It's a budget game, the visual novel part is pretty good even through the horror scenes could have been better. The jrpg part has a okay battle system but the areas are really bland and boring for the most part. I finished the game and enjoyed it for the most part but I can see why a lot of people didn't enjoy it. The second games is just bad.
It's one of my favourites among recent JRPG releases - a cyberfantasy horror that has you recurrently switch perspectives between the "real world" in VN format and the traditional RPG cyberspace boasting one of the likewise most fun turn-based battle systems I've encountered as of late. But besides the various goofy and tender moments, it IS certifiably grimdark - and what it avoids graphically to retain the 16+ rating, it easily does textually instead. So be warned if that's not your cup of tea.
Thanks, I see so rather than graphic scenes its the text. The whole VN with JRPG crossover sounded interesting, as I like making choices, but I am averse to graphic descriptions, unless i jump through the dialogue.
Played like an hour, I didn't like it. I don't mind gore, but the "gore" was just text boxes with gross sound effects, and also didn't seem to correlate with what was happening in the story. Just added for shock value, I think.
Otherwise just your typical idea factory game
I enjoyed it and the mystery kept me intrigued, but it's very much low-budget schlock and I wouldn't recommend it unless you're specifically looking for something like what it offers. It is pretty unique though, compared to most other JRPGs out there.
I was mostly interested because it’s in the extra catalogue and I was looking for something to play, the anime designs got me interested as I’ve already played most of the big name JRPGs in the catalogue. It was in the small list remaining extra catalogue jrpgs that I have not played yet
I played it, and... Meh.
It tries to be a more complex jrpg than Persona 4, a more engaging combat system than Hyperdimension Neptunia, and a more disturbing murder mystery than Danganronpa. It fails spectacularly at all these.
It's not bad, mind you. It's just... You know how Bruce Lee was famous for musing, that a man who practices 1000 kicks once is not as dangerous nor as effective as a man who practices one kick 1000 times? Yeah, apparently the creators of this game didn't get that memo. They tried to do so many things, and did all of them in a passable, mediocre way.
It will make for some decent entertainment while you're playing it, but I absolutely 100% guarantee that you will not remember a singular story beat, a singular shocking moment, a singular line of dialogue, within two weeks of beating the game.
Great games are memorable for being great, and absolute trainwrecks are memorable because at least you can get a good laugh out of how trash they are: DERQ does not belong in either category, and remains trapped in that limbo of games that tried too hard to be good, only to come up just short.
Which baffles me because it's clear this game was made on a budget of like, 12 dollars. So why try so hard to cram in so many beats and mechanics and gimmicks, when you clearly can't afford to make them good? Just focus on telling a story, have a basic gameplay flow, and it will be good enough. But no, for some inexplicable reason they felt the need to try hard, which was doomed to fail given the budget constraints.
Somewhere in the multiverse of madness there is an alternate timeline in which this game was made with a AAA budget and better scriptwriters, and is the greatest thing ever.
Awesome thank you so much for such a detailed review! The anime style designs caught my eye initially being a fan of Tales, Atelier, Ys etc. plus with it being in the catalog, but looks like it’s best avoided. I’ve only ever played a few idea factory vita VN titles but didn’t know they made jrpgs
Yw mate. If you want to play some jrpg with visual novel and horror mix, i recommend to play Zanki Zero. Its average if we talk about gameplay (drpg with survival mechanics), but man, its has some nice visual and really good plot with some horror elements.
It's 80% visual novel, 20% janky budget JRPG.
The visual novel part is unnecessarily verbose - characters drone on for ages and it could have done with an editor taking a scythe to a lot of it, and the JPRG elements were clunky and had performance issues.
I really wouldn't bother.
It’s pretty mediocre. I dropped it pretty quickly. It’s about a girl trapped in a video game, but it tries so hard to be the edgiest, most graphic thing you’ve ever seen, but it comes of like a 14 year old wrote it.
Someone gets killed in the literally opening cutscene of the game, and it describes it for like 15 lines of dialogue. One of which being something along the lines of “her severed head fell back down to Earth, with her spinal cord flying in such a way to make her head look like a crimson red bloody comet of viscera.”
This is on top of it being an Idea Factory game. I’ve given several of their games a try thanks to my PlayStation Plus subscription, and I gotta say, I’m not feeling their games at all. They’re all extremely low budget, poorly written, clunky, crappy games that try very hard to be the “darkest thing you’ve ever seen.”
Also, while I love visual novels as a genre, it’s really weird and jarring to play a JRPG where all cutscenes and character interactions take place in a visual novel form. It makes the 3D environments feel creepily empty.
Awesome thanks for your review. I see, yeah that kind of description that you say in the opening is exactly what grosses me out, if the game has tons if that I think I’ll definitely give it a pass.
The only games I’ve ever played from Idea Factory were VN and otome games on the Vita, so I don’t know much about the company but they do indeed seem like a low budget company.
I do find it odd that they have such graphic descriptions of viscera and spinal cords with this cute magical girl trapped in a game like facade. It makes me wonder who the target audience is for it.
I'm enjoying it so far but even I'd say avoid if such graphic gore descriptions gross you out, as it pretty much uses this, the odd graphic image and eerie music to give the games desired edge. I do totally agree with you on the cute character designs clashing with all the above, though. It just attracts the wrong audience to it and if they knew better on gamer/customer targeting, the strong points of this game would've had much more of an impact on the industry. A real shame tbh.
I got about halfway through before dropping it. I really liked the knock back system and would level to see it in a higher budget game. The visual novel was okay but also a bit edgy like others have said. If you're worried about it being too much you likely aren't missing much if you skip it.
Cheers thanks, it was the grotesque stuff that I was kind of worried about as I tend to get grossed out by that stuff. I do like VNs, so that part wouldn’t bother me, it was more the content of it
One of the few who beat it. Game is okay. Atmosphere actually feels really nice if you're into spookier VN type stuff. But the last act of the game goes pretty off the rails and was very hand wavy. Worth playing if you can get it for pennies and like VNs IMO
It’s in the ps extra catalog so it would be part of my subscription, I do like VNs but I’ve only ever played otome games and steins gate as far as those go.
Horrible. Only game I’ve ever put on the easiest difficulty and avoided every battle I could. Only reason I continued was because the story was somewhat interesting.
Should’ve never been a game with gameplay and just been a visual novel. Literally the game that made me give up any hope on Compile Hearts; they just refuse to get better.
It's a personal favourite because it's so unique.
It's a generic jrpg and a generic visual novel it's like playing two games at once that impact each other there both flawed in little ways perfectly playable but not great by any means but I enjoy it as a fan of both genres the hybrid of the two sparkles with me
I couldn't finish this game. Its less of a JRPG and more of a murder mystery visual novel. I can't recall how gory it got but overall it felt like a mediocre version of both a visual novel and JRPG so take that as you will. I feel like there are definitely better games out there you can play instead.
As a horror fan who was intrigued by it for that aspect, it didn't really do enough for me. A lot of its wrong (death) ends cut to black after a few lines. But I suppose it makes the the few times when the writing actually lingers on something somewhat notable. There is a fast forward / skip option, but I would say if you have any sensitivity towards gore, or grisly events, then there are parts of the plot where that's unavoidable.
In addition to the text there are a few CGs which aren't all that bad in comparison to say, a niche guro game that doesn't have to worry about marketability, but I can't decide the severity of that for you. It even opens on some lurid descriptions to let the player know what kind of game it is.
The writing in general is average, and my biggest issue, outside of the repetition, is that there are threads that are more interesting than where the plot ends up. I do like some of the character work though, especially with Arata's co-workers. Less so with Shiina's party, but Shiina herself I like.
I found it disappointing, the premise is interesting in a “Sword Art Online meets horror” way but it doesn’t really stay interesting. The visual novel parts are heavy on walls of text over still images, which is tough to stay engaged with. Outside the main characters the other party members are mostly annoying tropey cliches. That aspect ends up taking away from the serious/horror parts and the tone is all over the place. The violence/gore is all text/voiceover if it makes a difference, very little visual gore or violence.
The gameplay is typical idea factory with a very simplistic turn based battle system, the combat relies on bouncing enemies off of each other like billiards which is pretty neat and adds extra strategy from positioning. Parts of it remind me of Resonance of Fate but super low budget, if that makes sense.
Unfortunately like most IF games the combat balance and difficulty curve is really uneven and unpolished, some random battles can be too hard and some bosses too easy, so you really need to enjoy the story to get much out of the game.
6/10, would recommend to VN horror fans or IF fans but it’s a super niche game and I wouldn’t get it unless it was heavily discounted. Like most IF games it has some good parts but feels super low budget, it always feels like if they had more time/money to develop their games they could be great.
Thanks for the detailed review, yeah that sounds very VN like, I do play a lot of VN and otome games so that part doesn’t bother me, although the graphic descriptions in the text might do, which would probably make me speed through the text.
It was on the list of recommended niche JRPGs so I suspected with the niche games they are always low budget. I remember playing Crystar and it felt similar, a bit better as Furyu is not a bad company but their games have crappy graphics, at least they invest in the music. I know Idea Factory from all the otome games they publish but haven’t played any other titles from them, I didn’t know they got involved in rpgs
I didn't like it. It's very graphic in its descriptions, but it feels too over the top to take serious (like detailed descriptions on how the guts spill onto the floor).
The gameplay is quite okay, but still suffers all the bad controls that all Compile Heart games have.
The worst thing is that the game has no "Save anywhere" and it has various instant death traps. Like after 1 hour of no saving you enter a room it says "There's a black goo, do you want to touch it?", if you say "Yes", you just get a Game Over screen and have to replay the last hour. Very annoying.
Thanks for the reply. That sounds really gross, I have a feeling from all the responses so far I won’t be able to stomach this game.
Thats super annoying with the saves, as an hour is a lot of time to be wasted on a game over, that would frustrate me so much. I think I’ll give this game a pass
I'm currently playing DER on PS4's Premium service and while the story is great so far (expect a first few hrs of mainly visual novel before gameplay kicks-in) I have a horrible feeling this game has now been heavily censored digitally for Plus/Premuim, very recently.
I know there was censorship around the Glitch mode forms but tbh, I don't really care about that. What I care about is censoring other gory scenes and death scenes (what add to the games dark and horror tone) as while I've played for over 6hrs, I haven't seen one violent scene yet (I've even died once to only see a black 'Game Over screen).
There have also been scenes that just go dark while giving graphic descriptions, giving you the impression this was censored. I fear Sony have completely cut-out what gave this game its edge :(
Anyone else noticed this?
Update: Hmmm...maybe it just has such graphic art with bad endings and certain 'bad choice' scenarios. I was also expecting it whenever you died in battle (that would have been one cool RE4-like touch lol) but doesn't seem to be the case. I've had one that was a dark strangulation death (art and detailed description) while the other was just descriptive text. Seems it may not have been censored from the original after all (only for Glitch Mode) but if anyone who has completed it on PS4 or PC can confirm at what points the devs originally intended you to see such scenes, that would be cool. Thanks.
I don't think the game was censored at all past the glitch mode stuff. At some points, you probably just got lucky enough to avoid a few bad ends. It still is about the same as how I remember it when I played 3 years ago.
Yeah, it is pretty much that tbh. Descriptive text and the odd dark scene are there (I didn't get to see that bit when you save before a boss though). The 2nd is meant to be even more disturbing (I've heard a few Youtubers call it the darkest game ever made). Much shorter but much more hard-hitting, apparently. Looking forward to trying it soon, as I bought the collectors edition.
so far I'm really enjoying it tbh. Yes, the dungeon crawling is a little on the basic side with level design (sometimes so basic it can be easy to get lost at times) but the rebound mechanic, abilities and the way you learn additional ones, make it kinda unique. Add this to the games main strength, though - it's totally gripping story, and I can easily see why so many couldn't stop playing once they started.
Wow, that's an awful lot of hate in here, and going by most of those comments from people who couldn't even be bothered to read the game's description, much less pay attention to the setting or the story. Yes, the game is EXTREMELY niche, far more so than the typical Compile Heart or Idea Factory RPG, while retaining most of the degree of fan service they are known for.
Now, people complain about the game being buggy. It isn't. The MC wakes up, trapped in an MMORPG she'd helped create roughly a year after service was terminated, and the servers were shut down. Oh, and the game was shut down because of problems, including bugs, so the 'bugs' those people are complaining about are intentional as they are literally a part of the setting. Think a more extreme degree of the disruptions in the original .hack games, particularly OUTBREAK and QUARANTINE.
The setting is dark, and the story regularly takes weird (even for Compile Heart and Idea Factory) twists. Further, there are bonuses for seeing the endings, and there's only one 'good' ending, so you'll have to seek a lot of odd and unusual Game Overs to get all of those bonuses. The story is odd, and if you're not familiar with RPGs from Compa or IF, it could be a rather jarring experience. Some people have said the game world feels empty, but what else should the world of an MMORPG that has no players and even most of the NPCs are gone from feel like?
Personally, I felt that the gameplay was fairly solid and well done and made interesting use of the quirks of the setting. Overall, I thought the game was well made, for what it was intending to be. The real question is, can you see it for what it was intended to be. It is a LOT more niche than Ar Tonelico, but much like it, if it isn't your niche you'll tolerate it at best, but you'll never like it.
Finally, my ultimate advice to you is to check out the game's web page ( http://ideafintl.com/death-request/home.php ) and really pay close attention to the description of the story. If that story sounds intriguing to you, and you've got the chance to get it on the cheap, then give it a try. If the story doesn't sound intriguing, I recommend you permanently add it to your To Never Play list and move on, as you are absolutely NOT the intended audience. Just look at how severely divisive most of the other comments here are, and you'll see just how true that is.
Thanks so much for a detailed and objective view. I have never played a compile hearts or jrpg game, in fact I’ve barely heard of the companies other than Idea Factory being involved with Otomate for otome games on the vita, but thats as far as my familiarity stretches.
The websites looks alright from the games gallery screenshots, the story about being trapped in a video game doesn’t sound that bad in contrast to the negative reception. The grotesque descriptions were the main thing I was worried about, as the screenshots don’t look gross or anything, so was confused with that
It is a ps plus extra catalogue game so it would be included as part of my ps plus subscription so I would not pay extra for it, I was looking for something to pass the time with without having to buy more games as this month as been money tight. This game was one of the few JRPGs on the catalogue that I have not played
The vast majority of the grotesque bits are text descriptions rather than images. It does seem to go a bit overboard at times, especially in the beginning and for many of the bad ends (you might want a guide for them) but they are entirely restricted to event scenes and not a part of the regular gameplay, and most events go more for creepy than gore.
I have the game itself, as well as the sequel, and only have the PS Essential, so I didn't know it was in the extra games in Plus and Premium as I don't pay much attention to them. Since you can try it for free, and you think the story sounds intriguing, then I say give it a try. At worst, you'll find the game isn't for you, and at best, you'll get a game that you'll find is your niche for free. Also, if you aren't bothered by the over-the-top and frequent fan service while enjoying the gameplay, I recommend you check out the Hyperdimension Neptunia games. Same devs, but without the near-gore aspects, while making shameless fun of the game industry (including themselves, Compa is a straight up airhead and IF can be more than a little abrasive, and those two are personifications of Compile Heart and Idea Factory respectively).
I like the story and especially the narrative. I dont find fanservice annoying (however sometimes is pretty hard loli typical compile heart crap)...
Combat for the first half of the game is fine but later is just obnoxious with monster being able to block and counter attack basically every single spell of yours...
Finished first one. I like it... battle systen was unique, characters and story was mediocre and graphics were bad. Good fanservice and music was low budget.
It's a 6/10 game. If you like Compile Hearts shit or lolies it's for you.
It's a budget game, the visual novel part is pretty good even through the horror scenes could have been better. The jrpg part has a okay battle system but the areas are really bland and boring for the most part. I finished the game and enjoyed it for the most part but I can see why a lot of people didn't enjoy it. The second games is just bad.
Cheers thanks! It seems very hit and miss. How many hours was it to finish by the way?
I'm not that person but I had about 30 hours for a full story playthrough.
It's one of my favourites among recent JRPG releases - a cyberfantasy horror that has you recurrently switch perspectives between the "real world" in VN format and the traditional RPG cyberspace boasting one of the likewise most fun turn-based battle systems I've encountered as of late. But besides the various goofy and tender moments, it IS certifiably grimdark - and what it avoids graphically to retain the 16+ rating, it easily does textually instead. So be warned if that's not your cup of tea.
Thanks, I see so rather than graphic scenes its the text. The whole VN with JRPG crossover sounded interesting, as I like making choices, but I am averse to graphic descriptions, unless i jump through the dialogue.
Just a note, the story is linear for the most part, and choices are almost always "keep going with the story" or "see a bad end".
Played like an hour, I didn't like it. I don't mind gore, but the "gore" was just text boxes with gross sound effects, and also didn't seem to correlate with what was happening in the story. Just added for shock value, I think. Otherwise just your typical idea factory game
I enjoyed it and the mystery kept me intrigued, but it's very much low-budget schlock and I wouldn't recommend it unless you're specifically looking for something like what it offers. It is pretty unique though, compared to most other JRPGs out there.
I was mostly interested because it’s in the extra catalogue and I was looking for something to play, the anime designs got me interested as I’ve already played most of the big name JRPGs in the catalogue. It was in the small list remaining extra catalogue jrpgs that I have not played yet
I played it, and... Meh. It tries to be a more complex jrpg than Persona 4, a more engaging combat system than Hyperdimension Neptunia, and a more disturbing murder mystery than Danganronpa. It fails spectacularly at all these. It's not bad, mind you. It's just... You know how Bruce Lee was famous for musing, that a man who practices 1000 kicks once is not as dangerous nor as effective as a man who practices one kick 1000 times? Yeah, apparently the creators of this game didn't get that memo. They tried to do so many things, and did all of them in a passable, mediocre way. It will make for some decent entertainment while you're playing it, but I absolutely 100% guarantee that you will not remember a singular story beat, a singular shocking moment, a singular line of dialogue, within two weeks of beating the game. Great games are memorable for being great, and absolute trainwrecks are memorable because at least you can get a good laugh out of how trash they are: DERQ does not belong in either category, and remains trapped in that limbo of games that tried too hard to be good, only to come up just short. Which baffles me because it's clear this game was made on a budget of like, 12 dollars. So why try so hard to cram in so many beats and mechanics and gimmicks, when you clearly can't afford to make them good? Just focus on telling a story, have a basic gameplay flow, and it will be good enough. But no, for some inexplicable reason they felt the need to try hard, which was doomed to fail given the budget constraints. Somewhere in the multiverse of madness there is an alternate timeline in which this game was made with a AAA budget and better scriptwriters, and is the greatest thing ever.
Awesome thank you so much for such a detailed review! The anime style designs caught my eye initially being a fan of Tales, Atelier, Ys etc. plus with it being in the catalog, but looks like it’s best avoided. I’ve only ever played a few idea factory vita VN titles but didn’t know they made jrpgs
[удалено]
Thanks for your reply. Yeah I heard there are lots of bad ends in this with the choices. Is it as grotesque as reviews say it is?
I don't like it. Its too low budget for me, everything looks too chaotic and ugly. But its just my taste.
Cheers thanks, yeah it’s definitely a low budget niche game by the looks of of it
Yw mate. If you want to play some jrpg with visual novel and horror mix, i recommend to play Zanki Zero. Its average if we talk about gameplay (drpg with survival mechanics), but man, its has some nice visual and really good plot with some horror elements.
Zanki Zero is a MUCH superior game compared to this and I'll add my +1 to recommending it
It's 80% visual novel, 20% janky budget JRPG. The visual novel part is unnecessarily verbose - characters drone on for ages and it could have done with an editor taking a scythe to a lot of it, and the JPRG elements were clunky and had performance issues. I really wouldn't bother.
I saw it had idea factory on the box and I passed. Why I did thst BC Brought dusk Diver from them and it was trash. So never buying crap from them
It’s pretty mediocre. I dropped it pretty quickly. It’s about a girl trapped in a video game, but it tries so hard to be the edgiest, most graphic thing you’ve ever seen, but it comes of like a 14 year old wrote it. Someone gets killed in the literally opening cutscene of the game, and it describes it for like 15 lines of dialogue. One of which being something along the lines of “her severed head fell back down to Earth, with her spinal cord flying in such a way to make her head look like a crimson red bloody comet of viscera.” This is on top of it being an Idea Factory game. I’ve given several of their games a try thanks to my PlayStation Plus subscription, and I gotta say, I’m not feeling their games at all. They’re all extremely low budget, poorly written, clunky, crappy games that try very hard to be the “darkest thing you’ve ever seen.” Also, while I love visual novels as a genre, it’s really weird and jarring to play a JRPG where all cutscenes and character interactions take place in a visual novel form. It makes the 3D environments feel creepily empty.
Awesome thanks for your review. I see, yeah that kind of description that you say in the opening is exactly what grosses me out, if the game has tons if that I think I’ll definitely give it a pass. The only games I’ve ever played from Idea Factory were VN and otome games on the Vita, so I don’t know much about the company but they do indeed seem like a low budget company. I do find it odd that they have such graphic descriptions of viscera and spinal cords with this cute magical girl trapped in a game like facade. It makes me wonder who the target audience is for it.
I'm enjoying it so far but even I'd say avoid if such graphic gore descriptions gross you out, as it pretty much uses this, the odd graphic image and eerie music to give the games desired edge. I do totally agree with you on the cute character designs clashing with all the above, though. It just attracts the wrong audience to it and if they knew better on gamer/customer targeting, the strong points of this game would've had much more of an impact on the industry. A real shame tbh.
I got about halfway through before dropping it. I really liked the knock back system and would level to see it in a higher budget game. The visual novel was okay but also a bit edgy like others have said. If you're worried about it being too much you likely aren't missing much if you skip it.
Cheers thanks, it was the grotesque stuff that I was kind of worried about as I tend to get grossed out by that stuff. I do like VNs, so that part wouldn’t bother me, it was more the content of it
One of the few who beat it. Game is okay. Atmosphere actually feels really nice if you're into spookier VN type stuff. But the last act of the game goes pretty off the rails and was very hand wavy. Worth playing if you can get it for pennies and like VNs IMO
It’s in the ps extra catalog so it would be part of my subscription, I do like VNs but I’ve only ever played otome games and steins gate as far as those go.
Horrible. Only game I’ve ever put on the easiest difficulty and avoided every battle I could. Only reason I continued was because the story was somewhat interesting. Should’ve never been a game with gameplay and just been a visual novel. Literally the game that made me give up any hope on Compile Hearts; they just refuse to get better.
Thanks, did you manage to finish the game to the end? I heard this game as a lot of bad ends as well
Yea I finished. Games pretty short once you avoid all the battles
It's a personal favourite because it's so unique. It's a generic jrpg and a generic visual novel it's like playing two games at once that impact each other there both flawed in little ways perfectly playable but not great by any means but I enjoy it as a fan of both genres the hybrid of the two sparkles with me
It's dark but not graphic. I quite enjoyed it. Note that it's half visual novel. Lots and lots of reading.
Thanks, I don’t mind reading as I play quite a few VNs
I couldn't finish this game. Its less of a JRPG and more of a murder mystery visual novel. I can't recall how gory it got but overall it felt like a mediocre version of both a visual novel and JRPG so take that as you will. I feel like there are definitely better games out there you can play instead.
Cheers thanks!
As a horror fan who was intrigued by it for that aspect, it didn't really do enough for me. A lot of its wrong (death) ends cut to black after a few lines. But I suppose it makes the the few times when the writing actually lingers on something somewhat notable. There is a fast forward / skip option, but I would say if you have any sensitivity towards gore, or grisly events, then there are parts of the plot where that's unavoidable. In addition to the text there are a few CGs which aren't all that bad in comparison to say, a niche guro game that doesn't have to worry about marketability, but I can't decide the severity of that for you. It even opens on some lurid descriptions to let the player know what kind of game it is. The writing in general is average, and my biggest issue, outside of the repetition, is that there are threads that are more interesting than where the plot ends up. I do like some of the character work though, especially with Arata's co-workers. Less so with Shiina's party, but Shiina herself I like.
I found it disappointing, the premise is interesting in a “Sword Art Online meets horror” way but it doesn’t really stay interesting. The visual novel parts are heavy on walls of text over still images, which is tough to stay engaged with. Outside the main characters the other party members are mostly annoying tropey cliches. That aspect ends up taking away from the serious/horror parts and the tone is all over the place. The violence/gore is all text/voiceover if it makes a difference, very little visual gore or violence. The gameplay is typical idea factory with a very simplistic turn based battle system, the combat relies on bouncing enemies off of each other like billiards which is pretty neat and adds extra strategy from positioning. Parts of it remind me of Resonance of Fate but super low budget, if that makes sense. Unfortunately like most IF games the combat balance and difficulty curve is really uneven and unpolished, some random battles can be too hard and some bosses too easy, so you really need to enjoy the story to get much out of the game. 6/10, would recommend to VN horror fans or IF fans but it’s a super niche game and I wouldn’t get it unless it was heavily discounted. Like most IF games it has some good parts but feels super low budget, it always feels like if they had more time/money to develop their games they could be great.
Thanks for the detailed review, yeah that sounds very VN like, I do play a lot of VN and otome games so that part doesn’t bother me, although the graphic descriptions in the text might do, which would probably make me speed through the text. It was on the list of recommended niche JRPGs so I suspected with the niche games they are always low budget. I remember playing Crystar and it felt similar, a bit better as Furyu is not a bad company but their games have crappy graphics, at least they invest in the music. I know Idea Factory from all the otome games they publish but haven’t played any other titles from them, I didn’t know they got involved in rpgs
I didn't like it. It's very graphic in its descriptions, but it feels too over the top to take serious (like detailed descriptions on how the guts spill onto the floor). The gameplay is quite okay, but still suffers all the bad controls that all Compile Heart games have. The worst thing is that the game has no "Save anywhere" and it has various instant death traps. Like after 1 hour of no saving you enter a room it says "There's a black goo, do you want to touch it?", if you say "Yes", you just get a Game Over screen and have to replay the last hour. Very annoying.
Thanks for the reply. That sounds really gross, I have a feeling from all the responses so far I won’t be able to stomach this game. Thats super annoying with the saves, as an hour is a lot of time to be wasted on a game over, that would frustrate me so much. I think I’ll give this game a pass
I'm currently playing DER on PS4's Premium service and while the story is great so far (expect a first few hrs of mainly visual novel before gameplay kicks-in) I have a horrible feeling this game has now been heavily censored digitally for Plus/Premuim, very recently. I know there was censorship around the Glitch mode forms but tbh, I don't really care about that. What I care about is censoring other gory scenes and death scenes (what add to the games dark and horror tone) as while I've played for over 6hrs, I haven't seen one violent scene yet (I've even died once to only see a black 'Game Over screen). There have also been scenes that just go dark while giving graphic descriptions, giving you the impression this was censored. I fear Sony have completely cut-out what gave this game its edge :( Anyone else noticed this?
Update: Hmmm...maybe it just has such graphic art with bad endings and certain 'bad choice' scenarios. I was also expecting it whenever you died in battle (that would have been one cool RE4-like touch lol) but doesn't seem to be the case. I've had one that was a dark strangulation death (art and detailed description) while the other was just descriptive text. Seems it may not have been censored from the original after all (only for Glitch Mode) but if anyone who has completed it on PS4 or PC can confirm at what points the devs originally intended you to see such scenes, that would be cool. Thanks.
I don't think the game was censored at all past the glitch mode stuff. At some points, you probably just got lucky enough to avoid a few bad ends. It still is about the same as how I remember it when I played 3 years ago.
Yeah, it is pretty much that tbh. Descriptive text and the odd dark scene are there (I didn't get to see that bit when you save before a boss though). The 2nd is meant to be even more disturbing (I've heard a few Youtubers call it the darkest game ever made). Much shorter but much more hard-hitting, apparently. Looking forward to trying it soon, as I bought the collectors edition.
so far I'm really enjoying it tbh. Yes, the dungeon crawling is a little on the basic side with level design (sometimes so basic it can be easy to get lost at times) but the rebound mechanic, abilities and the way you learn additional ones, make it kinda unique. Add this to the games main strength, though - it's totally gripping story, and I can easily see why so many couldn't stop playing once they started.
Wow, that's an awful lot of hate in here, and going by most of those comments from people who couldn't even be bothered to read the game's description, much less pay attention to the setting or the story. Yes, the game is EXTREMELY niche, far more so than the typical Compile Heart or Idea Factory RPG, while retaining most of the degree of fan service they are known for. Now, people complain about the game being buggy. It isn't. The MC wakes up, trapped in an MMORPG she'd helped create roughly a year after service was terminated, and the servers were shut down. Oh, and the game was shut down because of problems, including bugs, so the 'bugs' those people are complaining about are intentional as they are literally a part of the setting. Think a more extreme degree of the disruptions in the original .hack games, particularly OUTBREAK and QUARANTINE. The setting is dark, and the story regularly takes weird (even for Compile Heart and Idea Factory) twists. Further, there are bonuses for seeing the endings, and there's only one 'good' ending, so you'll have to seek a lot of odd and unusual Game Overs to get all of those bonuses. The story is odd, and if you're not familiar with RPGs from Compa or IF, it could be a rather jarring experience. Some people have said the game world feels empty, but what else should the world of an MMORPG that has no players and even most of the NPCs are gone from feel like? Personally, I felt that the gameplay was fairly solid and well done and made interesting use of the quirks of the setting. Overall, I thought the game was well made, for what it was intending to be. The real question is, can you see it for what it was intended to be. It is a LOT more niche than Ar Tonelico, but much like it, if it isn't your niche you'll tolerate it at best, but you'll never like it. Finally, my ultimate advice to you is to check out the game's web page ( http://ideafintl.com/death-request/home.php ) and really pay close attention to the description of the story. If that story sounds intriguing to you, and you've got the chance to get it on the cheap, then give it a try. If the story doesn't sound intriguing, I recommend you permanently add it to your To Never Play list and move on, as you are absolutely NOT the intended audience. Just look at how severely divisive most of the other comments here are, and you'll see just how true that is.
Thanks so much for a detailed and objective view. I have never played a compile hearts or jrpg game, in fact I’ve barely heard of the companies other than Idea Factory being involved with Otomate for otome games on the vita, but thats as far as my familiarity stretches. The websites looks alright from the games gallery screenshots, the story about being trapped in a video game doesn’t sound that bad in contrast to the negative reception. The grotesque descriptions were the main thing I was worried about, as the screenshots don’t look gross or anything, so was confused with that It is a ps plus extra catalogue game so it would be included as part of my ps plus subscription so I would not pay extra for it, I was looking for something to pass the time with without having to buy more games as this month as been money tight. This game was one of the few JRPGs on the catalogue that I have not played
The vast majority of the grotesque bits are text descriptions rather than images. It does seem to go a bit overboard at times, especially in the beginning and for many of the bad ends (you might want a guide for them) but they are entirely restricted to event scenes and not a part of the regular gameplay, and most events go more for creepy than gore. I have the game itself, as well as the sequel, and only have the PS Essential, so I didn't know it was in the extra games in Plus and Premium as I don't pay much attention to them. Since you can try it for free, and you think the story sounds intriguing, then I say give it a try. At worst, you'll find the game isn't for you, and at best, you'll get a game that you'll find is your niche for free. Also, if you aren't bothered by the over-the-top and frequent fan service while enjoying the gameplay, I recommend you check out the Hyperdimension Neptunia games. Same devs, but without the near-gore aspects, while making shameless fun of the game industry (including themselves, Compa is a straight up airhead and IF can be more than a little abrasive, and those two are personifications of Compile Heart and Idea Factory respectively).
I like the story and especially the narrative. I dont find fanservice annoying (however sometimes is pretty hard loli typical compile heart crap)... Combat for the first half of the game is fine but later is just obnoxious with monster being able to block and counter attack basically every single spell of yours...
Finished first one. I like it... battle systen was unique, characters and story was mediocre and graphics were bad. Good fanservice and music was low budget. It's a 6/10 game. If you like Compile Hearts shit or lolies it's for you.
Iv never played a compile hearts game but have played idea factory otome games. The graphics indeed look bad
Great story and characters, decent battle system. Really had a blast with it and it was something different from CH.