Author: Pyre Kavanagh

Persona 3 Reload is a remake of the beloved RPG Persona 3, the game that introduced the school life-demon fighting hybrid social simulator system we all know and love. The combined systems can be fairly tricky or overwhelming if you view them from the wrong angle. So, when the original is topping 80 hours of playtime, we thought it would be pertinent to hit you all with some tips and tricks to help you make the most of your school life. Abuse Skill Cards Early into the game, you’ll get access to the Inari shrine, which will let you duplicate…

Phantom Abyss Review: A Thrilling Dive into Perilous Temples and Asynchronous Multiplayer I had originally planned to begin this review by discussing a hypothetical Indiana Jones game, but then a real one got a trailer release. However, I realized that it doesn’t really matter because if you’ve ever wanted to experience the thrill of running through caves, dodging traps, and grabbing relics like Indiana Jones, then look no further than Phantom Abyss, developed by Team WIBY and published by Devolver Digital. Mastering the Multiplayer Maze: The Competitive Edge of Phantom Abyss In Phantom Abyss, the plot is merely an excuse.…

Atlus games have consistently shared connections in some way, and it’s been a while since the company introduced a new intellectual property (IP). A new IP from Atlus typically heralds a fresh take on the RPG genre. Katsura Hashino is a game designer who previously served as the director of P-Studio, which is also an Atlus development team established for new Persona games in 2006. He directed Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona 5, and Catherine (though that’s not relevant here). However, Hashino has since moved on from the studio to embark on a new game as part of Atlus’ Studio…

Pokemon is a long-running franchise with many popular characters. From edgy rivals to eccentric gym leaders and imposing villains, no Pokemon character has acquired the same incredible beloved notoriety that the Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum character, Cynthia, has. There have been others since, but none have done it like her. Why is that? Let’s break it all down. In your first meetings with Cynthia, you have. Still, a single badge, and she’s talking about the Pokemon statue, giving you an HM, asking you to give her regards to the professor, and in Platinum, giving you an egg that contains Togepi.…

2023. Games. There were lots of them. I could use this time to talk about other things, but is that my job? It’s the job of prominent influences like The Game Awards to be talking about the well over 6000 jobs lost over the course of this year because the execs want some extra pay, not some tired schmuck online who’s trying to balance way too much work so they can afford to live. Y’know, like the industry workers who helped make a ton of fantastic games this year and then got laid off for their efforts. Anyway, here’s a…

There have been quite a few Persona 5 games so far, haven’t there? We’ve had the crossover Persona Q2, the action sequel Persona 5 Strikers, the dancing game Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, and the updated re-release of the original Persona 5 Royal. So, when I heard about Atlus working on a new tactical game, it had me excited. Could this be Devil Survivor 3 or another entry in my favorite Atlus game series? Of course not, as you’ve already read the title; it was another Persona 5 game. I might have been a little miffed, let down by my…

In the Fall of 2023 (spring if you’re in the southern hemisphere), Two classic Square Enix titles received Remakes. One of them was lavishly redone with full voice acting, rebalanced gameplay, and a ton of quality-of-life upgrades to bring it more in line with what we expect from a modern title. In addition, it was heavily marketed, had a three-hour demo, and clearly had the full weight and attention of the property holders behind it. The other was Front Mission 2: Remake from publisher Forever Entertainment. Wait…. This bit seems familiar…. Historically, the Front Mission series occupies a unique space…

Saving the world from a terrifying supernatural being isn’t the most out-there concept to be dealing with. But Draculae isn’t just your everyday supernatural world-ending beast. She’s also James’ ex. You can bet it wasn’t pretty. But somewhere in a motel, out the back of El Paso, Texas, she’s got a lot of hostages and is conducting some sort of ritual to destroy the world. And James Savage, a folklore researcher who is only alive because he’s hopped up on enough drugs to kill way more than just a herd of elephants, appears to be the only person with a…

Remember how some older point-and-click adventure games used the painstaking process of rotoscoping to create fluid animations and graphics? I haven’t seen one of those in a while. It’s a really fun style that, when done well, creates extremely fluid animations that are full of life (why wouldn’t they be, they’re literally animating over videos of people). https://youtu.be/GesnMjYr-3M Appnormals Team apparently agrees as they thought it would be a great medium to use for the animation in their new point-and-click narrative adventure game, Frank and Drake. Published by Chorus Worldwide Teams for PC via Steam as well as Xbox and…

I was on a tactical/strategy RPG kick, having just come out of Cross Tails, started a replay of Fire Emblem: Thracia 776, and watching a friend punch their way slowly through Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together when I got a message wondering if I’d like to check out a game called Crimson Tactics: The Rise of the White Banner. And y’know. Who am I to say no to a game that looks like this? https://youtu.be/q8TMKq8u8c0 The first game developed by Black March Studios, Crimson Tactics: The Rise of the White Banner, is an early access title that wears its…

I’ve been on a bit of an SRPG kick, playing through Tear Ring Saga and Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen while mulling on another Fire Emblem Engage replay. And then I spotted Cross Tails, a new release by Rideon, published by KEMCO. A strategy RPG with multiple protagonists. You could create a pretty gripping story with that kind of setup. It sounds perfectly up my alley, so I was sold from the get-go. But Cross Tails falls short of expectations. https://youtu.be/9HjxUgHQiiQ Cross Tails follows a multi-route story with two main protagonists to choose from. Dogboy Felix Arens, the…

Fire Emblem is a strategy RPG series that has been going on for over 30 years. That’s enough for roughly 20 games so far. It’s not as big as Final Fantasy, but that’s still a hell of a lot to try and take in. So I thought it would be a good time to write out something that tells you everything you could want to know and a dozen other fun tidbits you might end up asking too. Ok, So How Does Fire Emblem Work?  Fire Emblem games are tile-based, turn-based strategy games. Alternating between player and enemy phases, you…

Visual novels and adventure games are mixed mediums that have a prime potential for taking their narrative to its storytelling limit. Look at something like Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, The Beginner’s Guide, Necrobarista, or Adios. They’re all significantly different, but they use their mediums as a stage to set up and convey particular emotions and feelings that are so difficult to capture in other types of games. Now I want to direct you to a seriously indie title I’ve been following for a while named Amarantus, developed by ub4q and in development for something like eight years. …

The problem with games that take advantage of unique console designs is that they can be very difficult to move elsewhere. Not every platform gimmick remains forever, and nowhere was this more impactful than the Nintendo DS. Due to the existence of the second screen, titles released on the DS and 3DS family of handhelds are much more difficult to port to other platforms. The Etrian Odyssey series is a great example, and it’s sad to think they are locked to these consoles.  However, it seems developer Atlus has seen a viable concept in remastering some of them for…

I love games that let me make my own parties and customize them to my whims, which is what excites me about dungeon-crawler RPGs. You’ve got this world to explore and uncover the secrets of with fearsome beasts to clash with, and the ones doing that are my delectable self-created, and fleshed-out party members. Labyrinth of Zangetsu from developer Acquire looked to be an interesting take on the formula with a unique visual style. However, it doesn’t really succeed in anything but visual style. https://youtu.be/m2dMBayZutE The world of Labyrinth of Zangetsu has been devastated by the ink of ruin, a…

We’ve got maid dresses, crossdressers, and h-scenes all wrapped up in live-2d animation. That’s all you need to know about the eroge Girls! Girls! Girls!?  But allow me to indulge you in every other aspect you may or may not want to know about this soft and fluffy visual novel title. https://youtu.be/hidc9gSMZAE Developed by indie group MYOSUKI, Girls! Girls! Girls!?, stars four maid cafe workers at the cross-dressing maid cafe. You, however, take the viewpoint of a nameable protagonist who is the new manager hired because the owner wants someone else to be managing the cafe when it falls. Oh…

I had fears going into Fire Emblem Engage. It looked like a goofy anniversary game. Given that production ended in 2021, according to the Australian classification board, there’s a good chance it was supposed to be a 30th-anniversary game if covid hadn’t been in the way. https://youtu.be/IK80ROZ7ySc But it wasn’t just some spinoff; it was the next mainline game and the first proper fire emblem game on the Nintendo Switch. And I saw inspiration drawn from Fire Emblem Three Houses, in which there was a more shallow base simulator than actual strategy RPG and Fire Emblem Heroes, a gacha game that…

The new Fire Emblem game, Fire Emblem Engage, seems to be something of an anniversary crossover game. Through the power of emblems, heroes of new can team up with the heroes of old (read: the lords of the past 15 games) on a grand new adventure to kill an evil dragon. The fact that it has my boy, my lad, Lief, is already a selling point to me. But I’m just a bit concerned about the direction the game is taking. I don’t want this piece just to be posturing about how “modern Fire Emblem is bad.” Although, since my…

It’s the end of 2022. Congratulations on making it this far. I’m saying this to you just as much as I am to myself. You, and I, most importantly I in this equation, but also you, because we both made it through some real hot trash that is still ongoing. Isn’t this fun? Spoiler alert…it’s not, but at least we can play video games, or something. I wanted to write something deep and fulfilling here, but honestly, I am way too tired for that and we’d rather all actually be reading instead about video games, that’s why you’re on Noisy…

Despite the sheer size of the TYPE-MOON franchise, very few entries have been officially translated into English. The most well-known entry, Fate/Stay Night, as well as its associated spin-offs, owes its popularity not to the original source material but to TV anime adaptations and feature films. In fact, no TYPE-MOON visual novel has ever been officially translated before now (gacha games do not count, and that PSP RPG is on thin ice). Initially released in 2012 on PC, Witch on the Holy Night is a linear TYPE-MOON visual novel that, if you care about continuity, serves as a prequel to…