Early impressions of Asdivine Hearts on the Wii U

[Victar]

Kemco has only released three RPGs on the Wii U: Revenant Saga, Asdivine Hearts, and Alphadia Genesis. All three are also available on other consoles and the PC, so their console versions won't go away when the Wii U/3DS eshops close. (Some 3DS ports of Kemco games are NOT on other consoles or PC, and those games will be officially available only on mobile after the 3DS eshop closes).

The Wii U version of Asdivine Hearts is a little cheaper than the PS4 or Switch versions, so I figured I'd try a Kemco RPG on the Wii U for the novelty. Other than the lower price and "because I can", there doesn't seem to be any reason to play the Wii U version. The Wii U version doesn't have Playstation trophies or Steam achievements (although it might have an in-game "achievement" record?), and Wii U games can't be played on the go like Switch games can.

Kemco games don't seem to have any cross-buy between Nintendo platforms (very few games do), so buying a Kemco game on Wii U doesn't give a copy of or a discount for the Switch version. Similarly, buying a game like Bonds of the Skies on the 3DS doesn't give a copy of or a discount for the Switch version.

There is no paid DLC for Wii U Asdivine Hearts. There doesn't seem to be any for the PS4 or Switch versions either. Asdivine Hearts is one of the earliest games that Kemco brought to consoles, so perhaps they weren't creating paid DLC for their console ports yet.

Asdivine Hearts is fully compatible with the Wii U Pro Controller, which is nice because the Wii U's default controller is its bulky, heavy touchscreen-tablet. Both the directional cross and the stick of the Wii U Pro Controller will move the main character, but getting the main character to walk in a diagonal line is surprisingly difficult.

Perhaps the single greatest annoyance to playing on a Wii U is that the positions of the "confirm" and "cancel" buttons are flipped from their positions on a Playstation 4 controller! I might have reconsidered this experiment had I known that, but I'm going to forge onward.

I can't help noticing that the cat Felix in Asdivine Hearts has two tails - just like the playable Nekomata in Yodanji. The Nekomata in Yodanji (and Japanese folklore) is an extremely wicked beast known for arson and necromancy. I'm sure that's just a coincidence. (Yodanji is a Kemco original game, and not by Exe-Create).

EDIT: One more quirk of playing the Wii U is that it's not obvious how to run away from regular battles. A quick check of the Help menu revealed that the plus button (marked with "+" on the Wii U tablet or pro controller) gives the command to flee.

TLDR - while Wii U Asdivine Hearts works fine so far (load times are brisk, and I haven't encountered any crashes) the Wii U's three Kemco RPGs are best played on another platform, even if one has a Wii U Pro Controller.