Unicorn Overlord

[Fabulously Olivier]

Unicorn Overlord just hit its 500k unit reported sales milestone. Pretty good for a niche game like this, but less than what this genre landmark masterpiece deserves.

[Etrurian emperor]

Having fully completed the game I'd say I rank the regions like this

Drakengard:

I think this region has the best balance between gameplay, story and the open world. Drakenhold isn't quite as open as Cornia, especially not the central portion where a canyon funnels you into a single direction, but you have some choices to make. You can go south through the desert and reach the coliseum through that way, or you can take the central route and just keep walking forward. I heard the bosses in the coliseum chapter even changes depending on which route you pick. You can also chose to start the final mission from an alternative angle and miss out on Gilbert. I don't know why you'd want to do so but if you're weird then you can. 

Storywise I think Drakenhold is the best of the regions. Its weakness is that it kinda lacks villains, but the route makes up for it with a bigger focus on the protagonists. It doesn't hurt that most characters Drakenhold focuses on tend to be characters that I like. Drakenhold also benefits from a concrete theme. Through several pairs of characters the theme of family is definitely a key focus of the route. 

On the gameplay front Drakenhold has two of the best stage in the game. The Coliseum stage stands out for being a rare defend type mission where you can really play around with catapults and barricades. Soldraga too was one of the better stages. Fighting your way through a city and then up a mountain to take the castle is quite a fitting finale. 

Cornia:

Surprisingly tutorial land was among the regions that impressed me the most. More then any other I think Cornia embodies the idea of Unicorn Overlord as an open world game. This to the point I'm a bit disappointing the other regions don't really give you the freedom Cornia does. In Cornia I feel you really have the freedom to go wherever you want. For the story this can be a bit silly, but it was still really refreshing when I first played the demo. Aside from what order you go through the stages there are also some interesting choices to make.

In terms of story and gameplay Cornia is just fine and certainly misses the ''oompf!'' of some later regions but the freedom and good first impression makes up for that. Maybe its going to rank lower if I replay the game, but for now I'm feeling very charitable to Cornia. And while the stages start small the later ones become quite big which was an exiting development to witness. 

Elfheim:

Elfheim ranks in the middle of the pack. It pretty good. I like the Elven twins, and it has a neat collection of stages. Special note to the final one which is quite big and while it doesn't have a boss that's difficult per so I still think she's got an interesting gimmick, and a cool playstyle. 

Where Elfheim stands out is that its the most villain focused of all the arcs. Both Gailey and Alcina get more focus than villains in other regions, and you can even fight Baltro for once. Neither of them are particularly great villains but they do their job well and I like them. On the downside the elven sisters don't seem as involved as the Drakenhold or Bastorias cast. 

I also like Elfeim as a setting. The elves being snooty about humans, getting enslaved by humans and that the light elves are racist against dark elves isn't anything special but its still a nice bit of flavor. They even went to the trouble to give Dark elves their own city and shopkeeper designs. An added bonus is that the backgrounds are by far the most beautiful. 

Where Elfheim stumbles is that it feels quite linear. Its mostly just a straight line with little directing you off the beaten path. You can technically go north for a bit but there's barely anything there. I never felt there was much of a choice to make, or chances to recruit characters in different orders. 

Albion

In Albion you can just feel that time and budget had ran out. Albion is quite a bit shorter than the previous regions, and I think you recruit fewer units from there as well. To make up for it the stages tend to be longer and more complex. Both the bridge chapter and the final Albion chapter are among the longer and better stages in the game. 

The plot is fine. The plot twist is so predictable that Galerius spoiled it for you ages ago, but its still quite fine. Angel boy is a good enough antagonist and Dimitri...uh I mean Nigel carries his role well. Albion also redeemed Scarlet a bit by implying she does indeed have a life outside Alain and has hobbies other than wishing to be his girlfriend. 

As a setting Albion's a nice simply church kingdom. Its got angels, it got churches and its got choir music in the background. Its nice. As far as the open world goes you can approach Albion from either the south or the north. Its not a huge choice, but its there. 

Bastorias

Up last is Bastorias. It has some good bits. Having owl mages will never stop being a cool concept, and Yunifi's both cute and a great unit. It also sees the return of the best side villain of the game. Still, its the story that ensures the region doesn't click with me. The main theme of the region being a hunt for a mighty Mcguffin and that you more or less liberate the region by accident while searching for it is weird. Its a set up that doesn't really fit the tone of the game. And while the main villain is cool in concept I couldn't take him serious. There's a big twist about him that's so easy to spot that I was completely caught off guard by the game assuming it even was a twist to begin with. I thought everyone in the cast already knew this particular fact about the region's villain.

Like Elheim I think its too linear. You start out liberating the capitol on the far east and then its one straight line to the far west. 

In terms of gameplay I think Basorias overall has good stages with ''To resist or Yield'' in particular being among the bigger, more dynamic stages in the game. On the other hand those fox units annoyed me a lot, and while owl mages are the definition of cool their large numbers and long buff animations make the fights drag out a bit too long if you don't want to skip animations. 

 

Edited April 2 by Etrurian emperor

[MeteorPhoenix]

Yeah, I think I overall agree with your rankings. I might put Albion below Bastorias (I get very little sense of culture from the former), and maybe Elheim over Cornia (I like walking in a green forest), but the differences are small for me. Drakengard is far and away the best area if the game, Cornia and Elheim are a nice middle, and Bastorias and Albion are dead last.

I think Bastorias was the biggest disappointment for me in terms of potential. There's cool lore to the origin of the bestrals, and Yunifi's heritage, but it's just never used or integrated. Unlike the rest of the regions, you don't get a sense for their government or structures.

[Etrurian emperor]

The devs have said there's no plans for DLC content. I don't think hopes for DLC were realistic to begin with since Vanillaware might not even have the resources to do it if they wanted. 

[MeteorPhoenix]

Maybe the unexpected popularity could change their minds? It's tracking better than 13 Sentinels, at any rate.

[Fabulously Olivier]

1 hour ago, Etrurian emperor said:

The devs have said there's no plans for DLC content. I don't think hopes for DLC were realistic to begin with since Vanillaware might not even have the resources to do it if they wanted. 

Fair. But on the positive side, a survey went out with a question on whether you would buy a sequel.

 

I for one would. I'm almost done. Just gotta do the last couple liberations and the final Cornea missions. Game's amazing. Not just a 10/10, but if you asked me whether this or PoR was my number 2 game, my answer would change depending on how I feel that day. They're basically tied.

[Etrurian emperor]

Alain can marry furries, he can marry little girls, he can marry his cousin and he can marry in a way that breaks up a lesbian couple. What Alain cannot do is marry a guy. That's kinda cringe but Its nice the game at least has some fun with the male events. Not the low hanging fruit of ''lol you picked a guy'' which is also cringe, but more the chaos of the conversations. Jeremy wanting to go sell off the ring before he learns it will curse him, or Jerome's buddy hiding in the bushes so he doesn't run off. 

[Fabulously Olivier]

23 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Alain can marry furries, he can marry little girls, he can marry his cousin and he can marry in a way that breaks up a lesbian couple. What Alain cannot do is marry a guy. That's kinda cringe but Its nice the game at least has some fun with the male events. Not the low hanging fruit of ''lol you picked a guy'' which is also cringe, but more the chaos of the conversations. Jeremy wanting to go sell off the ring before he learns it will curse him, or Jerome's buddy hiding in the bushes so he doesn't run off. 

Umm, what little girl can Alain marry? Kitra? Does the game even tell you how old Kitra is? 

 

Anyway, I finished the game with the platinum. My best team was Gloucester (as lead), Berengeria, Selvie (the one SSS tier character), Jeromy, and Miriam. Just wrecked damn near everything with massive damage, and had great survivability between the debuffs, self-healing, and Miriam. 

 

What were your best teams?

[Etrurian emperor]

27 minutes ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

Umm, what little girl can Alain marry? Kitra? Does the game even tell you how old Kitra is? 

Kitra and Nina seem significantly younger than the rest of the cast. 

28 minutes ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

Anyway, I finished the game with the platinum. My best team was Gloucester (as lead), Berengeria, Selvie (the one SSS tier character), Jeromy, and Miriam. Just wrecked damn near everything with massive damage, and had great survivability between the debuffs, self-healing, and Miriam. 

For me there was a team with Travis and Berengaria up front, and Yahna aubin in the back. Travis dodges most things, Berengaria is a solid all rounder who attacks anytime Yahna debuffs enemies, and Aubin as well as Berengaria have row attacks. Yahna's ice coffin is always useful , and teleporting ensures the team could go where most needed.

The other team was a Drakenhold team of Gilbert, Aramis, Gloucester and Hilda. Gloucester attacking a whole row and Hilda having that spear that allows her to dive bomb the entire field generally took care of most problems, and Gilbert buffing them certainly helped them do it better. Oh and Aramis was there too. 

[Fabulously Olivier]

7 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Kitra and Nina seem significantly younger than the rest of the cast. 

For me there was a team with Travis and Berengaria up front, and Yahna aubin in the back. Travis dodges most things, Berengaria is a solid all rounder who attacks anytime Yahna debuffs enemies, and Aubin as well as Berengaria have row attacks. Yahna's ice coffin is always useful , and teleporting ensures the team could go where most needed.

The other team was a Drakenhold team of Gilbert, Aramis, Gloucester and Hilda. Gloucester attacking a whole row and Hilda having that spear that allows her to dive bomb the entire field generally took care of most problems, and Gilbert buffing them certainly helped them do it better. Oh and Aramis was there too. 

I don't think Nina and Kitra are actual children, and I could see them being in the same age range as Chloe and Alain.

[MeteorPhoenix]

Both Nina and Kitra seem old enough to have been progressing in their knighthoods. I don't think the game intends them to be particularly younger than Alain.

It does suck you can't marry guys, though.

[Fabulously Olivier]

In addition to obvious things like NG+ and additional difficulty modes, what I'd really like to see is an invasion/defense mode.

 

You would be able to toggle this theoretical mode on to have Zenoira attempt to retake every town/fort you capture. When they invade, it would display a mission counter on that fort (visible on your map too). You would be able to play that number of missions before you either have to defend the fort/town or it gets retaken. The number of missions you have would depend on how strong your stationed Guard is. And when you defend a town, you get an intense defense mission just like the best mission in the game - the colisseum defense in Drakenhold.

[Etrurian emperor]

Its a shame Norbelle is just an easter egg for fans who are loony enough to finish the game without leaving Cornia or saving Scarlet.

Spoiler

The idea that big bland bad Galarius has a daughter might actually flesh him out a bit. 

 

[Fabulously Olivier]

36 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Its a shame Norbelle is just an easter egg for fans who are loony enough to finish the game without leaving Cornia or saving Scarlet.

  Hide contents

The idea that big bland bad Galarius has a daughter might actually flesh him out a bit. 

 

I think having a worst-ending like that is actually extremely cool and one of the little things that make the game special. I dunno if I'll ever actually go for it because it sounds really difficult.

[Etrurian emperor]

Maybe its because you get your second Dark Marques at the very end of the game when you can't experiment with them, but am I to only one who found them a huge disappointment compared to Berengaria? When you get Berengaria she's immediately great in about any role, but the other Dark Marques struggles to find his role. He's kinda frail and doesn't do all that much damage either. Perhaps its a bad first impression because he starts in a team with generic, but Berengaria started out alone and still kicked ass. I can't say he got any better when I used him in the epilogue either. 

The one thing I found noteworthy is that he's got a Kamehameha attack that's got a pretty huge range. 

Edited April 27 by Etrurian emperor

[MeteorPhoenix]

Yeah honestly, that Kamehameha attack of his saved me a lot of time. It's quite powerful.

[Etrurian emperor]

Its interesting that Unicorn Overlord is rather like Engage. Less corny perhaps but in both games the gameplay is acclaimed while the overly basic story is conceded to be somewhat of a weak point. 

[Fabulously Olivier]

1 hour ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Its interesting that Unicorn Overlord is rather like Engage. Less corny perhaps but in both games the gameplay is acclaimed while the overly basic story is conceded to be somewhat of a weak point. 

Very surface level. Engage doesn't just have an okay story - it has a terrible one. While UO is also far superior in art, characters, worldbuilding, and soundtrack. 

 

UO's story isn't even weak. It's just weak relative to everything else in the game firing on all cylinders all the time. The story would still be average at worst when compared to the overall FE series.

Edited May 2 by Fabulously Olivier

[MeteorPhoenix]

The story in UO never wowed me, but it also never got in the way. Whereas whenever anyone in Engage opened their mouth, I wanted to quit.

I do think the story is a weak point in UO and I wish they had been more ambitious.

[Revier]

Personally, I find the generic story rather disappointing, considering how this was meant to be a spiritual successor to Ogre Battle. That, combined with the weird mix of an overt grimdark tone with animu aesthetics in the artstyle, put me off from playing it. Doesn't help that, in the LP I followed, the game seemed to be disguising underdeveloped mechanics with a lot of overtly complicated effects that didn't really change the basic rock-papers-scissors feel of the gameplay.

Edited May 3 by Revier

[Etrurian emperor]

I'm not sure ''Grimdark'' is really a good description for Unicorn Overlord. Rather than being dark and edgy it seems to be the typical jrpg/Fire Emblem affair. Arguably even a little lighter since even the recurring bandit crews are nice guys rather than ones going ''Hurr! Hurr! I have you now pretty!'' whenever they see a female character. 

[Fabulously Olivier]

45 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I'm not sure ''Grimdark'' is really a good description for Unicorn Overlord. Rather than being dark and edgy it seems to be the typical jrpg/Fire Emblem affair. Arguably even a little lighter since even the recurring bandit crews are nice guys rather than ones going ''Hurr! Hurr! I have you now pretty!'' whenever they see a female character. 

Yes and no. The rockrats are nice guys, but it's pretty hard to argue that Diet Dr. Metodey is good when his gang participated in Elf-trafficking (unless we take this as the gang only doing this after he and Mandrin step down as leaders). One of the actual little story flaws is that Alain is annoyingly prone to redeeming transparently bad people, while some redeemable (or at least sympathetic) characters like Alcina cannot be redeemed.

 

And then of course there's our bumbling orphan slaver/old lady magnet.

Edited May 15 by Fabulously Olivier

[Etrurian emperor]

41 minutes ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

Yes and no. The rockrats are nice guys, but it's pretty hard to argue that Diet Dr. Metodey is good when his gang participated in Elf-trafficking (unless we take this as the gang only doing this after he and Mandrin step down as leaders). One of the actual little story flaws is that Alain is annoyingly prone to redeeming transparently bad people, while some redeemable (or at least sympathetic) characters like Alcina cannot be redeemed.

 

I think that was mostly out of desperation/revenge but you're right. I had forgotten about that, though I did remember them in terms of at least not going bandit mode on Sharon much when they held her captive. 

[ciphertul]

34 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I think that was mostly out of desperation/revenge but you're right. I had forgotten about that, though I did remember them in terms of at least not going bandit mode on Sharon much when they held her captive. 

I think that is more on Mandrin being the best bro anyone could as for. Sharon wasn’t even tied up.

[Dark Holy Elf]

On 4/9/2024 at 3:33 PM, Etrurian emperor said:

Alain can marry furries, he can marry little girls, he can marry his cousin and he can marry in a way that breaks up a lesbian couple. What Alain cannot do is marry a guy. That's kinda cringe but Its nice the game at least has some fun with the male events. Not the low hanging fruit of ''lol you picked a guy'' which is also cringe, but more the chaos of the conversations. Jeremy wanting to go sell off the ring before he learns it will curse him, or Jerome's buddy hiding in the bushes so he doesn't run off. 

Yeah I think this drives home how much the gaming world has changed in just a few years. The combination of the heteronormativity you describe and the fact that the main character gets this "avatar-like" feel by you choosing their partner, but then you can't even choose anything else about him, feels very off to me. And unfortunately it's very pushed in your face, the game all but forces you to do the obvious-marriage-proxy event and the ring's even named the "Ring of the Maiden" which almost screams that giving it to a man isn't canon.

I still gave it to Josef though, I put off my decision until I'd gotten A rapports with Alain and all the characters I cared about, and I enjoyed that one a lot. So no regrets.

 

Anyway I beat this game a month or so back. It was a good time. Really wish the story/writing were better. I don't even disagree with it being pretty comparable to the median Fire Emblem story but I don't think very highly of that, either, and for a game with this much dialog (not to mention this much effort put into character design) I'd like to think we can do better. That said, the game has lovely spritework as well as fun, unique gameplay - the only games I've played which do anything similar (Soul Nomad and Ogre Battle) are so, so much worse at it than Unicorn Overlord, since UO actually makes team-building highly engaging, and it turns out that counts for a lot because the actual battle themselves are not as tightly-designed as Fire Emblem. Certainly a good game, and I'll definitely replay it at some point, if not as often as my favourite Fire Emblem games.