White Blade Reviews

[i]You know, there's at least one thing dumb people have going for them - they never give up, for better or worse. [/i] [h2]White Blade is sharply polished to perfection![/h2][hr]If you know me for any stretch of time, you'll know I enjoy card games. So imagine my surprise when White Blade, by the creators of [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/810470/Black_Dream_Plus/]Black Dream[/url], was given a Steam store page. I figured I'd get to it eventually, but it's been sitting in my library for a while now given life and other projects. Last night I gave it a whirl and it was a very fun little game! Short? Sure. Repetitive? Can be, a bit. But it doesn't overstay its welcome and overall offered a little brainteaser for a card gamer who's fallen a bit out of favor lately. [h3]Manic Decisions[/h3]White Blade's core gameplay system is very simple. You're afforded a basic attack that you can use at any time, but you also have cards in your hand that you can use to great effect by paying their costs. Some cards have potent special effects like Freezing your opponent, locking their cards, or just dealing a ludicrous amount of damage, but these can be prevented by playing a Defend card of any level, but THAT can be prevented by playing a Pierce card of the same level. Oh yeah, levels. You can tier up and tier down cards to increase/reduce their potency respectively, changing their costs accordingly. Level changes are permanent for the duel, so what might be a powerful Level 4 skill early may be stuck in your hand later as you can't pay the cost, either discarding it or spending time deleveling it. [h3]Card Circulation [/h3]However, what makes White Blade's system shine is that your enemy follows the same rules. They too have a grip of cards and mana to spend casting them. However, you can SEE what cards they hold. You can use this information to plan accordingly, taking the advantage when your opponent can't defend, while making sure you have an out in case your foe DOES have a killer move ready. This adds a nice layer of depth to the combat, as you try to understand your opponent's deck and anticipate what comes next. On Intense difficulty (which is what I recommend playing on), you also need to consider an extra special gimmick per encounter. Figuring out the puzzle on each foe was really fun. [h3]Electric Expectations[/h3]Don't go expecting a roguelike experience going into this - this is simply a cardplaying RPG. You add cards to your deck, but it's not a deckbuilder. With that in mind, though, there's a good amount of content here! There's six total campaigns (each spanning seven battles) to go through as you learn new decks and maneuver the game with the new possibilities it brings. You could call it a card battling boss rush game. Sure, content is reused pretty heavily, but I don't think that detracts from the experience. It actually means the game spends less time handholding and more time giving you interesting things to do with the rules you're already familiar with. [h2]RPGMaker Revelry[/h2]I have no idea how REAtelier do it, but all of their games are beautiful given the engine they're working with. The pixel-anime art style really appeals to me, and each way you could win has a special cut in drawn for EACH PLAYABLE CHARACTER. That's a lot of cool art to collect. Plus, the overall goofy nature of the game just isn't something we see much of nowadays, especially in RPGMaker land. There's even built in cheat options so you can make your own challenges. I love the general vibe. [hr] [h2]Verdict (and tl;dr)[/h2][b]Gameplay:[/b] Very Enjoyable - Short, sweet, challenging. Play on Intense to get the full experience! [b]Ambience and Aesthetic: [/b] Top Notch - What can I say, I love me some RPGMaker. The art is very well done, too! [b]Story: [/b] Enjoyable - Everyone is a goof. I love them. [b]Competence: [/b] Full Marks - I have not encountered a single bug, bad translation, or badly explained mechanic. The entire - ENTIRE - game was a smooth ride from start to finish. [b]Overall: Highly Recommended[/b]. Not particularly expansive, just a quick game you can discover and complete within an evening or two with very high polish. Sometimes, that's all we need to have a good bout of fun, eh? If you liked this, [b]you might like: [/b][url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1897650/Dream_Tactics/]Dream Tactics[/url] Setia is a good egg. Hotheaded and prone to violence, but she gives some genuinely good advice and believes earnest effort is the key to success. I believe her.