"Caligula: Excess" NS edition review: a pot of unsoaked dragon well

When I first saw the game, the first thing that came to mind was the animated Caligula, which aired in April last year. As far as the first three episodes are concerned, the mystery of the foundation is half as good as that of the Gate of the Destiny Stone, but the performance of the later episodes does not hold up this so-called mystery, which is a great disappointment.

Since then, when I learned that the work is adapted from the original game, I was not interested in surging, after all, the merits of a work or to distinguish one or two from the original. This thought of 2016 PSV painting texture let people hesitate, is thinking whether to mouth, coincided with the new version of "Caligula: Excess" login NS, very surprised. With this in mind, I have traveled to the world of Mobius on weekends and in my spare time, relying on the powerful next-generation functions of NS and the outstanding portable performance of life.

So what does it look like?

Talk about Caligula's background and creation

When it comes to the first impression of Caligula: Excess, one of the most genuinely admirable aspects is the character design and character drawing. The work as drawn from the classic "campus events" game, the setting of middle school students is naturally a Japanese RPG can not escape the big package, and the Japanese can repeatedly take out some new things from this package is indeed to let us be convinced. Therefore, this convinced mood will naturally affect a large number of industry celebrities, when they see fresh, worthy of doing the subject matter is naturally eager to try, not to mention was responsible for the "Girl anecdotes" series of the first three works (P1, P2 crime, P2 punishment) in see straight to write the script. So of course, to take the role of the role design and role drawing positions, in the circle is not well-known is also a little famous. However, it is mentioned that Ritsumi and the script, and it is also timely to briefly talk about the background of the work.

μ is a virtual idol created by music lovers around the world, similar to Hatsune Miku. With the gradual rise in popularity, this kind of thing makes it wake up and have a sense of self. The fan base gradually increased, a variety of songs were produced and uploaded, μ slowly felt the pain and depression contained in the song, then attracted these listeners with songs, and brought them into her world - Mobius, where there is no pain, only happiness, but what she does not know is that this false happiness is often used to bind others the most terrible pain. And these "chosen" children began to separate the two sides, in the unreal and the reality of the emotion into the power of the battle, so the plot began. In short, the teacher's skill is as deep as ever, and he can always find something to show humanity from daily life, so from the plot alone, it is really new and attractive enough.

Persona: The Holy Soul

Next, let's look at the character design of this game: Mr. Kenji Tanabe. The name is unfamiliar to most gamers. But when it comes to Crowds Insight, Nobuaga the Fool, and Persona - Holy Souls, you'll know exactly what Crowds Insight is like. One of these three works laid the foundation for Japanese science fiction animation, one combined science fiction, national war, Mecha three themes, and one pushed the complex emotions and connotations of Persona to the peak. All three are works worth appreciating, which naturally cannot be separated from Mr. Tanabe's excellent character design.

The original artist of the character drawing is a well-known P station big touch - Oguchi. Oguchi has illustrated a number of listed works for Shueisha, Elementary School, and Electric Shock Library, most notably for her character Settings for the Ship's Collection in 2013 and the Ship's collection Theatrical Version in 2016. Since then, Oguchi has accumulated a lot of popularity in the circle and has his own island.

Scoring a game, recognizing and learning about its setting and creative team is often a necessary process, so from these we can see that Caligula: Excess is definitely unique in terms of characters and script, and the later drawing proves it. What about important system modules such as its combat system?

Works by Oguchi

From combat systems to numerical planning

"Delusional Vision", the name of this topic is the characteristic combat system in Caligula. In the game, the player can predict the future through the "delusion vision" after choosing attack skills, so as to adjust the time and attack skills, and then cooperate with teammates to play a variety of skill effects, to achieve the combination of different roles in the same battle scene - fantasy chain, a set of away, to achieve a high sense of fulfillment of "things to brush clothes, deep work and name". We can see that the combat system is planning to add a "time" factor, making the "fantasy chain" combo a feature of the game, thereby piquing the player's curiosity and accelerating flow. It was a good idea, but it didn't work as well as expected. This comes down to character modeling, movement design, skill design, level planning, and data planning. It can be said that the completion of these five technical levels is the most failed point of Caligula: Excess.

Let's first look at character modeling, action design and skill effects: the modeling of the wet market + the speed of the elderly + the special effects of the stall level, which has been seen in the teaching level. I have not played the first edition of 2016, but the Japanese RPG is still a rich reading tour. Or to know that a good game is like a bucket of water, it does not lie in how good a system is, how brilliant it is, but in whether the shortest board can withstand the rational criticism of the winner players, so as to achieve an overall "excellent" effect. Of course, a big premise, it needs to have a brilliant place, to attract the curiosity of the player in order to generate interest. The character design, original and drawing, and script mentioned in the previous article are stress-free and can face almost all the players' harsh criticism in the circle. So let's look at these three aspects of the game: Slow movements degrade the beauty of character design and drawing, and the game experience deteriorates; Mediocre skill effects accelerate the demise of this aesthetic, interest is greatly reduced, but still retain the curiosity of the plot direction; The obvious gap between character modeling and drawing makes people feel overwhelmed and overwhelmed. There's not much left of the game's motivation and positive emotions.

Of course, there is a certain amount of playability in terms of skill setting. The linkage of fantasy under strategic conditions mentioned above is not achieved by a single skill effect. In addition to attacking skills, the right "defense instinct" improves its toughness, maintains the battle situation, and the "sensory enhancement" supplements the residual SP, which is used to prolong the consumption of the fight. The intimacy of more than 500 special NPC's is achieved and linked with skill sets, forming a skill tree "causal genealogy", and "WIRE" mobile phone simulation system is trying to bring real life into it... However, the playability of this remake is tired under the execution of the system and planning.

In terms of level planning, the range of activities of NPCS makes the game even less appealing in and out of combat. In the battle, the tactical displacement of "sprint" is a strategic operation instruction, but it is affected by the lower body movements, and the whole game presents a stiff feeling under the stiffness, which is suffocating. In the process of exploring the level, the mysterious scope of activities of the NPC can always allow people to find the gap and bypass its thick encircle, but when it is bypassed to develop the story, it is found that the comprehensive ability at this time can not withstand the boss. As for why we keep bypassing it, this comes to our numerical planning.

In this game, the numerical planning gives us a slightly embarrassing result. The unbalanced design of NPC attack ability makes the BOSS and miscellaneous fish "silly and confused", so with a kind of beat, 36 plan to go on the mood repeatedly bypass, naturally produced the above "bypass" problem - not around, defeat; Turn around and defeat again. There is no alternative but to catch some low-level NPCS repeatedly. Looking at the whole experience of the game, this should be the most uncomfortable point for me.

See a glimpse of music making

Out of the fog and dust storm of the battle, let's take a look at the music interspersed throughout the game, which is probably the most commendable part apart from the character aspect.

The accompanying music part is taken over by Jiayin Record, and the direct person in charge is composed of several top arrangers and composers in the industry. Masuko Tsukocan wrote the track for True Goddess Rebirth: Soul Hacker, and several other industry celebrities are credited with writing many of Hatsune Miku's songs. However, such a lineup can only provide music for the entire game, and the arrangement, composition and singing of important OP and EP are entirely controlled by well-known singers such as Elements Garden and Rena Ueda and RePLiCA. The former is a well-known Japanese music production brand, specializing in providing music for games, singers and musicians, while the latter singer and voice actress participated in "Fake Love" and "Lovelive!" "Idol Master", "Fate/night", "My Hero Academy" and other familiar popular animation, the production lineup is strong.

Rena Ueda

Sum up

When writing compositions in middle and high school, the teacher always said: the total score is a structural skill, but this time it is used to divide the advantages and disadvantages of the work, and it is also for the role, the script, and the music. The author's view of this work is just like the "Caligula" in its name - the more you can't see the more you want to see, and the more you want to get what you can't get. It is like a pot of unsoaked dragon well, there is fragrance but rougher, the taste is strong and astringent, but there is no doubt that this is really a pot of genuine dragon well.