Choose your own adventure Goosebumps books are more scary and better written than this.
el prota de este juego es como los tios de los creepypastas de cartuchos malditos pero llevando el "pero no le di importancia" al extremo
Not sure how I feel about this. The slow burn lead up to the reveal is superb, while the rest doesn't do much for me. This would have definitely creeped me out in '92 and it still kinda manages to; some older games are just like that without even trying, but this one is trying. I can see its influence on a lot of stuff, even though this is not really my genre (but I see it in Radical Dreamers which I only played bc Chrono Trigger Gaiden). Not sure what to rate it but it's worth checking out.
" It's a poltergeist " - I said, with a shudder
" What's a poltergeist? "
" A geist that polters "
" What's a poltergeist? "
" A geist that polters "
On my way to give a wet willy to everyone that thinks horror games only took off after resident evil or silent hill cause boy are they missing out on some camp
To avoid being patronizing I'm going to review this game as what it is and not for what it once meant to the sound and visual novel genres.
Certainly the best aspect of the game is the sound department, it uses some vfx that can make certain scenes quite distressing. This is more true when it comes to some of the music it has and that games like the When They Cry series would eventually use to make its most tense scenes so effective.
Visually the game ranges from serviceable to great, the latter rings true specially when it comes to its otogirisou (as in the flower itself) motif and some horror scenes.
Sadly, this is where my praises end. The story is bad, the premise is way too overused, specially now thanks to movies that use the Jason Blumm formula, but that it wasn't neither great not new even in 1992. The average IQ of the world would've went up a point or two if the protagonists didn't exist; their stupidity can only go so far to make the plot work before I stop caring about them whatsoever, something that can make or kill all of the tension and the horror that a story tries to convey.
There are some scooby doo-esque level moments minus the comedic element that had me scratching my head for what the game was trying to achieve, wether it tried too hard to be scary and failed or if it just was trying to be goofy, not really achieving being neither of those.
At the end of the day Otogirisou was an interesting enough experience, albeit not a great one. I care for videogame history and certainly this game makes an important enough part of it when it comes to sound/visual novels to not being a waste of time, far from it actually. I would recommend this game with the big caveat that critical thinking just hurts the experience.
Certainly the best aspect of the game is the sound department, it uses some vfx that can make certain scenes quite distressing. This is more true when it comes to some of the music it has and that games like the When They Cry series would eventually use to make its most tense scenes so effective.
Visually the game ranges from serviceable to great, the latter rings true specially when it comes to its otogirisou (as in the flower itself) motif and some horror scenes.
Sadly, this is where my praises end. The story is bad, the premise is way too overused, specially now thanks to movies that use the Jason Blumm formula, but that it wasn't neither great not new even in 1992. The average IQ of the world would've went up a point or two if the protagonists didn't exist; their stupidity can only go so far to make the plot work before I stop caring about them whatsoever, something that can make or kill all of the tension and the horror that a story tries to convey.
There are some scooby doo-esque level moments minus the comedic element that had me scratching my head for what the game was trying to achieve, wether it tried too hard to be scary and failed or if it just was trying to be goofy, not really achieving being neither of those.
At the end of the day Otogirisou was an interesting enough experience, albeit not a great one. I care for videogame history and certainly this game makes an important enough part of it when it comes to sound/visual novels to not being a waste of time, far from it actually. I would recommend this game with the big caveat that critical thinking just hurts the experience.
Industry bending.
This is the first thing that came to me when I was playing this amazing piece of art. I cannot imagine how innovative it must have felt playing this in 1992. That is one of the things I love the most about this era of gaming, specially on the Super Famicom, is that there were A LOT of experimentation of ideas and concepts.
Well, the game itself is basically a 'Choose your own Adventure' type stuff, having an uneasy and creepy atmosphere to it, based on quite typical Japanese horror from that era and I gotta say that 'Clock Tower' took loads of inspiration from this.
For those who do not know, this game was developed by the almighty SPIKE CHUNSOFT team (of Dragon Quest fame) and the idea came from Koichi Nakamura itself, where upon seeing that a girl he was dating at the time did not like "usual" games, he then thought of a game which could be played by anyone, as an easy introductory venture into this world, so later they could eventually pick up other titles to play.
That is how Sound Novels where created and later on evolved into Visual Novels (with Leaf's eroges).
If you are interested in game research or just like Visual Novels, you cannot go wrong with this one (it is quite short as well). Take a look at this video on the history of Visual Novels as well if you want to go further into this rabbit hole [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wOtv-J7tOI]
Now, could we also get a translation of Kamaitachi no Yoru [https://www.backloggd.com/games/kamaitachi-no-yoru], please? Thanks.
This is the first thing that came to me when I was playing this amazing piece of art. I cannot imagine how innovative it must have felt playing this in 1992. That is one of the things I love the most about this era of gaming, specially on the Super Famicom, is that there were A LOT of experimentation of ideas and concepts.
Well, the game itself is basically a 'Choose your own Adventure' type stuff, having an uneasy and creepy atmosphere to it, based on quite typical Japanese horror from that era and I gotta say that 'Clock Tower' took loads of inspiration from this.
For those who do not know, this game was developed by the almighty SPIKE CHUNSOFT team (of Dragon Quest fame) and the idea came from Koichi Nakamura itself, where upon seeing that a girl he was dating at the time did not like "usual" games, he then thought of a game which could be played by anyone, as an easy introductory venture into this world, so later they could eventually pick up other titles to play.
That is how Sound Novels where created and later on evolved into Visual Novels (with Leaf's eroges).
If you are interested in game research or just like Visual Novels, you cannot go wrong with this one (it is quite short as well). Take a look at this video on the history of Visual Novels as well if you want to go further into this rabbit hole [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wOtv-J7tOI]
Now, could we also get a translation of Kamaitachi no Yoru [https://www.backloggd.com/games/kamaitachi-no-yoru], please? Thanks.
I don't think Otogirisou is technically the 1st visual novel, considering there were definitely other adventure games before with a similar... well, lack of gameplay, but what it lacks in that it makes up for in it's fully immersive atmosphere. It's no wonder it was marketed as a sound novel, as this features some of the best sound I've ever heard out of an SNES game. And the dark yet detailed graphics are just as beautiful as they are chilling. I bet this would look immaculate on original hardware.
Overall, Otogirisou is a really interesting and cool piece of gaming history, and I'm so glad it just recieved a complete translation patch. If you wanna be in for a spooky night, I'd highly recommend giving this game a run through
Overall, Otogirisou is a really interesting and cool piece of gaming history, and I'm so glad it just recieved a complete translation patch. If you wanna be in for a spooky night, I'd highly recommend giving this game a run through
I kneel
played on duckstation. just alright, worst chunsoft entry.
basically just a SNES port of a goosebumps book.
far too early in VN history to have any sort of QOL features like text speed adjustment or auto-advance, so it's agonizingly sluggish. doesn't seem that bad at first since it's a bit faster than speaking speed, but the dialogue and narration are pretty rambly and repetitive, so the inability to skim hurts it greatly. very shlocky and very slow overall, some good music tracks and manages to do some cool things with mood-setting but it inevitably shoots itself in the foot once it leaves the tension and shows you the thing you're supposed to be scared of and it's like a scooby doo villain.
only really worth a look if you're interested in the history of the VN medium as a whole. in that respect it's neat to see where most of it all stemmed from! but on its own merits its just not very good at what its trying to do lol
far too early in VN history to have any sort of QOL features like text speed adjustment or auto-advance, so it's agonizingly sluggish. doesn't seem that bad at first since it's a bit faster than speaking speed, but the dialogue and narration are pretty rambly and repetitive, so the inability to skim hurts it greatly. very shlocky and very slow overall, some good music tracks and manages to do some cool things with mood-setting but it inevitably shoots itself in the foot once it leaves the tension and shows you the thing you're supposed to be scared of and it's like a scooby doo villain.
only really worth a look if you're interested in the history of the VN medium as a whole. in that respect it's neat to see where most of it all stemmed from! but on its own merits its just not very good at what its trying to do lol
never played an snes vn before and this game kinda blew me away with the atmosphere theyre able to create with such old technology... the sound design in this game in particular is phenomenal. that said its pretty cheesy n silly, i dont think it takes itself too too seriously.
the way this game uses choices is pretty interesting. a lot of times it isnt your standard do x or do y kind of choice, but allows you to decide the way the main character actually feels or is affected by things. it feels less like an opportunity to self insert as the mc and more like youre working together with the author to steer the story in the direction you think is most interesting.. there are a TON of them also
the way this game uses choices is pretty interesting. a lot of times it isnt your standard do x or do y kind of choice, but allows you to decide the way the main character actually feels or is affected by things. it feels less like an opportunity to self insert as the mc and more like youre working together with the author to steer the story in the direction you think is most interesting.. there are a TON of them also
Some camp, melodrama and self-indulgent projection - it sure is a 1992 visual novel for teenagers. Afaik it's not the first of its kind, I think I played a few on Master System (and that's before considering how text adventure and point & click fit into this conversation), but the restraint of its visual elements respects the 'novel' aspect very well, setting the least intrusive flavor possible so the reader imagine the rest from context clues. That alone makes this a titanic progenitor in the genre, whereas I feel many prior games are glorified cutscenes and limit the breadth of their story to what they can tangibly render in the game environment. Very interesting. Thank you C_F for sharing and streaming this with the gang.
I haven't done every route yet
but this might be the funniest fucking VN ever made https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1156847812378628116/1218758562726281307/Untitled.png?ex=6608d45c&is=65f65f5c&hm=eefd55b36d8340c6e66f51f9c172437c2c24cf45b29fdd72418a83bd79614bb5&
All jokes aside, it's a cool and very important piece of history. Can really see how many VNs were inspired by it like its immediate successors including Kamaitachi No Yoru or Tegami, let alone later VNs. If nothing else, Otogirisou is an important history lesson to experience for any VN fan imo, and it's extremely easy to get the first good ending in ~2 hours without a guide.
Even in a silly group reading setting, I was scared several times by some of the pixel art and noises. The credits music in particular is rather beautiful.
I might type more when I read the other routes but anyways enjoy the fan translation title screen for now
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1156847812378628116/1218734760340226190/image.png?ex=6608be31&is=65f64931&hm=678cd0abdcbf0adbe13ca61b6a38b6aade5180cf40ecaa1cdbdae8afb7f108a2&
but this might be the funniest fucking VN ever made https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1156847812378628116/1218758562726281307/Untitled.png?ex=6608d45c&is=65f65f5c&hm=eefd55b36d8340c6e66f51f9c172437c2c24cf45b29fdd72418a83bd79614bb5&
All jokes aside, it's a cool and very important piece of history. Can really see how many VNs were inspired by it like its immediate successors including Kamaitachi No Yoru or Tegami, let alone later VNs. If nothing else, Otogirisou is an important history lesson to experience for any VN fan imo, and it's extremely easy to get the first good ending in ~2 hours without a guide.
Even in a silly group reading setting, I was scared several times by some of the pixel art and noises. The credits music in particular is rather beautiful.
I might type more when I read the other routes but anyways enjoy the fan translation title screen for now
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1156847812378628116/1218734760340226190/image.png?ex=6608be31&is=65f64931&hm=678cd0abdcbf0adbe13ca61b6a38b6aade5180cf40ecaa1cdbdae8afb7f108a2&
Schlocky but fun haunted house story that punches above its weight with limited visuals and stellar sound design. I felt the tension and spookiness hard the first couple of times, but successive playthroughs unlock goofier dialogue options that kinda highlight just how little most of the choices matter. Hard to tell how many choices actually determine your route/ending without any English guides at time of writing, but most of them seem to only exist for the player to RP as the protagonist. That’s fine on its own, but quite a few dialogue options didn’t even get a unique response from the game/characters in the moment.
I get why it’s considered a classic, and I’m really glad I played it, even if it didn’t blow me away. Definitely worth a look for its historical value if you love the genre. I can see the influence it had on so many other VN’s I love.
I get why it’s considered a classic, and I’m really glad I played it, even if it didn’t blow me away. Definitely worth a look for its historical value if you love the genre. I can see the influence it had on so many other VN’s I love.
Incredible things were happening on the Super Famicom in 1992.
Played through the Fan translation patch that came out recently: https://twitter.com/RetroTranslator/status/1765315202218954988
It was a neat experience! It's a bit of a mess but sometimes the most interesting games are. I complain about visual novels commonly being too slow paced but this kinda goes into the opposite direction LOL, with constant reveals that didn't properly sink in before the next one hit
For such an old game, I really loved the presentation - it's a shame that characters don't really get sprites, as it led to a bit of disconnect for me, but everything else looked pretty good! The simple sound effects also make for a decently creepy atmosphere, especially in the beginning
It was a neat experience! It's a bit of a mess but sometimes the most interesting games are. I complain about visual novels commonly being too slow paced but this kinda goes into the opposite direction LOL, with constant reveals that didn't properly sink in before the next one hit
For such an old game, I really loved the presentation - it's a shame that characters don't really get sprites, as it led to a bit of disconnect for me, but everything else looked pretty good! The simple sound effects also make for a decently creepy atmosphere, especially in the beginning
World's longest scooby doo episode.
played on duckstation. just alright, worst chunsoft entry.
fucking class