Games Happy

I write this preamble as a defeated man, completely and really overwhelmed by The Hundred Line -Final Protection Academy-. That is an unrelenting beast of a online game that takes no prisoners. Each bit of promoting by Too Kyo Video games leads Kazutaka Kodaka (Danganronpa, Rain Code) and Kotaro Uchikoshi (Zero Escape, AI The Somnium Information) was on the mark. That is the biggest recreation they’ve ever made. It is a behemoth, an lively risk to the free time in your life. You ought to be petrified of what they’ve unleashed on the world. In a sane world, it could not exist. 

It could be one of the crucial respectable items of artwork I’ve performed in ages. I’m 55 hours in as of scripting this, and am nowhere close to finished. For weeks, I’ve been untangling the staggeringly deep net of plot that someway accommodates 100 distinctive and distinct endings. They’ve explicitly talked about in advertising that this recreation has no “low-cost” dangerous ends to pad that quantity. I’ve three cleared in the meanwhile. Three. In spite of everything my time bingeing it, I’ve a agency grasp of the type of recreation Hundred Line is, however this story’s scope is astonishing and seemingly infinite. 

Takumi Sumino finds himself drafted into the Particular Protection Unit in opposition to his will to defend the mysterious Final Protection Academy over a interval of 100 days in opposition to a legion of alien invaders. He and his fellow classmates share the facility of Hemoanima, which may be activated by stabbing themselves within the coronary heart with a blade known as an Infuser. Their unusually high-tech faculty has learn all their DNA and may basically print out a replica of them in the event that they die on faculty grounds. Over 100 days, Takumi and his buddies have to hold the college secure to guard the world and remedy the thriller behind this unusual conflict they have been dragged into.

Each Kodaka and Uchikoshi’s work have been part of my life since my teenage years. They have been foundational to getting me to fall in love with journey video games, defining what I search for in comparable video games. Aesthetically, this appears like a direct successor to the Danganronpa sequence: Kodaka is on the helm creatively, Rui Komatsuzaki is again on artwork route, and Masafumi Takada is again because the composer. Your base is explorable by way of third individual facet scrolling. Rooms within the faculty are offered in first individual, with a cursor to research sure elements. The music even feels prefer it pays homage to the Danganronpa scores. It isn’t Danganronpa, but it surely appears like the correct follow-up I have been hoping for. The fashion is right here, the vitality is right here. The most important key distinction is the chosen style, pivoting to utilizing a method RPG this time to enrich the VN presesntation for the storytelling.

It was a bit troublesome for me to completely separate this from Danganronpa as I initially labored by way of my first playthrough. Whereas it is a fully new IP, Kodaka very clearly attracts consideration to its similarities. In case you’re not accustomed to his earlier work, you may completely play this by itself. You’re simply lacking an additional layer of playful hostility towards his established fanbase, which extends to any participant. In a form of coy meta approach, the writing usually attracts consideration to what you’d count on from a recreation clearly attempting to comply with up on Danganronpa V3, taking part in on tropes this crew has dabbled in earlier than to maintain your thoughts racing on the place it could possibly be all going. I frankly adore it, and was thrilled to expertise this precise taste of online game masochism that I felt was lacking from Grasp Detective Archives: Rain Code. 

Hundred Line’s playable forged of characters are simply as depressing as I hoped they’d be. Virtually all of them have a single “bit” that defines who they’re as folks. You’ve acquired somebody obsessed along with his sister, somebody who speaks fully with self-deprecation, a snobby wealthy woman, and an obnoxious younger man who hates doing something without cost. They do not actually mesh as a unit, however that friction is essential to the tone they’re attempting to set. The sense of isolation you are feeling being with people who find themselves largely unrelatable offers this recreation a brilliantly lonely, and encourages you to place the trouble in to get to know extra about these unusual characters you are trapped with. If I needed to choose my favourite of the bunch, I’d say it’d be the sickly Eito and the Killing Recreation loving Darumi. Whereas each character ever penned exists as some type of mouthpiece for his or her author, she actually appears like she exists to poke on the premise in ways in which explicitly break the fourth wall. She’s an enormous fan of any killing recreation media, and can blatantly level out when the occasions of the story really feel much like tropes from different video games. 

There was a sequence of non-obligatory dialogue I discovered of her the place she outwardly identify drops a number of iconic darkish VNs (I do not need to spoil the shock, so you will simply have to trace her down every single day). She’s simply blatantly and unapologetically a personality that exists to reference different media, however I discovered it troublesome to hate her inclusion. Takumi will usually name her character horrible, as she repeatedly presents quirky interjections for the Particular Protection Unit to start out murdering one another. He’s not flawed, however I couldn’t assist however simply adore her. As if Kodaka is playfully teasing a sure sort of fan of his. I’m certain hidden someplace below the numerous routes is one devoted to fleshing her out, and I’m fairly to seek out it. On a barely associated be aware, I’m very proud to say I could be one of many first ever gamers to blindly stumble right into a sure Eito CG on my very first route. Too Kyo confirmed within the advertising of the sport, and it has had followers’ imaginations racing ever since. If you understand, you understand. I’m fairly pleased with myself.

Regardless of that includes a forged of disagreeable characters who hate collaborating with one another, the lingering threads of thriller saved me affected person with the place their arcs have been going. As a result of our forged is virtually immortal, principally all of them get extra display time than you’re used to. Identical to Danganronpa’s dwindling forged serves the gameplay construction of a killing recreation, Hundred Line’s largely ever-present forged does the identical for a tactical RPG. As each playable models and characters, I grew to be fairly fond of those characters the extra I performed the sport.

In case you’re on the lookout for a lean SRPG, you’re not going to get that right here. Your first playthrough will finish on a be aware that begs for gamers to dive deeper, and also you’re not going to get a satisfying expertise with only a single ending. My first run took me 40 hours, and it feels prefer it was solely scratching the floor. The pacing of this recreation is gradual and irregular, however I virtually assume that one thing could be misplaced from the expertise if it wasn’t as large because it was. You most likely might get an important and concise recreation out of every little thing right here, however I believe the uncooked self-indulgence is an equally highly effective creative assertion. I respect their option to make the script of this recreation large. I can’t imagine how a lot online game I’ve left on the time of scripting this. I can’t imagine I’ve 97 endings left. What might this recreation probably have left to point out me after 55 hours? I hold asking myself this, and I hold stumbling upon new surprises. This recreation appears like working full-time, and also you occur to have among the finest jobs on the planet.

Having stated that, I’d solely actually suggest this to folks really on the lookout for a recreation to speculate all their time into. I’m not allowed to say any specifics on the occasions after my first playthrough, however I believe it is value mentioning that I’ve discovered the tonal shifts of the opposite routes I’ve stumbled upon to point out a tonal flexibility that has been actually thrilling. My grasp of what Hundred Line is aiming for with its 100 endings is to be an exhaustive love letter to the medium of Visible Novels. A number of the routes I’ve performed thus far really feel like I wandered into a very totally different online game with the identical characters. With how a lot Too Kyo has said that is an all-or-nothing effort for his or her studio to get a success, with the danger of chapter looming over its success, I’d count on one thing way more safer than what we acquired. The Hundred Line is much from a traditional online game, and to really get probably the most out of it you will need to attempt to see and do every little thing.

Whereas there’s a number of juicy VN storytelling to dive into, I believe I’m most happy to say that Hundred Line is a incredible SRPG. I’m very specific with SRPGs, with very particular issues I look out for within the ones I find yourself latching onto. Recreation really feel is essential, because the digital chess items have to really feel good to maneuver from one sq. to the subsequent. Subsequent is the issue balancing, as I personally love the sensation of simply barely profitable a difficult battle. Lastly, I search for a satisfying character development, ideally one which has a little bit of novelty to it. And if there’s a putting visible fashion to go together with all of it? Even higher.

I wasn’t anticipating the sport to examine all these bosses, and I’m stunned that this crew managed to design such a enjoyable SRPG on their first attempt. Battles are snappy, difficult, and assaults are flashy. After 55 hours, I’ve by no means been bored of fight, which is genuinely spectacular. There’s a lot vitality right here I’ve seen missing on this style for years. In the mean time, I’m considering this could be among the finest SRPG battle methods of the 2020s, however I’ll need to see how I really feel after one other 100 hours or so.

Sprinkled throughout each map are main and minor enemies, and for Defensive battles, they’ll at all times be gunning for the turbines that hold a barrier across the Final Protection Academy. Hundred Line rewards aggressive play types, as your pool of motion factors will enhance by one each time you kill a serious enemy. Your aim turns into to discover a option to make the most of models to play as effectively as doable, killing main invaders to construct up a lot of actions to focus down boss enemies that’ll usually be discovered on the finish of a sequence of waves for each mission. Each assault will construct up your voltage, permitting characters to make use of particular skills. These, and different sure highly effective expertise, will put the character that makes use of them in a fatigue state for the remainder of the flip.

The trick is that your first assault will hold the motion vary of that character restricted, so that you’ll want to select fastidiously on the place to ship a unit until you’re in a position to get that or fatigue cured by the primary healer unit of the get together. Deciding when to make use of your particular assaults to construct up AP in your heavy hitters is essential, however you want to remember who you’re positive with being unusable for a complete flip. You’ll additionally want to fret concerning the minor enemies, who can rapidly swarm you or the turbines if not correctly handled. The well being and injury numbers on this recreation aren’t very excessive, so carelessness may be punished rapidly. It may be overwhelming, however the flexibility to strategize in the way you choose off enemies made certain there was by no means a boring second.

If you end up in an unfavorable state of affairs, there are some methods to show issues round. Not solely does Takumi’s particular means let you redo any wave or battle, however everybody has a desperation assault as they attain the tip of their life. Doing it will kill that character for the remainder of the battle, however will guarantee you may get out a free particular assault and an extra 100% (of a complete of 300%) of voltage. I like when SRPGs provide fast-paced battles that have you ever making key selections with rapid penalties, and I’m hoping additional missions proceed to ramp up the issue. 

Once you’re not defending the college, you’ll determine how Takumi spends his time in the course of the 100 days. Your folks will discover a spot to hang around in every single day of Free Time, and you may spend time with them. Doing so will let you be taught extra about them and construct up Takumi’s social expertise, which may help unlock development gates in your character expertise. Your injury numbers are on the decrease facet, and there’s no level-up system. You’ll improve your characters by gathering assets out within the apocalyptic world surrounding the Academy, and by gaining BP from battles. 

These will likely be used to enhance or unlock your expertise for your entire characters, and that is necessary as a result of each single out there character will likely be deployed for each mission. When you can play favorites, there isn’t a selecting a celebration from a listing like in lots of video games of the style. You don’t even determine the positions they deploy in for main battles, so that you’ll want to ensure everybody’s expertise are updated. After I realized this was what was occurring, I used to be fairly excited. There’s a bent to make a number of class variants for SRPGs, particularly ones with permadeaths, however meaning you’ll have a number of ineffective characters in each the story and the gameplay. Each get together member of The Hundred Line serves a singular position in battle.

I have been a fan of those two creators for over a decade now. I can not say but if that is their finest work, however that is their creative ethos taken to the logical excessive. This could possibly be one in every of finest video games of the yr. I simply have to see how all of the items totally come collectively. The Hundred Line nonetheless scares me conceptually. That is the type of recreation you’d give you as an ignorant teenage recreation fanatic with no concepts concerning the actuality of recreation budgeting. The best collaborative work between two titans of the Visible Novel medium. The truth that they have been in a position to come collectively to craft a genuinely well-made SRPG as properly? Baffling. I am baffled. I am in awe. I’ve so many endings left, and I’ve by no means misplaced my motivation to maintain plugging away. There’s nonetheless a lot left to uncover with this recreation, and I really feel like I haven’t even seen half of what it’s able to.

I genuinely adore the bits of story I’ve discovered thus far, and navigating by way of it to seek out all of the endings is as thrilling as it’s exhausting. In case you’ve by no means performed a recreation from both of those creators earlier than, I believe an important comparability could be navigating by way of a maze. This maze has an exit, however you understand that exit is locked. Not solely do you might want to discover the exit, however you additionally want to seek out the keys wanted to unlock the door. There supposedly is a real finish, and I want to seek out it. Each flip you’re taking takes you to a brand new part of the maze you’ve by no means seen earlier than, and thus far, all of them have offered me with a brand new key. The method of conserving monitor of the staggering listing of concurrent mysteries is the true pleasure, and I can solely hope it’s main someplace good.

There’s little question in my thoughts that Hundred Line is a incredible SRPG, however I believe it’s solely honest for me to take extra time earlier than I make any declarative assertion on the standard of its story as a complete. Unraveling this story, although, is simply as enjoyable as I hoped it to be, even when it’ll take you a bit to get a full grasp on what Hundred Line is aiming for. I genuinely love what I’ve performed thus far, however I used to be not ready for simply how a lot of it they have been able to making. I’ll need to see if each reply lives as much as my expectations, however I’m impressed in the meanwhile with how the funds appears to align completely with a frankly ridiculous quantity of ambition. I’m nonetheless discovering my approach by way of the maze, and I’ll need to let you understand after I get out.