Polygonade
Bio
- Playing games since c. 1994
- The L in LGBTQ
- I have an eclectic taste, but like narrative games better
- My scores reflect how much I enjoyed a piece, not necessarily their ~objective~ quality
- Playing games since c. 1994
- The L in LGBTQ
- I have an eclectic taste, but like narrative games better
- My scores reflect how much I enjoyed a piece, not necessarily their ~objective~ quality
Badges
Donor
Liked 50+ reviews / lists
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Gained 10+ total review likes
Pinged
Mentioned by another user
Elite Gamer
Played 500+ games
On Schedule
Journaled games once a day for a week straight
Gamer
Played 250+ games
Best Friends
Become mutual friends with at least 3 others
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Gained 3+ followers
N00b
Played 100+ games
Favorite Games
632
Total Games Played
021
Played in 2024
005
Games Backloggd
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A really, really interesting game that requires a bit of patience and openness to its motions, which ultimately pays off.
I was not familiarized with the works of Kenji Miyazawa and played the first two thirds of the game simply enjoying it as an experimental somewhat surreal project for the Super Famicom. Learning it is actually a love letter to the works of an influential Japanese poet and also an attempt to translate his sensibility into an interactive art form made it even more special.
Gameplay-wise, Ihatovo Monogatari (Stories of Ihatovo) is pretty simple, consisting on multiple, self-contained small chapters loosely focused on one of Miyazawa's stories each, while keeping a really charming sense of passage of time. You will be mostly likely trying to figure out how to advance the plot speaking with the right characters and giving them the correct items. It may feel a bit too simple and slow-paced to our time, but even going beyond the necessary good faith required to enjoy an experimental game from thirty years ago and its obvious limitations, I think this is a very smart, confident project on its own merits. Its sluggish, meditative pace fits the meditative nature of most good poetry. Most of all, though, it made me yearn for a game with its passion for the tiny stories of tiny, weird places but applying mechanics and lessons learned decades later, maybe in an Outer Wilds-like approach of knowledge as a verb that moves forward the greater machinery.
In any case, Ihatovo Monogatari is a must-play to anyone who is interested in weird stories from the early days of video games. It's not for everybody - thankfully!
I was not familiarized with the works of Kenji Miyazawa and played the first two thirds of the game simply enjoying it as an experimental somewhat surreal project for the Super Famicom. Learning it is actually a love letter to the works of an influential Japanese poet and also an attempt to translate his sensibility into an interactive art form made it even more special.
Gameplay-wise, Ihatovo Monogatari (Stories of Ihatovo) is pretty simple, consisting on multiple, self-contained small chapters loosely focused on one of Miyazawa's stories each, while keeping a really charming sense of passage of time. You will be mostly likely trying to figure out how to advance the plot speaking with the right characters and giving them the correct items. It may feel a bit too simple and slow-paced to our time, but even going beyond the necessary good faith required to enjoy an experimental game from thirty years ago and its obvious limitations, I think this is a very smart, confident project on its own merits. Its sluggish, meditative pace fits the meditative nature of most good poetry. Most of all, though, it made me yearn for a game with its passion for the tiny stories of tiny, weird places but applying mechanics and lessons learned decades later, maybe in an Outer Wilds-like approach of knowledge as a verb that moves forward the greater machinery.
In any case, Ihatovo Monogatari is a must-play to anyone who is interested in weird stories from the early days of video games. It's not for everybody - thankfully!