This next block contains some interesting titles, and one not so interesting one. One is dead, one has waned in quality (as I’ve been told) and one has improved. I haven’t checked back with a single one of them yet, so I’m still looking at these from the time I reviewed them.

Episode 52: Heva Clonia
This game was a crushing disappointment for me. I am not entirely sure what I was expecting… maybe something like a world MMO with a pet/enemy collection mechanic. What I got was a really weirdly paced beat-em-up/world MMO hybrid with a very broken and lazy pet collection system. The crushing grindiness of this title was its worst part, and nothing was worse then spending hours in a small area to fight the same two types of enemies ad nauseam until the let you move onto the next section… which was a very similar looking area where you fought the same two enemy types for hours. Again. Did it catch me off guard when I heard the game got shut down? A bit. Did it surprise me? No.
Recommended?: It’s gone now, but if someone revives it… still, NO.

Episode 53: Aura Kingdom
This… THIS is the game I wanted Heva Clonia to be. Fantastic setting, wonderfully polished graphics, and a great and useful pet system (even if the pets were a LOT harder to obtain in this game.) What I didn’t expect was the seriously dark story that was permeating the entire game. The kind of thing I rarely saw addressed in any MMO. What if the “chosen one” was more cursed than blessed, and the powers you used for good could very easily turn you into a monster? What if people feared you when they found out who and what you were, rather than remember all the good you’ve done for them?
There’s stories of fallen grace, lost love and betrayal, and even tragic stories of murder. The tone betrays the adorable exterior, but it all works, and can be chilling when you settle into it. I really wasted my “demonic possession joke” in order to relay this game’s dark undertones since I used something as simple (yet disturbing) as looting someone’s still-beating heart as the lead in, and only later found the quest containing an actual demonic possession. It would have worked far better, both as a lead in and example.
I have heard the bot infestation is completely out of hand, some taking over entire zones and the publisher seemingly unwilling to do anything about them, which really sucks and puts a bit of a damper on this whole thing, but if you dig Eden Eternal for more than just the cool class system, you should do just as well with Aura Kingdom.
And of course, one for old times sake… SUPAH KAWAII!
Recommended?: YES.

Episode 54: Loadout
Loadout is a gross, trashy game with a foul-mouthed, horrific community of shit-talkers… and I wouldn’t have it any other way. It was made for this kind of thing. The reason I find it so odd that people act like assholes in cute games like Maple Story or fantasy games like ArcheAge is because games like THIS exist, and they cater to this kind of attitude. It’s rude, and crude, and that’s the fucking point. You don’t play a game where your player character can walk around with his penis flopping about and expect some sort of well behaved high art. What really gets me into this game, though, is the weapon system, and I LOVE building weapons and giving them custom names, even if I have to play contrarian to the community’s common inclusion of dick jokes and “badass” names by calling my weapons things like “Tickle Factory” and “Sunshine Sprinkler” I will wreck your shit with the Sunshine Sprinkler.
I looked at this game a bit early, but they’ve added a lot I should really check out. Hopefully custom matches made it in. That was sorely needed.
Recommended?: If you can take the humor and rudeness, YES.