Category: video games

Review, video games

Game Review – Fire Emblem Engage

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Game Review – Fire Emblem Engage
Game Review – Fire Emblem Engage

I was going to wait until I finished this game to post a review, but I got a little eager and wanted to write it early. I’m starting this review by saying I haven’t played a lot of Fire Emblem. I own a few games, but I’ve only completed Three Houses and started one of the Warriors games and Tokyo Mirage Sessions. But it is a series I’ve been interested in for a long time, and I knew I had to play Engage.

Fire Emblem Engage is a game for the Switch. It’s a tactical JRPG that includes a relationship system and many options to play online. But it’s still a game you can easily play and enjoy single-player. There are 27 chapters, but most of these are pretty short.

The story for this one is that you are a Divine Dragon, a person who can turn into a dragon and draw magic from powerful rings. At the beginning of the game, you had slept for 1000 years, but when you awaken, you find that the Corrupted are back and the Fell Dragon has awoken. You travel across the world collecting rings and allies whilst trying to stop the Fell Dragon from coming into power.

As I write this, I’m almost halfway through the game as I’ve slowed down my play to read a little more, but I’m still having a good time.

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idols, video games

Let’s Talk About Idols – Mobile Game Edition

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Let’s Talk About Idols – Mobile Game Edition

If it’s not been undeniable that I’ve been very interested in idol games. I’m obsessed with one in particular, but I’ve obviously been trying out a few different games. Most of the ones I’ve tried aren’t officially available outside of Japan, but I’ve wanted to do this post for a while.

I thought it would be a good idea for me to try out a few of the idol games available in the west and to talk about them.

So, I downloaded three games on top of Ensemble Stars Music and thought I’d let you all know what I thought about them. Especially as games for users new to rhythm games.

These sorts of games are so much fun. None of them is the traditional kind of idol-raising game, as they all have musical components. But if you’re at all curious about anime idols and want to have some fun playing with them? This post could be for you.

I’m going to list these games from worst to best. I’ll add that this is just my personal opinion, so if you disagree, that’s fine. But I had a lot of fun preparing for this post, so you can definitely take some recommendations.

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Review, video games

Ensemble Stars Music English Beta Review

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Ensemble Stars Music English Beta Review
Ensemble Stars Music English Beta Review

You might have noticed my recent obsession with Ensemble Stars, and if you follow me over on Twitter, I’d been sharing posts about the rhythm game getting an English release! I’ve been very excited, and as an Android user, I’ve been able to beta test the game. Obviously, I’ve been leaving reviews and comments in the appropriate ways to the game devs, but I also wanted to post something about it. I don’t talk about games enough on this blog, so here we go.

First of all, the majority of my experience with the game has been with the original Japanese version. I made an account with the original game and have continued playing it since the split into two apps. In Japan, they have Basic, a tap and level game version and Music, which is the rhythm game. Basic gives you access to stories and gacha from the original. I think it was essentially so people didn’t lose everything they’d worked on before playing before. While Music solely focuses on the game’s story since its rerelease. In the west, we’re only getting Music. This is fine, and it’ll work as an introduction to new players.

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Manga, video games

Anime, Manga and the Female Gaze

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Anime, Manga and the Female Gaze

I love anime, manga and video games. I talk about them on my blog and all my social media. I’m majorly into a mobile game right now, one that has an anime series, including an upcoming film, and I’m even writing fanfiction for it. Some of the series I love are the popular ones you see a lot of people talking about, and you can easily get merch for in the west. But those series tend to be shonen or seinen series. That’s not to say I don’t love any series where the target audiences are girls and women. My current obsession is definitely aimed at girls, and it definitely has a fairly large fanbase but is it promoted as much in the West? No.

In fact, very few female-targeted series get promoted as hard in the West.

I did a poll on Twitter recently asking people whether they thought female-targeted series are promoted as much in the West, and 5 out of the 6 people who answered agreed that they aren’t. There is something incredibly sad about this, and I want to talk about it.

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Manga, video games

Where To Buy Japanese Anime/Game Merch

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Where To Buy Japanese Anime/Game Merch

A bit of a different post for me today, but my birthday has just been, and you know I spent some money on merch. Not birthday money, what I got cost too much for that, but it’s something that I do often spend as much money on as I do books. I’ve been thinking about these sites I’ve learned about over the years and thought I’d recommend a few.

If you’re heavily involved in anime or game fandoms, you may already know all these resources. They’re all pretty well known, even if I only figured out one recently. Sometimes I can be a little slow, but that’s okay. This post is for the people who maybe only got into anime or Japanese games recently or the people who just don’t know where to look.

I won’t be including the obvious places like Depop, eBay or Amazon. I’m also not going to list particular UK stores. The shops on this list will be based in Japan, so you can order from them wherever you are in the world. I’ve bought from all but one, but the other is one that I’ve known a friend use before.

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video games

The Protagonist, the Emperor and the Villain – Storytelling in Ensemble Stars

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books1 Comment on The Protagonist, the Emperor and the Villain – Storytelling in Ensemble Stars
The Protagonist, the Emperor and the Villain – Storytelling in Ensemble Stars

Ensemble Stars is the name of a series of mobile games with anime and manga adaptations. It’s a gacha game where you collect cards of a variety of idol boys who you can interact with and learn about. But it’s a game that also has a lot of stories. From the main game storyline that was picked up in the anime, to the regularly updated event stories, there’s so much you can explore with these characters.

If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll have seen me talking about this series recently. It’s a game I’ve played on and off for a few years, but recently I decided to look more into the story. And honestly? I don’t regret it. For a game where the point is tapping along to songs or levelling up anime boys, the character development is incredibly well done.

The title for this post is referencing one of the characters. A guy called Eichi. I hate him with a passion, but the fact is, he is an incredibly interesting character. He’s someone with ideas of a revolution who wants to rule, he’s sickly and winds up in hospital when he works too much, and yeah, there are times where he seems to think he’s infallible. He made mistakes that he regrets, but he also didn’t expect others to rebel against the way he had run things.

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video games

Persona 6 Should Offer Queer Romance

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Persona 6 Should Offer Queer Romance
Persona 6 Should Offer Queer Romance

It’s 2021 now. Persona 5 has been out a few years now, and people are starting to discuss what they’d like to see in Persona 6. We’ve reached the series’s 25th anniversary, and now we’re all waiting for them to announce that this game is in development. Other Japanese games are including more queer romance options, so it’s time we see it in the Persona universe, right?

I agree that we need more queer romance options in this series.

But queerness is already present in this universe. Or, in some cases, it was supposed to see. And that fact highlights why now, we need it more present in this game series.

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video games

Visual Novels and Why You Should Play Them

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Visual Novels and Why You Should Play Them

Today I wanna delve more into video games. I am a gamer myself. One who mostly prefers JRPG’s and handheld consoles. I’m a big fan of games with pretty graphics where you can romance pretty boys.

So what I’m talking about will probably come as a surprise to very few of you if you’re into gaming yourself.

Visual Novels (VNs) are exactly what they say on the tin. It is a visual story that you play your way through. You’ll probably be able to name your character, and you will get to make some choices as to how the story progresses. This is usually for different romance routes, but not all visual novels are otome games. When it comes down to it, there is very much a particular story that you are following. And you get to experience it with some gorgeous illustrations that you’re encouraged to collect.

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