Author Archives: St. Elmo's Fire

Reconstruction Aside (Guest Review)

  08/31/2014       St. Elmo's Fire      17 Comments

We’ve come to an important plot point in the game, and I want to discuss it before going further.

In this upcoming quest, it is revealed that female shra do exist – they’re just locked up in an isolated area and forced not only to breed continuously, but also to give up their children afterward. They cannot leave, ever. If they break any of these rules, they are killed. It sounds like something out of Wither, and it’s quickly swept under the rug and forgotten about after being brought up once. This is because there is no logical reason for shra society to be structured this way, and it provides no contribution to the plot. Yet the developer still decided that it was an idea worth including. (more…)

   1. The Reconstruction, Reconstruction Series, Video Games     

Ever17 (Guest Review)

  08/14/2014       St. Elmo's Fire      37 Comments

I see what you mean about drowning women on cover art, Farla.

I heard people on the internet say this was a good game so I checked out an LP. I really should have learned my lesson after Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors, especially because it was recommended by people who liked Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors and was cowritten by the guy who wrote Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors, but here we are. At least my bad habits generate angry reviews for your entertainment.

Ever17 is not a good game, or a good story, or a good anything. I do think, however, it could easily reach “so bad it’s good” territory, because the plot is hilarious. (more…)

   Video Games, Visual Novels      , , ,

Planet Stronghold (Guest Review)

  08/09/2014       St. Elmo's Fire      16 Comments

Today on hideously overdue reviews, I got video games last Christmas. One of them was Planet Stronghold and it’s…really, really bizarre. You know that thing where fantasy stories are hastily redressed as sci-fi for whatever reason? It’s like that, only even less coherent. There’s a king and psionic powers and hat-wearing alien races, but there’s also actual guns and robots and supercomputers. It’s very, very confusing.

Seriously, there’s a king and he’s wearing ermine robes, because that will be such an important status symbol in the interplanetary empire future. Just look at that. There must be an ermine planet, and he must set aside only the finest ermine pelts from the finest ermines for his own personal wardrobe. Because he’s a king, you see. A king IN SPACE. Because that makes sense. (more…)

   RPGs, Video Games      , ,

Heroes of Might & Magic IV, Part 2 (Guest Review)

  07/22/2014       St. Elmo's Fire      30 Comments

So when we last left off, everybody died from their own stupidity, hooray! This leaves the game kind of directionless in terms of plot, however. The campaign selection style is reminiscent of Armageddon’s Blade – instead of all the campaigns revolving around a central narrative, they each tell individual, self-contained stories. There are six, each one revolving around one of the six factions. I figure I should talk about them first. (more…)

   Heroes of Might & Magic, Strategy, Video Games     

Heroes of Might & Magic IV, Part 1 (Guest Review)

  07/21/2014       St. Elmo's Fire      5 Comments

I have heard many mixed opinions on this game. It seems to be very much a “love it or hate it” affair. I said Heroes 3 was a major revamp of the system, but it has nothing on this. Virtually everything has been radically altered in this installment – it has a bit of a “see what sticks” feel to it. Like most people, it seems, I am personally rather divided. I like some of the new additions and changes, but others I feel were poor decisions. Some of the concepts introduced here were refined into a more palatable form in Heroes 5, but more on that later.

Like Heroes 3, it also has some rather complicated and confusing chronology, though at the very least it does not have an unholy sequel/interquel hybrid Might & Magic tie-in game like Heroes 3 did.

Let’s delve into this beast. (more…)

   Heroes of Might & Magic, Strategy, Video Games