Character I most Identify With - Gemma. Character I wish I could be more like - Arashi. Arashi is a gem and her laziness is everything my spirit wishes it could be but my mind and body won't allow. Who done the trick for you guys?
Just my 2 cents about the music. The soundtrack for this game, especially the battle tracks and boss themes is awesome. The problem is this is one of those games where there are so many call outs, sound effects and just general concentration on the battle needed that you're probably not gonna hear them. Look up the Ost and you'll wonder how you didn't notice a lot of these bangers.
That could be what's kind of blocking my ability to retain the music this time. I know most of the time in game the music always felt food, so it's likely it was good, but man, none of it stuck for me. Listening to some of it back while editing the vid it's clear there was work there, I just wish it left an impression.
Yeah I definitely noticed it more during my new game plus playthrough. Fights were a lot more chill (in the beginning at least), so I could listen to those tunes and tbh a lot of those are great.
Yeah I agree. Gameplay was amazing, especially late game, story was kind of a mess, character bonding episodes were fun. Overall, a very solid game. Great review man, this channel deserves way more subs
I've watched like 4 or 5 reviews of this game and this one was probably the best because it actually touched at least a bit the story which all the others completely ignored due to spoilers and just mentioned how crazy it gets. And also nobody else mentioned the glitches. I don't know when you played if a month or a week ago but if this wasn't patched out yet that's a really bad sign.
Excellent in-depth review your shining light in the anime community of video games. I'm just a humble groundskeeper / anime enthusiast. I enjoy listening to your videos while working. Picked up Scarlett Nexus and can't wait to play it on the PS5 later on today. Again thank you very much.
Even if it isn't perfect, I'm glad Bandai Namco is taking chances on new IPs. Though I definitely feel the next-gen version (or at least the PS5 version, I have seen no one playing this on Xbox, sadly) was definitely not planned from the start, I almost wish they had done what Yakuza LaD did and delay the next-gen version til later this year
Ooh, Tokyo Mirage Sessions did that same "this is totally optional" side content that definitely wasn't (for the same reason and it's such a pet peeve for me. I don't mind it making it optional but don't pretend it isn't important!
This is one of the main games where people who know me and know what type of games I like seem to be the most divisive on. I've had some people be like "Oh yeah, you'd absolutely love it!" and some be like "I know you, and I think you'd hate it." which hasn't happened on this level since Danganronpa, and the jury is still out on whether or not I love or hate those games XD
@@kian26master oh, I meant I just beat the game "To the moon" last night haha. Sorry for the confusion. Scarlet Nexus I finished about 3 weeks ago probably.
Oh man I gotta disagree about the music. The opening theme song Dream and Drive still reverberates through my mind four months after playing it. The rest of your points are pretty solid
Playing this now and almost done with Kisanes route, you have me a little worried jumping in to Yuito next. Glad that with NG+ it should move by quicker! Arashi Spring so far is my favorite character.
Just started my first 3 hour plqythrough today Yuito Route, I would say the combat is defo the biggest highlight its quick flashy and satisfying esp when you brain crush an enemy , cant say much about the story but, i hope these characters do have a proper development, seeing your usual anime tropey cast is well you know..
Rule of Thumb #549: Playing a new IP on a new console, save often. I am at end game of Yuito on PC and have not had a glitch (that seemed like a glitch) or a total breakdown yet. I have not played Kasane's route yet. Maybe after Tales of Arise.
Do not click on " # 549 "... I had no idea that YT was doing auto-links based on hash/number/pound-sign now. I am in no way affiliated with that stupid looking channel.
I had (almost) no issues with the story, aside from some SPOILERS time travelling sheananigans that kinda don't make sense but thats to be expected, very few stories manage to use a coherent time travelling system. That said, I began with Kasane's route. I imagine a lot of people would just play Yuito's route and disregard it as bad storytelling... and I mean yeah it is, but the story is kinda neat and coherent when you play the other route, which is a shame for most of the players who probably began with Yuito's route. I do agree some of the moments don't hit as strongly as they should. My 3 main culprits (this is Kasane's route) are the reveal that humans come from the moon (Automata what?) and (this is more important) the death of Kasane's sister. I feel like she needed more time as a main character in order to shine. She is the main motivation for half of Kasane's route and she gets like 1 chapter before she disappears. You kinda feel Kasane's pain but its not enough. Same for Karen's long lost girlfriend that is his motivation to be the villain (Obito much?). Overall I just think the game would've benfitted much more from a single route with two different playable characters, kinda like Devil May Cry 5 told its story. That way it would be able to develop some things better and allow main secondary characters or antagonists to shine more.
I loved the game, and after watching this review, I have to say, I do agree with all the points you made. Things that it did well, were done really well, while also having some blemishes. Nice review!
Another great review as always, Tarks! I definitely agree with your views! Some really fun and addicting gameplay with a pretty underwhelming story. That game breaking glitch though, holy Moses!!
Never understood why anime games like this and Code Vein won't release on the switch, which is basically built to run low-demand, non-realistic graphic engines. It is the reason I haven't played either of them yet.
I forgot this game came out. Been busy with NEO The World Ends With you, hoping this goes on sale by the time i clear that and not have the time to play Scarlet Nexus cause of work lololol 😭
Tsugumi = Best Girl but yeah man Combat and character design are top tier. The story and the slideshow cutscenes hold this game back from being great. Still enjoying it on my second story playthrough atm hope they improve on this IP going forward?
0.01% of the people would find those bugs… lol I finished it twice, my brother finished it twice. As for now, the game is running awesomely. I always recommend people to watch more than one review… and that’s totally seems to be the case here. ( Hellfire RPG, Backlog battle and Jay RPG also made good reviews )
i really think Yuito's route should be played first, even if its more of a wreck than Kasane's i dont think the devs intented Yuito's route to be a "mystery" but a lot of things lose all impact once you know what happened on Kasane's route, on the contrary, i think Kasane's route can stand on its own and knowing what happens on Yuito's route doesnt take anything away from it even if Yuito's route leaves you scratching your head or thinking "this doesnt make any sense" or "this is stupid" also yeah, Arashi is the best
Tbh, I find any mystery in yuito's route only hurt the experience, and if getting rid of some of that mystery helps navigate the rest of the shit show than his route could only be better for it. I'd rather it be somewhat understandable and redundant I guess than completely messy and befuddling. That said, the optimal solution here would be to allow you to switch between the routes as you go, rather than do them 1 after the other, which the game is actually built to allow you to do, but is a feature only unlocked after completing both routes... annoyingly.
@@TarksGauntlet oh, that does sound like the perfect option, tbh once the credits rolled on Yuito's route (which i did second) i just quit the game, since the backlog is big i probably will not finish it anytime soon, so i kinda missed that but yeah, makes me wonder why they didnt do it that way from the beginning... it would probably help with the bond levels being so different from each other too, i finished both routes with one bond at lvl 6 and the rest between 3-5
So far, my only major issue with Scarlet Nexus is a single section in chapter 10 that involves you running on a collapsing bridge that gives you an instant game over if you fail at it. Zero checkpoints. You fail, you start COMPLETELY over from what I remember. Still haven't passed it. So I moved onto "NEO: The World Ends with You" for the time being. I know there are 12 phases/chapters and this section is close to the end of chapter 10, so I refuse to give up entirely. But I needed a break after multiple attempts, insta-deaths and zero checkpoints along with it seemingly going on forever. I'd be fine with the section if it just had checkpoints.
Do you think that a game like this, released on so many platforms on the same day, will just kind of have issues such as the save glitch you mentioned inevitably?
I think it's much more likely that the more platforms a team needs to optimize for the more likely things are to fall through the cracks yeah. It's been a pretty big deathblow to a lot of Kickstarter games that didn't realize the expense and challenge of so many ports.
There was a boss fight in phase 3 I think where everything seem to be fine and then upon finishing it it wouldn't progress i had to reload a auto save and redo it this is on ps5
IDK I think Yuito being the first campaign fits way better for setting up a bunch of mysteries and playing through Kasane first kind of spoils all the major things about the game. I also kind of like that they incentivize doing the optional content by making gameplay even more fun. Having a reason to touch every aspect of the game is the sign of good game design. Side quests on the other hand seems completely pointless except for the post game ones that are for the best weapons.
Yuito's route first spoils all the mystery and plot twists in kasanes route too. There's no way around it. So I'll at least recommend making sure the better route is played unspoiled (as in, played first.) The side quests are particularly bad but thankfully most of them can be completed without extra effort if you just pick them up at the right times.
I want to play Scarlet Nexus but I’ll wait until I hit up my backlog a bit more. I do like seeing well written stories, I am not a fan of breaking bugs and glitches though :/
I didn't think much of this game, it just seemed like it was overhyped for how flashy and generic it looked at first. Happy to see it's not as plain as I previously thought. I'll give it a try when it's on sale.
I think this is the first time I've heard of Scarlet Nexus and realize it is a new game. I've been confusing it with Scarlet Blade all this time. An MMO i played a bit off years ago that i believe died and came back. I guess that shows how little attention i give JRPGs that are not on Switch these days. I pretty much exclusively buy Switch games unless there is something really compelling on PS4. Don't have a PS5.
I might give this game a look. Not a big JRPG player but this one reminds me of Kingdom Hearts 2 in how the story isn't good but the combat picks up the slack lol. Funny, I also heard that the female character has a better written. I might give this a look, might be the first JRPG I jump back into in almost 2 years lol.
Yuito's story is one of the most unintentionally funny ones I've ever experienced in a game. It opens with his best friend character whose name I can't remember going "Hello best friend that I have known for several years, allow me to explain YOUR famous family's history to you", then they just casually drop the fact that he was born without powers without any fanfare about halfway through, and THEN his brother goes on a rant about how they have to go to war with the moon people. It was a train wreck in the best way possible and contrary to what your video and a friend suggested, I made the *right* choice in starting with his story completely blind since it actually kept me engaged. Objectively Kasane's route is far better since it's way better constructed and she isn't completely in the dark like Yuito is for most of his, but Yuito's still has that funny factor that I can't help but like
I can get behind liking it for all the wrong reasons haha. The exposition in the game is extremely clumsy, you're absolutely right about that. But at least it keeps the pace up I guess.
Wow, I personally loved the scarlet nexus OST. One of my favorites in any video game. I agree about the characters though, kyoka, Naomi, and Seto are the worst and arguably just flat out poorly written imo
I wanted to play this game on PS5, and yet it absolutely refused to install from the disc. I do want to play this game someday, but I think I'll be picking it up on Xbox Series X in the hopes that that glitch doesn't exist.
Somebody earlier asked me if I thought that maybe having so many different consoles to port the game to hurt the performance and I feel it likely did. It's very possible that the PS5 version just didn't get as well optimized as some others yet. Given Xbox was behind a lot of this games promotion I'd be willing to bet it actually runs better there.
I'm about 30 hours or so in, and the combat has definitely started to click with me, but the camera doesn't seem to keep up with me as well as I'd like. Especially in crowded fights with a lot of characters running around. I lose track of what's going on a lot because of that. Other than that I like it quite a bit.
Given its success, I think we'll see a series. There is a hell of a lot of lore in the universe that I think they could easily expand upon. Make new games set at the same time featuring different people or even 10-5000 years earlier. Lots of room to expand!
I do think self-inserts harm more JRPGs than they help but Yuito isn't quite a self-insert. Thankfully he does still have moments here and there where his agency and character is pretty well defined. But a lot of the time his character also just comes down to telling people "I'm glad we can be friends," and that shit gets old fast.
I respect your opinions tark. Semply becouse you can appreciate multiple aspects of games and not just go. Wahhhh, game bad becouse durpy reason. My experience with story is not relevant. I'll just say i enjoyed it.
I mean, whether you loved or hated the story (Or hell, even if you skipped it) I can support you. As long as you were doing what you want and how you want I'm behind you 100%!
I’m about twenty hours into the yuito path. There was a point where kasane’s group shows up and tells yuito exactly what they’ve been up to the entire game. And from my perspective these were massive and unnecessary spoilers. Maybe playing as kasane to figure out what they were up to would of worked better for me.
Yeah, a lot of people who say to play Yuito's route first do so under the guise that playing Kasanes will spoil some of the mystery in yuito's but like.. they definitely spoil each others and Kasane's is the one better left fully intact. They really should have had it so you could just switch between them as you go but sadly that's a feature that only unlocks when you don't need it. After you complete both routes.
@@TarksGauntlet i guess they did it that way so you do not have to play both routes. after three play throughs of nier replicant i can appreciate that. also arashi is the best by a mile.
I hate to say it but I'm very mixed on the game to be honest. While I think I can say I enjoyed my time with it overall, I can't help but feel like the game is...unfinished. Not just unpolished, but actually unfinished. It's kind of funny in a sad way. I don't know if it's some subconscious bias I have in knowing that the "Vesperia" director headed "Scarlet Nexus", but I had some similar, if not the same, issues between the games. The story was interested, but executed pretty badly. This is probably controversial to say but I feel like having the story split between Yuito and Kasane like that was unnecessary. If anything, I'd say it hurt the game more than anything else. Both routes, while there are significant differences, play out identically even if the actual events don't. And by the final couple chapters, they combine to just be the exact same endgame anyway. Having some way to switch between them as the story progressed would have been far more beneficial, say in the style of "Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits" or even "Ar Nosurge". Yuito's story I actually don't think was as much of a mess as you did. I rather liked how full of mystery it was. But then that led to the issue that the sudden lore dumping became that much more egregious. Heck, some characters and plot points are still never brought up or suddenly come out of nowhere to just disappear in his side anyway. Kasane's story definitely is more balanced but I struggle to say it should be done first since it'd just spoil any possible mystery Yuito's side would have, more or less invalidating it. And then there are the plot-holes and plot threads that just go nowhere. I don't know if I missed something but the more I thought about stuff, the less it made sense. It's hard to talk about this without getting into spoilers but an early one that comes to mind is the whole BIAS thing that both Yuito and Kasane get at the beginning of the game. It's highlighted about how it's experimental with rumors that they can cause personality issues or mental damage. At first, I thought that was what allowed characters to use Brain Field but other characters were able to use it just fine. Any personality changes that happened were from other causes as well. And then there's some villains who get brought up, retreat, and then you never see them or hear any mention of them again. They just disappear abruptly with no resolution of any kind. It's that level of stuff, if not worse. Combat was definitely fun but also pretty janky. Could never really get a handle of perfect dodging consistently for whatever reason and a lot of mechanics felt like that to me. As fun as the SAS stuff was, I couldn't help but feel it was a little too forced in some ways. Some enemies only had a single counter and you had to use that counter, otherwise defeating them is more tedious if not outright impossible. I feel like it kind of ruins the creativity and choice of how to play. Not to mention you get nine different SAS powers but only eight slots to use them total which really bugs me. This is also probably just me but I didn't really like any of the boss battles in the game. The battles against other human characters in particular were just awful feeling to me. I don't really know why exactly but I want to say it was between them being small, constantly moving and dodging targets that don't stagger easily but can easily fill the screen with projectiles and wide sweeping attacks that really hurt. And then they use Brain Field which just devolve into you running away from them trying not to get stuck running into the invisible boundaries of the arena and getting instantly gimped. And then there are the side-quests. I think it's safe to say they are among some of the worst side-quests I've ever experienced...and I forced myself to do most of them. Most of them require you to defeat specific enemies found only in specific areas in incredibly specific methods. The one where you had to defeat the exploding suicide mobs while in Brain Drive in particular were awful and I had save scum a set up to constantly even get a chance to try completing it. I think the only part of the game I genuinely loved was the hideout stuff. The way characters not just filled out their personal space with the gifts you gave them, and they give you, but they'd also litter them around in other places makes the place feel lived in. Much less how characters actually used the gifts you gave them and even interacted with each other makes the characters feel closer to each other. And when you finally finish a characters bond levels, you get this final character themed gift that represents the protagonist you're playing. Yuito of course gets Baki dolls but Kasane got wood carvings. I think that's actually the only way to find out that Kasane has a wood carving hobby, something never mentioned in anyway. Well, if you're playing as Yuito, she does occasionally start as an idle animation when it's on the coach but that's the only other time I saw the association. But yeah, final thoughts overall, I hate being so negative but this game honestly was a mess. There's plenty to enjoy, clearly others love the game just fine and don't have these issues I do, but I just wasn't one of them. I struggled to not just finish the game with both characters but to just continue playing at times. If the game ever gets a sequel of some kind, which might be likely given how much of a success it was, there's plenty of areas to improve on. And I really hope they actually do so should there ever be one.
I'm completely on board with spoiling "The mystery" in Yuito's route tbh. I didn't find there was a mystery there worth having and the route is such a trainwreck that having any of the "Mystery" solved in advance could only ever help you navigate the rest of the shit-show. Hell, if anything, taking some of the stress off his route by having additional knowledge could only help it. Which, of course, the best solution to this would be to have you switch between characters as you go, which is something you can actually do in the game but only after you beat both routes.
@@TarksGauntlet Fair enough. Either way, there needed to be some sort of change with Yuito's side. As is, you either play it first and are confused with bad pacing or play it second where it's almost completely redundant. Poor guy shares the MC seat with Kasane but feels secondary in his own game.
Most of those are all great games but I find the combat different enough to all but astral chain that I don't find them very comparable. They all have crazy, frenetic action, but I feel the strategic utilization of your party members abilities separates it from most. But that's all cool either way. I thought I was gonna be alone saying I didn't really think it was worth all its praise. Prior to now I hadn't seen many people who outright disliked it.
This is one of those games where I pick up every side quest but only turn in the ones I complete naturally. Which granted, was still most of them, but I would never make trips out specifically for them.
This game just wasn't good in my opinion. Story presentation was just "All talk, No Action". Combat in my opinion doesn't carry the game for more than 20 hours (I got bored around at 20 hours), most of the skill tree is just mostly passive skills there's not much to work with in terms of combos, and no, I can hardly count Combo Visions as combos. The story is good but it's ruined by the lackluster presentation. Visuals look great. So far the only good qualities in my opinion for this game is the story, and the Visuals.
Judging by the demo i actually didn't liked the combat as much as others did. It seemed needlessly overwhelming and overcomplicated in order to get the hang of it. Real depth comes through simple ideas and mechanics IMO. Very honest review thanks.
Nah, it was still one of the highest selling games the month it released on Xbox. If that's a flop than I guess Xbox just isn't selling many games haha.
@@TarksGauntlet yeah that's the point xbox isn't selling many games, in the uk sales chart the split was 80/20 ps/xbox, which has been a trend for most games in 2021
Another game where your generic looking non personality having anime characters with non pronounceable Japanese names, no outfit or weapon choices and no alternate outfits/weapons, talking with annoying Japanese voices following overly used tropes from anime with an unexplainable story that makes absolutely no sense. As an old fan, I'm getting pretty f'ing tired of all this...do all Japanese developers sleep with each other and copy paste each other's ideas?
I didn't mention it in the vid, but I found it at least really funny that all these characters have distinctly japanese names except for Yuitos father, who, iirc, is just named Joe. I wouldn't mind the familiar plot tropes though if they were just paced and fleshed out better.
I played Yuito first, and in fact i haven't played kasane yet and i really don't see how yuito story is a "trainwreck" it's very easy to follow and understand...
It's not that it's hard to understand, it's more that there's a ton of plot holes and the pace just allows no time for anything to breathe. It's easily one of the messiest presentations I've come across for JRPG story telling.
Character I most Identify With - Gemma.
Character I wish I could be more like - Arashi.
Arashi is a gem and her laziness is everything my spirit wishes it could be but my mind and body won't allow. Who done the trick for you guys?
Some pacing issues aside, its a great start for a possible new franchise, which is refreshing to see in today's world of sequels/remakes.
Just my 2 cents about the music. The soundtrack for this game, especially the battle tracks and boss themes is awesome. The problem is this is one of those games where there are so many call outs, sound effects and just general concentration on the battle needed that you're probably not gonna hear them. Look up the Ost and you'll wonder how you didn't notice a lot of these bangers.
That could be what's kind of blocking my ability to retain the music this time.
I know most of the time in game the music always felt food, so it's likely it was good, but man, none of it stuck for me.
Listening to some of it back while editing the vid it's clear there was work there, I just wish it left an impression.
True music is hella lit
Yeah I definitely noticed it more during my new game plus playthrough. Fights were a lot more chill (in the beginning at least), so I could listen to those tunes and tbh a lot of those are great.
Yeah I agree. Gameplay was amazing, especially late game, story was kind of a mess, character bonding episodes were fun. Overall, a very solid game. Great review man, this channel deserves way more subs
I've watched like 4 or 5 reviews of this game and this one was probably the best because it actually touched at least a bit the story which all the others completely ignored due to spoilers and just mentioned how crazy it gets. And also nobody else mentioned the glitches. I don't know when you played if a month or a week ago but if this wasn't patched out yet that's a really bad sign.
Excellent in-depth review your shining light in the anime community of video games. I'm just a humble groundskeeper / anime enthusiast. I enjoy listening to your videos while working. Picked up Scarlett Nexus and can't wait to play it on the PS5 later on today. Again thank you very much.
Even if it isn't perfect, I'm glad Bandai Namco is taking chances on new IPs. Though I definitely feel the next-gen version (or at least the PS5 version, I have seen no one playing this on Xbox, sadly) was definitely not planned from the start, I almost wish they had done what Yakuza LaD did and delay the next-gen version til later this year
I played it on series x, loved every second of it
@@SaintJoseph911 Oh, okay, sweet. I guess it's just PS5 having issues then
Ooh, Tokyo Mirage Sessions did that same "this is totally optional" side content that definitely wasn't (for the same reason and it's such a pet peeve for me. I don't mind it making it optional but don't pretend it isn't important!
This is one of the main games where people who know me and know what type of games I like seem to be the most divisive on. I've had some people be like "Oh yeah, you'd absolutely love it!" and some be like "I know you, and I think you'd hate it." which hasn't happened on this level since Danganronpa, and the jury is still out on whether or not I love or hate those games XD
Great review, Tark! I liked this format and you seem a lot more relaxed on camera. I've always liked your reviews, but this one felt real smooth :)
Best new IP of this year! Its gonna be a series. To the Moon!!
Edit: Since you asked Tark, its Arashi for me..
Seeing a lot of Arashi love in the comments. You love to see it.
And funny you say "To the Moon."
I just beat that game yesterday lol.
@@TarksGauntlet nice. I finished it about more than a months ago and planning to 100% the game at some point. Odd quests makes it hard to do though.
@@kian26master oh, I meant I just beat the game "To the moon" last night haha. Sorry for the confusion. Scarlet Nexus I finished about 3 weeks ago probably.
Oh man I gotta disagree about the music. The opening theme song Dream and Drive still reverberates through my mind four months after playing it. The rest of your points are pretty solid
Playing this now and almost done with Kisanes route, you have me a little worried jumping in to Yuito next. Glad that with NG+ it should move by quicker! Arashi Spring so far is my favorite character.
Arashi is a whole mood and I absolutely love it and her for it. Now if only I could harvest that kind of energy... or... lack of energy.
Just started my first 3 hour plqythrough today Yuito Route, I would say the combat is defo the biggest highlight its quick flashy and satisfying esp when you brain crush an enemy , cant say much about the story but, i hope these characters do have a proper development, seeing your usual anime tropey cast is well you know..
Rule of Thumb #549: Playing a new IP on a new console, save often. I am at end game of Yuito on PC and have not had a glitch (that seemed like a glitch) or a total breakdown yet. I have not played Kasane's route yet. Maybe after Tales of Arise.
Do not click on " # 549 "... I had no idea that YT was doing auto-links based on hash/number/pound-sign now. I am in no way affiliated with that stupid looking channel.
I had (almost) no issues with the story, aside from some SPOILERS
time travelling sheananigans that kinda don't make sense but thats to be expected, very few stories manage to use a coherent time travelling system. That said, I began with Kasane's route. I imagine a lot of people would just play Yuito's route and disregard it as bad storytelling... and I mean yeah it is, but the story is kinda neat and coherent when you play the other route, which is a shame for most of the players who probably began with Yuito's route.
I do agree some of the moments don't hit as strongly as they should. My 3 main culprits (this is Kasane's route) are the reveal that humans come from the moon (Automata what?) and (this is more important) the death of Kasane's sister. I feel like she needed more time as a main character in order to shine. She is the main motivation for half of Kasane's route and she gets like 1 chapter before she disappears. You kinda feel Kasane's pain but its not enough. Same for Karen's long lost girlfriend that is his motivation to be the villain (Obito much?). Overall I just think the game would've benfitted much more from a single route with two different playable characters, kinda like Devil May Cry 5 told its story. That way it would be able to develop some things better and allow main secondary characters or antagonists to shine more.
Always wondered where this game just disappeared 🤔 thank you for the quality and thorough review sir!
Good combat and characters can go a long way for a lot of people.
I loved the game, and after watching this review, I have to say, I do agree with all the points you made. Things that it did well, were done really well, while also having some blemishes. Nice review!
Another great review as always, Tarks! I definitely agree with your views! Some really fun and addicting gameplay with a pretty underwhelming story. That game breaking glitch though, holy Moses!!
Never understood why anime games like this and Code Vein won't release on the switch, which is basically built to run low-demand, non-realistic graphic engines. It is the reason I haven't played either of them yet.
I forgot this game came out. Been busy with NEO The World Ends With you, hoping this goes on sale by the time i clear that and not have the time to play Scarlet Nexus cause of work lololol 😭
Tsugumi = Best Girl but yeah man Combat and character design are top tier. The story and the slideshow cutscenes hold this game back from being great. Still enjoying it on my second story playthrough atm hope they improve on this IP going forward?
*sad Arashi noises*
I know this is a late comment but I didn't encounter any of these technical issues on the PC version so maybe that's superior.
0.01% of the people would find those bugs… lol
I finished it twice, my brother finished it twice. As for now, the game is running awesomely.
I always recommend people to watch more than one review… and that’s totally seems to be the case here. ( Hellfire RPG, Backlog battle and Jay RPG also made good reviews )
Yeah I said myself the bugs aren't common. But they factually exist and it is my duty to report as much in my review.
"My sister"
~ Kasane
just bought this today for the ps5 and im not skilled with complex action combat. it’s probably going to be a steep learning curve
i really think Yuito's route should be played first, even if its more of a wreck than Kasane's
i dont think the devs intented Yuito's route to be a "mystery" but a lot of things lose all impact once you know what happened on Kasane's route, on the contrary, i think Kasane's route can stand on its own and knowing what happens on Yuito's route doesnt take anything away from it
even if Yuito's route leaves you scratching your head or thinking "this doesnt make any sense" or "this is stupid"
also yeah, Arashi is the best
Tbh, I find any mystery in yuito's route only hurt the experience, and if getting rid of some of that mystery helps navigate the rest of the shit show than his route could only be better for it. I'd rather it be somewhat understandable and redundant I guess than completely messy and befuddling.
That said, the optimal solution here would be to allow you to switch between the routes as you go, rather than do them 1 after the other, which the game is actually built to allow you to do, but is a feature only unlocked after completing both routes... annoyingly.
@@TarksGauntlet oh, that does sound like the perfect option, tbh once the credits rolled on Yuito's route (which i did second) i just quit the game, since the backlog is big i probably will not finish it anytime soon, so i kinda missed that
but yeah, makes me wonder why they didnt do it that way from the beginning... it would probably help with the bond levels being so different from each other too, i finished both routes with one bond at lvl 6 and the rest between 3-5
So far, my only major issue with Scarlet Nexus is a single section in chapter 10 that involves you running on a collapsing bridge that gives you an instant game over if you fail at it. Zero checkpoints. You fail, you start COMPLETELY over from what I remember. Still haven't passed it. So I moved onto "NEO: The World Ends with You" for the time being. I know there are 12 phases/chapters and this section is close to the end of chapter 10, so I refuse to give up entirely. But I needed a break after multiple attempts, insta-deaths and zero checkpoints along with it seemingly going on forever. I'd be fine with the section if it just had checkpoints.
Hypervelocity or teleportation abilities help with that bridge section a lot.
Do you think that a game like this, released on so many platforms on the same day, will just kind of have issues such as the save glitch you mentioned inevitably?
I think it's much more likely that the more platforms a team needs to optimize for the more likely things are to fall through the cracks yeah.
It's been a pretty big deathblow to a lot of Kickstarter games that didn't realize the expense and challenge of so many ports.
I had a lot of fun on this game.
There was a boss fight in phase 3 I think where everything seem to be fine and then upon finishing it it wouldn't progress i had to reload a auto save and redo it this is on ps5
IDK I think Yuito being the first campaign fits way better for setting up a bunch of mysteries and playing through Kasane first kind of spoils all the major things about the game. I also kind of like that they incentivize doing the optional content by making gameplay even more fun. Having a reason to touch every aspect of the game is the sign of good game design. Side quests on the other hand seems completely pointless except for the post game ones that are for the best weapons.
Yuito's route first spoils all the mystery and plot twists in kasanes route too. There's no way around it. So I'll at least recommend making sure the better route is played unspoiled (as in, played first.)
The side quests are particularly bad but thankfully most of them can be completed without extra effort if you just pick them up at the right times.
I want to play Scarlet Nexus but I’ll wait until I hit up my backlog a bit more. I do like seeing well written stories, I am not a fan of breaking bugs and glitches though :/
I didn't think much of this game, it just seemed like it was overhyped for how flashy and generic it looked at first. Happy to see it's not as plain as I previously thought. I'll give it a try when it's on sale.
I think this is the first time I've heard of Scarlet Nexus and realize it is a new game. I've been confusing it with Scarlet Blade all this time. An MMO i played a bit off years ago that i believe died and came back. I guess that shows how little attention i give JRPGs that are not on Switch these days. I pretty much exclusively buy Switch games unless there is something really compelling on PS4. Don't have a PS5.
Yup, played on Ps5 didn't even run into one bug. Had no idea glitches like that exist in the game let alone saves breaking. 😟😱
After having almost 2 complete playthroughs i can say the game is amazing not GOTY but still pretty dope
I might give this game a look. Not a big JRPG player but this one reminds me of Kingdom Hearts 2 in how the story isn't good but the combat picks up the slack lol. Funny, I also heard that the female character has a better written. I might give this a look, might be the first JRPG I jump back into in almost 2 years lol.
Yuito's story is one of the most unintentionally funny ones I've ever experienced in a game. It opens with his best friend character whose name I can't remember going "Hello best friend that I have known for several years, allow me to explain YOUR famous family's history to you", then they just casually drop the fact that he was born without powers without any fanfare about halfway through, and THEN his brother goes on a rant about how they have to go to war with the moon people. It was a train wreck in the best way possible and contrary to what your video and a friend suggested, I made the *right* choice in starting with his story completely blind since it actually kept me engaged. Objectively Kasane's route is far better since it's way better constructed and she isn't completely in the dark like Yuito is for most of his, but Yuito's still has that funny factor that I can't help but like
I can get behind liking it for all the wrong reasons haha.
The exposition in the game is extremely clumsy, you're absolutely right about that. But at least it keeps the pace up I guess.
Wow, I personally loved the scarlet nexus OST. One of my favorites in any video game. I agree about the characters though, kyoka, Naomi, and Seto are the worst and arguably just flat out poorly written imo
I wanted to play this game on PS5, and yet it absolutely refused to install from the disc. I do want to play this game someday, but I think I'll be picking it up on Xbox Series X in the hopes that that glitch doesn't exist.
Somebody earlier asked me if I thought that maybe having so many different consoles to port the game to hurt the performance and I feel it likely did. It's very possible that the PS5 version just didn't get as well optimized as some others yet. Given Xbox was behind a lot of this games promotion I'd be willing to bet it actually runs better there.
I'm about 30 hours or so in, and the combat has definitely started to click with me, but the camera doesn't seem to keep up with me as well as I'd like. Especially in crowded fights with a lot of characters running around. I lose track of what's going on a lot because of that. Other than that I like it quite a bit.
I struggled a bit with the camera until I disabled the auto-lock on. It didn't make it perfect but I could maneuvre well enough in most cases.
Do you think they'll make this into a series or is this a one off thing
Given its success, I think we'll see a series. There is a hell of a lot of lore in the universe that I think they could easily expand upon. Make new games set at the same time featuring different people or even 10-5000 years earlier. Lots of room to expand!
@@TarksGauntlet another question do you think japanese developers always fail at male protagonist because they try to always make them self inserts
I do think self-inserts harm more JRPGs than they help but Yuito isn't quite a self-insert. Thankfully he does still have moments here and there where his agency and character is pretty well defined. But a lot of the time his character also just comes down to telling people "I'm glad we can be friends," and that shit gets old fast.
Thanks as always for tolerating my questions
@@rhyssuy8361 No problem at all!
The game is like god eater + devil may cry.
I respect your opinions tark. Semply becouse you can appreciate multiple aspects of games and not just go. Wahhhh, game bad becouse durpy reason.
My experience with story is not relevant. I'll just say i enjoyed it.
I mean, whether you loved or hated the story (Or hell, even if you skipped it) I can support you. As long as you were doing what you want and how you want I'm behind you 100%!
Personally I see this game as a half disappointment if that makes sense. It didn’t fully satisfied me but I did enjoy what I’ve played
I’m about twenty hours into the yuito path. There was a point where kasane’s group shows up and tells yuito exactly what they’ve been up to the entire game. And from my perspective these were massive and unnecessary spoilers. Maybe playing as kasane to figure out what they were up to would of worked better for me.
Yeah, a lot of people who say to play Yuito's route first do so under the guise that playing Kasanes will spoil some of the mystery in yuito's but like.. they definitely spoil each others and Kasane's is the one better left fully intact. They really should have had it so you could just switch between them as you go but sadly that's a feature that only unlocks when you don't need it. After you complete both routes.
@@TarksGauntlet i guess they did it that way so you do not have to play both routes. after three play throughs of nier replicant i can appreciate that. also arashi is the best by a mile.
I hate to say it but I'm very mixed on the game to be honest. While I think I can say I enjoyed my time with it overall, I can't help but feel like the game is...unfinished. Not just unpolished, but actually unfinished. It's kind of funny in a sad way. I don't know if it's some subconscious bias I have in knowing that the "Vesperia" director headed "Scarlet Nexus", but I had some similar, if not the same, issues between the games.
The story was interested, but executed pretty badly. This is probably controversial to say but I feel like having the story split between Yuito and Kasane like that was unnecessary. If anything, I'd say it hurt the game more than anything else. Both routes, while there are significant differences, play out identically even if the actual events don't. And by the final couple chapters, they combine to just be the exact same endgame anyway. Having some way to switch between them as the story progressed would have been far more beneficial, say in the style of "Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits" or even "Ar Nosurge".
Yuito's story I actually don't think was as much of a mess as you did. I rather liked how full of mystery it was. But then that led to the issue that the sudden lore dumping became that much more egregious. Heck, some characters and plot points are still never brought up or suddenly come out of nowhere to just disappear in his side anyway. Kasane's story definitely is more balanced but I struggle to say it should be done first since it'd just spoil any possible mystery Yuito's side would have, more or less invalidating it.
And then there are the plot-holes and plot threads that just go nowhere. I don't know if I missed something but the more I thought about stuff, the less it made sense. It's hard to talk about this without getting into spoilers but an early one that comes to mind is the whole BIAS thing that both Yuito and Kasane get at the beginning of the game. It's highlighted about how it's experimental with rumors that they can cause personality issues or mental damage. At first, I thought that was what allowed characters to use Brain Field but other characters were able to use it just fine. Any personality changes that happened were from other causes as well. And then there's some villains who get brought up, retreat, and then you never see them or hear any mention of them again. They just disappear abruptly with no resolution of any kind. It's that level of stuff, if not worse.
Combat was definitely fun but also pretty janky. Could never really get a handle of perfect dodging consistently for whatever reason and a lot of mechanics felt like that to me. As fun as the SAS stuff was, I couldn't help but feel it was a little too forced in some ways. Some enemies only had a single counter and you had to use that counter, otherwise defeating them is more tedious if not outright impossible. I feel like it kind of ruins the creativity and choice of how to play. Not to mention you get nine different SAS powers but only eight slots to use them total which really bugs me.
This is also probably just me but I didn't really like any of the boss battles in the game. The battles against other human characters in particular were just awful feeling to me. I don't really know why exactly but I want to say it was between them being small, constantly moving and dodging targets that don't stagger easily but can easily fill the screen with projectiles and wide sweeping attacks that really hurt. And then they use Brain Field which just devolve into you running away from them trying not to get stuck running into the invisible boundaries of the arena and getting instantly gimped.
And then there are the side-quests. I think it's safe to say they are among some of the worst side-quests I've ever experienced...and I forced myself to do most of them. Most of them require you to defeat specific enemies found only in specific areas in incredibly specific methods. The one where you had to defeat the exploding suicide mobs while in Brain Drive in particular were awful and I had save scum a set up to constantly even get a chance to try completing it.
I think the only part of the game I genuinely loved was the hideout stuff. The way characters not just filled out their personal space with the gifts you gave them, and they give you, but they'd also litter them around in other places makes the place feel lived in. Much less how characters actually used the gifts you gave them and even interacted with each other makes the characters feel closer to each other. And when you finally finish a characters bond levels, you get this final character themed gift that represents the protagonist you're playing. Yuito of course gets Baki dolls but Kasane got wood carvings. I think that's actually the only way to find out that Kasane has a wood carving hobby, something never mentioned in anyway. Well, if you're playing as Yuito, she does occasionally start as an idle animation when it's on the coach but that's the only other time I saw the association.
But yeah, final thoughts overall, I hate being so negative but this game honestly was a mess. There's plenty to enjoy, clearly others love the game just fine and don't have these issues I do, but I just wasn't one of them. I struggled to not just finish the game with both characters but to just continue playing at times.
If the game ever gets a sequel of some kind, which might be likely given how much of a success it was, there's plenty of areas to improve on. And I really hope they actually do so should there ever be one.
I'm completely on board with spoiling "The mystery" in Yuito's route tbh. I didn't find there was a mystery there worth having and the route is such a trainwreck that having any of the "Mystery" solved in advance could only ever help you navigate the rest of the shit-show. Hell, if anything, taking some of the stress off his route by having additional knowledge could only help it. Which, of course, the best solution to this would be to have you switch between characters as you go, which is something you can actually do in the game but only after you beat both routes.
@@TarksGauntlet
Fair enough.
Either way, there needed to be some sort of change with Yuito's side. As is, you either play it first and are confused with bad pacing or play it second where it's almost completely redundant. Poor guy shares the MC seat with Kasane but feels secondary in his own game.
Wow. I thought this game sucked.
Dmc3 4 5, dates inferno, gow 2, automata, astral chain and the bayos being among my favourites
Most of those are all great games but I find the combat different enough to all but astral chain that I don't find them very comparable.
They all have crazy, frenetic action, but I feel the strategic utilization of your party members abilities separates it from most.
But that's all cool either way. I thought I was gonna be alone saying I didn't really think it was worth all its praise. Prior to now I hadn't seen many people who outright disliked it.
But for good lord sake skip the side quests
Their boring and offer little reward
This is one of those games where I pick up every side quest but only turn in the ones I complete naturally. Which granted, was still most of them, but I would never make trips out specifically for them.
@@TarksGauntlet so grab them as they appear and turn them in if I complete them while story playing
SCYARLET NEXUS
Ill just say that the pc port is great.
All they do is talk,talk,talk,talk,talk,talk,talk,talk, talk, talk, talk.... 10 min fight and talk, talk, talk, talk, talk talk talk talk..
Nah
No game is perfect tho nothing is
This game just wasn't good in my opinion. Story presentation was just "All talk, No Action". Combat in my opinion doesn't carry the game for more than 20 hours (I got bored around at 20 hours), most of the skill tree is just mostly passive skills there's not much to work with in terms of combos, and no, I can hardly count Combo Visions as combos. The story is good but it's ruined by the lackluster presentation. Visuals look great. So far the only good qualities in my opinion for this game is the story, and the Visuals.
Here I was concerned I'd be getting viewed is overly negative haha
Prior to now I'd only seen heaps of praise for it.
Judging by the demo i actually didn't liked the combat as much as others did. It seemed needlessly overwhelming and overcomplicated in order to get the hang of it. Real depth comes through simple ideas and mechanics IMO. Very honest review thanks.
Another glitchy PlayStation game. It’s a shame. I’ll probably get it anyway
Oooooooof
Who keeps only one save? Probably the same people that skip social events in RPGs.
Game flopped like crazy on Xbox lmao
Nah, it was still one of the highest selling games the month it released on Xbox. If that's a flop than I guess Xbox just isn't selling many games haha.
@@TarksGauntlet yeah that's the point xbox isn't selling many games, in the uk sales chart the split was 80/20 ps/xbox, which has been a trend for most games in 2021
Another game where your generic looking non personality having anime characters with non pronounceable Japanese names, no outfit or weapon choices and no alternate outfits/weapons, talking with annoying Japanese voices following overly used tropes from anime with an unexplainable story that makes absolutely no sense. As an old fan, I'm getting pretty f'ing tired of all this...do all Japanese developers sleep with each other and copy paste each other's ideas?
I didn't mention it in the vid, but I found it at least really funny that all these characters have distinctly japanese names except for Yuitos father, who, iirc, is just named Joe.
I wouldn't mind the familiar plot tropes though if they were just paced and fleshed out better.
I played Yuito first, and in fact i haven't played kasane yet and i really don't see how yuito story is a "trainwreck" it's very easy to follow and understand...
It's not that it's hard to understand, it's more that there's a ton of plot holes and the pace just allows no time for anything to breathe. It's easily one of the messiest presentations I've come across for JRPG story telling.
Better than boltdoor gay 3 🎉