Orangeblood: A few tips to help in this hip hop inspired adventure
Become legendary in New Koza
Orangeblood is an old-school style RPG adventure that takes place in 1990s Japan in a city called New Koza that gives off some Los Angeles or Miami vibes. The game is heavily dripped in hip-hop culture with different tracks playing in the background as you play.
You take on the role of Vanilla, a young woman with gang ties who was incarcerated for a crime she committed but things change. She is set free in order to go on different missions to try and essentially eliminate some of the most ruthless gangs and their leaders.
In order to accomplish this, she gathers a squad of three other swaggy women to accompany her. With her toughness and strong (and funny) slang, Vanilla and her crew are one that you certainly don't forget. Here are a few tips to kick you off with this hidden gem of a game.
Don't Be Afraid To Be Aggressive (To Start Anyway)
In Orangeblood, the combat is turn-based much like other iconic games such as Final Fantasy and the Persona series. After going through the beginning phases of the game, Vanilla will obtain a couple of starter weapons that she can use in battle.
Early on, the enemies will be pretty easy to take down for the most part. And so because of that, it's good to just be aggressive and put them out of their misery early. And once you recruit more members to your squad, you can balance the strategy a bit.
And as your arsenal grows, take advantage of this, and unleash on your foes. It's not going to always be pretty, but at the start, you can definitely try to have at it. Now, if you're struggling early in the game, then that's when you might have to play a bit more defensively if needed.
Explore As Much As You Can
Orangeblood is almost as much of an open-world game as it is a pure RPG experience. No, it's not some massive world like Grand Theft Auto V, but there is enough intriguing areas to check out. An example would be, as soon as you begin your first mission, you'll discover a building that has a shooting range where you can practice your skills.
You just never know what you'll find and it makes an already interesting game that much more interesting. Keep an eye out for openings in different buildings and walk on in. Some buildings can be used as checkpoints as well which can always come in handy.
So definitely be curious when heading into Orangeblood. No doubt it's fun to get to the gun action and diving deeper into the story, but exploration can be fun and open up some new avenues. You'll also get some small dialogue from different citizens in buildings and on the streets.
Take Advantage of The Squad Around You
Your crew in Orangeblood will get up to four characters, led by Vanilla as we mentioned. Each character will have their own skills to start until you unlock more abilities. Take advantage of the depth that your crew has and mix things up a bit.
You can still play aggressively if you wish after advancing further in the game, but make us of any defensive abilities that your team has. Maybe you want one character to shoot, but then on the next turn, you want another to try and heal someone, then this is a well-balanced approach.
If you've played turn-based combat games in the past, then you should be ahead of the game (no pun intended). Once you have your full squad, you can really get creative with your strategic approach, but in the beginning, you start with just two characters so it's different. But once the whole gang is in place, then look out, world.
