McDoot
BACKER
2023
While I'm tempted to lean into the joke and give a nudge and wink and say something clever and unassuming, the reality is that this map is insane and I am in love with it.
My man somehow managed to dig up a forum account with 17 years of posting history specifically for this map? The google drive is full of goodies and a major plot point is hidden as a QR code on a gravestone! And I haven't even mentioned what actually happens within thewad pk3.
Game of the Year.
My man somehow managed to dig up a forum account with 17 years of posting history specifically for this map? The google drive is full of goodies and a major plot point is hidden as a QR code on a gravestone! And I haven't even mentioned what actually happens within the
Game of the Year.
I'm retiring this one so I can get it off my conscience. Another user mentioned that the gameplay can get exhausting and there isn't a better way of describing it.
There is already a high barrier to entry, with the game not being released in the west and it only being available via a (very good) fan translation, so naturally the ratings are high on this site since people are probably already invested in the game before even booting up the rom.
But sadly this game commits the cardinal sin of being a goddam chore - each turn requires moving a dozen units, with the defeat of each sub boss opening up a laundry list of busy work to do with your units; arena fights, buying, selling, gifting money, capturing villages, talking and triggering events. There is just so much tedium to be had while the minute to minute gameplay doesn't actually accomplish much.
And the sad part is that I am tapping out at the start of chapter 5, the last chapter before the time skip - the main feature of this entry. The reality is that a chapter could take 4 hours of my quickly vanishing life away from me, unlocking another 20 hours of... frustration, the frustration you only get from watching someone else do a task too slowly - if only I could step in and speed things up or skip some steps for them.
There is already a high barrier to entry, with the game not being released in the west and it only being available via a (very good) fan translation, so naturally the ratings are high on this site since people are probably already invested in the game before even booting up the rom.
But sadly this game commits the cardinal sin of being a goddam chore - each turn requires moving a dozen units, with the defeat of each sub boss opening up a laundry list of busy work to do with your units; arena fights, buying, selling, gifting money, capturing villages, talking and triggering events. There is just so much tedium to be had while the minute to minute gameplay doesn't actually accomplish much.
And the sad part is that I am tapping out at the start of chapter 5, the last chapter before the time skip - the main feature of this entry. The reality is that a chapter could take 4 hours of my quickly vanishing life away from me, unlocking another 20 hours of... frustration, the frustration you only get from watching someone else do a task too slowly - if only I could step in and speed things up or skip some steps for them.
2017
i do not understand sonic or sonic fans
2020
click clak klak click boop bop bp booop
1994
I really really really appreciate all of the QoL features that this game had - in 1994 we solved random encounters and grinding but apparently no one was paying attention?
2001
A PS1 game that missed its launch and released on PS2 doesn't exactly age with grace.
2022
god i miss manuals
2014
I invested a lot of time and money into this badboy and whilst I entirely enjoyed the experience I had, I am very upset about the fact that I will never be able to get back into the game without committing far more time and money.
2016
Parsnips drool, taters rool.
The best way to play this game is to sleep at 10am and then get mad that no one wants to marry you.
The best way to play this game is to sleep at 10am and then get mad that no one wants to marry you.
2022
I can feel the dark patterns rooting their claws deep into my brain.
2022
Okay which UI designer was fired from Monolith Soft to work on this?
2021
Full of little trivia goodies providing context about Lovecraft and the stories he wrote. I can tell it was made with love and I look forward to more stories being adapted this way.
2010
This review contains spoilers
Space Funeral depicts a world in which perfection has been spoilt by chaos - with perfection, in this case, being a generic default JRPG skin for RPG Maker 2003.
There is something incredible about the fact that the hand-drawn mspaint sprites actually look better than what the final boss would have you believe is a beautiful un-improvable world. I don't think thecatamites is pulling some double-irony-layered joke here, judging from their itch.io which sports a pasta-glue-collage art style, this is a genuine attempt at synthesising meaningful visuals and honestly I think they might have been a decade too early.
We now live in a post-Cruelty Squad world, where non-conforming designs are seeing a bit of a renaissance in games - after all, challenging aesthetics are a progression of any art medium. The plot presents this as a purposeful uglifying of something pure and it comes across as frustration, whether the anger is coming from a lack of ability (which I somewhat doubt) or resentment that the indie gaming scene at the time was full of clones and generic designs.
This last point becomes harder to internalise 12 years after the release of games like Space Funeral or Barkley: Shut up and Jam Gaiden, which are victims (beneficiaries?) of survivorship bias, their place in the sarcastic RPG maker games hall-of-fame being cemented by a decade of self-aware ironic games that are influenced or are a symptom of those earlier titles.
As a side note, as someone who hasn't played many RPG Maker games, I find it amusing that the JRPG progression can be neatly squeezed into 60 minutes of gameplay.
There is something incredible about the fact that the hand-drawn mspaint sprites actually look better than what the final boss would have you believe is a beautiful un-improvable world. I don't think thecatamites is pulling some double-irony-layered joke here, judging from their itch.io which sports a pasta-glue-collage art style, this is a genuine attempt at synthesising meaningful visuals and honestly I think they might have been a decade too early.
We now live in a post-Cruelty Squad world, where non-conforming designs are seeing a bit of a renaissance in games - after all, challenging aesthetics are a progression of any art medium. The plot presents this as a purposeful uglifying of something pure and it comes across as frustration, whether the anger is coming from a lack of ability (which I somewhat doubt) or resentment that the indie gaming scene at the time was full of clones and generic designs.
This last point becomes harder to internalise 12 years after the release of games like Space Funeral or Barkley: Shut up and Jam Gaiden, which are victims (beneficiaries?) of survivorship bias, their place in the sarcastic RPG maker games hall-of-fame being cemented by a decade of self-aware ironic games that are influenced or are a symptom of those earlier titles.
As a side note, as someone who hasn't played many RPG Maker games, I find it amusing that the JRPG progression can be neatly squeezed into 60 minutes of gameplay.
2016
When I was younger I used to have recurring dreams which weren't very scary but I was always terrified of having them. I was in a white-black void filled with tightropes of alternating thicknesses that I had to navigate across; the thinnest ones were like fishing wire and would slice me up real bad but for some reason I was more afraid of the thickest wires which were sausage-shaped and fleshy and standing on them wouldn't hurt me physically but I was repulsed by it none the less.
Where I grew up, houses didn't have basements. Instead we have attics or lofts which I have on occasion peered my head into and seen shapes move before fumbling for the lightswitch. In general though, I find that lofts take on a different role than that of the basement, instilling a sense of mystery rather than dread, where else would you store a century old painting or cursed music box.
Where I grew up, houses didn't have basements. Instead we have attics or lofts which I have on occasion peered my head into and seen shapes move before fumbling for the lightswitch. In general though, I find that lofts take on a different role than that of the basement, instilling a sense of mystery rather than dread, where else would you store a century old painting or cursed music box.
In a world where 90% of games aren't available on modern platform, an MCC is necessary for any franchise to stay relevant and accessible.