Lost Sphear, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Utano Princesama Shining Live – Postcard Play
This week’s Postcard Play is all-new as we play a trifecta of brand new games in the ultimate Japanese game genres — JRPGs, rhythm, and fighting. Dragon Ball FighterZ has been stirring up our competitive edges, as the online servers have only just gone live!
Lost Sphear — Oscar
I’ve been putting a bunch of time into the Switch version of Lost Sphear, Tokyo RPG Factory’s spiritual successor to I Am Setsuna. I’m a bit mixed on it, and my true feelings have yet to coalesce (though they will by the time our review is up). I’d say I’m probably about halfway through the game, though.
For starters, it’s a game that feels great on Switch. It does seem to have a lower frame rate to its PS4 cousin, but as with I Am Setsuna, this is a neat little JRPG that really benefits from either playing on the go, or playing as you dangle upside down off your bed waiting for Bobby to call you back after your date.
It’s got some needed quality of life improvements over the first game, like being able to re-position yourself in combat, the ability to quick-save at any point, and (like a visual novel) you can rewind text boxes in a cutscene if you miss any dialogue. All nice improvements for sure.
But, I do miss some of the more unique, sombre, wintery tones of I Am Setsuna. Lost Sphear feels more generic JRPG in comparison. It’s about collecting and restoring memories to “lost” objects and places, but more often that not it just feels like gating so far. But, I’ll press on!
Utano Princesama Shining Live — Holly
I’m really not much of a mobile gamer, but with a new rhythm game from the makers of the wonderful Love Live! School Idol Festival out in English, how could I refuse? I’ve only dabbled in Utano Princesama Shining Live a little at the moment, and it’s a tad more complex than I expected, but it’s good fun!
I’m not that familiar with UtaPri or its music, but I’m enjoying getting to know the songs and learning about the characters. Once I have some more idols of the different types at my fingertips, I’m sure it’ll be smooth sailing in no time! Don’t fail me now, gacha gods!
Dragon Ball FighterZ — Mitch
This week I’ve been playing a lot of Dragon Ball FighterZ, and I’ve cleared the story mode, arcade routes and have been playing online. I’m currently ranked Android and about to hit my next rank, and it’s a lot of fun! That said, I struggle pretty badly against Kid Buu, Goku Black, Trunks and Frieza. I guess I need more practice against them, haha.
It’s a fantastic fighting game and I had a lot of fun at the launch tournament. I didn’t win, but I got a few rounds in and was really happy with my progress. Made a few new friends too, which is lovely!
My current team is Adult Gohan/Goku/Cell, and I think it’ll stay that way in the current roster. I do need to play some other characters a bit more though. Yamcha and Tien are surprisingly very good! Android 21 is great too, and I wish I was a better Android 18.
I’m going to be playing this for a long time, and Arc System Works/Bandai Namco have done a great job in making a deep, accessible fighter. I’m very happy to see it getting such great reviews and doing great in sales!
What have you been playing?
