Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories is a game that is very good at being what it wants to be, and it should be scored a bit higher but what I've learned from this is that I really am not the target audience for these types of experiences
There is undeniably a lot of love put into this game, the music for one is very well made and there are an impressive amount of tracks, some of which were only used for a screen or two but sounded good nonetheless. The visuals are also very pleasing, despite the limited pixel artstyle and color pallete they still somehow managed to make every character distinct and recognizable.
This game is heavily inspired by Earthbound and I think it's probably one of the games that does it best, the witty dialouge very much captured the same feelings as I would have playing Mother.
While not as bad as something like Lil Gator Game for me, there is just something about the unrelatability of the characters that doesn't really connect with me. While in Gator Game it was more of the dialogue, here I couldn't really stand the relationships a lot of characters had with each other. More particularly the ones with romantic undertones, but the cutesy atmosphere just wasn't pleasant to watch.
Undeniably though, this game runs bad on switch. It crashed 3 times for me- losing a significant amount of progress since this game doesn't autosave, and it would frequently stutter when saving and speaking with an NPC. it's short enough that it isn't that big of a bummer, but since there's no way to advance text really fast or skip cutscenes, it still hurts the game quite badly.
There is undeniably a lot of love put into this game, the music for one is very well made and there are an impressive amount of tracks, some of which were only used for a screen or two but sounded good nonetheless. The visuals are also very pleasing, despite the limited pixel artstyle and color pallete they still somehow managed to make every character distinct and recognizable.
This game is heavily inspired by Earthbound and I think it's probably one of the games that does it best, the witty dialouge very much captured the same feelings as I would have playing Mother.
While not as bad as something like Lil Gator Game for me, there is just something about the unrelatability of the characters that doesn't really connect with me. While in Gator Game it was more of the dialogue, here I couldn't really stand the relationships a lot of characters had with each other. More particularly the ones with romantic undertones, but the cutesy atmosphere just wasn't pleasant to watch.
Undeniably though, this game runs bad on switch. It crashed 3 times for me- losing a significant amount of progress since this game doesn't autosave, and it would frequently stutter when saving and speaking with an NPC. it's short enough that it isn't that big of a bummer, but since there's no way to advance text really fast or skip cutscenes, it still hurts the game quite badly.
11 Comments
@Weatherby my dislike of the game is definitely a me thing, I think you'd have more fun with it. It's a good earthbound-like experience that doesn't try to be overly quirky or weird, and it's short enough that even if you don't like it it's fine
I think it might be the game? I never had any issues running OT2 or SMTV but the crashing in this game was wild, I was basically scared every time I talked to someone that the game would crash. If you ever pick it up make sure to save a lot in case it's not a switch thing
I think it might be the game? I never had any issues running OT2 or SMTV but the crashing in this game was wild, I was basically scared every time I talked to someone that the game would crash. If you ever pick it up make sure to save a lot in case it's not a switch thing
I would just not be playing it on the Switch. Anytime I have the option to play a game on anything else, I'm bypassing the Switch.
And, I see. I like the art direction, I guess my problem is my inability to trust that cute aesthetics for indie games are not there to intentionally obfuscate difficult themes and subject matter. I didn't really know what this is about, I was just pulled in by the art style, but I'm getting the sense that what I'm concerned about doesn't apply here.
And, I see. I like the art direction, I guess my problem is my inability to trust that cute aesthetics for indie games are not there to intentionally obfuscate difficult themes and subject matter. I didn't really know what this is about, I was just pulled in by the art style, but I'm getting the sense that what I'm concerned about doesn't apply here.
@Weatherby oh no, this game doesn't have anything that serious in it. It takes itself very lightly and it's just very silly in general.
bummer when a game seems so cool and approachable but fails to meaningfully connect...!
i really do love to see a new/indie game go for that clay model box art aesthetic, if nothing else.
i really do love to see a new/indie game go for that clay model box art aesthetic, if nothing else.
Very glad to see a review on this, i've had it on my wishlist for a while. Crazy to see it runs that poorly on switch.
@zn0 unfortunately there are no cute clay models actually in the game /:, I would of liked to see an indie game in that style. Kind of like hylics but less scary.
@appreciations thank you! Yeah I have no idea what was happening, every time I'd look at something the game would stutter and just die occasionally, I have no idea what's wrong with it.
@appreciations thank you! Yeah I have no idea what was happening, every time I'd look at something the game would stutter and just die occasionally, I have no idea what's wrong with it.
I assume the problem with the switch is that its proprietary hardware is weird and esoteric. I know that was a problem for the wii u and gamecube (mostly the wii u), so ports to it will have to work extra hard to play well. Or even non-ports like three houses, which runs terribly, lul. Although that might have been due to it being made in the warriors games engine bc three hopes and engage ran much better. But then there's stuff like the kh collection which is only available through cloud gaming on switch which implies that the switch couldn't even handle kh1 for some reason.
@Ninjabunny I just think it's cool how the Switch also seems to require PS1/Saturn era dithering for transparencies in some games.
Wasn't gonna comment since I didn't have much to add but I just wanted to say that I discovered that this game has a statue of a mole with a top hat and I think that ups it by at least 500 points.
@Ninjabunny I'm one of the 3 switch enjoyers but yeah, I don't understand how botw can run perfectly smooth but then indie developers struggle just to run a simple game. It's kinda sad
@DemonAndGames this game has an actual character of a mole in a top hat, unfortunately he doesn't get much screentime
@DemonAndGames this game has an actual character of a mole in a top hat, unfortunately he doesn't get much screentime
Weatherby
1 year ago
Always funny though how the Switch practically chokes to death on things like pixel-based games and PS2 ports.