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Skipmore Retrospective

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Phil:
I played Fairune 2, and I enjoyed it. Some of the puzzles were really tough! That said, with multiple overworlds, it could be hard knowing where you needed to go next, which resulted in some needless backtracking for me.

Evan_B:
Kamiko: Initial Reactions
This is not a review of Kamiko, because I am certain I have not seen all of the game's content yet. I have, however, played through one of the character's campaigns and I am halfway through a second character. Although the three characters have different movesets and special abilities, the stage layout always remains the same, which provides some interesting quirks to the gameplay.

My first initial thought is, I want a sequel to Kamiko in the vein of Fairune 2. Second, I want Skipmore to make a Metroid style game.

If your first runthrough of Kamiko takes over an hour (mine did, by eight seconds), you should probably understand how poorly you are playing the game. Kamiko is a non-stop action game with lite-progression elements, and it has one of the most interesting combo mechanics I've seen in a while. There are some moments where, for the sake of your speed run, you should probably slow down, or at least, take care of what you need to do in order to make sure the rest of the level will progress smoothly. But I'm kind of getting ahead of myself, and I think I should probably explain what makes Kamiko so different from Fairune.

Gone is bump-and-grind combat from Fairune, replaced with a combat system that is simplistic, but extremely satisfying. Having played the archer Kamiko first, I didn't really get to experience much of the give and take of melee combat, but her ranged attacks were helpful in a number of ways. Each character, as far as I have played, has a three-button attack combination. With the greatsword Kamiko, the momentum of your swings actually causes you to move in a certain direction, but with the archer, you have to stop and commit to shooting your arrows in whichever direction you're facing. I am curious to see how the sword and shield Kamiko differs from the others, seeing as the logical conclusion would be the ability to block. I'll have to return to this in the review later.

The other important part of the combat system works on many levels regarding unlocking boxes, defeating large swaths of enemies, and killing bosses effectively, and that's the combo system. Whenever you kill an enemy, your combo meter goes up a level, and the slain enemy will grant you that much energy. As the kill count raises, so does the amount of energy you receive, and if you can get a particularly effective combo going, you can max out your gauge or at least get it over one hundred, allowing you the opportunity to execute a charged attack. There's a moment of vulnerability as you charge, but upon execution, the player Kamiko gains invincibility frames and is able to one-hit kill everything in a certain vicinity- with the broadsword Kamiko, you do a sort of mobile great spin that you get to control, but for the archer, you get about ten to fifteen homing arrows that instantly kill whatever is around you.

Since the enemies rarely take three or four hits before dying, you might wonder why this is important. Well, there are hordes of enemies, and as the game progresses, you'll see different enemy types and situations in which killing everything on screen is preferable to sticking around and getting overwhelmed by a few enemy types. But that combo energy isn't just used to execute charged attacks- it's also the currency used to unlock treasure chests and purify the four gates in each level. While you can find some items that boost your energy gauge both in the levels and before a boss battle, making sure you have enough when you reach a gate is an important aspect to keep track of as you play.

Did I mention this is a speed runner's game? Because it definitely is. You'll see yourself start to whittle down seconds and maybe even avoid powerups as you continue to progress through the game. I'm only halfway through my second Kamiko run and it's already half-as long as the first run. This, of course, is thanks to the unchanging level geography, but I'm surprised that my broadsword run is going that much more smoothly. Then again, I've also learned how the horde enemies spawn, as well as some cheap tricks to avoid boss attacks. What I'm really interested in, however, is seeing what final options appear on the title screen once I've defeated the final boss with all three Kamiko. It's most likely an achievement list, which is very, very exciting to me.

Evan_B:

--- Quote from: Evan_B on April 28, 2017, 04:07:36 AM ---My first initial thought is, I want a sequel to Kamiko in the vein of Fairune 2. Second, I want Skipmore to make a Metroid style game.
--- End quote ---
Oh, hey.

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