getbehindmesatan
I was playing this but then my friend recommended reading the P1 manga before the P1 characters come in and then I started the manga but forgot about it for ages. Maybe someday.
This review contains spoilers
Whereas I felt the first game was a good mystery that nonetheless found its greatest strength in the cast, this feels like a game that basically sacrifices everything for The Twist.
Now, I'm torn over the Twist. I think it's incredibly gutsy and impressive technically, and no matter how mad I am I have to admit Uchikoshi has got me beat fair and square.
But it's also... not actually relevant to anything in the game? Yes, it is important to the secret ending with Shigure, but structuring your entire game for a payoff in an obscure meta-fictional side ending is a very clever trick but not amazing storytelling. I think perhaps if they'd pushed it further, it could've been more meaningful, but as it is it feels both like the Twist eats up too much of the story and also is completely irrelevant to it.
Aside from that, I didn't really care for the new characters. Ryuki and Tama were entertaining, and I have a soft spot for Kizuna and Shoma, but on the whole it felt like the game puts so much effort into characterising them but it's all quantity and no quality. They just... aren't fun. Mame and Gen I found especially one-note.
All in all, this game is an interesting experiment, and I have to respect it on that level... but experiments are not good storytelling.
With that said, this game feels like it does gradually improve on a few ideas from ZTD (not going to spoil that game but The Twist, as well as anachronic order), so maybe in another 5 years we'll finally get a game that fulfills this experimental promise and is actually good?
Now, I'm torn over the Twist. I think it's incredibly gutsy and impressive technically, and no matter how mad I am I have to admit Uchikoshi has got me beat fair and square.
But it's also... not actually relevant to anything in the game? Yes, it is important to the secret ending with Shigure, but structuring your entire game for a payoff in an obscure meta-fictional side ending is a very clever trick but not amazing storytelling. I think perhaps if they'd pushed it further, it could've been more meaningful, but as it is it feels both like the Twist eats up too much of the story and also is completely irrelevant to it.
Aside from that, I didn't really care for the new characters. Ryuki and Tama were entertaining, and I have a soft spot for Kizuna and Shoma, but on the whole it felt like the game puts so much effort into characterising them but it's all quantity and no quality. They just... aren't fun. Mame and Gen I found especially one-note.
All in all, this game is an interesting experiment, and I have to respect it on that level... but experiments are not good storytelling.
With that said, this game feels like it does gradually improve on a few ideas from ZTD (not going to spoil that game but The Twist, as well as anachronic order), so maybe in another 5 years we'll finally get a game that fulfills this experimental promise and is actually good?
2016
This is a really fun game to play either with friends or while listening to audiobooks/podcasts. I can't quite muster up the energy to play it outside either of those two circumstances though.
2019
Ending was a bit underwelming but I think I was expecting a lot more story-heavy game when it's really maybe 60-40 Mafia-simulator visual novel.
But the worldbuilding, characters, premise are super fascinating, and tbh I would love to see a normal visual novel in the same universe. The gameplay is also pretty well done - it can get a bit old when searching for the last few bits of information, and I am admittedly already a bit of a social deduction game fiend, but all in all it does a surprisingly good job of adapting it into video game form.
But the worldbuilding, characters, premise are super fascinating, and tbh I would love to see a normal visual novel in the same universe. The gameplay is also pretty well done - it can get a bit old when searching for the last few bits of information, and I am admittedly already a bit of a social deduction game fiend, but all in all it does a surprisingly good job of adapting it into video game form.
This is such a weird storyline, because it feels simultaneously super messy and confusing but also like it shouldn't be? Characters have mysterious motives and goals that probably shouldn't be mysterious, people have differing pieces of a larger puzzle that don't quite contradict each other as much as they should?
I don't really know how to put it into words, but I liked it. I feel like the atmosphere is a little let down visually - I think there's the seeds of a really fascinating, 'twilight'-tinged story of gods and mortals and what it means to exist but it's carried largely by the writing. I don't quite feel a holistic sense of tone - and tbf, part of this is at least probably playing it 20 years later without all the difficulty of the original.
I don't really know how to put it into words, but I liked it. I feel like the atmosphere is a little let down visually - I think there's the seeds of a really fascinating, 'twilight'-tinged story of gods and mortals and what it means to exist but it's carried largely by the writing. I don't quite feel a holistic sense of tone - and tbf, part of this is at least probably playing it 20 years later without all the difficulty of the original.
I thought I'd suck at this game but I really enjoyed it! It was challenging but not unfair, and I appreciate that it has a much slower pace than most action games because it felt like it really emphasised thinking carefully about your actions and anticipating the enemy than reflexes.
I've played a little bit of Elden Ring and Bloodbourne and I have to say that while they are fun, I'm a little disappointed at their faster pace. I appreciated that Dark Souls was a rare example of an action game where reflexes aren't everything.
I've played a little bit of Elden Ring and Bloodbourne and I have to say that while they are fun, I'm a little disappointed at their faster pace. I appreciated that Dark Souls was a rare example of an action game where reflexes aren't everything.
This is an insanely long game stuffed full of ideas and episodes and characters.
I'm currently about 70-80% through it, I would guess, and while it has been an incredibly interesting experience so far just seeing how far it pushes the RPG Maker engine and experiments with so many different ideas... i am just exhausted.
The game starts off incredibly strong, if formulaic, and then maintains momentum for a while when the world opens up.
But the longer it went on, the more I felt like the main story Fortune Events were just incredibly formulaic, generally having you turn up to somewhere where the bad guys are doing stuff, and then random monsters attack, and things just keep piling up and up. It's a shame, because it has a ton of inventive mini episodes and side quests too, and I think the overall arc is incredibly fascinating... but this game has just broke me. I cannot see myself finishing it in the near future. It's not even that this game is bad in any sense, but I simply can't find the energy to keep going for a game that is not consistently 5 stars.
I also found the combat frustrating and difficult - I love turn-based battles, but so many bosses just feel annoying, and it is so easy to save in a state where the game is unwinnable because you can't grind or recover MP.
But if you can read Japanese I would definitely recommend checking this game out just because of how creative and massive it is. It's a truly impressive feat, even if this ambition is a bit messy at times.
I'm currently about 70-80% through it, I would guess, and while it has been an incredibly interesting experience so far just seeing how far it pushes the RPG Maker engine and experiments with so many different ideas... i am just exhausted.
The game starts off incredibly strong, if formulaic, and then maintains momentum for a while when the world opens up.
But the longer it went on, the more I felt like the main story Fortune Events were just incredibly formulaic, generally having you turn up to somewhere where the bad guys are doing stuff, and then random monsters attack, and things just keep piling up and up. It's a shame, because it has a ton of inventive mini episodes and side quests too, and I think the overall arc is incredibly fascinating... but this game has just broke me. I cannot see myself finishing it in the near future. It's not even that this game is bad in any sense, but I simply can't find the energy to keep going for a game that is not consistently 5 stars.
I also found the combat frustrating and difficult - I love turn-based battles, but so many bosses just feel annoying, and it is so easy to save in a state where the game is unwinnable because you can't grind or recover MP.
But if you can read Japanese I would definitely recommend checking this game out just because of how creative and massive it is. It's a truly impressive feat, even if this ambition is a bit messy at times.
I saw this game quoted and praised on the Internet for so long and to be honest it didn't seem at all interesting. Out of context there was something self-indulgent, annoying about the dialogue ('she's soo crazy... love her!'). It felt like one of those games made to take screenshots and post on social media to show off how funny/quirky/deep it is, and the concept of a sad pathetic old detective solving crimes sounded boring as hell.
Which is why I'm all the more surprised that it was so extremely good? I can't remember the last time I raced through a game so rapidly because it was just so addictive.
In a way it feels like the opposite of the kindve, 'made to order' fanfic approach to fiction you see sometimes, where people approach media as a desired shopping list of tropes. Nothing about this game particularly grabbed me at first glance except the insanely good word of mouth - but its storytelling, and the way the gameplay feeds into that storytelling is just so good.
Which is why I'm all the more surprised that it was so extremely good? I can't remember the last time I raced through a game so rapidly because it was just so addictive.
In a way it feels like the opposite of the kindve, 'made to order' fanfic approach to fiction you see sometimes, where people approach media as a desired shopping list of tropes. Nothing about this game particularly grabbed me at first glance except the insanely good word of mouth - but its storytelling, and the way the gameplay feeds into that storytelling is just so good.
A decent and interesting mystery with a neat premise and a broadly satisfying ending, but I'm kind've surprised by how... just OK it is?
Like, it's really nothing special in anyway beyond the basic premise (which ig tbf has become way more of a generic trope since 2010) and the crazy executions. It's nothing objectionable either, it is a perfectly fine game, but the way people talk about Dangan Ronpa and its fandom seems extremely disproportionate to just how... solidly average it is? Add to that a kind've slow start and - to be completely honest - ugly art style I'm bewildered by its popularity purely off the basis of this game (tho I'm sure the sequels are an important part of the puzzle here too)
Like, it's really nothing special in anyway beyond the basic premise (which ig tbf has become way more of a generic trope since 2010) and the crazy executions. It's nothing objectionable either, it is a perfectly fine game, but the way people talk about Dangan Ronpa and its fandom seems extremely disproportionate to just how... solidly average it is? Add to that a kind've slow start and - to be completely honest - ugly art style I'm bewildered by its popularity purely off the basis of this game (tho I'm sure the sequels are an important part of the puzzle here too)
This took me 5 months to finish and it was... OK. In fairness I played it in Japanese so it was a bit of a slog at times, even though I understood the gist of everything, but it just didn't quite click for me.
The characters were annoying, the slice-of-life dull, but there was just enough tension and suspense to keep me going, and I certainly wouldn't want to say it was actively bad or that I hated it.
I'm currently midway through ch2 and enjoying it tremendously more (the slice-of-life feels engaging on its own terms, the characters suddenly feel much more likeable than one-note anime girls) - whether it's because I've just clicked with the game suddenly or it's an improvement, I'm not sure, but I do appreciate the setup in ch 1 and definitely wouldn't say I regret reading it.
ALSO the mangamer sprites are the ugliest things ive ever seen, and some of the original BGM makes me want to tear my brain out.
The characters were annoying, the slice-of-life dull, but there was just enough tension and suspense to keep me going, and I certainly wouldn't want to say it was actively bad or that I hated it.
I'm currently midway through ch2 and enjoying it tremendously more (the slice-of-life feels engaging on its own terms, the characters suddenly feel much more likeable than one-note anime girls) - whether it's because I've just clicked with the game suddenly or it's an improvement, I'm not sure, but I do appreciate the setup in ch 1 and definitely wouldn't say I regret reading it.
ALSO the mangamer sprites are the ugliest things ive ever seen, and some of the original BGM makes me want to tear my brain out.
This review contains spoilers
The most humiliating thing about this game is that in the end the Date fuckers were right he IS sexy
I only got the Yuzu ending which felt kindve barebones and unsatisfying, but I'm not planning on grabbing the others particularly soon, so it's kindve hard to judge. Enjoyable gameplay, interesting story, I think I just locked myself into a route where nothing happens.
2021
I enjoyed Ch 1, but it felt like it was hard to get any real sense of what the game is getting at and so it was harder to really appreciate? I think Ch 2 gives a bit clearer idea of what Deltarune is actually about, so I enjoyed it a lot more. Also I love these characters.
2014
i love irl mafia for both the social experience of figuring out whether other people are lying from their usual tells, and also the logical deduction aspect.
but i feel like town of salem only really has the latter so it's kindve boring to me
but i feel like town of salem only really has the latter so it's kindve boring to me
2014
idk anything about puyo puyo i just like tetris