Damn Square Enix really sent out a lot of games to die this year, huh.
I wish so, so much that this game was outstanding. The centennial is so beautiful, so charming, is acted so legitimately well and just overall has this feel that - at least if you're into a bit of J-drama, detective stories and some FMV cheese - it should be a stone cold classic. Take any single scene or some of the individual chapters in a vacuum and you can so easily envision the absolute god tier narrative adventure thing this turning out to be, something with the rep of it's director's previous game 428 Shibuya Scramble (which i am remiss to not having finished yet).
And it's really hard to pinpoint exactly what isn't quite working here. Even ater fully completing it, being engaged and entertained the whole way through, something just felt a bit off. And even now i'm not sure really quite why when it should be right up my alley.
But I think i've gotten to the root of my niggles. I just don't think the Murders of the Centennial Case and the resolution of the overall mystery works that well. Whilst I absolute adore the "protagonist reads book, injects all the same actors from current time into recreation of the past" element, the murders themselves fail to truly integrate with the long running mysteries to untangle of the Shijima family and the pretty wild legends of agelessness it explores. I really get the impression that exploring other mysteries and sticking with maybe one or two murders would have worked better, because there's cases where they feel almost incidental compared to the real matters and hand.
Working out the murders is also a little slapdash. I appreciate the straight up FMVs going through the protagonists collecitng the evience rather than a lot of wandering around, but the process of putting those clues together in your mind palace is pretty dreadful, esecially as dear lord, this game has so fucking many red herrings. I think it's fair for detective stories to bury the lead a litlte bit and not to have every piece of evidence come back in the resolution - but this clearly goes too far. A lot of cases it feels like half your evidence just doesnt get used. You end up with basically a danganronpa case's worth of evidence for a murder which is often as simple as a matter of eliminating the impossible suspects.
I also don't think the core mystery is quite set out right. The semi-fantastical elements just aren't introduced neatly enough for me to really buy it, even whilst fully immersed in the hammy j-drama stuff. It feels like a nitpick because it's something a few lines of dialogue in the right place could sort out and it's probably going to vary a lot from person to person - but especially when the game relies so much on this stuff in it's final chapter in particular, it can take you out of some of the melodrama of that final act. Which is a shame, because the game also decides to drop plenty of it's boldest and most fun twists and turns there as well, which i think i would have enjoyed even more if i was fully invested in the core mystery.
Still, I like it. Quite a lot. The protagonist Haruka is super fun and there's a really nice impression that recreations of the past you go through are "hers". The period stuff in general is really beautifully put together and are extremely delightful, and the core cast of the present day are also really quite great. There's a very theatric character to the performances which is very fun, particularly when you get a deduction wrong and they basically call you a fucking idiot. It's just really fun to be with these people, honestly. I can definetly imagine a fun series of games where put-upon detective Haruka solves a bunch of murders with more casts that are just a bit larger than life. Preferably, better murders than are here.
Also, this isnt so much of a criticism as much as an observation but there's clearly a deep love of old Japanese serial magazines and fiction and some other stuff here and probably a lot of references which bounce off me. It's probably quite like playing the great ace attorney without knowing what a Sherlock is. Im thus nodding along with it more than i am really thoroughly getting it, but that's not a fault, and you sincerely get the impression even a few years ago this game wouldnt have touched western shores at all.
I do like the Centennial Case, probably more than it really deserves but as much as I do, the sense that it could be better is pervasive, especially in retrospect. It's good, and I think people who think they'll like it will do - but a few more drafts of the script, or the game picking a lane between the murders and the family mystery, could have resulted in something special.
I wish so, so much that this game was outstanding. The centennial is so beautiful, so charming, is acted so legitimately well and just overall has this feel that - at least if you're into a bit of J-drama, detective stories and some FMV cheese - it should be a stone cold classic. Take any single scene or some of the individual chapters in a vacuum and you can so easily envision the absolute god tier narrative adventure thing this turning out to be, something with the rep of it's director's previous game 428 Shibuya Scramble (which i am remiss to not having finished yet).
And it's really hard to pinpoint exactly what isn't quite working here. Even ater fully completing it, being engaged and entertained the whole way through, something just felt a bit off. And even now i'm not sure really quite why when it should be right up my alley.
But I think i've gotten to the root of my niggles. I just don't think the Murders of the Centennial Case and the resolution of the overall mystery works that well. Whilst I absolute adore the "protagonist reads book, injects all the same actors from current time into recreation of the past" element, the murders themselves fail to truly integrate with the long running mysteries to untangle of the Shijima family and the pretty wild legends of agelessness it explores. I really get the impression that exploring other mysteries and sticking with maybe one or two murders would have worked better, because there's cases where they feel almost incidental compared to the real matters and hand.
Working out the murders is also a little slapdash. I appreciate the straight up FMVs going through the protagonists collecitng the evience rather than a lot of wandering around, but the process of putting those clues together in your mind palace is pretty dreadful, esecially as dear lord, this game has so fucking many red herrings. I think it's fair for detective stories to bury the lead a litlte bit and not to have every piece of evidence come back in the resolution - but this clearly goes too far. A lot of cases it feels like half your evidence just doesnt get used. You end up with basically a danganronpa case's worth of evidence for a murder which is often as simple as a matter of eliminating the impossible suspects.
I also don't think the core mystery is quite set out right. The semi-fantastical elements just aren't introduced neatly enough for me to really buy it, even whilst fully immersed in the hammy j-drama stuff. It feels like a nitpick because it's something a few lines of dialogue in the right place could sort out and it's probably going to vary a lot from person to person - but especially when the game relies so much on this stuff in it's final chapter in particular, it can take you out of some of the melodrama of that final act. Which is a shame, because the game also decides to drop plenty of it's boldest and most fun twists and turns there as well, which i think i would have enjoyed even more if i was fully invested in the core mystery.
Still, I like it. Quite a lot. The protagonist Haruka is super fun and there's a really nice impression that recreations of the past you go through are "hers". The period stuff in general is really beautifully put together and are extremely delightful, and the core cast of the present day are also really quite great. There's a very theatric character to the performances which is very fun, particularly when you get a deduction wrong and they basically call you a fucking idiot. It's just really fun to be with these people, honestly. I can definetly imagine a fun series of games where put-upon detective Haruka solves a bunch of murders with more casts that are just a bit larger than life. Preferably, better murders than are here.
Also, this isnt so much of a criticism as much as an observation but there's clearly a deep love of old Japanese serial magazines and fiction and some other stuff here and probably a lot of references which bounce off me. It's probably quite like playing the great ace attorney without knowing what a Sherlock is. Im thus nodding along with it more than i am really thoroughly getting it, but that's not a fault, and you sincerely get the impression even a few years ago this game wouldnt have touched western shores at all.
I do like the Centennial Case, probably more than it really deserves but as much as I do, the sense that it could be better is pervasive, especially in retrospect. It's good, and I think people who think they'll like it will do - but a few more drafts of the script, or the game picking a lane between the murders and the family mystery, could have resulted in something special.