Omega Quintet Review (PS4)

Magical girls, idols, monster battling, music concerts, Omega Quintet is a game that has it all. Brought to you by the same company that made Hyperdimensional Neputnia and Mugen Souls, Omega Quintet is their newest title exclusively for the PlayStation 4.

 

 

 

From the onset you will notice the visual improvement that the PlayStation 4 brings. If you came expecting The Order 1886 or Bloodborne level of presentation you will be left disappointed. Still, it’s a huge step up from Compile Heart’s previous titles. Everything looks very crisp, loading screens are non-existent and despite that environments are enormous. And finally, after years of playing their games, Compile Heart managed to release a game with a silky smooth framerate!

 

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The story takes place in a post apocalyptic world at the brink of destruction. Humanity awaits its final days with the monster threat ever closer. All is not lost however, as the verse maidens serve as humanity’s last line of defense. They use the power of song to take out these beasts and keep the hope alive.

 

The current verse maiden Momoka is slowly but surely losing her power, meaning that she is on her way to retirement, so its time for new verse maidens to take over. The game opens with Takt and his childhood friend, Otoha, surrounded by monsters. Helpless Otoha starts to sing and manages to defeat them using only her voice. They realize that Otoha has the power to become a verse maiden herself and she is quickly scouted for that position.

 

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Otoha soon has to prove herself in order to fulfill her dream of becoming a full-fledged verse maiden and even after that things don’t get any easier for our protagonists. In their journey they meet up with other verse maidens such as Nene, a shy girl who loves guns for some reason and more often than not manages to sound extremely rude. Then there is Otoha, an energetic girl who can get overaggressive at times. And lets not forget about Momoka, a seemingly young and cute verse maiden, but beneath all that fluff she is a thirty-something arrogant women who bad-mouths anyone whenever she has the chance. And while they tend to fall into the typical stereotypes, each and everyone of them has a quirk that makes them all the more interesting.

 

While in the office hub you can chat with any of them and even get little events that show you a bit more about each character. This in turn also improves Takt’s support abilities during combat.

 

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Omega Quintet is told in anime-like episode structure and features visual novel style presentation with beautifully animated 2D characters. They breath, blink and are fully lip synced. These animations are thankfully very subtle and not overemphasized like they usually can be.

 

Its engaging story walks on a fine line between drama and comedy. It’s never so over the top that it takes you out of the story, but it is also never so serious that its colorful nature feels out of place. This means that sometimes it almost has a Puella Magi Madoka Magica vibe to it.

 

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Omega Quintet is a turn based RPG with a twist. During a turn you have a set number of action points. They are reset at the beginning of each new turn and dictate how many moves you can have in that turn. Defeating monsters and doing overkills increases this by one during your next turn, which give you a big advantage over your opponents.

 

Turn orders are also very flexible. Each type of attack has a specific wait period, meaning that while you can instantly launch 5 powerful special attacks, the waiting time for your next turn will be much longer. Having a turn at certain times, marked on the grid, activates the so called flash effect, which can increase your HP, SP, damage, accuracy and even decrease your waiting time for the next turn. On the other hand if an enemy has his upcoming turn during a flash effect you can stall him with Takt’s pursuit attack in order negate any bonus he might have received. All this will force you to plan out your following turn before you even execute your current one.

 

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While the Omega Quintet doesn’t allow you to freely move your characters on the battlefield, it makes up for that with its range system. Each weapon or skill can attack at a different range more or less effectively. For example guns can dish out more damage on targets further away while gauntlets are better for enemies that are up close. And while initially each of the heroines has a specific one, you can easily swap it for a weapon of any type.

 

In Omega Quintet you can combine almost any of skills together. Each skill has a follow up skill type you can use. Use its follow up type next and you will increase your overall damage. New skills are unlocked in a sphere grid-like menu using points you accumulated. With this its up to you to specialize each of your characters to your liking.

 

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The game also includes quite a bit of customization options. You can change an idol’s weapon, dress, accessory, hairstyle and color, which plays nicely into the whole idol theme. Of course this wouldn’t be a Japanese game if the dresses didn’t tear from damage providing a better view during battles.

 

If there is one thing that can put off some players is the overwhelming number of systems that Omega Quintet has, most of which are completely optional during your play through. Even on the medium difficulty the game is a breeze. Its easy to plough through battles just using the attack command and an infrequent health potion.

 

 

Being an idol game means you have the ability to make music videos with the Promotional Video System. You can edit the performance by fiddling with the idol’s position, choreography, who will sing and the camera. You can then easily save this video so everyone can enjoy it. If you are the owner of a PS4 camera you can even have the live concert in the middle of your living room. Add the fact that this is the first retail PS4 title that supports the PlaysStation Move controller and you have yourself a party.

 

From the audio side, Omega Quintet has an abundance of cute and catchy tunes. The game features full lip syncing, as well as both an English or Japanese voice track. Do note that side events aren’t voiced in English, so if you want the complete experience you might want to stick with Japanese dub.

 

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Omega Quintet is an amazing title and a great start to the new generation of consoles for Compile Heart. Aside from a few blemishes Omega Quintet is a pleasant surprise, which has enough character to differentiate itself from Hyperdimensional Neputnia, Mugen Souls and Fairy Fencer F. It mixes many elements from these games and improves on them, delivering an unique experience. Even if you are not into idols Omega Quintet is a solid RPG worth checking out.

 

 


Don’t miss on the chance to pick up Omega Quintet right here on the RiceDigital store!

 

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