Xblaze Code: Embryo
Review
For our
next Halloween review we’ll be taking a departure from PC and make a move to
consoles as we look at spinoff/prequel to the BlazBlue fighting game series,
Xblaze Code: Embryo. Released for PS3 and Vita in Japan on July 25, 2013 by Arc
System Works and in the US June 24, 2014 by Aksys, Xblaze stands out a bit from
the main series by being a pure visual novel rather than a VN/Fighting game
hybrid. At the time of its Japanese release there was some debate over whether
we would see this localized, but considering Aksys had released VN games for
consoles before (and still do) and BlazBlue is one of its most well known
series the general consensus was it would only be a matter of time till a
western release. Obviously that was proven right, but the question is whether
or not we got a good spinoff worthy of its connection to BlazBlue yet able to
stand on its own. I’d say pretty much, but that will require some explaining…
Pros: Interesting story, likable characters, TOi is an interesting
way of unlocking scenes and routes, good artwork, decent music.
Cons: True ending kind of sequel baits, Kuon and Mei’s
routes suffer a little bit by being obviously not canon, glitches make the
omake route unplayable, some translation issues.
WTF?!: Maybe it’s just because of Es’ dress style and ahoge,
but at a lot of points she and Touya bear an uncanny resemblance to…
Set 150
years before the events of BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, you play as mild
mannered average Japanese high school student, Touya Kagari. On the way home
from his part time job Touya passes by a part of town that was cordoned off
from the public after a mysterious disaster occurred there ten years ago. After
hearing a strange sound he decides to investigate and comes across an injured
man who he immediately moves to help. However the man suddenly attacks Touya,
calling him an enemy and then begins to use a strange power with intent to
kill. Touya’s life ends up saved by a small sword wielding girl in a blue
frilly dress named Es, an agent of the Mitsurugi Agency. This begins Touya’s
involvement in a series of events with magic, super powered psychopaths, secret
organizations and a mysterious object called the “Grimoire” that everyone seems
to be searching for.
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Okay I
know this seems like an odd choice for Halloween as I will admit this is more
of an action/fantasy than anything else but there are some nice little
horror-ish segments including the dark atmosphere during the scenes at night
when Toya and Es are patrolling the city, the concept of the Unions slowly
losing their humanity as they advance in stages, and the insane killer Ripper.
One
good thing you can say about Xblaze’s story is it takes full advantage of being
a prequel set a good while before the BlazBlue games. It basically tells a
story that ties in well with main series but can stand well enough on its own.
I say “well enough” because having at least some knowledge of the BlazBlue
series makes the story more enjoyable, especially when you start hearing names
of characters, places and things that match with stuff from said series or even
see some story related things that look very similar to something you saw from
BB and wonder if there’s a connection or not. Bear in mind I am speaking as a
fan, but regardless of whether it can fully stand alone or not Xblaze’s story
is a good one as the plot does at least manage to stay interesting as it moves
from episode to episode (which is how the story is formatted) thanks to its
overarching mystery and its likable cast of main characters (click here for profiles).
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I
should note this about the characters, if you’re not into anime archetypes then
this game might not be for you. The main cast is pretty standard for an anime
from our main character Touya as your average guy being thrust into an
unbelievable and dangerous situation that somehow comes with being put into
what’s practically the start of a harem anime to one of our heroines, Mei,
fitting the tsundere heroine role to a T. Thankfully Xblaze does a good job at
writing the characters as what they lack
in originality they make up for in being distinct from one another, memorable
enough that you at least can remember their motivations and quirks, and likable
enough that you want to keep reading about them. I will admit some might not
like that Touya isn’t really much of a “tough guy” kind of character,
especially because advertisements kind of portray him as Ragna’s predecessor
(which they’re not wrong in, but…), but if you can look past that the
character’s still likable and several of the heroines have their share of
awesome moments.
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In the
area of flaws I will admit Xblaze has some apparent ones. For starters while
the true route has a good conclusion, the sequel baiting it leaves on is a tad
annoying. I realize a sequel has recently been announced, but since there isn’t
a solid release date yet or a guarantee of localization it’s still a tad irksome.
Another story flaw is one that usually comes with VNs with a true ending route:
of the four routes of the main game (Hinata, Es, Kuon and Mei) two of them, the
routes for Kuon and Mei, aren’t (Hinata’s is tied to Es’ which is the true
ending) and it shows. While Kuon’s route doesn’t suffer from this as much as
Mei’s since her route’s story has some more apparent fan service (I’m talking
about the story kind…though Xblaze certainly does have the other kind too) for BlazBlue
fans both routes have story moments that pretty much indicate the route’s
events aren’t canon. I can say though that neither or the routes are bad though and they, like Es' and Hinata's do a good job at the very least of forming a bond between Touya and the chosen heroine (will admit I like Kuon's better than Mei's). Finally, while not exactly story related, Xblaze does
suffer from some…translation issues. Bear in mind I’m not usually the nitpicky
sort when it comes to translations, for me as long as the translation isn’t
engrish I can let it slide and while I can do this for the most part with
Xblaze I can’t help but get a bit annoyed at lines that have me say or think
“That’s not what ________ said!”. This happens mostly with Touya where at times
the translation of what he says either doesn’t match the tone of voice or comes
off as barely matching translation-wise. I’ll admit this probably isn’t going
to be much of a flaw to any who aren’t familiar with Japanese (I should point
out all spoken dialogue is in Japanese, there’s no dub) but still…
In the
system area, Xblaze has an interesting way of implementing plot diversity
through use of the TOi (Technology of Interest) application. It’s basically an
app Touya accesses in the game that’s somewhat similar to the cell phone in
Steins;Gate except in this case you’re just viewing news articles and blog
posts that update at certain points in the game. Depending on what articles you
look at or don’t look at determines what scenes you see and ultimately what
route you start. It’s an interesting way of doing things different from the
standard “make a choice” system of your typical VN and it also helps in getting
the player a bit more immersed in the game’s universe too. Also for anyone
worried the function skip already read text stops the moment TOi updates with
new articles even if you have read them in a previous playthrough so you don’t
have to worry about potentially missing important articles.
Before
we move on from the system aspect of the game, Xblaze has one problem on that
front: glitches. Fortunately this doesn’t happen in the main story but there’s
an omake story that you can unlock using a code and from what I’ve played it’s
actually pretty funny. I say “from what I’ve played” because the omake route is
very crash prone and somewhere around the third chapter you can’t go any
further because no matter how many times you reset, no matter where you save,
the game will crash. It’s a real shame because like I said the route is a funny
one, especially since it does a good job turning key traits of each character
into a hilarious joke trait like how effectively Es’ deadpan voice is utilized
to convey some really silly sounding lines but doesn’t sound out of character
for her.
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In the
area of presentation Xblaze does a good job. The artwork is good both for the
character design and background, the voice acting is all good and the music
does a good job setting the mood for each scene, though I will admit it isn’t
particularly memorable.
In Conclusion:
Xblaze
Code: Embryo is an overall excellent tie in to the BlazBlue games that manages
to tell a story that’s at least good enough on its own. While I admit it
doesn’t break any new ground its story is still a good read supported by a
likable cast, even enough to make up for its flaws, though it would be nice if
the omake route were fully playable. If you have either a PS3 or Vita then this
is definitely worth picking up.
Final Score: 7/10 Great
Author Recommendation: Buy it now.
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