Finally, a mature take on Malcolm in the Middle.
Joia rara que fico feliz de ter achado totalmente ao acaso
Recomendo a todos que gostam de Yakuza, GTO, Stardew Valley, etc. Sim, existe relação. Não, não irei explicar... vá jogar!
A única coisa que me decepcionou de verdade, e que me faz dar 4.5 invés do perfeito 5, é o pacing do jogo, que é totalmente sem pé nem cabeça, os acontecimentos-chave sequer parecem ter uma ordem bem definida, tão pouco uma claridade sobre o que é o gatilho dos acontecimentos. Você só vai jogando o jogo normalmente, seguindo sua vida (no jogo), melhorando o personagem, e, se der sorte (e estiver sozinho), esbarra num evento canônico, e de fato faz progresso no jogo
Zerei com cerca de 17h, mas vi gente que zerou com 10, 12h. E dessa vez, nada pode ser dito sobre eu fazer ou não fazer conteúdo secundário. O jogo parece ser, POR SI SÓ, um tipo de conteúdo secundário, o qual não se faz claro em momento algum ao jogador
Essa abordagem mais clássica, de soltar a mão do jogador sem explicar nada até pode parecer convidativa, ainda mais nos dias de hoje, que vemos um EXCESSO de "mimo" por parte do jogo, mas aqui é demais, te solta demais e a frustração é inevitável, caso você não dê sorte de só dar trigger de evento canônico atrás de trigger
Quando for jogar, recomendo ir na boa, realmente se inteirando e aproveitando de todas atividades do mundo do jogo, pois este, tem uma natureza contemplativa. Porém, se passar MUITO tempo sem algo novo acontecer, veja um guia ou algo assim sem medo. Vai ser pior se você travar.
Recomendo a todos que gostam de Yakuza, GTO, Stardew Valley, etc. Sim, existe relação. Não, não irei explicar... vá jogar!
A única coisa que me decepcionou de verdade, e que me faz dar 4.5 invés do perfeito 5, é o pacing do jogo, que é totalmente sem pé nem cabeça, os acontecimentos-chave sequer parecem ter uma ordem bem definida, tão pouco uma claridade sobre o que é o gatilho dos acontecimentos. Você só vai jogando o jogo normalmente, seguindo sua vida (no jogo), melhorando o personagem, e, se der sorte (e estiver sozinho), esbarra num evento canônico, e de fato faz progresso no jogo
Zerei com cerca de 17h, mas vi gente que zerou com 10, 12h. E dessa vez, nada pode ser dito sobre eu fazer ou não fazer conteúdo secundário. O jogo parece ser, POR SI SÓ, um tipo de conteúdo secundário, o qual não se faz claro em momento algum ao jogador
Essa abordagem mais clássica, de soltar a mão do jogador sem explicar nada até pode parecer convidativa, ainda mais nos dias de hoje, que vemos um EXCESSO de "mimo" por parte do jogo, mas aqui é demais, te solta demais e a frustração é inevitável, caso você não dê sorte de só dar trigger de evento canônico atrás de trigger
Quando for jogar, recomendo ir na boa, realmente se inteirando e aproveitando de todas atividades do mundo do jogo, pois este, tem uma natureza contemplativa. Porém, se passar MUITO tempo sem algo novo acontecer, veja um guia ou algo assim sem medo. Vai ser pior se você travar.
There's an in-game bookstore in The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa which predictably sells books which Ringo can read. They all have slightly parodic, possibly copyright dodging titles but are all clearly based on existing words of literature e.g Odysseus - > Ulysses, Brothers -> Brothers Karamazov etc.
Reading each of them involves figuring out the slightly obtuse method of finding a bench and using the right shoulder button and letting the slow progress bar fill up. If you've read the speed reading books in the school library you can speed the process up but it will take a significant amount of ingame time to read through the longer novels like Ulysses and Anna Karenina. There is basically 0 mechanical benefit in doing so, negative, if you factor in opportunity cost. Well, there is one female friend of Ringo's who has unique dialogue if you've read any of the russian novels but other than that (and the achievement for reading them all I suppose) like in real life you basically have to read for shock horror its own sake.
It is perhaps silly, but The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa's particular roleplaying, simulation charm had such a grip on me on replay that I sat on a bench in the park on a sunday and would periodically pause reading The Brothers Karamazov to light up a cigarette and continue where I left of, then stopping to put it out. I can't even really put my finger on why, perhaps its because for all the maturity of the subject matter and perceived adult-ness (which is even addressed in one of the conversations with Ringo's bookworm friend declaring that Adults didnt watch anime) its the kind of thing that taps into that dormant desire to make up stories of our toys of childhood; when play and learning went hand in hand.
Its also because smoking in a game is as close as I'll hopefully ever get to it IRL after giving it up a few years ago. Reading whilst smoking brings a nostalgia for one of the worst years of my life when I was 18 and had just started university in a different country.
I don't smoke anymore, but I've been getting back into reading. Reading Rumble Fish recently it was hard not to notice the influence in Ringo's story, a tale of a troubled teen gang leader's deep existential emptiness and misplaced idealism about the "rules" of chivalry supposedly involved. Even the scene in RI of Goro staring off into the lit up city across the river wondering if there's anything greater out there, a naïve hope of escaping the ennui of their hometown into a mythical "other place" smacks of a particular chapter in Rumble Fish; seemingly the only time at which the main character is comfortable is when drunk and surrounded by the pretty lights and party atmosphere of the city, shortly before being mugged.
I'm currently reading through Winesburg Ohio, I suppose I could have waited until i read through all of the books to come back and replay Ringo and do some kind of overlong comparative analysis of the influences, but I can't be assed right now. Maybe I will do that in the future. In replaying Ringo there was the unfortunate realization that the combat is kinda shit compared to Fading Afternoon and a few bugs got a bit annoying, as well as the confirmation that the pacing of the final few weeks was as weird as I remembered it, but everything else about the game was stellar, and I think I enjoyed it even more than last time. Ringo is a bit like Paprika and other works I love to revisit in that it feels like you're finding something new every time. For as obtuse and even abrasive as the design philosphy of Yeo's games can be, they are equally mesmerising.
For example, I discovered upon replay that you can squat to recover health. I also learned that story events do not trigger if you have your gang with you, which is both useful in setting the terms of the progression but thematically appropriate: Ringo's friends are coming apart, him seemingly the last one to realize this, and his various activities calling upon him to be alone and not keeping the gang together accelerates the process. That ending still hits fucking hard man. God. Y'know what? Fuck it, for all its faults, this is a 5 star game for me now. I don't think it will be most people's cup of tea but I humbly ask for everyone to play it at some point, even if just for a few hours
Reading each of them involves figuring out the slightly obtuse method of finding a bench and using the right shoulder button and letting the slow progress bar fill up. If you've read the speed reading books in the school library you can speed the process up but it will take a significant amount of ingame time to read through the longer novels like Ulysses and Anna Karenina. There is basically 0 mechanical benefit in doing so, negative, if you factor in opportunity cost. Well, there is one female friend of Ringo's who has unique dialogue if you've read any of the russian novels but other than that (and the achievement for reading them all I suppose) like in real life you basically have to read for shock horror its own sake.
It is perhaps silly, but The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa's particular roleplaying, simulation charm had such a grip on me on replay that I sat on a bench in the park on a sunday and would periodically pause reading The Brothers Karamazov to light up a cigarette and continue where I left of, then stopping to put it out. I can't even really put my finger on why, perhaps its because for all the maturity of the subject matter and perceived adult-ness (which is even addressed in one of the conversations with Ringo's bookworm friend declaring that Adults didnt watch anime) its the kind of thing that taps into that dormant desire to make up stories of our toys of childhood; when play and learning went hand in hand.
Its also because smoking in a game is as close as I'll hopefully ever get to it IRL after giving it up a few years ago. Reading whilst smoking brings a nostalgia for one of the worst years of my life when I was 18 and had just started university in a different country.
I don't smoke anymore, but I've been getting back into reading. Reading Rumble Fish recently it was hard not to notice the influence in Ringo's story, a tale of a troubled teen gang leader's deep existential emptiness and misplaced idealism about the "rules" of chivalry supposedly involved. Even the scene in RI of Goro staring off into the lit up city across the river wondering if there's anything greater out there, a naïve hope of escaping the ennui of their hometown into a mythical "other place" smacks of a particular chapter in Rumble Fish; seemingly the only time at which the main character is comfortable is when drunk and surrounded by the pretty lights and party atmosphere of the city, shortly before being mugged.
I'm currently reading through Winesburg Ohio, I suppose I could have waited until i read through all of the books to come back and replay Ringo and do some kind of overlong comparative analysis of the influences, but I can't be assed right now. Maybe I will do that in the future. In replaying Ringo there was the unfortunate realization that the combat is kinda shit compared to Fading Afternoon and a few bugs got a bit annoying, as well as the confirmation that the pacing of the final few weeks was as weird as I remembered it, but everything else about the game was stellar, and I think I enjoyed it even more than last time. Ringo is a bit like Paprika and other works I love to revisit in that it feels like you're finding something new every time. For as obtuse and even abrasive as the design philosphy of Yeo's games can be, they are equally mesmerising.
For example, I discovered upon replay that you can squat to recover health. I also learned that story events do not trigger if you have your gang with you, which is both useful in setting the terms of the progression but thematically appropriate: Ringo's friends are coming apart, him seemingly the last one to realize this, and his various activities calling upon him to be alone and not keeping the gang together accelerates the process. That ending still hits fucking hard man. God. Y'know what? Fuck it, for all its faults, this is a 5 star game for me now. I don't think it will be most people's cup of tea but I humbly ask for everyone to play it at some point, even if just for a few hours
Tells a poignant and impressively mature story, yet dilutes that aspect with cumbersome RPG mechanics and an overtly vague structure. The indie-persona charm is lost after the half way point; eventually you're just repeating the same activities over and over again, for little reason, just hoping that the story will progress, that the game will end. One could abstract this as some greater piece of the message; some grand, high-level metaphor. One could also say it's shit game design.