Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion

Review edit cause I've beaten the game now. Overall I think the game is really fun!! Despite it being pretty choppy in some areas the story is overall really enjoyable and interesting! It's nice having a game like this where the player character has an actual personality and voices a lot of the story and not just being a silent protagonist who walks alongside the actual characters like a lot of anime styled rpg games do. This is mainly just a review for friends i rarely review games i just had a lotta fun with this one! solid like 7.5/10

The game is fun and certainly worth a try. Might not have the depth as some other mech games, but that has always been something even the first game was accused of. So if you liked the first one, this has a strong chance to be also enjoyable. Exploration is varied enough, though I wish stamina management was a little more generous. The story is goofy, silly and never sticks the landing, but hey thats half the charm sometimes just doesn't have the same confidence as something like God Eater. Like, its a solid 7/10. Ain't gonna soak your breaches but you'll find yourself playing it as a low stakes game you can just kinda fiddle with in your own time.

太晕了

This game is such a mixed bag and has me on the fence about recommendation but going to give it the YES if you can get it on a steep sale, it is not worth $70 by a long shot. This game is a quirky mess that can provide you a ton of enjoyment if you don't take it very seriously, sort of like a messily executed budget action film. There is a ton of adrenaline to be had in here, things can move fast if you want them to but you can also slow down and gather a ton of enjoyment by running around, doing sidequests, fighting bosses in the overworld, experimenting with different builds, etc. If you rush the story mode, its probably around 10 hours give or take which is mostly what I ended up doing with a few side quests to get a taste, a few overworld monsters that were in my path, and minimal build management. I played the entire game in co-op with a friend and the experience was very silly. It more or less works seamlessly with only a two side quests that I saw getting locked behind single player only (the arena and one other that I didn't get to try). The mechanics of this game are pretty solid, with some odd choices here and there like beacons requiring you to pay to heal, but restoring all your energy & ammo which can then be used to self heal you (and then freely replenish once more). Loot tables felt a bit random but overall fun, in some cases I was still getting weapon type tutorials right up until the end of the game, which is both fun as there was always something new to try but also a little sad as while I still wanted to experiment, I didn't get to try everything out before the credits rolled (might go back for arena stuff, but on the fence at the moment). There is also a "mutation" progression system where you grab DNA from bosses and monsters in the overworld, and while it was cool at first, it quickly became kind of a mess to grind. Some of the stronger skills were locked behind bosses you fight once. The DNA item competes with regular loot which you may pick 1 of, so you have to wager boss gear vs a cool skill. There are levels to those powerful skills so I believe there are other ways to obtain them but I didn't find it, and losing one due to a mis-click early on felt not great but didn't impede my gameplay all that much. I'll end this long review with some takeaways from my experience. Daemon X machina: Titanic Scion doesn't feel like a modern game at all. I played a little bit of the first game and it barely even resembles its predecessor. This game felt like a bunch of people got together 14 years ago, all raved about their favorite recent releases, then decided to build a combination of them all without being tainted by other new games. You get slippery controls, turret sections, subway surfers, floaty combat, low quality side quests, redundant systems, and more as you explore the world of titanic scion. If you are just watching the cutscenes, the story is not very good in my opinion. With animations being very janky (just watch anyones mouth as they talk), a reliance on trying to give exposition with anime monologues in the midst of action and a few to many anime entrances / epic clashes. You barely get to know most of the characters or their motivations (mainly looking at the Neun), which can make some of the more "emotional" scenes come off dry or sometimes even unwarranted. At the end when the stage is fully set, the pay off was very underwhelming but there were a few good moments. Also, can't end this review without mentioning it, WHY DID THEY CHANGE THE MECHS TO JUST BE SUITS? (there are bigger mechs in the game, but you will primarily be piloting your smol mech >:()

I want to like this game because the concept sounds pretty good on paper: a big open-world mech fighter with tons of mech customization and stuff to do. Unfortunately, the combat (i.e. the important part of the game) feels incredibly clunky, the open-world seems to be mostly fodder, and the second time I ever went back to the base I was so beset by graphics glitches that I had to close the game. I'll see if another hour can redeem it, but given the quality of the combat I'm fairly certain it won't. --- To be a little more in-depth regarding the combat: You can equip multiple weapons (and shields, etc.) to both hands and both shoulders. To cycle through your weapons you use left and right on the D-pad, and everything after that gets really awkward. In the thick of combat you generally don't want to have to stop moving, but it's basically mandated by the default control scheme. One thing that really vexes me is that reloading is done by holding B and pressing right on the D-pad. It feels like madness, but when you have to jam all sorts of functionality onto a limited set of buttons I can understand why things might go so awry. Beyond the wonky control scheme, combat itself is lackluster. Nothing really feels like it packs any "oomph", and every combat encounter no matter how minor feels like a series of wet noodles being flung back and forth until the enemy finally explodes and you can get some loot. Movement around the world is generally pretty good, and I do love the verticality the mechs afford the player, but movement in combat is pretty boring. You lock onto someone, maybe dodge a hit, then do your combo, grab them, and maybe hit them again. Rinse and repeat. You might fly around a bit (which is made all the more confusing when in close quarters), but that seems to be about it. If you're looking for mech combat, just go to Armored Core.

I am a pretty big fan of the first Daemon X Machina. There are a lot of things that I think this game does better. The combat feels a lot more impactful, the customization is on par with the original, and the look is great. The switch to an open world is interesting but so far its pretty great.

結論：比一代有進步，但不夠。 優點： 機甲設計師要加薪。 缺點： 1.大地圖無法駕馭(探索無趣，劇情零散，支線無聊)，寧願改回關卡制。看劇情反而是破關後的劇情模擬戰比較有趣。 改善方式：改回關卡制。支線輔助每個劇情角色背景。 2.武器擬真度比一代好一點，有改到痛點，但不夠。 專注上述1、2缺點，其他拉哩拉扎的東西丟掉，燒毀。