This game makes me sad. It's not because of the cryptic and morbid narrative, nor is it because of the beautifully dour environments. It's because the game isn't fun. I'm not looking to start an argument over the topic of "some games aren't meant to be fun"; I mean that the gameplay isn't enjoyable to me in any capacity.
The gameplay reminds me of two different Nintendo DS games. First is Kirby Mass Attack, because you guide your character via a floating, glowing object. Second is Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, because you freeze time and use normally unseen paths to activate distant objects. These ideas are both squandered by a few major flaws, though. Mion is extremely slow and unresponsive to lead around. She's also constantly in life-or-death situations. Unclear trial-and-error puzzle solutions where one mistake results in what feels like entire minutes of undone progress. I would compare this style of game to something like LIMBO (scary atmosphere, child MC, high risk situations/puzzles), but in that game you have direct control of your character. Any moments of clever design in this game are constantly undercut by being forced to do them over and over until you're sick of it. I'd argue it undercuts the interesting aspects of the narrative too. You spend so much time feeling foul about the gameplay that it overwrites the good stuff.
You may be asking, "Hoob, if you hate this so much, why did you keep playing it?" Well, I was drawn like a moth to a flame after reading that the team at NIS that made "The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince" made this first, and I am here to tell you that they learned from pretty much all of their mistakes in that game. I see bits of that game in The Firefly Diary, like the beautifully dark aesthetic, or Mion's mannerisms. As harsh as it'll sound, that's the most praise I can give this game. I'm glad the team behind this went on to make more enjoyable, memorable experiences afterwards.
(Also what the fuck is up with that English title? After staring at it for a good while, I understand that it's meant to be the Japanese title, "Hotaru no Nikki", but what sane person would realize that without looking it up? I'm glad that subtitle was there, because would you, the average consumer, buy a game called "ntSo@kPy"? I wouldn't think so.)
The gameplay reminds me of two different Nintendo DS games. First is Kirby Mass Attack, because you guide your character via a floating, glowing object. Second is Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, because you freeze time and use normally unseen paths to activate distant objects. These ideas are both squandered by a few major flaws, though. Mion is extremely slow and unresponsive to lead around. She's also constantly in life-or-death situations. Unclear trial-and-error puzzle solutions where one mistake results in what feels like entire minutes of undone progress. I would compare this style of game to something like LIMBO (scary atmosphere, child MC, high risk situations/puzzles), but in that game you have direct control of your character. Any moments of clever design in this game are constantly undercut by being forced to do them over and over until you're sick of it. I'd argue it undercuts the interesting aspects of the narrative too. You spend so much time feeling foul about the gameplay that it overwrites the good stuff.
You may be asking, "Hoob, if you hate this so much, why did you keep playing it?" Well, I was drawn like a moth to a flame after reading that the team at NIS that made "The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince" made this first, and I am here to tell you that they learned from pretty much all of their mistakes in that game. I see bits of that game in The Firefly Diary, like the beautifully dark aesthetic, or Mion's mannerisms. As harsh as it'll sound, that's the most praise I can give this game. I'm glad the team behind this went on to make more enjoyable, memorable experiences afterwards.
(Also what the fuck is up with that English title? After staring at it for a good while, I understand that it's meant to be the Japanese title, "Hotaru no Nikki", but what sane person would realize that without looking it up? I'm glad that subtitle was there, because would you, the average consumer, buy a game called "ntSo@kPy"? I wouldn't think so.)