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- NIS America
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- NIS America
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- NIS America
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- NIS America
Natural Doctrine
Released On: Sep 30, 2014
53
6.0
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 31 Critic Reviews
53
10% Positive
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
58% Mixed
18 Reviews
18 Reviews
32% Negative
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 31 Critic Reviews
53
10% Positive
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
58% Mixed
18 Reviews
18 Reviews
32% Negative
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
If being humiliated and demoralised by in-game defeat is synonymous to Mel’s downfall, achieving victory in battle is a feeling equivalent to earning a billion dollars just for punching your life-long nemesis in the face.
Natural Doctrine’s combat system is ingenious, but it’s obstructed by its complexity, while the remaining aspects of the release just about fulfil their roles to the point of adequacy.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 86 User Ratings
6.0
49% Positive
42 Ratings
42 Ratings
12% Mixed
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
40% Negative
34 Ratings
34 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 86 User Ratings
6.0
49% Positive
42 Ratings
42 Ratings
12% Mixed
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
40% Negative
34 Ratings
34 Ratings
All I can say from all the commentaries is that: "You are not Gamers, you are just a bunch of annoying people who doesn't deserves the rights of playing games". Natural Doctrine is a game that made me cry whit it's story and I have played it for more than 11 times. I didn't found any issues in the game but the contrary, it was very challenging just like Hollow Knight in the present. Many players where annoyed by the level of difficulty of Natural Doctrine while I didn't find it that hard to win, it may be not completed and many things where missing to be a complete good game but it was worth it. Everyone that thinks this game was bad or is bad, must be a bad player who doesn't recognise a good game.
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PlayStation 4
A Hidden Gem. One of the best strategy JRPGS that I have played. The story and characters are good enough, I laughed and shed a few tears during "Hallmark" moments. If you make an effort to understand the tutorial, the game isn't that hard. Don't get me wrong, the game has caused me plenty of **** not I would have gotten bored and quit by now. Don't believe the hype from lazy people who didn't try to learn the game. If you try to mindlessly rampage, you will die repeatedly.
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PlayStation 4
It's really hard to learn how to play this game, and even though that should be something good and challenging, we feel it's rather a design problem. Still, if you're willing to go on extremely hard strategy battles, go for it.
There are some interesting pieces in this puzzle, but once they form the final picture, you'll see something very different, and sadly not entirely enjoyable.
Natural Doctrine fails in its ambitious attempt to deliver a wonderfully unique, deep, and rewarding turn-based strategy adventure. The foundation is solid but what’s built atop that foundation is a crazy assortment of great individual pieces, but none of them really fit together.
There will be a group of people that will love this game, but most people won't. You have to have so much patient, strategic insight and commitment, it is a tough game to really enjoy. There are so many RPG's that are way better, why waste your time on this one?
It’s shocking to see something this bad on a current gen console, and it’s really sad to think that someone released this and asked for money.
This game is the ultimate geek trial. You either love it, or you are not a real geek, just some normie poser.
There are all the right ingredients in there - complicated and unintuitive (yet perfectly functional) combat system, cheesy C-movies story, japanese graphics stylization, multiplayer thats actually not bad at all AND it looks like a PS2 game on your PS4.
If you watch weird forgotten movies every once in a while, if you love reading books by evil people just to glimpse into their mind, if you have to censor your own joke ideas when your are outside your tiny social bubble, well maybe its time to take the trial.
Still unsure if you should buy this game? Then go buy it! In the worst case you waste a few bucks, but it is possible that you will fall in love. Just like I did.
To add some criticism - the game is not long enough and not challenging enough. It only looks chalenging at first glance because you don't get the combat system, but once you get into it, you can sweep the floor with it wtih some effort. Luckily I just learned that there is a DLC thats supposedly BRUTAL. Going for it right now.
So it's it 10/10 by me. Not because this game has no flaws, but because it is perfect as it is in a sense. When someone outside the target audience (the geek inner circle) gets his hands on it, he is repulsed away. But when it is where it belongs, it shines!
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PlayStation 4
I went in with very low expectations and ended up liking the game. I'm a fan of good JRPGs and strategy games and I normally prefer story over gameplay, although the gameplay in this game is better than the story. My rating might be a point or two higher than it should be simply because I haven't played any good strategy RPGs in a long time.
Story: Average. It's told almost entirely through text and voice between missions. It's clear that the actual combat missions take priority over the story. The story isn't outright bad or childish like I've seen in many JRPGs, but it is relatively generic with a few small twists (good), and questionable character motivations (bad). Nothing substantial, new, or groundbreaking happens in the story, so if you're a junkie for unique and strange stories, you won't find any of that here.
World: Basically non-existent. All you do are combat missions. There's no towns, shops, citizens to interact with, or anything that you'd normally expect from a strategy JRPG. You obtain weapons and rings in chests during missions, heal completely between missions, and can level up between missions.
Character models: Better than the vita versions, but they look like low-end PS3 models.
Gameplay / Combat: Difficult, challenging, and annoying. The combat system has almost no basis in reality and is more similar to a board game or chess (although those aren't great comparisons either). If you can accept that and get past the incredibly steep learning curve, then you might find the combat system to be unique and rewarding (I did). Don't expect to learn the combat system using the in-game tutorial. I read an online wiki to figure out how to not die during the first few missions and still fumbled through about half of the game before I finally fully figured out the system (on normal mode). That worked well for me since the difficulty picked up about half way through and I continued to be challenged. If I had not figured out the combat system, I likely would have hit a difficulty wall at some point and would have been unable to progress.
The combat system is much less annoying after you fully learn it, but some annoying bits remain. Those are:
1. It's very slow-paced. You might spend 20-50 minutes for each attempt at a mission, and most of that will be watching enemies move around or attack (which you don't need to see unless they kill one of your people). Tip: hold O to speed up time during some enemy actions.
2. You will replay the same missions over and over. Not because you want to, but because the enemy had a surprise in store for you and killed one of your guys (any character death is a game over).
So this is a game for people who like strategy games, are okay with a wonky, but mostly fair combat system, and are willing to spend time to fully learn that combat system.
There's a new game+ option and a free post-game DLC mission. I've grown to like the combat system enough to want to complete that DLC, though probably not enough to replay the game in new game+ (which doesn't look like it offers much).
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PlayStation 4
The Fight mechanics for me the only interesting thing about this game, a lot of exploration.
The Graphics are average,
The Sound, nope, nothing that i ll keep in mind.
The Story ... bof, we know almost NOTHING about he characters, the story is not compelling at all.
I was disappointed.
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PlayStation 4
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PlayStation 4
Even with the bad reviews I wanted to give this game a try. I played around 20 hours, died many times, and found the game challenging and enjoyable until I hit a certain point. The combat system is broken. This game feels like someone tried to create and innovative battle system but did not play test it.
Taking into consideration that if the enemy gets a turn they will easily kill a team member and you will have to **** each battle area takes around 15-20 minutes to clear.
The death of certain enemies trigger other enemy movements. Which is fine but with the cover and counter attack system I have no way of controlling who dies or commanding my team not to attack certain enemies.
Certain dungeons aren't meant to be cleared the first time you enter it. You have to clear a certain area and then come back later when you are stronger. However there is no way of knowing how many gorians will attack you from out of nowhere if you open a certain chest. It is assumed that you will get attacked and you might be able to run away but you have to die the first time to find out. So essentially in every dungeon you have to waste at least 45 minutes to figure out if you can survive.
But the biggest reason why I quit playing the game was because at certain points during battles I wasn't allowed to kill certain key enemies. However, again with the cover and counter-attack system, the enemy that I was not allowed to kill would attack and I would counter and kill them causing a game over.
So essentially there is not enough control of each aspect of battle in respect to the difficulty and management you need for this game to be challenging and fun.
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PlayStation 4
Summary Natural Doctrine a challenging strategy title which features cross-play and cross-save. The games sets out to test your ability to conquer the evils that lurk in the sprawling networks of mines and ruins in the areas surrounding the fortress city of Feste.
Rated M
for Mature
Platforms:
- PlayStation 4
- PlayStation 3
- PlayStation Vita
Initial Release Date: Sep 30, 2014
Developer:
- Kadokawa
Publisher: NIS America
Genres:
