Evenicle (Review)

Evenicle (Overview)

Welcome ladies and gents to my world of debauchery. That's right folks. It's another "adult" game. Evenicle was developed by AliceSoft, the same folks behind the legendary Rance series. If you haven't played them before. They are considered one of the best eroge game franchises. They've made other games too and have a pretty good track record (least in Japan anyway. They are pretty underrated here in America, but have a pretty good cult following). Normally these games are hard to come by, and some aren't worth to translate. Lucky for us, Evenicle is easily purchasable on Steam in full English and uncensored glory (which is actually quite rare). This is truly a gem of a game worth playing, so I'm here to tell you all about it. With all that being said, allow me to give a warning before we continue.

Adult Warning

If your new here, I review adult games in my personal repertoire as there's just not enough attention for these games, and I feel like that's a shame. However, I will not be posting adult scenes on this blog because for one, there are other types of games I review and I don't want young ones to accidentally click here. And two, most of these games can be played without the adult content and there are some folks who like to play the game like that. That being said, however, I'll still talk about these scenes in detail when the section comes up. You've been warned. I also have to add that this games uncensored mode is on by default so keep that in mind when booting the game.

Story and Characters

Evenicle has a very funny, interesting, and well-told story that takes itself both seriously and comically at the same time. You play as Asterisk or Aster for short. He grew up on a small island in the middle of nowhere with his sisters. He has only one goal in life. To become a knight and marry both of his sisters. Now I know what you're thinking...no, he and his sisters are not related. The other thing you are probably thinking is why. See, the world of Evenicle is an interesting one. The humans of the world are blessed with the ability to grow crops and make food. However, this blessing is lost if you have sex with more than one individual or resort to murder. If you lose the blessing, you'll be marked with a black ring and you will no longer be able to cultivate or make food. These folks have to resort to stealing and murder if they want to continue surviving. There are also many other downsides for losing the blessing. It's not something you want to happen. Of course, there is a way to get past these rules. Knights have the ability to kill others and have sex with more than one individual without losing the blessing. The reason for this is because knights are considered strong but constantly put their lives in danger, so giving them the ability to produce many offspring makes sense (according to the rules placed in this world). Folks typically only marry one person who they are stuck with for life should they choose to keep the blessing, but Knights can have more than one wife and that's why Aster wants to become one. That way he can have sex and marry both of his sisters. Oh! I also have to mention that the higher the rank you are, the more wives you can have. So polygamy is very common in the world. Understand? Good! If not, it makes sense once you start playing...trust me.

Anyway, Aster was determined to become a knight so he swims from his island (yes he swims across the ocean) to the mainland in order to become a knight. Here he gets acquainted with two of our female leads. A mysterious girl by the name of Riche, and a stern knight by the name of Ramius. Aster also meets other individuals and familiarize himself with the mainland. Things quickly go astray however when a local farm girl gets kidnapped. Ramius decides to venture and save the girl while Aster decides to tag along. Ramius makes the decision to make Aster a squire of sorts, which allows him to kill without losing his blessing. The two save the girl, but Ramius gets drugged in the crossfire. It's a weird drug that makes the user go berserk if they don't have sex...you probably know where this is going. Aster makes Ramius his first wife, and the two set off on an adventure together.

As you can see, the story is very comical but it does have serious moments. Aster, in particular, is actually a really cool protagonist. Despite being a pervert, he has high respect for women and has a lot of good things to say about them. The characters he meets along the way are all very unique and interesting and each has pretty intimate, funny, and emotional moments in the story. I love every character in the story. One of the favorites being the tactician, Kathryn who quit being a knight after losing her whole squad. The story is this games strong suit, and highly recommend this game to anyone on the story alone.

Gameplay and Features

Now the gameplay is good. This is a what I call a game that happens to has hentai in it instead of being hentai that happens to have a game in it (this makes sense if you played a lot of eroge RPG's like I have).

The gameplay is a simple turn-based strategy game. Units take turns, you can exploit weaknesses for extra and damage, and you can also capture these things called "Gal-Monsters" where you can get a rather suggestive CG upon collection.

There's also an overworld to explore where you can encounter bosses, find unique items, and take on the very few sidequests throughout the game. The game doesn't do anything complicated. If you played an RPG before, this game will be quite familiar to you. That said, it isn't boring or stale oddly enough. The story is enough to invite you to keep going, and there is hardly any reason to grind other than perhaps fighting the optional bosses on the map. It's a rather easy and pleasant game which works. You don't have to be complex to be fun.

Art and Music

(Evenicle Maine Theme uploaded by kirbyksn1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk0M8X0MyXg)

Music is nice and well done. It's appropriate for the scenes they play in, and tracks are pleasant to hear. None of the tracks really stick out in my mind, however, but that's a personal opinion. Art, on the other hand, are beautiful and very well done. The art is the games next best strong suit, but Alice Soft had always had fantastic art in their games so it's not much of a surprise here. Still, the art makes the game worth its price.

In the game, animations are simplistic, however.  That doesn't mean it's bad. Far from it. Enemies are represented through cute chibi like 3D models. Some enemies look intimidating, but not very many. The style isn't bad, but that's up to personal taste but I like it enough.

Uncensored Content

Right, let's get down to the debauchery. How is it? It's mostly Vanilla stuff with some kinky things here and there (some tentacle and bondage scenes). Each of these scenes is beautifully well done, and are simply the best. You can feel the intimacy, the descriptions of each scene are on point, the voice acting is fantastic, and each scene is varied and unique. Each of the girls represented in each scene is also very likable, and they all differ from each other. I'm sure you'll pick up a favorite from the cast. There are also some comedic scenes as well. They do play with rape, but it doesn't come up often so don't worry about it if it's not your thing. I also have to add that while intimacy plays a big part in this game, it doesn't come up frequently. It's talked about a lot, but sex scenes go in tandem with the story so it's not one of those eroge games where you are constantly having sex with everything you see. Don't scrutinize me though, there are a lot of scenes. Like a lot of them. Plenty to fill your everlasting lust.

Conclusion

Evenicle is a simple yet well artistic, comedic, and lewd game that anyone can enjoy (*cough* except for kids). Even without the adult content, the game's story is enough to ground this game among the holy grail of underrated gems. I loved each and every character, and the story was a fun read. I admit, it uses a lot of tropes you've most likely seen before, and the gameplay is barebones but that doesn't mean it's bad. The game prices for 45$, and that's a pretty good price for the amount of artwork that went into this game. If it suits your fancy, I highly recommend giving it a try.

That concludes this review on Evenicle. Any other games of debauchery you want to recommend? Let me know in the comments, and I'll see you all next time! Ciao!

(Evenicle is owned by Alice Soft, and all rights go to them. Please support the official release).

Persona Q2 (Review)

Persona Q2 (Overview)

Let's take back the glory and rebel against those who wish to do harm to society. The Phantom Thieves of Heart are back in the spotlight and this time they brought the Investigation Team and the members of S.E.E.S with them. This is the latest entry of the Persona series: Persona Q2 captures all the charm and uniqueness of the Persona franchise all packed in a chibi box with a painted coat of Etrian Odyessy (which is another game series I'll perhaps cover in the future). This isn't your typical Persona game, but that's just how the Phantom Thieves roll. Allow me to tell you why you should try Atlus's latest masterpiece.

Story and Characters

 If you never played a Persona game before, I highly suggest avoiding this game until you at least play any of the mainline Persona games (3,4, or 5 specifcally. RIP 1 and 2). This game pretty much expects you to know who these characters are and they're respective backstories. You will be definitely confused otherwise. With that being said, I'll be going forward expecting you to understand all the Persona lingo I'm about to throw out. You've been warned.

The story starts out pretty fast as Joker (or whatever you decided to name him) and the gang decide to do a routine mission through Mementos. Something odd happens, and the gang is suddenly brought into another world. They learn quickly they aren't welcomed here and are chased out and brought into a movie theater of all places. The gang then realize that a couple of their comrades were captured by a familiar face. The Phantom Thieves move out and explore the strange world and prepare themselves for any danger that comes their way. Lucky for them, they meet a powerful new ally along the way.

And that's how the story starts. From there, it's nothing but an entertaining ride. Characters you know and love interact with each other in such lovely and clever banter. They often make references to each other, and personalities clash in ways you never expect. I have to give it the writers for this one. It's not easy writing for so many characters. Especially since everyone is here as if someone got into the latest Smash game...oh right. Jokes aside, it's everything you expect from a collab of your favorite Persona games (rip 1 and 2). There is one major difference from the first game though. You only have Joker's POV to play from in this game compared to the first game where you had the choice between P3 and P4's POV. I agree with this choice as it didn't change much in the first Persona Q, and I feel it would've just been a cluttered mess otherwise. Oh! And you can play this game without having to play the first one. The story doesn't reference the first game, so you don't have to worry.

Gameplay and Features

(Gameplay video provided by GFM Gaming. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfHtQVt6Fv0)

So the gameplay is different from your typical Persona series game. It has the Persona touch, but it plays like Etrian Odyessy. If you haven't played Etrian Odyssey, it's essentially a first-person dungeon crawler where you explore a map, avoid traps, and fight monsters or bosses that roam around the dungeon. The main gimmick of dungeon crawlers is that you have to draw the map yourself and plot your own landmarks. Now I know that sounds like a lot of work, but it's quite a lot of fun and very satisfying. If it isn't your thing. Don't fret. Compared to other dungeon crawlers, Persona Q2 is very tamed. It has a feature that draws walls on its own, and the game practically tells you where you should plot the landmarks.

Combat is pretty standard and is quite familiar to the mainline Persona series. You create a party of your choice and explore the dungeon. As you engage in combat, attacking an enemy weakness will net you bonus damage on certain moves and moves will be free of cost (if an enemy hits your weakness however they can knock out your boost and then some so watch out). Of course, there's also the Sub-Persona mechanic. Unlike the mainline games, the Protagonists are incapable of switching Personas. Instead, everyone in the party can carry two personas at the same time. The Sub-Persona supports the Main Persona and allows the user to learn additional moves and compensate for weakness making party combinations versatile and infinite. Making a new Persona's is pretty much the same. You fuse Persona's to make stronger Personas for your party. Simple...sort of. If this is your first time playing Persona Q, there are Navigation Skills. These are sperate from combat abilities and can only be utilized by your navigators (people who watch over you n the dungeon). Navigation skills are used to help explore the dungeon by revealing treasure chests and shortcuts before you even get close to them on your map. This makes fusing Persona's tricky as some have both navigation and combat skills. So you'll have to constantly fuse Persona's to separate combat and navigation skills from each other. Annoying, but that's part of the fun.

There are also new combination attacks. As you progress through the story and bond with your fellow teammates. They'll learn combination attacks which can even the playing field (plus they look really cool when they are pulled off).

Art and Music

 (Persona Q2 full opening-Road Less Taken. Uploaded by Tim Barry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGS9flfg8Vg)

The art style is adorable. Seeing all your favorite Persona characters in cute chibi form is just lovely and refreshing. It isn't for everyone I admit, but the animations and reactions each character makes are well done and amazing. If the art style isn't your thing. I understand, but you're missing out.

As for music, there is free DLC to download popular music from all the mainline games (rip 1 and 2). They sound great, and you most likely have listened to them before so I won't be getting into them. The original music this game offers fits right in with the Persona games. The opening especially can sit up there with the Last Surprise and Reach out to Truth. Shame the collector's edition didn't come with a soundtrack. Such a missed opportunity. Persona music has always been well done and never fail to resonate with fans. This game is no different.

Additional Content

So other than the free DLC which includes adding music and bonus items. There is paid DLC that allows you to buy additional items that help boost money and exp earning, additional navigator voices (like having the adorable twin wardens be your navigators), as well as popular Persona's from all the mainline games (rip 1 and 2). They also have a Picaro version. It's almost the price of a second game should you choose to download all them...which I did (don't judge me. I have to review the DLC too).

Needless to say, it'll make the game a freaking cakewalk if you decide to download them. I suggest only downloading the game-breaking DLC on a second playthrough, or play the game through a harder difficulty. You could just download them for the exclusive skills and just fuse them in Persona's at your level so you're not rolling through the game an lv 80 Persona. You do you though, play the game how you want to play.

Conclusion

Persona Q2 is a lovely addition to the Persona games and should be played by anyone who's a fan of the franchise. For newcomers, I highly recommend playing something else as this is a terrible game to introduce people to the Persona series.

Combat and gameplay are fun. The story is cute, refreshing, and enjoyable. Everything about the game is very light-hearted. My only real complaint is it doesn't do anything different from the first game other than some new characters and a couple changes here and there. The gameplay might get stale and tedious after a while, so try not to get burned out.

Still, I highly recommend giving the game a shot. Especially if you're a fan of the series. You won't be disappointed.

Thank's for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the review. Tell what you think of the game and what I should review next. See you on your next turn!

(Persona is owned by Atlus. I don't own any of the images or videos shown here Please support the official release).