a few months ago, somewhere, i read about an IF game made by a woman that had either a striking cover art or an unforgettable name. last week i started thinking about this game and searching for it relentlessly on myabandonware.com, to no avail. all i could remember was it being very personal and cryptic.
a few days ago i made a post on r/tipofmytongue searching for the game with the most details i could think of, and the first reply was from a VERY helpful person (really, the dude showed up like 10 minutes after i made the post) who sent me a link to the IFDB and mentioned the most active IF writer in the time period i mentioned-- Emily Short.
i'm still not quite sure if Galatea was that game, because a few details don't add up. i tend to have a good memory, but i'm terrible with names. still, i went in and played it.
i don't think there's much i can say that hasn't already been said in those other reviews here. in fact, i'm exactly in between them. i find the game's limited and limiting reality to be quite compelling, but underwhelming at the same time. there's not a lot i managed to talk about with Galatea and the endings i got were rushed and came in faster than i wanted. i didn't have any meaningful conversations with her and the biggest reason is probably the protagonist.
the mere fact that we have a protagonist who's not the player, but actually a nameless critic, bothers me a lot. i hate him, he seems like a snubby guy with not a lot of real problems. he talks about his family but most of it is left to narration.
Galatea also doesn't seem to have a lot to talk about (or the more realistic option: skill issue), with most replies i got being about the artist, and i'm gonna be real, i don't care about the artist. i want to know about Galatea, her opinions on art, her favorite things, her sense of humour... and i know this probably couldn't have been done at the time by just one person, but doesn't change the fact that it's underwhelming.
overall i must say i really liked the concept of Galatea and the idea that it exists, but the game itself is more of a proof of concept than anything else.
AND NOW TO THE ACTION BUTTON STYLE BOTTOM LINE:
"Galatea is the grandparent of the Doki Doki Literature Club 'Monika After Story' mod".
a few days ago i made a post on r/tipofmytongue searching for the game with the most details i could think of, and the first reply was from a VERY helpful person (really, the dude showed up like 10 minutes after i made the post) who sent me a link to the IFDB and mentioned the most active IF writer in the time period i mentioned-- Emily Short.
i'm still not quite sure if Galatea was that game, because a few details don't add up. i tend to have a good memory, but i'm terrible with names. still, i went in and played it.
i don't think there's much i can say that hasn't already been said in those other reviews here. in fact, i'm exactly in between them. i find the game's limited and limiting reality to be quite compelling, but underwhelming at the same time. there's not a lot i managed to talk about with Galatea and the endings i got were rushed and came in faster than i wanted. i didn't have any meaningful conversations with her and the biggest reason is probably the protagonist.
the mere fact that we have a protagonist who's not the player, but actually a nameless critic, bothers me a lot. i hate him, he seems like a snubby guy with not a lot of real problems. he talks about his family but most of it is left to narration.
Galatea also doesn't seem to have a lot to talk about (or the more realistic option: skill issue), with most replies i got being about the artist, and i'm gonna be real, i don't care about the artist. i want to know about Galatea, her opinions on art, her favorite things, her sense of humour... and i know this probably couldn't have been done at the time by just one person, but doesn't change the fact that it's underwhelming.
overall i must say i really liked the concept of Galatea and the idea that it exists, but the game itself is more of a proof of concept than anything else.
AND NOW TO THE ACTION BUTTON STYLE BOTTOM LINE:
"Galatea is the grandparent of the Doki Doki Literature Club 'Monika After Story' mod".