides him with toys, food, and even a “mother” and “father” figure, it is no replacement for human interaction. It also tries too hard to protect and keep him save, never letting him “Grow up” or take risks or challenges for himself. It’s like he lives in a bubble where everything is the same, day in day out. Until one day when he finds a hidden door in the ship which leads him to new worlds.

Graphics: 10/10 The graphics are really unique and cute. Everything looks handpainted or like it came from a storybook or “pop-up” book or like “paper craft” or scrapbooking. I liked this approach because you don’t see it often in games.

Music: 10/10 The music is composed by Peter McConnell who also did the music for Psychonauts. It features a beautiful score with soft melodic harmonies which fit well the cute/childlike graphics. Critics have called this some of Peter’s best work. I really like how light and “airy” the tracks sound full of violins, flutes, clarinets, cellos, etc. It almost sounds “dreamlike” in a way, or like a fairytale. I also like how both the music and the graphics juxtapose themselves against a story which seems fairly childlike but is tinged with sadness and isolation.

Voice Acting: 10/10 – No expense was spared for the casting of this game. It features big budget hollywood actors such as Jack Black, Elijah Wood, and talented voice over artist Masasa Moyo.

Replay Value: 1/10 Given the nature of this game, I’m not saying, I’d never ever replay it… but certainly it would diminish the enjoyment of the game on multiple playthroughs since you’d know all of the answers to the puzzles and already know the plot and story. Since it’s a linear and also fairly large and lengthy game, I’d say it’s one you’d visit maybe once every 5 to 10 years for nostalgia’s sake but beyond that I don’t see much replay value here.

Overall: 74 / 90 82% B- “Very Good Game For Girls”

And we are giving away a FREE Steam key for Broken Age to one of our lucky readers. This contest begins now 2/27/2016 and will end on 3/5/2016. To enter simply leave a comment on any blog or forum post. Make sure you have a valid email tied to your username as I will be using that email to send the key to the winner. I will also post winner’s name to this post no later than 3/6/2016. Thank you and goodluck!

*By providing your email, you will also receive one email each saturday with a summary of posts. I never put ads or any garbage in the emails and only send new post summarys for that week. I also never sell your email. You can also unsubscribe at any time by clicking unsubscribe from the email.

Broken Age – Point and Click Adventure Game for PC – Review and Giveaway was originally published on

More News Comes About Pokemon Sun and Moon!

This time, from the legit, pokemon direct hosted by the real Nintendo.  Watch the entire 6 minute presentation below.

As the direct show explains, Pokemon Sun and Moon will debut in 9 different languages this Holiday Season 2016.

Pokemon Sun, Pokemon Moon, Pokemon 20th, Pokemon 20th Anniversary,  Nintendo, Nintendo of America, Nintendo DS, NDS, 3DS, Nintendo 3DS, Pokemon, Magiana New Pokemon Generation, 7th Pokemon Generation, Pokemon, 3DS, Nintendo, Pokemon Sun, Pokemon Moon
Pokemon Sun, Pokemon Moon, Pokemon 20th, Pokemon 20th Anniversary, Nintendo, Nintendo of America, Nintendo DS, NDS, 3DS, Nintendo 3DS, Pokemon, Magiana New Pokemon Generation, 7th Pokemon Generation, Pokemon, 3DS, Nintendo, Pokemon Sun, Pokemon Moon

More News Comes About Pokemon Sun and Moon! was originally published on Geeky Sweetie

New Pokemon Games are on the Way! Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon

Update: 2/26/2016: Nintendo has confirmed worldwide release of these two titles Holiday 2016 You can watch their live event below incase you missed it.

 

Previous Update – Newer information at top: the Twitter account claiming to confirm this announcement below has been confirmed to be fake parody account as you can see upon closer inspection the username has an l instead of a t however that doesn’t necessarily mean that Nintendo won’t confirm the announcement of new games themselves tomorrow during their live event only time will tell.

Nintendo of America has confirmed two new 3DS Pokemon games titled Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon. No other details were revealed at this time.

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This is still exciting news for Pokemon fans around the world and coincides with the 20th anniversary of the Pokemon franchise. Many of us grew up with this series. Hard to believe I was only 14 years old when Pokemon began, and to this day, it continues to entertain children and adults of all ages with it’s adorable characters and addicting gameplay.

A new Mythical pokemon was also revealed last week for the upcoming new pokemon movie. It is not confirmed if this new pokemon will be making an appearance in the new Pokemon Sun and/or Pokemon Moon.

It’s a metal pokemon with a cute round feminine “dress-like” shape and large pink eyes See a photo below:

Magiana New Pokemon Generation, 7th Pokemon Generation, Pokemon, 3DS, Nintendo, Pokemon Sun, Pokemon Moon
Magiana New Pokemon Generation, 7th Pokemon Generation, Pokemon, 3DS, Nintendo, Pokemon Sun, Pokemon Moon

New Pokemon Games are on the Way! Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon was originally published on Geeky Sweetie

LiEat Releases Tomorrow on Steam for just $2.99

LiEat is a little indie JRPG-inspired trilogy of short games. The entire trilogy can be completed in just 2 or 3 hours. The game was originally Freeware made with a program called WOLF RPG Editor. I’m not sure, but am assuming that some enhancements were made for the Steam Release as is typically the case for free to play games which later get redone for steam.

The story follows a con-artist trying to sell information in various cities and a dragon-girl named Efi who has the ability to turn lies into living things and then eat them. There are multiple endings and turn based combat when Efi encounters various lies who have turned into monsters.

Synopsis from Steam “Welcome to the heart-moving world of LiEat, a fascinating trilogy of JRPGs that captured the minds of thousands. Follow the story of a dragon, Efina, who travels the countryside with her multi-named caretaker/reluctant guardian. Appearing as a young girl, Efina has a unique, magical gift: when someone lies near her, the lie will manifest itself as a living monster. Efina then can consume the lie for strength and sustenance: she can eat food for fun, but only lies make her feel full. As she explores the world, she meets other dragons with interesting powers, discovers bizarre and terrifying mysteries, and finds out about her own history as well as her guardian’s.”

It also looks very kawaii (cute). You’ll be able to order the game from the store page in Steam tomorrow (2/26/2016). http://store.steampowered.com/app/373770

Check out the trailer for the Steam Edition Below.

 

LiEat Releases Tomorrow on Steam for just $2.99 was originally published on

Get Stein’s Gate and Other Great Visual Novels From JAST USA in This Bundle for $30

I also forgot to mention there’s a limited edition bundle at Groupees.com right now which features a lot of popular JAST titles, including the AMAAAAZING Stein’s Gate – which I reviewed here. The bundle features a tiered pricing system, allowing you to get more games with each tier. I already have Stein’s Gate, so I went with the $20 tier. I was actually most interested in Snow Sakura and Snow Drop though, so even the $10 tier is a great buy. These games go for $40 and up on JASTUSA’s website and rarely go on sale or get placed in bundles. I think it is the first time Stein’s Gate has ever been included in a bundle. At time of this writing there are still 750 bundles remaining.

FOR A MINIMUM OF $10 YOU GET:

Do You Like Horny Bunnies
Snow Sakura
Snow Drop

FOR A MINIMUM OF $20 YOU ALSO GET:

Princess Waltz
Pretty Soldier Wars A.D. 2048
Yin-Yang! X-Change Alternative

FOR A MINIMUM OF $30 YOU ALSO GET:

Steins;Gate

You can pick this bundle up from Groupees at https://groupees.com/jast2

Get Stein’s Gate and Other Great Visual Novels From JAST USA in This Bundle for $30 was originally published on Geeky Sweetie

Tokyo Anime Mega Bundle of Steam Games

Just a heads up, for the next 16 days, until Mach 10th, you can get 13 anime games for just $3.49 (until price goes up).

The titles include:

Tokyo Hosto

Orion: A Sci-Fi Visual Novel

A Wild Catgirl Appears!

Sickness

Echo Tokyo

Always The Same Blue Sky…

Highschool Possession

Shan Gui (山桂)

Lamia’s Game Room

Quantum Conscience

Divine Slice of Life

Beach Bounce

Blue Rose

Many of these games have been in previous bundles, but a few have not. It’s a great buy – I picked a copy up for myself as well even though I already had about half of the novels (I will do a giveaway sometime soon for my extra keys) :)

You can grab this bundle at https://www.indiegala.com/tokyo

Tokyo Anime Mega Bundle of Steam Games was originally published on Geeky Sweetie

Check Out Our New Forums

We’ve “soft launched” a new forum system for our readers to interact with eachother.

There’s not too much there yet, but if you want bragging rights and to secure your username and a low ID number you can sign up now :)

http://geekysweetie.com/forums

We’ve also changed our theme (again) – I apologize that the theme we ran for the last few weeks had some poor navigation elements which caused parts of the menu to be truncated. This menu should be much cleaner. Enjoy the new look and new features. More new features will be coming in the next few weeks.

If you have any suggestions on how to improve either the site, or the forums, be sure to hit that big pink REPLY NOW button and leave a comment below.

Check Out Our New Forums was originally published on Geeky Sweetie

Seiken Densetsu 3 | Secret of Mana 3 | Secret of Mana 2 | Retro Videogame Review for Super Nintendo SNES Part 3 of 4

Check Out Parts One and Two of our 4 Part Secret of Mana Series

Part One: Secret of Mana Review
Part Two: Secret of Evermore Review

Welcome to Part Three of our Secret of Mana Reviews. Today’s topic is Secret of Mana 3, a game which we never got to experience in North America, but which was thankfully translated by some dedicated fans. You’re probably wondering how you can play this awesome game so here’s a link to the Seiken Densetsu 3 fan translation.

I really recommend that you purchase a physical copy of the game. You sometimes can find it on sites like Amazon. At time of this writing, it is about $160 but it is so worth it. Buy Secret of Mana 3 on Amazon.com

I don’t condone piracy so I’m not putting a link to the rom here. You can find it easily enough for yourself.

I’m really excited to be writing today’s review because this is my favorite game in the Secret of Mana series (although Legend of Mana is a very  close 2nd.)

Title: Seiken Densetsu 3

Platform: Super Nintendo

Release Date: September 1995 (Japan Only)

Genre: Action RPG

Geeky: 5/5 

Sweetie: 4/5 

Overall: 74 / 80 93% “A-. Excellent Game for Girls

Concept: 10/10 Seiken Densetsu 3 is an action RPG with real-time combat that is part of the Secret of Mana franchise. The game features 6 playable characters. When the game begins it asks you to select 3 of these characters to focus on, similar in a way to games such as Live-a-Live and Saga Frontier. Like Secret of Mana, Seiken Densetsu allows for you to play simultaneously with a friend. When playing solo, you can freely switch control between the characters, and have the other 2 characters back you up via artificial intelligence. Also like Secret of Mana, there is a ring like system which allows you to equip weapons or cast magic spells.

Gameplay: 10/10 The big differences and improvements over Secret of Mana focus on the leveling and class system. Upon level up the player chooses which stats to enhance for each character and at different levels the player can unlock different classes which each have a unique set of skills for each character, for a total of 5 (counting the starting class) classes for each character, times 6 characters, you have 30 unique classes and unique skill sets to explore. Although the classes are labeled as light or dark variations, they do not impact the storyline in any way.

There’s also a night/day cycle and a calendar system which similar to games such as Final Fantasy XI, gives a magic boost on different days to increase the effectiveness of corresponding magical spells. The calendar system also changes which in-game events occur and even what enemies you encounter.

Story: 8/10 Story has never been this series strong suit if we’re being honest. Despite that, I enjoyed the story in Seiken Densetsu 3 more than any of the previous titles in the series. This particular game has a unique approach to story that differentiates it from the other installments. As mentioned, when the game starts, you select 3 characters to focus on during the story out of 6 total. You also distinguish who your main character will be and this is the focus of the story. All 6 of their stories are intertwined, and to really experience the whole story you need to play the game multiple times using all 6 of the different characters.

Seiken Densetsu’s story is also unique in that it is the first game in the series to begin to establish some continuity between game worlds. In fact, there is a direct sequel for the NDS called Heroes of Mana (which I sadly have not played yet). I also find it interesting how the mana goddess in Seiken Densetsu 3 is a sleeping tree, and the tree is also a main symbol/character in Legend of Mana as well.

Characters: 7/10 Like any game with multiple stories, some are more interesting than others. Character interaction depends heavily on who you have in your party and that does detract a bit from the freedom given to pick and choose your party members. It was interesting in concept, but poorly executed, as more dialogue should have been written in for the other characters as well. – Still, overall, the plot and characters in this game remain much more detailed and interesting than the bare bones plot and characters in Secret of Mana.

Music: 10/10 The music for the game features many symphonic sounding tracks and melodic piano pieces which highlight the different scenes throughout each story. It is a huge soundtrack with over 50 different tracks recorded, making it quite possibly one of the largest soundtracks for an SNES game.

Graphics: 10/10 This game is just beautiful to look at, it really pushes the limits of what was thought to be possible with 16 bit hardware. When this game was released, systems such as Sega Saturn and PS1 had already arrived in Japan and I’d argue that this game almost looks as good as many of the early games for those consoles as well. I especially love the use of color, and the details given to the textures and environments.

Replay Value: 10/10 – unlike other games in this series, Seiken Densetsu 3 is a game which must be played 6 times to see the whole story. There are also significant differences depending on who else is in your party, making it actually possible to enjoy playing it even more than 6 times.

Overall: 74 / 80 93% “A-. Excellent Game for Girls

Seiken Densetsu 3 | Secret of Mana 3 | Secret of Mana 2 | Retro Videogame Review for Super Nintendo SNES Part 3 of 4 was originally published on