Mothergamer Plays Shin Megami Tensei V

  It's not a secret that I love the Shin Megami Tensei and Persona series. I'm always excited when there's a new game coming in each series so I was pretty stoked about Shin Megami Tensei V. My favorite Shin Megami is Nocturne, the third installment in the series because of the story, artwork, and gameplay. Shin Megami Tensei V is definitely a close second. The one thing that the SMT and Persona games have in common is being able to recruit demons and the ability to customize them, making them stronger  through fusion. The differences are that Persona is more focused on the social links and story whereas SMT is more about the story, tactics, and strategy. 

As I started the game, I checked out the settings for accessibility. I did like that I could turn on subtitles and I was able to adjust the audio. I did see the game settings had difficulty ranging from normal to difficult. In order to get the Safety setting which makes the game much easier so I could just enjoy the story, I had to go into the Nintendo Eshop where Safety mode is a free DLC and download it. I am still wondering why they didn't just include Safety in the original game, but hey at least it's free and you can get it. I personally prefer safety and the easy setting in games so I can just enjoy the story the first time through and try the more difficult settings later if I want. 

Shin Megami Tensei V sets up the story with you playing as a high school student in Tokyo. This gives you a good tutorial of how to move around with the game controls, how to use the area map, and how to check your user interface menu for inventory and character stats. 

Just an every day student. 

Things go strange as they do in the Shin Megami Tensei universe and you are suddenly dragged into a world full of monsters. This starts your adventure and changes your appearance as well as you fuse into a powerful being known as a Nahobino that has great strength, can cast spells, and allows you to recruit demons to your team. This first map shows a Tokyo clearly in ruins and as you navigate this new world you get some battle tutorials about how fighting works and ways to recruit demons. There's not a lot of middle ground with talking to the demons. You have to choose your answers carefully because those choices can either get a demon to join you or make them angry and keep fighting you. There's a lot of interesting lore with all of the demons and the folklore from different cultures. The artwork and designs for the characters, the demons, and the surrounding world are beautiful and some really stand out. 

The Nahobino in the new world. 

Of course it wouldn't be a Shin Megami Tensei game without demon fusions. There are save point wells very far and in between in the world map that also act as waystations for healing your party and a place where you can fuse your demons in order to make stronger demons with better stats and abilities. It does cost Macca (the currency in the game) to create these fusions. You can also register your demons to a compendium which allows you to pull from it to make specific demons you want. You also can not be a lower level than the demons you want to fuse, so make sure you plan accordingly. 

Doing a little demon fusion. 

Your team is essentially you and three demons that rotate out depending on what you need in battle. SMT makes you think about those tactics and strategies when facing enemies because sometimes you need a demon that can take down an enemy who is weak to fire or you need a demon that can use spells to heal your party. The stronger your demons, the better because you can plan out what kind of team you want and find that balance that works for you to take down tough bosses. I was glad for Safety mode because it took out a lot of frustration for me and let me enjoy the game while also being able to take my time building up my party members and figuring out what worked best for me. It made boss fights fun and allowed me to follow the story and appreciate the gameplay. 

Preparing for battle. 

There are four big open areas to explore in the game and it definitely encourages exploring so not only can you level grind, but you can also unlock the map as well. There is a bit of a trick to that with having to fight and destroy giant purple orbs on the map known as Abscesses. Make sure you're prepared because you will have to fight waves of demons to destroy them. Once you are successful, it unlocks huge chunks of the map and highlights points of interest. Getting the full map unlocked is a good idea so you can get around a little easier as well as pick up side quests. Sometimes, the map could be a bit frustrating because it was not always clear where to go and there were times where I realized I had to do a bit of platforming in order to get around. Many times that would involve a lot of backtracking because certain things on the map were not exactly where they appeared and that could be a bit exasperating. I was really glad for the fast travel points so I could just hop to them and find a route to where I was going. 

One of the map areas. 

Many of the side quests were interesting and gave some pretty good rewards ranging from useful items to unlocking the ability to fuse a top tier demon. One side quest that was pretty extensive, but gave some solid rewards was the Miman quest. The Mimans are quite small and they would be hiding in places you least expect. You really had to keep an eye out for them and look in every corner in each area. There are 200 Mimans to find and while that seems like a lot, it is worth your while because the rewards offered are things like boosting stats and sutras that can boost skill infinity for your demons. You can also get hints from some of the Mimans about where the rest of them are hiding if you pay them a bit of Macca. 

Finding the Mimans is worth it. 

Now, let's get to the one part of Shin Megami Tensei V that I could not stand because it was so frustrating to the point I was sure the game was trolling me. There's dungeons in SMT with bosses and I was cool with all of them and then there's the Demon King's Castle. This castle infuriated me, mainly for the third stratum because of the damn wind tunnels, fans, and platforms. I know that I am not the best at games and yes I play to have fun, but this area made me question what little skills I had and I wanted to light the entire castle on fire when I was done. Here's why. Sometimes the camera angles on this particular floor were very bad so I couldn't always see where I needed to go. Constantly getting swept off a platform because of the terrible delay with the dash button and having to start over from the beginning was a nightmare. I finally got past the first part and then there was more. One of my issues, is there is no checkpoint for this area which meant that if I missed the timing on the jump or the wind fans went off, I had to start from the beginning once again. This particular dungeon stood out because it didn't seem to fit with the others and this floor was terrible and sucked all the fun out of the game. The map for this floor is also bad because it is confusing with the layout and does not clearly show where each wind tunnel is. I only made it through this part because of sheer stubbornness and determination. Apparently I'm not the only one who was not thrilled by this area. A lot of people commented that this floor was awful compared to the rest of the game. The good news is Atlus addressed that issue and reduced the amount of wind gimmicks. I still don't like that castle. 

I really wanted to set this dungeon on fire. A lot. 

The story for Shin Megami Tensei V itself kept me going because it was interesting and I found myself wanting to know more about the characters in the story. The philosophy and discussion between these characters as part of the story I also found intriguing because it did a great job of exploring the fact that each person has different ideas and ideals about how they see the world and how those choices they make can affect so many things. The artwork and music for SMT is incredible and it fits each area and boss fight quite well. There are four possible endings in the game and you're not locked in until you make the final choice. I did try out each one to see what would happen and they were really nuanced in the variations. Eighty hours of adventuring in Shin Megami Tensei V made for a great story and memorable journey. While there are a couple of things that could have been better, overall the game itself is pretty good and I enjoyed my time with it. 

I enjoyed my adventure here. 

*Shin Megami Tensei V is available to play on the Nintendo Switch

*Come join our community as we enjoy games and talk about mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer

The Adventures Of Pirotess: Starlight Celebration 2021

 It's that time of year again in Eorzea where everyone can take a break from adventuring and have a good time with the Starlight Celebration event. This event started December 16 and will run until December 31 so you have plenty of time to check it out before it ends. All the different areas are decorated and looking very festive. It made me really happy to see and I was ready to get started.

Everything is looking festive!

To start the event, travel to Old Gridania and speak to the NPC Amh Garanjy to begin the quest A Very Yeti Starlight. Remember, your adventurer must be level 15 or higher to start this quest. 

Starting the first quest.

This quest introduces you to a cute baby yeti named Rudy and an adorable squirrel named Rissai. You speak to Rissai and suggest making snow ball themed gifts. Rissai acts as a translator for Rudy and you get to help them out for this quest.

Rudy the baby yeti and Rissai.

Your goal in this quest is to help the two get ingredients to make the snow ball themed quests. This has you traveling to New Gridania and Old Gridania in order to do so. It's not a very hard quest to do and only takes about five minutes. After that, you get to pass out the gifts to the children in Gridania and then return to Amh Garanjy to complete the quest.

Helping out Rudy and Rissai.

Your work is still not finished however, as you have one more quest to do. Talk to Amh Garanjy again to receive the quest Time To Shine. Once again you need to help Rudy and Rissai with the Starlight Celebration.

Starting the next quest. 

This quest requires a bit of traveling. You'll need to go to Bentbranch Meadows in the Central Shroud and speak to the NPC Baenfeld. Baenfeld gives you gifts that you need to deliver to different children in Bentbranch Meadows. Once that is done, you can return to Baenfeld and get a cutscene with Rudy. When the cutscene is finished you can talk to Rudy again. 

Delivering gifts to the children.

After all that, it's time to return to Old Gridania and talk to Amh Garanjy again to officially complete the quest and get rewarded with two new minions, a wind-up Rudy and a Squirrel Emperor. That's right you get minions of Rudy and Rissai. They're very cute! You can also buy a brand new house furnishing that has been added for this year's event, the Starlight mobile. You can purchase it from the Starlight Celebrant in Old Gridania for 6,000 gil. 

Starlight Mobile can be bought from the NPC vendor. 

The Starlight Celebration is simply fun and it offers three nice rewards for participating. It's a nice break from adventuring and gets you into the festive spirit. It's easy to do solo or you can have a great time doing the event with your friends. Happy holidays and happy new year everyone! Thanks for reading and see you at the next adventure! 

Happy holidays! See you at the next adventure!

*Final Fantasy XIV is available to play on the following platforms: PC, Playstation 4, and Playstation 5

*Join our community as we play games and talk about mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer

Free Updates And Happy Home Designer DLC Make Animal Crossing New Horizons An Even Happier Place

 Animal Crossing has been bringing me joy since the Gamecube days and New Horizons continues to bring that joy every time I play the game. Designing my own island paradise, making friends with the villagers, visiting friends on their island, and inviting them to mine makes for so much fun. There's also fun events like the fireworks festival and Halloween which was even better celebrating with friends. I was excited about the new updates because it sounded like it was going to make my happy place even better and I was right. 

The free updates included being able to cook, growing veggies, wheat, and sugarcane for cooking, helping Harv build a community on his island, collecting gyroids, having a cup of coffee with Brewster the pigeon, group stretches with the villagers, and getting to sail to interesting islands with Kapp'n while listening to him sing sea shanties. I love all of it! Growing lovely gardens and cooking is one of my favorite things on my island. It's always a thrill to find new cooking recipes, gathering the ingredients, and trying them out. The group stretching is a fun thing to do with all the villagers which can be done with the buttons or motion controls. I prefer the buttons because it makes things easier for me. It's only 200 bells for a cup of coffee with Brewster and sometimes he gives you a gift showing his appreciation. 

Gardening, cooking, stretching, and coffee with Brewster.

I also loved the fact that there are recipes based on the types of fruit trees I have so I was able to make all kinds of smoothies and tarts. Harv's community isn't challenging to build, you just need to donate the bells needed to help his friends set up there. I was delighted to see fellow plant lover Leif there and good old Tortimer as well as Sahara with her mysterious wares. Don't worry, Sahara and Leif still make the trips to your island to sell all their wonderful items. Island tours with Kapp'n are fun because of his sea shanties and you never know what kind of island you will get to explore. Some are just regular islands with fruit trees, but some are magical like the island I went to that had star shards all over the beaches and meteor showers everywhere. You can also dig up gyroid fragments on these islands to take home with you and grow your own gyroid. Remember, bury the gyroid fragment and water it. The next day when you dig it up, you'll have your very own gyroid! My gyroid collection is steadily growing and maybe someday I'll collect them all. 

Doing all the things! 

Happy Home Paradise is the only paid DLC for the game that lets you visit a resort island to work at Paradise Planning where you can help villagers build the vacation home of their dreams. This is a spin off of Happy Home Designer on the 3DS a game that I loved so having it in New Horizons  is fantastic. It's very easy to get started with a villager showing you the pieces they want used in their new home. Then it's up to you to pick a location for them on a map with a handful of islands. Each island has its own season and depending on what you have in mind for ideas and what they request, you can pick anywhere. You can even pick the same location for a different client because the map doesn't seem to get full which means lots of possibilities. 

Designing and decorating are pretty straightforward, but there is a lot of freedom with the creativity and items you choose as you decorate the villager's house, yard, and interior. I had a lot of fun with the themes like a house of chocolates for Carmen and a house full of books for Eloise. Your inventory will also show what items they like or love which also helps when choosing items. 

Carmen's sweet retreat yard and house and Eloise's library. 

After a certain amount of houses decorated, you unlock roommates which lets you design for two villagers living together. This can be a good time exploring thinking outside of the box as you design for them using things like partition walls to make one room into two rooms and really exploring ideas to create the best vacation home for them matching their theme. 

At first you won't have access to all the furniture because Happy Home Paradise is a slow burn. As you get more clients, this will unlock more items like pillars and being able to add a second floor to the vacation homes which gives even more creative freedom. One of the best things that gets unlocked is being able to resize a room which means you can make the room as small as 4x4 or as big as 10x10 which allows you to have a wider variety of choices in how you want your design to look. This really came in handy for me when I designed a rockin' amphitheater for the villager Katt because it gave me a lot of space to work with to make something I really liked.

A rock n' roll palace for Katt

I loved the fact that I could also invite my villagers to the resort and build a vacation home for them too. It does take a little bribing by offering them a box of souvenir chocolates which you can buy from the Paradise Planning office. Designing vacation homes for my villagers was a great time ranging from making Julia a room to play her guitar to making the adorable Lolly a place to practice public speaking. It added an extra layer of charm to the game itself. 

Lolly is ready to practice her speeches.

You do get paid for all your work in Happy Home Paradise. The boss we all deserve, Lottie will pay you in a currency called Poki. This can only be spent on items being sold at the resort like items for decorating from Wardell or buying things from a cafe or shop that you can also design. As you unlock more things, you unlock buildings on the resort that you can design like a hospital, school, and restaurant. Eventually you do get an ABD machine in the Paradise Planning office which does allow you to convert your Poki into Bells. Even with a soft ending for the game, you can still keep designing to your heart's content which I absolutely love. It feels like another great community with Lottie and everyone on the resort as you chat with everyone, help design homes, and even getting to enjoy some down time with dance parties on the beach. All of these wonderful activities makes New Horizons feel like a whole new game with how much has been added and I love all of it. The free updates and Happy Home Designer have truly made Animal Crossing New Horizons an even happier place, one that I am overjoyed to visit every time I play the game. 

Oh yeah, dance party on the beach! 

*Animal Crossing New Horizons is available to play on the Nintendo Switch 

*Join our community on Twitch as we play games and discuss mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer

Mothergamer Plays Cozy Grove

For all the story games I love, I also enjoy nice chill, relaxing games, that give off cozy vibes. It's why I love games like Stardew Valley and adore Animal Crossing. I picked up Cozy Grove and was immediately charmed by the setting and cute things in it. The game introduced my Spirit Scout (something like a girl scout) and I got to design my character with a variety of hairstyle options and outfits. I liked that I had a lot of options and my little scout was adorable. 

Designing the Spirit Scout. 

Once that was done, my Spirit Scout made her way to an island where it gave a small tutorial about what to do. Essentially a Spirit Scout's job is to help spirits with their afterlives. The spirits on the island happen to be ghost bears. Cozy Grove gives a good introduction into this with the first ghost bear being a park ranger named Charlotte Pine and they give easy to follow instructions on what to do for the first task.

Spirit Scout reporting for duty! 

One of the first things I had to do was set up my camp with my sentient campfire named Flamey. Flamey acts as a guide giving hints about which ghost bears need help. Initially, the island is drab and grey, void of any colors. As I did tasks and favors for the ghost bears, they would give me spirit wood which I could feed to Flamey and then Flamey would get bigger and illuminate the island, bringing vivid colors back to the world of Cozy Grove. This also unlocked more areas on the island and allowed Flamey to give me more hints about new ghost bears that needed my scout's help. 

Spirit Scout with Flamey. 

Most of the tasks and requests are finding lost items for the ghost bears. They're not terribly challenging so I never had a hard time figuring out where to go. They only take a few minutes to do and sometimes, the ghost bears would reveal things about themselves from their memories. The writing in the game is well done and charming. I found myself wanting to know more about each of the ghost bears. There's also a delightful merchant named Mr. Fox who yes, is an actual giant fox. Here, I could buy decorations for my campsite from him, spirit wood, and sometimes items I needed for quests. I could also buy outfits for my scout from him and what he had in his shop changed each day. 

Buying things from Mr. Fox. 

There's fishing in the game which is a lot of fun because you can take your time and it doesn't punish you if you lose a fish. Some of the requests wanted me to catch certain types of fish and I learned a lot of patience in the game because sometimes I wouldn't always get the fish I was looking for right away. I found I really enjoyed fishing because it was relaxing and definitely fit the relaxed vibe of the game. 

Fun with fishing. 

Cozy Grove is meant to be a slow burn and encourages taking your time with things and runs in real time much like Animal Crossing. Each task takes about thirty minutes to do and then you're done for the day. Flamey will even encourage coming back the next day by telling you that there aren't anymore people that need help. I do appreciate the fact that Cozy Grove gently shows that taking breaks is important and that it's okay to not do everything all at once. It takes off a lot of pressure and allows you to appreciate the game itself and the delightful characters. There's no rush and you can just enjoy. If you're looking for a relaxed game, Cozy Grove is perfect. 

Taking some time to just enjoy the moment. 

*Cozy Grove is available to play on the following platforms: PC, Playstation 4 and 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch, 

*Come hang out with our community on Twitch where we play games and discuss mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer

Mothergamer Plays Control And It's Spooky Fun

  I had never played Control so I did not know what I was in for, but I was ready to check it out. Control is based on the SCP Foundation stories which I thought was interesting and piqued my curiosity. Right from the start I was able to make the game more accessible for myself with subtitles, adjusting the audio, and tweaking the controls so the game would be easier for me to play. I always appreciate it when games are accessible for everyone. Control introduces us to the Federal Bureau Of Control (FBC) which investigates supernatural altered world events. The start of the story also introduces us to Jesse Faden who arrives at the FBC building looking for her brother who she hasn't seen for seventeen years led by an entity in her head called Polaris. Control is a slow burn because as you enter the building it seems perfectly normal at first, but then you notice things that are unsettling such as the complete lack of people and rooms that have been destroyed. It causes you to wonder, where did everyone go? Why are rooms destroyed? As the initial introduction to the story progresses Jesse finds the body of the director of the FBC and something dictates to her to pick up the service weapon and become the next director. It is so weird to see Jesse transported to an astral plane where a strange black pyramid called The Board telling her she's in charge. It's surreal how the normal and strange blend together in Control like this, but it works beautifully. 

Meeting Jesse Faden. 

When Jesse leaves the astral plane she is attacked by agents that have this eerie orange glow surrounding them. It turns out the agents are possessed by something called the Hiss and the FBC has been compromised by them and the building is under an emergency lockdown until they deal with the threat. This is where for me Control becomes a lot of fun because Jesse has abilities like telekinesis which come in handy fighting Hiss enemies. She also has other powers like being able to levitate which helped if a fight got too dicey for me and I could get myself out of there and attack from a distance turning the tide of battle in my favor. Jesse's service weapon helps a lot too because you can modify it with upgrades. I went for a sniper style which worked for me because I did not like to get too close to the Hiss enemies. 

Jesse levitates and battles some Hiss. 

You can also upgrade Jesse's abilities as she levels up, making them stronger as well as increasing her health meter. This helps a lot with fighting the Hiss standard enemies and quite a few bosses. Telekinesis was my personal favorite ability and I upgraded it a lot along with the other abilities. Exploring the building could be unnerving because I never knew what was going to come out from which room. I love horror movies and games, but I'm a big chicken when it comes to these things. Best jump scare for me was a Hiss coming out of an elevator when I least expected it. The game definitely keeps you on your toes as you explore. I also found the files, videos, and tapes that Jesse found throughout the building during her search fascinating. Each one described supernatural things that couldn't be explained like a light switch that transported people to a hotel in a desert or an x-ray machine that hypnotized people. There were also some interesting videos from an FBC researcher, Casper Darling. Darling would talk about things like how the Oldest House as the building is called works with different dimensions or being excited describing how certain items had abilities that humans couldn't really explain. These things added that extra layer of mystery to Control and it was great.

Upgrading abilities. 

The building itself is huge and each area could be confusing at first because it is a paranormal building so there would be dead ends or rooms that had nothing at all. The map helped a bit, but sometimes there were puzzles you had to solve in order to unlock new areas. It took me a little bit of time to figure some of those puzzles out, but once I did I was excited to see where the new area led me. The biggest lifesaver in the game is fast travel. Jesse can find what are known as control areas and from there she can fast travel to other spots like it in different areas in the building. I was grateful for this because there are a few moments in the story and with various side quests where you do a lot of back and forth to areas you've already visited. Fast travel made all of that easier. 

Fast travel spot found. 

I couldn't write about Control without talking about Ahti. I was fascinated by Ahti who looks like a Finnish man and is the janitor of the building. The first time I met him I wondered where he had come from. He called Jesse his assistant and would swear in Finnish or use Finnish sayings while talking to her. Jesse can help Ahti with various tasks that he asks her to do such as starting coolant pumps to stop a meltdown or talking to plants to cheer them up. Ahti didn't seem threatening. In fact, he seemed quite charming in an odd way, but as I spoke to him more and more I definitely got the impression that he was not human especially since he could do things like talk to Jesse telepathically and sometimes would talk to Polaris also. He could move throughout the building freely and didn't seem vulnerable to the Hiss. It caused me to wonder if it was possible Ahti was a Finnish god. I genuinely liked Ahti and Martti Susosalo did an amazing job portraying him. 

Ahti the janitor. Or is he a Finnish god? 

While Ahti was my personal favorite, there are a lot of interesting characters in Control that Jesse meets who help her after she helps them and it makes complete sense that they work at the FBC. Emily Pope for one is full of information and is also a researcher. She's very smart and she seems to really want to help Jesse and learn about her as well. She's a little awkward, but she's sincere which shows in a lot of conversations with Jesse. There was also Helena Marshall who was no nonsense, but she was smart and wanted to protect everyone. There are also some side quests with some of the supernatural objects in the FBC like a fridge that has to be constantly watched. With each of these quests Jesse is transported to the astral plane and has to pass a test or a battle for each one. The writing in Control is smartly done with the right mix of mystery, unsettling, and humor. It made the story great because each layer adds depth to the characters, experience, and world building. 

Watching a supernatural fridge. 

There were a couple issues I had with the game however. One of the biggest issues was the game crashing after a couple hours of playing. I was playing this game on PS4, so I had to look up things regarding the game crashing. I tested other games and no crashes, just this one. Game crashes happen of course, but it got very frustrating to have to redo an entire quest line because of it. There was also a game breaking bug in a main story quest. I had to talk to an NPC and it wouldn't let me and we just stood there staring at each other. The only way to fix it was to quit the game, and select the chapter to play again from the beginning, and then it worked. The game has been out for at least a year or more and frankly there is no excuse to not patch and repair that issue. The good news is that seems to be the only bug I ran into and I was able to keep going forward with the story. 

I became invested in the story with Control, wanting to know the answers to every single mystery and wanting to find each secret. The great writing, intriguing premise, and well thought out characters made Control a really fantastic adventure that kept me playing, wanting to know more even when I was tense because of all the spooky fun. I'm so glad I checked it out because of that great storytelling. 

This was a spooky fun time! 

*Control is available to play on the following platforms: PC, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch

*Come join our community on Twitch as we play games and discuss mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer

 

Tales Of Arise: An Amazing Adventure

 I am a big Tales Of fan so I was excited for a brand new Tales game when Tales Of Arise was announced. I have played all the Tales games and have enjoyed them all with a couple personal favorites being Symphonia and Vesperia. When I started Tales Of Arise, I was blown away by how great it was right from the start. It felt like new life had been breathed into the Tales series. The accessibility for the game is great  ranging from being able to adjust the difficulty setting, to being able to adjust the size of the subtitles. 

 The story for Arise sets up the events for the worlds of Rena and Dahna explaining that the Renans invaded Dahna and conquered the Dahnan people and enslaved them 300 years ago and the Renans have been in control ever since. This is where we are introduced to Alphen a Dahnan slave in an iron mask who has no memories of his past and can't feel pain. Alphen is charming, kind, and helpful going out of his way to be a protector to his fellow slaves. This initial introduction gives you a feel for the game controls, how the mini map works, and how to track quests. It's fairly straightforward and easy to follow. 

Meeting Alphen for the first time. 

After a certain point at the start of the story Alphen meets Shionne a Renan woman who can't be physically touched because of magic thorns that erupt from her body and attack making the person feel like they're being struck by lightning repeatedly. Alphen and Shionne share the lead role and it was quite interesting to see how they went from working together out of necessity to becoming close friends over time. This is where Arise really takes off as Alphen and Shionne explore the world of Dahna, seeing different cities, meeting people who become allies, and understanding that each person has things that they're going through and trying to navigate it to grow and be better. Exploring the world in Arise was incredible because no two areas were alike. Each place had its own beauty and style which really made me appreciate the wonderful art work in Arise.

Alphen admires a snowy vista. 

I loved all of the characters in Arise. Each one brought a unique perspective throughout the story because of their experiences and strive towards learning how to cope with the painful things and working together to move forward to build a better world while holding onto hope. Throughout the story Arise touches upon the horrors of war, the inhumanity of slavery, and recognizing one's own privilege and how to address it and learn what they can do to help. Those seem like such heavy topics for a JRPG like Arise, but it is done in a mindful and thought provoking manner that raises valid points and allows each of the characters to explore this organically in their various conversations and skit conversations  during their journey. 

The combat in Arise is fantastic and the small changes that were made are subtle, but really make the combat shine and still feel like a Tales game. Party members can now link with each other and do combo attacks on enemies. Each character has their own specific skill that is mapped to the d-pad and can be used to counterattack enemy actions. For example, Kisara has an ability that blocks an enemy charging and stops them in their tracks or Law has an ability that can punch through a shielded enemy so the team can unleash a ton of damage on them. The arte and mystic artes abilities are still there and you can adjust them and change them out to what you like. Level grinding doesn't feel like a chore simply because the combat is so much fun. 

Taking down enemies is fun in Arise. 

The main story isn't the only thing to do of course. What would a Tales game be without cooking? Each character can take turns cooking at camp or an inn before resting. This also allows everyone a chance to talk to each other and bond. Alphen can choose a person to hang out with and this strengthens his friendships with each person unlocking new artes for them. There are side quests to do ranging from fighting challenging monsters to finding certain items for people. There is also a collectable quest in the form of adorable owls. As you travel through Dahna, each area has owls that you really have to search for because some are hidden very well. This unlocks some really nice rewards with fun outfits for everyone as well as some recipes for cooking. The one side thing that really got my attention was the fishing mini game. Yes, you can fish in Tales Of Arise and it is such a good time. I became obsessed with catching every single type of fish there was in all of Dahna in order to unlock better fishing rods, lures, rewards, and bragging rights. There are boss fish that are quite challenging, but I enjoyed myself with all of it. Catching a boss fish in the game felt great and you get some cool extra skits with Kisara who does all the fishing in the game. 

Showing off our boss fish catch!

Arise is a big game and with me doing absolutely everything I could find in the game, I clocked in about 75 hours by the time I was finished. There is a new game plus which allows you to start the game over with all your levels, items, and artes unlocked. The story is beautifully told and I loved each character because they felt real and I cared about all their stories. The writing is so well done it made me care about all of them. Their are moments of humor that had me laughing and even the side quests themselves brought an extra layer to the story and for some of the characters added more depth to their personal stories. With combat that feels fresh and a story that has so many incredible surprises, Tales Of Arise is an amazing adventure that is absolutely worth your time.

A spectacular view. 

*Tales Of Arise is available to play on the following platforms: Microsoft Windows, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

*Come hang out with our community as we play games and discuss mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer

Mothergamer Plays Scarlet Nexus

 When I started Scarlet Nexus I had no idea what I was in for. At the start of the game you can choose to play as one of two of the main characters, Kasane Randall or Yuito Sumeragi. Setting up the gameplay controls is easy with being able to turn subtitles on as well as being able to set the difficulty of the game to your style. I usually go with the casual setting the first time playing a game so I can enjoy the story. 

Startig Scarlet Nexus

I chose to play as Kasane with my first playthrough and Yuito my second. While both their stories overlap the majority of Scarlet Nexus shows the story from their perspective. You do get answers with the story faster with Kasane and Yuito's story is more of a slow burn with answers getting revealed later. Both are very well done and it's interesting to see how events unfold for each character. 

Scarlet Nexus is set in the distant future and an alternate reality where humanity has developed advanced technology and has a society based on the substance in human brains. Basically humans have extrasensory powers and can send messages directly to each other's brains. People with exceptional combat abilities are recruited to join a special military force organization called the OSF (Others Suppression Force) in order to fight strange monsters known as Others. Kasane and Yuito are new members of the OSF and depending who you chose to play through the story, you get a different intro for them. Since I went with Kasane, I got an introduction of Kasane with her sister who is also a part of the OSF. This introduces the battle tutorial and shows Kasane's abilities of psychokinesis which means she can lift and throw things with her mind. You can have a party of four which includes Kasane and the other team members in your party have a variety of mind powers such as controlling electricity or being able to make duplicates of a person or things. 

Kasane's team

Another thing that Kasane can do is link minds with her teammates and borrow their power for a brief time. This makes for a unique and fun combat style throughout the game. The design for the Others is very much a science fiction strange creature mixed with every day objects. It looks really cool and each creature design stands out and no two are alike. Combat is fast paced and always interesting. The story sets it up that the Others fall from the sky from a place called the Extinction Belt and no one is sure why. Scarlet Nexus explores this mystery with Kasane and Yuito and the reveals in the story are intense, but tell a great story. 

Fighting an Other.

As you level up you are able to unlock stronger abilities on the brain map as well as providing new combat abilities. It's easy to navigate and level grinding doesn't feel like a chore because the gameplay is so much fun. Scarlet Nexus does the action JRPG really well with these details. The voice acting is great as well with the Japanese and English cast. There are some anime tropes here and there, but the story itself is so good that doesn't detract from the game at all. 

Unlocking abilities on the brain map. 

There are side quests too, but honestly these don't feel as great as the main story of the game. Some of them feel like tedious fetch quests and some can't be completed until certain story parts of the game. I feel that the side quests didn't really need to be in there because they don't necessarily add anything to the story and feel like a chore to do. One thing I did like was the bonding portions of the game. Your team has a home base where they can relax and unwind. You can give your teammates gifts they like and this will increase your bonding level with them. This also unlocks some nice bonding cutscenes with each person depending on what they like. For example one character really likes having tea and talking about gardening. It adds another nice layer of depth to the characters in the story. 

Kasane and teammates at the home base.

It can be very easy to write off Scarlet Nexus as just another anime game, but it's so much more. The combat is smart, the art style is gorgeous, and the story itself is excellent. Sometimes the combat in boss battles can be a little clunky, but the overall enjoyment I had playing the game allows me to forgive that. There's a lot of great twists and reveals that add to the science fiction element of the game and getting to see it from Kasane's viewpoint and later on Yuito's adds to that storytelling. The story and characters are what really make Scarlet Nexus shine and that is what kept me playing all the way to the end. 

Taking a break at a save point.

*Scarlet Nexus is available to play on the following platforms: Microsoft Windows, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

*Join our community on Twitch as we play games and discuss mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer