1. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (+DLC) [PS3]
2. Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea
Nice. Actually managed to squeeze in a whole JRPG within the same month of my previous completion. Off to a good start. ...So I say, but I'll be immediately replaying it, as I pretty much always do with these games. New Game+ via Shallote's route this time, and since Hardcore wasn't -quite- difficult enough, and they offered a new difficulty mode, I may as well try Despair. (Shame there're no trophies based on the difficulty settings.) Just... lemme go back and make some final touches on what I want to carry over to NG+ first. ^^;
Anyway, gameplay-wise, I'd say it was fantastic. More or less the same as what Escha & Logy had to offer. However, I feel like the plot was somewhat lackluster; as was the cast. (Also, Tecmo Koei continues to fuck up all over the script and menus. I wish NIS America could get the franchise back.) Homura is pretty much the highlight party member, although Miruca's got a little charm to her as well. (It goes without saying that Keith is boss, and perhaps arguably the main character of this trilogy as a whole.) Shallistera was a fairly weak protagonist, but she held things together well enough, I suppose. Shallotte is pretty much downright appalling overall. (I'm hoping playing the game from her perspective will change that, but I'm not expecting much.) Even the few named NPC's weren't really anything that spectacular. And a lot of interactions felt rather... jarring. Out of place. Unnatural. Sometimes simply incomprehensible. (Chalk that last one up to poor translation, maybe?) ...Despite these complaints about the story and characters, though, I still found it to be an overall enjoyable game. I think Atelier Escha & Logy was an overall more enjoyable experience, but this game held its own and provided plenty of hours of entertainment.
With the Dusk trilogy complete now (on that note: I kind of wish they wrapped up the trilogy's overall plot more, but what was provided was sufficient), I'm curious to see where the series will go with the new games and the jump to PS4 (albeit PS3 as well). I believe I mentioned this elsewhere on here, but if anyone hasn't played these games yet and is interested, I definitely recommend starting with the Dusk trilogy. Aside from Tecmo Koei's abundant fuck-ups, the trilogy has been a huge step (or several?) in the right direction for the series, and I hope to see even more improvements in the future.
