Nights of Azure, one of the few Action RPGs developed by Gust. As with Blue Reflection, Gust tried to get out of their comfort zone, did they succeed? Well, to an extent, yes. I don't have much more to say for an introduction...let's begin.

Story: I'm going to be honest, it's been a while since the last time I finished this game, that was in 2017, and I don't remember every single detail about the story, but, that's okay, probably, because the story...story, if we want to call it that, isn't the main focus, perhaps. The game is focused on the relationship between the two main girls, Arnice and Lilysse, perhaps you know this already but I'll say it anyway: Arnice and Lilysse are in love with each other, however, the other (few) characters never call them lesbians or weird, I'd say that the developers were trying to make a game where two female characters are in love with each other and it's just that, love. Gust didn't had an agenda, or at least, it's a game with LGBT characters that feels much more genuine than others, in the end, the (good) story about demons that lurk the night, the Nightlord who wants to cover the world in an eternal night (if I remember correctly), and a demon (Christophorus) who might be an enemy or not feels secondary, I don't remember all the details about the story and perhaps I've forgotten a few reasons why Arnice goes to a few places in the game, but what I don't forget is her relationship with Lilysse and a few moving and beautiful scenes. Comparing the game with western games with LGBT characters, Nights of Azure doesn't feel forced, and that's probably because it isn't, Arnice and Lilysse are very well written as characters and I care about them. Overall, it's not the most memorable story of all time, and perhaps for Gust standards it's one their least good stories, but certain moments and cutscenes make parts of the story memorable, not to mention the presence of funny moments and dialogue. The cutscene where we see Arnice and Lilysse briefly dance is part of the reason why I'm giving this category an 8 to be honest, it's a shame that the cutscene isn't that long, but at least they say a few things and...it's a moving cutscene, as I said, the game has a few moving and beautiful scenes. Another thing, the game has suggestive dialogue and fan service...I don't care about the fan service, but the suggestive dialogue is a nice touch...it's part of the reason why the game has funny moments.

Graphics: It's not the most beautiful game developed by Gust for PS4, but it looks great nonetheless, the game has better graphics than other anime style games for PS4, the more you play Nights of Azure, the more you appreciate its graphics, for example, at first I wasn't very convinced and I though that the game really didn't look much better than Omega Quintet, for example, but the more I played the game, the more I liked the graphics, and eventually, after some hours of play, I said ''this actually looks great!'' There are some beautiful environments, really nice textures, great 3D models, and the 2D art...well, I don't remember the name of the artist, but it's pretty...not everything looks nice, and the water obviously looks better in the sequel, also, there are clipping issues at times. Yes, the clipping issues bother me, but other than a few things, Nights of Azure is a game that looks great for the most part.

Sound: Another game developed by Gust with an amazing soundtrack, the soundtrack is fitting for the game and the music is fantastic, Floral Crown it my favorite boss theme and it sounds awesome, epic, and even sad...fitting considering the character, Floral Crown is my favorite boss theme in the game, but of course, there are other great boss themes in the game, Flawless is probably the longest boss theme in the game and it's an amazing theme, Goliath Z is an awesome boss theme despite the fact that it's used for the first boss, Illegal Gimmick is an awesome theme used for a few areas in the game...It's a great soundtrack. Too bad that Nights of Azure was the first game developed by Gust that wasn't dubbed into English...I would have liked an English dub, but at least the original Japanese voice acting isn't that bad, in fact, I like it for the most part, I think...

Addictive: The game is more complex than Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online and at the same time, it might be a less complex game than the Star Ocean games or The Witch and the Hundred Knight games, for example. You use the square and triangle buttons to attack, the X button is used for a special attack, to dodge, you use the circle button. Arnice can summon creatures known as Servans during combat, you summon Servans by pressing R1 + X, circle, square or triangle button, Servans tend to have different skills to help Arnice, when a Servan has been summoned, you can press R1 + one of the 4 buttons used to summon Servans to activate a Servan Burst, a Servan Burst uses the SP of each Servan. Arnice has the ability to change weapons during gameplay, depending on the situation, a weapon that isn't a sword might be a better choice. Servans can also level up and every character can improve their stats with equipment, unlike many other RPGs where the playable characters level up just by fighting, in Nights of Azure, and the sequel, you must to be in a specific place where you can use the blue blood that you have acquired in order to level up, said blue blood is also used as currency in several shops. Overall, it's a very fun game despite being repetive, and the fact that it's not the most complex game of its genre means that it's actually a good choice if you have never played an Action RPG before.

Depth: It's a shorter game than other RPGs, however, I'm giving this category a 7 because after you beat the game, there is some extra content including 2 new bosses, also, the game has different endings, and getting every ending should take some time, sure, it's not the longest game of all time, even of its genre, but if you want to see everything, the experience lasts some time. The game has unlockable content but a good part of said unlockable content is...unlocked after finishing the game for the first time.

Difficulty: Apparently the hardest parts of Nights of Azure are the final boss and an optional (maybe?) boss I haven't fought yet, the final boss took me at least several tries if I remember correctly, for the most part, however, Nights of Azure is an easy game.

It's a repetitive and easy game, but even so I really like Nights of Azure, the lack of an English dub and the fact that it doesn't always run at 60 frames per second are things I don't like, but other than those aspects, I think I don't have much to criticize here, I recommend Nights of Azure if you have never played an Action RPG before, of course, those looking for a challenge won't find one here, but for everyone else who doesn't have a problem with easy games and LGBT characters done well, I can recommend this game.