I didn't realize Carpe Fulgur released their latest translation this week. Looks like I'll be reviewing Fortune Summoners next, even though at $20 (currently $15) it's a tad over the $10 price limit I set. Ah hell, I'd buy it anyway, I might as well review it as well.

So, first impressions:

Gameplay feels like old 2D Tales of Phantasia. You control one character in a party to fight monsters, trying to chain combos together to keep them staggered and increase your damage. Controls are extremely hard to get used to; I'm 3 hours in and it still feels awkward. The characters handle like greased trout and if you hold certain buttons too long, they don't do anything. Best advice I've gotten on the controls is treat it like a fighting game: quick, precise commands & wait for an opening. The jumping, which doesn't have much control, wouldn't be so bad if there were sections you had to leap between moving platforms. The nastier ones add a bat or two.

Plot seems to be a "kids save the world" setup, and the translation is good so far, except for 2 (so far) maddeningly vague hints what you should do next on the main quest. Two other things stand out to me so far:

1. The elemental rock-paper-scissors system seems complex, but you can actually practice it out of combat by playing Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors with your classmates. Definitely a neat idea.

2. The Options screens are subpar. The keyboard controls don't let you rebind the movement keys, several keys (like 0-9 across the top of the keyboard, Shift, and Tab) are off-limits, and some screens require you to press Esc to exit them, while on others you need to select "Save Settings and Exit". That was aggravating, since I completely changed around the keyboard shortcuts after the first hour of gameplay. My hopes for a WASD movement setup were dashed.

I'll keep playing to see if Fortune Summoners picks up & becomes something special, but it's currently my least favorite of their 3 releases.

Twenty hours into S.P.A.Z., I reached the inner systems and encountered the zombies for the first time. Shortly after I posted my review, I nailed a cloak/cannon combo that allowed me to finally crack the hard stargate and blaze through everything else. At least until I reached the zombies. While the Civilians & UTA are very similar, the zombies employ swarm tactics that can infect your ships and turn them against you. The last time I fought them, they eventually infected & turned my entire fleet; looks like I have to switch my tactics again.

Rebuilding my resources after a nasty battle is becoming a chore, though. It feels like system resources grow exponentially, but after a particularly nasty battle you might not have the firepower to harvest resources in that system. I finally reserved a set of templates for mining/gathering ships; they pack more firepower than you'd expect, or perhaps that's because I'm 20 levels higher than them. Focusing on 1-2 techs also helped; the later research bonuses definitely give pack more punch per point.

The game's reached a point where I do a few hours of resource gathering to fund an hour or two of fighting in the inner systems, or make my way to the next plot point. It's still keeping my interest, but the game's definitely at a slow burn now. That may be my fault, though; I went with the default value of ~250 sytems with the galaxy generator. 150 systems would've probably worked better.

Four games into reviewing the cheap Steam releases, I hit one that demands almost triple the minimum time I vowed to put into them: S.P.A.Z.

I put up a review of it having only played 30-40% of the game. I wanted it up before the weekend's Steam sale went down so people could grab it on discount, and actually finishing the game would probably require an entire day and an all-nighter with just hours to spare. Hopefully the game doesn't betray my review by completely collapsing in its second half; if so, I'll have to wear the Hubcap of Shame.

In the meantime, though, I'm pondering how to beat the turret ship guarding that Lvl. 30 warpgate...