Eve of the Genesis is a well executed straight forward turned-based RPG. Its strengths are its minimal learning curve, opportunity for extensive customization of equipment and skills, and its tightly controlled completely linear progression which protects the player from missables and getting lost. Its weaknesses are its lack of character…[Read more]

This is my review of what we generally call “playability” (which excludes story, character, music, dialog, graphics, etc.) of Kemco’s “Glorious Savior.” I’ve played to completion almost every Kemco android rpg released in the United States, so I will try to place my comments in the context of these other games.

I’ll begin with a list of the…[Read more]

What kind of pleasure can a player expect from Alphadia? Before I can answer this, I have to explain that Alphadia is actually two games, a normal and a bonus or optional. The two games offer distinctly different experiences.

The normal game concludes with a battle against the “final” boss, whereas the optional game ends with a battle against…[Read more]

The story told in Destiny Fantasia has a good hook: a killer comet is about to smash the earth and destroy humanity.  A group of the “good guys” has an uncertain and untested theory about how to prevent this catastrophe, but they suddenly find themselves at war with the “bad guys” who have a much more certain method to stop the comet.  The d…[Read more]

Link of Hearts is an unusual Kemco RPG. It has a standard plot, but with a few surprises which would have been quite interesting if more fully developed. There is very little dialog, but the vocabulary, perhaps because of the superior translation, is somewhat more elevated than in similar games. There is almost no character development or…[Read more]

What follows is my review which excludes the post-post game epic battle against Enah.  This battle is one of the longest, toughest, and perhaps best battles in all the Kemco rpgs.  For me, the normal AG2 provides little entertainment and I would play it only if I want to take on the difficult challenge of fighting Enah.  Each of us can decide if…[Read more]

JN: Man, that game was kinda fun, but not very tough.  I breezed right through it.  All the treasures were in visible chests, I skipped talking to the NPCs, and the entire game was a simple linear progression with no chance to get lost.

W: It took me 6,351.2 hours and 17 seconds.  How long did it take you to complete the game?

JN: I don’t ke…[Read more]

This is a mini-review of Legend of Ixtona in which my primary focus will be on the tactics and choices presented to the player.  Ixtona is a grid based tactical RPG.  There are no dungeons and no random battles, but instead individual arena-like battles against hordes of enemies.  You begin each battle with all values (HP, MP, etc.) restored, so…[Read more]

Fanatic Earth has one entertaining feature, but it isn’t graphic or game play.  The dialog in this rpg is full of humorous insults and put-downs.  The speech, translated by Kemco’s John Sears (who does many of their games), doesn’t feel like a translation.  It is more like he takes something that perhaps is meant as an insult to somebody’s man…[Read more]

I played this game 3 years ago, and recently played it all the way through again. For some reason I found it tougher this time around (I’m older and slower), but I enjoyed it both times. Although the story isn’t anything special, and the characters rather stock, the main hero, Shin, is unusual: a half demon half human youth teetering on the edge…[Read more]

[Note: after a complete repeat playthrough, this review is a revision of one I posted some time ago.]

You know how reviews of consumer electronics (cameras, phones, etc.) compare items by having a side by side list of features? Well, Alphadia Genesis has plenty of features, and I will list them, but do these features translate into engaging…[Read more]

I find it hard to convey the flavor of this game: the mixture of features has some sweet, some bitter, but the final taste seems somehow flat.
I will list some of the positive and negative features, and then describe them in detail. I’ll focus on play, but note that the story, while not unusual, is a bit above average, and pushed along by more…[Read more]

We are proud to present a LIVE broadcast of the Trial of the boss monster Azatoth. It is charged with trying to destroy the world.

Prosecutor: You destroyed the world twice, and are accused of attempting to destroy it again in this, the 3rd age. How do you plead?

AZ:Not guilty.

P:You destroyed the world twice and yet you are not guilty?…[Read more]

Who caused Ragnarok, the destruction of Valhalla and its gods? What did the Valkyrie and the rest of Valhalla really think of Odin? Was Loki framed? Is there a traitor in the ranks of the Valkyrie?

Valkyria Soul spins its own tale of Nordic mythology as it probes these questions and others. You control the central character, the Valkyrie…[Read more]

                                                           LEAVE IT ALONE

I’ve played to completion, including post game, more than 20 Kemco RPGs. Where does Covenant rank? If there are about 40 Kemco English games, Solitude ranks around 45. Yes, unpublished games, vapor ware, or not playing anything is better than wasting your time on Covenant…[Read more]

This game features a very interesting, and as far as I know unusual in Kemco games, battle system.  In addition, a major theme in the story tends to support the special features of this battle system.  Before discussing the battle system, I’ll give brief notes on the pros and cons of the game.

The good:

there is a restore point prior to…[Read more]

Summon Mate, from the developer of Tenmilli RPG, is part game, part gateway to building your own dungeon and engaging in PvP.  As such, some of the significant features of the game are of little value or entertainment while playing the game and are really designed for the  PVP crowd.  As such, the game itself is of less interest than its fe…[Read more]