Monark review game upgrade#

You can also upgrade your fiends, yourself and other characters. The fiends you have available are based on the results of your personality test and can be used as chess pieces to move around.

It’s not a grid-based system as there is freedom of movement, but it’s very similar to the system used in the Valkyria Chronicles games. By doing so you can gain an advantage over the enemy for certain attacks or stat buffs you can apply. The combat in the Otherworld is a turn-based strategy affair, that allows you to move your characters and fiends they can control around the battlefield, similar to the way you would on a chessboard. When you do finally locate the ringing mobile phone and answer the call, you are then transferred to the Otherworld. This can impose a time limit to how long each foray for clue searching can take, though a simple fast-travel back to the infirmary will clear up the madness and allow you to continue. To complicate the situation, when you are searching for a phone it will often be when you are in a part of a building that is covered in mist (quite literally), which will make you mad if you stay in it too long. The balance of these puzzles wasn’t great however as they ranged from the blindingly obvious to the obtuse. Another way to progress might be to correctly answer a question from a person blocking your path The answers to these puzzles are found in the many collectables scattered around the academy and require a lot of text reading to figure things out. These clues have to be found as to enter a new room or unlock a computer, you will sometimes require passcodes. Clue Finding and Combat.Īs you progress through the game more people help you in your quest, but to get going you need to explore the academy and find clues. This continues throughout the game with the answers you give in some of the dialogue. Near the very beginning of the game is a fifteen question psychological test you have to answer that will give you a picture of your personality. However to reach the Otherworld you need to find clues within the school itself to then be able to find a mobile phone that, when answered, will transfer you to the Otherworld.Īlong the way, you will find out a lot, not only about your character but also about yourself, as the choices you make register on a chart to tell you what kind of person you are. To save your friends from the mist and escape the academy, you have to enter a daemon-filled Otherworld to defeat the seven “Pactbearers.” These Pactbearers are the source of the corruption of the academy and are each themed around the seven deadly sins. I’ve described the game as a tactical JRPG, but it could also be called a detective game as well.įor reasons you have to uncover, a mysterious mist that causes madness has covered the high school of Shin Mikado, which won’t allow any students to leave. To its credit, the gameplay loop of Monark is unique to anything in the genre. The result is Monark, and yet again it’s a mixed bag. I wondered at the time whether any follow-up game would have a better polish and more in-game variety. That grated even more as it required a lot of grinding over those same boring levels before you would be strong enough to carry on with the game. The main criticism of the game was that it lacked polish, as the environments were regurgitated with the same assets over and over again. It was critically acclaimed for many reasons, most of which centred on the game’s great characters and willingness to tackle mature themes. Back in 2018, a little known action JRPG was released by Furyu, called Crystar.

Monark review game