This review game is provided by Today's Headlines
The idea of "what is the difference between this and Alchemy Workshop" throughout the process of playing Azure Reflection: Emperor has always haunted my mind. I wouldn't be surprised if you thought of this game as a "jk version" or a "modern version" of Alchemy Workshop. After all, they are all from gust's hand, in the more popular words now: can not be said to be irrelevant, can only say exactly the same.
Since the "Peasant Girl" became popular, Gust's signature series alchemy workshop has refreshed the highest sales of the series with the new works "Lysa's Alchemy Workshop" in recent years ("Lysa's Alchemy Workshop ~ Queen of Constant Darkness and secret hiding place ~" and "Lysa's Alchemy Workshop 2 ~ Lost Legends and Secret Goblins ~") to better meet the aesthetics and tastes of current players.
Fleshy thighs, hot pants and a choppy figure, after becoming a glorious subsidiary, gust's style of making games has gradually moved closer to "dark shame" some series, but it has indeed re-injected vitality into this old IP with more than twenty years of development history and is well known by more players. The phrase "Alchemy for ten years no one asks, once the meat leg world knows" exhausts the first impression of many new players on this series.
Obviously, gust has become more and more "whole" on the road of "beautiful girl rpg", they know what content they want to see and play when playing (gentleman) family (soldier), and the theme is no longer limited to the alchemy workshop. The two Lysa's out-of-the-loops seem to have knocked on the door to a new world for them, and this is especially evident in the just-launched Azure Reflection: Emperor.
In terms of plot, "Azure Reflection: Emperor" is very different from the previous game, but it still leaves the most core gameplay and elements of the series, but this time it is not into the "mental space" of others but the protagonist team itself. Each team member corresponds to a separate "mental image space" that requires the player to manipulate the character into exploration and try to retrieve the lost memory fragments here, helping the girls to re-evoke past memories.
Because the "mental image space" is formed according to the inner world and dark side of each character, each map has an extremely strong personal color, and the appearance and enemy form displayed are also different. For example, the "mind image space" of the previous protagonist, Nichi naoko, is full of elements related to ballet, while Shifan is a tram and coffee.
The game has almost no difficulty in the exploration part of the map, and pressing l1 can see the full picture of the maze, collecting materials, enemy distribution, and the entrance to the next maze. However, there are a small number of blacked-out areas on the map, which can only be unlocked by advancing the game flow and making the corresponding key items.
Each character's "mental image space" is divided into layers, and the first time it must be explored gradually from shallow to deep. However, the game is also very intimately reserved for convenient functions, during the exploration of the player can press l1 to call out the map menu, and then press the lower button of the handle cross button to quickly get out of the maze. As the game progresses, after completing the "heart image space" of a character normally, you can also select the specific space and number of layers you want to enter on the campus, and the left prompt panel is also clearly marked with the monsters and collectible props that the map will encounter, which is convenient for collecting materials and completing some of the character's side quests in the later stage.
In addition to the map movement when exploring, players can also move quickly on campus, and players who have played Alchemy Workshop will definitely not be unfamiliar with this. In this game, the map can see all the useful information, and the division between scenes is also very fine, allowing the player to quickly move to another scene with great accuracy and trigger events and plot dialogue.
In addition to dividing the map area according to the scene, players can also retrieve the location of other members and quickly arrive. In addition, players can also use teleportation to quickly reach a designated location to trigger an event during an "appointment".
The gameplay in the game can be roughly divided into two categories: campus and mental image space. The campus gameplay is somewhat similar to avg games, mainly chatting with other members, triggering mission events and dating, fortunately, there is a fast movement function as a support, in this link the player can save a lot of time.
When undertaking side quests, in addition to the regular running map to find someone to talk to, it can also be triggered through the chat software in the mobile phone. More interestingly, the character will often use the emoji element when chatting, showing a playful and cute side. Coupled with various appointments and events, the overall atmosphere of the game seems very comfortable, and the storyline around the growth experiences and interests of the team members is more like watching a campus drama.
Upon completion of each mission, the relevant team members will be rewarded with "tp value" or "idea shard". The former will be used to increase the combat power of the girls, and in the "Talent" menu, players can use the tp value to increase the health of a character, offensive and defensive attributes, or learn skills, which will help in combat and campus facilities construction.
The "Mind Fragment" is equivalent to the equipment system in this game, and by equipping different fragments, the abilities of the girls will be further enhanced. However, it is important to note that the more powerful shards occupy the "number of cells", which also forces the player to constantly talk to other members in the campus and complete events in order to obtain tp values to expand the number of slots of the idea shards.
In addition to the above part, there is another important part of the campus play, that is, construction. As the game's story progresses, players can use the materials dropped or collected in the "heart space" to build facilities, which can not only provide team members with attribute bonuses, but also trigger corresponding events and even advance the main flow of the game.
In the production process, "Azure Reflection: Emperor" is similar to the "blending system" in the alchemy workshop, each member has its own unique production characteristics, and it is also a very critical part to make with different members according to the different items. Similar to "Fast Move", the player only needs to list the correct member collocation and sorting for the first time, and the system will automatically save it, which is convenient for the player to quickly retrieve it later, and it is more convenient to use the corresponding combination to make items.
Unlike campuses in the mental image space, the game uses RPG gameplay. Since the entire space is composed of the inner world and the dark side of the character, many monsters will naturally be derived. As players explore the space, they not only have to collect fragments of memory scattered everywhere, but also battle monsters. The battle squad consists of four people, three of whom are fighting and one is support. All three in battle can be manually operated by the player, and the l2 and r2 characters can also be attacked autonomously through "automatic" commands, and the player only needs to operate the middle character.
The battle adopts a semi-real-time system, after entering the battle screen, the lower right side of the screen will display the order of action and "ep value" of the enemy and us, and every time the character on the field launches a skill, the recovery speed of the ep value will not only be increased, but also the frequency of the character's action will accumulate a value called "gear". Increasing the gear level will increase the character's ep value cap, and will also bring more powerful skill moves to the character, when this value reaches level 3, the character on the field can appear as an "imager".
In addition, due to the use of semi-real-time games, the battle link is also more playable, and the "combo" effect of attack stacking can make enemies take more damage. However, some enemies can reset our combo number by releasing skills, and in order to prevent this, it is necessary to launch skills such as the heroine's skill to prevent the number of combos from being reset.
When encountering some of the more powerful elite monsters or bosses, after continuous attacks to make them enter the "knockdown state", breaking the target "wall" can also enter the "melee combat" of the 1v1 fighter system. At this point, the player needs to enter the attack or dodge command according to the rhythm, and at the end of melee combat, it can deal a lot of damage to the enemy.
In addition to regular battles, after undertaking some side quests, players will also open a similar stealth play when they enter the mental image space. This mode also exists in daily exploration, pressing the "o" key player can enter the stealth state and be able to detect the enemy's field of vision, successfully bypass the enemy's field of view and hit it with weapons, it will be very advantageous to enter the battle in this state.
As one of the plans of the Beauty Maiden Festival, Azure Reflection: Emperor naturally inherits many of the advantages of its predecessors. Although the theme and gameplay are relatively niche, they also belong to the standard "Japanese small production". However, the game is set up by the well-known illustrator Kishida Meier, which has a certain appeal for players who love the Japanese two-dimensional painting style.
Moreover, there is also the "dark shame" behind the back, and all kinds of edge balls and eye-catching elements are countless, whether on campus or in the mental image space can make players feel full of benefits. Especially in the changing room by the pool, there are only a few more bridges and elements that are pleasing to the eye after changing the character's costumes.
Overall, Azure Reflections: Emperor has many similarities with the alchemical workshop series of game titles, whether it is in terms of gameplay, rhythm, or the elements of the game that are popular, this game can give you and can be guaranteed to be absolutely original. However, it is also an indisputable fact that the game theme is niche, the pace is too slow, and the gameplay repetition is high. Therefore, it is only recommended for players who love alchemy workshops and want to try this type of game. After all, what reason can a "jk version of the alchemy workshop" that focuses on beautiful girlish themes and is eye-catching be rejected?