User blog:Luminon/Tenmei no Conquista Review

This blog post was originally meant to be a review of Tenmei no Conquista (天冥のコンキスタ), Eushully's 20th title, however, it seems that I got carried away with writing and this ended up being a miniature walkthrough of sorts (well, whatever).

Review updated on March 17, 2021 (expansion finished).

Summary
Tenmei no Conquista is an eroge with RPG elements developed by Eushully, and is relatively short (<50 hours) compared to the length of other Eushully titles.

I was a bit disappointed at how short it was, seeing that the other Eushully titles could easily take over 100+ hours of playtime, but they've since released an expansion that sort of makes up for the base game's low amount of content.

The plot of this game is rather linear and typically involves the protagonist, Klaus, journeying through different areas while subjugating / forcefully recruiting into his army any entity who stands in his way.

Each heroine has their own little "arc" which consists of a few chapters revolving around encountering + subjugating said heroine, but subsequent character interactions are virtually nonexistent, unfortunately.

That being said, I wouldn't be too concerned over subpar plot writing as I doubt most people who play Eushully games do so for the plot anyway. I personally enjoy the diverse cast of characters ( as well as their lewd H-scenes ) each Eushully game brings, so if you're looking for an awe-inspiring and memorable plot, this might not be the game for you.

Tenmei's gameplay is fairly standard as far as Eushully games go, with a lot of game mechanics reused from their previous titles (which I will not be going into detail here), and stages often require a different set of strategies / tactics to be effectively cleared.

Unfortunately, the gameplay can get pretty stale the further you progress in the game, so I'd advise taking frequent breaks from playing so as to not burn yourself out.

Tenmei's cast is very well-designed, befitting Eushully's high standards, and I especially love Cerouge and Beatrice's designs. Their personalities are also varied enough so as to not be overly mundane or overlapping each other's, and I greatly appreciate that as well.

A male sidekick character (like Eutre from Fuukan or Leguna from Kamidori) would have been a nice addition to the game to provide variety to the cast.

(I'm not a fan of Elvire or Maize (i.e. this game's reincarnation of Louise/Mylen Ploa)'s personalities, but that's just me.)

The game's visuals and OST are decent as well, don't have anything much to add apart from the fact that they could use more OSTs.

And with that, I suppose this concludes my summarized review of Tenmei no Conquista.

Story
The story follows Klaus, a descendant of the mazoku (魔族 - Demon Race / Demonfolk) who is currently residing in a human vessel. His objective is to return to his original body (à la Himegari) and subjugate any and all foes who get in his way.

He is aided by a suima (睡魔 - Succubus), Helmina, who serves as his companion for pretty much the entire game, as well as the the various characters he forces into submission recruits along the way.

The plot is rather linear and there are no alternate endings / branching routes save for Game Overs.

Plot Spoilers
Klaus and Helmina first encounter their first major enemy, Angel Juliana, after capturing a few of the spirits and angels' familiars within a sacred forest. Klaus manages to defeat Juliana in combat and subsequently captures her, making her the first major addition to his army.

Klaus then expresses his desire at finding a succubus helper to lessen the burden on Helmina, who is in charge of pretty much charming/enticing any enemy they face so that they can be captured and recruited into Klaus's army. They encounter the self-proclaimed Princess of the Succubi, Cerouge, who is a small yet adorable pink-haired loli wearing barely any clothing. After some disputes, they manage to recruit Cerouge and continue with their mission of finding a method of returning Klaus to his original body.

Soon afterwards, they come across an angelic device resembling a large set of scales, and discover the guardian of said device - the Researcher Angel, Reginia, who expresses her interest at a "human" working together with the Demonfolk and wonders what his objectives are. Klaus similarly expresses his interest at the device Reginia is guarding and wonders if it will be able to return him to his main body. Reginia notes that the device can only be operated with angelic power, and that if he hopes to utilise the device, he would have to subjugate her first, which she says isn't going to happen. A defiant Klaus does just that though, and the device soon comes into his possession.

Unfortunately for Klaus, the device proves incapable of returning him to his original body, but it did possess the ability to strengthen his army even further. Klaus continues to look for another method to achieve his objectives and soon comes across a demon being attacked by a group of angels. Klaus and Helmina are initially reluctant to assist the demon, who is garbed in a jester's outfit, as she looks like trouble, but the crafty demon, Maize, alerts the angels to their presence, forcing Klaus and co. to wipe out the angels anyway.

Klaus and co. are not happy with Maize's antics and suggest that the demon make up for it in some way (i.e. by joining their army), but the seemingly oblivious demon merely thanks them and proceeds to head back to her lair. Klaus decides to follow her and realises that she's been storing all her gold and treasures in said lair. Maize expresses her displeasure at her new "friends" following her back to her lair and suddenly realises that they are out to steal her precious gold and treasures. After a lengthy battle (and misunderstanding), Klaus reveals that all he wanted was for her to join her army, and she can keep her treasures if she wants. Maize joins Klaus shortly afterwards.

After continuing on their journey, Klaus soon comes across another angelic temple - one that is guarded by another high-ranking angel, Luciel. Luciel is not happy that a "human" is working together with the demonfolk and proceeds to eradicate them, but she is defeated and decides to retreat for now. Klaus continues pursuing her to another angelic stronghold and realizes that she is under attack by one of Klaus's former acquaintances - a berserker demon known as Elvire. Klaus declares his intentions of making Luciel "his own" and a tsundere Luciel declines his "offer" vehemently. Elvire, Luciel and Klaus are then embroiled in a 3-way battle, with Klaus successfully capturing Luciel.

Elvire is not happy that Klaus interfered with "her prey", and commences a follow-up battle where Klaus once again emerges victorious and captures Elvire in the process as well.

With his army going stronger, Klaus decides to seek out the rumours of a hitenma (飛天魔 - Flying Heavenly Demon), a powerful entity said to possess information on the whereabouts of the angels and supposedly, a device that can return him to his original body. After a bit of searching, they come across said demon and she introduces herself as Beatlies. Beatlies is confused as to what a human would do with such information, and Klaus reveals his objectives of returning to his original body and subsequently eradicating the angel race in the process.

Beatlies is not impressed with his savage and barbaric intentions and refuses to give up the information without a fight. After a lengthy battle, Klaus manages to subjugate her and learns the whereabouts of a supposed sacred mountain containing the device he needs to return him to his original self.

Klaus proceeds to head to said mountain and encounters yet another angel - the 5th-Ranked Angel, Mavislaine, who briefly mentions the name of her superior, Olga • Niza • Kait, before determining that Klaus and his army are too dangerous to leave alone and that they will have to be exterminated.

Klaus subsequently overpowers Mavislaine and recruits her into his army even despite her strong resistance, and they finally arrive at a sacred temple where the device supposedly awaits. They come across several "clones" of the previous angels Klaus recruited, namely, clones of Juliana, Reginia, Luciel and Mavislaine, and promptly defeats them all in combat before arriving at the final destination.

They encounter the guardian of the true angelic device, Olga • Niza • Kait, and she reveals herself to be an envoy of God tasked with eradicating the entire demon race. She notes that the device allows her to mass-produce angels indefinitely, and that the clones they defeated were produced after learning of the originals' defection to Klaus's army. Klaus decides to take the device for his own purposes and after a long battle, finally defeats Olga in combat. As Olga perishes, she murmurs the name of an unknown entity before Klaus takes control of the device.

In the epilogue, it is revealed that the device, unfortunately, wasn't enough to return Klaus to his original body, but that did not stop his ambitions of becoming the next 魔王 (maou, Demon King). As he exits the temple with Helmina, he accepts the fact that he will just have to remain in this body for a bit longer, and looks forward to the long journey ahead of them.

Gameplay
Gameplay is largely reminiscent of Rhapsody of God, where you control a set of characters on an isometric playing field with a few major differences.

Unlike in Rhapsody of God, you can no longer do the following:
 * Capture home bases (similar to Kamidori and Amayui)
 * Summon other units from home bases at any point in time
 * Retreat units to recover their HP

There is also no apparent way (there might be, I haven't checked) to revive your units in-battle, so if they die due to your screwup or BS enemy attack patterns, they are effectively dead for the remainder of that stage.

There are also a few other mechanics taken from previous Eushully games that I have noted:
 * Dangerous Encounters (i.e. "You feel an ominous presence approaching..." popup massages)
 * This works exactly the same as in Tenbin no La DEA - a powerful enemy appears that will usually wipe your team out if you are unprepared, and usually spawns in the late phases of map when you are about to clear the stage (like only a few enemies remaining). It is possible to artificially "summon" an encounter by progressing turns repeatedly and stalling an enemy (i.e. intentionally not clearing the stage) until the encounter popup appears.
 * As of writing, I have found 2 of such encounters, both have their unique dialogue and cutscenes that I have noted on my channel.
 * Capturing Mechanic
 * This is also exactly the same as capturing from Amayui Castle Meister, and forms the core gameplay of Tenmei no Conquista.
 * You can capture enemies in two different ways. One is to max their "Affection Gauge" by Charming them using the skills of succubi like Helmina, Cerouge, or Lily if you have her, and then defeating them normally.
 * The other method is to deal a finishing blow with a "Capture Attack" used by either Klaus or Lily. This method requires a bit more finesse as you have to "soften" enemies up to deal the finishing blow to them (Klaus/Lily don't have very good attack stats), but the major advantage of this method is that you don't have to waste actions like charming the enemy beforehand. Very effective against particularly charm-resistant enemies like enemy succubi.
 * Unit Evolution (referred to as "Advance Spell" in-game)
 * Unlocked after Chapter 20, this works almost the same as the evolution mechanic from Sankai Ou no Yubiwa - where you have to get the unit you want to evolve to a certain level and then use fodder units to "evolve" them. Pretty straightforward.
 * You can also use up additional Ritual Points to unlock a higher set of skills for them post-evolution.

Gameplay Review
The capturing and evolution mechanics are great, but again, the gameplay is largely made up of a mish-mash of game mechanics from previous games, so it's not particularly notable.

The lack of an AoE charm skill (there might be one on a unit somewhere, I'm not sure), together with the lack of units with "Capture Attacks" (only Klaus/Lily appear to have them for now) is also pretty bad, as you have to capture every unit individually instead of wiping them out all at once with an AoE charm + AoE skill combo.

Admittedly, you don't really have to capture every single enemy unit (I just do so since it's free Ritual Points), but it does get pretty tedious later on, especially in stages with more than 20 enemies (can take around 30 minutes to an hour for one stage alone ><).

Overall Pros/Cons
Pros
 * Fresh new cast of characters
 * Protagonist looks semi-decent for once
 * A lot of lewd H-scenes
 * Tactical turn-based strategy
 * Addictive gameplay

Cons
 * Average and linear story
 * Gameplay gets a bit repetitive/tedious later on
 * Lack of AoE charm skill / more characters with finishing blow capture skills
 * Lack of zooming in/out and map rotation functions (that were present in Rhapsody)
 * Lack of disabling keyboard shortcuts (they had this in Fuukan)
 * Lack of character interaction "post-arc"
 * Lack of content in general
 * Barely any NG+ content or EX dungeons/bosses (i.e no incentive to play the game more than once)

Overall Score: 6/10

General Tips

 * Capture all Treasure Putettos you encounter, they are worth a lot of Ritual Points when sold.
 * There exist unique versions of generic enemy units that have higher base stats than their generic counterparts. They also possess an additional skill. They are differentiated by their names and also a slightly different sprite. Locking them to prevent accidental sacrificing might be worth it, as they do not seem to spawn more than once per playthrough.
 * You don't have to level generic units with Ritual Points very often (if at all) because most of the time, you will end up naturally capturing a higher-levelled variant of them later on.
 * This applies to Evolution/Advance Spell as well. Most "evolved" units can be caught in their evolved forms naturally in the later stages.
 * However, keep in mind that naturally captured evolved versions of units do not retain their skills from their base classes, such as Support Attacks. For this reason, it might be worth levelling and evolving one or two base units if you feel like using them.
 * Do level your main characters / evolve them if you can, though, since this unlocks additional scenes and skills for them.
 * Support Attacks work when an ally unit is directly adjacent to another ally unit, and the supporting ally has enough range to hit the enemy the main unit attacked first. When using a lot of units with Support Skills (like Angels or Harpies), it can make for a pretty effective combo against large groups of enemies or bosses.
 * Support Attacks only work when the main attacking unit uses their default attack, they do not activate when skills are used.
 * Support Attacks also do not trigger counterattacks on the supporting unit. However, if the main attacking unit is directly adjacent to an enemy with counterattack, that unit will be counterattacked.
 * Chests can be unlocked by a character which either has the "Unlock" (解錠) skill naturally, or by equipping a bracelet which provides said skill on a character (sacrifices their equip slot though).
 * It is beneficial for your chest-unlocker to have the "Act Again" (再行動) skill, as there are stages later on that require you to finish it within a given number of turns for a Perfect Clear, and you usually won't have enough turns to fulfill all the conditions and unlock everything without having this skill.
 * Chests are also cleverly disguised/hidden in later stages, so be sure to examine each background element carefully before starting the map, instead of doing the map halfway and realising that there was a chest later on, which is a big waste of time since the map has to be re-done.
 * Rocks/statues are broken with the "Destroy" (破壊) skill, this is necessary to access some treasures in some stages.
 * Alternatively, this can be bypassed with the "Warp/Teleportation" (転移) skill, which ignores obstacles and enemy ZOC (Zone of Control) effects.

EXP Exploit
It is possible to indefinitely grind for EXP (at a rate of +5, very slow) by having a unit equipped with the Healing Staff (recovers 10 of an ally's HP), and healing an ally indefinitely while stalling an enemy (if the stage clear condition is "defeat all enemies").

Only works for units that can equip staves.

FAQs

 * Why am I missing some CGs?

Battles with important characters feature additional dialogue and/or CGs depending on who attacked them. Of important note is the battle with Beatlies on Chapter 38 - 2 CGs can be obtained from the resulting dialogue by attacking Beatlies with Elvire.

Most characters often have something to say to Klaus and Helmina when engaging them in battle. Additionally, high-ranking angel battles feature additional dialogue for all the angels captured up to that point.

Closing
I think that's about all from me, seems like this review ended up doubling as a mini-walkthrough of some sort, hope it helps anyone who decides to pick this game up.

I'd still recommend this game if you are an avid Eushully fan, a bit disappointed at the lack of content, but it's still a semi-decent game overall. Hope the appends offer more content (EDIT: which they did). Cheers.

Expansion Mini-Review
The expansion (AP02) follows the same linear storytelling style as the base game and is nothing notable, gameplay-wise they gave Helmina a 3-ranged capture attack and also gave Cerouge a multi-hit ability, both of which are useful in capturing. No AoE charm attacks still, which is a bummer.

I'd get it and play through it if you are a fan of Eushully games (not necessarily this game) in general, and don't mind the nonexistent story the expansion has to offer. Otherwise, you're better off playing one of their past titles.

Length-wise, it's about half the playing time of the base game (50 / 2 = 25 hours), which makes sense as there are only 25 new stages added (excluding the character-specific expeditions).