Moero Chronicle (PC) Review

By Brandon (Michael) Howard 11.08.2017

Review for Moero Chronicle on PC

Ecchi games have always had their own niche market, but Compile Heart and Idea Factory have made it their mission to broaden the demographic by bundling them with other genres. While Monster Monpiece took on the digital CCG genre, Moero Chronicle is all about conquering dungeons with a team of very eager monster girls.

Moero Chronicle is frustratingly dialogue heavy for both genres it's trying to hit here. As an ecchi game, most fans would rather spend their time gazing lovingly at the CG images, and dungeon crawler enthusiasts don't want to be stopped every six tiles for a cutscene to play. Moero Chronicle is so far removed from actually having gameplay that it's hard to imagine it having less.

The game follows Io, a young man who attempts to purge his "wicked desires" for girls out of his heart, only to wind up being chosen to save the world from corrupted, rampaging monster girls. Ironic, right? Io and his childhood friend, Lilia, set out to find what could be causing the monster girls of the world to be acting the way they are.

Screenshot for Moero Chronicle on PC

Each section of the world has its own associated dungeon, each with its own monster girl to guard the area. The Etrian Odyssey-style dungeons are large, sure, but there's absolutely nothing to do but move towards the objective on each map. Maps can have multiple objectives, such as finding the master of the dungeon and recruiting them to your team, or finding other objectives like hidden treasure.

Enemy encounters are frequent, and unfortunately, they aren't very engaging. Battles have three parties that participate: enemy monsters, Io, and any allied monster girls he's brought along for the ride. Combat is really just standard, stock RPG stuff, with parties taking turns based on their speed. With the number of encounters that occur, and the little that goes on during them, dungeons feel like they go on forever.

Screenshot for Moero Chronicle on PC

Io himself doesn't fight; he only channels his energy into making his allies' attacks stronger. Io can store energy for several turns by himself, or the team can "charm" him, raising his charge level even higher. If he maxes out too far, he'll be unable to act for several turns, removing the party's item access and the ability to charge. Making sure Io "releases" before maxing out is key to making the most of his ability, but his turns feel so useless, since he doesn't impact combat in any way.

Io's dynamic in the party makes a little more sense as other monster girls join up, as they can balance charming him with expending his charge to power up certain skills as needed, but he feels completely unnecessary and tacked on. He doesn't feel meaningful outside of the few points of damage he's responsible to buff, and even then, most of the girls are capable of dealing with monsters without his help, so he only serves to lengthen battles.

Screenshot for Moero Chronicle on PC

Monster girls are recruited mostly at the end of each dungeon in a slightly creepy way. To recruit them, you need to max out a character's energy bar, which is done by attacking the girls' clothes so that, well, they fall off. After that, Io engages in a touching minigame where he (and the player) has to rub their naked body until their corruption goes away.

While it's a mechanic that makes sense for an ecchi game, the specific areas can be a pain to find in the amount of time in each session, so it just feels like sheer luck when Io stumbles across the correct one. It's another Compile Heart mechanic made for a touch screen that really just doesn't port well over to a PC interface.

Even for an adult game, this title has little to no respect for its intended audience. It's a lousy dungeon crawler with minimal party customisation until very late in the game, and it is way too wrapped up in its own weird storytelling to focus on the point of a game like this—the characters themselves. The focus is completely off here, and it shows in every aspect.

Screenshot for Moero Chronicle on PC

Cubed3 Rating

2/10
Rated 2 out of 10

Very Bad

Moero Chronicle is just straight up disappointing. It's a lacklustre dungeon crawler, with time consuming, wasteful mechanics that pad out dungeons. It's a subpar ecchi game far too invested in its own subpar story to excel at the fanservice it offers, and it does all of this with creepy undertones, frustrating interfaces, and an overall aggravating vibe. There might still be a niche Compile Heart fanbase that gets something out of this, but even then, it's a stretch.

Developer

Compile Heart

Publisher

Idea Factory

Genre

Turn Based RPG

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  2/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date Out now   Australian release date Out now   

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