Popular Post YaManSmevz Posted June 29, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted June 29, 2022 So many missed reviews... ....I gotta comment!! Where's the reply section?? Quote Last Stop Ehh... questionable controls and writing, Sims reference, that's all I need to hear. Another icon I can safely pass when I'm mindlessly scrolling through the next sale! Quote Manifold Garden This looks absolutely gorgeous, and when I originally read this review I went straight to a trailer and it was confirmed. The gameplay's fierce originality looks to be as captivating as the visuals, and though the fact that you of all people had difficulty finding everything without assistance terrifies me just a tad, I'm gonna have to keep an eye out for this one! Quote The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe I've heard a lot about this one! Sidenote, I know it's just the name, but I keep getting this mixed up with the Stanford Prison Experiment. Now there would be an uneasy game? This game's opening reminds me of a short story that appeared in the booklet for the Radiohead EP How am I Driving? entitled New Job. I have looked all over but cannot find the text to save my life! I'll have to dig up the CD myself and just take a picture I guess! Anyway! Still need to get on board with this guy. Love the outside of the box approach, love the dedication to its jokes, just sounds like a truly unique experience. Quote Slay the Spire I saw "Deck building" and had to slap myself in the face in order to continue reading, I feel bad about that but my knee jerk was like "NOPE." It certainly sounds demanding, I will say that! But given that Curse of the Dead Gods and Hades are already on the list, I'll probably pass on this one (unless I absolutely fall in love with Curse, in which case I'll likely revisit this review). On 5/31/2022 at 11:52 AM, DrBloodmoney said: Bayonetta Always thought this looked like such a cool game. Didn't know it had Leo Getz syndrome though... that can work beautifully or it can slowly devolve onto being flat out annoying, sucks to see that this veers closer to the latter. Also unfortunate is that they were more worried about making someone cool than making a person who just happens to be cool. Like Roy in the Poochie episode or something? Quote Road 96 Probably will have to get into Life Is Strange first, but I'm drawn in by your description of the soundtrack alone. I'll just assume it'll go well when I get into Strange and make a mental note for this one! Quote Unpacking Realm recently wrote about this, and the whole time I was like "wasn't I talking to somebody about this game?" I wasn't of course, I had just read this review - a testament to your writing skills, by the way! Also particularly enjoyed watching this game's quick battle with Detroit? This one's on the list. It sounds great to me! Quote Doki Doki Literature Club+ This is precisely the type of game I would play for the challenge you were talking about maybe possibly hosting. I just have a natural aversion to games of this ilk and my reasons are pretty much exactly things you've said about the genre before and in this very review. But I mean... if a game's good, a game's good, right? Quote inFamous I've been meaning to get into these games pretty much since I got my PS4! Thanks for the reminder, man. Especially considering that they don't take long to complete, I'm really sleepin on these! Quote Papers, Please Obviously they're all good reads, but this was an especially enjoyable one! Not since Cuphead have I considered getting a console simply because a lone game appealed to me that much! I'm really glad you wrote about this before getting to the Beholder games, it's my understanding (thanks, Realm!) that this is very much a precursor of sorts. I need to go watch a playthrough of this one pronto! Quote Tetragon I was kind of on board with this one til you mentioned the random switch up at the end and highlighted the glitchiness there. Plus stiff controls? I'unno man? Quote The Gardens Between I could get down with this one though! Love the theme of the narrative, love the chill soundtrack, and honestly I like having a laid back game on deck. "Gardens Between, massage my brain!" Think I'll check this one out! Quote Jazzpunk Adult Swim? Naked Gun? The?? My humor isn't very different from yours, so if you had a good time with Jazzpunk I have literally no reason to think I wouldn't too! Especially since it doesn't seem the gameplay drags it down any. I'm with it! Quote Resident Evil 7: Biohazard Okay, I changed my mind - this was the best read of the bunch! I've long considered completing the main games up to 5 and retiring from the franchise, but I've just heard too much good about this, and your write-up cements it - guess I'ma have to add it to the list! Whew!! I do apologize for this gigantic post, really need to stop falling behind. It's a terrible habit! As always, phenomenal work my dude! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted June 30, 2022 Author Share Posted June 30, 2022 (edited) 16 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I'm really pleased you're actually doing some of these games quite the service! Especially ones that get bashed around with the "LOL EZPZ PLATINUM" stick! Like this one... I only had a pretty vague idea about what Jazzpunk was, I just never really looked into it all that much! It sounds like a pretty chaotic but hilarious time though, especially when you mentioned how rewarding it can be to just sort of stumble around the open world areas and find some ridiculous gag that you'd never have expected. 15 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Adult Swim? Naked Gun? The?? My humor isn't very different from yours, so if you had a good time with Jazzpunk I have literally no reason to think I wouldn't too! Especially since it doesn't seem the gameplay drags it down any. I'm with it! It's actually weird to me the Jazzpunk would even be considered in that EZPZ category - I mean, technically yeah, it's a game that could be run through with a guide to count as a "quick plat"... but really, I'd say it is only in the same sense something like Day of the Tentacle of Grim Fandango also is - like, ruining the game deliberately like that could push it into that category, but really, it's still too long and complicated to be classed along with the Breakthrough or Jumping X games, and there's so much there to enjoy if you play it properly, that I'd be sad to think of it that way. It would be like watching The Naked Gun, but fast forwarding the jokes ? I actually thought of Jazzpunk to do now for a specific reason - seeing the way Stick it to The Man did the checklist rounds recently, I thought Jazzpunk is a good one to highlight, as I could totally see it being one of those games that a bunch of checklists discover now, and laugh along with... I really can't imagine someone liking the humour of Stick it to The Man, but not digging Jazzpunk. This review is my version of a bird-seed-gun, fired onto it, so y'all can swarm on it, and carry it off... ? Quote For some reason, my mind completely drifted off when I read this part last night, and I imagined how hilarious it would be if Mr Snuffleupagus (The Mammoth from Sesame Street).... this guy.... Happened to use that same upbeat and encouraging voice to just..... Call me a C**t! You know if you couldn't guess, that word that this site censors above most others. I just couldn't get out of my head how funny that would sound ? ? This is the kind of thing I have to police! My kid will go down rabbit holes of clicking on new Youtube vids.. and occasionally parody stuff makes it in there, and I have to figure out the history functions on Youtube, just to get it away before he starts repeating it in school! Quote I can sort of understand some long-time Resident Evil fans gripes that it doesn't feel Resident Evil enough, but for me that was half the reason I loved it so much, BECAUSE it was so different, yet just sharing enough DNA that it is connected. It's funny - having now finished it, and immediately played the RE2 and RE3 remakes, I don't think it's really that far outside of traditional RE in terms of gameplay... but it does just manage to transpose that stuff to a whole new setting with such flair, that it's surprising. I could totally see someone playing RE7 first, and being genuinely surprised when they go back to the older ones that the game still works in an urban, zombie setting! Quote So.... am I actually a Horror fan? And I just haven't really realised? I saw the influence of most of these myself when I played the game. I particularly liked the allusions to Rec and Blair Witch in this one too, as I think that's something they did an incredibly good job with. I think you might just be... ...you're just more like me - I can take or leave the shlock horror, but the cream of the horror crop can still go punch for punch with any other genre, and a great one always really sticks with you! Quote They're a bit all over the place those DLC's. As a general rule I really like them, and I think as far as actual playtime goes, they are some of the very best value for money ones available. I certainly appreciated what they were trying to do, by putting so much variety into them. So yo could compare Amnesia: Machine For Pigs, to the Daughters DLC huh? That's the Amnesia game I'm most looking forward to, You can probably guess why, because of my Jessica Curry sound goblin tendencies, now I'm even more interested in getting to it. I thought Daughters was great! It's interesting that in RE8 (which I'm very mixed on, and found way worse than RE7) still has some great parts - and one is a section that is very P.T. / Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs inspired in the middle... which Daughters almost feels like a test-run for. It's one of the highlights of that game, definitely - there seems to be scope for RE to dabble in that more Walking Sim horror going forward... and it works! 15 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: So many missed reviews... ....I gotta comment!! Where's the reply section?? Holy crumbs, dude! Did you read all of those in one go? You're a mad man! ? Quote Ehh... questionable controls and writing, Sims reference, that's all I need to hear. Another icon I can safely pass when I'm mindlessly scrolling through the next sale! Yeah - just stick with Virginia, and await the next one from Variable State, I think. This one is (hopefully) the difficult middle child! Quote This looks absolutely gorgeous, and when I originally read this review I went straight to a trailer and it was confirmed. The gameplay's fierce originality looks to be as captivating as the visuals, and though the fact that you of all people had difficulty finding everything without assistance terrifies me just a tad, I'm gonna have to keep an eye out for this one! Oh yeah - it's gorgeous to look at, and the game is great - I wouldn't worry about that one crazy trophy -there's zero shame in consulting online help with that one, as it's obtuse as hell, but doable with some guidance, and the "regular" game is top notch puzzling fare! Quote I've heard a lot about this one! Sidenote, I know it's just the name, but I keep getting this mixed up with the Stanford Prison Experiment. Now there would be an uneasy game? This game's opening reminds me of a short story that appeared in the booklet for the Radiohead EP How am I Driving? entitled New Job. I have looked all over but cannot find the text to save my life! I'll have to dig up the CD myself and just take a picture I guess! Anyway! Still need to get on board with this guy. Love the outside of the box approach, love the dedication to its jokes, just sounds like a truly unique experience. Oh, it's required play for someone with your sense of humour, I reckon - and this new version really does keep up the quality, which isn't easy to do with a decade old comedy game! Quote I saw "Deck building" and had to slap myself in the face in order to continue reading, I feel bad about that but my knee jerk was like "NOPE." It certainly sounds demanding, I will say that! But given that Curse of the Dead Gods and Hades are already on the list, I'll probably pass on this one (unless I absolutely fall in love with Curse, in which case I'll likely revisit this review). Yeah, it surprised me no end this one, though for sure it's a deck-builder through and through, and I don't really have the genre knowledge to judge it compared to others. I keep meaning to get to Griftlands (that will be my next one) but there's just not enough hours in the day! Quote Probably will have to get into Life Is Strange first, but I'm drawn in by your description of the soundtrack alone. I'll just assume it'll go well when I get into Strange and make a mental note for this one! I certainly recommend Life is Strange over Road 96 - both good, and the soundtracks are great in both, but even on that front, LiS runs away with it for me. Before the Storm in particular - that Daughter soundtrack is unparalleled! Quote Realm recently wrote about this, and the whole time I was like "wasn't I talking to somebody about this game?" I wasn't of course, I had just read this review - a testament to your writing skills, by the way! Also particularly enjoyed watching this game's quick battle with Detroit? This one's on the list. It sounds great to me! It's a quick plat, so not likely to eat up much time, but it's certainly worth it, and makes a lot more use of that time than one might expect! Quote This is precisely the type of game I would play for the challenge you were talking about maybe possibly hosting. I just have a natural aversion to games of this ilk and my reasons are pretty much exactly things you've said about the genre before and in this very review. But I mean... if a game's good, a game's good, right? Haha - for sure - I mean, the game it appears to be on the surface is definitely not in my personal wheelhouse... ...but then, the game is secretly is absolutely is! Quote Okay, I changed my mind - this was the best read of the bunch! I've long considered completing the main games up to 5 and retiring from the franchise, but I've just heard too much good about this, and your write-up cements it - guess I'ma have to add it to the list! Definitely - hell, RE7 can absolutely just be done as a wholly separate thing, to be honest... there's so little franchise connection, that even someone who doesn't even understand the few tie-ins is really missing nothing in the overall experience... and it's a hell of an experience! Edited June 30, 2022 by DrBloodmoney 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 10 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: It would be like watching The Naked Gun, but fast forwarding the jokes I'm trying to picture The Naked Gun without all the jokes... and oddly enough I feel the disjointed ten minutes you'd get out of that would fit right in as an Adult Swim short! 10 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: I actually thought of Jazzpunk to do now for a specific reason - seeing the way Stick it to The Man did the checklist rounds recently, I thought Jazzpunk is a good one to highlight, as I could totally see it being one of those games that a bunch of checklists discover now, and laugh along with... I really can't imagine someone liking the humour of Stick it to The Man, but not digging Jazzpunk. This review is my version of a bird-seed-gun, fired onto it, so y'all can swarm on it, and carry it off... Everybody needs some zany sometiiiiimes... 10 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: I think you might just be... ...you're just more like me - I can take or leave the shlock horror, but the cream of the horror crop can still go punch for punch with any other genre, and a great one always really sticks with you! Facts! 10 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: Holy crumbs, dude! Did you read all of those in one go? You're a mad man! Haha thankfully no... I had already read them all (except the newer batch) so I just needed to skim and find the points I had wanted to respond to in the first place. I do the same with with Mr. Clarke's thread all the time! I'll read a review and think "I'll leave a comment later.." and then three or four reviews later I'm like "....crap." 10 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: Oh yeah - it's gorgeous to look at, and the game is great - I wouldn't worry about that one crazy trophy -there's zero shame in consulting online help with that one, as it's obtuse as hell, but doable with some guidance, and the "regular" game is top notch puzzling fare! I wonder if one of the developers was like "guys, we're trying way too hard here" and then snuck off to a computer to upload a complete walkthrough while wearing the trenchcoat and hat combo! 10 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: I certainly recommend Life is Strange over Road 96 - both good, and the soundtracks are great in both, but even on that front, LiS runs away with it for me. Before the Storm in particular - that Daughter soundtrack is unparalleled! Yeahmann... really gotta get into Life Is Strange, man. I need to make out a physical list and put games in order or something, cuz at this point I'm just grasping at whatever game happens to float by. I need order!! 10 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: Haha - for sure - I mean, the game it appears to be on the surface is definitely not in my personal wheelhouse... ...but then, the game is secretly is absolutely is! You're right. I need to get over my personal prejudices and do the right thing.....wait, am I a video game Karen????? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Kopite Posted July 5, 2022 Share Posted July 5, 2022 On 6/17/2022 at 1:40 PM, DrBloodmoney said: Overall, inFamous is a pretty great game mechanically, a perfectly adequate game narratively, and a workman like, if not terribly impressive game visually and auditorially. It was "Triple A" at the time, though now, feels almost more a great example of the "B-Game" than a "Triple A" in some sense - the kind of game you love despite some flaws, rather than one you notice flaws in and shake your head despairingly. It set the ground work for a better sequel, but that by no means suggests the original entry was anything to sniff at - it was a truly competent open world game, (released at a time when those were truly in vogue and plentiful,) and it still stood taller than most of its peers. It might not be the most original game structurally, but there's a lot to be said for the comfort of a very competent rendition of old ideas. Just ask Horizon: Zero Dawn. Hell yeah it was AAA at the time! Man had such fun with Infamous back in the day. Was a really massive game for me on the PS3, no other game felt quite like it. That was the time when Sony was really starting to bring the big exclusives to the console. It's a pity that there have only been 3 main games in the series and the First Light spin off(Ironically I have only platinumed Second Son) but the 1st 2 especially were a ton of fun. ? On 6/28/2022 at 6:21 PM, DrBloodmoney said: As said, I think Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is now the pinnacle of Resident Evil games for me... and for Science! Don't feel the same way personally, but I understand why you feel that way and it was a great read! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CelestialRequiem Posted July 7, 2022 Share Posted July 7, 2022 Followed. Cool to see From games up at the top. I just revisited DSII. The PS4 version of that game on a PS5 is much better than the PS3 version. Don't think you'll agree with this; but I actually enjoyed it more than Elden Ring. ER is far too open for my liking. Also, did you hear that Shatter is getting remastered? That game rules; I am really excited to earn its platinum (devs confirmed the remastered version will feature one). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted July 7, 2022 Author Share Posted July 7, 2022 (edited) 14 minutes ago, CelestialRequiem said: Followed. Cool to see From games up at the top. I just revisited DSII. The PS4 version of that game on a PS5 is much better than the PS3 version. Don't think you'll agree with this; but I actually enjoyed it more than Elden Ring. ER is far too open for my liking. Also, did you hear that Shatter is getting remastered? That game rules; I am really excited to earn its platinum (devs confirmed the remastered version will feature one). Shatter was cool - that’s awesome! Hopefully that soundtrack will come over intact too, it ripped, and is still on my iPod like a decade later! Edited July 7, 2022 by DrBloodmoney 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CelestialRequiem Posted July 7, 2022 Share Posted July 7, 2022 2 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said: Shatter was cool - that’s awesome! Hopefully that soundtrack will come over intact too, it ripped, and is still on my iPod like a decade later! Oh yeah, that game's soundtrack is amazing. I'm really excited. ...I still use an MP3 player, lol. I have a Walkman I use daily from when I was living in Japan. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billie__227 Posted July 11, 2022 Share Posted July 11, 2022 Hey Doc, sorry I'm so late but I wanted you to know I read your RE7 write up a while ago and went "I'll respond to that soon" and then forgot bc I suck lol. But that was probably the best review I've seen on it. It's one of my favorite RE games and I wish I could experience it for the first time again. As a big RE fan, it honestly blew my mind. I've become so desensitized to horror that I don't get spooked by scary games very often but they did such a good job building the atmosphere, I was genuinely terrified most of my first (and even my second and third) time through. I know a lot of people don't like how different it was from past games, but like you said the first person perspective was both a fresh take and amped up the immersion factor by a lot. I only managed to kick my anxiety with the game when I was practicing for my speedrun and had to learn it inside and out. But even now when I replay it I still find myself filled with dread when the Bakers are stalking me throughout the house, especially when you have to get into that hatch to get under the house for the first time and Jack is right behind you and Ethan takes a million years to use the key lmao that's a workout for the heart. The locations are all iconic and horrific in their own ways. The ship in particular gives me the heebie jeebies for some reason. I did find Ethan pretty goofy as a protagonist, and his reactions to crazy things to be very underwhelming and odd. Example being when Marguerite transforms and he just goes "well, that's special.." but if some bugs get on him when he goes through a passage in the wall he freaks out lol. I do find him endearing though, and more understandable as a character after playing Village. Which I also did enjoy, but not as much as 7. You did open my eyes to something else too, and that's peoples issues with 6. I personally had a lot of good times with my friends playing RE6 so I'm probably biased, but I have always been like "why does 6 get so much hate??". I just really loved the way it was like 4 entire games in one, and all of the iconic characters that were in it. There will always be a special place in my heart for the Chris and Piers campaign. But I totally get where you're coming from. I didn't particularly like RE5 bc the gameplay was so different, like they abandoned the horror aspect completely to be CoD Zombies or something. I guess I was just so excited about Leon, Chris, Sherry and Ada all being playable in the same game and enjoying the story so much (even if it was kinda silly sometimes) that I didn't really realize it had the same issue I had with 5 in terms of being.. not like other RE games. Maybe that's why 7 came as such a shock and breath of fresh air haha. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted July 11, 2022 Author Share Posted July 11, 2022 14 minutes ago, Billie__227 said: Hey Doc, sorry I'm so late but I wanted you to know I read your RE7 write up a while ago and went "I'll respond to that soon" and then forgot bc I suck lol. But that was probably the best review I've seen on it. Thanks Billie! 14 minutes ago, Billie__227 said: It's one of my favorite RE games and I wish I could experience it for the first time again. As a big RE fan, it honestly blew my mind. I've become so desensitized to horror that I don't get spooked by scary games very often but they did such a good job building the atmosphere, I was genuinely terrified most of my first (and even my second and third) time through. I know a lot of people don't like how different it was from past games, but like you said the first person perspective was both a fresh take and amped up the immersion factor by a lot. I only managed to kick my anxiety with the game when I was practicing for my speedrun and had to learn it inside and out. But even now when I replay it I still find myself filled with dread when the Bakers are stalking me throughout the house, especially when you have to get into that hatch to get under the house for the first time and Jack is right behind you and Ethan takes a million years to use the key lmao that's a workout for the heart. Haha - I know what you mean. I actually found they did a great job with some of the DLC in that regard too - by the time I felt I had wrung all the scares out of the main game, they do something like Ethan Must Die or Daughters, or Bedroom, and manage to inject a whole new scare-factor using existing assets! 14 minutes ago, Billie__227 said: I did find Ethan pretty goofy as a protagonist, and his reactions to crazy things to be very underwhelming and odd. Example being when Marguerite transforms and he just goes "well, that's special.." but if some bugs get on him when he goes through a passage in the wall he freaks out lol. Yes! I know what you mean - I noticed that even more in RE8 actually - do you remember when he has to flip an electrical switch that is full of mould and gross vomit - and he pauses and goes “ugh, disgusting”… …I’m like “dude, a half hour ago you were STANDING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE EXPLODED CORPSE OF A MUTANT FLYING BUG LADY!” ? 14 minutes ago, Billie__227 said: I do find him endearing though, and more understandable as a character after playing Village. Which I also did enjoy, but not as much as 7. You did open my eyes to something else too, and that's peoples issues with 6. I personally had a lot of good times with my friends playing RE6 so I'm probably biased, but I have always been like "why does 6 get so much hate??". I just really loved the way it was like 4 entire games in one, and all of the iconic characters that were in it. There will always be a special place in my heart for the Chris and Piers campaign. But I totally get where you're coming from. I didn't particularly like RE5 bc the gameplay was so different, like they abandoned the horror aspect completely to be CoD Zombies or something. I guess I was just so excited about Leon, Chris, Sherry and Ada all being playable in the same game and enjoying the story so much (even if it was kinda silly sometimes) that I didn't really realize it had the same issue I had with 5 in terms of being.. not like other RE games. Maybe that's why 7 came as such a shock and breath of fresh air haha. I mean - I do think RE6 is the low point for sure, but it’s not like there’s nothing good there… …I’ll go to bat for Helena as a good character - and actually, I enjoyed a lot of her and Leon’s story - it’s just wildly over long as an overall game, and far, far from the RE roots I loved early on. It’s not like the actual gameplay was terrible or anything - RE has never really ever had a poor playing entry… it just left a lot of the best elements -like the scares and the tension - on the floor 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post DrBloodmoney Posted July 15, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 15, 2022 !!SCIENCE UPDATE!! The next (somewhat) randomly selected games to be submitted for scientific analysis shall be: Legacy Inksplosion Virtue's Last Reward New Chicory Resident Evil VIII: Village Telling Lies Subject(s) in RED marked for PRIORITY ASSIGNEMENT [Care of @grayhammmer ] Can 'Current Most Awesome' game, Hitman 3, continue its glorious reign? Is gaming turdlet LA Cops ever going to lose the title of 'Least Awesome Game'? Let's find out, Science Chums! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleggworth Posted July 15, 2022 Share Posted July 15, 2022 1 hour ago, DrBloodmoney said: !!SCIENCE UPDATE!! The next (somewhat) randomly selected games to be submitted for scientific analysis shall be: Legacy Inksplosion Virtue's Last Reward New Chicory Resident Evil VIII: Village Telling Lies Subject(s) in RED marked for PRIORITY ASSIGNEMENT [Care of @grayhammmer ] Can 'Current Most Awesome' game, Hitman 3, continue its glorious reign? Is gaming turdlet LA Cops ever going to lose the title of 'Least Awesome Game'? Let's find out, Science Chums! Ah Virtue's Last Reward, curious to hear your thoughts on this. I loved it, couldn't get through it quick enough. I actually spent a large portion of the morning before i got married playing it. Could not drag myself away. Well I got married so I must have done at some point but it was that good. Steins Gate wasn't bad but I've never come across another VN that grabbed me like this did. Probably never will as my vita is long since retired and they don't fit the big screen as well IMO 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted July 15, 2022 Author Share Posted July 15, 2022 1 hour ago, Cleggworth said: Ah Virtue's Last Reward, curious to hear your thoughts on this. I loved it, couldn't get through it quick enough. I actually spent a large portion of the morning before i got married playing it. Could not drag myself away. Uh oh…. ….well… I hope you remember how much you and I have previously agreed on l when I post that one… ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleggworth Posted July 15, 2022 Share Posted July 15, 2022 5 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said: Uh oh…. ….well… I hope you remember how much you and I have previously agreed on l when I post that one… ? Well I'm even more intrigued now!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post DrBloodmoney Posted July 15, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 15, 2022 (edited) NEW SCIENTIFIC RESULTS ARE IN! Hello Science-Joshes and Science-Donnas, as promised (and in some cases requested), here are the latest results of our great scientific endeavour! Inksplosion Summary: A furious, quick-fire Twin-Stick Shooter developed by Ratalaika staple Petite Games, (and published by Ratalaika themselves,) Inksplosion has the unfortunate honour of being considered by a large portion of this site as one of the early "poster-children" for "EZPZ platinums." This isn't without good reason - the game's trophies can be fully unlocked in a matter of around 15-30 minutes, (I did it in 19 and change,) however, like Petite Games' other series that already features partially on this ranking - the Midnight games - that "EZPZ" status tends to detract from the fact that if one looks beyond the trophies, there is some genuine fun, and a decent enough, if rather fleeting, game beneath. Working on a quick-fire mentality - with its randomised levels often lasting a matter of seconds, rather than minutes - Inksplosion takes the bare bones of a Twin-Stick Shooter, and adds in obstacles and variations to its single-screen levels to create an absurd and chaotic structure to its already fast-paced and chaotic mechanics. Let's start with the visuals - Inksplosion looks... weird. The game is extreme low-res in terms of the action elements - the player "ship" (a skull symbol) and the enemies (and, in fact, all the obstacles and bullets) are simple black and white geometric shapes. There is no colour to them at all - and this is by necessity. It does not mean the game looks monochrome. In fact, it is anything but. Like Splatoon or De Blob before it, Inksplosion is game is predicated on that most fundamental satisfaction - people like making a mess! Player and enemy shots leave being a trail of coloured paint splatter on the grey background, meaning that within a matter of seconds, the playfield is awash with splatters of all different colours, the mess of which often makes is difficult to discern the chaos on screen. This is a hindrance, though arguably not a negative one - the game is predicated on that idea and its only real challenge comes from that. If the exact same game existed without the paint splatter, it would be an absurdly simplistic twin-stick shooter without any real challenge. Enemy variety is fairly minimal - most levels generally only contain 3-4 enemies, and can often feel oddly simple - as is the randomised available weaponry at the players disposal, and truth be told, little attention seems to have been paid to balancing. Some weapons, such as the laser, are almost outrageously overpowered, but there is a flip-side to this. Levels not only contain partly randomised sets of enemies, but also hazards and obstacles that move or warp or appear and disappear, and so the unbalanced nature of the randomisation cuts both ways. Runs can feel incredibly easy, until they don't, and a particularly tough RNG roll can work the player into the ground very quickly. That might sound like no fun - no one wants to have a game where they feel like their own skills are less important than the whims of RNGesus - however, there is one mechanic that really does allow Inksplosion to be considered a game of "Skill" rather than "chance": Time Slow. The slow-down time mechanic is cool, and functions as a simple but effective risk/reward system... because it's tied to player health. The player's health bar along the top of the screen will deplete as they take damage (as one would expect,) by the player can also chose, at will, to manually deplete it by holding L1, in order to gain a temporary advantage by slowing the action. This can be tactical - to avoid incoming fire - though in all honesty, in later levels it is often best used more as a necessity - to get a better handle on the current situation, and refocus the players attention in the colourful chaos in which they find themselves battling! The game features a few different modes - the Normal and Hard modes are the simple, quick-fire level-based affairs described above, while "Arena Mode" eschews the obstacles, and instead pits the player agains waves of incoming enemies. It's a fine mode for getting the player used to the mechanics, though personally I never enjoyed it as much as the level-based modes. Audio in the game is, unfortunately, not particularly great. The music in the game is a little grating, and while it is not really something ever at the forefront, (the player is generally too invested in the sound effects of what is happening on-screen to pay much attention to the background music,) I do think catchier tunes could have helped it. Sound effects are fine - a decent version of punchy arcade stings - but not stand out or particularly interesting in any way. I will also mention the technical issues - on PS4, the game runs very well, however, I have had the misfortune of playing briefly on the Vita, and the game is simply not able to run effectively on it. The smaller screen makes the game much harder anyways, as seeing what is happening in the colourful chaos is made harder, but to add to that, there was a level of frame-dropping and slowdown that is really unacceptable for a game this simple in nature. I cannot in any way recommend the Vita as a venue to try this one out! Overall, Inksplosion is a simple little game, not likely to take up much of anyone's time for any real duration, but it is genuine fun for the time required for the absurdly quick platinum - with enough good times left over for a good bit longer. Its not an original concept overall, but has some neat ideas, a fun look, and enough variety to keep it feeling fresh. It's a bit of an issue that it runs so poorly on Vita, as that is theoretically the best possible venue for its brand of quick-fire action, but on PS4, in terms of easy-breezy platinums with some meat on their bones, one could do a lot worse. The Ranking: A fairly easy one to rank in the end, as two obvious comparison points for "floor" and "ceiling" sit very close to one another - Arcade Archives: Nova 2001 and Midnight Deluxe. I think the odd, antiquated nature of Nova 2001 means that in 2022, its brand of odd, Non-Twin-Stick Twin-Stick ancestry is not really enough to hold a players interest beyond the historical curiosity, and actually, a lot of the failings of Nova 2001 (the difficulty in seeing the action due to the background colour palate, and the spikes of random difficulty) are actually deliberate and more well implemented - or at least, well exploited - features of Inksplosion. I therefore have no issue ranking it a little higher. A few spots above that though, is Midnight Deluxe. Midnight Deluxe is another Petite Games game, and that one feels more complete. It looks nicer, has a more "complete" feeling game design, better music, and is a game more fun and more prone to keep a player playing for longer after achieving its platinum. (It also should not be ignored that Midnight Deluxe runs well on a Vita - something Inksplosion incredibly doesn't!) That places Inksplosion somewhere between those. The only two games in there right now are Agent-A: A Puzzle in Disguise and Sly puzzle spin-off Bentley's Hackpack. I think on merit, both of those games are likely to hold a players attention longer, and in both cases, I reckon I would be more likely to return to those games before firing up Inksplosion if push came to shove... ...and so Inksplosion finds its spot, sitting just above Arcade Archives: Nova 2001. Virtue's Last Reward Summary: After the success of sleeper hit 999 (Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors) on DS, (which fared significantly better in the west than either its publisher or Chunsoft, its developer, expected,) a sequel - Virtue's Last Reward - was green-lit for both DS and PS Vita release. 999, for those unfamiliar, was a soft-horror Visual Novel / Puzzle game hybrid, combining a quirky - and often ludicrous - cast of characters, all of whom had been kidnapped from their different walks of life by the mysterious Jigsaw-like figure Zero, and thrown together in an abandoned ship decked out with puzzles for them to solve as part of a game... one which gave them 9 hours to escape, before they would all be blown up. Across multiple playthroughs, the player could make different choices, see more possible outcomes, and work towards unlocking and seeing a "True" ending - only possible after playing the game enough to see everything else. It was a particularly peculiar and often eccentric game - tonally, narratively, and mechanically - but one that managed to straddle the line between horror, puzzle, visual novel and thriller fans, pulling in and retaining just enough of each separate audience to form a cult following, and become a genuine cult success. (Full disclosure, I played 999 around the time of its release, circa 2010. By the time I played Virtue's Last Reward, 3 years later, the memory of it had faded a little, but at this point, having not touched 999 since its release, I freely admit my memory of it is less than comprehensive in terms of narrative detail!) Virtue's Last Reward picks up where 999 left off in terms of universe and history, but with a new protagonist, new NPC characters, new puzzles... and a new - far more complex life-and-death game into which they have been involuntarily ushered. Would the lightning that had struck on 999 be able to be replicated again? ...well.... ... that depends on whom one asks. I am fully aware that there are many who consider VLR to be the superior game to its predecessor. It is without a doubt the more highly polished, well produced and certainly the more complex and interesting of the two... but it is one I don't personally enjoy nearly as much as the original game. While recognising the big reaches the game makes (and as an admirer of ambition in narrative games, whether it is wholly successful or not, I certainly admire Virtue's Last Reward on those terms. However, I cannot deny that in expanding the scope and ambition of the first game, I feel like a lot of the charm of the original game was manoeuvred out of the series, and crushed under the weight of that ambition. Despite the tonal and gameplay similarity, there are a number of significant changes in VLR as compared to 999 that should be addressed.999 was entirely 2D. VLR is rendered, for the most part, in polygonal 3D. While this is entirely understandable, given the greater budget available for VLR, I personally feel a lot of the charm of the game, is lost in doing so. 999 felt in a lot of way like it was (perhaps accidentally) touching nostalgia for adventure games of the late 90s, with it's ridiculous lines and over-the-top acting, and it felt perfectly suited to a more modest, 2D venue. VLR, on the other hand, with its (not always particularly high-poly) 3D models, feels more like a lower budget Vita game than a higher budget DS game, and tends to feel like it leans into its shortcomings, rather than its eccentricities. Another big change is voice acting - there's much more voice acting in VLR than in in 999 - and unfortunately, it isn't particularly great. It's a shame, as the voice actors themselves are not entirely to blame here - the silly, convoluted nature of the storylines in 999 and VLR, and the extreme, outlandish characters don't lend themselves to voice acting particularly well in a game predicated primarily on mystery and puzzle solving. In truth, while some voice acting performances in the game are better than others, all of them tend to become grating by the end, simply by nature of how much there is, and how over-the-top the content is. Those are simply the presentational aspects though, and while they are negatives in terms of comparison between the two games, I must concede - there are elements of genuine improvement in VLR. The actual puzzles are of similar quality to the original game, but in VLR, there is significantly more attention paid to variety within these puzzles - and each feels rather more unique and different than they previously did. While some puzzles do suffer somewhat for the odd pairing of genres - they often tend to fall in an odd gap between being too difficult for the fan coming to VLR for the visual novel, but too easy for those coming for the puzzle game - that was also an issue with 999 as well. In fact, the few times that a puzzle seemed wildly too esoteric or miles outside of the difficulty curve of the rest of the game are far less frequent than in 999, where puzzles would be generally pretty easy, then suddenly require a logic leap that brought the game to a grinding halt. Again - this is as much an issue with the genre mashup as anything else - as a puzzle game fan, I am perfectly happy to be thoroughly stumped by a puzzle for a good long time... however, when a game is evenly split between narrative and puzzle, there is a requirement that the difficulty remain relatively consistent, as grinding the narrative to a halt for too long can result in difficulty following it. One area I am conflicted on, however, is the complexity of the narrative, and a new system introduced, called the FLOW system. 999 did have a legitimate problem in its game design - the nature of the game (both 999 and VLR) is such that only by achieving all possible endings to the narrative, can the "True" ending be seen, and the game "completed". In 999, this was something of a burdensome factor, because it required 6 full playthroughs of the game, much of which is the same or very similar in each run, and there was no facility to reduce, quicken or skip any portion previously played. The way VLR deals with this issue is actually very good - it includes fast-forward options to skip dialogue until new content comes up, (much like Doki Doki Literature Club+ does,) however, in some sense, it almost "overshoots" the problem, and introduces a new one. VLR not only allows the player to skip forward rapidly, but it allows them to swap between the branching timelines at will. This can seem confusing - and depending on how the player approaches it, it can definitely be so, but actually, that is only the start of the issue. The actual narrative of the game is woven into this mechanics - before long, the main character the player is controlling, begins to have fractured memories of other timelines, that they should have. They are remembering things the player has seen, but they haven't... and this opens up a wild new direction for the game, where metaphysics and Shrodringer's Cat scenarios begin to compound, as characters own minds are affected by the player's actions of observing them. It's a very cool concept, however, the issue with it is that it makes the game far more of an investment that the original game ever felt. While my time with 999 allowed for playing a playthrough, then leaving the game a while, then picking it back up for another playthrough later (as is very befitting the handheld consoles,) VLR relies on a lot of information being retained by the player as to what is going on across multiple timelines all at once. The net effect being, in trying to alleviate the "burnout" players felt playing the full game multiple times, they introduce a new "burnout" by requiring the player to play multiple timelines in part, but all in close proximity to one another. That is not an inherent fault necessarily, however, I do think in the case of VLR, where the actual emotional investment with the characters is minimal, (due to the over-the-top nature of the story, and the wild-caricatures that make up the cast,) it does become a problem. The other issue with this narrative style is less mechanical, and more simply about implementation. As much as I think the concept of a 4th-wall breaking, multi-narrative, cross-narrative tale involving broken causality, meta-textual warping, and meta-physical memory fragmentation is cool... I really don't think it works in VLR - for the exact same reason that I don't think the voice acting does. Namely, the tone and characters. Because the narrative is complicated and wild in its direction and elemental factors, it would be far, far better served if layered on top of a story that is grounded enough for those elements to feel like they have some stakes. In VLR though, because its cast is made up of insane, broad caricatures, and because the player is never particularly invested in any of them on an emotional or grounded level, it becomes difficult to really invest in the oddities of the plot. The characters themselves are outlandish, so the outlandish nature of the narrative and gameplay is somewhat lost in a sea of outlandish. Take, for example, Life is Strange. It's narrative - involving cross-dimensional and cross-timeline hijinx - works very well... and it does so, specifically because the characters themselves feel grounded in a reality. When something changes or when something extraordinary happens to them, the weight of it has impact, because we have already gotten to know and like the characters in a "normal" setting. In VLR though, the characters are already outlandish, the situation they are in is already outlandish and their captor is already outlandish. We have no grounded element to act as a springboard when the narrative storytelling becomes outlandish too. I think the actual concepts in VLR are actually more interesting and heady than anything in Life is Strange, but since it happens to these specific characters, in this specific world, it just feels like another element of crazy in a world already fully detached from reality. Having an excellent, unusual plot mechanic in that instance, is like throwing a bucket of paint over a Jackson Pollock. Yes, you notice it, but not as much as you should, and it's often hard to tell what is added, and what was already there. The edges of "crazy" are rather blurred, when it is layer on top of an already crazy premise. Overall, Virtue's Last Reward is a problem game for me personally, as it's another of those games I know has a strong following of fans - but I am not one of them. It is a game that perhaps suffers in my estimation due to my own lack of context - I am not particularly well versed in Japanese Visual Novels, and so some of the character elements I find to be obtuse may well appeal to those who have more cultural context and personal affinity for... but for me, I see VLR as something of a missed opportunity. It is a wildly clever and smart narrative experiment, undone by its application within a style and tone that makes it impossible to shine. In losing that shine, what is left for me is a reasonably good set of puzzles that are fleeting, a narrative that is impenetrable, and a gameplay style that never quite approaches mainstream, yet loses the cult charm of its wacky, silly predecessor. The Ranking: In ranking Virtue's Last Reward, I feel a little bad, as I know it's a game that appeals more to others than me... but science must flow from experience! The two games I used as starting points were simple - one that I feel is a rather wasted opportunity and squanders it's potential in a similar (but more egregious) way than VLR: Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order - and one that is also a narrative puzzle game, but I feel has to rank higher, despite it's relative simplicity as compared to VLR - the current "best of Artifex Mundi" Enigmatis 3: The Shadow of Karkhala. Note, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is, of course, a much more lavish production than VLR, however, it is crushed under the weight of it's poor design and lack of player engagement, and while I'd say the same is true of VLR, I expected more of Jedi, and found less. Enigmatis 3 is a more simple, linear puzzle game (and there aren't actually any puzzles as involved or interesting as the best ones in VLR,) however, it works well, while VLR has too many problems to rank above it comfortably. That places us in between, without a huge amount of narrative games to compare, but a fair few puzzle games, so those have to be the comparison. I think overall I much preferred my time with simple but effective Puzzle Adventure game Agent-A: A Puzzle in Disguise, so that has to rank above VLR, however, despite my personal preference for the kind of game Tetragon is, as opposed to VLR, I cannot rank it higher, as it's problems are more profound, and the game, if anything, lacks ambition. Being more ambitious and failing is more admirable than lacking ambition and still failing, so VLR moves above Tetragon. In the end, I think I would definitely be more likely to replay VLR than I would Neverending Nightmares, and probably the same could be said of Arcade Archives: City Connection... but not Uncanny Valley. As such, Virtue's Last Reward finds its spot! Chicory Summary: An Indie Adventure RPG / Metroidvania from developer Greg Lobanov (of Wandersong heritage) Chicory: A Colourful Tale was a Kickstarted labour of love, (and one that reached its Kickstarter target in less than 24 hours) developed over 3 years to release on all platforms in 2021. The player takes the role of a sweet, somewhat naive anthropomorphic dog (who's name is determined by the player in answer to the question "What is your favourite food?" - and will therefore be referred to in this review by my chose name - Burrito!) Burrito works as a Janitor in the "Wielder's Tower" - home of the latest in a long line of "Wielders of the Brush" - Chicory the rabbit. In the land of Picnic, (wherein all locations and people are known by food-related monikers,) all colour is provided via the magic Brush - passed from Wielder to Wielder throughout the ages, via an arcane ritual, and a series of testing trials. When, at the outset of the game, some calamity happens, draining all colour from the world, and Burrito finds the Brush, but cannot find Chicory, he takes it and goes looking for her. Upon finding her, the game gives its first hints that the narrative is not one as childish as it might seem on the surface. Chicory - his hero - is not herself. In fact, she seems utterly broken, and lashing out. It is relatively clear to any adult player that she is in the throws of a full depressive episode... and the fractious conversation becomes quickly combative - culminating in her abandoning her duty, and passing the Brush to Burrito. Burrito then embarks on a light adventure across the land of Picnic, talking to its denizens, solving their problems, clearing the black, colourless rot that has infected the land... and painting the world as he/she sees fit! Narratively, Chicory has all the hallmarks of more simple SNES RPGs (think The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, or Earthbound,) - with the exception of non-boss enemies - however, what sets Chicory apart from most games taking cues from that era is how tied into adult issues of mental health the mechanically simple narrative is. Chicory herself is, very clearly, obsessive compulsive, suffers from acute anxiety, and the pressure she felt as the Wielder only exhascerbated those feelings. With no one around her for comfort, and huge responsibility on her shoulders, her mental health has suffered immensely. Burrito suffers from low self-esteem and mild anxiety too - however, he has the embrace of supportive and loving parents, and the difference between those two situations is made very clear in terms of coping mechanisms. More than simply those main characters though, what's remarkable about Chicory is how virtually every character in the game seems to have some sort of rich internal emotional life, their own strengths and weaknesses, and thier own fears and anxieties. Even characters who are only given a few lines, are coloured in shades of grey... ironic, considering the world, prior to the input of Burrito of course, is black and white! There are far too many strands of these issues to mention, but what I'll simply say is that not once during the 20-odd hours I spent with the game, talking to what must be around 50 unique characters, did I ever feel like any were simply one-dimensional - and I never once bumped against any real mishandling or misappropriation of the emotional issues the game approaches. There are so many different strands of life lessons - about imposter syndrome, depression, anxiety, fear of failure, fear of success, and simply the affirmation of putting ones artistic or creative endeavours out there for the world to see and judge, that the overall message should, by rights, collapse under the wight of it all. One would think that they should begin to cancel each other out - but they don't. Because the actual language use to discuss these complex emotional issues is simple enough, and child-friendly enough, that surprising nuance can be conveyed in relatively short exchanges, it makes the game able to contain a lot more emotional content than it might be expected to. That idea of child-friendliness, in fact, is something that needs to be applauded. Make no mistake - the emotional content of Chicory, and the issues it deals with are grown-up, complex and universal - and in some ways, not issues likely to be fully grasped by the younger players in any full, mature sense - however, children are remarkably adept at picking up emotion without the contextual baggage. Chicory understands this, and deals in that arena. It doesn't address the complexity of the emotions directly - it acknowledges that they exist, but moves past them - to address the most fundamental emotional core of them, without ladening its messages with undue complication. It is not a game directed at children necesarily however - or at least, not solely. While it might be compared to the very best of children's fare (Sesame Street, Mr.Rogers etc,) and that feels broadly correct in some sense, it is actually closer in tone to the best of family fare (Pixar / Aardman etc.) Chicory is able to approach genuine adult issues with the soft, careful and disarming touch appropriate for a child, but without pandering to them, and without losing its adult audience along the way. It conveys complex issues with simple, uncluttered dialogue, and therefore makes it perfectly acceptable and approachable for a child, but it loses none of its impact when addressing the adults in the room. In fact, that softness probably adds to that impact - in much the same way that a child might frame a solution to a complex emotional problem as a simple, unfettered statement, cutting right through the nuance, and get to the core of the issue with simple non-judgement, Chicory eschews flowery language, without losing raw intent - or astute insight. Mechanically, the game operates as a Metroidvania - and a very clever one. While there is nothing really original about any of the traversal mechanics or abilities that gate exploration in the game on their face, the fact that they are all tied in to the one really original concept - the painting of the black and white "canvas" world, makes them feel much fresher than they technically are. As in most Metroidvanias, some areas are obviously inaccessible and gated by ability (for example, it is clear that a "jump" will be gained at some point, due to level layout,) however, Chicory manages to hide abilities in plain sight too. I has walked past hundreds of areas with a specific texture painted on them, and though it was nothing more than decoration... before finally receiving the ability to traverse them - opening up a wealth of new exploration, in places I hadn't even considered as potentially accessible before. That painting mechanic is both fun and engaging, and serves as a marker of progress (by colouring in areas you have visited), an aid to collecting ("fill-colouring an area the first time colours items, then fill colouring in another colour only does the floor, making items of interest stand out,) and a traversal mechanic. For example, later in the game, once the ability to "Swim" in paint means colouring areas is a means to traversing specific pathways. The painting is used in a variety of ways elsewhere too - boss fights, against the darkness that has crept into the world (and which manifest in these instances as the darkest, most self-loathing or hateful thoughts of both Chicory and Burrito) are done using the painting mechanic - each one becomes a sort of unusual mash-up of bullet-hell and Mario Paint! I'll mention trophies for a brief moment (sorry)... but not for the usual reason! Generally I only mention trophies when they are a particular detriment, but actually, I feel like in Chicory's case, they are a particular benefit. There are a lot of collectibles in Chicory, and collecting them actually forms a good 50-60% of the time spend in the game. Indeed, of the 100-odd single "screen" areas in the game, virtually all have some sort of collectible in some hard-to-reach spot that the player must puzzle through, or use one of their acquired abilities to collect, and these are a source of much fun in the game. The fact is, the actual play-time for the game, if the player is not looking to collect these items, is most likely in the 4-5 hour range. However, the playtime for a full platinum is probably closer to 20-odd, and that is not (as it feels in some games,) padding. The collectible hunt is a major part of the game, and doing so is where the care and attention that has been paid to crafting the world really shines. It's remarkable how many little nooks and crannies have been made that hide secret shortcuts back to out-of-reach spots in previous screens, for example - and because of this attention to detail, each and every new ability that is gained (by "strengthening Burrito's bond with the Brush" after each boss fight), opens up a wealth of new shortcuts and accessible areas. Visually Chicory is, of course, somewhat dependent on the player themselves (I found it rather charming, that in the end credits, the "Lead Artist" credited is "You!") but of course, creating a world that works as both a canvas for creativity, and a legitimately fun explorational Metroidvania is no mean feat. It is done here with aplomb - the simple visual design of the world and characters allows for the player to feel agency in the colouring, but still looks great in black and white, and the dark, think outlines do nothing to dampen the artists ability to create stylish and distinct characters, with a range of emotive expressions. Audio is good - I don't think it is spectacular, in the sense that I never found myself humming tunes from the game when way from it, and wouldn't necessarily add the album to my Spotify rotation, but in game, I never found any of it grating, and enjoyed quite a lot of it. In fact, the boss fight music is particularly rousing and fun. Overall, Chicory is a game that delivers on all fronts - it is a solid, well crafted Metroidvania, and a fun, engaging RPG. It is a game about creativity, and it absolutely nails that aspect - both in terms of allowing the player sufficient latitude to be creative themselves, and in discussing the many good and bad aspects of being creative - and of putting ones own creative output into the world. More than that though, Chicory is a game that looks at many different aspects of mental health, treats them all with respect, understanding and nuance and insight... and does it in a way that is accessible to everyone and judgemental towards no one. It teaches fundamental and good lessons in understanding, without feeling like a lesson at all. The Ranking: In ranking Chicory, there are two games that - thematically - feel like obvious comparison point: The Artful Escape and Psychonauts 2. Anyone following this thread probably knows how much I loved The Artful Escape - it's mix of psychedelic visuals, uplifting, insightful discussion of creativity and mental health, and it's bat-shit crazy narrative were as winning as games come... ...and that why it should mean something when I say that I think Chicory needs to rank higher. Chicory deals with a lot of similar themes, and in a way that can seem more childish on the surface, but is actually deeper and more nuanced beneath that surface. While The Artful Escape is easily the better looking and sounding game, Chicory is by no means a slouch in either area, and Chicory also has a much more robust mechanical game underpinning it. Psychonauts 2 deals with metal health issues very well also - and it is a much bigger game than either The Artful Escape, or Chicory, however. It is more varied in its gameplay and visuals, and in some ways more surprising than Chicory - in the sense that it comes from Psychonauts - a game I love, but one that could never be accused of handling it's mental health issues well. (I love the original Psychonauts, but let's face it, its treatment of mental health issues is downright problematic in 2022!) I think that while Chicory is the more deft game at dealing with those issues, it has a rough time being directly compared to a game as big and produced as Psychonauts 2, as most of the elements it excels at are also present in Psychonauts 2, if to a slightly lesser degree. As such, Psychonauts 2 has to retain its place... that discussion, however, does probably confirm Chicory deserves a spot higher than the original Psychonauts. Almost right in between those games, lies another game that, while not dealing with the same mental health issues, is still all about creativity, and aimed at both adults and children equally - Little Big Planet. As great as Chicory is, I do have issues with it beating out Little Big Planet, as that game sparked creativity in an entire generation of Playstation players - and did so with a disarming touch, and a positive, affirming attitude. Did it address issues? No - it didn't try to - but it was very original, great looking, and a genuine phenomenon at the time. That places Chicory below it - but not by much, and when I look at the game right below it - Rayman Origins - I have trouble thinking of Chicory ranking below that one. Rayman Origins is a great looking, great playing platformer, but that is all it is really... it isn't original or making any kind of statement, and while it is a great game, I feel like I'd be morel likely to replay Chicory than Rayman Origins if push came to shove. As such, Chicory finds its spot! Resident Evil VIII: Village Summary: Four years after Resident Evil 7: Biohazard rejuvenated the ailing mainline Resident Evil franchise from the Bruckheimer-tinged depths of Resident Evil 6, (and after the fantastically remade Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 versions kept interest in the franchise at an all time high,) Capcom continued the series in the new 1st person style pioneered in Resident Evil 7, with Resident Evil VIII: Village. With Dulsey Louisiana behind them, Mia and Ethan Winters are living an idyllic life in Europe, (facilitated by Chris Redfield), in a nice house, with their infant daughter Rose. When, their picturesque life is shattered in bombastic fashion - as Mia is riddled with bullets from Chris and his team of Umbrella Soldiers, and both she and Ethan are dragged into a transport, the player has no idea what is going on. When that transport is subsequently attacked, and Ethan awakes in the remote Romanian hillside, without Rose, without Mia, without Chris, and without any clue as to what just happened... the player is right there with him. Stumbling through the snowy night in search of shelter or sense, Ethan quickly finds himself in a dilapidated village at the edge of a castle, and surrounded by werewolves. Yes, that's right - werewolves. Not zombies, nor cannibals, nor any of the bio-weapon horrors that have graced the series before, and this is something that shows both the areas of adherence to, and deviation from, the ethos that I found so revelatory and exciting in Resident Evil 7. As anyone who read my review of Resident Evil 7 knows, I loved that game. I loved it for many reasons, and a lot of those reasons remain staples of Resident Evil 8, but while I enjoyed aspects of Resident Evil 8, I dod not love it to anywhere near the same extent. The reason is, that while Resident Evil 8 does continue many of the factors that made Resident Evil 7 so revelatory, the actual lessons they take from that astounding refresh of the series are not necessarily the same ones I did. Resident Evil 7 refreshed the series by doing things differently - by taking an entirely new strain of horror influences, and amalgamating them into the Resident Evil franchise. This was a bold, and particularly beneficial move - by eschewing the Zombie / Biowarfare angle, and instead looking at slasher and found-footage horror media for inspiration, it felt completely different, and much more original than the franchise had in years. Resident Evil 8 continues this boldness, by this time looking even further afield in the Horror genre, and picking another new set of influences - this time concentrating on Fantasy Horror, Gothic Horror, Grimm Fairytale horror and Hammer Monster Horror as its narrative jumping off point. This is laudable, and gives another striking tonal difference for the series... but one that personally didn't connect as viscerally, as it is simply not as much in my personal wheelhouse than the slasher / found footage milieu. It puts me in something of a quandary with the game, as while I applaud Capcom for continuing to pursue new avenues for narrative and tonal elements, I am not as enamoured with the particular ones they opted for this time. Fantasy Horror is a more difficult genre to stand out in - primarily because there is a far richer and more storied history with Fantasy Horror already alive within videogames. While slasher / found-footage style games certainly exist, it is a vein far less saturated, and there are fewer titanic games already within that field for Resident Evil 7 to be overshadowed by. In Fantasy/ Gothic Horror, however, there are. The Dark Souls franchise alone has dominated that genre in the past decade, with its titanic progeny Elden Ring, providing the magnum opus of that style this year. (I'm aware, of course, that Resident Evil 8 predates the release of Elden Ring, however, having played it after the fact, it is impossible for me to ignore!) There is an element of "Big Fish in a small pond" effect that benefitted Resident Evil 7 from a narrative point of view - upon release, it was arguably the highest budget, most lavish game ever made in the Slasher / Found Footage Horror genre. Resident Evil 8 is entering a more crowded field, and while it retains its excellent gameplay and its unique mechanical signatures, it cannot avoid being inherently less interesting as a result. The story of Resident Evil 8 is - without going into spoiler territory - ludicrous. Unfortunately, the one truly smart decision Resident Evil 7 made that is not in any way passed on to Resident Evil 8, is the focus on more realistic scares. While the canonical place in which Resident Evil 7 sits in the overall franchise (and it's ending) do add some good old-fashioned RE nonsense into the mix, the fact is that for 90% of Resident Evil 7, the existing lore was largely immaterial. For the most part, the story played out as grounded, and rather realistic - at least by franchise standards. Resident Evil 8, however, has one of the most convoluted and absurd narratives the series has ever seen - both attempting to tie the entire deviation that started with RE7 back into the main franchise canon, and tell a wholly new narrative in itself, setting up future instalments. It simply doesn't work. Partly because the existing canon is so heavy and convoluted, but primarily because the game simply doesn't tell a coherent story in and of itself. The reasons for Rose's abduction, and the justification for the horrors of the village and the monstrous "Big-Bads" who make up the boss roster are not compelling, nor are a good portion of the characters. The game actually appears to fundamentally misunderstand what elements it has that work and which don't. The pacing feels off, simply because the bosses are fought in descending order of quality. There are five main villains to the game. The one truly interesting, well designed, scary and compelling one - Lady Dimitrescu - is, rather unfortunately, dispatched within the first few hours. Her castle area is excellent, and she is the one really stand-out performance in the game. She plays into one element of horror that RE games haven't really tapped before in any meaningful way - sexuality as an unnerving element. She is oddly and peculiarly attractive, and curiously sexual in her encounters with Ethan, and it works to a tee. It provides a really unnerving experience - but her time in the game is all too fleeting. The second area - House Beneviento - is a very interesting area - probably the horror highlight of the game, as its section is genuinely disturbing. The game takes a break there from action, to do Capcom's version of a SOMA / Amnesia / Outlast style "weaponless horror"... and brings far more psychological horror elements into the fold. It is more akin to Silent Hill than traditional Resident Evil, (in fact, this section has a large debt to pay to the Silent Hill teaser for the game that never happened - P.T - including a lot of very disturbing, foetal imagery - and is DEEPLY unnerving. This is a genuine high point in the game - and during the initial playthrough, is very successful at disarming the player (literally, and figuratively,) however, it does have a down-side. Resident Evil is not a game like Amnesia or Outlast in its overall mechanical trappings, and this section, as good as it is, doesn't lend itself well to those elements that are fundamental RE staples. Resident Evil games are predicated on multiple playthroughs - they include speed runs, multiple difficulties etc... and having a section where the puzzles do not change, and there is no action element to vary the pace or challenge in the middle of the game means that section tends to become a mere distraction after the initial - very effective - time it occurs. House Beneviento was without a doubt my highlight of the game the first time through. By the time I reached my speed-run (my 4th full time through the game) the unchanging nature and the set pace were simply a somewhat tedious chore as compared to more action elements. There is also the issue of the boss - the actual boss fought here is laughably silly, and almost absurdly under-developed narratively. Beyond that though, the game has serious problems with generating scares, or even holding up its end in terms of compelling narrative. The third area and boss feel more suited to Resident Evil 6 - a vomiting grotesquery of little narrative interest (and little performance stand-out)... ...and the fourth area - The Factory - while fun to play, feels like it belongs in a completely different game. It works on a mechanical level, but the enemies feel more suited to something like Bioshock Infinite that Resident Evil, and the boss of that area - Heisenberg - would be in serious contention for the worst character, and worst vocal performance, in a videogame in the modern age. His character is narratively bereft, his design a paleo imitation of other games, and his final boss fight is so outrageously silly that it gives the finale of Wild Wild West a run for its money. The final boss, and true villain of the game is somewhat more interesting, but has surprisingly little screen time, and shockingly little narrative justification. The battle with her ends up being rather anti-climactic in the overall experience as a result, and left me pining for the early portions of the game. Mechanically, Resident Evil 8 is also a huge step away from Resident Evil 7 - in the sense that the game goes from being one of the tightest experiences that the franchise had offered, to one of the loosest. Rather than following a minimalist, singular focussed story, through a set path, Resident Evil 8 adds a semi-open, almost Metroidvania "hub" area in the village, with each of its major "boss" areas spider-webbing out from there. There is a set path to the narrative of the game, gated by the collection of keys, and by accessibility, however, there is also a new element introduced to the series - optional areas, optional mini-bosses and side content - all tied to the newly added (or reintroduced,) upgrade mechanics. The effect is that Resident Evil 8 has the feeling of somewhat RPG - or at least, Action Metroidvania - elements seeping into it. While these are elements I often like in games, I do find them to be detrimental, rather than additive in the specific case of the RE franchise. Resident Evil is almost always at its best when it is a focussed, tight narrative experience, unfettered and unburdened by overtly "gamified" elements. While I certainly concede than none of the more fluid, gamified elements of Resident Evil 8 are fundamentally flawed - each is implemented well, and work in context - I do think the combination of them, on top of the less compelling and more absurd storyline, and the lack of genuinely frightening elements, makes the game feel markedly lesser than its predecessor. Often while playing (and broadly enjoying) Resident Evil 8, I found myself thinking "This feels like a sequel all right, but I'm not sure it feels like a sequel to Resident Evil." There are elements of Dark Souls, of Bloodborne, of Bioshock, of God of War 2018... even of Skyrim - but in a franchise as distinct as Resident Evil, each addition of one of these elements feels less like an additive thing, and more like a loss. For every outside gameplay influence added, a little of the core RE experience is reduced or marginalised. To clarify, in many of the DLCs for Resident Evil 7 (Nightmare, for example, or Jack's Birthday) the addition of genuinely action-heavy FPS gameplay felt fresh and interesting, because it was in such contract to the main campaign. In Resident Evil 8, however, the sole extra mode currently available - Mercenaries - does not feel particularly interesting, simply because it is not markedly different in style than the campaign the player just finished. There is a section towards the end of the game - where the player controls a different character - that is clearly designed to be some kind of "Action Catharsis" - suddenly gifting the player copious amounts of ammunition, high-power weapons, and nothing but action fodder to shoot... ...but really, the game doesn't have the self control to limit the rest of the game enough to make that section feel markedly different. At that point in the primary "Ethan story", the player has likely been blasting their way through the game with Call of Duty level abandon for hours already... and as I've said before: it is impossible to feel scared in a game where you have so much artillery, that simply carrying it all is the primary source of difficulty. Now - a lot of this review so far has been negative - but It must be stated: none of this is to detract from one fundamental truth. Resident Evil 8 feels good to play. I have said before, and I'll reiterate: no matter how poor the narrative or structural elements have been in some of Resident Evil's darker days, the one consistent thing in the franchise (at least, in the mainline franchise) has always been its core gameplay. This is a streak not in any way disproven by Resident Evil 8. The game feels fantastic. Gunshots are crisp and impactful - helped enormously by the excellent implementation of haptic feedback in the PS5 controller. Ethan runs and shoots really well, has sleek, well defined movements, and the level layout is good. The game never encounters any kind of glitching, or issues with geometry - there is an attention to technical detail in Resident Evil as a franchise that is hard to beat. They feels great to play - and RE8 is no exception. I'll also add that while I think the free-form nature of the hub area is not to the franchises benefit, some specific areas - namely Castle Dimitrescu, House Beneviento, and the Factory - are, as self-contained areas, very well implemented examples of Resident Evil areas. Each of these is functionally and artistically interesting and distinct, and each has its own set of metroidvania elements and criss-crossing paths to be navigated. The issue with the game is not that these areas don't work, or don't feel like "proper Resident Evil" - it is simply that the connective tissue between them - the village, the windmills etc - feels overly wishy-washy, bloated, and unfocussed. I like choice and agency in games, but in a franchise not suited to them, those things can feel like padding, even when they are technically not. Visually too - Resident Evil 8 is remarkable. The game looks STUNNINGLY good. The dilapidation of the village, the opulence of Castle Dimitrescu and House Beneviento, the grotesquery of the vomit-covered windmill area and the clunking, rusted factory all look magnificent. The visual attention to detail is remarkable - not only does it look better than the already absurdly well detailed RE7, but it does so on a much larger, much more varied scale. Audio is excellent in terms of foley - bushes rustle, winds howl, guns crack and pop with visceral impact - and the score, while not as effective as that used in some previous games, is still of superior quality. There isn't a single musical signature in the same way Resident Evil 7 had with "Go Tell Aunt Rhody" - though the more free-form nature of the game would likely make any signature piece selected feel less impactful anyways, so I am in two minds about whether this is a negative or not. Voice work is a little uneven, but not across the board. There are some performances (Mia / Lady Dimitrescu and her daughters / the odd, ethereal shopkeeper simply known as The Duke) which are excellent, and others (the vomiting Moreau, Chris Redfield, Ethan himself,) that are rather lacklustre in writing, and the acting follows suit... and the less said about Heisenberg the better. His performance is utterly woeful - a depressingly flat rendition of the most basic "villain 101" voice I've heard in a good long time, and one destined to be mocked, (with good reason,) for decades to come. Overall, Resident Evil 8 is something of an anomaly - a perfectly decent action game, but one that betrayed by both the past successes, and past failures of its franchise. It is, almost assuredly, the best "action" entry the series has had since RE4 - and given the setting, I think it is inarguable that with it, Capcom strived to combine the successes of RE4 with those of RE7... ...however, those are not really compatible ambitions. While roundly regarded as two of the franchises best entires, they are almost polar opposites in terms of design documents. RE8's weaker narrative, combined with the late game sections, (where the game resembles less and less an RE game, and more and more a Call of Duty,) tend to make that harkening back to RE4 feel skin-deep - a purely aesthetic similarity. The entry the game most closely resembles in it's back half, in fact, is Resident Evil 6... and by doing so with the first-person veneer of Resident Evil 7, and with the same characters, it actively undercuts the good work put into RE7 to refocus the franchise as a whole. In the end, Resident Evil 8 is a good action game, but a poor horror game. It's a fun time for the most part, but it disappoints even as it thrills, as it feels like the back-pedal no one wanted after the huge leap forward that its immediate predecessor was. The Ranking: The main comparison points for Resident Evil 8 should, obviously, be other Resident Evil games... however, I'm in an odd spot, because I've only ranked the very good ones so far! The lowest currently ranked Resident Evil game is the remake of Resident Evil 3, and that is a game I still think is much better than Resident Evil 8 ended up being, despite its successful elements. Interestingly, the game that kept jumping to mind when thinking about Resident Evil 8 was another franchise entry that felt like a competent and often fun game mechanically, and a great looking and sounding game, but one whose narrative is a let down, and which failed to live up to the highs of the franchise that birthed it: Mass Effect: Andromeda. Now, that might feel like a slur - I know Andromeda is roundly despised! - but I didn't hate it. I just didn't ever really love it either. That's a very similar experience to my time with Resident Evil 8. I do, however, still think Resident Evil 8 is the better game of those two - by a fair margin - and so Andromeda provides a good "floor". Looking at the games in between, I have no doubt that Resident Evil 8 should place higher than Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within, as the gameplay and presentation are much more solid, however, I have trouble with ranking Resident Evil 8 above Bayonetta. Bayonetta is a game also let down by its narrative, but not to the extent Resident Evil 8 is. There is only one game currently between those two - Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus - and I think on merit, Sly does manage to outdo Resident Evil 8 on pure fun-per-hour, plus it has the originality factor going for it. Its story is not a burden, and it doesn't have the weight of better prequels overshadowing it, and so it has to keep its place. As such, Resident Evil VIII: Village finds its spot! Telling Lies ☢️SCIENTIFIC NOTE☢️ Telling Lies is a game in which learning the story IS the game. Knowing what transpires is, quite literally, the ENTIRE premise of the game. As such this review will be entirely spoiler free, meaning I cannot, unfortunately, go into much detail about the overall plot, or the specific character portrayals by the actors. Such is life... sorry if this one feels awfully vague! Summary: A free-form narrative detective game from Sam Barlow - writer of underrated Silent Hill entry Shattered Memories, and creator of the excellent (and very successful) iOS indie narrative detective game Her Story, Telling Lies continues the broad gameplay structure of Her Story, but expands it out beyond a simple single-character interview, to a full, long-form, multi-character narrative, told through recordings of conversations via phone, Skype, secret cameras and video reports. For those unfamiliar with Her Story - the premise was relatively simple, The player is tasked with watching clips of a series of police interviews with a single woman, and has a single defined objective: find out what happened to her husband, who went missing then later was found murdered. By searching specific terms, watching clips containing those terms, they would learn more and more about the woman and the case, discover new lines of enquiry, search those, and slowly build up a picture of what happened. Essentially, there were two mysteries in play - what happened to the husband, and who is the player playing as? Telling Lies expands that concept, playing with a lot of the same gameplay elements, but this time, the story is much broader, and more complex. The game begins showing the player character - a mystery woman - arriving at an apartment (presumably hers) with a cache of secretly recorded conversations with multiple characters... but without any stated objective. Not only is the whole story told in the cache of files a mystery, but so is the identity of the woman, the reason for her analysing them in the first place, the initial objective, or even what the files are. That means, unlike Her Story, in Telling Lies, the player begins the game truly lost. They have no idea of even what the nature of the clips they have to watch are. The early portion of the game is, therefore, genuinely baffling. Searching terms in the database returns multiple different clips with seemingly no connective tissue, and multiple seemingly unrelated characters. All they can do is keep searching terms, keep delving deeper and deeper into the archive, and try to make sense of what they have in their hands. That is - it should be said - damned risky. Unlike Her Story, where the player knows what they will be watching ahead of time, in Telling Lies, the player has nothing but the compelling nature of the footage to keep them interested in those early hours. The nature of the game shows a level of confidence the developer has in the performances of the actors cast - free of context or connection, the average player who does not immediately stumble onto one of the games many rich veins of narrative evidence will only have the draw of those dispirit scenes to hold their attention. Luckily, in Telling Lies, that trust is both earned, and pays off dividends. Gameplay-wise, it also might feel like a game liable to "blow its wad" too early - it might seem like the player is just as liable to stumble to the most climactic moments of the narrative by accident on their first try than slowly unravel the mystery, however, the key to Telling Lies (and Her Story) is the way the database works. There is a maximum number of clips that can be viewed for each searched term - five - and these are always shown in chronological order. If the player searches, for example, the word "Love", the database might tell them there are 65 instances of that word in the archive... but will only allow them to view the earliest 5 clip in the timeline. As such, more and more specific terms are required to view clips towards the latter end of the chronological timeline, and interrogation of the clips, picking out key clues or terms, becomes necessary in order to view the more meaty, revealing clips from later on. Clips can be rewound and fast-forwarded at the player's leisure, scrubbing back and forth through the footage in search of specific clues and information, or finding specific references, and this works really well and very intuitively. It really does feel like the player is doing detective work, and solving an actual mystery, with stakes, methods, procedures and their wits. It's a really smart design - and one that I have to imagine requires an almost absurd attention to detail in script-writing. Ensuring terms are not "accidentally" inserted into clips too often, thus making it impossible to see later clips that feature those terms means every clip must be written and edited to within an inch of its life. This is something that one would imagine would be liable to cause the clips themselves to feel stilted or poorly acted, however, the result is anything but. I have a real soft spot for the FMV games of the mid 90's - I find tremendous fun in their ham-fisted acting and semi-broken gameplay - however, make no mistake - a game like Telling Lies would simply not work if that kind of ham-acting was on show. The game is too dependent on the quality and realism of the acting to allow for that. The acting is superb. "Good acting for a game" is something of a back-handed compliment - the fact is, genuinely good acting in games is rare, even now - and I wouldn't use that phrase here. This is simply "Good Acting". It wouldn't feel out of place on TV or on the big screen. I really believe that Telling Lies may well be the foremost example of genuinely good acting in what is ostensibly an FMV game - the whole cast knock it out of the park. I think the best compliment I can give the game, is that while playing it, MsBloodmoney walked in, sat down, and after a few minutes, picked up the TV remote, and hit the "info" button... ...expecting the Netflix or Amazon Prime info to tell her what I was watching. A game having good acting is one thing, but a game being indistinguishable from a TV show to a lay-person is something much rarer! There is a large cast, though the majority of the clips tend towards the interweaving story of 4 principle characters: Undercover cop Logan Marshall-Green, his wife Kerry Bishé, troubled sex-worker Angela Sarafyan, and young, somewhat naive but charming activist Alexandra Shipp. Each of these actors is likely recognisable to most players, each is a qualified and talented actor in their own right, and each turns in a performance that feels real, nuanced and layered. The stand out is probably Alexandra Shipp (of X Men and Straight Outta Compton fame) who's turn as Ava is one of the most dynamic and difficult performances in the game, and one she makes incredibly charming and real, however, Halt and Catch Fire's Kerry Bishé, Westworld's Angela Sarafyan, and Upgrade's Logan Marshall Greene all turn in equally compelling performances in their respective roles. It is testament to the quality of the acting that the game feels so mysterious at first - unconnected clips of characters viewed out of order can swing wildly in terms of tone and mood, but I never found a single one in which the emotion felt forced or false. The supporting cast keep up the high standards too - there are several character that only appear in one or two clips, but each of these feature performances that feel lived-in and real enough that the relationship those characters have to the principles can be intuited from their performances, and add a realism to the overall that is laudable. In fact, a particular accolade should go to Vivien Lyra Blair - the child actor who plays Kerry Bishé's daughter. Child acting is a tough thing - even full film productions can suffer for bad examples of it - but her performance feels absolutely natural, and very well done! These performances are - without a doubt - the crux of the game. Technically, Telling Lies could (somewhat reductively) be described as 10 un-edited hours of a film - it's therefore critical that those 10 hours be compelling and watchable. Here, they absolutely are. The nature of the game - as recorded footage via electronic devices - means often clips might have long stretches where a character is simply reacting to unheard dialogue (if watching a clip of a Skype conversation, for example, only one side can be viewed at a time, with the player having to pick out key, unique terms in that conversation to later search for the alternate side of the same conversation,) but even in these sections, the actors give it their all. While it's not possible to do, I have seen enough of these to be confident that if the conversations were cut together, as a back and forth, they would match up correctly, and character reactions would make sense in context. Where the game does have some flaws is not really in any of these core areas - as is probably pretty obvious from this review so far, I think those are handled marvellously - but in the implementation of gameplay as an overlay on them - and particularly on console. The UI feels overly awkward at times. Some of the more advanced options available to the player feel anything but. There is a system for tagging clips, and allowing them to be grouped or labelled, but it's not particularly user friendly. Bookmarks can be dropped at any point during a clip on the fly, which is nice, but applying a tag requires navigating a separate menu of these bookmarks, and while it's a neat idea on paper, the reality is that it is too clunky to really serve as a useful tool. It tends to break up the flow of the players concentration more than help it. In the end, I reverted to using a pen and paper to take my own notes, and found that a much more fluid system for keeping track of my thoughts, and ensuring I kept sufficient track of strands of stray information to be followed up on. The other issue with the UI is typing. Literally any word can be searched, and it's remarkable how well the system works, however, as most people will know by now, typing on a controller is a slow and somewhat laborious task... one exhascerbated by the PS5's tendency to try and revert to the touchpad controls. (Those touchpad controls for typing remain the bane of the PS5 in my opinion - the idea of using the touchpad as a "mouse" is good in theory, but controllers are hardy products, and take a beating in real life. A single speck of dust or the residue from an oily finger tends to get picked up as an input, rendering the pad unusable for the delicate, fine-control required for navigating a keyboard.) Manual controller typing is fine when all the player is being asked to do it fill in a character name one in a while, but when the primary interaction with a game is typing, it can become a hindrance. The game does alleviate this somewhat with its ability for the player to directly search any word from one clip - highlighting any subtitled words in the live dialogue of a scene allows searching that word (or phrase) in the whole database with a single click - and that is a very good method for playing early on, when the player is simply free-form exploring the vast vault of clips - however, later, once the player has built up a wealth of their own notes, has more idea of the broad narrative, and is searching for specific elements, it becomes less helpful. My personal method for dealing with this issue was actually to play the game using remote-link. If playing the game through remote play to a PC (or in my case, a Mac,) the text input can be done using the computer keyboard, bypassing the controller input. I found that to be a much more user-friendly way to play, and if anything - actually benefitted the feeling of immersion, since my typing mirrored the typing the mystery woman I was playing as was doing - however, this is not a set up that is going to be available to everyone. I believe the PS4 and PS5 do allow for connection to a Bluetooth keyboard as well (I haven't personally tried this) and that would also work, but as is, out of the box, the typing interface is liable to be much more of a hindrance than it was, for example, in Her Story, which was played on a phone. Aside from these input issues though (and the one other odd flaw the game has - it's cover art and game name, which seems to suggest a wildly different game than the one contained within (Looking at the cover, a consumer could be forgiven for mistaking Telling Lies for some kind of multi-player party game, more akin to Jack-box or Pictionary than a detective mystery in the vein of Her Story!) - Telling Lies remains a really great example of what narrative in videogames can be. It is a game in which the gameplay elements are remarkably free-form - there is no real "good" or "bad" ending, but rather simply an ending, with it down to the player to decide if they saw enough of the game to make sense of it - but it holds up on the strength of what is there. A smart, well told story, complex and interesting characters genuinely well acted by good performers who never feel like they are phoning it in. A neat premise, a smart expansion of the core gameplay pioneered in Her Story, and shown here to work on a grander, broader, and more complex scale, and most of all - a smartly written script allowing the player to really feel lost in complexity at the outset, yet fully versed in the details by the end. The Ranking: This is a really weird one to rank, as there is nothing remotely like it on the current list. As such, I spent a long time staring at the list, trying to simply figure out which games I felt the overall experience of were more or less awesome than my time with Telling Lies. In the end, the two games that had at least some minute similarities that could form a ceiling and a floor for it ended up being similarly observational detective-style game Observation, and curiously well written and voice-acted Walking Sim Dear Esther: Landmark Edition. I think the overall gameplay and story of Observation does manage to hold its place against Telling Lies - both games are excellent, but Observation simply doesn't have the UI or interface issues Telling Lies does to slightly dampen it. Dear Esther, on the other hand, while very original at the time it released (essentially creating the whole Walking Sim genre) I do think in 2022, feels less unique than it once did. It has been outpaced by some other games to follow in its wake, whereas I don't personally believe there is any game in the style of Telling Lies to compete with it - including Her Story, which I liked a lot. That places it between those two, and there is only one game in that slot currently - The Artful Escape. I do think The Artful Escape has to hold onto its place, simply because of my feeling when I finished it. As much as I liked Telling Lies, and enjoyed the ending, I didn't finish it beaming a big smile. I did with The Artful Escape - and that means something! As such, Telling Lies finds its spot, just above Dear Esther, and just below The Artful Escape. So there we have it folks! Thanks to @grayhammmer for putting in a request! Hitman 3 remains as 'Current Most Awesome Game'! LA Cops stays as the worst-of-the-worst, with the title of 'Least Awesome Game' What games will be coming along next time to challenge for the top spot... or the bottom rung? That's up to randomness, me.... and YOU! Remember: SPECIAL NOTE If there are any specific games anyone wants to see get ranked sooner rather than later - drop a message, and I'll mark them for 'Priority Ranking'! The only stipulation is that they must be on my profile, at 100% (S-Rank).... and aren't already on the Rankings! Catch y'all later my Scientific Brothers and Sisters! Edited July 15, 2022 by DrBloodmoney 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grayhammmer Posted July 15, 2022 Share Posted July 15, 2022 You said that you had only ranked the good resident evil games so far... so let's fix that, shall we? analyze RE6, and give context to how low Resident evil had sunk before RE7. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted July 15, 2022 Share Posted July 15, 2022 3 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: A fine job as usual, Doc! Also hooray, a timely response? Quote Inksplosion Interesting! I'll have to watch some gameplay or something on this one. Maybe I'll play this one to get the feeling of making a mess, and then Unpacking to feel like I cleaned up afterwards! Quote Chicory You had me at burrito dog❤ Then the comparisons to SNES RPGs and The Artful Escape, properly handling mental health issues, encouraging visual creativity... SOLD, all caps, full stop. Quote Resident Evil VIII: Village Initially I was disappointed to see that the franchise didn't seem to harness the momentum from RE7 being as good as it was... but then I was also relieved to not feel the need to toss another Resi title onto the backlog? Who am I kidding though, if I get into 7 I'll probably try this one out as well! Quote Telling Lies No joke, this might be the push I need to give FMV games another shot. Between this and the Mr. Clarke-recommended Doctor Dekker, I think I'd be set. You did a great job of selling this one, man! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Copanele Posted July 16, 2022 Share Posted July 16, 2022 19 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: Resident Evil VIII: Village Despite never playing it, I greatly enjoyed the game from an odd perspective, mainly because I am a Romanian myself ~ I couldn't help but have some fun at the expense of RE8. First of all, I know that at launch there was an entire debacle about how to pronounce Lady Dimitrescu's name. It was either "Lady Dimitreesk" or "Lady Dimitrix" (spoiler - both of the prononciations are wrong, but it's not an easy name to pronounce anyway) and no further corrections were accepted Second of all, this scene: I know we are a poor country but come on, ciorba de legume is literally translated as "vegetable soup", we don't have a hidden local recipe for it, we just heat water and throw vegetables in it. Gourmet ++. Mega bonus points for the pot though, it does look authentic as hell! And third point was the most hilarious, when a Canadian friend of mine, big Resident Evil fan, messaged me with "dude, they are making a game about your country, they will even add werewolves!" to which I was "wow nobody announced me we have werewolves as monsters. Weren't we the vampires dudes?" Guess Romania got a promotion with the RE8 village in terms of monster lore Other than that, I "think" it's a solid game?(still can't play horror games to save my life). Fantastic review as usual ?haven't had this much fun with Romanian representation since I played the first Romanian level in Hitman Contracts I also really need to have a look at that Chicory game, it looks quite amazing honestly. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted July 16, 2022 Author Share Posted July 16, 2022 14 minutes ago, Copanele said: I know that at launch there was an entire debacle about how to pronounce Lady Dimitrescu's name. It was either "Lady Dimitreesk" or "Lady Dimitrix" (spoiler - both of the prononciations are wrong, but it's not an easy name to pronounce anyway) and no further corrections were accepted Well, I had no idea how to pronounce it on paper, but in game, the pronunciation seems to be “De-mei’tress” with an emphasis on the “TREss”… …not sure if they got it right or not though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Copanele Posted July 16, 2022 Share Posted July 16, 2022 22 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said: Well, I had no idea how to pronounce it on paper, but in game, the pronunciation seems to be “De-mei’tress” with an emphasis on the “TREss”… …not sure if they got it right or not though! It's Di: - mi: - tres - coo, as an easy prononciation I: meaning a short ee, so to speak. Romanian 101 ? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted July 16, 2022 Author Share Posted July 16, 2022 Just now, Copanele said: It's Di: - mi: - tres - coo, as an easy prononciation I: meaning a short ee, so to speak. Romanian 101 Yeah… I’m 99% sure she left the end off her own name in the game then! Not Coo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum_Vice Posted July 17, 2022 Share Posted July 17, 2022 On 23/05/2022 at 2:57 PM, DrBloodmoney said: the player can "rotate" the world, and when rotated to a specific gravitational axis, the whole world receives a slight change in hue to correspond to that colour. If the world is flipped to "Blue" gravity (Wherein blue cubes are movable, and blue rivers will flow,) the whole world has a slight blue over-sheen. If they then flip around to purple, or red, or green, the same logic applies. It's both a smart mechanical feature, (in a game as dimensionally confusing as Manifold Garden can be, a shorthand to remember which way is up is most welcome,) and also a nice artistic one - that the world looks great in all six variations of hue is an artistic feat in and of itself. My goodness the priority to get into this one is getting pushed up by this review. The promo material definitely worries me a little regarding establishing where I am in the puzzles. It looks like M. C. Escher meets the dreamworld from Inception. Hopefully there's at least a few landmarks? Here's one that I had written off prior to your review...but it sounds very good. Do I need to have played any of the prior versions? Oooh deck building... such an underrated idea not just within gaming but also apparently in my own mind! Building a deck is a niche aspect of actually playing any card game but that tactical thinking of the strengths and weaknesses of your own 'team' is clearly addictive. After many years of not being able to put my finger on why I like card games, I realised this is because of the 'team building' aspect. Sometimes being the coach or the general manager of a team can be just as rewarding as playing the sport... Sometimes being the General commanding the army is more engaging than swinging the sword. Deck building was certainly the best part of Gwent. My wife and I own a few sets of Dominion, which is a physical deck-building game that I'd thoroughly recommend and we're looking forward to trying Paperback as well. Have you tried those? Also... what's next now after Slay the Spire? Deep Sky Derelicts? It's disappointing to see this one ranking so low. What I mean by that is that I haven't played it, hoped that it was better but also trust your judgement enough to leave it for a deeeeep sale. It did look to me like Life Is Strange but a little better - you might unfollow my checklist by the time you read my review of the first LIS, doc. I just...I just don't like it. ? This is going to be great. Full faith. Mrs Vice should enjoy it too. Hopefully there's a sequel, too, it seems ripe for the picking. What's a genuine estimated time to complete this one? I'd have to play it home alone. The subversion of the overt genre seems extremely interesting and I genuinely think I could consider playing this one... but I don't need an audience questioning it. ? The degree to which my wife and I can accept weeb culture differs a bit. Sexualised schoolgirls is hard to justify. ... But it just doesn't seem like it would be right to watch a playthrough online for Doki Doki LC+... it looks like a game that actually maximises the medium's player input to tell the story and therefore should be experienced as a player. On 01/06/2022 at 2:52 AM, DrBloodmoney said: It becomes mediocre by average - because half of its elements are fantastic, and the other half are straight up bad. Oh noooooo! The disappointment! It looked so good! ... but is it worth buying a Vita?? Here's to continued hope that Papers Please will get ported to another PlayStation platform in the distant future. It looks incredible... On 17/06/2022 at 8:40 PM, DrBloodmoney said: It isn't a particularly difficult or long game, and in some sense underuses what is a pretty great set of mechanics... ...though if the worst thing one can say about a game is that they wish there was more of it, that is a pretty sound endorsement of what is there! Agreed. If we took twenty factors that we all use to measure a game's quality (artsyle, technical prowess, storytelling, dialogue, soundtrack etc etc), I'd always place 'length' firmly in last place. We are living in an entertainment renaissance. There is too much content to experience. I'll take quality over quantity every time. It's therefore somehow reassuring that The Gardens Between's length is the biggest issue that you identified. Like Papers Please, Jazzpunk eyed me from your profile saying "ask DrBM to review me next." It just looks so kitschy. And dry. And off-the-wall. You've sold it to me of course but it will probably fall behind The Stanley Parable on a scale of priority. Sound fair? On 16/07/2022 at 2:52 AM, DrBloodmoney said: The player takes the role of a sweet, somewhat naive anthropomorphic dog (who's name is determined by the player in answer to the question "What is your favourite food?" - and will therefore be referred to in this review by my chose name - Burrito!) Who makes these mythical burritos that are so good as to rocket them to the top of your favourite food list? It is such a spicy opinion that I must ask the question! Thanks for the in-depth review. You pulled Chicory out of my basket of abandonment and stuck it on the wishlist... sounds like something for me to play in a future Mental Health Community Event on PSNP. I do struggle to find games for that event. Thanks for the reviews lately! Clearly our tastes frequently align. Don't mistake my (and likely many others') lack of suggestions for review suggestions... I like just seeing them come out as they come out. ? 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted July 17, 2022 Author Share Posted July 17, 2022 (edited) 9 hours ago, Platinum_Vice said: My goodness the priority to get into this one is getting pushed up by this review. The promo material definitely worries me a little regarding establishing where I am in the puzzles. It looks like M. C. Escher meets the dreamworld from Inception. Hopefully there's at least a few landmarks? Absolutely - I think the majority of the game (setting aside the one extreme trophy for the outrageously well hidden 0% run) is remarkably well laid out - you do feel a little lost at times, but mostly, simply following logic around will eventually get you somewhere you can latch onto - you might find a puzzle somewhere in the middle, rather than the beginning, but the nature of the game means you can usually stumble and intuit your way through it with some trial and error - and in a game as obviously confusing as it is, that's pretty admirable. It's not perfect, but it works better than you'd think! Quote Here's one that I had written off prior to your review...but it sounds very good. Do I need to have played any of the prior versions? Nope - this one has the entire main game in it - and as long as you tell the truth when it asks "Have you played The Stanley Parable before?" it'll make sure you see the original stuff before the new stuff. You're all good! ? Quote Oooh deck building... such an underrated idea not just within gaming but also apparently in my own mind! Building a deck is a niche aspect of actually playing any card game but that tactical thinking of the strengths and weaknesses of your own 'team' is clearly addictive. After many years of not being able to put my finger on why I like card games, I realised this is because of the 'team building' aspect. Sometimes being the coach or the general manager of a team can be just as rewarding as playing the sport... Sometimes being the General commanding the army is more engaging than swinging the sword. Deck building was certainly the best part of Gwent. My wife and I own a few sets of Dominion, which is a physical deck-building game that I'd thoroughly recommend and we're looking forward to trying Paperback as well. Have you tried those? Also... what's next now after Slay the Spire? Deep Sky Derelicts? I haven't tried Dominion - or many physical card games actually - I think my most time was with a Middle Earth card game back when I was younger, but even then, I didn't ever really play enough to become great at it! This one was a leap for me - but definitely a rewarding one! Next card game is for sure going to be Griftlands (it's Klei after all! ?) I'm actually deliberately leaving it a little bit though, so I fully forget the muscle-memory of Slay the Spire, so I don't end up confusing my addled brain, with two different sets of card-based games' rules ? Quote It's disappointing to see this one ranking so low. What I mean by that is that I haven't played it, hoped that it was better but also trust your judgement enough to leave it for a deeeeep sale. Oh- don't let the placement on the ranking put you of that one - the list has grown now to the point where rank 197 - for a smaller game like Road 96 - is not really a negative - I'd still recommend it to anyone who feels interested by the review - it's just not necessarily for everyone, or really doing the things it does at the level of some other examples. Still a good time though, which I enjoyed quite a bit. Quote It did look to me like Life Is Strange but a little better - you might unfollow my checklist by the time you read my review of the first LIS, doc. I just...I just don't like it. Ha - we can't agree on everything, and I fully admit - my love of Life is Strange is as much personal as any game ever is. I have a real soft spot for magical realism, for time travel, for teen romance, for indie cinema, and for angsty melodrama when done right - so it hits all my buttons - plus, it's soundtrack is right in my wheelhouse! I've been invested in that universe for a long time now - from the games, to the soundtracks, to the comic book sequel, and it means a lot to me - but from a pure videogame standpoint, they are not the most incredible games. They just speak to me on a level that works! Quote This is going to be great. Full faith. Mrs Vice should enjoy it too. Hopefully there's a sequel, too, it seems ripe for the picking. Absolutely - totally worth an afternoon of your time! Quote What's a genuine estimated time to complete this one? I'd have to play it home alone. The subversion of the overt genre seems extremely interesting and I genuinely think I could consider playing this one... but I don't need an audience questioning it. The degree to which my wife and I can accept weeb culture differs a bit. Sexualised schoolgirls is hard to justify. ... But it just doesn't seem like it would be right to watch a playthrough online for Doki Doki LC+... it looks like a game that actually maximises the medium's player input to tell the story and therefore should be experienced as a player. 100% I would absolutely recommend the game - almost more so if that kind of cultural stuff doesn't work for you - as I'm exactly the same. Even in series I love like Persona, I bristle sometimes when that stuff creeps in - but Doki Doki actually manages to use that discomfort as a weapon - and it works so well as a result. I actually suspect that for people who love that kind of thing, Doki Doki probably doesn't work as well - they probably feel betrayed by it rather than seeing it as the amazing bait-n-switch that it is! Quote Oh noooooo! The disappointment! It looked so good! It's... not terrible. it has some AMAZING stuff. Just... know that you'll be in for some frustrating bullshit along the way. Quote ... but is it worth buying a Vita?? Here's to continued hope that Papers Please will get ported to another PlayStation platform in the distant future. It looks incredible... I'd say don't go trying to buy a vita if you have the option of an iPad version or something - the game isn't long, so tough to justify that expense - but absolutely seek the game out in some fashion - it's a hell of an experience! Quote Agreed. If we took twenty factors that we all use to measure a game's quality (artsyle, technical prowess, storytelling, dialogue, soundtrack etc etc), I'd always place 'length' firmly in last place. We are living in an entertainment renaissance. There is too much content to experience. I'll take quality over quantity every time. It's therefore somehow reassuring that The Gardens Between's length is the biggest issue that you identified. Cool game, and totally worth playing - not one that would work to watch at all - I'd bet seeing a video, you'd not even realise what was being done in a lot of the puzzles, but it works great in motion! Quote Like Papers Please, Jazzpunk eyed me from your profile saying "ask DrBM to review me next." It just looks so kitschy. And dry. And off-the-wall. You've sold it to me of course but it will probably fall behind The Stanley Parable on a scale of priority. Sound fair? I'd agree - The Stanley Parable is a really clever comedy game - Jazzpunk is just balls-to-the-wall funny. Its not trying to be clever - it's trying to make you laugh - and it works IMO - but The Stanley Parable definitely has more meat on the discussion bone! Quote Who makes these mythical burritos that are so good as to rocket them to the top of your favourite food list? It is such a spicy opinion that I must ask the question! Thanks for the in-depth review. You pulled Chicory out of my basket of abandonment and stuck it on the wishlist... sounds like something for me to play in a future Mental Health Community Event on PSNP. I do struggle to find games for that event. Yeah - the mental health event really came to mind with this one - it's not one on the outside I would have thought of, but man - I cannot think of a more appropriate game for it than this one now that I've played it! An outstanding game - really really special! Quote Thanks for the reviews lately! Clearly our tastes frequently align. Don't mistake my (and likely many others') lack of suggestions for review suggestions... I like just seeing them come out as they come out. Haha - thank you man! I must admit, as much as I like getting the suggestions to give me some direction, I'm sort of enjoying just plucking games form the clear blue sky - or via other discussions we have, so don't worry - I have ore than enough to work with even without any! ? Edited July 17, 2022 by DrBloodmoney 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleggworth Posted July 17, 2022 Share Posted July 17, 2022 On 15/07/2022 at 7:52 PM, DrBloodmoney said: Virtue's Last Reward Summary: After the success of sleeper hit 999 (Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors) on DS, (which fared significantly better in the west than either its publisher or Chunsoft, its developer, expected,) a sequel - Virtue's Last Reward - was green-lit for both DS and PS Vita release. 999, for those unfamiliar, was a soft-horror Visual Novel / Puzzle game hybrid, combining a quirky - and often ludicrous - cast of characters, all of whom had been kidnapped from their different walks of life by the mysterious Jigsaw-like figure Zero, and thrown together in an abandoned ship decked out with puzzles for them to solve as part of a game... one which gave them 9 hours to escape, before they would all be blown up. Across multiple playthroughs, the player could make different choices, see more possible outcomes, and work towards unlocking and seeing a "True" ending - only possible after playing the game enough to see everything else. It was a particularly peculiar and often eccentric game - tonally, narratively, and mechanically - but one that managed to straddle the line between horror, puzzle, visual novel and thriller fans, pulling in and retaining just enough of each separate audience to form a cult following, and become a genuine cult success. (Full disclosure, I played 999 around the time of its release, circa 2010. By the time I played Virtue's Last Reward, 3 years later, the memory of it had faded a little, but at this point, having not touched 999 since its release, I freely admit my memory of it is less than comprehensive in terms of narrative detail!) Virtue's Last Reward picks up where 999 left off in terms of universe and history, but with a new protagonist, new NPC characters, new puzzles... and a new - far more complex life-and-death game into which they have been involuntarily ushered. Would the lightning that had struck on 999 be able to be replicated again? ...well.... ... that depends on whom one asks. I am fully aware that there are many who consider VLR to be the superior game to its predecessor. It is without a doubt the more highly polished, well produced and certainly the more complex and interesting of the two... but it is one I don't personally enjoy nearly as much as the original game. While recognising the big reaches the game makes (and as an admirer of ambition in narrative games, whether it is wholly successful or not, I certainly admire Virtue's Last Reward on those terms. However, I cannot deny that in expanding the scope and ambition of the first game, I feel like a lot of the charm of the original game was manoeuvred out of the series, and crushed under the weight of that ambition. Despite the tonal and gameplay similarity, there are a number of significant changes in VLR as compared to 999 that should be addressed.999 was entirely 2D. VLR is rendered, for the most part, in polygonal 3D. While this is entirely understandable, given the greater budget available for VLR, I personally feel a lot of the charm of the game, is lost in doing so. 999 felt in a lot of way like it was (perhaps accidentally) touching nostalgia for adventure games of the late 90s, with it's ridiculous lines and over-the-top acting, and it felt perfectly suited to a more modest, 2D venue. VLR, on the other hand, with its (not always particularly high-poly) 3D models, feels more like a lower budget Vita game than a higher budget DS game, and tends to feel like it leans into its shortcomings, rather than its eccentricities. Another big change is voice acting - there's much more voice acting in VLR than in in 999 - and unfortunately, it isn't particularly great. It's a shame, as the voice actors themselves are not entirely to blame here - the silly, convoluted nature of the storylines in 999 and VLR, and the extreme, outlandish characters don't lend themselves to voice acting particularly well in a game predicated primarily on mystery and puzzle solving. In truth, while some voice acting performances in the game are better than others, all of them tend to become grating by the end, simply by nature of how much there is, and how over-the-top the content is. Those are simply the presentational aspects though, and while they are negatives in terms of comparison between the two games, I must concede - there are elements of genuine improvement in VLR. The actual puzzles are of similar quality to the original game, but in VLR, there is significantly more attention paid to variety within these puzzles - and each feels rather more unique and different than they previously did. While some puzzles do suffer somewhat for the odd pairing of genres - they often tend to fall in an odd gap between being too difficult for the fan coming to VLR for the visual novel, but too easy for those coming for the puzzle game - that was also an issue with 999 as well. In fact, the few times that a puzzle seemed wildly too esoteric or miles outside of the difficulty curve of the rest of the game are far less frequent than in 999, where puzzles would be generally pretty easy, then suddenly require a logic leap that brought the game to a grinding halt. Again - this is as much an issue with the genre mashup as anything else - as a puzzle game fan, I am perfectly happy to be thoroughly stumped by a puzzle for a good long time... however, when a game is evenly split between narrative and puzzle, there is a requirement that the difficulty remain relatively consistent, as grinding the narrative to a halt for too long can result in difficulty following it. One area I am conflicted on, however, is the complexity of the narrative, and a new system introduced, called the FLOW system. 999 did have a legitimate problem in its game design - the nature of the game (both 999 and VLR) is such that only by achieving all possible endings to the narrative, can the "True" ending be seen, and the game "completed". In 999, this was something of a burdensome factor, because it required 6 full playthroughs of the game, much of which is the same or very similar in each run, and there was no facility to reduce, quicken or skip any portion previously played. The way VLR deals with this issue is actually very good - it includes fast-forward options to skip dialogue until new content comes up, (much like Doki Doki Literature Club+ does,) however, in some sense, it almost "overshoots" the problem, and introduces a new one. VLR not only allows the player to skip forward rapidly, but it allows them to swap between the branching timelines at will. This can seem confusing - and depending on how the player approaches it, it can definitely be so, but actually, that is only the start of the issue. The actual narrative of the game is woven into this mechanics - before long, the main character the player is controlling, begins to have fractured memories of other timelines, that they should have. They are remembering things the player has seen, but they haven't... and this opens up a wild new direction for the game, where metaphysics and Shrodringer's Cat scenarios begin to compound, as characters own minds are affected by the player's actions of observing them. It's a very cool concept, however, the issue with it is that it makes the game far more of an investment that the original game ever felt. While my time with 999 allowed for playing a playthrough, then leaving the game a while, then picking it back up for another playthrough later (as is very befitting the handheld consoles,) VLR relies on a lot of information being retained by the player as to what is going on across multiple timelines all at once. The net effect being, in trying to alleviate the "burnout" players felt playing the full game multiple times, they introduce a new "burnout" by requiring the player to play multiple timelines in part, but all in close proximity to one another. That is not an inherent fault necessarily, however, I do think in the case of VLR, where the actual emotional investment with the characters is minimal, (due to the over-the-top nature of the story, and the wild-caricatures that make up the cast,) it does become a problem. The other issue with this narrative style is less mechanical, and more simply about implementation. As much as I think the concept of a 4th-wall breaking, multi-narrative, cross-narrative tale involving broken causality, meta-textual warping, and meta-physical memory fragmentation is cool... I really don't think it works in VLR - for the exact same reason that I don't think the voice acting does. Namely, the tone and characters. Because the narrative is complicated and wild in its direction and elemental factors, it would be far, far better served if layered on top of a story that is grounded enough for those elements to feel like they have some stakes. In VLR though, because its cast is made up of insane, broad caricatures, and because the player is never particularly invested in any of them on an emotional or grounded level, it becomes difficult to really invest in the oddities of the plot. The characters themselves are outlandish, so the outlandish nature of the narrative and gameplay is somewhat lost in a sea of outlandish. Take, for example, Life is Strange. It's narrative - involving cross-dimensional and cross-timeline hijinx - works very well... and it does so, specifically because the characters themselves feel grounded in a reality. When something changes or when something extraordinary happens to them, the weight of it has impact, because we have already gotten to know and like the characters in a "normal" setting. In VLR though, the characters are already outlandish, the situation they are in is already outlandish and their captor is already outlandish. We have no grounded element to act as a springboard when the narrative storytelling becomes outlandish too. I think the actual concepts in VLR are actually more interesting and heady than anything in Life is Strange, but since it happens to these specific characters, in this specific world, it just feels like another element of crazy in a world already fully detached from reality. Having an excellent, unusual plot mechanic in that instance, is like throwing a bucket of paint over a Jackson Pollock. Yes, you notice it, but not as much as you should, and it's often hard to tell what is added, and what was already there. The edges of "crazy" are rather blurred, when it is layer on top of an already crazy premise. Overall, Virtue's Last Reward is a problem game for me personally, as it's another of those games I know has a strong following of fans - but I am not one of them. It is a game that perhaps suffers in my estimation due to my own lack of context - I am not particularly well versed in Japanese Visual Novels, and so some of the character elements I find to be obtuse may well appeal to those who have more cultural context and personal affinity for... but for me, I see VLR as something of a missed opportunity. It is a wildly clever and smart narrative experiment, undone by its application within a style and tone that makes it impossible to shine. In losing that shine, what is left for me is a reasonably good set of puzzles that are fleeting, a narrative that is impenetrable, and a gameplay style that never quite approaches mainstream, yet loses the cult charm of its wacky, silly predecessor. The Ranking: In ranking Virtue's Last Reward, I feel a little bad, as I know it's a game that appeals more to others than me... but science must flow from experience! The two games I used as starting points were simple - one that I feel is a rather wasted opportunity and squanders it's potential in a similar (but more egregious) way than VLR: Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order - and one that is also a narrative puzzle game, but I feel has to rank higher, despite it's relative simplicity as compared to VLR - the current "best of Artifex Mundi" Enigmatis 3: The Shadow of Karkhala. Note, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is, of course, a much more lavish production than VLR, however, it is crushed under the weight of it's poor design and lack of player engagement, and while I'd say the same is true of VLR, I expected more of Jedi, and found less. Enigmatis 3 is a more simple, linear puzzle game (and there aren't actually any puzzles as involved or interesting as the best ones in VLR,) however, it works well, while VLR has too many problems to rank above it comfortably. That places us in between, without a huge amount of narrative games to compare, but a fair few puzzle games, so those have to be the comparison. I think overall I much preferred my time with simple but effective Puzzle Adventure game Agent-A: A Puzzle in Disguise, so that has to rank above VLR, however, despite my personal preference for the kind of game Tetragon is, as opposed to VLR, I cannot rank it higher, as it's problems are more profound, and the game, if anything, lacks ambition. Being more ambitious and failing is more admirable than lacking ambition and still failing, so VLR moves above Tetragon. In the end, I think I would definitely be more likely to replay VLR than I would Neverending Nightmares, and probably the same could be said of Arcade Archives: City Connection... but not Uncanny Valley. As such, Virtue's Last Reward finds its spot! Fascinating read, equally interesting in that I liked it so much for the same reason you didn't ? I generally don't like games where the trophies require multiple endings or to play certain ways because i like to play the way I want and just get the ending I get. To deliberately play a certain way for a different ending has always just annoyed me somewhat. The few VNs I have played I've found it even worse as you it usually means a slight dialogue change then you end up with a different dreamy guy ? As soon as you hit that moment in this where the characters suddenly realise they remember events from different timelines they haven't experienced and it's not just different endings but this one massive dollop of multiple timelines bleeding together ? I was totally sold. The more convoluted and silly it got the more I enjoyed it ? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted July 17, 2022 Author Share Posted July 17, 2022 (edited) 2 hours ago, Cleggworth said: Fascinating read, equally interesting in that I liked it so much for the same reason you didn't ? I generally don't like games where the trophies require multiple endings or to play certain ways because i like to play the way I want and just get the ending I get. To deliberately play a certain way for a different ending has always just annoyed me somewhat. The few VNs I have played I've found it even worse as you it usually means a slight dialogue change then you end up with a different dreamy guy As soon as you hit that moment in this where the characters suddenly realise they remember events from different timelines they haven't experienced and it's not just different endings but this one massive dollop of multiple timelines bleeding together ? I was totally sold. The more convoluted and silly it got the more I enjoyed it ? It’s funny - VLR is definitely one of those games I actually kind of enjoyed writing about even though it was mostly negative, because it forced me to actually sit down and genuinely think about why I didn’t enjoy it as much as some. It’s in that handful of games - like GTAIV or Metal Gear - that while I didn’t like it, I don’t really recoil or question when other do, because I know I’m either in the minority, or I can recognise the good stuff in it, even if it doesn’t work for me. Like, if someone told me VLR, or GTAIV, or Metal Gear Solid 2 was their favourite game, I would be like “cool - I like that you like that!”… …whereas if they said like LA Cops or Legends of Wrestlemania was their favourite game, I would slowly back away and call the police! ? Edited July 17, 2022 by DrBloodmoney 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ_Radio Posted July 18, 2022 Share Posted July 18, 2022 (edited) 17 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: …whereas if they said like LA Cops or Legends of Wrestlemania was their favourite game, I would slowly back away and call the police! LA Cops was a poor man’s Hotline Miami. WWE Legends of Wrestlemania was developed by the numbers, though it was a real treat seeing old WWF footage (I’m calling it WWF because that’s what the company was called backed then) from the 1980s and 1990s. Edited July 18, 2022 by Stevieboy unnecessary comment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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