Mugen Souls

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I pre-ordered this game from NISA when it was announced to support their continued efforts in bringing more JRPG's stateside. Anyway, it came with a cool sound-track as a bonus. I'm going to comment on a few of the more prominent features of the game.

BATTLE SYSTEM: Moving on to the game itself, the most easily understood depiction of his game is probably "complex." The battle system is incredibly varied with several different ways to end a battle (TCS, Moe, kills, etc...) as well as a mini-game involving turn-based space battles. In terms of battles themselves, the free-movement semi turn-based style is reminiscent of Hyperdimension Neptunia MKII, except with a lot more variables to consider. You not only have the option to attack enemies directly with skills, AOE skills, or normal attacks/combo atacks, but you can also use "moe attack" to subjugate your enemies with a mood system that varies based on what archtype (there are 8) of your main character you currently have equipped. To add to this complexity, you can pinball enemies into each other with "Blast" attacks and even knock them into the air, where you can hit combo boxes for increased loot. In addition to all this, you have a peon meter that charges up a bomb (that can backfire on you) that you can unleash every once in a while. Yes this game is quite complicated, but in actuality you are not required to master most of the different battle systems in order to advance. Therefore, this game is actually quite easy to play, but very difficult to master if you want to be a complete boss in every fight.

CHARACTER UPGRADE SYSTEM: This is where similarities with Disgaea games beyond just the humor and voice acting comes out. You have the option to dive into an infinite level dungeon on your main base and continuously grind levels as long as you have the requisite character/mood %. This is a very streamlined and easy to access version of diving found in Disgaea games. What this means for you the player is that you can very easily grind your characters to ridiculous power and stomp the story mode of the game with relative ease. I actually had to double-check the developer on the box of the game and make sure it was Compile Heart because the system was so similar to Disgaea.

PLOT/CHARACTERS: The plot is very simple and very similar to Disgaea games. Your main character wants to conquer the galaxy and subjugates a merry band of heroes to help her do it. In addition, you can create additional heroes/characters (Again, similar to Disgaea) and make custom characters to your liking on top of the slew of named heroes you can control. The plot itself is not the strong point however, the character interactions are nice and while the writing isn't spawned from Oscar level talent, you will enjoy it if you are familiar with Compile Heart's previous games.

SOUND/VOICE ACTING: The score is excellent and adds to the mood. The quirky music and epic tunes combine to make a decent atmosphere for the game. The English voice acting is for once in a JRPG, one of the strong points of the game. The litany of characters, not to mention 8 personae of the main character are all voiced competently.

VERDICT: I would say this is Compile Heart's best game in recent memory and a huge improvement on the Hyperdimension Neptunia games. They either borrowed or stole a lot of quirky humor and gameplay elements from the Disgaea series with great success. If you enjoy the typical Japenese anime/moe type characters, you will like this game. If you went into it expecting Final Fantasy level drama, you will be disappointed because it's simply not that type of game. To me it was worth the $50. A solid step below Atelier Totori and Meruru in terms of overall enjoyment, but a good step up from Hyperdimension Neptunia MKII.

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OMG! It's been quite a few years since I've enjoyed an RPG video game like I've enjoyed playing "Mugen Souls!" I have all of the DISGAEA games, and I enjoyed all of those, so I was naturally curious about this one.

I won't lie: the Moe Kill system confused the heck outta me at first. But now that I've more or less gotten the hang of it, it's fun to see which silly phrase will have what effect on this monster or that monster.

Here is a quick rundown of my highlights:

GRAPHICS = A Plus (I'm playing on PS3, and I think the graphics are gorgeous!)

PLOT = C (Average; you have a little girl who wants to take over the world. what little girl doesn't?)

BATTLE SYSTEM = B Minus (you have lots of bells and whistles, lots of different ways to kill the baddies. pretty cool)

ENDING = (A Minus; for spoiler reasons, i won't go into detail here, but the New Game Plus option makes replayability a very nice thing!)

CHARACTERS = A Plus (Definitely my favorite part of this game! every social disorder is well-represented in this cast of characters, and somehow they all coexist quite nicely)

So, my overall grade would be: A minus. Definitely a must have for all DISGAEA fans.

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I went into Mugen Souls with, admittedly, high expectations. Mainly due to my love of virtually anything NIS has ever made. So, admittedly again, this may be a bit biased. Or very.

I can confidently say that this game delivers on all accounts. From gameplay, to dialogue, to story, to overall feel.

Gameplay: The free-movement combat is perfectly implemented, and is a pleasant change from the usual tile based system used in most NIS titles. The use of a full circular range for the weapons was, in my opinion, better than Neptunia's system of specific areas that the weapons would hit. This allows for an easier time targeting enemies, but also forces you choose which enemy to attack, as opposed to trying to shove them all into a box as I found myself doing in Neptunia rather often. The use of fields in this game is also well implemented, having the events/scenes occur as you advance through them. The specifics of combat are also great fun. Chou-Chou's Moe Kill is by far one of my favorite abilities in the game. It's nice to be able to wipe out an entire pack of enemies by being adorable. The Blast Off and Fever Mode mechanics are ridiculously fun. As for skills, there are a plethora of them, as well as unique weapon types. One final point is the Peon Ball, which is just great. I actually thought to myself, "Do I want to use my giant energy ball of minions to wipe out this pack, or turn them INTO peons to further increase the size of my giant energy ball of minions?" At no point did I feel like I NEEDED to grind, except perhaps the sudden jump in difficulty between chapters 7 and 8, but the Mugen Field honestly makes grinding fun.

Dialogue: It's an NIS game. So that's pretty self-explanatory. Great humor, not-so-subtle innuendo, and a great voice cast. I consider having even a DECENT English cast for a dubbed game a rarity nowadays. Another point is that all 8 of Chou-Chou's personas are unique and endearing in their own way, as that's kinda the point. I also love all the characters, I can honestly say there isn't one I dislike. Not to mention all the little things like poking fun at how "Heroes" are often raiding homes and breaking jars. And the fact that most of the peon creation is based around characters fetishes is often hilarious.

Story: As for story, there isn't exactly much to it, but it still manages to be engaging. Whether it be the revelations that occur as you progress, or little things revealed about the characters through their interaction. Though Chapters 2-7 are a bit formulaic (go to world, find Hero/Demon Lord, peonize continents, conquer, repeat) the way the characters go about their business keeps it fresh.

Overall Feel: Fun. Great fun. It's got everything a JRPG fan could want with all of the NIS spice added in. Peon creation, equipment upgrading, the Mugen Field, and so on.

So I can easily give this game 5 stars, as both a NIS fan and an avid JRPG player.

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I essentially own all NIS America, Idea Factory, and Compile Heart game that has been released in America. That being said, I always get excited about the games and expect an 4 or 5 star experience, simply because I always have high hopes. Sadly, in most cases, the experience is about a 3.5 star experience. This game, however, was an exception.

This game was really fun, the gameplay is interesting, and the story and dialogue is mostly funny. That being said, neither are for everyone.

The dialogue mostly pokes fun at JRPG tropes and breaks the fourth wall. Many sexual innuendos are made, and some of the characters can be cliche. However, I enjoyed it for the most part.

Gameplay-wise, it's complicated. They throw a lot of things at you at once, and don't have a knowledge database, so you essentially have to memorize everything the first time. You do end up figuring things out along the way, but I thought that was half the fun. The game excites you when you finally execute some special mechanic correctly.

I personally enjoyed the entire experience, even with its flaws. They game can be endless with the Mugen Field aspect, which I liked. I would recommend this game to any/all JRPG fans. Happy Playing!

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I knocked off one star due to censorship and not really caring for the expensive and silly DLC model. The game itself is fun to play. It's often humorous. If you're over... I'm guessing 19 years old, you're going to feel like a bit of a creep playing it.

I'm not sure if the age of the girls you're playing as in the game is defined, but they look pretty young to be so sexualized. Other than that, I've not had any issue. The dialog is full of innuendo and humor, the art is very nice, I even enjoy the music. Mugen Souls is fun to play, if a bit complicated.