urbaer
2014
So I continue to play through this series. This one was good enough that I kept going through to the fourth book straight away. This one's story is much stronger, though it almost feels like the puzzles are an after thought.
I think it was Book Three where there was just too much fog and darkness for my graphics card... but I struggle through this.
Edit: Though I've come to accept that choices that I make are just choices that I make, I found it a bit annoying that there was a choice I made without realising I made a choice. And yes, that's pretty much on me, but still...
I think it was Book Three where there was just too much fog and darkness for my graphics card... but I struggle through this.
Edit: Though I've come to accept that choices that I make are just choices that I make, I found it a bit annoying that there was a choice I made without realising I made a choice. And yes, that's pretty much on me, but still...
2014
The story gets better and the puzzles get less so. And I'm quite over these Interludes with the finding of things, but hoping that this is at an end as we head into the finale. The world building and the lore has become a bit more interesting and am curious to see it come together.
And my graphical woes continue. In this book I had a touching scene between two characters where almost everything was the same shade of blue. Very odd...
And now I'm caught up I have to actually wait for the finale. Let's see where my choices will take me.
And my graphical woes continue. In this book I had a touching scene between two characters where almost everything was the same shade of blue. Very odd...
And now I'm caught up I have to actually wait for the finale. Let's see where my choices will take me.
2014
So having not played The Longest Journey or Dreamfall, this has been an interesting experience. The game starts with what I presume is a spoiler for the second of those two games, but it really didn't matter much for me.
The first book has focussed on Zoe, who luckily forgets a whole lot (and there's a section early on where she gets to do a recap). So I guess I'll find out more about her when she remembers
There are some clunky parts to the game, but the dialog system works well, the characters tell you what they think about each choice. The "Balance has changed" isn't as subtle as Telltale's "so and so will remember that", but it does seem like they make the changes affect the story and they tell you that things are happening because of your choices.
There's less for the other playable characters to do in this book. Kian's story in this book is brief and didn't really explain much about who he is or why he's doing anything (except I get the impression he doesn't like to talk very much)... and I didn't really care for or understand the Interlude very much.
I'm a little way into the second book a the time of writing and it seems to focus on Kian more, so maybe I'll get to find out about his back story.
The first book has focussed on Zoe, who luckily forgets a whole lot (and there's a section early on where she gets to do a recap). So I guess I'll find out more about her when she remembers
There are some clunky parts to the game, but the dialog system works well, the characters tell you what they think about each choice. The "Balance has changed" isn't as subtle as Telltale's "so and so will remember that", but it does seem like they make the changes affect the story and they tell you that things are happening because of your choices.
There's less for the other playable characters to do in this book. Kian's story in this book is brief and didn't really explain much about who he is or why he's doing anything (except I get the impression he doesn't like to talk very much)... and I didn't really care for or understand the Interlude very much.
I'm a little way into the second book a the time of writing and it seems to focus on Kian more, so maybe I'll get to find out about his back story.
So this fixes a lot of issues with the original Dragon Quest Builders both mechanically and story wise.
It feels like the story in the first game had very vague reasons for going from one place to another, where the framework built into this one makes it seems more reasonable why you'd go to different islands. And the fact that you're not loosing progress on your main island (and can go back to the islands that you've been to before) is great.
There's a restriction on how much stuff you can carry, but it's so large now that it basically doesn't exist. And maybe it's because I've played through DQB1 before but it never seems to leave you hanging, while still not nagging you as much as DBQ1.
It's often easy to get ahead of the game. It generally handles it well. Like an NPC will have a quest of "oh I need 5 mushrooms" and in getting the quest if you already have 5 mushrooms they'll say "oh you've already got them. Can I have them?"
But sometimes you miss the fact that an NPC is standing next to a wall with a quest, because you've already broken down the wall and moved on, but the game won't throw the next quest at you until you go talk to them (thought the game had glitched out, but no just had to go back and talk to them).
The whole game is effectively a tutorial, with each island teaching you a different focus of the game. And then you take what's new (both items and knowledge) to your main island to make it better.
It's fairly obvious where the story is going to end, though there are still surprises.
The worst thing is how slow the disembodied voices are. You can't press a button to skip through them and they just hang on the screen for far too long. I got the 7 year old to read them and even she had excessive time to do so.
But it's really good. And it's amazing how good some of the stuff other people make is.
It feels like the story in the first game had very vague reasons for going from one place to another, where the framework built into this one makes it seems more reasonable why you'd go to different islands. And the fact that you're not loosing progress on your main island (and can go back to the islands that you've been to before) is great.
There's a restriction on how much stuff you can carry, but it's so large now that it basically doesn't exist. And maybe it's because I've played through DQB1 before but it never seems to leave you hanging, while still not nagging you as much as DBQ1.
It's often easy to get ahead of the game. It generally handles it well. Like an NPC will have a quest of "oh I need 5 mushrooms" and in getting the quest if you already have 5 mushrooms they'll say "oh you've already got them. Can I have them?"
But sometimes you miss the fact that an NPC is standing next to a wall with a quest, because you've already broken down the wall and moved on, but the game won't throw the next quest at you until you go talk to them (thought the game had glitched out, but no just had to go back and talk to them).
The whole game is effectively a tutorial, with each island teaching you a different focus of the game. And then you take what's new (both items and knowledge) to your main island to make it better.
It's fairly obvious where the story is going to end, though there are still surprises.
The worst thing is how slow the disembodied voices are. You can't press a button to skip through them and they just hang on the screen for far too long. I got the 7 year old to read them and even she had excessive time to do so.
But it's really good. And it's amazing how good some of the stuff other people make is.
I really like some of the quality of life changes made to the game like being able to look at the details of evidence without presenting them and the animated sequences are fun too.
One of my main gripes I think is that there's too many gimicks thrown into this one. You've got Phoenix's "let me think this through" multiple choice minigame thing, Apollo's bracelet and Athena's emotion analysis with widget and some of the cases of the chapters will hit you with a mix of them. I guess I can't really complain about it given the title though.
Some of the chapters (about half) I knew what had happened fairly early on while others were completly mysteries as the cases went on. The latter seem full of bluffing and twists and that's OK if you're like "aha!" when prompted to present something, but some of the time I was like "I know this is the right piece of evidence, but I don't know what that means".
But in general, I liked the characters and how their lives intertwine and the unravelling of that (though I might have to play the first chapter again to see if there are any clues about that).
And I 100% think the DLC chapter is worth it. It's ridiculous and it's great.
One of my main gripes I think is that there's too many gimicks thrown into this one. You've got Phoenix's "let me think this through" multiple choice minigame thing, Apollo's bracelet and Athena's emotion analysis with widget and some of the cases of the chapters will hit you with a mix of them. I guess I can't really complain about it given the title though.
Some of the chapters (about half) I knew what had happened fairly early on while others were completly mysteries as the cases went on. The latter seem full of bluffing and twists and that's OK if you're like "aha!" when prompted to present something, but some of the time I was like "I know this is the right piece of evidence, but I don't know what that means".
But in general, I liked the characters and how their lives intertwine and the unravelling of that (though I might have to play the first chapter again to see if there are any clues about that).
And I 100% think the DLC chapter is worth it. It's ridiculous and it's great.
2019
There's something that I find so delightful about these lofi games that Sokpop create, especially the city builder/sim style ones. There's that joy of trying to figure out the game with limited explanation.
This one sees you build up a civilisation on an island by plonking down various buildings mostly resource gatherers while also fending off viking raiders.
You can upgrade your cities so that they're better at things and there's a trade mechanism between them.. though I'm not sure I used it very well.
If you can build up your resources enough and not kill all your people then you can put on a coronation to win the game.
An enjoyable quick little game.
This one sees you build up a civilisation on an island by plonking down various buildings mostly resource gatherers while also fending off viking raiders.
You can upgrade your cities so that they're better at things and there's a trade mechanism between them.. though I'm not sure I used it very well.
If you can build up your resources enough and not kill all your people then you can put on a coronation to win the game.
An enjoyable quick little game.
2017
A simplish puzzler that throws in some small twists. In the main, you adjust the height and shape of hills and other terrain to allow the old man to reach his destination. The hills have limits on how far they can move and a and you can never adjust the terrain that the man is currently on.
So much of the game revolves around moving the man from one hill to another, readjusting the hill he was just on, then adjust a third hill and moving him back to the second to get him back on that. Which sounds dull, but it's fairly relaxing.
There's a few spots where it adds in a few bits, flocks of sheep that block the way and have to be moved to different pastures or adjusting hills to make a giant coin slam through fences.
At the end of each chapter you're rewarded with an animation which tells the story of why the man is travelling and that's nice (and a bit sad).
And it's kind of impossible to get stuck, if you can't figure it out, just keep adjusting slightly and walking around till it works.
Though one level was rather confusing as it wasn't entirely clear where I was supposed to be sending the old man. Took quite a bit of time to discover, though nicely the level became quite odd after that.
The graphics are lovely as well
So much of the game revolves around moving the man from one hill to another, readjusting the hill he was just on, then adjust a third hill and moving him back to the second to get him back on that. Which sounds dull, but it's fairly relaxing.
There's a few spots where it adds in a few bits, flocks of sheep that block the way and have to be moved to different pastures or adjusting hills to make a giant coin slam through fences.
At the end of each chapter you're rewarded with an animation which tells the story of why the man is travelling and that's nice (and a bit sad).
And it's kind of impossible to get stuck, if you can't figure it out, just keep adjusting slightly and walking around till it works.
Though one level was rather confusing as it wasn't entirely clear where I was supposed to be sending the old man. Took quite a bit of time to discover, though nicely the level became quite odd after that.
The graphics are lovely as well
This review contains spoilers
Jenny LeClue is an experienced kid detective, she solves kid like cases but wants something more like a real detective. Her mum is a college professor that teaches forensics and what-not, so she certainly has the training. Well at least she thinks she does.
But Arthurton is a perfect little sleepy town where nothing interesting really happens.
So when she goes looking for her mother in the college library and instead finds the Dean dead holding her ID pass, then things get a little interesting for our pint sized hero... is she going to get in over her head trying to clear her mum's name?
The game works like a cross between Oxenfree, Night in the Woods and one of the more recent Poirot games. You're navigating a 2.5d world and are able to run and jump (when the game allows it) and interact with some objects. Often the game will flip into investigation mode where you have to find important clues on a body or area. You'll then link these together to make a deduction and only by getting the correct deduction will you be able to move on.
There are puzzles as well, but given that the game points out objects you can interact with when you walk near them, most don't require to much to solve... often you can brute force through them. Some puzzles which involve switches and buttons and so on can require a bit more logic, but you're not going to be overextended here.
There's certainly more going on in the story than you'd expect at first glance and.... erm.. ok, spoilers maybe?
So it's revealed fairly early on that you're actually playing as the writer of the Jenny LeClue novels rather than as Jenny herself. This is book 34 or something and they're not selling as well as they used to, so the publisher wants a tone shift to make the books darker. But the author is fairly resistant.
This framing devices helps make the corny nature of the game a little bit easier to swallow and allows the narration to take the authors view of how things should be happening while Jenny has a different view of proceedings at times (sort of like The Stanley Parable).
The game leans heavily into an X-Files style conspiracy and that certainly helped the story be more than a child detective attempts to solve a murder.
The graphics are delightful... though there's a large section spent in caves which are less delightful and there's a nice sense of humour here. And the voice acting is very good throughout.
But the game gives you a big choice to make as the author and then rather than explain what the impact of that choice is says "to be continued".
Which I guess I'd be fine with if I knew this was episodic at the start, but I wanted resolution. And it kind of soured the experience. I mean yes, I'll probably play the part 2 when it comes out, but I'm a bit resentful about it.
But Arthurton is a perfect little sleepy town where nothing interesting really happens.
So when she goes looking for her mother in the college library and instead finds the Dean dead holding her ID pass, then things get a little interesting for our pint sized hero... is she going to get in over her head trying to clear her mum's name?
The game works like a cross between Oxenfree, Night in the Woods and one of the more recent Poirot games. You're navigating a 2.5d world and are able to run and jump (when the game allows it) and interact with some objects. Often the game will flip into investigation mode where you have to find important clues on a body or area. You'll then link these together to make a deduction and only by getting the correct deduction will you be able to move on.
There are puzzles as well, but given that the game points out objects you can interact with when you walk near them, most don't require to much to solve... often you can brute force through them. Some puzzles which involve switches and buttons and so on can require a bit more logic, but you're not going to be overextended here.
There's certainly more going on in the story than you'd expect at first glance and.... erm.. ok, spoilers maybe?
So it's revealed fairly early on that you're actually playing as the writer of the Jenny LeClue novels rather than as Jenny herself. This is book 34 or something and they're not selling as well as they used to, so the publisher wants a tone shift to make the books darker. But the author is fairly resistant.
This framing devices helps make the corny nature of the game a little bit easier to swallow and allows the narration to take the authors view of how things should be happening while Jenny has a different view of proceedings at times (sort of like The Stanley Parable).
The game leans heavily into an X-Files style conspiracy and that certainly helped the story be more than a child detective attempts to solve a murder.
The graphics are delightful... though there's a large section spent in caves which are less delightful and there's a nice sense of humour here. And the voice acting is very good throughout.
But the game gives you a big choice to make as the author and then rather than explain what the impact of that choice is says "to be continued".
Which I guess I'd be fine with if I knew this was episodic at the start, but I wanted resolution. And it kind of soured the experience. I mean yes, I'll probably play the part 2 when it comes out, but I'm a bit resentful about it.
1983
The first game I ever paid for. So maybe it's just nostalgia talking but it's just such a lovely stripped back implementation of an arcade racer
2020
It's very pretty and has an interesting backdrop, but it wasn't enough to keep me hooked. I guess it didn't quite call to me.
2019
Didn't really make it far... I'm not sure that it's necessarily a game for me
Played through the Disney Afternoon Collection with... er.. a fir bit of use of the rewind feature.
I cant imagine I'd ever get through the game without ever using the rewind feature though...
I cant imagine I'd ever get through the game without ever using the rewind feature though...
2017
It was a quick game, but really quite enjoyable. I'm not sure that there's too much incentive to replay the game, but while I was exploring it was quite fun.
When I started though, it was quite tricky, until I realised it was a little too much for my system to handle graphically, so had to pull it back to low and it was much easier to control.
The basics of what I suspected at the start of the game is what ended up being the case in the end, though the details were interesting.
I love Rumu.
When I started though, it was quite tricky, until I realised it was a little too much for my system to handle graphically, so had to pull it back to low and it was much easier to control.
The basics of what I suspected at the start of the game is what ended up being the case in the end, though the details were interesting.
I love Rumu.
It was strange the things I remember from the first time I played it, which must have been on the DS not long after it originally came out.
The stories are interesting and rather quirky at times. Though some characters seem rather dated today (the weird writer of the Steel Samurai for instance).
And there's some of "I know what the contradiction is, I just don't entirely know how the game wants me to present it".
But an enjoyable ride nonetheless. The last trial seems strangely placed... it introduces new mechanics and while it resolves a lot, feels like a very long epilogue. Still...
The stories are interesting and rather quirky at times. Though some characters seem rather dated today (the weird writer of the Steel Samurai for instance).
And there's some of "I know what the contradiction is, I just don't entirely know how the game wants me to present it".
But an enjoyable ride nonetheless. The last trial seems strangely placed... it introduces new mechanics and while it resolves a lot, feels like a very long epilogue. Still...
2010
It's interesting in comparison with RDR2, some of the systems aren't as good as RDR2, but it does feel a little more wild. Mexico goes too long and I don't know why I should care about anyone there.
Oh and I committed 1 crime during the entire game according to the stats, which I'm pretty sure was stealing a horse which a mission required me to do.
But yeah I got teary at the end and that's gotta count for something right?
Oh and I committed 1 crime during the entire game according to the stats, which I'm pretty sure was stealing a horse which a mission required me to do.
But yeah I got teary at the end and that's gotta count for something right?