maxitopro
4 reviews liked by maxitopro
(Because we watched a Nintendo Direct with my brother, he started bothering me about Professor Layton. I might have dropped the game not long into it but I would like to watch the movie because it holds promise at least aesthetically).
Looks like it could have a cute atmosphere with all that victorian flair and characther design that reminds me of a softer "Triplets of Belleville" but it presents itself as too childish. What child (because this is a children's game) wants to play a detective game and the first thing you investigate is going to look after a cat because of some dumb rich billionaire bitch as if it was a dumb cartoon? Not to mention this doesn't hold up as an adult who wants some interesting development about this troubled family asking for the professor's service instead of going into filler right away.
I also played for about an hour and was not hooked in with the story presentation but the segregation with how you play it is what simply sent me away. The gameplay consists of random riddles or puzzles which don't have anything to do with the story presented and are made to test a well versed detective yet are things you solve with simple math and common sense. They are also the kind of puzzle you would find in a Discovery Channel programme (I clearly remember seeing one similar to the "wolves and chicks in a raft" minigame). The visual novel aspect is flawed, I just want to go and inspect these beautifully painted backgrounds and talk to these charming looking people to have more information of the city, but Layton or these citizens can just throw you into a minigame without asking (and without the player's incentive to solve them resulting in you losing points for going at it without the interest) should you click in someone or something that catches your eye.
From what I've seen this game will be just a Wario Ware esque minigame centered title, just enveloped in a fancier package. And I hate WarioWare. These games are just things to occupy your time with when you are bored (so mental jerkoffs) instead of making the problem solving have relation with things that improve one's spirit and life philosophies with its mistery. I have more important things to figure out in life than moving matches to make a dog look like it's been ran over.
Looks like it could have a cute atmosphere with all that victorian flair and characther design that reminds me of a softer "Triplets of Belleville" but it presents itself as too childish. What child (because this is a children's game) wants to play a detective game and the first thing you investigate is going to look after a cat because of some dumb rich billionaire bitch as if it was a dumb cartoon? Not to mention this doesn't hold up as an adult who wants some interesting development about this troubled family asking for the professor's service instead of going into filler right away.
I also played for about an hour and was not hooked in with the story presentation but the segregation with how you play it is what simply sent me away. The gameplay consists of random riddles or puzzles which don't have anything to do with the story presented and are made to test a well versed detective yet are things you solve with simple math and common sense. They are also the kind of puzzle you would find in a Discovery Channel programme (I clearly remember seeing one similar to the "wolves and chicks in a raft" minigame). The visual novel aspect is flawed, I just want to go and inspect these beautifully painted backgrounds and talk to these charming looking people to have more information of the city, but Layton or these citizens can just throw you into a minigame without asking (and without the player's incentive to solve them resulting in you losing points for going at it without the interest) should you click in someone or something that catches your eye.
From what I've seen this game will be just a Wario Ware esque minigame centered title, just enveloped in a fancier package. And I hate WarioWare. These games are just things to occupy your time with when you are bored (so mental jerkoffs) instead of making the problem solving have relation with things that improve one's spirit and life philosophies with its mistery. I have more important things to figure out in life than moving matches to make a dog look like it's been ran over.
Fantasia
1991
The movie: a beautiful homage to classical tunes with wonderfully directed and staged high quality animation and background work.
The game: the worst butchering of classical tunes ever made with level design consisting of inconsistently staged enemy positions and movements with high quality animation and backgrounds but cringe-induncing animation loops. Aladdin, also for the Genesis would top this the following year.
The game: the worst butchering of classical tunes ever made with level design consisting of inconsistently staged enemy positions and movements with high quality animation and backgrounds but cringe-induncing animation loops. Aladdin, also for the Genesis would top this the following year.
Batman
1990
And here we have a nice demonstration of what a wholesome GTA could be: look how heartwarming Batman looks picking up Pringles cans that are making the streets dirty while crossing the road only by the crosswalk like a good citizen when cars cross with the traffic lights on red. Look at him cleaning up graffitis made on paintings that are ruining our culture...
Wait, Batman... NOOO WHAT ARE YOU DOING? DON'T PLANT EXPLOSIVES IN A CHEMICAL FACTORY, IF YOU BLOW IT UP IT WILL POLLUTE THE AIR WITH TOXINS FAR STRONGER THAN THE JOKER'S BALLOONS, STOPPPP
Wait, Batman... NOOO WHAT ARE YOU DOING? DON'T PLANT EXPLOSIVES IN A CHEMICAL FACTORY, IF YOU BLOW IT UP IT WILL POLLUTE THE AIR WITH TOXINS FAR STRONGER THAN THE JOKER'S BALLOONS, STOPPPP
This review contains spoilers
"I believe that if you don't forget the sadness of this moment, we'll always be together"
The first Klonoa game was a cute fantasy adventure set in the realm of dreams with a plot which may at first seem standard but then evolves into suspicious plot twists with the fact the protagonist's grandfather claims he's known him for very little time; that the villain, an embodiment of nightmares, feels rejected while he says they allow something from another realm in the kingdom of Phantomile instead. And the big revelation of all, that the friend you have been tagging all along with just used you to battle the impending menace to his kingdom and made up your memories to go along in that lie.
The videogame players escape into a game and use it to mold it to their own fullfilling fantasy, right? Not in Klonoa. As if you were dreaming, you are just trapped in a narrative you can only have so much control of, and where the stuff in it makes of you not only THEIR escape, but also THEIR effective weapon against THEIR reality. And then they were planning to dispose of you afterwards just like you end up a game and then go on to play another one, the memories never as impactful as when you were experiencing your time with the work.
Klonoa 2 follows this theme of forgetting and disposing telling the infinitely more abstract story of a new kingdom, Lunatea, which is divided according to four states of mind: Tranquility, Joy, Dischord and Indecision. Those are the emotions its inhabitants had already got hold of. But they forgot one important emotion: the kingdom of Sorrow, a desolated place got collectively buried underground far away and its king, a characther who in design is reminiscent of the protagonist, felt betrayed for centuries, never got over it, and wants to fill the world he considers sinful with his only purpose of existence.
And a sinful world Lunatea definitely is. The fours kingdoms may represent their respective emotions, but don't balance them out with the internal sadness that is necessary to succesfully thrive. The kingdom of Tranquility needs to be so tranquil the people in it strive to be better but suffer psychological pressure in their attempt to be the next representative of their goddess. The kingdom of Joy is so joyful the inhabitants live in constant procrastination and never do anything more with their lives than spend it in amusement parks. The kingdom of Dischord is so dischordant they live in constant civil war which results in them destroying the physical place they live in. Finally, the kingdom of Indecision is so indecisive they only admire memories and don't want anyone else to make things move forward.
The game does feel more shounen anime like in its characthers and story progression, which is sad to see given how touching the original game was, but in its place, it holds an allegory of mental health that is really inventive.
In terms of presentation, the jump from the PS1 to PS2 allowed for more lavish and detailed backgrounds, even if that means the levels are often recycled to make the most out of the time spent on making them. Despite not contributing to the main theme of the game, the Ark looks freaking spectacular for a 2001 videogame; and the Kingdom of Sorrow reminds me of the final area of Dark Souls, a decrepit and enormous construction lost to time, where its unhabited buildings in a touch of surrealism still have couches in their balconies, to remind the player people once lived in there, admiring the constant sunsets and sorrowfully longing for the one that would happen the following day.
https://youtu.be/zzSnLR0KGH4
At the end of the story, though, being conquered by sorrow and left in total stagnation is also not right. Klonoa never metions his adventure with Huepow, he probably forgot him just like we forget the things we did when we dreamed. But now, after the time he spent with the new friends of this game, he seems to have matured. Understanding his path as a dream traveler, he accepts the sadness involved in parting ways with them, and asks them to do the same.
Because sadness is an essential part of the emotional experience, maybe not the one you look forward to the most, maybe not one that should encapsulate the rest. But something that, if we overcome it, makes us stronger.
The first Klonoa game was a cute fantasy adventure set in the realm of dreams with a plot which may at first seem standard but then evolves into suspicious plot twists with the fact the protagonist's grandfather claims he's known him for very little time; that the villain, an embodiment of nightmares, feels rejected while he says they allow something from another realm in the kingdom of Phantomile instead. And the big revelation of all, that the friend you have been tagging all along with just used you to battle the impending menace to his kingdom and made up your memories to go along in that lie.
The videogame players escape into a game and use it to mold it to their own fullfilling fantasy, right? Not in Klonoa. As if you were dreaming, you are just trapped in a narrative you can only have so much control of, and where the stuff in it makes of you not only THEIR escape, but also THEIR effective weapon against THEIR reality. And then they were planning to dispose of you afterwards just like you end up a game and then go on to play another one, the memories never as impactful as when you were experiencing your time with the work.
Klonoa 2 follows this theme of forgetting and disposing telling the infinitely more abstract story of a new kingdom, Lunatea, which is divided according to four states of mind: Tranquility, Joy, Dischord and Indecision. Those are the emotions its inhabitants had already got hold of. But they forgot one important emotion: the kingdom of Sorrow, a desolated place got collectively buried underground far away and its king, a characther who in design is reminiscent of the protagonist, felt betrayed for centuries, never got over it, and wants to fill the world he considers sinful with his only purpose of existence.
And a sinful world Lunatea definitely is. The fours kingdoms may represent their respective emotions, but don't balance them out with the internal sadness that is necessary to succesfully thrive. The kingdom of Tranquility needs to be so tranquil the people in it strive to be better but suffer psychological pressure in their attempt to be the next representative of their goddess. The kingdom of Joy is so joyful the inhabitants live in constant procrastination and never do anything more with their lives than spend it in amusement parks. The kingdom of Dischord is so dischordant they live in constant civil war which results in them destroying the physical place they live in. Finally, the kingdom of Indecision is so indecisive they only admire memories and don't want anyone else to make things move forward.
The game does feel more shounen anime like in its characthers and story progression, which is sad to see given how touching the original game was, but in its place, it holds an allegory of mental health that is really inventive.
In terms of presentation, the jump from the PS1 to PS2 allowed for more lavish and detailed backgrounds, even if that means the levels are often recycled to make the most out of the time spent on making them. Despite not contributing to the main theme of the game, the Ark looks freaking spectacular for a 2001 videogame; and the Kingdom of Sorrow reminds me of the final area of Dark Souls, a decrepit and enormous construction lost to time, where its unhabited buildings in a touch of surrealism still have couches in their balconies, to remind the player people once lived in there, admiring the constant sunsets and sorrowfully longing for the one that would happen the following day.
https://youtu.be/zzSnLR0KGH4
At the end of the story, though, being conquered by sorrow and left in total stagnation is also not right. Klonoa never metions his adventure with Huepow, he probably forgot him just like we forget the things we did when we dreamed. But now, after the time he spent with the new friends of this game, he seems to have matured. Understanding his path as a dream traveler, he accepts the sadness involved in parting ways with them, and asks them to do the same.
Because sadness is an essential part of the emotional experience, maybe not the one you look forward to the most, maybe not one that should encapsulate the rest. But something that, if we overcome it, makes us stronger.