an odd one out of suda's ouevre. largely avoids the fixation on violence grasshopper's games are known for, foregoing the hard boiled cybercrime noir of the silver case, the post-9/11 sentai horror bloodbath of killer7, and the sillier nerdfighter grindhouse bloodbath of no more heroes (which would set a pattern followed by most of the studio's subsequent games as bloodbaths, with suda only occasionally as the director. its humor is also pretty close to fsr's at times). tonally very different from these but thematically very familiar, flower sun and rain should be taken as both sequel AND side story at once to tsc, and its very hard to talk about without also bringing up that game, in a way i dont think is as true for the more standalone k7 or nmh. there really is an appeal i'm finally starting to understand with taking tsc, this, and likely 25th ward--which is next up for me--as a trilogy with its own arc.
the silver case itself, as the starting point, is obsessed with the internet and the city, finding a formal link between the two. it's in the clacking text boxes, the film windows, the backgrounds with rotating numbers and flashing shapes and out of context phrases, altogether an abstracted space of words and pictures that feels like website presentation. its also in the player movement thats restricted to hotspots with rigid pathing befitting of street grids, apartment buildings, your home that you make the same linear motions in everyday. both feel non-naturalistic and cramped, but that just emphasizes the experience we have with these spaces. surrounded by cold geometric cells online and off, everyone so close together yet so far away. it gets exhausting, being unable to find ourselves outside of these boxes, to get some picture of truth. the game recognizes the need to reach for the light within yourself, outside of this darkness, but what would that even look like?
fsr shows a world "outside" by taking the reverse approach. your movement is "freer", your sense of space perceivable with the player character's own two legs in relation to analog control. hotel guests, staff, and people of the island get in your way to ask for "help", more or less, with tasks that are nonsensical in their solution and often ridiculous in their premise too, but the experience of it creates a sense you are working for a net good out of mondo's own developing kindness. you gain more and more of the world to move in until you eventually feel your sense of self stretch across long roads and pathways--literally as the in-game guidebook itself says. you can check bathrooms, take unnecessary detours, hear the rolling waves and the chirping birds. maybe this is where you can find the light.
but this "naturalistic" feeling of freedom the game allows compared to tsc, however, belies the truth of lospass's paradise as being just as artificial as the 24 wards, in a different way. the puzzles you help others with are just solved with codes based off relevant trivia from a pamphlet, blatantly mechanical logic as it can get (reminds me a little of riven, though the juxtaposition of natural and unnatural here is more unmistakably intentional). the staff hide themselves behind friendly smiles, and some of those you help may be tricking you. the hotel, a temporary place to stay, is the only "living space" you can find. structures feel too new, too slick, to feel some engrained identity behind them. the island lost its own past, perhaps even had it stolen, with whatever it is that looks like "history" you find not necessarily being factual. it goes beyond feeling touristy, it's like people can't really live and be oneself here for all that long.
what i like about flower sun and rain not being a silver case sequel in name is that its another way the game frames itself as an escape from the confines of the wards--meaning then that 25th ward may be a return to the grime so to speak, to confront that space again. fsr is trying to forget the past that built it, only to find a new kind of artifice that reminds you of the one you knew before. this doesn't mean the game is saying its escapism is ultimately useless and selfish though, because when you're in the dark it might be a matter of needing to see something different, anything else, to gain a better understanding of yourself and your past that made you yourself. new memories tinged by a new sun, even as artificial light, might be whats needed to really move forward.
loved doing math homework and taking daily jogs on my tropical vacay. ps the walking around wasn't even as bad as it was made out to be, you guys are just weak and need to break your brain like i did with aimlessly backtracking for no real reward in other games that have even larger and emptier worlds
the silver case itself, as the starting point, is obsessed with the internet and the city, finding a formal link between the two. it's in the clacking text boxes, the film windows, the backgrounds with rotating numbers and flashing shapes and out of context phrases, altogether an abstracted space of words and pictures that feels like website presentation. its also in the player movement thats restricted to hotspots with rigid pathing befitting of street grids, apartment buildings, your home that you make the same linear motions in everyday. both feel non-naturalistic and cramped, but that just emphasizes the experience we have with these spaces. surrounded by cold geometric cells online and off, everyone so close together yet so far away. it gets exhausting, being unable to find ourselves outside of these boxes, to get some picture of truth. the game recognizes the need to reach for the light within yourself, outside of this darkness, but what would that even look like?
fsr shows a world "outside" by taking the reverse approach. your movement is "freer", your sense of space perceivable with the player character's own two legs in relation to analog control. hotel guests, staff, and people of the island get in your way to ask for "help", more or less, with tasks that are nonsensical in their solution and often ridiculous in their premise too, but the experience of it creates a sense you are working for a net good out of mondo's own developing kindness. you gain more and more of the world to move in until you eventually feel your sense of self stretch across long roads and pathways--literally as the in-game guidebook itself says. you can check bathrooms, take unnecessary detours, hear the rolling waves and the chirping birds. maybe this is where you can find the light.
but this "naturalistic" feeling of freedom the game allows compared to tsc, however, belies the truth of lospass's paradise as being just as artificial as the 24 wards, in a different way. the puzzles you help others with are just solved with codes based off relevant trivia from a pamphlet, blatantly mechanical logic as it can get (reminds me a little of riven, though the juxtaposition of natural and unnatural here is more unmistakably intentional). the staff hide themselves behind friendly smiles, and some of those you help may be tricking you. the hotel, a temporary place to stay, is the only "living space" you can find. structures feel too new, too slick, to feel some engrained identity behind them. the island lost its own past, perhaps even had it stolen, with whatever it is that looks like "history" you find not necessarily being factual. it goes beyond feeling touristy, it's like people can't really live and be oneself here for all that long.
what i like about flower sun and rain not being a silver case sequel in name is that its another way the game frames itself as an escape from the confines of the wards--meaning then that 25th ward may be a return to the grime so to speak, to confront that space again. fsr is trying to forget the past that built it, only to find a new kind of artifice that reminds you of the one you knew before. this doesn't mean the game is saying its escapism is ultimately useless and selfish though, because when you're in the dark it might be a matter of needing to see something different, anything else, to gain a better understanding of yourself and your past that made you yourself. new memories tinged by a new sun, even as artificial light, might be whats needed to really move forward.
loved doing math homework and taking daily jogs on my tropical vacay. ps the walking around wasn't even as bad as it was made out to be, you guys are just weak and need to break your brain like i did with aimlessly backtracking for no real reward in other games that have even larger and emptier worlds
only suda fans will hype up a walking simulator
completely unjustifiable and anarchic. what we have in FSR is a surrealist pseudosequel to a 1999 visual novel that was not localized at the time that FSR was, making the game upon original release borderline incomprehensible. compelling analysis can still be written without knowledge of the silver case, but the vast majority have settled into a comfortable deconstructionist lens - austin walkers interpretation is one such prominent take, evincing the game's dissatisfactory DS implementations (useless bonus puzzles, step counter) as part and parcel of the game's antagonistic design, antithetical to its own industry ('It's mean. It's cruel. I kind of love it.')
despite this, one of the most beautiful games ever and the work of someone i am increasingly convinced by the day is one of the most valuable devs in the industry. masterful in tone and delivery, FSR sharply threads together various disparate narrative and thematic strands to excellent effect, resulting in an anti-game package that stands head and shoulders above the crowd by closely resembling something akin to video game poetry. what does FSR pontificate on, if not to act the provocateur or to senselessly challenge convention? in no short order: truth, mystery, identity, purity, artifice, colonialism, primitivism, paradise, death, rebirth, spirituality. the influence of kafka, jodorowsky, and lynch, for example, is felt strongly, but never so strong that it is cynical or unoriginal - to be ensnared in suda's mosaic of cultural references is only to gain appreciation for the ingenuity of his work.
i think FSR and NMH's reputations precede them such that suda is seen as a figure whose sole developmental shtick lies in deconstruction and satire, but FSR is so much more than that - it only requires the player to ascend to match its level, to bask in the sunlight and take solace in ocean waves, to intuit what can't be sensed through mere deduction and speculation. truth is, after all, as natural, forthcoming, and innate as the bright blue skies around us, sometimes.
despite this, one of the most beautiful games ever and the work of someone i am increasingly convinced by the day is one of the most valuable devs in the industry. masterful in tone and delivery, FSR sharply threads together various disparate narrative and thematic strands to excellent effect, resulting in an anti-game package that stands head and shoulders above the crowd by closely resembling something akin to video game poetry. what does FSR pontificate on, if not to act the provocateur or to senselessly challenge convention? in no short order: truth, mystery, identity, purity, artifice, colonialism, primitivism, paradise, death, rebirth, spirituality. the influence of kafka, jodorowsky, and lynch, for example, is felt strongly, but never so strong that it is cynical or unoriginal - to be ensnared in suda's mosaic of cultural references is only to gain appreciation for the ingenuity of his work.
i think FSR and NMH's reputations precede them such that suda is seen as a figure whose sole developmental shtick lies in deconstruction and satire, but FSR is so much more than that - it only requires the player to ascend to match its level, to bask in the sunlight and take solace in ocean waves, to intuit what can't be sensed through mere deduction and speculation. truth is, after all, as natural, forthcoming, and innate as the bright blue skies around us, sometimes.
Sumio Mondo is staying in Room 402 of the Flower, Sun & Rain hotel on Lospass Island. He's been called here to investigate a bomb threat at the airport, and needs to arrive there before the plane taking off explodes mid-flight.
The plane explodes.
Sumio Mondo wakes up in Room 402 of the Flower, Sun & Rain hotel on Lospass Island. It's morning, and he needs to get to the airport before the plane explodes. But there's a sense of deja vu. He's been here before, and he's going to be here for quite a while. There's no past, no future, just an infinite present.
The Flower, Sun & Rain hotel, and by extension, Lospass Island is one of the more unsettling locations I've ever seen in a game. A lo-fi purgatorio, perfectly represented by a hotel on a tropical island resort. Hotels are naturally a place of transitions: a temporary abode between here and there, only called home in short bursts. Accommodating, but ultimately unfriendly and sterile. An island resort, beautiful in its view, yet also meant to be experienced in short bursts. It's beauty is only so because it is ultimately fleeting. A perfect combination for the infinite time loop Mondo is stuck in: an eternal transitional period, an infinite present, constantly resisting change and any possible futures that may be trying to take shape. The past is dead, but so is the future.
The plane explodes. Sumio Mondo wakes up in Room 402.
The core gameplay loop involves two things: puzzle solving and walking. Lots of walking. Equipped with his handy briefcase Catherine and an extensive island Guidebook, Mondo must solve the various ills of the island residents who always seem to be in the way of his path to the truth. The interesting thing about Flower, Sun & Rain's (FSR's) puzzle design is how it gives you all the tools from the start. You always have the answer to every puzzle right at the tip of your stylus, but you must figure out what page in the Guidebook applies to the problem in front of you. Just like the time loop, it's constant: the answer will always be a number, and every problem will have a page in the Guidebook.
The plane explodes. Sumio Mondo wakes up in Room 402.
The other standout aspect of FSR is how much contempt it seems to hold for the player. Every step that Mondo takes is impeded by another problem to solve, another riddle to answer, another resident who strong-arms Mondo into solving yet another predicament. It takes us half the game just to finally walk out the front doors of the hotel, and with every step closer to our goal, FSR resists us more and more fervently: the puzzles become more complex, the requests more insane, and the amount of walking the game expects you to do to get between each goal bordering on sadism. Every chapter is book-ended by a shot of the plane exploding, a constant reminder of our raison d'etre and our failure to fulfill.
The plane explodes. Sumio Mondo wakes up in Room 402.
FSR is a trial-by-fire. A task from God. An exercise in insanity. Yet it's intensely compelling. It's a game that doesn't want to be played by anyone, but it invites you to defy it with its mysteries and charming cast of characters. It dangles answers in front of you like a carrot on a stick and asks you to jump through hoop upon hoop if you want to truly want to see them for yourself. It asks you if you have what it takes to discover the truth and grinds your patience to dust in the way only tedious gameplay can to truly test your resolve. In a way, it's the perfect sequel to the Silver Case: it shares the same punk attitude and desire for truth, asking you to once again test your resolve to "Kill the Past". Discover Sumio Mondo's past, kill it if you have to, and free the entirety of Lospass Island from it's infinite present.
"Tomorrow is calling me. Maybe you'll catch up with me there?"
The plane explodes.
Sumio Mondo wakes up in Room 402 of the Flower, Sun & Rain hotel on Lospass Island. It's morning, and he needs to get to the airport before the plane explodes. But there's a sense of deja vu. He's been here before, and he's going to be here for quite a while. There's no past, no future, just an infinite present.
The Flower, Sun & Rain hotel, and by extension, Lospass Island is one of the more unsettling locations I've ever seen in a game. A lo-fi purgatorio, perfectly represented by a hotel on a tropical island resort. Hotels are naturally a place of transitions: a temporary abode between here and there, only called home in short bursts. Accommodating, but ultimately unfriendly and sterile. An island resort, beautiful in its view, yet also meant to be experienced in short bursts. It's beauty is only so because it is ultimately fleeting. A perfect combination for the infinite time loop Mondo is stuck in: an eternal transitional period, an infinite present, constantly resisting change and any possible futures that may be trying to take shape. The past is dead, but so is the future.
The plane explodes. Sumio Mondo wakes up in Room 402.
The core gameplay loop involves two things: puzzle solving and walking. Lots of walking. Equipped with his handy briefcase Catherine and an extensive island Guidebook, Mondo must solve the various ills of the island residents who always seem to be in the way of his path to the truth. The interesting thing about Flower, Sun & Rain's (FSR's) puzzle design is how it gives you all the tools from the start. You always have the answer to every puzzle right at the tip of your stylus, but you must figure out what page in the Guidebook applies to the problem in front of you. Just like the time loop, it's constant: the answer will always be a number, and every problem will have a page in the Guidebook.
The plane explodes. Sumio Mondo wakes up in Room 402.
The other standout aspect of FSR is how much contempt it seems to hold for the player. Every step that Mondo takes is impeded by another problem to solve, another riddle to answer, another resident who strong-arms Mondo into solving yet another predicament. It takes us half the game just to finally walk out the front doors of the hotel, and with every step closer to our goal, FSR resists us more and more fervently: the puzzles become more complex, the requests more insane, and the amount of walking the game expects you to do to get between each goal bordering on sadism. Every chapter is book-ended by a shot of the plane exploding, a constant reminder of our raison d'etre and our failure to fulfill.
The plane explodes. Sumio Mondo wakes up in Room 402.
FSR is a trial-by-fire. A task from God. An exercise in insanity. Yet it's intensely compelling. It's a game that doesn't want to be played by anyone, but it invites you to defy it with its mysteries and charming cast of characters. It dangles answers in front of you like a carrot on a stick and asks you to jump through hoop upon hoop if you want to truly want to see them for yourself. It asks you if you have what it takes to discover the truth and grinds your patience to dust in the way only tedious gameplay can to truly test your resolve. In a way, it's the perfect sequel to the Silver Case: it shares the same punk attitude and desire for truth, asking you to once again test your resolve to "Kill the Past". Discover Sumio Mondo's past, kill it if you have to, and free the entirety of Lospass Island from it's infinite present.
"Tomorrow is calling me. Maybe you'll catch up with me there?"
Kino, Sex, and Based
one can only dream of getting breakfast
After taking 75,000 steps in Flower, Sun and Rain, you unlock the “Movement Speed UP” ability, which allows you to sprint, granting the player a much needed reprieve from Sumio Mondo’s endless march across Lospass Island. Only, the average player will never know this power up exists. I completed the game taking precisely 20,193 steps, a count which I imagine is generally higher than the average player, on account of me not knowing where to go and having to take a few additional agonizing journeys to and from the Hotel Flower, Sun and Rain. This begs the question: why even add such a thing in the first place?
Flower, Sun and Rain stretches its identity as a “video game” so thin that it only loosely fits the definition. Gameplay consists of mind-numbingly walking to various destinations around the island. Every puzzle is solved in the exact same way. Test the different colored jacks, find the corresponding passage in the guidebook, and then input the answer. Yet, despite not being similar to most games on a mechanical level, Flower, Sun and Rain is one of the most “gamey” video games I have ever played. Upon reaching certain milestones on your pedometer the game fades to black, and you are rewarded with largely worthless power ups, as if to shake the player out of their walking-induced trance and say, “Hey, you remember you’re still playing a video game, right? That’s what this is!” Similarly, characters will often break the 4th wall and recognize that they are, in fact, in a video game. It’s extremely obvious that all of these facts are meant to add up to some form of critique.
My reading of Flower, Sun and Rain interprets the work as a critique of the obsessive push toward realism in gaming. Nowhere is this critique more present than in Request 14: Träumerei. Directly following two chapters where the player controls characters who are not Sumio Mondo, the hotel manager Edo Macalister chides Sumio, saying that in order to make up for missing two chapters of action, he should prepare for lots of walking. This is precisely what happens. The player must walk from the Hotel and the wheat fields, two points which are about as far away from each other as possible, twice. Then, the player walks up to the fourth floor of the hotel another eight times, while Sumio is frustratingly locked into just walking. Running in the hotel rooms and stairways is not permitted, of course. After my first two trips and my first four journeys up and down the stairwell, I was reaching my wit’s end. However, that is when Ken appears, who is notably the only person on the island who has access to a form of transportation. Long story short, you “borrow” Ken’s bike, and it acts as a form of fast-travel for the chapter, and cuts down on the length of the chapter considerably. However, the scenario is very much “unrealistic” and somewhat out of character for Sumio. FSR asserts through this mechanic that obsession with realism is only valuable to a certain point. If a piece is injected with too much realism, it will lead to an unfun experience, as is the case in many sections of FSR. There were many times throughout the game where I was not necessarily having fun, but just because the game isn’t fun all the time doesn’t mean it can’t be a great experience.
There’s so much to be said for the quality of writing in this game. I love how they are able to so effortlessly allow the player to identify with Sumio. I don’t agree that the game is meant to be obtuse as a way to make fun of people who like games, far from it. I interpreted that you were supposed to be laughing along with many jokes at the expense of the player and Sumio, but these ideas would be better saved for a longer piece. Flower, Sun and Rain is among my favorite games of all time, and I recommend it to anyone with the patience to see it through to the end.
Flower, Sun and Rain stretches its identity as a “video game” so thin that it only loosely fits the definition. Gameplay consists of mind-numbingly walking to various destinations around the island. Every puzzle is solved in the exact same way. Test the different colored jacks, find the corresponding passage in the guidebook, and then input the answer. Yet, despite not being similar to most games on a mechanical level, Flower, Sun and Rain is one of the most “gamey” video games I have ever played. Upon reaching certain milestones on your pedometer the game fades to black, and you are rewarded with largely worthless power ups, as if to shake the player out of their walking-induced trance and say, “Hey, you remember you’re still playing a video game, right? That’s what this is!” Similarly, characters will often break the 4th wall and recognize that they are, in fact, in a video game. It’s extremely obvious that all of these facts are meant to add up to some form of critique.
My reading of Flower, Sun and Rain interprets the work as a critique of the obsessive push toward realism in gaming. Nowhere is this critique more present than in Request 14: Träumerei. Directly following two chapters where the player controls characters who are not Sumio Mondo, the hotel manager Edo Macalister chides Sumio, saying that in order to make up for missing two chapters of action, he should prepare for lots of walking. This is precisely what happens. The player must walk from the Hotel and the wheat fields, two points which are about as far away from each other as possible, twice. Then, the player walks up to the fourth floor of the hotel another eight times, while Sumio is frustratingly locked into just walking. Running in the hotel rooms and stairways is not permitted, of course. After my first two trips and my first four journeys up and down the stairwell, I was reaching my wit’s end. However, that is when Ken appears, who is notably the only person on the island who has access to a form of transportation. Long story short, you “borrow” Ken’s bike, and it acts as a form of fast-travel for the chapter, and cuts down on the length of the chapter considerably. However, the scenario is very much “unrealistic” and somewhat out of character for Sumio. FSR asserts through this mechanic that obsession with realism is only valuable to a certain point. If a piece is injected with too much realism, it will lead to an unfun experience, as is the case in many sections of FSR. There were many times throughout the game where I was not necessarily having fun, but just because the game isn’t fun all the time doesn’t mean it can’t be a great experience.
There’s so much to be said for the quality of writing in this game. I love how they are able to so effortlessly allow the player to identify with Sumio. I don’t agree that the game is meant to be obtuse as a way to make fun of people who like games, far from it. I interpreted that you were supposed to be laughing along with many jokes at the expense of the player and Sumio, but these ideas would be better saved for a longer piece. Flower, Sun and Rain is among my favorite games of all time, and I recommend it to anyone with the patience to see it through to the end.
flower, bud, and strain 😮💨
Try as I might, I simply cannot figure out what happened in this game, even recently coming off of The Silver Case which somehow did make sense to me. But, frankly, that doesn't matter, because Grasshopper's classic games are more about creating a feeling than spinning a yarn. Even with the DS port's horrifically downgraded graphics and music, FSR's unique atmosphere shines brightly, delivering plenty of laughs and even more thought-provoking moments as it intentionally breaks all the rules of "good" game design. A compelling, intoxicating fever dream where you have to do math problems sometimes, and one of the only truly transgressive video games ever released by a major publisher.
I think it’s important to note before I really delve into this review is the fact that I used a guide for pretty much the entirety of this game. Hell, I wouldn’t have even attempted to finish it if I didn’t have a guide to use. I did the first couple of puzzles, didn’t like them at all, and didn’t want to go through potential hours of frustration throughout the whole game. I am glad I did that though however, because…
This is probably the best and worst game I have ever played. At least, that’s what I was told going into it. I had never heard of this game and barely knew anything about the Kill the Past series as a whole prior to Killer 7 until a couple of people I met on a discord server started to talk about it a lot. One of them was generous enough to gift me The Silver Case, 25th Ward, and Killer 7 all on steam and I’m very thankful for that because I don’t think I would have experienced this batshit insane game or series otherwise (Thanks, PSI!)
Anyways, about Flower, Sun, and Rain itself. I don’t want to discuss spoilers much as this is a game you need to play not knowing anything about it. Oh yeah, you also need to have played The Silver Case before it to even have a clue on what’s happening. Essentially, the plot revolves around the eccentric searcher named Sumio Mondo who is assigned to go to an island to defuse a bomb on a plane that is soon to leave with his briefcase named Catherine. Understood? Now what if it just so happened that Mr. Mondo went to a certain hotel that caused him to be stuck in a time loop and had to figure out why each night he saw a plane blew up in the sky? Doesn’t sound so simple then I suppose. Each day, Mr. Mondo follows his morning routine of being woken up to a phone call from the hotel manager Edo, falling out of bed, and then enjoying his morning cup of coffee. A time loop isn’t the most unique plot device, yet each day felt so distinct that it never got old. Honestly, I think one thing that makes me prefer this game over The Silver Case is how engaging everything was writing wise. The plot constantly managed to pull batshit insane twists yet it was all understandable. You could be constantly surprised yet you’d be able to put the connections together easily. One of my small complaints with The Silver Case is that I found it kinda boring at times when I couldn’t tell what was happening, but I didn’t really feel that way here.
HOWEVER…. there’s a reason why multiple people told me that this will also be the worst game I’ve ever played. And that’s because of the gameplay. Now I already mentioned how I used a guide to do all the puzzles as I didn’t want to bother with them, but that isn’t even the main gameplay element to this game. In Flower, Sun, and Rain, you…. walk! and walk! and walk… and w a l k… The whole game is essentially designed around walking from area to area constantly and as the game goes on, the walks get longer and longer. Request 14 was easily the worst, and imo it dragged on for way too long. And the thing is? I could hardly even care. This could be the Stockholm Syndrome talking from the fact that I’ve officially started taking the Suda51 pill, but I couldn’t even care how the gameplay was literally nothing happening. I thought going into it about how if a game is genuinely painful to play, then it probably isn’t worth it. But now I don’t know. This whole game completely contradicted my opinion on the value of good or at least tolerable gameplay and now I’m not sure. Could bad gameplay actually be good if it’s made with a purpose? Have my standards dropped so low that practically anything is good to me now? Ok, maybe not that, Mario Party 10 is still terrible.
That’s besides the point though. The point is that I was so entranced by Flower, Sun, and Rain and Suda51’s writing style as a whole that I genuinely could not care about what was happening from a gameplay stand point. So what does that mean for this review? Is FSR a flawed masterpiece? Is it a genuinely terrible game and I’m just trying to cope with the fact that I experienced the whole thing? Who knows! I think what matters the most at the end of the day is that I am glad I experienced Flower, Sun, and Rain. The dialogue, the characters, the fucking schizo-tier plot twists that managed to not fly over my tiny brain, hell I didn’t even talk about how the fantastic sound track complements the atmosphere so incredibly well. Nearly everything about it blends so well together that I managed to have fun almost the whole way through. It may be garbage, but it’s garbage that I’ll probably never get the pleasure to experience again.
Wait a minute. I feel something. I’m getting that DS feeling…
This is probably the best and worst game I have ever played. At least, that’s what I was told going into it. I had never heard of this game and barely knew anything about the Kill the Past series as a whole prior to Killer 7 until a couple of people I met on a discord server started to talk about it a lot. One of them was generous enough to gift me The Silver Case, 25th Ward, and Killer 7 all on steam and I’m very thankful for that because I don’t think I would have experienced this batshit insane game or series otherwise (Thanks, PSI!)
Anyways, about Flower, Sun, and Rain itself. I don’t want to discuss spoilers much as this is a game you need to play not knowing anything about it. Oh yeah, you also need to have played The Silver Case before it to even have a clue on what’s happening. Essentially, the plot revolves around the eccentric searcher named Sumio Mondo who is assigned to go to an island to defuse a bomb on a plane that is soon to leave with his briefcase named Catherine. Understood? Now what if it just so happened that Mr. Mondo went to a certain hotel that caused him to be stuck in a time loop and had to figure out why each night he saw a plane blew up in the sky? Doesn’t sound so simple then I suppose. Each day, Mr. Mondo follows his morning routine of being woken up to a phone call from the hotel manager Edo, falling out of bed, and then enjoying his morning cup of coffee. A time loop isn’t the most unique plot device, yet each day felt so distinct that it never got old. Honestly, I think one thing that makes me prefer this game over The Silver Case is how engaging everything was writing wise. The plot constantly managed to pull batshit insane twists yet it was all understandable. You could be constantly surprised yet you’d be able to put the connections together easily. One of my small complaints with The Silver Case is that I found it kinda boring at times when I couldn’t tell what was happening, but I didn’t really feel that way here.
HOWEVER…. there’s a reason why multiple people told me that this will also be the worst game I’ve ever played. And that’s because of the gameplay. Now I already mentioned how I used a guide to do all the puzzles as I didn’t want to bother with them, but that isn’t even the main gameplay element to this game. In Flower, Sun, and Rain, you…. walk! and walk! and walk… and w a l k… The whole game is essentially designed around walking from area to area constantly and as the game goes on, the walks get longer and longer. Request 14 was easily the worst, and imo it dragged on for way too long. And the thing is? I could hardly even care. This could be the Stockholm Syndrome talking from the fact that I’ve officially started taking the Suda51 pill, but I couldn’t even care how the gameplay was literally nothing happening. I thought going into it about how if a game is genuinely painful to play, then it probably isn’t worth it. But now I don’t know. This whole game completely contradicted my opinion on the value of good or at least tolerable gameplay and now I’m not sure. Could bad gameplay actually be good if it’s made with a purpose? Have my standards dropped so low that practically anything is good to me now? Ok, maybe not that, Mario Party 10 is still terrible.
That’s besides the point though. The point is that I was so entranced by Flower, Sun, and Rain and Suda51’s writing style as a whole that I genuinely could not care about what was happening from a gameplay stand point. So what does that mean for this review? Is FSR a flawed masterpiece? Is it a genuinely terrible game and I’m just trying to cope with the fact that I experienced the whole thing? Who knows! I think what matters the most at the end of the day is that I am glad I experienced Flower, Sun, and Rain. The dialogue, the characters, the fucking schizo-tier plot twists that managed to not fly over my tiny brain, hell I didn’t even talk about how the fantastic sound track complements the atmosphere so incredibly well. Nearly everything about it blends so well together that I managed to have fun almost the whole way through. It may be garbage, but it’s garbage that I’ll probably never get the pleasure to experience again.
Wait a minute. I feel something. I’m getting that DS feeling…
Even the most optimistic of us don't deny that games are time wasters to some degree, and a lot of games out there exhaust so much energy just in trying to prove that they're not. Flower, Sun, and Rain acknowledges this and goes in the complete opposite direction, one of its recurring patterns, with its decision to include a step counter as a permanent component of its UI. Not only does the game refuse to put anything of note in its long-winded and visually hideous corridors but it also refuses to let you forget just how much time you've spent in them. It's a ridiculously efficient way to taunt the player (and this is before you even consider that it's used as a milestone to unlock "upgrades" for Sumio) but it's also the most interesting thing the game does.
I've long since accepted the reality that all anything has to do to be considered an art game is be Not Fun, but even the driest arthouse films constantly give the audience something new to chew on, which this game doesn't do. It's adamant about never allowing its puzzles to evolve, which I suppose I understand from a thematic perspective, but this doesn't mean it had to restrict itself in every other area. The most fulfilling part of playing this game was trying to figure out why they included a step counter, and once I was finished with that it didn't really feel like there was much for me left.
The most impressive thing it does late-game is the gradual disappearance of its ensemble cast. One moment you can't even get outside without being pestered with one of their problems and the next the universe feels jarringly empty- almost like the day after a large group has checked out of some sort of hotel or something. Combine this with the fact that the game has a character list detailing each one's background and personality, presumably so players can "check their notes" as if playing a traditional mystery game, and it becomes downright genius, but it's not enough to carry the back half of the game.
It's a deconstruction. I get it. I got it after the first few days went by, I got it when a character straight-up told me that his dialogue was a flag to trigger a new event, I got it when the gameplay devolved into gradeschool math homework, I got it when the credits rolled. It's a deconstruction, but it's not a great one.
I've long since accepted the reality that all anything has to do to be considered an art game is be Not Fun, but even the driest arthouse films constantly give the audience something new to chew on, which this game doesn't do. It's adamant about never allowing its puzzles to evolve, which I suppose I understand from a thematic perspective, but this doesn't mean it had to restrict itself in every other area. The most fulfilling part of playing this game was trying to figure out why they included a step counter, and once I was finished with that it didn't really feel like there was much for me left.
The most impressive thing it does late-game is the gradual disappearance of its ensemble cast. One moment you can't even get outside without being pestered with one of their problems and the next the universe feels jarringly empty- almost like the day after a large group has checked out of some sort of hotel or something. Combine this with the fact that the game has a character list detailing each one's background and personality, presumably so players can "check their notes" as if playing a traditional mystery game, and it becomes downright genius, but it's not enough to carry the back half of the game.
It's a deconstruction. I get it. I got it after the first few days went by, I got it when a character straight-up told me that his dialogue was a flag to trigger a new event, I got it when the gameplay devolved into gradeschool math homework, I got it when the credits rolled. It's a deconstruction, but it's not a great one.
going to call every mild inconvenience in my life "a certified sumio mondo moment" from now on
A hilarious, poignant, silly, shitpost of a game. Flower Sun and Rain is a surreal sequel to the silver case that's somehow more bonkers, yet easier to follow and digest simultaneously whilst hitting harder for me. It's also a really pretty lame puzzle adventure game.
None of the enjoyment from FSR comes from the puzzles or to an extent, even the execution of the quests you go on. The solutions to every puzzle barring a scant few boils down to finding the right terms in handbook and connecting the dots, and somehow by plugging these numbers into things your magical computer does... stuff?
There's some fun to be had in the sheer absurdity of the bad puzzles, but really the appeal here is all in the adventure, the encounters and the sheer atmosphere. Which are all consistently top drawer, and unlike the Silver Case, usually fairly bite size. The only real issue i have with them, and its by far from ever-present, is the occasional awkwardness with hitting the right flags or getting lost in where exactly you need to go or talk to next. Its nice to wander about in FSR but it can get aggravating when you're stumped.
FSR is a short tale, but its one that gives you all the time to soak in the atmosphere you want. Other Suda games are driven by atmosphere and tone, but in FSR it is unquestionably the main draw. The island of lospass is arguably the main character of the game, the music - mostly consisting of wonderfully remixed classical music, gives this surreal, vibe, and there's multiple extended sections where FSR almost compels you to just take it all in. And even on the fucking awful resolution of my DSi XL where i can count the pixels of the trees in the distance of the beach, there's really something to it.
The more relaxed nature of the game is also a boon. The subject matter of stopping a terrorist attack is honestly about on par with The Silver Case's plot in terms of grimness, but the presentation and the weird, ephemeral/purgatorial nature of lospass really makes FSR extremely relaxing. Even when the game really boils down to a bunch of increasingly tedius Fetch Quests, it somehow melts into just being amusing, especially in the blatant piss-take that is Request 14.
FSR in general is just so pleasant. Aside from all it's thematic stuff, its just a lovelly little world to lose oneself in for a bit. I guess that's also what it is for Mondo as well.
Thematically, despite being literally a sequel to the Silver Case, I actually think the game's themes of finding your true path and paradise are actually way more in line with No More Heroes. I still think No More Heroes is probably the better game, with more polish, less bullshit and less outright antagonistic design probably ultimately being for the better. But this is special too.
This is probably the most awkward of SUDA's english pantheon to get into. It needs experience of the the silver case to really be fully appreciated, is even more offbeat and antagonistic to being a game than his other works, and unless you can read japanese you're laboured with a pretty mediocre DS port. But somehow, it's probably definetly one of my favourite suda works and one of the best experiences i've played recently in general. Other people in this review section have probably put a better finger on what quite makes this game tick than me, so i'd check them out, particularly drigo and mr pixelton.
Thanks to all you Suda heads for getting me to give this a go. I'll consider lending you all 50,000 yen.
None of the enjoyment from FSR comes from the puzzles or to an extent, even the execution of the quests you go on. The solutions to every puzzle barring a scant few boils down to finding the right terms in handbook and connecting the dots, and somehow by plugging these numbers into things your magical computer does... stuff?
There's some fun to be had in the sheer absurdity of the bad puzzles, but really the appeal here is all in the adventure, the encounters and the sheer atmosphere. Which are all consistently top drawer, and unlike the Silver Case, usually fairly bite size. The only real issue i have with them, and its by far from ever-present, is the occasional awkwardness with hitting the right flags or getting lost in where exactly you need to go or talk to next. Its nice to wander about in FSR but it can get aggravating when you're stumped.
FSR is a short tale, but its one that gives you all the time to soak in the atmosphere you want. Other Suda games are driven by atmosphere and tone, but in FSR it is unquestionably the main draw. The island of lospass is arguably the main character of the game, the music - mostly consisting of wonderfully remixed classical music, gives this surreal, vibe, and there's multiple extended sections where FSR almost compels you to just take it all in. And even on the fucking awful resolution of my DSi XL where i can count the pixels of the trees in the distance of the beach, there's really something to it.
The more relaxed nature of the game is also a boon. The subject matter of stopping a terrorist attack is honestly about on par with The Silver Case's plot in terms of grimness, but the presentation and the weird, ephemeral/purgatorial nature of lospass really makes FSR extremely relaxing. Even when the game really boils down to a bunch of increasingly tedius Fetch Quests, it somehow melts into just being amusing, especially in the blatant piss-take that is Request 14.
FSR in general is just so pleasant. Aside from all it's thematic stuff, its just a lovelly little world to lose oneself in for a bit. I guess that's also what it is for Mondo as well.
Thematically, despite being literally a sequel to the Silver Case, I actually think the game's themes of finding your true path and paradise are actually way more in line with No More Heroes. I still think No More Heroes is probably the better game, with more polish, less bullshit and less outright antagonistic design probably ultimately being for the better. But this is special too.
This is probably the most awkward of SUDA's english pantheon to get into. It needs experience of the the silver case to really be fully appreciated, is even more offbeat and antagonistic to being a game than his other works, and unless you can read japanese you're laboured with a pretty mediocre DS port. But somehow, it's probably definetly one of my favourite suda works and one of the best experiences i've played recently in general. Other people in this review section have probably put a better finger on what quite makes this game tick than me, so i'd check them out, particularly drigo and mr pixelton.
Thanks to all you Suda heads for getting me to give this a go. I'll consider lending you all 50,000 yen.
Um jogo sobre a mediocridade do cotidiano, sobre jacarés coloridos giirando e sobre aviões explodindo. Isso é Flower, Sun, and Rain.
Andar por si só pra mim já é um ato de reflexão. Toda caminhada que eu faço nunca parece sobre ir de ponto A até ponto B, todos os lugares que eu passo parecem vivos, parecem lugares. Quando eu faço o mesmo trajeto de carro ou de qualquer meio de transporte, tudo parece perder esse ar palpável de vida, tudo fica robôtico num sentido de não existir sentido pra isso. É mais sobre ir do ponto A até o ponto B do que propriamente ir. E o Suda provavelmente sente a mesma coisa. Andar aqui é o ato principal de gameplay, da mecânica que rege esse mundo. É o que te impede de terminar o jogo mas também é o que te faz terminar ele. O que faz essa caminhada ser um negócio tão especial é o conjunto das variáveis; a música de FSR tem um papel muito onírico de fazer isso funcionar. Junto de toda essa calma que ele não sente vergonha de ter, isso faz a atmosfera desse jogo ser muito única. Mas ainda sim, é impossível não achar isso logo de cara chato, são tantas tarefas inúteis que você tem que fazer que a pergunta se isso tudo vale a pena vai pairar na tua cabeça. E mesmo sendo um jogo que vai te deixar exausto, SER chato é o ponto dele. Isso é verossímil. Se esforçar pra terminar esse jogo é o ponto principal dele. É frustrante. É inútil. E toda essa baboseira que eu acabei de falar também pode ser inútil pra ti, e isso forma arte. Ao mesmo tempo que toda essa merda pode significar um grande nada, pra mim isso significa tudo, e isso por si só é arte. Flower, Sun, and Rain então é sobre superar ele mesmo, dar sentido às coisas que não existe sentido. É sobre entender que não existe o escapismo das coisas que você fez, o paraíso não existe. Tudo que você fez algum dia irá voltar pra te assombrar, mas ainda sim o passado não faz quem você é hoje em dia. Não define o que tu é quando acorda. Todo mundo deve enfrentar o passado, perder o passado é perder o senso do ser, pois é uma parte vital do eu. E isso é "Kill the Past", mas de forma diferente ao seu antecessor. É o Andrei Tarkovsky dos videogames.
"Flower, Sun, and Rain was me all along, wasn't it?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqnxZYZfDXE
Andar por si só pra mim já é um ato de reflexão. Toda caminhada que eu faço nunca parece sobre ir de ponto A até ponto B, todos os lugares que eu passo parecem vivos, parecem lugares. Quando eu faço o mesmo trajeto de carro ou de qualquer meio de transporte, tudo parece perder esse ar palpável de vida, tudo fica robôtico num sentido de não existir sentido pra isso. É mais sobre ir do ponto A até o ponto B do que propriamente ir. E o Suda provavelmente sente a mesma coisa. Andar aqui é o ato principal de gameplay, da mecânica que rege esse mundo. É o que te impede de terminar o jogo mas também é o que te faz terminar ele. O que faz essa caminhada ser um negócio tão especial é o conjunto das variáveis; a música de FSR tem um papel muito onírico de fazer isso funcionar. Junto de toda essa calma que ele não sente vergonha de ter, isso faz a atmosfera desse jogo ser muito única. Mas ainda sim, é impossível não achar isso logo de cara chato, são tantas tarefas inúteis que você tem que fazer que a pergunta se isso tudo vale a pena vai pairar na tua cabeça. E mesmo sendo um jogo que vai te deixar exausto, SER chato é o ponto dele. Isso é verossímil. Se esforçar pra terminar esse jogo é o ponto principal dele. É frustrante. É inútil. E toda essa baboseira que eu acabei de falar também pode ser inútil pra ti, e isso forma arte. Ao mesmo tempo que toda essa merda pode significar um grande nada, pra mim isso significa tudo, e isso por si só é arte. Flower, Sun, and Rain então é sobre superar ele mesmo, dar sentido às coisas que não existe sentido. É sobre entender que não existe o escapismo das coisas que você fez, o paraíso não existe. Tudo que você fez algum dia irá voltar pra te assombrar, mas ainda sim o passado não faz quem você é hoje em dia. Não define o que tu é quando acorda. Todo mundo deve enfrentar o passado, perder o passado é perder o senso do ser, pois é uma parte vital do eu. E isso é "Kill the Past", mas de forma diferente ao seu antecessor. É o Andrei Tarkovsky dos videogames.
"Flower, Sun, and Rain was me all along, wasn't it?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqnxZYZfDXE
"content dictates form. less is more. god is in the details.
all in the service of clarity, without which, nothing else matters."
- stephen sondheim
above is a quote from one of my lifelong heroes who passed away a few months ago. mr. sondheim's work defined a great deal of my teenage and transitional years and upon hearing the news of his tragic passing, i took the opportunity to reflect on the ways with which he'd influenced my art, my views, and my conduct. i'm by no means a theatre type - while i spent a few years in high school co-directing and acting as a dramaturge for a local company, by no means do i enjoy the theatre as it exists to the common eye and ear. i left that world to escape the despotism of what 'must be' and what 'sells' by the overseeing eye of the major companies and self-satisfied bigwigs because, as any artist knows, when you climb a few rungs of the ladder no art is political, but all art is politics.
yet i find myself, years removed from theatre, years removed from pushing my own envelope of personal expression to a public eye, many nights in front of a google doc, or a blank notepad, or staring at my shelf, wondering when the spark is going to hit and i'll write the next pieces of my screenplay, or my next chorus to a song, or my next analysis of some 20-year-old adventure game made by a small passionate team from the literal opposite of the world. sometimes i wonder if my minimalism, my expression of big feelings in small boxes, through white and black forms with bright technicolor lights, if it's a crutch, if i'm an imitator of the conglomerate great ideas of people before me... if i shoot half this short film adaptation of a novel as a silent work, am i up my own ass for it? if i push myself creatively as a musician to a one-man audience by design, am i selling myself short? have i missed my shot at truly expressing MYself?
of course, if you've got your head screwed on halfway right, you'll realize this self-talk is a complete load of bullshit. just put the pen to the paper. put the fingers to the keys. don't worry about who sees it, don't worry about why you do it, but if you believe in it - content dictating form - and if your style is simple short strokes with deep, cutting lines - less is more - and if your heart hurts to watch it play back - god is in the details. if you are an artist, if you are a person who needs to be able to say something for the sake of saying it, you must throw away preconceptions, you must disregard what people have said of you and your work, you must take that future into your hands and seize it. all in the service of clarity, without which, nothing else matters.
live your daily rut. get up, go to work.
push hard to make those days count.
let your work be your work, and let your work be your work.
to find happiness is to be honest with oneself.
recognize the monotony but don't let it overtake you.
your career isn't your person.
every person on this site, every person reading this
i think each one of us has art inside of us waiting to blossom.
you need to be willing to find love in your heart for that, for yourself, and the willingness to seize that potential regardless of the cost and regardless of how you've hurt before.
you need to seize the future.
you need to kill the past.
flower, sun & rain was me all along, wasn't it?
all in the service of clarity, without which, nothing else matters."
- stephen sondheim
above is a quote from one of my lifelong heroes who passed away a few months ago. mr. sondheim's work defined a great deal of my teenage and transitional years and upon hearing the news of his tragic passing, i took the opportunity to reflect on the ways with which he'd influenced my art, my views, and my conduct. i'm by no means a theatre type - while i spent a few years in high school co-directing and acting as a dramaturge for a local company, by no means do i enjoy the theatre as it exists to the common eye and ear. i left that world to escape the despotism of what 'must be' and what 'sells' by the overseeing eye of the major companies and self-satisfied bigwigs because, as any artist knows, when you climb a few rungs of the ladder no art is political, but all art is politics.
yet i find myself, years removed from theatre, years removed from pushing my own envelope of personal expression to a public eye, many nights in front of a google doc, or a blank notepad, or staring at my shelf, wondering when the spark is going to hit and i'll write the next pieces of my screenplay, or my next chorus to a song, or my next analysis of some 20-year-old adventure game made by a small passionate team from the literal opposite of the world. sometimes i wonder if my minimalism, my expression of big feelings in small boxes, through white and black forms with bright technicolor lights, if it's a crutch, if i'm an imitator of the conglomerate great ideas of people before me... if i shoot half this short film adaptation of a novel as a silent work, am i up my own ass for it? if i push myself creatively as a musician to a one-man audience by design, am i selling myself short? have i missed my shot at truly expressing MYself?
of course, if you've got your head screwed on halfway right, you'll realize this self-talk is a complete load of bullshit. just put the pen to the paper. put the fingers to the keys. don't worry about who sees it, don't worry about why you do it, but if you believe in it - content dictating form - and if your style is simple short strokes with deep, cutting lines - less is more - and if your heart hurts to watch it play back - god is in the details. if you are an artist, if you are a person who needs to be able to say something for the sake of saying it, you must throw away preconceptions, you must disregard what people have said of you and your work, you must take that future into your hands and seize it. all in the service of clarity, without which, nothing else matters.
live your daily rut. get up, go to work.
push hard to make those days count.
let your work be your work, and let your work be your work.
to find happiness is to be honest with oneself.
recognize the monotony but don't let it overtake you.
your career isn't your person.
every person on this site, every person reading this
i think each one of us has art inside of us waiting to blossom.
you need to be willing to find love in your heart for that, for yourself, and the willingness to seize that potential regardless of the cost and regardless of how you've hurt before.
you need to seize the future.
you need to kill the past.
flower, sun & rain was me all along, wasn't it?
"There is no such thing as Art for everyone" said suda51 as a way to explain what the fuck he just made
death stranding de puta
I had planned to properly review this, but I ended up having so much to say and a lot of ideas for how to convey those thoughts visually that I'd rather turn those thoughts into a more formal video essay. Still, given that it's the site's shared enthusiasm for the game that got me to sit down and play it after The Silver Case kind of knocked me for six with how exhausting it was to play, I just want it on the record that this game fucking slaps.
Running pedometer-measured circles around almost every other self-professed absurdist satire of the medium, Flower, Sun, and Rain is a genuinely hilarious, supremely confident piece that is so good and so ahead of its time that it kind of makes me look less fondly on a lot of games that clearly followed in its wake. It's got more going on than just insular commentary on the medium, but one of my major takeaways was just how much more accomplished and nuanced FSR is in this regard than much of its siblings. In taking video games apart, reducing them to their most fundamental elements, laying bare their sheer, unbridled, artifice, FSR doesn't bring video games down, it shows us why we love them in the first place. Spellbinding.
Running pedometer-measured circles around almost every other self-professed absurdist satire of the medium, Flower, Sun, and Rain is a genuinely hilarious, supremely confident piece that is so good and so ahead of its time that it kind of makes me look less fondly on a lot of games that clearly followed in its wake. It's got more going on than just insular commentary on the medium, but one of my major takeaways was just how much more accomplished and nuanced FSR is in this regard than much of its siblings. In taking video games apart, reducing them to their most fundamental elements, laying bare their sheer, unbridled, artifice, FSR doesn't bring video games down, it shows us why we love them in the first place. Spellbinding.
“he’d love to spend the night in zion / he’s been a long while in babylon / he’d like a lover’s wings to fly on / to a tropic isle of avalon” - digital man, rush
dense, layered, and easy to get lost in all the same as its island centerpiece, flower sun and rain endures as personally-tailored perfection in a video game.
some years ago when i was working my way through kill the past, a good friend of mine advised me to not bother with the completely optional and not at all mandatory lost & found puzzles, as “they suck and they ruin the pacing of the game”. as a matter of pride i simply decided to not heed that advice and go through the game solving as many of the lost & found puzzles as i possibly could. in doing so i’ve made the playthrough likely much longer and more drawn out than it should have been, but it’s only until as of writing this in 2023 that i’ve realized that doing these puzzles actually held some value to me.
flower sun and rain is a game of multifaceted allegory and metaphor, where no ‘truth’ is singular (despite what sumio initially says) and just about any way of reading into it is a valid reading. to me, flower sun and rain is a metaphor about a man unwilling to acknowledge the past and move on to the future; a man eternally stuck in the present. the titular hotel claims its stake on being a paradise to forget about time in, and like a moth to a flame, sumio does as much as he can to waste away in paradise for as long as he possibly can. he lets himself get distracted with the denizens and their issues, letting paradise pull him deeper into itself so sumio doesn’t have to think about the airport and everything outside of this paradise. 25th ward puts a wrenchingly satisfying end to this thread as his life outside of paradise has become completely void of enjoyment. in the end he lets paradise subsume him, never to move on again.
paradise as an idea is something i had touched upon earlier in my thoughts on kaizen game works’ paradise killer, which for anyone who’s played a decent number of suda51 games, can very much see the unabashed ktp cribbing it proudly flaunts. it is rooted in a need to escape human problems ironically caused by humans and the societies they’ve built up. in building these paradises, it comes down to exploitation of resources and people to cultivate these getaways and romanticizing a world fundamentally incompatible with the systems that even lets a vacation spot like this exist in the first place. vacation spots like the flower sun and rain hotel are inextricably linked to colonial structures thriving off of that exploitation. this brings flower sun and rain close to an idea proposed by writer mark “k-punk” fisher known as capitalist realism, in which he proposes that due to the sheer widespread influence of global capitalism, it’s believed that it is the only viable political and economic system and that it would simply be impossible to even begin to imagine any viable alternative. in that sense there’s no such thing as a true-to-definition paradise; it is at best only a temporary state of mind, but it’s one that a person can find themselves unfathomably lost in.
there’s probably not a lot of people who went out of their way to do the ds port’s lost & found puzzles, as they’re technically not really rewarding the player with any juicy lore or narrative revelations, just some stuff to look at in the game’s model viewer and maybe the satisfaction of solving esoteric puzzles that have nothing to do with anything. or so one thinks they have nothing to do with anything relevant. for the player to deliberately seek out the lost & found puzzles and forget about time solving them, it is, to me, the perfect way to reinforce the narrative flower sun and rain presents. sumio is a man who lets frivolous people distract him and seeks out these meaningless problems to solve for others, and for the player to do these lost & found puzzles, they act as an extension of sumio to drag out every second possible to indulge in paradise. one of the most potent executions of a ludonarrative tool i’ve seen in a video game, and it’s entirely done through optional puzzles that a good deal of the people who played this game likely did not do.
i don’t regret doing the lost & found puzzles. i think they’re the best part of the game.
dense, layered, and easy to get lost in all the same as its island centerpiece, flower sun and rain endures as personally-tailored perfection in a video game.
some years ago when i was working my way through kill the past, a good friend of mine advised me to not bother with the completely optional and not at all mandatory lost & found puzzles, as “they suck and they ruin the pacing of the game”. as a matter of pride i simply decided to not heed that advice and go through the game solving as many of the lost & found puzzles as i possibly could. in doing so i’ve made the playthrough likely much longer and more drawn out than it should have been, but it’s only until as of writing this in 2023 that i’ve realized that doing these puzzles actually held some value to me.
flower sun and rain is a game of multifaceted allegory and metaphor, where no ‘truth’ is singular (despite what sumio initially says) and just about any way of reading into it is a valid reading. to me, flower sun and rain is a metaphor about a man unwilling to acknowledge the past and move on to the future; a man eternally stuck in the present. the titular hotel claims its stake on being a paradise to forget about time in, and like a moth to a flame, sumio does as much as he can to waste away in paradise for as long as he possibly can. he lets himself get distracted with the denizens and their issues, letting paradise pull him deeper into itself so sumio doesn’t have to think about the airport and everything outside of this paradise. 25th ward puts a wrenchingly satisfying end to this thread as his life outside of paradise has become completely void of enjoyment. in the end he lets paradise subsume him, never to move on again.
paradise as an idea is something i had touched upon earlier in my thoughts on kaizen game works’ paradise killer, which for anyone who’s played a decent number of suda51 games, can very much see the unabashed ktp cribbing it proudly flaunts. it is rooted in a need to escape human problems ironically caused by humans and the societies they’ve built up. in building these paradises, it comes down to exploitation of resources and people to cultivate these getaways and romanticizing a world fundamentally incompatible with the systems that even lets a vacation spot like this exist in the first place. vacation spots like the flower sun and rain hotel are inextricably linked to colonial structures thriving off of that exploitation. this brings flower sun and rain close to an idea proposed by writer mark “k-punk” fisher known as capitalist realism, in which he proposes that due to the sheer widespread influence of global capitalism, it’s believed that it is the only viable political and economic system and that it would simply be impossible to even begin to imagine any viable alternative. in that sense there’s no such thing as a true-to-definition paradise; it is at best only a temporary state of mind, but it’s one that a person can find themselves unfathomably lost in.
there’s probably not a lot of people who went out of their way to do the ds port’s lost & found puzzles, as they’re technically not really rewarding the player with any juicy lore or narrative revelations, just some stuff to look at in the game’s model viewer and maybe the satisfaction of solving esoteric puzzles that have nothing to do with anything. or so one thinks they have nothing to do with anything relevant. for the player to deliberately seek out the lost & found puzzles and forget about time solving them, it is, to me, the perfect way to reinforce the narrative flower sun and rain presents. sumio is a man who lets frivolous people distract him and seeks out these meaningless problems to solve for others, and for the player to do these lost & found puzzles, they act as an extension of sumio to drag out every second possible to indulge in paradise. one of the most potent executions of a ludonarrative tool i’ve seen in a video game, and it’s entirely done through optional puzzles that a good deal of the people who played this game likely did not do.
i don’t regret doing the lost & found puzzles. i think they’re the best part of the game.
game changes you, man. I'm still not sure what it means. Yet I can't forget it. Like a dream that sticks
The most mundane horror game you’ll ever play where instead of getting jump scared, you get that DS feeling. Enjoy being blue-balled by the most inane obstacles (why can’t you just step over the dude laying down in front of the stairwell?) for over half the game while not making an inch of progress in your main objective, and then actively resisting any easily-digestible interpretation of events once you finally do. Instead of any cool action sequence to conclude the game with, you pull out your calculator and do math homework for 20 minutes.
Of course, as evidenced by the rating, I mean that in the best way possible. It’s become “Backloggd-core”, a game beloved here that is deemed one of the greatest examples of Western gaming journalists failing to understand video games as anything other than a toy, so there are already plenty of reviews here to sing its praises. To describe it on a more personal level: I definitely found it to be a frustrating experience and I was pretty loudly complaining while streaming it because my brain was screaming for some form as stimulation as I slowly moved Sumio across the beach road for the 15th time. But on reflection, I think that feeling gets enveloped by the surrealist humor and more quiet moments of pontification. It still doesn’t make much sense without The Silver Case as a deciphering tome but in hindsight, Sumio’s character arc becomes so much easier to trace, and the false capitalistic paradise of the titular hotel makes the frustration easier to understand as by design rather than accident. I really couldn’t recommend this to anybody that isn’t already fairly deep on the metaphorical iceberg meme of video game tastes but it’s a secret treasure to those who are in the loop.
Of course, as evidenced by the rating, I mean that in the best way possible. It’s become “Backloggd-core”, a game beloved here that is deemed one of the greatest examples of Western gaming journalists failing to understand video games as anything other than a toy, so there are already plenty of reviews here to sing its praises. To describe it on a more personal level: I definitely found it to be a frustrating experience and I was pretty loudly complaining while streaming it because my brain was screaming for some form as stimulation as I slowly moved Sumio across the beach road for the 15th time. But on reflection, I think that feeling gets enveloped by the surrealist humor and more quiet moments of pontification. It still doesn’t make much sense without The Silver Case as a deciphering tome but in hindsight, Sumio’s character arc becomes so much easier to trace, and the false capitalistic paradise of the titular hotel makes the frustration easier to understand as by design rather than accident. I really couldn’t recommend this to anybody that isn’t already fairly deep on the metaphorical iceberg meme of video game tastes but it’s a secret treasure to those who are in the loop.
This review contains spoilers
everybody gangsta til' sumio asks which orphanage she was raised
This review contains spoilers
Suda having fun shitting on tourist culture.
I feel like people are kinda weird about the intentionally annoying stuff in this game cus
1. It really isn't THAT prominent? Like it gets pretty annoying towards the end but most of the time it's pretty chill.
2. I feel like it's more like the game is laughing with you and not at you. Like this feels like a friend doing something to piss you off in a funny way and not the weird "Suda is exposing video games as the vapid waste's of time they really are!!!!" "Anti-game" (ew) thing that most analyses of this game seems to think it is. Also most of the walking is chill you guys are just impatient lol.
Also one of the only comedy games to be actually really funny. Having this kind of rigid structure that most the days follows means that anytime something slightly out of the ordinary happens it's hilarious. I love my helpful himbo sumio mondo!
Sundance repeatedly saying "remember me?" and nobody remembering him as a reference the fact that he was going to be in the silver case then he got scrapped is so funny.
Oh also i played this in a kinda weird way lol. I had the japanese ps2 version of the game on my main monitor, The lparchive walkthrough of the ds version so i could understand the dialogue on my second monitor, And the fan translated version of the physical losspass guide book whenever i needed to look at that in a separate tab on my second monitor. I know the DS version added alot of bullshit that made the game a lot harder to bare (Probably where most of the perception of this being a drag comes from) so i legit think this is the best way to play until either that remaster suda's been talking about for years gets released or the fan translation of the ps2 version that was being worked on at the beginning of the year actually gets finished.
I feel like people are kinda weird about the intentionally annoying stuff in this game cus
1. It really isn't THAT prominent? Like it gets pretty annoying towards the end but most of the time it's pretty chill.
2. I feel like it's more like the game is laughing with you and not at you. Like this feels like a friend doing something to piss you off in a funny way and not the weird "Suda is exposing video games as the vapid waste's of time they really are!!!!" "Anti-game" (ew) thing that most analyses of this game seems to think it is. Also most of the walking is chill you guys are just impatient lol.
Also one of the only comedy games to be actually really funny. Having this kind of rigid structure that most the days follows means that anytime something slightly out of the ordinary happens it's hilarious. I love my helpful himbo sumio mondo!
Sundance repeatedly saying "remember me?" and nobody remembering him as a reference the fact that he was going to be in the silver case then he got scrapped is so funny.
Oh also i played this in a kinda weird way lol. I had the japanese ps2 version of the game on my main monitor, The lparchive walkthrough of the ds version so i could understand the dialogue on my second monitor, And the fan translated version of the physical losspass guide book whenever i needed to look at that in a separate tab on my second monitor. I know the DS version added alot of bullshit that made the game a lot harder to bare (Probably where most of the perception of this being a drag comes from) so i legit think this is the best way to play until either that remaster suda's been talking about for years gets released or the fan translation of the ps2 version that was being worked on at the beginning of the year actually gets finished.
mountains of tedium and some stiff dialogue can't hold back an incredibly strong narrative that continues the thematic ideas established in silver case: rather than escapism be the familiar yet impersonal internet, it's a seraphic island full of distractions and puzzles. FSR manages to frame "kill the past" in a completely different way than its predecessor, and somehow still lands completely on the mark in its social commentary.
A sunny surreal vacation of a lifetime
Flower, Sun and Rain represents a tonal shift from Suda's last excursion, The Silver Case. Trading in the dark streets of the 24th Ward for the sunny and tropical stylings of Lospass Island, you assume the role of Sumio Mondo, a searcher hired by the manager of the Flower, Sun and Rain hotel. The mission: locate the terrorist and prevent his plot of exploding a bomb at the airport and wreaking havoc across the island. Seems simple enough right? Things aren't as simple as they seem here...
I think the biggest strengths this game had going for me was the story and characters it presents here. Flower, Sun and Rain as a whole borders on the absurd to the point it almost feels like a dream of sorts. It feels like an immersion that pulls you away so much that it somehow has pulled you in, none of it feels real. A vacation trip in every literal sense of the word, literally and mentally. The notion of checking in with Edo every now and then, interacting with the guests and exploring the island in the sense it almost felt like a surrealist's paradise. It was actually a melancholic feeling checking out to the point I realized that I was extremely invested in the world Suda managed to create. The daily routine I was so used to doing everyday and now that it's gone, I didn't expect to feel like something was missing in the ending of it. All of this accompanying an incredible soundtrack despite being marred by DS limitations still manages to capture the core of the essence Takada wanted to convey during your stay. The use of classical music added with Takada's touch is actually pretty genius too in that it can manage to invoke a sense of emotion and normalcy especially when you hear Gymnopedie #1 every morning which I feel like is a song that is probably the best way to start your morning. I will say this now, it is highly recommended that you play The Silver Case before playing this title, a lot of things will be even more confusing and some moments won't have the same impact but I actually don't exactly think it's a sequel in the traditional sense.
The elephant in the room about this game: the gameplay itself. Flower, Sun and Rain is a bit of an odd title in this regard. Gameplay relies on traversing the island on foot, talking to the citizens of the island and figuring out puzzles with the help of your vacation guidebook which holds all the answers to your problems along with Catherine, your trusty case. The biggest criticism about this game is the amount of tedious walking and I can see where they are coming from. I will acknowledge that I don't have a very high attention span myself so stuff like this would bother me more than most part and I don't even blame anyone for using fast forward for a title like this just to get to the interactions and story moments. Despite that though, I sorta find myself completely intrigued with what was going on the whole time. That said, this isn't rare for me to feel especially for a Suda title who is known to write some avant-garde stuff that gets your attention pretty quickly but despite the tedious walking which the game acknowledges that it is, it didn't detract too much from me surprisingly in that the walking almost feels therapeutic in a sense. Hearing the classical music with a touch along with running along the coast at night was a pretty good moment surprisingly, I did have some moments where I was completely bored with the game though and I don't want to excuse the game completely for that. The puzzles themselves are fairly simple but can bit obtuse on what exactly the solution in as the answers are always numbers. The game does a great job pointing you at the right direction too and is actually linear so you don't get completely lost but there are some moments you might want to consult a guide if your patience is running out.
Flower, Sun and Rain felt like a vacation into the absurd part of humans disguised as a work related trip. I think despite being really bored with the walking, it might actually be my second favorite game by him so far. Even now, I can't really recommend it to everyone but I realized that after playing it that I wanted to replay it again, hopefully a remaster with the uncompressed soundtrack because I truly believe this game deserves it. The music especially deserves to be experienced at its best in game. I remember watching the DS intro (which might spoil some stuff so be warned) like three times because of the music and the whole vibe the whole intro gave off. Happy to say that I enjoyed my time in the Flower, Sun and Rain hotel and I will be coming again in the near future.
Tomorrow is calling me. Maybe you'll catch up with me there?
Flower, Sun and Rain represents a tonal shift from Suda's last excursion, The Silver Case. Trading in the dark streets of the 24th Ward for the sunny and tropical stylings of Lospass Island, you assume the role of Sumio Mondo, a searcher hired by the manager of the Flower, Sun and Rain hotel. The mission: locate the terrorist and prevent his plot of exploding a bomb at the airport and wreaking havoc across the island. Seems simple enough right? Things aren't as simple as they seem here...
I think the biggest strengths this game had going for me was the story and characters it presents here. Flower, Sun and Rain as a whole borders on the absurd to the point it almost feels like a dream of sorts. It feels like an immersion that pulls you away so much that it somehow has pulled you in, none of it feels real. A vacation trip in every literal sense of the word, literally and mentally. The notion of checking in with Edo every now and then, interacting with the guests and exploring the island in the sense it almost felt like a surrealist's paradise. It was actually a melancholic feeling checking out to the point I realized that I was extremely invested in the world Suda managed to create. The daily routine I was so used to doing everyday and now that it's gone, I didn't expect to feel like something was missing in the ending of it. All of this accompanying an incredible soundtrack despite being marred by DS limitations still manages to capture the core of the essence Takada wanted to convey during your stay. The use of classical music added with Takada's touch is actually pretty genius too in that it can manage to invoke a sense of emotion and normalcy especially when you hear Gymnopedie #1 every morning which I feel like is a song that is probably the best way to start your morning. I will say this now, it is highly recommended that you play The Silver Case before playing this title, a lot of things will be even more confusing and some moments won't have the same impact but I actually don't exactly think it's a sequel in the traditional sense.
The elephant in the room about this game: the gameplay itself. Flower, Sun and Rain is a bit of an odd title in this regard. Gameplay relies on traversing the island on foot, talking to the citizens of the island and figuring out puzzles with the help of your vacation guidebook which holds all the answers to your problems along with Catherine, your trusty case. The biggest criticism about this game is the amount of tedious walking and I can see where they are coming from. I will acknowledge that I don't have a very high attention span myself so stuff like this would bother me more than most part and I don't even blame anyone for using fast forward for a title like this just to get to the interactions and story moments. Despite that though, I sorta find myself completely intrigued with what was going on the whole time. That said, this isn't rare for me to feel especially for a Suda title who is known to write some avant-garde stuff that gets your attention pretty quickly but despite the tedious walking which the game acknowledges that it is, it didn't detract too much from me surprisingly in that the walking almost feels therapeutic in a sense. Hearing the classical music with a touch along with running along the coast at night was a pretty good moment surprisingly, I did have some moments where I was completely bored with the game though and I don't want to excuse the game completely for that. The puzzles themselves are fairly simple but can bit obtuse on what exactly the solution in as the answers are always numbers. The game does a great job pointing you at the right direction too and is actually linear so you don't get completely lost but there are some moments you might want to consult a guide if your patience is running out.
Flower, Sun and Rain felt like a vacation into the absurd part of humans disguised as a work related trip. I think despite being really bored with the walking, it might actually be my second favorite game by him so far. Even now, I can't really recommend it to everyone but I realized that after playing it that I wanted to replay it again, hopefully a remaster with the uncompressed soundtrack because I truly believe this game deserves it. The music especially deserves to be experienced at its best in game. I remember watching the DS intro (which might spoil some stuff so be warned) like three times because of the music and the whole vibe the whole intro gave off. Happy to say that I enjoyed my time in the Flower, Sun and Rain hotel and I will be coming again in the near future.
Tomorrow is calling me. Maybe you'll catch up with me there?
2 yıl sonra kendimi buraya bir şeyler eklemeye hazır hissediyorum. Flower, Sun, and Rain hayatımda tüketme şerefine ulaşmış olduğum en iyi medya ürünü. Flower, Sun, and Rain'den önce üst düzey hikaye olarak gördüğüm çok fazla medya ürününe denk geldim aklıma gelen en net örneklerinden biri ''Azazil''in ''Deicide''ı ve üzerine düşündükten sonra aslında bu iki hikayeyi de benzer sebepler yüzünden sevdiğimi fark etsem de bu vn oynadığım en iyi oyun olarak olarak gördüğüm şeyi kolayca geçebildi. Çünkü bu eli sikinde ergenler için yaratılmış porno oyunu bana hem hayatımda gördüğüm en iyi kurgulanmış gizem öyküsünü, hem yüksek derecede ilgili olduğum felsefe alanında alışılmışın dışında mantıksal bakış açıları, hem de hayatımın en sebep ve gelecek bunalımlarını yaşadığım dönemde 'neden?' soruma bir yanıt sundu. Flower, Sun, and Rain iğrenç, yorucu, gereksiz hissettirebilecek ve yer yer 'neden bunu okuyorum ki?' demenize yol açacak kadar abes bir anlatıyla bunları sunan ama bütün bu hafif negatif nüanslarına rağmen her detayı üzerinde düşünülmüş tek bir cümlesi dahi boşuna eklenmemiş olan bir eser.
Bu incelemenin bu aşamasından sonrası oyun hakkında hafif spoilerlı örnekler içermesine rağmen oyunun plotu konusunda hiçbir şeyden bahsetmeyecektir.
Kolay kolay hiçbir hikaye size aynı olayı defalarca herkesin persfektifinden sunarken bunu hala canlı ve heyecanlı tutmayı başaramaz. kolay kolay hiçbir hikaye bir köylünün sert ve gerçekçi intihar psikolojisinin birinin ardından size basit bir slice of life hikayesi sunup bundan şikayet etmemenizi sağlayamaz. FSR kesinlikle her chapteri birbirinden farklı birer türde olan ve bunların birleşiminin kesinlikle garip durmamasını sağlayan bir hikaye. Vn'in her chapteri aynı olayı farklı şekillerde gördüğünüz ve sanki farklı kişilerinden elinden çıkmış gibi hissettiren bakış açıları ve buna rağmen 'Yine mi aynı şey' demek yerine bu yeni bakış açısının size sunduğu şeyler merak duygunuzu daha da körüklüyor.
Az önce yukarıda övdüğüm pacing konusundaki başarılarının yanında FSR yaratılmış belki en iyisi değil ama en iyi gizem öykülerinden biri. Standart gizem öyküleri ya çok fazla Red Herring vererek sizi şok değeri ile 'Bakın ben tahmin edemeyeceğiniz bir şey sundum' diyerek aptal yerine koymayı tercih eder ya da size çözülmesi basit bir senaryoyu karmaşık bir şekilde verip zeki hissettirip tatmin etmeye çalışır. FSR bunların tamamının aksine size başından beri apaçık ortada bir gizem sunuyor. Oyunun ikinci chapterından aslında her şeyin cevabı ortada sadece o an olan bilginiz bunları bu şekilde yorumlamaya müsait olmadığından farkına varmak için ya üzerine fazla düşünmeniz ya da ilerlendikçe ortaya çıkan şeyleri de hesaba katarak farkında varmanız gerekiyor. 2. chapterdan itibaren olayları üzerine yeterince düşünerek anlayabilirsiniz, red herringler evet bulunuyor ama hiçbiri tamamen kafanız dağılsın diye değil aksine protagonist ne kadar biliyorsa onun kadar bilin ve onun gibi düşünüp onun ulaşamadığına ulaşın diye oradalar. Bu hikaye sizi salak yerine koymuyor aksine sizin dikkatinizi toplamanızı ve üzerine düşünmenizi istiyor. Oyunu bitirdikten sonra açıp herhangi bir chaptera bakarsanız yahut oynarken geriye dönük düşünürseniz aslında her şeyin ne kadar apaçık anlatıldığının farkına varacaksınız ve bence bu iyi bir yazarlığın en büyük yapıtaşlarından biri; okuyucuyu düşünmeye iten başından sonuna kadar her aşaması planlanarak yazılmış olan bir hikaye Flower, Sun, and Rain.
Ama tabii ki bu oyun gizemden ibaret değil. FSR sert, rahatsız edici, gösterdiği şeyleri sakınmayan ve bu konuda fazla da tepki gören bir hikaye. Evet bir karakterin futbol topu ile 200 kişiyi içinde barındıran bir uçağı patlatmasını görmek çoğu kişinin tercih edilecek bir manzara değil ama travmalar sert şeyler ve FSR sizi o karakterin hissetirdiklerini sunarken rahatsız olmanızı umursamıyor. A kişisi Kosuke Kurumizawa diyebilirsin ama A kişisinin o saçı nasıl yediğine giden yolda aklından geçen her düşünceyi birebir görmen normalde umursamayacağın bir faktörle empati kurmana, onu anlamana yol açıyor ve bu sert acımasız sahneler bunları kuvvetlendirmek için oradalar. Bu yolda elinizden tutmuyor aksine sürekli sizi döverek bir şeyleri kanıksamanızı sağlıyor. Ve yine az önce övdüğüm etmenler yüzünden bu hikayedeki her karakterin inanılmaz dolu ve iyi yazılmış olduğuna inanıyorum.
Bütün bunlara rağmen oyun benim yorumuma göre yazarın self inserti olan bir karakterle de sürekli yanınızda bulunup olaylara farklı şekillerde yaklaşmanızı sağlıyor ve bunu çoğu self insertin aksine size sadece bir seçenek olarak sunuyor kendisini umursamadan da bu hikayeyi deneyim edebilirsiniz ama yazarı gerçekten anlamak istersiniz o hep orada ve siz yani protagonistler yani okuyucunun sense'i ile sürekli konuşuyor.
Hikayesi ve sunuşunun yanı sıra Flower, Sun, and Rain felsefeye olan ilgimi de tekrar diriltti, oyunu daha bitirmediğim sırada dahi Franz Kafka'nın işlerini pdf olarak indirip uzunca okudum. Çünkü FSR sadece basit bir hikaye değil aynı zamanda yazarının dünya görüşünün, hayat amacının ve tüm birikiminin kağıda dökülmüş hali ki oyunun aslında yapımcısı Goichi Suda'nın çalıştığı firmada oyunlara senaryo yazan basit biriyken ilk oyunu Fire Pro Wrestling Special'ı 10 yılda gelişen dünya görüşüne göre baştan yaratıp bu hale getirmesi de bunun kanıtı.
Lütfen Kürdistan Kartalı Yado'yu okuyun.
ve lütfen oyunu bitirseniz sonu hakkında yazılmış teorilere bakın. Hayır Flower, Sun, and Rain bazı salak eserler gibi üzerine sonsuz teori üretip anlamanız gereken bir şey değil aksine apaçık ortada bir sonu olmasına rağmen oyunun hayranlarının meta naratifi hakkındaki fikirlerinin ufkunuzu açacağına inanıyorum.
Flower, Sun, and Rain hayatımı öyle ya da böyle değiştirdi ve inanıyorum ki sonsuza kadar bende ayrı yeri olan o hikaye olarak kalacak. Oyunun ne üzerine olduğu konusunda tek bir cümle etmeden yazdığım bu yazıyı oyunun aslında anlatmak istediği şeyi yazarak bitirmek istiyorum:
"Pay me my 50.000 yen."
Bu incelemenin bu aşamasından sonrası oyun hakkında hafif spoilerlı örnekler içermesine rağmen oyunun plotu konusunda hiçbir şeyden bahsetmeyecektir.
Kolay kolay hiçbir hikaye size aynı olayı defalarca herkesin persfektifinden sunarken bunu hala canlı ve heyecanlı tutmayı başaramaz. kolay kolay hiçbir hikaye bir köylünün sert ve gerçekçi intihar psikolojisinin birinin ardından size basit bir slice of life hikayesi sunup bundan şikayet etmemenizi sağlayamaz. FSR kesinlikle her chapteri birbirinden farklı birer türde olan ve bunların birleşiminin kesinlikle garip durmamasını sağlayan bir hikaye. Vn'in her chapteri aynı olayı farklı şekillerde gördüğünüz ve sanki farklı kişilerinden elinden çıkmış gibi hissettiren bakış açıları ve buna rağmen 'Yine mi aynı şey' demek yerine bu yeni bakış açısının size sunduğu şeyler merak duygunuzu daha da körüklüyor.
Az önce yukarıda övdüğüm pacing konusundaki başarılarının yanında FSR yaratılmış belki en iyisi değil ama en iyi gizem öykülerinden biri. Standart gizem öyküleri ya çok fazla Red Herring vererek sizi şok değeri ile 'Bakın ben tahmin edemeyeceğiniz bir şey sundum' diyerek aptal yerine koymayı tercih eder ya da size çözülmesi basit bir senaryoyu karmaşık bir şekilde verip zeki hissettirip tatmin etmeye çalışır. FSR bunların tamamının aksine size başından beri apaçık ortada bir gizem sunuyor. Oyunun ikinci chapterından aslında her şeyin cevabı ortada sadece o an olan bilginiz bunları bu şekilde yorumlamaya müsait olmadığından farkına varmak için ya üzerine fazla düşünmeniz ya da ilerlendikçe ortaya çıkan şeyleri de hesaba katarak farkında varmanız gerekiyor. 2. chapterdan itibaren olayları üzerine yeterince düşünerek anlayabilirsiniz, red herringler evet bulunuyor ama hiçbiri tamamen kafanız dağılsın diye değil aksine protagonist ne kadar biliyorsa onun kadar bilin ve onun gibi düşünüp onun ulaşamadığına ulaşın diye oradalar. Bu hikaye sizi salak yerine koymuyor aksine sizin dikkatinizi toplamanızı ve üzerine düşünmenizi istiyor. Oyunu bitirdikten sonra açıp herhangi bir chaptera bakarsanız yahut oynarken geriye dönük düşünürseniz aslında her şeyin ne kadar apaçık anlatıldığının farkına varacaksınız ve bence bu iyi bir yazarlığın en büyük yapıtaşlarından biri; okuyucuyu düşünmeye iten başından sonuna kadar her aşaması planlanarak yazılmış olan bir hikaye Flower, Sun, and Rain.
Ama tabii ki bu oyun gizemden ibaret değil. FSR sert, rahatsız edici, gösterdiği şeyleri sakınmayan ve bu konuda fazla da tepki gören bir hikaye. Evet bir karakterin futbol topu ile 200 kişiyi içinde barındıran bir uçağı patlatmasını görmek çoğu kişinin tercih edilecek bir manzara değil ama travmalar sert şeyler ve FSR sizi o karakterin hissetirdiklerini sunarken rahatsız olmanızı umursamıyor. A kişisi Kosuke Kurumizawa diyebilirsin ama A kişisinin o saçı nasıl yediğine giden yolda aklından geçen her düşünceyi birebir görmen normalde umursamayacağın bir faktörle empati kurmana, onu anlamana yol açıyor ve bu sert acımasız sahneler bunları kuvvetlendirmek için oradalar. Bu yolda elinizden tutmuyor aksine sürekli sizi döverek bir şeyleri kanıksamanızı sağlıyor. Ve yine az önce övdüğüm etmenler yüzünden bu hikayedeki her karakterin inanılmaz dolu ve iyi yazılmış olduğuna inanıyorum.
Bütün bunlara rağmen oyun benim yorumuma göre yazarın self inserti olan bir karakterle de sürekli yanınızda bulunup olaylara farklı şekillerde yaklaşmanızı sağlıyor ve bunu çoğu self insertin aksine size sadece bir seçenek olarak sunuyor kendisini umursamadan da bu hikayeyi deneyim edebilirsiniz ama yazarı gerçekten anlamak istersiniz o hep orada ve siz yani protagonistler yani okuyucunun sense'i ile sürekli konuşuyor.
Hikayesi ve sunuşunun yanı sıra Flower, Sun, and Rain felsefeye olan ilgimi de tekrar diriltti, oyunu daha bitirmediğim sırada dahi Franz Kafka'nın işlerini pdf olarak indirip uzunca okudum. Çünkü FSR sadece basit bir hikaye değil aynı zamanda yazarının dünya görüşünün, hayat amacının ve tüm birikiminin kağıda dökülmüş hali ki oyunun aslında yapımcısı Goichi Suda'nın çalıştığı firmada oyunlara senaryo yazan basit biriyken ilk oyunu Fire Pro Wrestling Special'ı 10 yılda gelişen dünya görüşüne göre baştan yaratıp bu hale getirmesi de bunun kanıtı.
Lütfen Kürdistan Kartalı Yado'yu okuyun.
ve lütfen oyunu bitirseniz sonu hakkında yazılmış teorilere bakın. Hayır Flower, Sun, and Rain bazı salak eserler gibi üzerine sonsuz teori üretip anlamanız gereken bir şey değil aksine apaçık ortada bir sonu olmasına rağmen oyunun hayranlarının meta naratifi hakkındaki fikirlerinin ufkunuzu açacağına inanıyorum.
Flower, Sun, and Rain hayatımı öyle ya da böyle değiştirdi ve inanıyorum ki sonsuza kadar bende ayrı yeri olan o hikaye olarak kalacak. Oyunun ne üzerine olduğu konusunda tek bir cümle etmeden yazdığım bu yazıyı oyunun aslında anlatmak istediği şeyi yazarak bitirmek istiyorum:
"Pay me my 50.000 yen."
In FSR, you are Sumio, a sort of detective who has been requested to come to a resort island, and your mission is to prevent a plane from exploding by stopping the terrorists and the bomb they have planted at the airport.Except that isn't what you do at all in the game.
For most of the game you will spend your time going up and down the stairs of the hotel you are checked in, walking ridiculous amounts of distance on foot, doing weird and unrelated favors to oddball islanders and solving obtuse and inconsequential math puzzles, literally repeating itself each day, as you, of course, find yourself stuck in a Groundhog Day type time loop. At every turn and opportunity it gets, FSR will prevent you from doing your job by putting roadblocks on your path with the sole purpose of distracting you, annoy you and discourage you. And it's great.
Many would , rightfully so, compare FSR with Twin Peaks, it being a game filled with quirky and strange characters that speak in unnatural and uncoventional ways, and surrealist moments that suddenly clash with the mundane and grounded tone of the island. But a more direct influence, and obvious inspiration for Suda, stands out to me, and that is Franz Kafka.
FSR is the videogame equivalent of a Kafkaesque tale. A game that utilizes it's interactive component to put you in the shoes of the protagonist so you can feel his frustration and confusion as he tries to navigate a world he doesnt understand and reach a goal that gets progressively more unobtainable, with the island and its inhabitants constantly detouring you somewhere else. At many points during the experience the game itself will mock you, calling attention to it's meaningless puzzles, gameplay loop, or even the graphics. The fantasy of being on a vacation in a tropical island is slowly distorted by the premise of having you repeat the same day over and over again, adding already to the redudancy of the core mechanics of the game, and even the act of walking around feels like it's a joke on the player, having you constantly readjusting the controls due to the camera that seems to have a mind of it's own.
The sum of all these uncharacteristically unintuitive design choices for a videogame create a very unique narrative about the idea of being stuck at a crossroads, where the knowledge of the past and the fear of the future constrict the protagonist from moving ahead, and how life's circumstances constantly takes us away from the path we think we want to follow, and it's achieved mainly through just the act of playing the game. Beyond it's ingenious design, FSR is an extremely funny game, and sports a very chill and zen atmosphere, with it's classical music based soundtrack.
Think of it as Link's Awakening for the masochists.
For most of the game you will spend your time going up and down the stairs of the hotel you are checked in, walking ridiculous amounts of distance on foot, doing weird and unrelated favors to oddball islanders and solving obtuse and inconsequential math puzzles, literally repeating itself each day, as you, of course, find yourself stuck in a Groundhog Day type time loop. At every turn and opportunity it gets, FSR will prevent you from doing your job by putting roadblocks on your path with the sole purpose of distracting you, annoy you and discourage you. And it's great.
Many would , rightfully so, compare FSR with Twin Peaks, it being a game filled with quirky and strange characters that speak in unnatural and uncoventional ways, and surrealist moments that suddenly clash with the mundane and grounded tone of the island. But a more direct influence, and obvious inspiration for Suda, stands out to me, and that is Franz Kafka.
FSR is the videogame equivalent of a Kafkaesque tale. A game that utilizes it's interactive component to put you in the shoes of the protagonist so you can feel his frustration and confusion as he tries to navigate a world he doesnt understand and reach a goal that gets progressively more unobtainable, with the island and its inhabitants constantly detouring you somewhere else. At many points during the experience the game itself will mock you, calling attention to it's meaningless puzzles, gameplay loop, or even the graphics. The fantasy of being on a vacation in a tropical island is slowly distorted by the premise of having you repeat the same day over and over again, adding already to the redudancy of the core mechanics of the game, and even the act of walking around feels like it's a joke on the player, having you constantly readjusting the controls due to the camera that seems to have a mind of it's own.
The sum of all these uncharacteristically unintuitive design choices for a videogame create a very unique narrative about the idea of being stuck at a crossroads, where the knowledge of the past and the fear of the future constrict the protagonist from moving ahead, and how life's circumstances constantly takes us away from the path we think we want to follow, and it's achieved mainly through just the act of playing the game. Beyond it's ingenious design, FSR is an extremely funny game, and sports a very chill and zen atmosphere, with it's classical music based soundtrack.
Think of it as Link's Awakening for the masochists.
My character study.
Flower Sun and Rain. O que dizer? Classificar ele como "divertido" ou "chato" seria errado, pois esse se aproxima muito mais da expressão artística autoral do que algo que liga para o compreendimento das grandes massas de jogadores. Esse jogo quer que você SE ESFORCE para chegar ao final, mas recompensa qualquer um com uma viagem rica e única. Uma das histórias que eu mais amo dos videogames junto com uma direção de arte hiper criativa.
O jogo é arte pura. Usa da frustração do jogador em completar desafios inúteis para criar uma metáfora sobre a vida. Flower Sun and Rain não é um jogo, é uma experiência. Obrigatório para quem liga para art games, além de ser uma sequência ótima de The Silver Case.
O jogo é arte pura. Usa da frustração do jogador em completar desafios inúteis para criar uma metáfora sobre a vida. Flower Sun and Rain não é um jogo, é uma experiência. Obrigatório para quem liga para art games, além de ser uma sequência ótima de The Silver Case.