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destiny-smasher · 3 years ago

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Life is Strange: True Colors

Leading up to the release of Episode 1 of TellTale's The Walking Dead game, I was working freelance for GameRevolution at the time, lived in the area, and had the chance to play a build of the game to write a preview on it. I remember comparing it to Mass Effect because, at the time, there just...weren't games of that subgenre. Of course, by now we've seen an explosion of this type of game - the 'narrative/choice-driven game,' spearheaded and even oversaturated by Telltale to their own demise.

Out of all of the games that have come from that initial boom, Life is Strange by DontNod was and still is the most influential on my life, but I also have always harbored really conflicted feelings about it - especially with how it resolved its narrative. Hell, if you're reading this, you're probably aware that I spent a few years of my life creating a sequel fanstory which I even adapted a chunk of into visual novel format. Hundreds of thousands of words, days and days of life spent essentially trying to process and reconcile my conflicted feelings about this game's conclusion(s). Since then, I've been experimenting with interactive fiction and am currently developing my own original visual novel using everything I've learned from both creating and playing games in this genre. It's a subgenre of game I have a lot of interest and passion for because, when handled well, it can allow a player to sort of co-direct a guided narrative experience in a way that's unique compared to strictly linear cinematic experiences but still have a curated, focused sense of story.

Up until this point, I've regarded Night in the Woods as probably the singular best game of this style, with others like Oxenfree and The Wolf Among Us as other high marks. I've never actually put any Life is Strange game quite up there - none of them have reached that benchmark for me, personally. Until now, anyway.

But now, I can finally add a new game to that top tier, cream of the crop list. Life is Strange: True Colors is just damn good. I'm an incredibly critical person as it is - and that critique usually comes from a place of love - so you can imagine this series has been really hard to for me given that I love it, and yet have never truly loved any actual full entry in it. I have so many personal issues, quibbles, qualms, and frustration with Life is Strange: with every individual game, with how it has been handled by its publisher (my biggest issue at this point, actually), with how it has seemingly been taken away from its original development studio, with how it chooses to resolve its narratives...

But with True Colors, all of those issues get brushed aside long enough for me to appreciate just how fucking well designed it is for this style of game. I can appreciate how the development team, while still clearly being 'indie' compared to other dev teams working under Square-Enix, were able to make such smart decisions in how to design and execute this game. Taken on its own merits, apart from its branding, True Colors is absolutely worth playing if you enjoy these 'telltale' style games. Compared to the rest of the series, I would argue it's the best one so far, easily. I had a lot of misgivings and doubts going in, and in retrospect, those are mostly Square-Enix's fault. Deck Nine, when given the freedom to make their own original game in the same vein as the previous three, fucking nailed it as much as I feel like they could, given the kinds of limitations I presume they were working within.

I'm someone who agonizes every single time there is news for Life is Strange as a series - someone who essentially had to drop out of the fandom over infighting, then dropped out of even being exposed to the official social media channels for it later on (I specifically have the Square-Enix controlled channels muted). I adore Max and Chloe, and as a duo, as a couple, they are one of my top favorites not just in gaming, but in general. They elevated the original game to be something more than the sum of its parts for me. And while I have enjoyed seeing what DontNod has made since, it's always been their attention to detail in environmental craftsmanship, in tone and atmosphere, which has caught my interest. They're good at creating characters with layers, but imo they've never nailed a narrative arc. They've never really hit that sweet spot that makes a story truly resonate with me. Deck Nine's previous outing, Before the Storm, was all over the place, trying to mimic DontNod while trying to do its own things - trying to dig deeper into concepts DontNod deliberately left open for interpretation while also being limited in what it could do as a prequel.

But with True Colors, those awkward shackles are (mostly) off. They have told their own original story, keeping in tone and concept with previous Life is Strange games, and yet this also feels distinctly different in other ways.

Yes, protagonist Alex Chen is older than previous characters, and most of the characters in True Colors are young adults, as opposed to teenagers. Yes, she has a supernatural ability. And yes, the game is essentially a linear story with some freedom in how much to poke around at the environment and interact with objects/characters, with the primary mechanic being making choices which influence elements of how the story plays out. None of this is new to the genre, or even Life is Strange. But the execution was clearly planned out, focused, and designed with more caution and care than games like this typically get.

A smaller dev team working with a budget has to make calls on how to allocate that budget. With True Colors, you will experience much fewer locales and environments than you will in Life is Strange 2. Fewer locations than even Life is Strange 1, by my count. But this reinforces the game's theming. I suspect the biggest hit to the game's budget was investing in its voice acting (nothing new for this series) but specifically in the motion capture and facial animation.

You have a game about a protagonist trying to fit in to a small, tightly knit community. She can read the aura of people's emotions and even read their minds a little. And the game's budget and design take full advantage of this. You spend your time in a small main street/park area, a handful of indoor shops, your single room apartment. It fits within a tighter budget, but it reinforces the themes the game is going for. Your interactions with characters are heightened with subtle facial cues and microexpressions, which also reinforces the mechanic and theming regarding reading, accepting, and processing emotions. And you get to make some choices that influence elements of this - influenced by the town, influenced by the emotions of those around you, which reinforce the main plot of trying to navigate a new life in a small town community.

When I think about these types of games, the conclusion is always a big deal. In a way, it shouldn't be, because I usually feel it's about the journey, not the destination. And as an example, I actually really dislike the ending of the original Life is Strange. I think it's a lot of bullshit in many ways. The setpiece is amazing and epic, sure, but the actual storytelling going on is...really hollow for me. Yes, the game does subtly foreshadow in a number of ways that this is the big choice it's leading up to, but the game never actually makes sense of it. And the problem is, if your experience is going to end on a big ol' THIS or THAT kind of moment, it needs to make sense or the whole thing will fall apart as soon as the credits are rolling and the audience spends a moment to think about what just happened. When you look at the end of Season 1 of Telltale's The Walking Dead, it's not powerful just because of what choice you're given, but because through the entire final episode, we know the stakes - we know what is going to ultimately happen, and we know the end of the story is fast approaching. All of the cards are on the table by the time we get to that final scene, and it works so well because we know why it's happening, and it is an appropriate thematic climax that embodies the theming of the entire season. It works mechanically, narratively, and thematically, and 'just makes sense.'

The ending of Life is Strange 1 doesn't do that, if you ask me. The ending of most games in this genre don't really hit that mark. When I get to the end of most game 'seasons' like this, even ones I enjoy, I'm typically left frustrated, confused, and empty in a way.

The ending of True Colors, on the other hand, nails everything it needs to. Handily, when compared to its peers.

If you're somehow reading this and have not played this game but intend to, now is probably where you should duck out, as I will be

discussing SPOILERS from the entire game, specifically the finale.

Firstly, since I don't know where else to put this, some criticisms I found with the game. And honestly, they're all pretty damn minor compared to most games of this type.

Mainly, I just wish the whole Typhon thing was handled a bit more deliberately. It's a bit weird to do the 'big evil corporation' thing (especially when a big corporation like Square Enix occupies as much as or even more of the credits to this game than the people who actually MADE it?) without offering more explanation and subtlety. The game certainly makes some efforts but they're mostly small and mostly optional, like background chatter or a handful of one-off bits of documentation/etc. you can find in the environment. I feel like Diane in particular needed to be fleshed out just a little bit more to really sell us on how and why things like this happen, why corporations make decisions that cost people their happiness, security, and lives and they just get to keep on doing it. I think just a little bit that is unavoidable to the player that puts emphasis on maybe how much the town relies on the money/resources Typhon provides would've helped. Again, this is minor, but it stands out when I have so little else to critique.

I would've liked to get more insight on why Jed is the way he is. No, I don't think we really needed to learn more about his backstory, or even really his motivations. I think we get enough of that. I just think it would've been great to somehow highlight more deliberately how/why he's built up this identity overtop of what he's trying to suppress. Maybe even just having Alex internally realize, "Wait, what the hell, Jed has been hiding these emotions and my powers haven't picked up on it?" or something to that effect could have added an extra oomph to highlight how Jed seems to be coping with his emotions by masking/suppressing them. Also really minor complaint, but again...there's not much else here I can think to really improve on within the confines of what's in the game.

The game doesn't really call Alex's power into question morally. Like. Max has an entire meltdown by the end of her story, second-guessing if she's even helped anyone at all, if she has 'the right' to do so, how her powers might be affecting or expressing her own humanity and flaws...this story doesn't really get into that despite a very similar concept of manipulating others. There's like one bit in a document you can choose to read in Alex's 'nightmare' scene, but that's really it. I feel like this sentiment and how it's executed could have easily been expanded upon in just this one scene to capture what made that Max/Other Max scene do what it did in a way that would address the moral grayness of Alex's powers and how she uses them, and give players a way to express their interpretation of that. Also, very small deal, just another tidbit I would've liked to see.

When I first watched my wife play through Episode 5 (I watched her play through the game first, then I played it myself), I wasn't really feeling the surreal dreamscape stuff of Alex's flashbacks - which is weird, because if you're read my work from the past few years, you'll know I usually love that sort of shit. I think what was throwing me off was that it didn't really feel like it was tying together what the game was about up until that point, and felt almost like it was just copying what Life is Strange did with Max's nightmare sequence (minus the best part of that sequence, imo, where Max literally talks to herself).

But by the time I had seen the rest of the story, and re-experienced it myself, I think it clicked better. This is primarily a story about Alex Chen trying to build a new life for herself in a new community - a small town, a tightly knit place. Those flashbacks are specifically about Alex's past, something we only get teeny tiny tidbits of, and only really if we go looking for them. I realized after I gave myself a few days to process and play through the game myself that this was still a fantastic choice because it reinforces the plot reasons why Alex is even in the town she's in (because her father went there, and her brother in turn went there looking for him), and it reinforces the theme of Alex coming to accept her own emotions and confront them (as expressed through how the flashbacks are played out and the discussions she has with the image of Gabe in her mind, which is really just...another part of herself trying to get her to process things).

By the time Alex escapes the mines and returns to the Black Lantern, all of the cards are on the table. By that point, we as the audience know everything we need to. Everything makes sense - aside from arguably why Jed has done what he has done, but put a pin in that for a sec. We may not know why Alex has the powers she does, but we have at least been given context for how they manifested - as a coping mechanism of living a life inbetween the cracks of society, an unstable youth after her family fell apart around her (and oof, trust me, I can relate with this in some degree, though not in exactly the same ways). And unlike Max's Rewind power, the story and plot doesn't put this to Alex's throat, like it's all on her to make some big choice because she is the way she is, or like she's done something wrong by pursuing what she cares about (in this case, the truth, closure, and understanding).

When Alex confronts Jed in front of all of the primary supporting characters, it does everything it needs to.

Mechanically: it gives players choices for how to express their interpretation of events, and how Alex is processing them; it also, even more importantly, uses the 'council' as a way of expressing how the other characters have reacted to the choices the player has made throughout the game, and contributes to how this climax feels. We're given a 'big choice' at the end of the interaction that doesn't actually change the plot, or even the scene, really (it just affects like one line of dialogue Alex says right then) and yet BOTH choices work so well as a conclusion, it's literally up to your interpretation and it gives you an in-game way to express that.

Thematically: the use of the council reinforces the game's focus on community; and the way the presentation of the scene stays locked in on Alex and Jed's expressions reinforces its focus on emotion - not to mention that the entire scene also acts as a way to showcase how Alex has come to accept, understand, and process her own emotions while Jed, even THEN, right fucking at the moment of his demise, is trying to mask his emotions, to hide them and suppress them and forget them (something the game has already expressed subtly by way of his negative emotions which would give him away NOT being visible to Alex even despite her power).

Narratively: we are given a confrontation that makes sense and feels edifying to see play out after everything we've experienced and learned. We see Alex use her powers in a new and exciting way that further builds the empowering mood the climax is going for and adds a cinematic drama to it. No matter what decisions the player makes, Alex has agency in her own climax, we experience her making a decision, using her power, asserting herself now that she has gone through the growth this narrative has put her through. Alex gets to resolve her shit, gets to have her moment to really shine and experience the end of a character arc in this narrative.

Without taking extra time to design the game around these pillars, the finale wouldn't be so strong. If they didn't give us enough opportunities to interact with the townspeople, their presence in the end wouldn't matter, but everyone who has a say in the council is someone we get an entire scene (at least one) dedicated to interacting with them and their emotions. If they didn't implement choices in the scene itself, it would still be powerful but we wouldn't feel as involved, it'd be more passive. If they didn't showcase Alex's power, we might be left underwhelmed, but they do so in a way that actually works in the context through how they have chosen to present it, while also just tonally heightening the climax by having this drastic lighting going on. If they didn't have the council involved, we'd lose the theming of community. If they didn't have the foil of Alex/Jed and how they have each processed their emotions, we'd miss that key component. And if we didn't have such detailed facial animations, the presentation just wouldn't be as effective.

Ryan/Steph are a little bit like, in this awkward sideline spot during the climax? Steph always supports you, and Ryan supports you or doubts you conditionally, which is unsurprising but also ties into the themes of Ryan having grown up woven into this community, and Steph being once an outsider who has found a place within it. They're still there, either way, which is important. The only relevant characters who aren't present are more supporting characters like Riley, Ethan, and Mac. Ethan being the only one of those who gets an entire 'super emotions' scene, but that also marks the end of his arc and role in the story, so...it's fine. Mac and Riley are less important and younger, as well, and have their own side story stuff you have more direct influence on, too.

But damn, ya'll, this climax just works so well. It especially stands out to me given just how rarely I experience a conclusion/climax that feels this rewarding.

And then after that we get a wonderful montage of a theoretical life Alex might live on to experience. Her actions don't overthrow a conglomerate billionaire company. She doesn't even save a town, really. If the entire council thinks you're full of shit, Jed still confesses either way - because it's not up to the council whether he does this, it's because of Alex, regardless of player choice. Honestly, even after a playthrough where I made most choices differently from my wife, there weren't really many changes to that montage at the end. It'd have been great if it felt more meaningfully different, but maybe it can be. Even if not, the design intent is there and the execution still works. It's a really nice way to end the story, especially since it's not even a literal montage but one Alex imagines - again, her processing what she's gone through, what she desires, expressed externally for us to see it. And for once, the actual final 'big decision' in a game of this type manages to be organic, make sense, and feel good and appropriate either way. You choose to either have Alex stay in Haven Springs and continue building her life there, or you can choose to have her leave and try to be an indie musician, with the events of the game being yet another chunk of her life to deal with and move on from (I haven't really touched on it, but music, especially as a way to express and process emotions, is a recurring thing, much like photography was in the original game, or Sean's illustrations in LiS2). For once, a climactic 'pick your ending' decision that doesn't feel shitty. It's pretty rare for this genre, honestly.

I could - and already have, and likely will - have so much more to say about this game and its details, but I really wanted to focus on touching upon a main element that has left me impressed: the way the entire game feels designed. It feels intentionally constructed but in a way that reinforces what it is trying to express as a story. It's not just trying to make people cry for the sake of 'emotions.' It is a game literally about emotions and it comes to a conclusion in a way that is clearly saying something positive and empowering about empathy and self-acceptance.

Storytelling is a craft, like any other, and it entails deliberate choices and decisions that can objectively contribute to how effective a story is for its intended audience.

A good story isn't something you find, after all.

It's something you build.

#Life is Strange True Colors #Life is Strange #Haven Springs #alex chen #lis true colors

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mistakenot4892 · 4 years ago

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Some thoughts of Heart of Deimos.

I made a reddit post but I thought I might repost it here and see if the response is any different. Mild spoilers for Heart of Deimos, the most recent Warframe update, under the cut.

First off, this is a bit of an effortpost, and it will be quite meandering and confused, sorry about that. We are now two days into Heart of Deimos and I had some thoughts I wanted to put on paper as it were. There's a TL;DR at the bottom.

The Bad:

In all honesty, taking into account the usual DE release-then-fix cycle and the quick patching they've already done to things like the Son token costs, there's very little about this update that I think is objectively bad. Deimos might be the single best open world release of the set, lack of a catchy musical number aside. It's not any buggier than any other release, which may say more about DE's QA than anything, but I have fallen through the map a few times, and host migrations have broken multiple vault runs.

The combined token system is a pretty big departure from the other open worlds, and I found it very confusing initially. Without the prior context of using Ticker for bonds in Fortuna, I think it would be really opaque, particularly for new players who aren't already up to speed on how the open world resource loops are expected to work. Alongside the complex token system, it's also understandable that people are frustrated with the expectation that they -must- participate in mining, fishing and conservation to get the tokens, since these don't really leverage the well developed aspects of gameplay.

The initial quest was lackluster from a storytelling perspective, with some really nonsensical events, a lack of development for each individual beat, and a frustrating lack of building on the already existing lore in favour of introducing new lore. It was pretty blatantly a tour of the zone mechanics, though maybe we'll see a more engaging plot when the equivalent of the Profit Taker and Exploiter bounties are introduced over the next year. The new warframe being dropped in by Mother as an afterthought, without a scrap of context, almost felt worse than the way previous quests have just given us the blueprint with no explanation at all. Protea's quest felt a lot clearer so it's disheartening to see them taking a step back there.

Finally, prior to finding the Albrecht lore I thought the playable content of the update was quite short and uninteresting.

The Good:

The Family voice acting is really, really good. Some of the writing is a bit iffy in the classic overwrought DE sense (which IMO is charmingly earnest anyway) but the delivery is fantastic, and while initially I was put off by the characters being shallow, I came around on it - I will go into more detail under 'The Ugly'.

With regards to the grind: even though the resources from the open world minigames are mandatory, participation isn't - so far I've run conservation exactly once, for about an hour, and I am clear for the third rank up with the Entrati. The world drops and bounty loot are more than enough to cover the vast majority of other costs, which is honestly fantastic. For all the complaining, DE has definitely learned from PoE and Fortuna with regards to letting people dictate their own playstyle without handicapping their progress. You can focus down specific requirements with specific minigames, no trouble, or you can just play bounties and run and gun your way to incidental loot. The combined token system was really confusing initially but combined with the incidental drops it makes progression quite organic without forcing you to spend your time on any particular task (looking at you, pre-Thumper PoE). There also seems to be a pretty solid spawn chance for tokens in the caves of the open world, and since the rank ups are now 1 of each kind of token instead of 10, this is possibly now a feasible way to skip the conservation grind entirely.

With regards to the lore: despite my earlier complaint about narrative quality and disconnection, DE does seem to be tying Parvos, the Entrati and the Glassmaker together, which is interesting. Prior to finding the Necraloid area and hearing the excellent Albrecht Vitruvian lore (seriously, mad props to the writers and the VA, the fourth log gives me powerful Darkest Dungeon narration vibes) I was ready to drop the game until a few patches and more content was added, but now I'm fully willing to grind for a couple weeks to hear the rest. I'm curious to see where they will go with the Heart and the Man in the Wall, particularly in regards to stuff like the reliquary drive and how it relates to the Necraloids and pre-warframe Orokin technology in general.

The Ugly:

The Family are the ugly, get it? This bit is mostly just because I want to talk about the new characters and the themes of Warframe as a narrative.

There's a kind of tension around the family that I initially found offputting - here we have a family of immortal alien gods who made their name ripping secrets from the flesh of reality, literally sprouting from the meat flowers of an infested moon... and they act like the cast of Arrested Development, switching between lofty poetic proclamations and petty squabbling that wouldn't be out of place on a sitcom. At first it seemed like it was just bad writing. Over time though, with exposure to the wider plot and the various deeper interactions, I started to warm to it. It's really interesting how DE has juxtaposed the deformed appearance of the Entrati, their perfect-marble-statue-like Orokin aesthetic, the pulsating infestation, and this very human, very relatable behavior. It really pulls back the skin on the Orokin as a people and uses a bit of clever metanarrative to show us that even the Tenno remember the Orokin as being more than human, when they were just as flawed as anyone else.

The individual characters felt very shallow at first, like cardboard cutouts of the typical family transplanted into a blob of writhing meat, but the pleasant surprise of the relationships mending between Entrati rank-ups and the subtle undercurrents you start to notice when interacting with them over a longer timeline really turned that on its head. There's some really excellent combinations of writing and delivery that add subtleties to each character, like the Daughter's undercurrent of thirst for either the Tenno or for butchering mutant fish, or the animalistic yearning of the Son and his bleeding heart hidden under the callous and cruel facade.

Family, parenthood and belonging are arguably the core themes of Warframe's narrative - the Tenno are orphan children clinging to a single parental figure who herself is a stolen child, while their allies like the Ostrons and the Solaris are people who cling to their human connections and their shared culture despite outside forces, and draw their strength from each other. The grand enemies of the setting are collectivist empires who have shredded their humanity in pursuit of strength and profit respectively. Then you have the Orokin, whose grand flaw is hubris in isolation, and a deliberate abandonment of shared humanity in pursuit of impossible perfection. The entire Parvos questline related to blood, with Nef wanting to abuse it for gain and Parvos denouncing him. Even the Sentients, arguably the only alien culture in the setting, love their families and oppose the Orokin and by extension the Tenno largely in defense of their people.

DE has leaned hard on quite creepy, quite -relatable- strangeness to give the Family depth, which helps reinforce that they're demigods of a dead empire, even if they are also quite friendly and personable. It lends some real weight to the way the Orokin have been depicted as cruel, hollow people, since we now have direct evidence of how their culture and the expectations of their various roles tear at those interpersonal connections. There's a lot of heart and clear work put into developing these themes, and I think that it's a bit sad that the quality of the writing is frequently overlooked in the broader Warframe community in favour of focusing on the flashy mechanics and cool new novel features. DE's writers are some of the best in mainstream video gaming currently, and even with my complaints about the main quest earlier, this consistent ongoing thematic cohesion and the variety of individually good beats more than make up for incoherent feature-driven storytelling.

TL;DR:

Despite some teething issues and bugs Heart of Deimos might be the best open world update so far, the way DE presents the Family and develops on the overarching themes of the story are pretty excellent, and I am excited to see where they go with it. Thanks for reading my incoherent and largely irrelevant thought-spew. Have a good one.

#warframe #heart of deimos #rambling diatribe #I have no qualifications just many opinions

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Ghost of Tsushima Review: A Beautiful Homage to Akira Kurosawa

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Ghost of Tsushima is a daring departure for Sucker Punch, who since 2009 has worked solely on the Playstation-exclusive Infamous series. While those games were steeped in modernity, offering sprawling cityscapes players could explore from top to bottom via superpowered “conduits” Cole MacGrath and Delsin Rowe, Ghost of Tsushima’s open world is set in feudal Japan. It’s here that we meet young samurai Jin Sakai, who must defend his homeland, the titular island of Tsushima, from an invading Mongol army.

Right off the bat, the shift in time period and milieu to 13th century Japan is notable because Sucker Punch handles it so brilliantly, especially for the team’s first foray into the samurai genre. Japanese history and culture are woven into every single facet of the game so elegantly and organically that you’d think the team had been developing games set in feudal Japan for the past decade, not sci-fi superhero romps. More than anything, Ghost of Tsushima is a moving homage to Japan, its history, and its people.

The story opens with a massacre. A massive Mongol army, led by the cunning Khotun Khan, storms the beaches of Tsushima and is met by the island’s woefully outnumbered samurai contingent. When the leader of the samurai challenges Khotun to a one-on-one, fair fight, the Khan renounces the honorable gesture in gruesome fashion, literally setting the courageous samurai on fire in front of both armies. The rest of the samurai are obliterated on the beach, while Jin’s uncle, Lord Shimura, is taken prisoner by the Khan. Jin is also fatally wounded but is miraculously nursed back to health by a new ally, a thief named Yuna who needs his help in return.

These opening moments set the tone for the rest of the game. The philosophical conflict between honor and deception is the beating heart of the story and permeates the gameplay in riveting ways. As you fight to take back Tsushima from the Mongols, you can approach enemy encounters in two ways. You can choose to fight honorably, like a true samurai, and challenge enemies to a “standoff,” a quick-reflex mini-game of sorts in which you and one of the baddies face off one-on-one and see who flinches first before one of you slashes his blade through the other. You’ll then have to take on the rest of the enemies all at once, which is no easy task.

The other option is to fight like a “Ghost,” sneaking into enemy camps, killing the bad guys in their sleep, poisoning them, using intimidation tactics to scare them into fleeing battle. It’s an effective way of evening the odds between you and your foes, but it rails against everything the samurai stand for.

Countless games offer the player the option to approach combat either stealthily or head-on. This is far from a novel concept, and in this respect, the combat in Ghost of Tsushima offers little innovation. But what is innovative here is how Sucker Punch has taken the classic device of stealth vs. frontal assault and given it new life by expertly integrating it with the themes of the story.

Jin meets a handful of allies on his journey, each with their own multi-chapter story arcs that delve into their respective backstories. There’s sensei Ishikawa, a master archer whose protege has gone rogue and joined the Mongols. Lady Masako is a warrior and grandmother whose entire family was murdered by the Mongols, though she suspects they may have died after someone close to the family conspired with the enemy.

Each of the characters explores the honor vs. dishonor theme in unique and surprising ways. The dichotomy is most starkly represented in the clash of ideals between Lord Shimura, who is unshakably honorable and would rather die than gain an unfair advantage in battle, and Yuna, who understands that, to beat an enemy who fights dirty, you may have to put honor to the side for the sake of saving your people. Of course, Jin is caught in the middle and struggles to decide what kind of man he wants to be.

Aside from the ties to the story, the gameplay is fun and engaging. The swordplay combines parries and dodging with a more strategic approach to melee, as you try to find ways to build up your enemy’s stagger gauge. You can also use “ghost weapons” to give you an edge in battle, like kunai (throwing knives), smoke bombs, arrows, and more. There are also four stances to master, with each being effective against a different enemy type. Switching between stances is integral to combat and becomes second nature over time. There’s also an insanely cool fifth stance that I won’t spoil here, but it’s spectacularly badass.

Stealthing is strikingly similar to what you’d see in an Assassin’s Creed title (this is a compliment), and the game gives you myriad ways to kill enemies without raising alarms, like throwable wind chimes and firecrackers that allow you to manipulate their positioning or hallucinogenic darts that turn them against each other. Again, this is all stuff we’ve seen before, but it’s pulled off well here.

Release Date: July 17, 2020 Platform: PS4 Developer: Sucker Punch Productions Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment Genre: Action-adventure

Unfortunately, there are little gameplay flaws that needled at me, especially in the later hours of my playthrough (it took me around 45 hours to finish the game). The swordplay requires quick reflexes, and mastering parries and dodging is absolutely pivotal to your survival. The problem with the swordplay is subtle, and a little difficult to explain, but I’ll say it like this: in most games that are particularly challenging, when I die, I feel like it was my fault because I made a mistake, I just wasn’t fast enough, I hadn’t mastered certain skills. But on many occasions in Ghost of Tsushima, I felt like I died because the game didn’t give me a fair shot, like it was the game’s fault that I failed, not mine. It’s possible that I just wasn’t very good at the game, but it felt at times like I wasn’t given a choice in the matter. Your mileage will vary with the game’s difficulty level.

There are other things that bugged me, too, like the unreliable climbing mechanics (I swear, sometimes hopping onto a rope or branch that’s literally right in front of you is way, WAY too difficult). But overall, I had a great time playing the game and felt super powerful by the time I’d filled out my skill trees, which is no surprise considering the game was made by the same folks who made Infamous.

On a nuts and bolts gameplay level, Ghost of Tsushima doesn’t feel all that unique — there is some very familiar open-world stuff here. But on a presentation and storytelling level, the game is out-of-this-world amazing. Visually, the game looks stunning. The late-stage PlayStation 4 graphics really deliver, and coupled with the strength of the art design, Ghost of Tsushima is a true head-turner. The character models look fantastic and can emote on a level that supports the drama of the story. And while the different suits of armor that Jin acquires offer unique gameplay perks, I honestly just collected and upgraded them almost exclusively as an aesthetic indulgence. They look so freaking cool.

But the real stars of the show are the environments, which look picturesque from every conceivable angle. The wind-swept, verdant hills of Tsushima are intoxicatingly pretty, to the point where I’d get caught up ogling for minutes on end at the smallest of details, like the way the moonlight bounces off blades of grass or the way Jin kicks up crimson-red leaves that have blanketed the ground over time. I could go on forever about the dynamic day/night cycle, the beautiful rendering of different fabrics and materials, the horse animations. But instead, I’ll just say that this is the most breathtaking game, visually, that I’ve seen in recent memory.

A lot of love also went into infusing the game with Japanese cultural references, particularly in how the developers pay homage to the samurai genre. Each mission, for example, is bookended by cinematic intertitles that evoke old samurai cinema, Japanese characters, and all. But without a doubt, the most obvious/most amazing homage is “Kurosawa Mode,” which presents the game in black and white, with one of the best film grain filters I’ve ever seen in a game, resulting in an experience that looks almost exactly like a film from the iconic Japanese auteur’s oeuvre, right next to Sanjuro and Seven Samurai. If you’re a long-time fan of Kurosawa, turning the mode on may even elicit an “I’m not crying…you’re crying!” response — it’s that pretty.

I initially intended on playing the entire game in Kurosawa mode but quickly realized that it would be problematic to do so for a few reasons. Some missions require you to “follow the (insert color) flowers,” which is obviously impossible in black and white. And in combat, blockable enemy heavy attacks are signaled by a blue glint, while unblockable ones have a red glint. Combat is tough enough as it is, so…yeah. I only turned the mode on when I was riding on my horse through the countryside and I felt like treating myself to some eye candy.

Taking time to smell the cherry blossoms and have a respite from the game’s many missions and side missions is crucial because Ghost of Tsushima is a long, long game. The missions aren’t overly repetitive — most of them feel really special actually, like when you climb a mountain in freezing cold weather and must race from campfire to campfire on your ascent, or one armor quest comprised of several one-on-one duels with straw hat swordsmen scattered about the map, each with a distinct personality. But 40-plus hours is 40-plus hours, and while the main tasks of infiltrating enemy camps, liberating farms, and searching for special gear can lead to questing fatigue at the tail end of the game, the nice thing is is that you can always slow things down and just enjoy the scenery to break things up. There’s even a nifty photo mode to play with, and if any game warrants a photo mode, it’s this one.

Jin’s story isn’t just a means to an end, or a lazy excuse to drag the player from gameplay scenario to gameplay scenario. The story is incredibly well written and profound in its messaging and imagery, so much so that I believe it’s one of the best modern entries in the samurai genre, regardless of medium. All of the characters you meet and the little tales that unfold across Tsushima are filtered through Jin’s inner struggle with what honor really means and whether or not it’s worth dying for, which gives the story an incredibly strong narrative backbone. Despite the game’s epic scope, Jin’s journey actually feels quite intimate and personal. The same could be said of Kurosawa’s best work, and that’s just about the highest compliment I can give.

The post Ghost of Tsushima Review: A Beautiful Homage to Akira Kurosawa appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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amandasgeekblog · 5 years ago

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“Burning Daylight” Thoughts and Review

Burning Daylight is a dystopian, cyberpunk adventure game created by a team at The Animation Workshop, a school in Denmark. This game has wonderfully detailed environments, general good use of subtle sound design, and a relatively simple but intriguing storyline. I will be discussing the game plot, mechanics, and some issues. Please note, this is a game that is available for free and I don’t know the details of how people worked on this game.

The game starts out with you advancing, first person style to a white light. A common trope, to traverse a tunnel to replicate birth, which to me always feels awkward, but a cliche is a cliche and you can think of it what you will. But, you emerge in third person perspective, completely naked, and there’s piles of dead bodies just like yours, seen dimly lit by a flashing red light. The setting is industrial, like a factory; you get a sense that you’re being used as a means of production. You walk at a snail’s pace, after all, you were just born.

A giant mechanical claw seems to be after you. There’s an undeniable feeling reminiscent to the game INSIDE by Playdead, but Burning Daylight allows you to be slow. There are no actual stealth elements or running from enemies, which is a lot better for my nerves, personally. The game is almost on rails, and has very light puzzle elements. Interacting with buttons and doors are straight forward. But while the animation for walking, crouching, cutscenes, and etc. are nice and fluid, the animation for interacting is awkward. Clicking a button to interact with the environment often causes the character model to appear at an offset from where it started, making it look as though a jump or teleport has happened to your character. Another gripe I have with the interactive bits of the game, is that the prompt for the x button, in the case of a controller, the (x) interface is generic and does not match the aesthetics of the rest of the game. It would be interesting to see a more stylized prompt, or even something diegetic.

The path or navigable areas are sometimes a bit unclear, but not usually in a frustrating way, as progress is still straight forward. Though some clunky borders, both visible and invisible, for walkable areas will sometimes catch you off guard. While the environment is filled and rich with beautiful prop work and backgrounds, you might find some trouble with collision detection, too. In the screen grab below, it is hard to tell, but I became stuck inside a wall. The crates you can walk through. But the buckets below served as a ramp and, I was able to walk onto the pipes and straight through the wall. I unfortunately got stuck inside said wall. That’s also when I found an issue with the Chapter or saving system. The main menu actually unlocked an area I’d yet to reach. This also brings to light that a mouse has to be used in the pause menu and settings menus, disallowing controllers to navigate.

While playing, you will be tempted to interact with other characters that look like you, humanoid zombie-like creatures, but that is not an option. This helps with the theme of isolation, and perhaps the idea of you being set apart.

Along the way you pick up a headset, “Sarah” is the AI in the Augmented Reality headset, here to help you navigate the city. This is where you see the cyberpunk themes come in. It was jarring to first hear talking after the quiet from earlier in the game, something unexpected, which is good for a story. It seems that everyone in the city is wearing AR headsets. and it gives you quite literally a new view of your surroundings, a different kind of dystopia than you first imagined.

The advertisements and/or PSAs in multiple languages was a nice touch. Just overwhelming capitalism and consumerism following you both visually and audibly. The game gives you the reasoning for some text being untranslated because Sarah / your headset has water damage. I saw a misspelling of “report” as “raport” which is unclear if purposeful or not, but works in-universe either way. Something to note, there are no captions for the ads or Sarah voice lines, making this game unfriendly to hearing impaired players, though you can still figure out how to advance on your own by looking out for interaction prompts for the few times there are light puzzles.

Another thing that AR changes is the music. Along with Sarah’s voice being bright and encouraging, so is the music. Which feels distinctly off, in a good unsettling way. Things are not what they seem with the AR as is pretty apparent from the first part of your journey, but you just keep going.

(More plot discussion and critique under the cut)

Collecting coins was another unexpected appearance via the AR headset. It felt so game-like and childish, in a way, for such a dark game. But it’s part of the dystopian theme, capitalism.

Somewhat related: I tried to reset to an earlier chapter for a specific screencap, but unfortunately had to start at the chapter before that. Again bringing some light to an error in to the save function or chapter function, it is unclear. But I think it was worth it. I also experienced a glitch with the number of coins not resetting with the chapter, but it reset once I reached the city area. The number of coins you find becomes important to pass certain areas.

The screenshot I reset two chapters for. Nice.

You must pass an “enticing” area, which is hypersexual to say the least. It is not really graphic, except maybe PG-13 to R at the latter sections. I am a person that is just tired of that kind of storytelling, but it is what it is. It’s meant to be a distraction. You go past the illusions and the bright lights.

There are times your character is in awe of a glowing logo that matches what is marked on your chest and on the back of your jacket. I thought it was going to be a morbid, moth to a flame, but you endure.

I’m not going to spoil any more of the rest, but I kept finding myself surprised. Let’s just say you find yourself encountering the claw from the beginning of the story, heavy machinery, and maybe a change of scenery.

Burning Daylight is visually exciting and there’s enough mystery about this world and your purpose to propel your journey. There’s some technical issues with mainly saving and navigation, but very playable for a straight forward adventure game with environmental story telling. A quiet, but not always quiet quest. The Animation Workshop did a lovely job and I totally recommend Burning Daylight as you have nothing to lose to play this 45-60 minute experience.

Burning Daylight is available for WIndows on Steam for free.

#burning daylight #game review #mine #computer game #steam #the animation workshop

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xredsmoke · 5 years ago

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Faith in Gaming

Introspection of a Recovering Christian

Faith in the video game community has always been a volatile subject. In one game, the player could be standing reverently in a cathedral, lighting candles and praying in hopes of finding relief for a child dying from cancer. Another game could catapult the player into a loose version of Hell, hacking at demons that project human genitalia as a form of ranged attacks. Obviously the method for which religion is approached dramatically different between each game, but both seek to fully immerse the player in a unique experience. Video games are a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States and, despite having humble beginnings with simple arcade games such as Pong and Pac Man in the late 20th century, a number of companies, commentators, and players have begun to investigate the depths of gaming’s spirituality. There are a number of video games that portray themes commonly found in Catholicism. The three that will be analyzed are Dante’s Inferno, Binding of Isaac, and That Dragon, Cancer. Many commercially advertised games, such as Dante’s Inferno explored the visually grotesque themes of Christianity. Indie games, however, such as Binding of Isaac, and That Dragon, Cancer, offer a much more open and honest interpretation of Christianity. This essay seeks to explore whether the more widely known games such as Dante’s Inferno negatively impacts the gaming communities perception of the Roman Catholic Church and whether Binding of Isaac and That Dragon, Cancer redeems those perceptions.

At its very core, Dante’s Inferno is a story of a man seeking to save the woman he loves. The game is loosely based off Dante’s The Divine Comedy, a book that has been a cornerstone in Christianity’s understanding of the afterlife by enrapturing and terrifying audiences through it’s detailed and imaginative description of Hell. According to Wagner, “In games, play is the “space of possibility” afforded a player to explore and to make choices within the game’s systems” (Wagner, p.32). Dante’s Inferno is an example of a video game interpreting scripture with a heavy emphasis on the idea of ‘play’. In this case, play is more important than the narrative itself and this shows in the developers execution of the game. Instead of Dante being a 14th century poet that starts his journey in Hell, he is now a young crusader who becomes disenchanted with war and returns to his fiancée Beatrice in Florence. When he arrives, he finds his house destroyed and Beatrice lying dead outside. Even worse, as he approaches, Lucifer appears and steals away her soul, dragging her screaming into the depths of Hell. Dante chases them through the circles of Hell, trying to save his love before she is lost forever. He faces his own sins and mistakes before a final showdown with the fallen angel. Already we see a sharp departure from the original narrative. This in itself is not terribly sacrilegious and perhaps can be seen as developers taking creative license in order to make a story more palatable to a general audience. However, it is the games depiction of Hell and the mechanics that it borrows from Christian mythos that truly set it apart from any other action game of it’s type.

It is more than understandable for a game to have it’s mature moments, especially if it is a game based on the sins of the Divine Comedy. Dante's Inferno, however, literally pushes the Mature rating to its most extreme point, as the player passes scenes of souls being tortured, copious of violence, and plenty of male and female nudity from level to level. Obviously, this is not a game for kids, but much of what developers choose to show is appropriate for a game that tries to explore the extreme nature of Hell and its punishments. Many reviewers have expressed that they have felt sympathetic to some of the damned souls. On the other hand, there are times when the game seems to include things just for shock value such as monsters that project human genitalia as a ranged attack. The gameplay of Dante’s Inferno can only be described as a mindless gorefest similar to another popular game that came out around the same time, God of War, with pixelated blood and body parts never being in short demand. When using finishing moves on monsters, the player has two options: Punishment (i.e. smash their face in) or Absolve (i.e. smash their face in but in a ‘pious’ way). The player can perform a Punishment by destroying them with their scythe and earn Unholy points. Absolve will blast a spirit with a cross in order to net the player Holy points. Collecting points helps you to gain levels and purchase new attacks and abilities. This may be the games attempt to introduce a moral choice system into the story which would make a certain amount of sense and would be a great benefit to the game’s overarching Christian themes of retribution and forgiveness. However, there is really no difference whether you play the game one way or the other. “It (the combat system) is more like there’s a violent option or an equally violent but better spirited option” (Croshaw, Escapist). The developers might have been setting it up for their to be multiple endings to the game where if the player has too many Unholy points they are damned but if they have more Holy points they are saved. Yet the whole game seems to be rushed in development, possibly due to time constraints, thus the end is the same no matter what points you chose to invest. The lesson this seems to teach the player is that no matter what they choose to do while on their quest through Hell, they will be saved no matter the souls they may have damned on their journey. This is not at all what Christianity preaches in its message and is not even faithful to the Divine Comedies own overall message. It’s a cheap, cheesy, blasphemy that tries too hard to be like other games of the time and teaches the player that morality doesn’t really matter in the Christian faith when mindless violence will be able to solve any problem encountered.

Binding of Isaac takes an overall different approach. The game was a result of developer Edmund McMillen’s desire to create a roguelike showcasing his feelings about both the positive and negative aspects of religion that he had come to discover from conflicts between his Catholic and born-again Christian family members while growing up. The story of the game was inspired by the biblical tale of the Binding of Isaac and shares many themes even as it seeks to turn the traditional narrative on its head. After Isaac's mother receives a message from God demanding the life of her son as proof of her faith, Isaac flees into the monster-filled basement of their home, where he must fight to survive. The premise itself seems rather outlandish in the 21st century but it is in the subtle storytelling woven through gameplay mechanics and cutscenes that the game is able to start an honest conversation about religion. In a sense, the story is a form of fanfiction; What would it be like if the Binding of Isaac happened today? Wagner makes the point that, “Consumption becomes production; reading becomes writing; spectator culture becomes participatory culture” (Wagner, p.46). The narrative thrives because of the alternative retelling. The content can be shocking, gross, ugly, distasteful and arguably gratuitous. But, unlike Dante’s Inferno, that’s the whole point. It’s not the gameplay that is supposed to engage the player, it’s the content as a whole.

The tone and layers of the game accurately portrays growing up in a conservative religious household. The player takes control of Isaac, a young boy locked in a basement by a mother that received a message from God. Isaac must escape, fighting past monsters using his own tears as projectile weapons. The entirety of the experience is littered with scatalogical humor, blasphemy, and obscenities. The main enemies at the starting area of the game are aborted fetuses and the multitude of power ups scattered across the stages will often give the player various diseases, mutilations, or grotesque mutations. Isaac is corrupted, contaminated, mutilated, and soiled throughout their journey to escape confinement. To progress, the player must orchestrate their own defilement even as they recoil at it. However, it is the childlike viewpoint of these very adult themes that gives the game it’s unique perspective. The gross imagery needed to be childish in order to establish the irredeemably corrupt and dirty world that the player must fight through. The entire premise would be lost if the game were to try and take an intellectual and mature approach to religion because it’s not intellectual and mature religion that causes harm, it’s the pagan superstition of childhood that will leave a child scarred and feeling dirty and ashamed. In the Bible it is written, “Because of this I say to you, all sin and evil speaking shall be forgiven to men, but the evil speaking of the Spirit shall not be forgiven to men” (Matthew 12:31). If a kid is told that speaking against God will lead them to eternal damnation, they will run with the idea and spend the rest of their childhood wondering if whispering ‘I hate God’ too loud is enough to damn them forever. Conservative Christianity only exacerbates this problem, teaching children that the world is ‘unclean’ and they must guard themselves against it. The problem worsens as the child matures.

The game is, in a sense, trying to reconcile the conservative religion with the experience of growing up in the real world. Journalist Arthur Chu had this to say about the subject, “The dichotomy of learning to be a Typical Christian Hypocrite who plays D&D and surfs Internet porn and gets to third base with your girlfriend in the backseat of a car is… yes, it is kind of equivalent to The Binding of Isaac’s narrative of trudging through a revolting world made of excrement and entrails, becoming a disease-ridden pus-oozing monster and eventually murdering your own mother” (Chu, Arthur). The game teaches the player that by surrendering themselves to the unclean, by actively becoming part of the World, they are getting stronger and overcoming every obstacle in their way. It makes the journey all the more impactful when the game pits the player, a now disease-ridden, mutilated, and mutated version of Isaac, against the final boss, the original and angelic Isaac as which the player had started out. ‘Winning’ in a very real sense meant the player had to confront their past self, come face-to-face with their own naivety and not only overcome it, but also accept that they’ve lost that pureness and become something that their past self would have thought abhorrent. And the player must decide if they are okay with that. Few games are able to accomplish what Binding of Isaac does in such a simplistic manner. It forces the player to recognize the vast difference between who they were and what they have become.

That Dragon, Cancer is an autobiographical game that documents Ryan and Amy Green’s experience of raising their son Joel, who had been diagnosed with brain cancer at twelve months old and only given a few months to live. According to Wagner, “it’s easy to see why tragedies make bad video games - the notion of alternatives (gameplay loops) could ruin the pathos and thus the catharsis of the experience” (Wagner, p.48). However, the game itself was designed to be a completely cathartic experience because the events within the game are unchangeable. Despite That Dragon, Cancer being an interactive experience, the gameplay takes a backseat in order for the narrative to develop and allow the player to become attached to the story and characters. With the player taking control of either Ryan or Amy for a majority of the narrative, the game was designed as a simple point-and-click adventure game in order to create a sense of immersion that film would fail to capture. The games developers worked closely with the couple while Joel was still alive and Ryan himself personally contributed to the games growth and success. Ryan continued to develop the game and even reworked much of the project after his sons passing in order to better memorialize and personalize the players experience. When the focus of the game is a child dying of cancer, the overall message becomes loss. The player is destined to lose and needs to lose in order to understand that loss in all its depth. That Dragon, Cancer is an enriching, story driven experience with Christian themes heavily used throughout the narrative.

Despite video games often being viewed as a medium of entertainment lacking in poignancy, That Dragon, Cancer is one of the few games that can provide its audience with a truly cathartic experience mixed with Christian beliefs. A game journalist had this to say about the experience, “The activity on the part of the player does not change: guidance and witnessing” (Zucchi, KillScreen). In the game and woven throughout the narrative, faith is used as a presence. Players are constantly in control of different characters, usually Ryan, Joel, or Amy, but the perspective of these characters and how they are controlled is what makes the experience unique. The player is allowed into the thoughts of these people and can move them to some degree with mouse and keyboard, but they can not interact seamlessly with the images on screen. Much like the story of Job in the Bible, the player is seen as a God like figure watching a tragedy unfold. They must acknowledge the grief as it develops even as they can’t change it. However, much like Job, self-awareness does not always lead to satisfactory answers. The game doesn’t ask God ‘why’ a young child was diagnosed with cancer. Instead, it struggles to answer the question of ‘how’ God is present in these moments. In That Dragon, Cancer, faith and God are not themes or characters, but instead the presence of the player and the silences that stretch between moments of lighting candles and praying for a child’s cries to lessen. There is no battling monsters or killing demons. There is no souls to collect or reconciliation. That is not the objective of the game. The player need only reach an understanding of Joel and his love for dogs and limited vocabulary as well as the pained expressions of Amy and Ryan as they watch their son suffer. There is only the silent comfort of empathy, of the assurance of a sympathetic witness, of the promise of understanding. That Dragon, Cancer is an experience that reflects the texture of belief.

Video games have commonly been seen as a source of mindless violence, but it is in the rare, truly introspective and great video games where faith can be further explored. Games such as Dante’s Inferno poorly portray Christianity due to the industry developing games as a mindless cash grab that fails to fully expand on ideas and narratives. However, there are games that can accurately and portray Christian themes and faith. Binding of Isaac, while crude in it’s delivery, does its best to engage the player in a conversation about faith as they progress through the narrative. The game constantly poses difficult questions about religion, the world, and coming of age to the player in hopes of reconciling all three. That Dragon, Cancer provides a more subtle use of faith. Religious imagery is used throughout the story, often being used as an identity for the family, but it is in the moments of interactivity between game and player that faith truly shines. Moving forward, it’s important that games dealing with religion be carefully constructed and well-thought out. Even if the religion is being used as more of a set piece, such as in Dante’s Inferno, developers should attempt to remain true to the source material or at least try and emulate the themes and theory behind the religion being used as accurately as possible.

Works Cited

“BibleGateway.” Matthew 12:31 - Bible Gateway, www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Matthew%2012%3A31.

Chu, Arthur. “A Defense of Binding of Isaac from a Former Fundamentalist Christian.”Polygon, Polygon, 26 Jan. 2015, www.polygon.com/2015/1/26/7907061/binding-isaac-fundamentalism.

Haynes, Jeff. “Dante's Inferno Review.” IGN, IGN, 3 Feb. 2010, www.ign.com/articles/2010/02/03/dantes-inferno-review-2.

TheEscapistMagazine. “DANTE'S INFERNO (Zero Punctuation).” YouTube, YouTube, 22 July 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0ujx2JnjkA.

Wagner, Rachel. Godwired: Religion, Ritual and Virtual Reality. Routledge, 2012.

Zucchi, Sam. “Have a Little More Faith in That Dragon, Cancer.” Kill Screen, 22 Feb. 2016, killscreen.com/articles/have-a-little-more-faith-in-that-dragon-cancer/.

#gaming #chritianity

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pearlcrysta · 7 years ago

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How I Create Fanfiction Using MysMe as Example (Method and Advice)

I am not coming close as a great writer.

Fanfictioning is purely done for my own enjoyment and amusement whenever i fall in love deep, DEEP, with a story, char, setting etc, whether it’s related to anime or other works of fiction. Ideas keep clinging onto my brain and those ideas need their release onto either an art medium or writing.

Anywho, probably a long ass text coming here, so here I present to you the steps my brain takes in order to regurgitate writing content. I’ll be using my Night-Owl Romance hiatus fanfic as an example for some steps. If you don’t wanna read all the text, just look at the bold letters.

PREPARATORY STEPS

1) First of all, as a general rule to have in mind before starting, it is NOT ENOUGH to see an anime or read a book/manga only ONCE and then establish a story based on your first impressions. I mean, you could - but you would surely miss out on a lot of info and context about the characters you wish to play with and not realize the full depth of their impact within the story. Or why they might do questionable things or actions u may not understand the first time.

For a game like Mystic Messenger, it’s important for you to have gone through all routes a few times and then keep on researching about the character you wish to base your subject on. If you don't have that much time on your hand to be thorough, then it's ok. XD But it's a recommendation if you want to strive to have less OOC'ness in your writing.

(OOC = Out of Character)

In my case, I chose to focus the story around the developing relationship between MC and Zen (slow, SLOW romance) and his route is not nearly enough to establish the complexity of his char and the dynamics he has with the other members. For example, if I’d have stuck with just his route and had not gone through them all, then I’d probably DISLIKE Jaehee quite a lot and confuse her with a jealous fan/girlfriend and not realize the level of rudeness Zen can have against Jumin - even without being provoked. Zen really doesn’t like being around Jumin, always seeing him in a bad light. Like, I love this handsome actor, but sometimes he can be a big jerk.

A major plus is if you manage to get the call cards, in order to reach out to the RFA members – extra content is given there too. ^^

2) Research is vital because it can help you better understand the complexity of the character. Not only the events in the game, but real life situations too.

Research a bit about Korean lifestyle !!!

You can find a lot of subtle things you might have missed - or unsubtle ones.

a) In Zen’s route, you’ll realize that Jaehee is actually looking up to his wellbeing and trying to protect the actor from career-ending scandals. Jealousy is not the issue. Jaehee doesn’t hate the MC, but is weary of her intentions of dating Zen because it can ruin his dream if the relationship comes into the spotlight.

In Korea, celebrities dating can become a huge, huge PR disaster if handled poorly. Career ending even, to the point even idol groups can disband over one such scandal and you ruin not just your own life, but other people as well who depend on this job to survive. Some people train their youth away and have such a moment ruin all they've built...

It's just horrible.

b) The boys asking you constantly whether you ate or not is not them thinking you are a dumbass adult who cannot feed yourself and need a protective mother to remind you day, after day. It’s almost mechanically said to you, like how people ask someone ��How are you?”, but not necessarily asked out of intense care of your wellbeing. It's just a habit that requires “I’m fine” even if not meant to be true. In the eating case, one usually expects “Yes, I ate.” as answer.

c) Kimchi is not the only korean food. Try to explore other parts of their cuisine if you are mentioning foods.

d) I don’t think cereals are that common to eat in the morning there. Like SUPER common. Or waffles. Or peanut butter and jelly on bread.

... Or bread.

Rice is the equivalent of westerners’ bread in terms of importance in a meal.

e) Driving can become an 'interesting' experience in Korea. I've seen many Youtubers living in Seoul that point out the chaos on the streets thanks to reckless drivers that rush through traffic like there's no tomorrow.

So when Zen is out on his motorcycle, people can only become super worried about his safety for a good reason. Especially since he had a nasty accident in the past, it can always repeat itself due to the unsafe conditions on the road sometimes. And humans are squishy beings, so if a car hits you on a bike while you aren't wearing proper outfit protection then... RIP.

f) and many other.

3) Make sure you got the essence of the plot figured out and pin point any storytelling holes or flaws you may notice within the canon story.

It is highly recommended that you note down these observations or questions you may have about what’s going on in this story. You may even use these particular things to help you create the intro of your story. ^o^

Ex: Find a logical reason why MC would so willingly ignore the ‘stranger-danger’ factor at the beginning of the story. ((Daredevil MC? Lulz, sure, you could try this angle, but I’d question how she survived unharmed so far.))

Or why she has food, water, clothing in an apartment where she is supposedly stranded within, unable to leave. Or...is she unable to leave it?

Or where are her parents and why is nobody worried about her missing?

Does she have a workplace? Is she a student at school? Homeless?

A lot to interpret ^^

4) Plan your plot points, but don’t overdo it or sob when plans change while writing.

I don’t really plan chapters ahead much, since I tend to change my mind a lot about things. It depends on my mood and emotions. But it is important to set goals for the near future to reach for your story --- like, you may want X event to happen in Day 1 or Y action on Day 2.

And from these thoughts, you can start sketching situations that can lead your char up to the desired points.

But the road to X or Y can change and not remain static. Heck, even the Y event can happen in another moment of time --- the planning doesn’t have to be a rigid one and must be open to changes, befitting the flow of the story. If an idea you wanted badly to write in a chapter doesn’t seem like it fits in a spot anymore...

Then, don’t put it in. It’s simple as that.

I personally have over 60 pages worth of content of Night-Owl Romance that are unusable because I kept going in different directions than what I had initially wanted.

Ex: For my story, I really wanted MC to have moments where she’d interact with the RFA outside the messenger. But I still wanted MC to meet up with Zen - officially, make him be the one she meets the first properly.

Close-encounters scenarios were fun to add and, at one point, I even wanted MC to see Zen rehearse on stage, without him realizing it was her in the crowd, watching him from the side. Pages about her reactions while seeing Zen on stage were later on discarded. Because I was stuck. It would have caused a nasty rift between them if he was to discover that MC had not bothered to greet him after rehearsals.

I did not want them to have their first official meeting there.

But I DID want MC to go to his workplace.

So I used a trope, to have MC leave the theater without attending the actual rehearsals as a member of the audience, thus the girl remained completely unaware that Zen was working there. And the reason why she did not see him perform was because she would have felt uncomfortable being surrounded by the people in the audience, whom she'd known from her time in University.

They did not get along.

5) Try to write characters in a way that doesn't surpass the boundaries of OOC’ness (Your own characters included). To avoid the OOCD (Out of Character Disease), try to make notes about the chars you will write about. Or just keep in mind certain personality traits and you should do fine. In the case of Mystic Messenger, I often use info online about the characters from their data book, wikia, chats etc and create mini summaries about them.

...

Lol, not really creating mini summaries, since I can remember small stuff, here and there, but if you aren't the type to hold up a lot of info and are forgetful about details, you can write them down in order to ease your work.

Here's an example ^o^:

Jumin – uses a lot of formal language. And only when being quite tipsy with wine may he become less rigid in speaking online. Even 'funny', depending on his soured mood caused by the distress he may have with his father and the women he is dating.

Jaehee – also uses formal language, but somehow it seems to me that she drops into informal tones when she goes in her fangirling mode about Zen. Or when she points out why Yoosung cannot find a girlfriend, (Lolz, poor guy) Or when she points out things she finds wrong about Luciel (name included)

Yoosung – uses a lot of informal language.

He is traumatized by the loss of Rika, but not to the point he can't go a second without mentioning her to the MC. ^^;;; I think some fanfics can tone it down with the Rika, and just write glimpses from time to time. Like, if MC is really hardworking, he may do some parallels and notice similarities – at the same time, acknowledge the differences. For example:

Rika seemed like a serene, wise being, almost like an idol for Yoosung.

MC in Yoosung's route seems a bit more... grounded. Like he doesn't put MC on such a steep pedestal.

Zen – also, more on the informal spectrum of speech, unless he is talking to directors, producers etc.

His narcissism stems from the fact that he wants to be acknowledged by the world and recognizes that he has the potential to be seen and reach greatness in his craft. At the same time, this has become a double edged blade for the actor, since many ppl offer him work that rely on his looks more than skills. Or people like to shove away all his hardwork and point out how he could never had achieved this without his good looks and body.

Basically, his skills are overshadowed by his handsome features a lot of time.

Which is why he doesn't like modeling jobs very much, or that was the impression he gave. When a folklore group wanted him to wear a hanbok for a shooting, Zen refused. When Jumin offers him money for contracts that make good use of his looks, rather than talent – he refuses.

His route's deep flaw: he falls in love too easily with the MC.

Realistically, if MC was a despicable human, Zen would be trapped in a hurtful relationship if she were a manipulative ****. Which shows how lonely and desperate for companionship he truly is at times – 5 years without having someone to share his life with, must be difficult.

707/Luciel – first impression: he is bat-shit crazy, but in a fun way. Cosplayer, so must be good with costumes and make-up. Perfect Trap, who makes people question their gender preferences. (Lolz, I can imagine this to be so true).

He probably had to learn to go undercover as both throughout his days as a secret agent.

His speech is informal and secretly-mocking, especially when he's talking this way towards his superiors. Really, in Korean culture, if you speak informally to someone higher ranking than you at your workplace and you aren't necessarily best of buddies --- you are branded as a rude ass **** and can even lose your job. And the potential to find other jobs if you pissed off the wrong people.

So, 707 plays with a lot of fire and knows he is THAT important to his organization – it's enough to have them accept his flaws.

- second impression: Saeyoung: Well, the funny guy was just a persona he uses to mask his deeper, , hurt and raw self. But that doesn't mean the funny, quirky personality was all just a lie, even if he tries to tell MC this in his own route – more, to me it seems like 707 is the person he wished he could be day, after day. And not the secret agent who may have killed people in the past or helped his organization in missions to achieve such cruel things.

We can only imagine these things ^^

Serious Saeyoung seems more formal in speech, compared to his 707 persona.

- third impression: I think that after the story unfolds with the whole Saeran thing, who is back into Saeyoung's life, the red head's personality becomes a mixture of both with the fall of his organization. He still has quirky, crazy moments, but is more freely expressing himself. Especially with MC, adding jokes here and there when he is in lovey-dovey moments.

V – is incredibly formal and super respectful, more so than Jumin, to the point he overly apologizes for things he had no control over, but considers himself to be solely to blame. ;=;

6) Don’t be afraid to give your characters flaws. Keep a balance of skills vs. flaws and try to stick to it in a realistic manner. (Of course, there's always room to improve one's flaw or skills, but – same thing – keep it realistic)

Also, canon characters aren't superheroes – Mystic Messenger ones aren't superheroes, they are humans with their own limitations. Don't give them God-mode unless you do it in LOLOL.

7) It's OK to imagine your own reactions regarding certain situations in life and write them down from the perspective of your char. If it fits.

Same thing when writing happy scenes or emotionally sad ones – if your mood reflects the vibe of the story you wish to convey, you can portray it better. This, however, doesn't mean u can't write a sob story when your life is all sunshine and rainbows.

This is why humans have imagination ^^

Just picture how you felt when hearing saddening news or when you had a moment you were not feeling cheerful. Step in your characters' shoes and imagine how you'd have felt in her/his situation.

I also change my music playlist if I cannot write a certain feeling down – it usually improves it. ^^

8) Don't worry about choosing a title/chapter names.

You’ll come up with one as you start planning the plot you wish to pursue in your story. Sure, a catchy title can make people wanna start reading your fic, but if your story is boring and goes nowhere, then don’t expect much feedback even if your title and story summary are engaging and make people curious. (I should listen to this advice too TwT)

For example: In my MysMe story, Zen x MC pairing, I wanted most of their chats and conversations to take place during nighttime. Or, at least the ones where they bond more closely together.

And what do you call insomniacs who cannot sleep at night? Night-owls.

What do I want to happen between Zen and MC? Romance.

Story title: Night-Owl Romance (ikr, very creative, but it's a decent title. TwT)

And the same mindset I have with chapter names too. I see what is dominant there and then try to summarize it in a title. Sometimes it fits, other times it's just weird.

Also, my Insomniacs, Insomniacs Second, Insomniacs Third etc --- i choose these titles for certain chapters from my fic in order to help me remember what Day is in the story. ^^;;;;; Needless to say, I needed a better system since I mixed up the days LOL.

9) I love cliffhangers. You should as well. OwO

Cliffhangers are basically a device that fanfic writers use in order to make sure that their engaging audience keeps being curious about the following chapters and want to find more. Feed in their addiction to know what will happen and if the outcome will go to their imagination.

ACK!!! Is everything going to be ok??? 8D!!!

But, also, try not to be sadists with your cliffhangers.

10) Synonyms are your friends. So are linking words (connectors). So are online dictionaries. And spell check.

Example: but – however, yet, nonetheless, nevertheless, still, though, although.

Already you can stop using all these but(t)s in your writing by just replacing the over usage of one word with a similar one. Every time you see a word being repetitive to the max in a text that's not even 2000 words long, you should really, REALLY check whether it has a synonym or not. Because it can become quite tiresome to read after a while.

I personally use thefreedictionary website.

11) Don't over explain things in your writing (like I do)

Try to alternate between dialogue and texts as much as you can. Offer variety. Try to stay relevant and not stray far away from the plot points you wish to achieve by including 32432464 scenes and scenarios that might make readers forget what you wanted to do/achieve in the first place. Or else, you may end up with a chaotic storyline that doesn't seem to have any clear steering.

12) Try to write chapters in advance!!!

I find this step to be very, very important.

You should aim to have written chapters ahead of posting schedule (at least 2-3), in order to observe whether your idea has a place to grow from there onwards or you might hit a nasty dead end with the proposed scenario. If you end up in a point in your story where you are nearly convinced that you need to rethink the direction your plot goes, perhaps finding a better solution on the way... it's much better to have a 'backup' in chapters and not having instantly published everything you had done.

Like I pointed out earlier, I have over 60 pages of written content for my fanfic that are unusable. Because I ended up not going on certain routes and changed directions "off-camera", which could not have been possible so easily had I just posted chapters as I finish writing them.

But hey, this is just how I do it. :D

13) Sorry to say this, but your first ever written fanfic will SUCK for sure, especially if you started as a kid.

I'm not trying to piss anyone off by mentioning this so harshly or discourage any potential writers. ^^ But, if writing, in general, is not a hobby of yours or if you don't have any affinity to it prior to starting planning a story (like role playing with friends/groups), then expect lots of criticism to pour down your story, many which may point out your writing mistakes.

It can be awful... TwT

But really, you can't be a pro at it from the beginning and you need to understand that there is a step one you need to take in a long, long journey in writing. Heck, I'm not even a pro myself and my skills are relatively decent.

Seriously.

Guys and Girls.

DON'T BE DISCOURAAAAAGED~!!!! <3

Just, write to your heart's content and try to always perfect yourself. ^^ Keep an open mindset and appreciate those people who comment on your work, who try to offer you constructive criticism and feedback.

You'll know when that person is doing it with good intentions.

Don't be upset or angry at people pointing out the faults they see in your story. You're not baby Tolkien. Sometimes, you don't even realize it's something you need to work on to improve. ((For example: in my Night-Owl Romance, someone pointed out to me that I was using ellipses far too often and, at first, I did not think it was the case until I re-read the text and realized... oops, yeah. I kind of over did it. And then, I tried using them less frequently.))

Bonus PearlCrysta Trivia: I started writing fanfiction after my school ex-friend stopped RP-ing with me frequently, so basically, I was probably... 13-14 years old when I started doing it. Quizilla was the monster site with fics and tests I would do daily during my summer holidays (do you guys remember that site? X'D I still do lol.)

At the time, I was super into Yu-Gi-Oh that I needed to write a romance between my god-mode OC and Marik/Malik Ishtar.

Now, I am 25 and I cannot find the power to read my story from scratch ever again.

...

The level of cringiness will make even 707 shudder.

See guys?

SEE?!!

Yeah, I know what I'm saying when I say that your fanfic will suck.

But there's a remedy for it. OwO

14) Practice makes it perfect. ^^ (10 years+ with obvious breaks in between)

And this isn’t everything. Some are snippets, others have over 300 pages.

15) Reading enriches your vocabulary!

And by reading, I mean reading literature books or whatever tickles your senses. But has to be of quality. And keep that dictionary close by in case u meet expressions or words you do not understand.

#How to Write Fanfiction #PearlCrysta fanfiction #Fanfiction planning-method-and-advice #Mystic Messenger Fanfiction #Using Night-Owl Romance fanfic as an example for many points #Fanfiction

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gwynbleiddyn · 8 years ago

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Mass Effect Andromeda: Early Access Review

So, I finished my 10 hours and.... wow. This is going to be one hell of a game.

I’m super hyped about it, even more so after Early Access, and I’ve gotten a few anon requests for a review so, here we go. Big scary SPOILER WARNING going here because, boy, the secrets are spilling out by the dozen in Andromeda. Seriously, don’t read if you don’t want to know what goes down. BIG spoilers.

Very rambly and long-winded wordy thing (with bonus screencaps, yay) below the cut.

Alright, Andromeda. I’ll grant you one thing; Alec Ryder? A fucking incredible character. We haven’t seen the last of him.

That very important point aside, I’ll get on w/ the actual review.

First things first, loading the game up was an immediate hit of nostalgia, despite the vastly different menu and the music, both of those things held a specific kind of feeling to them that pretty much just screamed ‘this is mass effect!!’ in my face, and was a totally welcome introduction to a new game. First points on the board.

Waking up as Scott, I realise now that the trailers and shortened gifs honestly don’t do the animations any justice at all. They’re nuanced, subtle and so unbelievably human when you watch Ryder speak. It was a struggle to even grasp what the characters were saying, once I finished staring @ their faces and actually reading the dialogue. Such subtle intricacies to Scott’s smirks, head tilts, the way he glances, hell, even the damn idle anims had me gawping. There weren’t any animations that stood out to me as boring/dead/overanimated/stupid-looking, though I can see why some people are finding issue with the ‘dead-eye’ kind of look going on. I’m seeing it in a couple of places, but honestly? Not nearly to the extent that nay-sayers are throwing out there. It’s the kind of thing I can see getting sorted with an early patch, and it’s only noticeable if you’re really trying to find a problem.

The light-hearted tone across the Hyperion had me smiling the entire way through the intro, Scott’s silliness and quips had me snorting in the really ugly “i’m laughing so hard and i’ve metamorphosed into a seal” kind of way given the juxtaposition of Ryder Sr. gunning for planetfall from the word ‘go’. I immediately got the sense that this was not a regular setup, there were things left unsaid between this father and his children and it’d been that way for years. There’s a particularly hard-hitting moment in the wake of Habitat 7′s events, where Scott asks SAM (the AI developed by Dad Ryder. consequently, the AI Dad Ryder probably spent more time on than he spent with either of his children. let that sink in.) if his Dad actually cared about him. This wasn’t some cliche ‘daddy issues’ trope being played on, this was a real insight into Ryder’s character and background, both of which are uncertain and untested from the moment you meet them.

Pretty soon after the intro, where you meet Liam and Cora, Captain Donn and the elusive Alec, you’re thrown into the deep end of a shitstorm gone south in Habitat 7. New Earth, if you were lucky. At this point, though, you are shit outta luck. Crash landing, split up teams and scrambled comms pretty much sets up the framework for the classic “not all of us are leaving this place alive” feeling that comes with any good old fashioned pioneer spacefaring mission. There’s major problems surfacing, and that quickly becomes apparent amongst the dwindling hopes of humanity’s new home.

This high-intensity intro segues nicely into the ‘tutorial’ section, where you start to get to grips with the new vertical movement available to Ryder through their jump-jets, and the basics of commanding your squad and general gun mechanics. Nothing new there aside from jump-jets which are easy, but it takes some getting used to in regards to your new power format. You’re limited to 3, with variations on each power depending on whether you hold the power trigger or not. The game explains it better, I’m just shit at combat. Anyway, it’s a fresh take on an old, reliable system we got used to in the OT, giving Ryder a much more dynamic and fluid response to combat. Which is a good thing, because combat in ME:A has been ramped up to hell. Enemies are aggressive, flank you and use cover to their own advantage, forcing you to make use of your own cover and agility from the start. You’ll probably die a lot on Habitat 7. Don’t worry.

The story runs smoothly, and you’re immediately faced with side-missions to complete. The best part? They’re side missions you actually want to do. No stupid fetch quest, no ‘talk to angry woman about dead husband’ when you’ve only been there 5 minutes, no typical Bioware out-of-place-and-tedious sidelines that make no sense to the main story. No, these sidemissions involve actually figuring out where the hell your crew are, what the hell kind of planet you landed on, and how the hell you’re going to get out. All very essential to survival, I hear. Oh, and honestly? EXPLORE. That is literally your job; explore every inch of the map before you start chasing down a ‘main’ questline if you want to tackle this game effectively. Trust me. Dad Ryder actually expresses some surprise and.... is that.... affection? If you choose to take the scenic route and do some scans with your omni-tool and SAM. Worth it.

Andromeda rewards you for curiosity. Embrace it. It enhances the narrative and dialogue, and you get companion banter along the way. There’s nothing that should put you off taking the path less traveled.

Back on track: Habitat 7′s rookie-run mission concludes with what really should have been a predictable ‘twist’, but, for some reason, I completely forgot to see it coming over the horizon at light speed. I was so wrapped up in the wonder of exploring and figuring out the Kett that I just... well. Never has a game managed to make me cry in the first 90 minutes of playing. Congrats, Bioware. You did it. You broke my stone cold heart.

Alec dies to save you. Passes on his mantle to you. Very typical stuff, pretty much textbook, but this shit fucking hit me like a freight train because I totally forgot to expect the predictable. Well played. A good writer uses cliches and breaks them into itty bitty pieces, and Andromeda plays on this trope well.

And if that wasn’t enough, Scott dies too. For 22 seconds. Thanks, SAM. When he wakes, he’s immediately greeted by Liam (still in his armour... has that boy sat with you this entire time? Probably.) and Cora, your original squadmates. Cora delivers the blow, and the scene that encapsulates it all is driven by fantastically animated expressions on the three of them. Legit, I felt awful for Scott in that moment, to wake up and then discover he’s now in charge of finding a home for every human onboard Hyperion.

Anyone wants to fight me on ‘bad animation’, I’m pointing them to that scene, right there.

It’s at this point that the mystery of Andromeda really beings to unfold, and it strings you along wonderfully. It doesn’t throw a cause in your lap and hope that you kind of believe in it, it’s a careful, clever string of introductions and ambient conversation that draws you in. The Nexus feels like one of those places just outside of reality, y’know, 24hour stores, airports, empty car parks? That Vibe™ is there, and when you find out why, the questions start to ask themselves. What the hell is happening? It’s not just Ryder who wants to find out, but you as well. That is absolutely critical. This is good storytelling, how it should be done.

The Nexus is a main hub in the story, and there’s a lot going on -- too much to really condense into this review, but well worth the detour around the divisions to speak with whoever’s available. Every person offers you a little more perspective on the mystery surrounding the place. Take advantage of it, be nosey.

The most important thing the Nexus delivers to you, as Pathfinder, is the Tempest. And, God, if you thought Normandy’s reveal was breathtaking... lemme tell you, the Tempest’s unveiling was a thing of absolute beauty. Like, open-mouthed, wide-eyed, “holy shit is that my ship” kind of beauty. Scott’s face kind of says it all. (excuse his minor plasticky appearance here; i’ve been playing on medium/low settings to jump straight in the game, but i can confirm the game runs beautifully even on high res, and with a rig like mine, that’s a pleasant surprise)

The Tempest, like the Normandy, is an engineering marvel, and essentially your new home as Pathfinder while you find a home for everyone else. Not a shabby deal at all. I’ll leave the Tempest details for you to find out, but I could just sit there and stare out the observation decks all day tbh. Absolutely fucking beautiful.

And then there’s the crew. Now, if you’re anything like me, you probably had some trepidation about meeting them, fearing that nothing would ever come close to your Normandy family, but trust me, that is not a problem. Every crew member introduces themselves and their role in a seamless cutscene through the Tempest with Vetra, your bona-fide requisitions officer, armory stocker, and team mom. She looks after you from the start, and it’s fantastic. Love your Vetra, guys. She’s a gem.

After your minor respite in the Tempest, you’re reminded that, once again, you are now the Pathfinder and it’s time to turn eyes to Eos, a desert planet rampant with failed colonization efforts and the Kett. It’s now your official job to wade through the shitstorm of freaky alien tech, scavengers, and strange acquaintances while getting to grips with your new ATV, the Nomad. (a disclaimer: i, shep, cannot drive any in-game vehicle to save my ass. the mako was a disaster covered in lava whenever i had to take the wheel. the nomad is facing the same fate. i may be over-exaggerating the exact practicality of it.)

Eos sees you run into Peebee and Drack, both future companions, but currently complete unknowns to Ryder. Your main job is to stabilize the climate by using fancy alien tech, and that involves all the manual labour of turning on generators, finding power sources and running past a haberdash tutorial on forward outposts and planet viability. It feels real, like you’re actually getting your hands dirty (or, well, sandy) and digging a home out of nothing for your 20,000 stranded souls on Hyperion. Andromeda nails the desperation in your far-flung plans, Ryder’s grasping at straws and you can feel it. Eos is the first glimmer of hope you get as Pathfinder, and unfortunately it also carries the current plot-gate for Early Access. I could ramble on about Eos here, but this thing is long enough as it is.

In a very brief summary:

Andromeda feels like Mass Effect, inside and out. Story, characters, design; every aspect is a callback to the OT (in more ways than one...) but with a new outlook, going forward. Andromeda is truly a tale of pioneer exploration, all the way from Bioware’s own narrative to sending you as the player to a new galaxy with an untested Ryder, an unfamiliar crew, and the mission of a lifetime on your hands.

#mass effect andromeda #andromeda spoilers #review #*mine

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nevinitambay-blog · 8 years ago

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Close Reading *Stardust* (2007), or: Characterization Through Proof

Hey, everyone! I hope you all had a good week writing and reading and thinking about what you liked or disliked about what you read (or watched)! Welcome to the second installment of my close reading series! This week’s movie is the film adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Stardust. Since I have seen this movie before, I’m going to use a different part of close reading and take the details I’ve noticed in previous viewings to form a thesis, a statement about the movie that I will support with my direct observations of it. So, before you read on, I highly recommend that you watch the movie Stardust, form a specific opinion about it, back up that opinion with examples from only the film (not the book it is based on and not any of Neil Gaiman’s other work), and drop that opinion in the comments. Let’s do this!

The defining theme of the film Stardust is the question of proof, of what is real and true (or not), whether or not proof itself is real, and whether or not we should care either way. At every turn, this theme is included, from the very first line referencing a philosopher’s question about stars and humanity to the narrator’s final statements assuring the audience that Tristan and Yvaine lived happily ever after. What is particularly interesting in terms of the writing itself, though, is how this theme is uniformly included in every scene with every character in some way, and how that then adds crucial information about each character.

Since going into detail for each character would make this article well over my 1600-2000 word goal, I will briefly go over a key interaction with proof for each character I can and try to interpret what that interaction means.

Dunstan Thorn:

Dunstan seeks to disprove that there is another world on the other side of the wall, but, when he finds that there is one, quickly accepts it as true since he trusts his senses. This interaction indicates that he is optimistic, because he doesn’t seek to explain away his adventure as a dream, and he is engaged in the present, since his mechanism for accruing proof is through the immediacy of the body’s senses.

Victoria:

Victoria requires material proof of love and material proof of value. She also calls Tristan a shop boy, equating who Tristan is with what he does for money. Ignoring all of the implications of shallowness that western cultures view negatively, this indicates that Victoria is selfish, because she reduces those around her to what stuff they can provide to her immediately and nothing more.

Tristan:

Tristan accepts proof on several occasions, but mostly functions without it by trusting in his own feelings, intuition, and other people telling him things. He accepted Victoria’s conditions for marriage, because he felt that he loved her. He accepted the letter and Babylon candle from his mother, because it made him happy to do so. He accepted his dream about the stars, because he enjoyed the idea of being a chosen hero. This pattern continues throughout the movie. Since he doesn’t actively seek proof for anything and trusts his intuition, he is shown to be a foolhardy idealist who mostly survives due to the charity and assistance of others. It ends well for him, but mostly not by his doing.

Lamia:

Lamia peeks in order to select the heart from the divination ferret when she and her sisters were trying to decide who should gather the star. While this shows that she trusts the divination method of gaining proof, it also shows that she has no problem manipulating others through playing off of their own relationship with proof in order to get what she wants. She removes Ditchwater Sal’s ability to perceive the star (proof through the senses), she lays a trap for Yvaine, she expresses frustration with her magic re-aging her (removing her ability to fool others into trusting her), and she cruelly tells Tristan and Yvaine that they are free when she has no intention of letting them go. Each instance reinforces the fact that Lamia is selfish, but in a more malicious way than Victoria, and that selfishness is usually more focused on the long game than immediate gratification.

The Wall Guard:

The wall guard trusts the traditions of his village and the importance of his role in those traditions, because that is the way it has always been done. This indicates that he trusts the surety of the past, but is somewhat distrusting of the future. This distrust is reinforced when Dunstan Thorn tricks him in order to cross the wall (something that he does not allow to happen again during Tristan’s attempt). However, he seems to know that there is value in obscuring certain truths when he tries to hide that Dunstan crossed the wall from Tristan. The major characterization that these brief interactions impart is that the wall guard operates on a system of personal honor, where what is real is less important than what is good.

Yvaine:

Since Yvaine is a star, she cannot hide when she is happy because she visibly shines. This means she has very little control over proof and is more so the victim of it, so to speak. Although she doesn’t actively lie, she does go along with Tristan’s lie that they are married, and Captain Shakespeare’s lie that Tristan was thrown off of the boat. She also condemns Victoria’s lack of proving her love while Tristan was doing so much to try to prove his. Overall, these interactions are muddy and don’t impart much characterization other than indicating that Yvaine’s inability to hide when she is happy is a weakness to be preyed upon.

Septimus:

Septimus meaningfully interacts with proof in two ways. The first is his pursuit of the throne of Stormhold. The second is the trust he displays towards anyone he doesn’t perceive as a threat. In his quest for the throne, he accepts the burden of proving he is worthy to be king by being the last surviving prince and restoring the royal ruby. Additionally, he gets proof that the soothsayer is a traitor before he kills him. These indicate that he believes what is proven to be what is real: if he is the last surviving prince, then he is, in fact, the most worthy person to be king. However, his trust in the word of others changing depending on whether what they say and do aids him or not (for example: he trusts Bernard telling him about the star, but not the clucking merchant), indicates that even if he believes himself to be the most worthy, he doesn’t believe worthiness is equated with mercy, goodness, etc. This reinforces the somewhat brutal rules for succession being normal for Stormhold.

Captain Shakespeare:

Captain Shakespeare’s main interaction with proof is having and manipulating the perception of an audience. When he interrogates Tristan, he makes sure to speak loudly enough for his crew to hear through the door. He also tosses a dummy wearing Tristan’s clothes out of a window on his ship, but gives enough verbal warning for the crew to be able to see it fall. Finally, he explains to Yvaine how his crew bought the show: “An ounce of bargaining, a pinch of trickery, a soupcon of intimidation, et viola! The perfect recipe for a towering reputation without ever having to spill one drop of blood.” This shows that Captain Shakespeare values both compassion and the rapport created through reputation. This value system indicates that Shakespeare is a balance of idealism and pragmatism, protecting idealism when the doors are closed and functioning in life by realistic means.

Many of the other characters have moments of interacting with proof, but these are the ones that I found to be the most meaningful. These instances don’t just add another line of dialogue or another scene to draw out how much time the story takes, but add meaningful information that foreshadows events that happen to each character later on.

So, at the end of the day, what can I take away from Gaiman’s storytelling in this movie to use in my own writing? First, the foreshadowing through the characterizations listed above is well done, and I’d like to emulate that in my own writing. Second, the subtle foreshadowing that Tristan would be the heir to the Stormhold throne and that Tristan’s attempt to prove his love to Victoria would be rejected (her disgust at polar bear’s head foreshadowed her disgust for the handful of stardust) was well done. Third, the placement of objects in the film that were meaningful later on was beautiful. The necklace not only acted as the indicator for successor, but also pulled Septimus into pursuing Yvaine. The lightning was not only gathered as a commodity, but a container of it was used by Tristan as a weapon against Lamia. All of Tristan’s sword training not only came in handy to intimidate Humphrey, but was integral to his fight with Septimus. A Babylon candle was used three different points in the plot. Each of these instances made the story feel more real and less arbitrary, because they acted organically with the plot more than once. Finally, the progression of events was well done and logically followed each other.

That leaves the question of what aspect of storytelling in this film I wish to avoid in my own writing. While the storytelling is technically precise, I’m not sure if I could satisfactorily imitate Gaiman’s whimsy in interpreting the figurative as literal and the literal as figurative, but that is not necessarily something that I would consciously avoid in my own work. One aspect of the movie’s writing that I will avoid, though, is having a magical kingdom separate from our world only full of white people with English accents. It’s boring and doesn’t add flavor to the writing. To put another way, having no one but white English people in a story set in England is like thickening a soup with cornstarch in water instead of chicken broth; You still have soup at the end, but it could have tasted that much better.

Luckily for all of us, I’ve made it this far with no bread or alcohol puns (mostly because I couldn’t think of any). I guess I’ll just have to settle for soup. Happy writing!

What did you think of this week’s movie? Did you find a new technique for storytelling in it? Do you have questions for me? Is there a movie you would like me to write about? Let me know in the comments! I look forward to hearing from you! I post new articles on Wednesdays. Please remember to upvote, like, subscribe, and/or follow me on other social media if you find these articles useful and want to see more!

#writing tips #writing advice #reading tips #close reading #Stardust

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operationrainfall · 4 years ago

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Title MO:Astray Developer Archpray Inc. Publisher Rayark Release Date October 25, 2019 (Steam), September 10th, 2020 (Switch) Genre Action Platformer, Metroidvania, Puzzle, Story Driven Platform Switch, Steam Age Rating Teen Official Website

MO:Astray is a game about a blob and its quest through an unknown place, on an unknown planet. The hook itself sounds promising. Traverse through numerous biomes wondering why your blob has gone astray, while trying to solve what happened along the way. When I was offered the opportunity to review MO:Astray, I had to hook my claws into it and was unprepared from the beginning how much it would wrench my heart. As always, I like to start my reviews off with this one question for the readers: Is this game fun?

Blob Time

From the very beginning of the game I knew I was going to fall in love. The intro screen, the tutorial afterwards, everything about this game so far touched my senses in a way that hasn’t been done in a very long time. The art style, the sound design, and the atmosphere behind the game screamed the following to me: this game is a passion project. So, I started a new game and selected from one of the four difficulty modes, Adventure (Hard).

During the tutorial, it starts off in a barren land. You’re a grey blob in the middle of a pool of water surrounded by various reeds and fauna. During this tutorial you learn how to move, jump, and stick to walls. To jump, you have to aim your blob first, and jumping has arcing in it, so your blob falls after a bit of time. The way the controls are designed feel good from the start, and I had no reason to swap any of my controls to different control settings. It’s a standard system, though here are your starting controls:

Move: Left Joystick or D-pad

Aim: Right Joystick

Jump: ZL

That’s it. Super simple, yet works very well for storytelling purposes in the beginning of the game. Later on, you get more abilities and upgrades that allow you to do more with your button scheme and setup.

It’s so cute!

As soon as it throws you into the first chapter, you’re greeted by a guide. However, she’s just a voice and recalls her past memories as you traverse through the game. The blob gets more physical features, some ears, a sign on its head, and a heads up display. At this point, the game actually starts.

Moving on, this game teaches you about hidden secrets from one of the earliest scenes – there’s blue blob fragments that cover specific areas. If you choose to follow these blob fragments, you’re greeted with your first Memory Fragment. These Memory Fragments are what help support and enforce the game’s story along the way as you try to piece together what happened to this place. Memory Fragments also give you a larger health pool when you collect five. You can view these Memory Fragments at any time under the “data collection” option in the pause menu.

Travelling through this abandoned area, you learn that the game isn’t nearly as innocent as it seems. There are traps, puzzles, and a mysterious pink fauna that kills you immediately upon touching it. Further on, you start to encounter Infected – previous inhabitants of this world that have turned into plant zombies. The game promotes the idea that you’re easily killable and does it well in the first scene with one of these Infected. Remember how I said that the early controls work for telling a story? This is what I meant. When the game limits you on your options and allows you to grow, it’s usually conveying a reason or purpose behind it. In this instance, the purpose is to give you anxiety as you’re running through the world.

Thankfully, if you die in this game, you respawn immediately at the beginning of the last checkpoint you triggered. This is really nice, because you will die a lot in MO:Astray – it’s no slouch when it shows its difficulty. That isn’t to say that you’ll stay weak forever in MO:Astray – your blob DOES progressively get stronger and stronger.

Oh boy. Not ready for this heartache.

Upgrades – there are quite a bit of them in this game, though I’m not going to spoil any of them excluding the first ability you get because it’s one of my favorite additions to a game, ever. Once you’re about fifteen percent of the way through the first chapter, you get the ability to jump on enemies’ heads after a mini tutorial by accidentally jumping into a experimentation vat. Mo can read the monsters’ memories, how they lived, view flashback cutscenes depending on the monster, and who they were before whatever disaster happened.

MO:Astray, in a subtle way, reminds you that these monsters were once living beings with their own thoughts, families, and ideals. The information it gives is their last thoughts before death, what career they had, their name, age, gender, and “resurrection permits.” These resurrection permits come in handy later when solving puzzles. It also doesn’t shy away from collecting these as there’s an entire log in the pause menu, under data collection, called “Monster Memories.”

A few of these memories throughout MO:Astray sent complete chills down my spine. Furthermore, these Monster Memories help to further piece together the lore and the disaster that fell upon this land.

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Mo:Astray is difficult, but in a good way! The platforming is fun and interactive, and incredibly challenging based on what difficulty you chose to begin with. The game changes platforming sections if you play on different difficulties, with easy and normal having some traps removed. You can see how many times you’ve died by selecting a chapter and hovering over individual areas – I died a total of 341 times on Adventure (Hard) difficulty.

Variety-wise, the game does very well in showing the differences between each individual area as well as individual monsters, puzzles, and platforming traps – this variety helps keep the game fresh and alive throughout the entire experience. MO:Astray has a keen eye for game design as no one area felt unfair, even though I died literally hundreds of times throughout my playthrough. Game design in general for this game is well done, as it leads players naturally to secret areas and rewards trying different methods to progress.

Continuing on game design, let’s get to the Bosses. The way MO:Astray tackles bosses is a way I’ve never seen before. Each boss has its own puzzle mechanic to take down each bad guy. Without spoiling too much, the first boss relies on you attaching yourself to enemies so that it damages itself rather than you attacking it. These types of puzzle mechanics are used in every single boss fight and lasts until the end. Personally, the fact that MO:Astray stays consistent with the puzzle action theme throughout the entire game is incredibly impressive to me.

Plant thing of Doom

I need to mention this for any puzzle solving fiends – there’s a TON of puzzles in this game. All areas include one or more puzzles to solve to progress. One of my favorite features about this game is how it has the ability to hide secret areas with puzzles. Furthermore, there are Monster Memories, Memory Fragments, and even secret cutscenes behind expanded portions of already area progressing puzzles.

Each individual area has its own aesthetic to it. Chapter 1 is all about broken and destroyed labs, and the further you progress, the more that chapter’s biomes change. Later on you’ll have the opportunity to see gorgeous fauna filled zones, pristine labs, and corpse riddled zones as Mo blobs his way through this horrifying place.

Speaking of aesthetics, did I mention that this game is literal eye, ear, and sensory candy? Every individual scene looks like a rollercoaster joyride in a theme park of despair. Art style, sound design, and story design combine to make one of the most atmosphere rich platformer games I’ve laid my hands on. Seriously, the team did a knockout job on making you feel like you’re far away from home in an unnatural hellscape.

The game is deceptively cute, because even at points of extreme sadness, looking at Mo filled me with determination. I’ve attached an art gallery to showcase the artists’ hard work, below.

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MO:Astray’s story is a gripping tale that will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. I won’t go into spoiler detail, but the gist of the story is that something went horribly wrong with experiments. Mo is now traveling through the said aftermath of these experiments. Learning the mystery of what exactly happened to whatever place you’re on is absolutely delightful. Not only is the game filled with tons of hidden lore and goodies to show what happened, at the end of every chapter you’re given flashbacks. These flashbacks are in comic book form and each of them gives you crucial information. For those willing, collecting all the Memory Fragments awards you with a different ending than the normal one. The story clicks in place as you progress, offering a satisfying conclusion to an already wonderful game.

What’s great about the story is that you can completely miss out on story details in your first playthrough, so the game encourages you to run through each chapter again via chapter select. On my playthrough, I completed the story 100% of the way through. However, I missed quite a bit of Monster Memories, so I decided to go grab those as well.

Because the game supports your ability to hoard information like a sponge, reading through everything in the Data Collection is a treat in itself. I spent a good hour or two just reading every story and piece of information.

After completing the game at least once, you get “Speed Mode” and a few other secret goodies. Speed Mode is a mode specifically for speedrunning the game so you can compete with other players’ scores online.

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I went into MO:Astray expecting a fun, enjoyable platforming experience after watching the incredibly well made trailer. I wasn’t disappointed, and this game has more than driven my expectations past their limits. From the first boot up of the game, to the very end, I was filled with an exuberant joy I haven’t experienced from a platformer in ages. The only negative that I have for this game, is that I wish there was more. I didn’t want to stop playing it! To answer the question, “Is this game fun?”, I’d gesture to say that this game is incredibly fun and more than worth its current price point at $15 on Steam and Switch. I personally clocked in around 13 hours of gameplay, with a few hours of story reading.

MO:Astray is one of the best games I’ve played in the past 5 years. I mentioned this earlier, but this game truly feels like a passion project by developers that truly care about game design, as well as making the player feel the weight of the situation Mo has to go through. Personally, I’ll be recommending this game to everyone who loves story driven platformers – Archpray Inc. knows how to deliver.

[easyreview cat1title=”Overall” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”5″]

Review Copy Provided by Publisher

REVIEW: MO:Astray Title MO:Astray

#action platformer #Game Review #MO:Astray #Puzzle game #Story Driven #Switch

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gamerszone2019-blog · 5 years ago

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Sky: Children of the Light Review

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/sky-children-of-the-light-review/

Sky: Children of the Light Review

Perhaps the best compliment I can give Sky: Children of the Light is to say that I almost totally forgot I was playing a mobile game. Everything about this exploration-focused game, from the evocative visual style and soaring musical score to the intimate moments of subtle interaction with other nameless, speechless players, is pure bliss.It should give you some idea of what type of game Sky is to hear that it’s the latest from thatgamecompany, the visionary studio behind low-key, critically-acclaimed games Flow, Flower, and Journey, the latter of which won IGN’s Game of the Year award for 2012. Sky isn’t a direct sequel to Journey, but it might as well be: the characters move with that same elegant grace as their capes flutter behind them and it features an expanded and more engaging multiplayer component.

Your quest to relieve lingering spirits, which are suspended as translucent silhouettes across various worlds, is a charming story about healing and restoration that’s almost meditative to play. It’s emotional and beautiful in a way few games are and really shows why thatgamecompany is a master of this particular craft.

Sky is a game about discovery in more ways than just its world.

“

Tutorials teach you how to do things like move around with the floaty and sometimes obtuse on-screen virtual joystick controls, jump by tapping your right thumb, and soar through the clouds by holding it down, but Sky is a game about discovery in more ways than just its world. For example, there are nuances to movement you can pick up as you play. If you time your jumps just right to hop immediately after landing the previous jump, you pick up speed while skipping across fields and meadows. Or if you land a jump on the downward side of a hill, you’ll skate across the ground at higher speeds. Learning those unnecessary but useful techniques gives it a sense of progression even though you’re not mechanically unlocking new abilities.

Similar to Journey, Sky offers an almost unrivaled sense of freedom, specifically because of its simplicity. Detailed guidance on where to go or what to do generally isn’t needed because exploring the open and inviting worlds and intuitively finding things on your own is basically the entire game, but naturally it can also be a bit unclear where to go at times. If the subtle storytelling wasn’t as delightful to watch. Large creatures appear in between worlds to offer a Shadow of the Colossus-esque emotional weight to everything. The sounds they make sound are desperate and painful, while your character and the spirits you discover are more melodic and cheery in tone.

And arguably, meeting and playing with others is just as important to the story as the minimalist cutscenes themselves. Plus, interactions with other players are so responsive and fun that the simple format doesn’t grow tiresome. Instead, it actually felt like the shackles of a guided tutorial and restricted level designs are removed by the time you reach the second world, about 15 minutes in.

Each of the seven different landscapes has a personality of its own, from the ethereal and cloud-heavy worlds full of floating islands to those covered in dense, green grass inviting you to skate across the prairies, or even forests drenched in rain that evoke a somber yet comforting atmosphere.

But what puts Sky over the top is how much it embraces its wonderfully positive social interactions. There’s no voice or text chat and no way to directly communicate with other players – instead, you use a collection of quaint and frankly heartwarming gestures. You can hold out a candle to greet and add a player to your friend list and then assign them a custom nickname (since you can’t see their actual name). You can play music together, exchange glowing butterflies, and even hold hands to go exploring as a team. Up to eight players can join hands led by a single leader that guides the group across the land and through the sky. The impromptu grouping system feels genuine because of the emotive interactions characters make towards each other and it’s a great system to help new players figure out what to do and where to go. It’s a bit like putting yourself on autopilot while someone else guides the way, but you can easily break off whenever you want to resume control.

The unspoken communication in multiplayer is a big part of the magic and is best with a stranger.

“

Technically, you can invite friends directly to play with people you know, but much like Sky as a whole, the unspoken communication in its multiplayer is a big part of the magic and is best with a stranger. One player I met (who I decided to name “Homie”) explored with me for over an hour. Sometimes we’d stop and just sing to each other by tapping our avatars directly or we’d hop across fields, skating and racing against each other. At one point Homie grabbed my hand and flew us both through the sky, swirling and weaving between the clouds. At no point was I concerned with “what to do next” – I just enjoyed the spectacle. It was simple and wonderful.

Sky is as complex as you want it to be. The entire game is completable from start to finish entirely solo, but several hidden doors and secret side areas can only be unlocked if multiple players gather together to solve simple puzzles, like lighting two candles at the same time. On the surface, these puzzles are often as simple as tapping on a candle to light it up or following a trail of glittering dust to the next spirit silhouette, but there’s a satisfying magic in every interaction. Story events aren’t explicitly explained, but you can put the pieces together based on the environments and poses of each silhouette you encounter. Many scenarios are heartbreaking, featuring characters buckled over in grief, and that makes your relieving touch to dissipate the spirit all the more powerful. Visually, it’s breathtaking from start to finish and even though you’re just lightly tapping on the screen and watching the environment bursting with light, it’s hard not to feel at ease.

While I loved every minute of Sky on an iPhone, I couldn’t help but yearn for a more capable gaming system. The on-screen controls do a respectable job while exploring, but when you need precision and subtle movements for platforming segments or when guiding another player around the world, the lack of actual buttons and control sticks got in the way a bit. Thankfully, the forgiving and welcoming design meant minor annoyances like floaty controls rarely interrupted the fun.

In some regards, Sky’s focus on deeper gameplay robs it of a bit of the charm that made Journey’s elegant simplicity so special the first time around, but that’s often the case with follow-ups and spiritual successors. Instead of trying to replicate its predecessor, thatgamecompany has instead iterated and expanded upon what came before to craft an adventure that’s strange, meditative, and memorable. The mysterious ending, which I reached after about four hours, invites repeat playthroughs and the dynamic multiplayer encounters ensure no two runs will ever be the same.

While it’s a free download from the Apple App Store, I played through the entirety of Sky without spending a dime, and I never felt the need to. But if you’d like, you can pay for microtransactions to speed up your access to the in-game currency that lets you buy customization items like alternate hair, capes, and clothing designs, or even upgrading in-game emotes. It’s a simple system that works well and riffs off of the rest of Sky’s simplicity in a rewarding way.

Source : IGN

#Game News #Game Reviews

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operationrainfall · 5 years ago

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Title LUNA The Shadow Dust Developer Lantern Studio Publisher Coconut Island Games, Application Systems Heidelberg Release Date Feb 13, 2020 Genre Point and Click, Puzzle Platform PC, Mac, Linux Official Website

LUNA The Shadow Dust is a classic point and click puzzle game brought to life through spectacular hand-drawn visuals and an immersive, mood inducing musical score. We follow the journey of a young boy and his feline companion as they scale an ominous tower, solving puzzles to progress, and reliving their lost memories to reveal their tale.

LUNA The Shadow Dust has much to offer as an experience and I’ll begin by discussing its rather unique story, which blends mystery with emotion to tell an immersive and captivating tale. At the start, we, along with the boy, are literally thrown into this journey as he is dropped into desolation with only a single door present. The opening of this door triggers the assembly of a domineering tower in which the boy enters. As the boy, soon accompanied by a cat, climbs this tower, memories emerge and visions are had, coloring in the backstory. The appearance of a dark entity that overshadows the tower and the land below instills fear and further mystery. What is this entity? What is this tower and what secrets is it hiding? And what significance do the boy and this questionable feline have in all of this?

Desolation and a single door. Opening it and a tower forms…

What makes LUNA The Shadow Dust particularly outstanding is that the narrative forgoes text, dialogue, or words of any kind. Rather, the entire story is shown, impressively, through its aesthetics. Visuals are the key, for they depict the unveiling of the plot, whether through the actions taken as we solve puzzles, or through the beautifully drawn cutscenes. Significant attention to detail has been made, from the intricate backgrounds to the many illustrations on the walls and different objects found throughout the tower. These illustrations may hold secrets which may help to solve puzzles or allude to the reasons for the events taking place, so stopping to appreciate them is always worth the time. I am especially impressed with the detail that went into the characters, specifically in the expression of their emotions. From fear and confusion, to heartfelt pain, to joy and relief, all are vividly and incredibly depicted through the peculiar art style. And not only are these emotions well depicted, they are striking, adding to the tones of the events on screen and defining the excellence of the wordless storytelling. Lastly, this decision to implement a textless narrative allows for interpretation to be left completely to the player, having us piece together the mysteries of the events, as well as identifying who these characters might be in this imaginative world.

A wealth of emotions are conveyed through the illustrations

Staying with LUNA The Shadow Dust’s aesthetics, the overall quality of the visuals are simply spectacular. To think that everything presented in the game is hand-drawn is truly amazing. I can only fathom the time and effort that went into bringing world and characters to life and I am thoroughly awe struck by its execution. Especially with the characters and the degree in which their emotions are conveyed, I am impressed, given the simplicity of the style. The young boy’s eyes are simple, drawn-in black circles, and yet emotional volumes are spoken through them. The further details that went into both the boy’s and the cat’s mouth movements, positions, and body language all perfectly convey the thoughts and feelings of these two through their ordeal.

A lone tower above the blackened world, full of the boy’s memories…

The audio is equally astonishing, not only in its ability to match the tones of events on-screen, but how fitting, overall, the soundtrack is to the artistic style of the game. I especially enjoyed listening to the many variations of the main theme, from the times it becomes quieter and less complex when the cat becomes shadow, or how this theme increases in bass and volume as fear or danger encroach. Its subtle use of silence to emphasize events is equally impressive, as it never relies too much on it, a common mistake in so many other games. The sound effects are also noteworthy, only adding to the immersive nature of the tasks performed and the individual motions of the characters through their puzzle solving. Yet out of all of the audio achievements, I cannot help but further praise the sound score. It’s rare to find one that is as perfectly fitting as this one. It is genuinely remarkable.

Visual and audio come together perfectly for an impactful experience

Although LUNA The Shadow Dust shines brightest through the sheer brilliance of its wordless story and its telling through fantastic aesthetics, its gameplay also has similar glimmers of that greatness. The entirety of gameplay is puzzle based, requiring you to interact with the environment and switching between the boy and the cat to progress. While the boy’s roles include the moving of heavy objects and most interactions with machinery, the cat has greater platforming options, including shifting into shadow. I found this clever, as you could use the shadows of objects, and the boy, as platforms. The shadows also provide their own unique obstacles, which add to the imaginative qualities of play.

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There’s not much to say about controls other than they work flawlessly, which is expected given the nature of point and click games. Clicking on the screen moves the selected character, clicking on objects changes the pointer icon and has the selected character interact with said object. Switching between the characters can be done by clicking that character, their icon in the top of the screen, or using the SPACE bar. And that’s really it. Simple and well implemented.

Use the SPACE bar to switch quickly between characters

Unfortunately, LUNA The Shadow Dust’s greatest weaknesses are also revealed in its gameplay. I found the puzzles to be easy, perhaps a bit too easy. Given the control mechanics, puzzles are limited to a finite number of interactions. The more difficult puzzles do require the solving of multiple parts before you can progress, but these more complex puzzles were too few. Due to the low difficulty level, I also never felt overly satisfied when solving them. Rather than a feeling of accomplishment, the puzzles felt like minor hurdles as I played through. I will say that each puzzle is incredibly imaginative in their utilization of art, music, timing, perspective, and the need of observation to make these puzzles unique. However, I found that they lacked a satisfying degree of challenge overall. This feeling is only compounded by the fact that the game is painfully short. The handful of puzzles to be solved can be completed in a single sitting. Many will complete this game in under five hours, which is truly a shame given the strength of the game’s other qualities. I would have loved more puzzles if it meant spending more time enjoying the aesthetics, immersing myself in the imaginative creations of the developers, or experiencing greater challenge as we progress. These shortcomings of gameplay are a letdown, poignantly contrasting with the quality and finish of the other game elements.

Keep your eyes peeled for clues. This puzzle gives a hint for the very next…

As an experience, LUNA The Shadow Dust is genuinely profound. An intriguing, mystery brimming story brought to life through fantastic, whimsical aesthetics. Its brilliance is only marred by its missteps in gameplay, which cannot be ignored. The price of around $20 (US) for about five hours of play may discourage, yet the abundance of talent and imagination more than make up for it. If you’re willing to open yourselves to this encompassing experience, then the rich cinematics, the sheer force of the visuals, and the immensity of the sound score will all immerse and awe. Embrace it, and Luna The Shadow Dust may just leave you speechless.

[easyreview cat1title=”Overall” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”3″]

Review Copy Provided by Publisher

REVIEW: LUNA The Shadow Dust Title LUNA The Shadow Dust

#application systems #coconut island #Indie #Luna #Luna the shadow dust #point and click #puzzle #shadow dust

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