Mojib-Ribbon is a music video game created by Masaya Matsuura as a spinoff of his 1999 music game, Vib-Ribbon, which was released for PlayStation. A direct sequel called Vib-Ripple was released in 2004. The releases are comparable to the releases of the earlier PaRappa series (also a Matsuura series) where the original was followed by a pseudo-sequel and then a direct sequel a few years later.
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Mojib-Ribbon is one of the Japan-exclusive spin-offs that NanaOn-Sha made to the original Vib-Ribbon.
Instead of featuring the vector rabbit Vibri, we now follow the sumi-e styled Mojibri, and then later on, Mojiko and the robot Osorezan 1999.
Before I get into the gameplay, I think the game's Japanese caligraphy artstyle is absolutely gorgeous and still holds up well! It is a bit similar to a game called Okami, but this one takes a more simple approach to the use of colors.
The music was once again composed by Laugh & Peace, but they don't sing any of the songs. The beats of the songs are really good! Not all of them are bangers, but there's a lot here I do enjoy.
And this leads me into the gameplay.
See, the reason why the band Laugh & Peace doesn't sing their songs unlike last time, is because this isn't exactly a Rhythm game in the traditional sense.
Your objective in the game is to write the song according to the beat of it, and the characters will say the sentences as you're writing.
That's a pretty cool idea, but how do you do it?
Remember how in Vib-Ribbon, you only utilized 4 buttons to play through the game?
In this game... you only one of the analogue sticks, with the right being the default (you can use either the left, right, or both of them if you go to the options menu).
While you're writing a sentence, you're constantly moving, and you need to flick the stick up and immediately down to write a part of a sentence. If you do it too late, you miss. If you only flick down, you write with thin syllables, and if you flick up too early, you write the thick syllables. These get you a lower score.
And this is where my main frustration with the game comes from.
The timings for writing a sentence well are really, really, really fucking strict!
It's so hard flicking the analogue stick constantly up and down to write well, and even when I can do it, it hurts my thumb so much!
If you ever think about playing this game, please rest in between songs.
And there's way more of them this time around, triple the amount Vib-Ribbon had! I appreciate the effort in making a longer game, but levels can get really intense later on... and they hurt my thumb even more.
There are also little annoyances the game has that absolutely made me frustrated whenever I was trying to write the sentences.
For example, like Vib-Ribbon, if you miss a lot, you'll transform to a smaller form. When you transform in this game, it can mess up your sense of flow, and it fucking sucks.
I know this was the case with Vib-Ribbon, but since this game demands more from you, this really makes me lose my concentration.
Another thing that pissed me off was exactly when to let go of the analogue stick. Now, when you're finishing a part of a sentence, and there's nothing coming up right afterwards immediately, you need to stop holding the stick down. This is indicated by the clouds obscuring the syllables in the stages.
Thing is, sometimes the clouds did not have a color that contrasted too well with background color, and as such, I couldn't exactly see where I should've stopped.
Once again, messing my flow and make me less concentration.
This kind of shit happened to me all the goddamn time, and all of this added up to me not felling fulfilled whenever I beat a stage. Just relieved that it was over.
Overall, Mojib-Ribbon, while it has plenty of charm, is a game that I have a hard time recommending unless you really want a challenge.
Instead of featuring the vector rabbit Vibri, we now follow the sumi-e styled Mojibri, and then later on, Mojiko and the robot Osorezan 1999.
Before I get into the gameplay, I think the game's Japanese caligraphy artstyle is absolutely gorgeous and still holds up well! It is a bit similar to a game called Okami, but this one takes a more simple approach to the use of colors.
The music was once again composed by Laugh & Peace, but they don't sing any of the songs. The beats of the songs are really good! Not all of them are bangers, but there's a lot here I do enjoy.
And this leads me into the gameplay.
See, the reason why the band Laugh & Peace doesn't sing their songs unlike last time, is because this isn't exactly a Rhythm game in the traditional sense.
Your objective in the game is to write the song according to the beat of it, and the characters will say the sentences as you're writing.
That's a pretty cool idea, but how do you do it?
Remember how in Vib-Ribbon, you only utilized 4 buttons to play through the game?
In this game... you only one of the analogue sticks, with the right being the default (you can use either the left, right, or both of them if you go to the options menu).
While you're writing a sentence, you're constantly moving, and you need to flick the stick up and immediately down to write a part of a sentence. If you do it too late, you miss. If you only flick down, you write with thin syllables, and if you flick up too early, you write the thick syllables. These get you a lower score.
And this is where my main frustration with the game comes from.
The timings for writing a sentence well are really, really, really fucking strict!
It's so hard flicking the analogue stick constantly up and down to write well, and even when I can do it, it hurts my thumb so much!
If you ever think about playing this game, please rest in between songs.
And there's way more of them this time around, triple the amount Vib-Ribbon had! I appreciate the effort in making a longer game, but levels can get really intense later on... and they hurt my thumb even more.
There are also little annoyances the game has that absolutely made me frustrated whenever I was trying to write the sentences.
For example, like Vib-Ribbon, if you miss a lot, you'll transform to a smaller form. When you transform in this game, it can mess up your sense of flow, and it fucking sucks.
I know this was the case with Vib-Ribbon, but since this game demands more from you, this really makes me lose my concentration.
Another thing that pissed me off was exactly when to let go of the analogue stick. Now, when you're finishing a part of a sentence, and there's nothing coming up right afterwards immediately, you need to stop holding the stick down. This is indicated by the clouds obscuring the syllables in the stages.
Thing is, sometimes the clouds did not have a color that contrasted too well with background color, and as such, I couldn't exactly see where I should've stopped.
Once again, messing my flow and make me less concentration.
This kind of shit happened to me all the goddamn time, and all of this added up to me not felling fulfilled whenever I beat a stage. Just relieved that it was over.
Overall, Mojib-Ribbon, while it has plenty of charm, is a game that I have a hard time recommending unless you really want a challenge.
All you do in mojib ribbon is flip your stick down at the right time, and then flip it back up at the right time in line with the in game music
And yet, it is more addicting than daily gasoline huffing sessions at the sunoco gas station in the shady area of Detroit Michigan
While the sound track isnt as memorable as vib ribbon, it gets the job done rly well!
And yet, it is more addicting than daily gasoline huffing sessions at the sunoco gas station in the shady area of Detroit Michigan
While the sound track isnt as memorable as vib ribbon, it gets the job done rly well!
In this game you slam your Joystick Up and Down to the music which results in it hitting the inner plastic edge of the joystick hole on your controller, making a clacking sound IRL to the beat of the music in game. They were think wayyy outside the box when they came up with that man. Phheww they were oh so clever!
Anyways Mojika is goated with her darthmaul twinbrush thing. When people say we need more strong female characters in media I hope they take notes yall.
Anyways Mojika is goated with her darthmaul twinbrush thing. When people say we need more strong female characters in media I hope they take notes yall.
this game is kind of annoying
extremely cute