I had a pretty nice time with this :) not only is there the most diversity ive ever seen in a video game(a masc darkskin nb ex, a trans woman, several bisexual characters, sapphic, mlm, you name it)
but it also can be pretty funny sometimes and corny but sweet <3
I don't think its perfect though, the fights do get a little repetitive and really the biggest issue with this game overall is just.... its a short length! and thats not always bad- ITS JUST-
This is a cast with a lot of silliness and some charm too, youre basically out here playin what (At times feels like) a sri lankan/indian mixed ramona flowers reconciling with all her exes and really just people in her life in general she's left shit ruptured with. In a way the game itself also feels like it's physically representative of that with its combat being well timed presses ala QTE/Mario & Luigi timing presses for attacks
You're quite literally usin emotional exploitation and manipulation to win these battles whether you need to flirt to get out of it, say something shocking, impress someone, piss them offfff, break their heartttt
all that
What i dont like about this is how it virtually doesnt have as big of an impact with things as much as I wouldve liked.. it feels like more grave consequences should happen if you choose to Not mend things with one of her exes,. and thats another thing! your choices mostly gear towards what your build is leaning towards when you play this game
sayin curt and crass mean but true shit? major boost modifier to your attack output while everything else is lacking
going for defensiveee and going for the more balanced approach also leads to etc etc, you get that
I still think the combat is silly and fun! It just feels like it could be more
The skating in this game is also something i immediately was like "ohhhhhhhhhhhh nah." when I got my hands onto it for like... 30 seconds..
AND I KNOW THAT SOUNDS HARSH IK BUT IM KEEPING IT REAL WITH YOU, when youve played shit like ANY skate game ANY tony hawk game, jet set radio, hell bombrush cyberfunk came out same year it was Fresh In My Head how those games work and feel and how those physics are suppose to give you a very specific kind of mouthfeel..
This does not do that! It still works! It's mostly just a neat way to traverse instead of just a simple run button, I feel like this totally couldve been utilized in the battle system too SOMEHOW with an alternative equipment system for your bash or maybe amplifying certain emotional manipulation related skills with using the skateboard.. somethin!
The game already has such a strong lean towards all that in the first place with the whole skateboard cult thing that kindof just gets put to the side near the end... and.. I did too really LMAO
i didnt care for the skating challenges because the skating itself never felt like I was gonna be rewarded in tact and experience with anything more than what i could already do at base level.. and that itself wasnt all that
If anything the coolest thing about the skating was totally how you can just PLAY as ANYONE like
ANYONE even at some point like
mild spoilers but, you can play as not even like.. a human enemy type when you skate around its so funny
it has no bearing on the story or anything like that but just somethin tht gets u smirking kindof
I couldnt play as Diya for long bc then i actually would just die for very normal reasons
I think as a whole though this game is cool, i think it couldve been baked longer though and everything comes together PRETTTYYYYYYY clean all things considered.. its not like a miracle ending happens! but good steps in the right directions for most characters that i think are sweet
The cooking side of things actually even educated me on a lot of cuisine that id love to try, its so interesting and refreshing seeing a family supportive of their gay kid but in a way that feels human and not like they automatically just were cool with no prior history or hangups
Like the bits with Jala's dad are really fucking cool and his whole explanation on how he felt so spineless not standing up for Jala's aunt was probably my favorite explanation and conversation in the game to the point where i aint even remember what the fuck we were even cooking when that happened LMAO
Tyler is also obviously one of my favorites ofc, a darkskin goth trans woman VOICED by a trans woman as your MC's the big one style ex? its genius and reason alone for this game being in my good graces
but i do care about this game, and because i care im hammering the things i dont like about it and things i wish were better because I think some bits awkwardly stick out together and couldve benefited for longer runtime and smaller vision with the weight of how many mechanics are going on here.. because all in all i think i just wanted.. More rlly !
In the end you can try this game on gamepass if you like, its not too terribly long( a little to its detriment), the humor isnt TOTALLY my speed but it got a couple giggles out of me and cracked a smile here and there.. but there's heart going on here, its just not everyone's dancing to its beat
side things i liked:
-the grandma is hot as fuck
-actually some nice little commentary on how masc nonbinary people are treated
-i think the skating is a really good idea in General even though i didnt warm up to it at all
-theres a move where you can summon jala's mom to chancla crush nearly anybody in the game and i think thts so peak
-jala confronting herself in a kinda cool way
-this game has a "fuck it" toggle with the difficulty if you just wanna see what happens next in the story but i feel like doing this youre stripping away the most directly engaging gameplay form In This Game so.. i guess only do it for something annoying or if you dont like grinding out the ingame equivalent of suitor Goombas
-this also has some family trauma commentary going on which may hit for south asian players especially, im not that but i could still get the points and they spell it out for you a lot and ive had friends that Are that go through a lotta fuckshit so there's some of that that may be pleasing
not to end it on a bitter note but i also think this game suffers from a lot of these conflicts with her exes ultimately being such old news that its in the bulk of fucking middle school adn the start of highschool BUT LIKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE thats why some of it gets squished so quick anyway i suppose
just some more show instead of tell wouldve been nice
if i was jala and i fumbled both tyler and diya i woulda killed m-
but it also can be pretty funny sometimes and corny but sweet <3
I don't think its perfect though, the fights do get a little repetitive and really the biggest issue with this game overall is just.... its a short length! and thats not always bad- ITS JUST-
This is a cast with a lot of silliness and some charm too, youre basically out here playin what (At times feels like) a sri lankan/indian mixed ramona flowers reconciling with all her exes and really just people in her life in general she's left shit ruptured with. In a way the game itself also feels like it's physically representative of that with its combat being well timed presses ala QTE/Mario & Luigi timing presses for attacks
You're quite literally usin emotional exploitation and manipulation to win these battles whether you need to flirt to get out of it, say something shocking, impress someone, piss them offfff, break their heartttt
all that
What i dont like about this is how it virtually doesnt have as big of an impact with things as much as I wouldve liked.. it feels like more grave consequences should happen if you choose to Not mend things with one of her exes,. and thats another thing! your choices mostly gear towards what your build is leaning towards when you play this game
sayin curt and crass mean but true shit? major boost modifier to your attack output while everything else is lacking
going for defensiveee and going for the more balanced approach also leads to etc etc, you get that
I still think the combat is silly and fun! It just feels like it could be more
The skating in this game is also something i immediately was like "ohhhhhhhhhhhh nah." when I got my hands onto it for like... 30 seconds..
AND I KNOW THAT SOUNDS HARSH IK BUT IM KEEPING IT REAL WITH YOU, when youve played shit like ANY skate game ANY tony hawk game, jet set radio, hell bombrush cyberfunk came out same year it was Fresh In My Head how those games work and feel and how those physics are suppose to give you a very specific kind of mouthfeel..
This does not do that! It still works! It's mostly just a neat way to traverse instead of just a simple run button, I feel like this totally couldve been utilized in the battle system too SOMEHOW with an alternative equipment system for your bash or maybe amplifying certain emotional manipulation related skills with using the skateboard.. somethin!
The game already has such a strong lean towards all that in the first place with the whole skateboard cult thing that kindof just gets put to the side near the end... and.. I did too really LMAO
i didnt care for the skating challenges because the skating itself never felt like I was gonna be rewarded in tact and experience with anything more than what i could already do at base level.. and that itself wasnt all that
If anything the coolest thing about the skating was totally how you can just PLAY as ANYONE like
ANYONE even at some point like
mild spoilers but, you can play as not even like.. a human enemy type when you skate around its so funny
it has no bearing on the story or anything like that but just somethin tht gets u smirking kindof
I couldnt play as Diya for long bc then i actually would just die for very normal reasons
I think as a whole though this game is cool, i think it couldve been baked longer though and everything comes together PRETTTYYYYYYY clean all things considered.. its not like a miracle ending happens! but good steps in the right directions for most characters that i think are sweet
The cooking side of things actually even educated me on a lot of cuisine that id love to try, its so interesting and refreshing seeing a family supportive of their gay kid but in a way that feels human and not like they automatically just were cool with no prior history or hangups
Like the bits with Jala's dad are really fucking cool and his whole explanation on how he felt so spineless not standing up for Jala's aunt was probably my favorite explanation and conversation in the game to the point where i aint even remember what the fuck we were even cooking when that happened LMAO
Tyler is also obviously one of my favorites ofc, a darkskin goth trans woman VOICED by a trans woman as your MC's the big one style ex? its genius and reason alone for this game being in my good graces
but i do care about this game, and because i care im hammering the things i dont like about it and things i wish were better because I think some bits awkwardly stick out together and couldve benefited for longer runtime and smaller vision with the weight of how many mechanics are going on here.. because all in all i think i just wanted.. More rlly !
In the end you can try this game on gamepass if you like, its not too terribly long( a little to its detriment), the humor isnt TOTALLY my speed but it got a couple giggles out of me and cracked a smile here and there.. but there's heart going on here, its just not everyone's dancing to its beat
side things i liked:
-the grandma is hot as fuck
-actually some nice little commentary on how masc nonbinary people are treated
-i think the skating is a really good idea in General even though i didnt warm up to it at all
-theres a move where you can summon jala's mom to chancla crush nearly anybody in the game and i think thts so peak
-jala confronting herself in a kinda cool way
-this game has a "fuck it" toggle with the difficulty if you just wanna see what happens next in the story but i feel like doing this youre stripping away the most directly engaging gameplay form In This Game so.. i guess only do it for something annoying or if you dont like grinding out the ingame equivalent of suitor Goombas
-this also has some family trauma commentary going on which may hit for south asian players especially, im not that but i could still get the points and they spell it out for you a lot and ive had friends that Are that go through a lotta fuckshit so there's some of that that may be pleasing
not to end it on a bitter note but i also think this game suffers from a lot of these conflicts with her exes ultimately being such old news that its in the bulk of fucking middle school adn the start of highschool BUT LIKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE thats why some of it gets squished so quick anyway i suppose
just some more show instead of tell wouldve been nice
if i was jala and i fumbled both tyler and diya i woulda killed m-