Nights of Azure

this game is wonderful, a hidden gem that very few people know about!! one of the best jrpgs i’ve ever played, and it’s real time action hack'n'slash with no turn based combat or slow gameplay at all. on top of that the story is really good, it keeps your attention the whole time and carries this feeling of mystery until the very end.. and by the way there are around five different endings depending on how you play and whether or not you complete certain side quests that change the main outcome. it’s a completely linear game with a campaign that lasts around 15-20 hours, there are several different maps that you unlock as you progress through the story, each one with diverse landscapes, environments and enemies, and there are also many creative and unique bosses that are really fun to fight!! the final boss is challenging and even forces you to take a small break from the campaign and grind some exp to make the fight easier, but it’s nothing too difficult or time consuming, the max level is only 10 and you can reach it pretty quickly once you get to the endgame, before the final boss, in around two hours you can already hit max level by replaying endgame maps and bosses that give a lot of exp and rare items to equip and make the fight easier. the most interesting thing for me however was the possibility of having four minions following you during the entire game!! they are four little creatures controlled by AI that help during combat and have several special attacks, and they level up together with you and can equip items to improve their stats and everything else. and there are so many minion options too, with all kinds of types and appearances, i absolutely loved that. you can have different creatures by your side helping you, all with their own charm and personalities, including a spider, wolf, little dragon, fairy, living tree, gargoyle, demon, wooden doll, living bomb that explodes when its hp reaches zero and much more!! and all these minions respawn after dying in combat and you’re the one who gives commands for them to use their special attacks depending on their mana/sp. there are many types too, both damage dealers, tanks and supports, so you can create a strategic team specifically for each boss however you want, and for me that was the best thing in the game. anyway i absolutely loved the experience, i liked the characters and especially the minions, i loved the gameplay, very simple and addictive, and even the grind was fun because it never felt too long or exhausting. the side quests were fun too, with simple little stories that mostly exist just to be relaxing and entertaining. the only thing i didn’t like was the forced romance in the game, you don’t really have a choice in it, you just have to deal with a pretty bad romance between the protagonist and her friend, i thought it felt forced and it should’ve been optional or at least let you choose who you wanted. aside from that i really have nothing to complain about, this game is very good and fun from beginning to end, it’s absolutely worth giving it a chance and playing it at your own pace without overthinking it!!

支配人/しはいにん/Shihainin = manager, executive (of a Hotel in this case). Translated as Simon. (the character appears frequently thorough the story and is referred to as (Hotel) Manager every time) The narrator refers to himself as ブラザー/Brother at the end of a long speech. Refers to the MC as "sister". Translated as "Your Guide". No mention of the MC being his sister. ---- Incomplete, will list more issues with the クソlocalization as I keep playing. The game itself is great.

Horrible controller settings. Bugged out after 7 hours of play time, rebinding all my controls, and now doesn't understand what a trigger and right joystick is. Once that happened, there was no way to fix the issue, I just... cannot play anymore.

Will not start. Links to fix taken down due copy right. oh the irony. Someone said latest patch fixes it, but not for me. Trying on Rog Ally X.

Really enjoying this one. The combat mechanics and progression systems are a bit shallow, but the setting, characters and plot hooked me - even if it's all a bit cliche, it's still pretty entertaining so far. Caveat: the port has controller compatibility issues, needed a work-around to properly recognise RT/LT on my controller. There are guides on the steam community and posts on the forum explaining it, but it's pretty straightforward to get it working and then there are no additional issues.

[b]Completion time:[/b] approx 12 hours to 'clear' if sticking to main story, 30-35 hours to 100%. [b]Difficulty:[/b] very easy for an action game, easy for a JRPG, some optional/post-game content ramps up challenge immensely. There are no select-able difficulty options. By 100% achievement standards it's a rather easy game, slightly grind happy at the end. [b]Port Issues:[/b] occasional major slowdown for no discernible reason late game, seems to be CPU related. Various controllers are not officially supported so require rebinds/perhaps may not work properly, after rebinding my Dualsense worked fine. [h2]Strengths:[/h2] [b]+[/b] Music, it is a Gust game after all but even by their standards it's well above par, probably the best music I've heard in an action game. Even better is the music peaks furthermore during the last 2 main story stages. Perhaps Ar Tonelico Qoga might rival it but otherwise this is Gust music at its best. [b]+[/b] Combat whilst simple has good control and functions well, later on you unlock new weapon and transformation types that prevent it getting too stale. [b]+[/b] Boss battle design is above average for an action game, very impressive for a seemingly first attempt at one. They keep things fresh so a couple have multiple phases and boss gimmicks such as traps in arenas or fake-outs are rarely repeated. [b]+[/b] Servan system is kind of like real-time Pokemon, varies combat a lot and surprisingly you can have a decent degree of control over it. It has issues perhaps with a small pool of available Servans and even then it resorts to pallet swaps as 'new' Servans. [b]+[/b] Tracking your progress on sub-scenarios/quests/Servans/skills etc is very clear and it's hard to outright miss anything by accident. [b]+[/b] Quite a lot of optional and post game content including a challenge arena and a post-game dungeon/bosses. [b]+[/b] The few side characters in the story are all pretty likable/amusing and dialogue with Servans in the hotel also tends to be charming, in an odd way I'd say the dialogue from everyone other than the 2 leading ladies have the most charm. [b]+[/b] +1 more for the music [h2]Neutrals:[/h2] [b]*[/b] Story is there and is 'fine', didn't get into nearly as much as other Gust games but then again this game has a much higher gameplay-to-story ratio than their other games. [b]*[/b] It's a Gust game, so: somewhat short, simple, easy and lesbians - later of which dialed up to 11 this time. [h2]Weaknesses:[/h2] [b]-[/b] Enemy and Servan variety is light, arguably so is the number of characters in the story too, whole game has a budget feel even by older Gust standards. [b]-[/b] Game was built for PSVita through PS4 originally and they clearly built around the lowest common denominator, environment visuals are not an eye -sore but they are super forgettable and homogeneous at times. Polygon count and texture resolution are notably low, alongside some very basic animations. [b]-[/b] Non-scenario-quest system is typical MMO(?)-filler-tier garbage, kill-X-number-of-Y or go-to-Z-location, worse is they repeat. [b]-[/b] Camera, it's the worst in action game I can think of, you can only reset it behind you by pressing the block button but cannot turn it otherwise. It also sits very low and large Servans love to stand right in front of your view point. Given how easy/casual the game is it's rarely annoying outright but very notable. [b]=[/b] Being a Koei Tecmo port expect an external configuration menu, basic controller and graphics options and odd technical issues (occasional slowdown) - later of which has made me think the game might have crashed a couple of times but it never did, perhaps save often just encase. To sum up it's way better than I thought going in, was under the impression this was a 6/10 given a bit of a pass because of the music but it's more of a 7.5/10 or so. It may be genuinely worth experiencing for the music alone and if not it's a very low friction game so hard to get aggravated by it.

ガストは革新を続けていて、本当に楽しいです！ ミッションベースの構造化されたリニアなレベルデザインは過小評価されているけど、もっと取り入れられるべきだと思います。ゲームプレイの密度が高まります！

I have been thinking for a few days on how to write this review, but when you love something so much, it's impossible to do it proper justice. To me, this game is a wonderful piece of art, a statement and example of how touching and inspiring games can be. In truth, it's not for everyone. If you cannot accept the idea of two girls falling in love, then you won't like it. But if you have that special kind of sensitivity in you, then this game may allow you to feel something unique. And the feelings.. they are pure, innocent and selfless. It really grew in me, until the very end, and the endings, as the whole journey, were incredibly emotional. Wonderful story is one part, but it is complemented by perfect voice acting, beautiful songs (performed by voice actors), good music and exceptional costumes. You can tell this was made by a small team of passionate people. They perhaps didn't have a huge budget, but they had an incredibly strong, coherent and beautiful vision, which they realized successfuly. Additional bonus points for artbook (with concept arts) and interactive 3d models of all the characters and creatures - everything is included in the game menu. Gameplay consists of RPG elements for Arnice, and her small army of demonic servants. It's a bit of a creature collector game, where you form small parties from your servants, develop them and equip items to strenghten their skills. In the night you venture to hunt fiends, there is an action combat, where you control Arnice, summon your servants and order them to use their powerful abilities. It may seem somewhat simple, but things are happening fast and managing the battlefield turns into a small real-time tactics game in itself. Finally, Arnice herself can transform into a demonic form and rule the battlefield with a stunning grace. Her costumes and appearances are a feast for the eyes. This action part of the game was always engaging and very entertaining to me. But ultimately, my thoughts constantly go back to that heart-touching story, unique and charming characters, and overall artistic mastery. This game will stay with me forever and will always have a special place in my heart - there is nothing quite like it. Thank you very much to all the people who created this masterpiece! Now, additionally, for some technical details. There is a steam guide on how to setup game resolution - it runs greatly in 4K, the models are crisp and most of the graphics look very decent. Next, limit FPS to 60 in graphics card panel, since picking up items in the battlefield is tied to framerate. Finally, you may need to remap keys for the gamepad in the game launcher or in steam settings. And this is all, takes like 10 minutes to do it, no need to write a negative review for an old port of a PS3 game!

A fun fanservicey type hack and slash game if you can get it to run its definitely worth the effort.

Do you know how hard it is to perfectly present lesbian yearning in a character action game?