This month (March) was Unicorn Overlord. Turn-based (in the way it plays out on screen), but a kind of real-time strategy style in terms of how your units act on their own (after you set their behavior and kit them out), this one was an interesting grab bag of RPG influences blended into a surprisingly appealing slurry (visuals of that process aside). UO owes in part its mechanical flavor, approach to narrative, and UI design to Ogre Battle and Fire Emblem, as well as other popular and less popular RPGs across the canon (like the Sega Saturn’s Dragonforce series). Visually, however, its all Vanillaware (the developer), which is in our opinion a bold thing to behold. Toben appreciated the attention given to animation, as even small movements of characters during cut scenes or idle animation are given more detail than in other similar style games.

We thought it was a bit strange that enemies don’t scale with the player’s level or access to equipment, but were otherwise impressed by the way UO’s many systems overlap and play off of each other — looking forward to more.

There’s also an update to Chocobo Hot and Cold (the mini game) for those Final Fantasy IX super fans just waiting for that mantle to be taken up.

Check out the liner notes for a closer look at aspects of the UO’s design and visuals, as well as our usual flavor of hyperlink.

Coming up in April is Fire Emblem: Awakening.

We will have things to say (THINGS!).

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