Riviera: The Promised Land

Childhood game. Finally had the opportunity to beat it.

So this game was originally released on the WonderSwan Colour back in like 1997 or something.. £30 is incredibly steep, i managed to get this on a deep sale and i'd recommend you wait for it to because it's not worth the full price tag. This game is pretty much 80% Visual Novel, 10% item collecting (through various different choices you can make), 10% combat. If you're looking for a narrative driven Turn based JRPG then this is NOT the game you're looking for, it's a very basic cutesy novella with minimal input from combat. You basically press the directional keys on different maps to move (you don't control the main character) and Press A to switch between move mode and look mode, look meaning interacting with items in that particular map. There's some really nice QoL updates like speed, learn abilities faster etc. I'm only planning on doing one play through, which I think will probably take me around 10-12 hours, I don't like this game enough to do several more play troughs for the different endings. It's not a bad game per say, I just wish i did more research hoping for a more grand JRPG adventure sorta game.

FInally finished this famous blast from the past. Used to own NDS but failed to recognize this gem back then. Happy to play it on steam, this is the de facto version of the game now, with voice overs, multiple type of BGMs and faster movement mode. The story was OK, kind of tropey, but the very addictive battle gameplay is where it shines. The banter between the characters are always a pleasure to read. Overall, a very recommended JRPG.

もうおととしになっちゃったけど、 バルダーズゲート3とか大流行りしたじゃないですか、TRPGベースRPGが熱かったよな。 ああいう流れに、もう10年以上前にJRPGの角度で入っていった一作と言えるでしょう。（まあバルダーズゲートシリーズも2000年ごろからあるんだけど…） 素晴らしい点が沢山あって、携帯機ベースならではの移動の簡略化や、クエストに使うTPという消費財の設定によるTRPGっぽさ。（むしろ調べ放題のバルゲ3とかのほうが俺はモヤモヤする…調べ得になりがちだし） 練られた戦闘のルール、戦闘の面白さに紐づけられたキャラ格差がある程度の魔法使い・戦士のフレーバーにもなってて、5人仲間はいるけどちゃんと格差があってそういうところもいい。 いいとこばかりじゃないのは、練度というかなり要らないシステムがあって、 ある程度使い込んだ武器じゃないと必殺技が撃てないんだけど、このゲームは全てがユニーク戦闘なので、レベル上げをレベル上げ専用のモードでやることになる。 もちろん、XP倍率っていうのをいじればすぐ上がるんだけど…この設計は「長く遊ばせるため」のものでしかなくてSteamでやってる分にはかなりだるいかな。 そういう時代錯誤な部分は結構残ってて、そのまま移植するのが大事だったと思うし、実際フアンはそれでいいんだろうけど、新規の魅力を伝えるなら「ＸＰ倍率は最大値でいいよ」とかそういう細かい設定までいるのは、ここで出す以上は良し悪しかなと思った。 ストーリーは日本一ソフトウェアみたいな感じというか、男の子がいて、あとは全部女の子で、おいしいスチルとか、のほほん珍道中とか、そういうベースで、クエストでは仲間との仲良し度が上下してこれも戦闘に影響する。 これもバルダーズゲート3の仲間とのやりとりと比べると遊びやすいかな。あっちはめちゃくちゃギクシャクしたら出ていくし… 割と好きなノリ。

a mi me gusta, si lo recomiendo, no soy critico no se que mas decir

This is a remaster of an OLD PSP game which has more QOL features and has an option to be easier than the original PSP version. Overall storyline is ok and cute which i feel appeals more to younger audiences but i do say this game does have a puzzle which i am stuck and had to look up for soluton. This can be said to be of the OLD SCHOOL where the SECRETS really needed to be found ONLINE as you can not go back to a previous chapter ( unless you still have a save point ) to obtain the said secret which is frustrating if you only found it out online but have missed the opportunity to RETURN. Another grips i have this game is the COMBAT. The combat is good but in order to get the best RANKING, it limits the way you fight thus i feel the DEV tried to be tactical but failed in certain ways. The items obtain mostly are really just for a certain purpose which i will not reveal here to spoil things. Overall i have a pleasant time with this game. Rate 7/10

WSC,GBA版済み。そもそもが良ゲーなので買いです。 クリアまでにかかる時間は一般的なRPGと同程度。 「取り返しのつかない要素」が多いゲームなので、そういうのを気にする人は攻略サイトを見てやりましょう。 音楽がワンダースワン版と同じにできることが素晴らしい（GBA/PSP/その他アレンジ音源も選べます）。 オリジナルの音楽は神です。ワンダースワン音源をあれほど上手くかっこよく使いこなしているゲームはそうそうない。 DLCでサントラ出してくれないかなあ（CD持ってますけど……） ただ中途半端に高解像度になったせいか、ゲーム画面がすごくチープに見えます。 キャラクターだけじゃなくて背景やUI等も含めて原作のドット絵まんまを選べれば、16bitゲーム感が出てチープさを感じなかったかも。 キャラクターにかかってるピンボケフィルターをちゃんと解除できるのは良いです。 （デフォではエミュレータなんかでよくある2xSAIみたいなフィルターがかかってる、切れないゲームもよくあるのです） 画面サイズ変更は「Windowsの機能でウィンドウリサイズしてね」じゃなくて、2560x1440等の選択肢から選べる機能がほしかった。 難易度変更もちゃんとあるしコンフィグも豊富で良い移植です。

[h2][i]Riviera: The Promised Land[/i] is an early 2000s J-RPG more akin to a visual novel that gave me lots of fond nostalgia, but ultimately did not impress me much with its story or characters.[/h2] An angel is tasked with bringing about the end of the world to purge it of the demons that plague it. This happened once before, a thousand years ago – which has been more than enough time for the current world to grow into a beautiful paradise filled with lively inhabitants called sprites. Can these beings and their world truly be sacrificed to rid of the demons? You play as Ein, the Grim Angel faced with this moral dilemma. Eventually, four young women – sprites from the village of Elendia – join you on your quest, and show you the beauty of Riviera. [u]A very meh 5 out of 10 for me that makes me wish for a neutral rating on Steam.[/u] This was kind of a nostalgia buy for me. It was fun to revisit something that I vaguely remembered playing when I was a young teen. Style, music, and graphics all evoke that perfect early 2000s handheld console feel. This particular release has the art quality and CGs from the PSP release (not the GBA release), as well as a bunch of new quality of life features that make the game experience a lot more pleasant. Though there is plenty of combat, most of the areas you navigate through are fairly limited and only contain set encounters. Combined with the lowkey dating sim aspect, [i]Riviera: The Promised Land[/i] feels like more of a visual novel than a J-RPG. There aren’t a lot of choices that matter from a story perspective; it’s mostly about which items you get access to and which girl ends up liking your responses enough to fall in love with you. Might be interesting to play if you remember it; skip it if you have no history with it. [h1][b]Pros[/b][/h1] + Tons of added quality of life features + Fully voiced (both in English & Japanese) + An endurance system for weapons that actually works + Lovely character art and story CGs + Great soundtrack [h1][b]Neutrals[/b][/h1] ~ Plays well on the Steam Deck ~ Fairly linear and takes about 15 hours to finish [h1][b]Cons[/b][/h1] - Flimsy story - Tropey characters - Extreme lack of diversity in locations and backgrounds - Screams to be replayed but lacks content to do so - AI-upscaled backgrounds The way [i]Riviera[/i] just haplessly cobbles together aspects of Norse mythology with seemingly biblical-esque angels and gods and powerful mages; it’s almost endearingly silly. It’s so far off from being original or even making sense in terms of worldbuilding that I can’t even get truly mad at it. (Hence my wish for a neutral option rather than a thumbs-up or thumbs-down.) The same goes for the game’s characters, who are all very, very tropey: a kindhearted hero with barely two brain cells to rub together, surrounded by his harem of potential love interests who all crush very badly on him. Think the mature and caring girl who takes care of everyone, the bubbly one who’s playful, the fighting tomboy, etc. It’s just so… cutesy and twee. It might be occasionally charming, but even the humor is mostly of the [i]“haha you’re so silly ~ ☆”[/i] variety. Or some version of the girls not-so-subtly fighting over Ein’s affections. There’s just not enough there to make me truly immersed in the story or feel like I’m rooting for these characters and their world. The combat does hold up, I feel. It’s one of the few combat systems that makes use of a set endurance per weapon / item that feels well-thought out. You can only take four items with you in combat and whatever you naturally use up will be supplemented by new (and better!) items you find along the way. Levelling up stats is done by getting experience with a certain item and learning an OverSkill with it, which is a special move you can use as you fill up your Overskill Meter during combat.You can gain this experience through practice battles which have zero effect on endurance, meaning you can grind a little in-between the game’s set encounters to level up. It’s a fun, turn-based combat system. Using the level 3 OverSkills gets you a special voiceline and attack name, as well as a CG to make it feel properly badass. Some of the Overskills also inject a bit of much-needed personality into the characters – bubbly girl Lina can often throw weird ♥♥♥♥ at enemies which OverSkill turns into full-blown grenades, for example. Anyway, the solid combat is not enough for me to make this a great gaming experience. You navigate through the world by moving from static scene to static scene, sometimes encountering branching paths or needing to pass a quick time event. As a result, you’re naturally locked out of certain outcomes, items or CGs for events. [i]Riviera[/i] wants you to replay it very badly, as is also evidenced by some of the quality of life features added in this version of the game. However, considering how paper-thin the story is, how dull the characters are, and how utterly repetitive the location backgrounds look – I don’t feel very incentivized to play again and again just to gather all there is. It’s a cute little turn-based RPG with heavy visual novel elements and a tiny dollop of romance, but it’s very empty and dated as well [spoiler](the bathhouse scenes too, god…)[/spoiler]. Again, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who doesn’t have any prior experience with it. Does that make it a bad game? I don’t think so. But having no neutral option, it’s going to be a no from me.

Yeah, this game is as good as it's first release; with the new quality of life options, this became even better.

「물수제비」 끝없이 이어지는 물수제비는 플레이어가 입력하는 QTE를 무한한 반복작업으로 만듬. 물수제비를 계속 할 수록 뇌에 과부하가 가해져 결국 블루스크린 상태가 되어 버려 어떤 사고도 할 수 없으며, 조금만 길게 이어져도 입력에 실패해서 무한리트를 하는 변태바보엑셀이 되어 버림