Thoughts on the game

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#1 by pramit
2020-01-09 at 15:07
The gameplay is great. It'll take some time to get used to (may be a few hours), but it quickly becomes lots of fun when you get the basics down. Its not difficult by any means once you understand the mechanics, but lots of frustration can happen on the road to learning the new mechanics, especially since there is no tutorial as you play the game (and the only tutorial is available in the main menu). I've played till niddhogg difficulty (without berserker levels), and it was pretty easy if you have a few good squads to deal with the enemy invasions, and 1-2 good squads (including treasure hunting squad) to attack. There is certainly some depth to the gameplay, but there are also some exploitable skills that make the game very easy. Once you understand the most important skills you need for your squad to excel in any situation, you can win easily at high level difficulty. Resource management can become an issue if you are not careful (this only applies in early stages of the game, later on resource becomes an afterthought), but you can choose for it to not become an issue (by using the resource bonus), and gold is easy to get. Other than the fighting with squads, other aspects of the game are much less polished (such as building stuff, which is a very dull part of the game). Since this is an earlier game, I was told that later games are much better with at least the gameplay section.

Story is okayish. Writing is good, only a little bit contrived at some points. Branching happens much later in the story, but the decision to branch relies on the choices you make during the game and in your interaction with different character. There are 3 endings, and multiple sub-endings (that mostly add 1 H scene each). I mean, you should know what you are getting into, so I don't want to gripe with the story. The story will definitely interest you, but it shouldn't be the only thing keeping you to venus blood.

Overall, I enjoyed it quite a lot, and I would love to play the next venus blood game that gets translated into english.

If you are a new player and want some advice, I can tell you this : Play the normal mode first, get used to game (learn how to play). Keep the skill reference sheet handy so you don't have to go to the title screen to see which skill does what. Once you get the basics, you need to build a few good squads that can handle any fights. For that you need a good defender with the skills "Defence only" (reduces damage by 50%), "Forward guard" (if you don't have range null, flank null), hardy physique(max is 90), "slayer defence" (important skill to have), some parry(not an essential skill to have) and your team should contain some useful skills (doesn't matter who has it) such as "cross null" (or wide null + pierce null), "all null", healing, spell barrier, "absolute cure" (or resist ailment on your defender), boost X, etc. At lower difficulties using "boost" skills are important, so it is recommended to build a team that has boosts for the rest of the squads (example, a unit with boost human in a squad full of humans). Your team must be able to deal very good damage, and for that you need 1-2 attackers with helmet split (max is 75), lethal critical (increase crit damage) and crit chance, decent attack damage, and dimension slash (if you can get it) or ranged attack (ranged attack lets you avoid counterattack damage - but note that a few enemies might have lots of evade, like true suzaku has 100 evade, and that some enemy squads will have ranged null - thus dimension slash is always the better option since ranged null does not work on dimension slash). For the first game, you must focus on unlocking medallions (especially the tail medallion), and for subsequent playthrough get a good squads up, level them up, and play the game however you want.

If you are stuck, find out why your squad is underperforming - does it not do damage, does the tank not protect some members, etc. For example, in one fight I noticed my squad was getting killed easily in encounter battles. To find out, I did an actual battle, and saw that my dragon warrior mio (a powerful unit you unlock from tail medallion, or with 10 keys of destiny) was dying easily to counter attack damage. However, I had equipped it with range attack weapon, so the enemy squad had a member with ranged null. The problem was worse because Mio was the only one in the team with pierce null, and the moment she died, the enemy quickly killed off my other attackers with pierce damage. My option was to either take down that member fast (only possible with commander skills), or equip mio with a weapon that grants dimension slash, or replace Mio with someone else who has pierce null and does not get counter attacked to death. Fortunately, I had saved up some tier 9 ores from the battle arena, so I bought mio a weapon with dimension slash - and the squad went from getting annihalated to annihalating the enemy with 0 damage taken! So, that's one example of the extent of depth in the gameplay.Last modified on 2020-01-09 at 15:26
#2 by green
2020-01-10 at 05:24
Thanks for writing this up! Gameplay was my main concern, but it sounds like it's pretty good.
#3 by skorpiondeath
2020-01-10 at 20:48
@pramit: nice to hear some good reviews on the game, I got the same good experience with it and finished the game 5 times.
I too will play another future english release, my only concern I didn't get 100% completion, it seems I miss 1 single CG from Fena (it seemed Fena from CG extraction). Did you get all the CG? I would gladly thank everyone that tells me how to unlock it! :P
#4 by pramit
2020-01-11 at 14:31
@3 : No, I didn't. I am missing 6 CGs from 6 different subendings (5 in law, 1 in chaos I assume), and 1 CG in page 4 (5th CG from the left, on 1st row). Which page and index is the CG you are talking about located in?
#5 by skorpiondeath
2020-01-11 at 18:42
@pramit: sorry I said CG but I intended scene I miss all 7 CGs.
Under Extra -> CG it's 4th page (last one), 1st row 5th column it's between odin on the left and Jorm on the right, it's exactly where you miss the CG :PLast modified on 2020-01-11 at 18:44
#6 by zxcvzxcv
2020-01-13 at 15:35
@skorpiondeath: I just unlock that CG. It's Venus Blood -Ragnarok- Fena CG. In Law Route
I pick Rigret in the last choice and that CG come after Rigret ED. I have Fena 14 affection (Not sure about this one?). >>candidate pick Ymir ,odin has scene give Fena 1 affection ,Corrupted Tyrca has 2, Corrupted Rigret has 1.Last modified on 2020-01-13 at 15:39


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