Funny how I found this in the "horror" section of itch. It's stress-inducing, I'll give it that, but scary? Nah. It doesn't even do that "64 bit kids game is secretly scary!!!" thing. I also thought this would be endless, but nope, it does end eventually.

Not particularly worth playing imo, but it's cute enough.

fucking awesome cool ass skeleton jumpscare

This is what it's like playing Wizard101.

So, having put more time into this game, I think I'm ready to give it an actual review. Although I'm only technically a third of the way done with it.

This is a mobile game put on the 3DS, which means it's one of those where you play a little, then are forced to wait for a certain amount of time to pass, rinse and repeat. At first, this was fine. A 30 minute wait and then an hour wait, and then a two hour wait... yeah, I don't like the waiting, but it's not too bad. But the farther you play, the longer the wait times are and there is no way around it with the eShop down. As of writing this, I was put on a 96 hour wait, and I imagine it'll only continue. It's just ridiculous, I've never seen a mobile game force you to wait so long for things (I don't really play mobile games, though) and I wouldn't really wanna pay to get past it, either. Cause even if I could, I'd just have another ten puzzles and then an even longer wait time.

And it's such a shame, too, because this could have been one of the best Picross games. I like having a mix of 10x10, 15x15, and 20x15 puzzles, plus this introduces a new kind of puzzle where you solve four 10x10s to reveal one large image. On top of all of that, there are three Micross boards (or "mosaic" if you've played other nonogram games) and I've always loved those.

What really sets this game apart from other Picross games is it being Final Fantasy. I don't just mean the puzzles and aesthetics are FF themed, but there's a whole new game mode here that more or less turns puzzles into a turn-based RPG. Loosely, at least. It seems like there's some strategy employed in this mode, and it might be up some peoples' alleys, but I couldn't really get too into it. Mostly because it's just doing a bunch of 5x5 puzzles with the stylus until you defeat the enemies. It seems kind of like a predecessor to Picross X, which is another game I haven't had much interest in because it's also entirely 5x5 puzzles. Seriously, this would be so much more fun to do with 10x10s.

So, I might come off as a hypocrite with all of this because I cite Pokémon Picross as my favorite Picross game, and that one also has typical mobile game trappings. Buuut I think that game has a lot of fun gimmicks, worthwhile challenges, I'm much more interested in Pokémon, and I shilled out the $25 for unlimited playtime way before the eShop shut down. I don't know if this is actually the case or not, but I also expect the times you're forced to wait aren't as bad, either. Even if they are, there's reason to play already-beaten puzzles there iirc.

I'm still gonna chip away at this game as I remember to, but I can't really recommend it even to Picross veterans unless they mod in unlimited play at some point. At least there's an English patch, not that it's super necessary for this game.

I'm also going to refrain from rating this game. I can't in good conscience give it the 5 stars I give Picross games in general, but I also don't really know what else to give it.

oh and they make you do mega picross which is cringe

It's kind of interesting to see and play old fangames from over ten years ago that clearly were just a glimpse of something greater, but also kind of sad. This game in particular is only "chapter one" of what I'm sure was intended to be a multi-chapter series. Never seemed to make it past this first one, though, which is a shame, because there's promise here. As you can tell from the cover art, it's heavily inspired by Super Paper Mario, and it uses the design of that game, though it's also much more of a straight platformer, with... I guess puzzle elements? Not even exactly puzzles, but leading to what would probably have been puzzles in later entries.

I really liked the idea of using different hammers as different items for separate purposes, and I also liked the idea of badges from the first two Paper Mario games being used in the context of a standard Mario platformer (makes me wish Super Paper Mario had them), and sort of a precursor to what Mario Wonder would eventually get.

Maybe that's giving this too much credit, especially since the only badge (afaik) is just to allow you to jump on spiked enemies. Would have been interesting to see how it might evolve, and also to see if they carried over between chapters somehow.

Anyway, it's nothing too special, but could have been cool to see more.




by the way, the story here is that an evil toad lights toad's house on fire, steals his wife, and toad's son dies in the fire. this dude's gonna become the punisher

I love when I cop the twist to a story right off the bat. Even if it's a kid's game and probably exceedingly obvious to everyone else as well.

Very cute. Lots of great references, the best presentation we've gotten for a lot of these characters... ever - in a game, that is - fun to look at, and the most I've been allowed to dig through trash cans outside of Pokémon.

This might just be because I'm tired and played this after getting off work, but man my eyes are ready to not look at things after having played this. The segments of actual gameplay that's somewhat like Sonic 3D Blast's special stages really started to bother my eyes. They were decent, but the angle being isometric instead of behind Sonic probably made me mess up more than usual.

Anyway, this was really charming and had some good laughs, I hope something else likes this happens again - maybe shift out some of the supporting characters for others of Sonic's friends?

I went from liking this game, to being annoyed by it, to being faced with the worst fucking final boss I've ever played. I cannot beat it no matter how much I throw myself at it and try different things, I hate that boss so much and it really soured the experience.

The boss is a large version of these skull enemies (like Bubbles from Zelda) that sort of home in on you. The boss homes in on you the whole time, while spawning a new small skull every few seconds. It does not fucking stop, and the A.I. on it was just so unpredictable. I would seem to have a rhythm down, then suddenly the boss and its skull cronies (skronies) suddenly know the exact position I'm going in and perfectly circle me. It was so incredibly frustrating, I gave up.

Wish I could rate this higher because I see the vision, but god, it was a slog from the midway point to the end.

2019

Live life altruistically.

Nothing matters.

Everything matters.

I can't recommend this collection enough. While seasons 2 and 3 have their naysayers, I think they're pretty damn good and definitely worth playing, especially if you intend on experiencing the whole Walking Dead story. Personally, I loved all four main seasons of this series, and I thought Michonne was decent as a supplemental piece, although I wouldn't recommend it on its own.

Along with that, this collection comes with developer commentary for seasons 1-4. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to work for whatever reason, so I can't say for sure how worthwhile it is (although I know the season 2 finale has a juicy cut content drop), but you can probably find them on YouTube if nothing else.

Anyway, I'm going to use this review to link to every review I made for each episode of each season, along with a link to my ranking of all the episodes as a whole. Each review includes some thoughts on the episodes, and the major choices I made (except S1E1, didn't have the idea to do that yet), why I made those choices, and the character relationship statuses seen at the end of season 3 and the end of each season 4 episode. This is probably gonna suck to type out, I really hope I don't fuck something up.

Oh - this should be obvious, but each review has spoilers for the episode!

Ranking of all episodes
Season 1, episode 1: A New Day
Season 1, episode 2: Starved For Help
Season 1, episode 3: Long Road Ahead
Season 1, episode 4: Around Every Corner
Season 1, episode 5: No Time Left
Season 1, DLC episode: 400 Days
Season 2, episode 1: All That Remains
Season 2, episode 2: A House Divided
Season 2, episode 3: In Harm's Way
Season 2, episode 4: Amid the Ruins
Season 2, episode 5: No Going Back
Season 3, episode 1: Ties That Bind - Part One
Season 3, episode 2: Ties That Bind - Part Two
Season 3, episode 3: Above the Law
Season 3, episode 4: Thicker Than Water
Season 3, episode 5: From the Gallows
Season 4, episode 1: Done Running
Season 4, episode 2: Suffer the Children
Season 4, episode 3: Broken Toys
Season 4, episode 4: Take Us Back
Michonne, episode 1: In Too Deep
Michonne, episode 2: Give No Shelter
Michonne, episode 3: What We Deserve

S4>S3>S1>S2>Michonne

This review contains spoilers

I feel like making a game starring a major character in Walking Dead media is a good idea on paper, but it's messy when this is supposed to be canon to the comics. I know TellTale's TWD games are supposed to be in the same universe as the comics, but I think this game would have benefitted from being its own continuity. This is a very specific point in the comics (which I haven't read, maybe eventually), and it doesn't feel like there's much room to fit a character-changing story in it, so Michonne's development is pretty minimal. At the beginning, she's a hardened, badass survivor who is plagued by her past failings in relation to her kids. By the end of the game, she's a hardened, badass survivor who is plagued by her past failings in relation to her kids. You can force her to "step away" from her kids, but the game still ends with her seeing hallucinations of them. How unfulfilling.

But the characters here are great. With the choices I made, Michonne is a caring person who will do whatever it takes to keep innocent people safe. The family she helps is tattered, but stronger than before, and I enjoyed all of its members; Paige is a friend of the Fairbanks family who learns that she can be a devoted member of the family and not just an outsider; Sam cares deeply for her family and wants to fight like hell for them, while also wanting to make a stand against some shitty people; her two youngest brothers don't have much going on, but I always enjoy when kid characters learn to find their own strength. Pete believes in people so much and is a great liaison and friend to Michonne. Also liked the villains Norma and Randall. Normally (pun intended), the villains show up late in these games, but here, they're a threat right away and working around them was a good time.

Ultimately, though, this game just doesn't feel super... necessary. Not like spin-offs are really "necessary" in general, but this game is kind of trapped by its own concept, and I came out of it liking the story and characters, but not feeling like it needed to happen.

This is definitely the weakest "season" of TellTale's TWD, but that's not really surprising. Unless the episodes were just top tier (they weren't), they're notably shorter than the main seasons' episodes, and there's only three of them.

If you have the definitive collection of TWD, then sure, play it. But I wouldn't recommend sniffing it out specifically.

Probably the single most movie-like episode of TWD. By that, I mean that I don't really feel like my choices really mattered all that much and that things still would have played out largely the same despite my choices. There are other episodes where that feels like that to a degree, but I feel that more here than usual. I enjoyed the character interactions here, but the final confrontation was a bit underwhelming and the final choice didn't really feel too fulfilling either way.

My choices:

-Helped Sam bury her father (unless you hate Sam, I don't know why you wouldn't)
-Told Alex a bad man hurt his father (got the point across without overwhelming him, I think)
-Handed Randall to Norma (at this point I was pretty certain a fight would break out no matter what, so making the trade as smooth as possibly was the priority)
-Put Norma out of her misery (I always be doing this)
-Chose to leave my daughters (curious what would happen if you don't. Just a non-canon ending where Michonne dies, or does Sam pull you out?)

CHILDREN JUMPSCARE!!

This review contains spoilers

Huge step up, and now I'm actually invested. These are good characters, and I feel like I'm having to play my hand carefully. Rip to the Revolutionary-era guy that was the head of that family.

My choices:

-Let Pete go on his own (this is what he wanted, and I think it's noble)
-Picked up the phone instead of chasing the footsteps (idk why this even really matters, but those footsteps could've been anyone. I wasn't really expecting the phone to be a scam or something lol)
-Offered advice to Paige (the alternative is telling this girl you just met that you almost killed yourself so uh)
-Let Randall live (generally what I do in these situations)

Really clever moment with the radio. If you don't answer, they'd know something was wrong. If Michonne answers, obviously they'd be on your ass. The only smart choice is to let Randall talk and cut him off at just the right moment. Thought that moment was really smart.

This review contains spoilers

It's ok so far, nothing very impressive I don't think, not super hooked by the story so far, especially after how good the final season was and I'm playing this after lol.

I don't trust Randall or his sister at all, but I'm rooting for Sam and Gre- oh, just Sam. And hey, a gay couple that's lasting longer than an episode, that's a first.

My decisions:

-Didn't try to end it (I imagine people who chose to pull the trigger were just curious)
-Entered the ferry through the ladder (why would you go through the window lol)
-Ambushed Randall (like I said, I don't trust this guy)
-Shared the blame with Greg (if I knew how to take all the blame, I would've)
-Spared Zachary (dude is so obviously not bad lol)

I don't know if I could ask for a better ending. I've made reviews for each individual episode, you can check those out if you want, I'm mostly just making this for my own purposes.

This review contains spoilers

A beautiful ending. The one AJ, Clementine, and the school deserved. I think a lot of people will dislike there being one definitive ending, but I think that's great. This is what you fought for, and the game is telling you that you made wrong decisions along the way, but you raised a boy who can make the right decisions. There's no "perfect" ending, but there is no "perfect" route. All you did is what you thought was right, and there's nothing wrong with that.

I don't know what better ending there is thematically, narratively, or in terms of player choice. This is it.

This episode also had the hardest choice in the game in my opinion: telling AJ if he can make his own choices or not. I told him he wasn't ready yet. It felt awful, but he was talking about killing people and it was evident to me that he would continue to kill people if he simply thought they were bad, and that doesn't sit right with me. Unfortunately, telling him this gets Violet (or Louis, depending on who you have) killed because he doesn't believe he can make the right call. But it saves Tenn's life, and I know that Violet would gladly lay down her life for Tenn to live, so I don't feel bad about it.

Fuck you Lilly, I hope you ruminate on your pathetic life.

My choices:

-Told AJ he wasn't ready to make his own decisions (I love that the game later proves you wrong, but it saved Tenn so I don't feel bad)
-Let Violet rename the school ("Texas Two" this fucking girl lol)
-Asked AJ to kill Clem instead of letting her turn (every time.)
-Refused to teach Tenn to be like me (earlier in the game, I had Clem tell AJ the school and them can learn from each other, this feels like the natural progression of that. Plus, I'm not gonna turn this kids into soldiers if I can avoid it, even if that's an extreme of that)

Relationship statuses:

Lilly - Shamed (damn, the other option was "regretful" kinda wish I got that)
Louis - Shaken (feel so bad for this kid, but dammit, he's still got such a jolly and gentle heart, bless him)
Violet - Dead, but "Loved" if she were still alive
James - Dead, but would have left him "Conflicted" if he lived

Lilly, Louis, and Tenn are the determinants that are still alive.

AJ lessons:
-First lesson: Find the easiest way out
-Always aim for the head
-When you apologize, be as honest as you can
-It's ok to burp after a big meal. It's funny.
-It's not nice to take others' stuff
-Sleeping in a bed is way better than the ground. Trust me.
-Wrong to kill Marlon because he wasn't a threat.
-Atonement is hard, but people will forgive you
-The monsters won't be here forever
-Sometimes you have to show mercy to the bad people
-Doctors can help with trauma, but I think they're all dead
-Thought there were people inside monsters, but there's nothing in them
-If your grandma is dying, stop watching cartoons
-Even people who love you might not trust you with big things (this one hurt)
-And that can make you freeze up
-Killing is never easy or fun, so take it seriously.

I realized halfway through that that was kind of pointless to type out. Oh well.

It took them two seasons, but they finally made Disco Broccoli a good bit.