Danganronpa

If Phoenix Wright and Umineko have a lovechild, you get Danganronpa! I picked this up on PSP on recommendation of a friend and i can see how it got some kind of popularity. The story of Danganronpa is about 15 High School Students from Elite school trying to survive sinister from a bear called plot named Monokuma. The main theme about Danganronpa is all about despair and what makes this series unique is that the portrayal of grimdark stuff in this game is rather colorful, wacky and over the top at the same time. The core gameplay of Danganronpa resembles Phoenix Wright with 3D map to explore and the trial got some more variation. The game also include mechanism called "Free Time" where you can spend sometime with other classmates like Social Link to acquire skills helpful for the trial. Overall the mystery element of the game is mediocre but still enjoyable as at the end of the game, you will find the plot twist quite predictable. I will look forward to the second Danganronpa which i will get it for my Vita whenever available since i am quite curious with the continuation as the series got cliffhanger ending in the end.

SPT Blue Comet Layzner

Another Takahashi's work that i finished watching! which left Galient and FLAG to go. I had big hopes about this series mainly due to awesome OP but it turns out Layzner is one of the worse Ryosuke Takahashi's work which even doesn't escape from his penchant of Mysticism. I get to know Layzner first from Another Century Episodes 2 though got better exposure from it through SRW J. The story of SPT Blue Comet Layzner is basically about a half Earth boy trying to save Earth from his Alien race by piloting a experimental Robot called Layzner which turned into Hokuto no Ken by the second half. I believe Layzner introduce couple of new elements which inspired later Mecha series from being one of the first mecha series that got a pacifist type protagonist, having Mars as a background of the series and Mecha with sentient AI.

What makes Layzner being one of the worse Takahashi's work is the pacing of the first arc and second half is way too different where the former is rather slow while the later just erratic. The second arc is just plainly uninspirational even though it has awesome main antagonist and you can just trace their elements from Hokuto no Ken. To make it even worse the second half is just butchered halfway which made a what would have been mediocre anime series to terrible one. Lastly i really feel the romance feels too forced in the series because the love interest of the main protagonist is just plainly shoved out of nowhere. Nevertheless Layzner got some of the better mecha design from Kunio Okawara and definitely it does inspire the future anime series. I really feel that Layzner could have been better if it got proper planning and the background were expanded instead of having generic Aliens invading Earth with superior tech trope. If i had some luck i would love to get the Robot Damashii Layzner MK II

SRDS Alteisen Riese

After plenty of Kotobukiya's experimentation with D-Style i guess they are confident enough to craft one for SRW now. Sometime around mid of this year Koto announced SRDS lineup which started with Alteisen Riese. I had to say the proportion of the model perfectly match the SD sprites from the game and even looks way cooler than your average SD Gundam Kits. The kit will be released around november this year with the price of 5200 Yen which is even more expensive than the non scale Alteisen Riese. Personally i find the price is abit too steep for the initial product for the lineup but finished product does looks really gorgeous indeed and this could possibly achieve something that the similar lineup that Megahouse had few while ago unable to do. If i ever get back to make my modelling i will probably get Riese and definitely get Wildwurger especially if it comes with the gimmick. i hope Riese will not be the only product of this promising lineup

here is the review for my non scale Alteisen Riese

Crimson Shroud

A very short RPG yet somehow enticing, that is the impression that i get from Crimson Shroud. Bought this game along with other Level 5 Guild project few months ago when they were on discount though never bothered to touch the game until i took a short break from Monster Hunter. Crimson Shroud sets itself apart from other JRPGs for having a Tabletop RPG feel like D&D or WH40K which is rather uncommon for its kind. While Crimson Shroud has the Tabletop game feels of it by no means it is a real TRPG. However the game got its mechanics implemented well to have an interesting experience. When i goes through the story, it really give me a certain unique vibe which turns out that Yatsumi Matsuno is behind this game. This guy is known for being creator of FF Tactics, Vagrant Stories and Tactics Ogre which all of these have something in common; very good RPG story. The size of the story is roughly as big as a mini campaign of RPG games which takes place in one dungeon. The story of a Crimson Shroud is about an adventure of 3 Seekers in search of a "Gift", relics that grant its wielder magical power and the one that they look for is the "Crimson Shroud" a legendary gifts that was said to grant great magical power. The adventure leads the adventurer's  to a place called Rahab Palace that used to be a magnificent palace that become a center of civilization but now forgotten by time. As the story continues to unfold the Adventurers will find more sinister forces hiding in this Palace and it is up to their ability to survive this ordeal.

At first for me, it is rather hard to grasp the gameplay mechanics since there are lots of mechanics crammed at the same time. You will need to loot your enemies spoils to get better weapons and keep augmenting it. Once you understand the mechanics you will this game enjoyable otherwise you will only deal one damage to the enemy. Crimson Shroud is divided into 4 Acts which will roughly last about 4 hours and most of the time you will spend is to get the key from random encounter which can be very frustrating sometimes. There are 2 endings available in this game which you can only access the second one after you finish the first playthrough as more areas become available in new game+. My suggestion for this game is once you get Falchion try to find more Falchion to upgrade it as high as possibly since the weapon will simply wreck the enemy once upgraded with the special move. Overall i find this game is one of the better Guild project titles and wished there would be some kind of continuation by Matsuno with the same game mechanics. So whenever the game in discount again, just grab it without hesitation!