Good game but the dev is a douchebag so don't have too high expectations from him. Just look at the twitter and you'll see what I mean.
Ringo Ishikawa does not deserve any friends
You're gonna carry that weight
Picked it up because I thought it’d be just a fun beat ‘em up. This shit broke me Beautiful game if not a little slow.
Ringo Ishikawa is chivalrous. He's cowardly. But above all else, he's lost.
I was most compelled by the characters here, and certainly not the gameplay. It's the kind of game where you want a guide right beside you the whole way through, because you'll get fucked 50 ways to Sunday if you try to engage in combat early on. UX is a two-pack of ass in general.
The story is good, and all the characters have great dialogue. For a debut it's essentially a smash hit in writing and narrative, but the gameplay is an anchor that firmly weighs it down. My playthrough took 45 days ingame and clocked in at ~8 hours, and it got real dead by the end. You can say "That's the point!" all you like, but that doesn't mean it's a good one. A fixed 31 days would have created a tighter pace with more urgency, as well as encourage repeat playthroughs. Oh well.
You should watch The Friends of Eddie Coyle if you haven't already.
I was most compelled by the characters here, and certainly not the gameplay. It's the kind of game where you want a guide right beside you the whole way through, because you'll get fucked 50 ways to Sunday if you try to engage in combat early on. UX is a two-pack of ass in general.
The story is good, and all the characters have great dialogue. For a debut it's essentially a smash hit in writing and narrative, but the gameplay is an anchor that firmly weighs it down. My playthrough took 45 days ingame and clocked in at ~8 hours, and it got real dead by the end. You can say "That's the point!" all you like, but that doesn't mean it's a good one. A fixed 31 days would have created a tighter pace with more urgency, as well as encourage repeat playthroughs. Oh well.
You should watch The Friends of Eddie Coyle if you haven't already.
everytime I remember this game the biggest smile in the world comes to my face
The friends of Ringo Ishikawa was a game that took me back to my teenage years, viewed through the sobering & cynical lens of hindsight. The titular Ringo & his friends are a bunch of classic Japanese delinquents, with seemingly no initial higher ambitions beyond their schoolyard gang warfare, entering their final year as students with graduation on the horizon. Despite being a gaggle of petty thugs who smoke cigarettes & have seemingly little interest in their own futures, it's shown as the plot goes on that there's more to each of these delinquents than let's on. Your violent, dumb-as-rocks lackey Goro is a surprisingly talented thespian. Your number one brawler Ken has the talent necessary for a shot at a boxing career in college. Even Ringo himself is a shockingly erudite scholar with an interest in literature, a once-promising career in karate, and is a surprisingly idealistic, loyal, man of virtue. The one thing holding them back is their gang lifestyle & ideas, something that resonated with me as someone who saw this same situation play out dozens of times in my youth.
My own high school wasn't great looking back on it. Violence & abuse were common occurrences, drug use & sex in the hallways was an unspoken fact of life, and basically everyone was a minority of some kind from a low-income background. Lots of people I knew came from broken homes, or were working part-time to put food on the table, or were otherwise struggling with something no kid should've been dealing with at that age, the kind of things that can make studying for your history exam seem like small potatoes. It's a structural issue decades in the making that leads to people getting trapped in places like these, and unfortunately not everyone is able to escape it. Schoolyard fights that escalated into shootings. Football players who graduate with bright prospects only to then get arrested for murder. Kids akin to Ringo's gang members like Masaru or Goro, who have zero sights beyond the now & fully believe they'll be set for a life of petty crime after graduation. The short-sighted violent mindsets people box themselves into that end up spelling their own ends because they can't escape the circumstances that put them there.
I vividly remember hanging out in the parking lot after school one day, and I saw a kid reading a book on the hood of his car. His friends came up to him and immediately dogged on him for this and the supposed weakness such a hobby would project on your image, and he sheepishly put it away in his bag before he left with his friends. It's a small event in hindsight, but it was called back to my mind crystal clear during a scene where Ringo's friends rip into their fellow member Goro for his new vested interest in acting.
Ringo, for all his virtues, for all the books you can make him read, for all the training he can undergo, for all the studying & knowledge you can try to impart on him, still fully believes that his gang of schoolyard bullies is going to last forever, despite it being made rapidly apparent that everyone is starting to move on and find their own callings. Ringo still gets into casual street fights & latches onto his childish notions of schoolyard ethics, of "official challenges" and "rules," even as things spiral out of anyone's control & everyone starts to get in too deep. Much like some of my peers that I saw in my youth, he's a bright soul with potential and promise that is being squandered by his own adherence to violence and unhealthy group mentalities & expectations, and the simple fact is that as the days go by, everyone around him is starting to realize that they need to grow up and move past it all.
Everyone except him.
My own high school wasn't great looking back on it. Violence & abuse were common occurrences, drug use & sex in the hallways was an unspoken fact of life, and basically everyone was a minority of some kind from a low-income background. Lots of people I knew came from broken homes, or were working part-time to put food on the table, or were otherwise struggling with something no kid should've been dealing with at that age, the kind of things that can make studying for your history exam seem like small potatoes. It's a structural issue decades in the making that leads to people getting trapped in places like these, and unfortunately not everyone is able to escape it. Schoolyard fights that escalated into shootings. Football players who graduate with bright prospects only to then get arrested for murder. Kids akin to Ringo's gang members like Masaru or Goro, who have zero sights beyond the now & fully believe they'll be set for a life of petty crime after graduation. The short-sighted violent mindsets people box themselves into that end up spelling their own ends because they can't escape the circumstances that put them there.
I vividly remember hanging out in the parking lot after school one day, and I saw a kid reading a book on the hood of his car. His friends came up to him and immediately dogged on him for this and the supposed weakness such a hobby would project on your image, and he sheepishly put it away in his bag before he left with his friends. It's a small event in hindsight, but it was called back to my mind crystal clear during a scene where Ringo's friends rip into their fellow member Goro for his new vested interest in acting.
Ringo, for all his virtues, for all the books you can make him read, for all the training he can undergo, for all the studying & knowledge you can try to impart on him, still fully believes that his gang of schoolyard bullies is going to last forever, despite it being made rapidly apparent that everyone is starting to move on and find their own callings. Ringo still gets into casual street fights & latches onto his childish notions of schoolyard ethics, of "official challenges" and "rules," even as things spiral out of anyone's control & everyone starts to get in too deep. Much like some of my peers that I saw in my youth, he's a bright soul with potential and promise that is being squandered by his own adherence to violence and unhealthy group mentalities & expectations, and the simple fact is that as the days go by, everyone around him is starting to realize that they need to grow up and move past it all.
Everyone except him.
addicting enough to keep me playing through
too bad there isn't too much to do after you get the gist of it, i wish there was some kind of progression instead of random cutscenes triggered by chance
too bad there isn't too much to do after you get the gist of it, i wish there was some kind of progression instead of random cutscenes triggered by chance
"They say that one of life's greatest tragedies is a talent gone to waste."
"What about those who have no talent? Are their lives wasted from the start?"
--
"The book's about nothing."
"What about those who have no talent? Are their lives wasted from the start?"
--
"The book's about nothing."
The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa was and is a polarizing game. By virtue of its design decisions and lack of QOL its going to alienate a lot of people, fitting for a game in part about alienation.
If there is one word to describe the game it is ballsy. Only a ballsy game that 25% of its buyers will refund as per the devs own account would let you loose in this 80s Japanese town with basically no guidance. And whilst some parts of this feel intentional and help the mood of the game as you slowly learn how to get ahead in several ways, some just feel petty and/or dumb. Yeo himself could tell me that not telling me how to read books by sitting in any seat and pressing R or having to press B + A to jump to be able to do pull ups(which you have to do to join at least one club) is an intentional part of his design and I wouldnt believe him, and also I would flick his ear for being annoying.
The hunger mechanic is also not explained at all and I was pretty stressed at first losing fights and days trying to scrape enough cash from fights to buy food, but then I got 10k yen from good grades and basically had no money problems from then on, aided by the fact I somehow read a book which apparently doubles the knowledge you get from going to class.
Ringo is a game about roleplaying, not because of its stat elements that very assuredly non RPGs have these days, but because so much of the game revolves around ultimately mechanically inconsequential but nonetheless engrossing stuff. The quality of its writing really shines when you spend an entire sunday reading the Brothers Karamazov so Ringo can give it a good rating on Goodreads and have a 3 or 4 text box discussion about it with a classmate. Its a game where you smoke a limited amount of smokes for 440 yen a pack, which AFAIK has no effect on anything at a mechanical level whatsoever. But its about what Ringo wants to become, maybe you want him to quit smoking. Get straight As and go to the gym every day. Or you can have him play pool and beating up other thugs 24/7.
Ringo is a game that almost alienated me, and honestly I think reading up how to read books at home and do pushups, as inconsequential as they ended up being, increased my enjoyment of the game rather than spoil it. I didnt do many of the "quests" cause in a move that is definitely intentional there is no transcript or anything, if a friend says "Yuko is near the station tomorrow you should go" or something youre just meant to remember where that is in a game without a map and also to remember what day youre on and other such things. I suppose I could replay it but this game is definitely one that loses its luster by the end, maybe intentionally but it didnt seem that way to me and honestly Im tired of speculating on authorial intent, my experience dragged on a bit towards the conclusion even if that ending was...well it gave me something to think about certainly.
EDIT : Always the mark of good art, I have kept thinking about this game after I have finished it, it occupies my mind in a way I hadnt anticipated. Im bumping it up half a star cause I think for what flaws it might have its captured my imagination.
If there is one word to describe the game it is ballsy. Only a ballsy game that 25% of its buyers will refund as per the devs own account would let you loose in this 80s Japanese town with basically no guidance. And whilst some parts of this feel intentional and help the mood of the game as you slowly learn how to get ahead in several ways, some just feel petty and/or dumb. Yeo himself could tell me that not telling me how to read books by sitting in any seat and pressing R or having to press B + A to jump to be able to do pull ups(which you have to do to join at least one club) is an intentional part of his design and I wouldnt believe him, and also I would flick his ear for being annoying.
The hunger mechanic is also not explained at all and I was pretty stressed at first losing fights and days trying to scrape enough cash from fights to buy food, but then I got 10k yen from good grades and basically had no money problems from then on, aided by the fact I somehow read a book which apparently doubles the knowledge you get from going to class.
Ringo is a game about roleplaying, not because of its stat elements that very assuredly non RPGs have these days, but because so much of the game revolves around ultimately mechanically inconsequential but nonetheless engrossing stuff. The quality of its writing really shines when you spend an entire sunday reading the Brothers Karamazov so Ringo can give it a good rating on Goodreads and have a 3 or 4 text box discussion about it with a classmate. Its a game where you smoke a limited amount of smokes for 440 yen a pack, which AFAIK has no effect on anything at a mechanical level whatsoever. But its about what Ringo wants to become, maybe you want him to quit smoking. Get straight As and go to the gym every day. Or you can have him play pool and beating up other thugs 24/7.
Ringo is a game that almost alienated me, and honestly I think reading up how to read books at home and do pushups, as inconsequential as they ended up being, increased my enjoyment of the game rather than spoil it. I didnt do many of the "quests" cause in a move that is definitely intentional there is no transcript or anything, if a friend says "Yuko is near the station tomorrow you should go" or something youre just meant to remember where that is in a game without a map and also to remember what day youre on and other such things. I suppose I could replay it but this game is definitely one that loses its luster by the end, maybe intentionally but it didnt seem that way to me and honestly Im tired of speculating on authorial intent, my experience dragged on a bit towards the conclusion even if that ending was...well it gave me something to think about certainly.
EDIT : Always the mark of good art, I have kept thinking about this game after I have finished it, it occupies my mind in a way I hadnt anticipated. Im bumping it up half a star cause I think for what flaws it might have its captured my imagination.
A gorgeous and deeply intimate game about growing up in a small suburban japanese town. Some people complain that it is boring… And I mean, it is, but it’s one of those games were that’s intended, and as purposely numbs you through its gameplay it transports you to the banality of its characters lives, with nothing really important to do and not much more on the horizon, seemingly trapped in this monotonous existence forever.
I think the story just works well with the mechanics, your day to day being occasionally interrupted by a couple handcrafted events that don’t really change anything but it kinda give you new perspectives of Ringo’s friends and acquaintances. Again, is not much, but is not meant to be much.
And as you fight your way through meaningless opponents, and discuss the books you read in class (you can read James Joyce’s Ulysses!) I was reminded of the uber famous first page of Blood Meridian “and in him broods already a taste for mindless violence”, and it just clicked with me in a way I wasn’t expecting, it became a more vivid experience. Also, McCarthy’s also commonly criticized for being boring, granted in part in the sheer brutality of what he depicts but also because even his elaborated, epic, almost biblical prose tends to get repetitive, but, as with this game, that’s also by design. Hell, The Road is, in my opinion, an extensive exercise on repetitiveness.
Any way, even if it can be dull, I really think thad adds to the experience, and the writing and visuals are good enough to justify it.
I think the story just works well with the mechanics, your day to day being occasionally interrupted by a couple handcrafted events that don’t really change anything but it kinda give you new perspectives of Ringo’s friends and acquaintances. Again, is not much, but is not meant to be much.
And as you fight your way through meaningless opponents, and discuss the books you read in class (you can read James Joyce’s Ulysses!) I was reminded of the uber famous first page of Blood Meridian “and in him broods already a taste for mindless violence”, and it just clicked with me in a way I wasn’t expecting, it became a more vivid experience. Also, McCarthy’s also commonly criticized for being boring, granted in part in the sheer brutality of what he depicts but also because even his elaborated, epic, almost biblical prose tends to get repetitive, but, as with this game, that’s also by design. Hell, The Road is, in my opinion, an extensive exercise on repetitiveness.
Any way, even if it can be dull, I really think thad adds to the experience, and the writing and visuals are good enough to justify it.
Fui conquistar suzuran e ganhei depressão.
Não tem muito o que falar da historia sem estragar a experiência. São jovens confusos no seus últimos dias de colegial buscando objetivos e novas experiências, e com isso muitas das vezes se expressando com a força.
Na estrutura, ele é um jogo é um mundo aberto sem mapa ou qualquer objetivo, o jogador é livre para fazer o que bem entender diariamente controlando Ringo. Seja estudar, trabalhar, malhar, roubar, entrar em confusão e etc.
Na parte técnica faltou um polimento, mas nada que vá estragar o jogo. O combate é bem simples, um botão para soco outro para chute, novos golpes são aprendidos praticando alguma arte marcial.
Não sei muito bem como colocar em palavras o que estou sentindo sobre ele no momento mas com certeza um dos meus favoritos, cada hora nele valeu muito a pena, é minha ambientação e tema favorito nos mangás e aqui é feito com maestria. É muito bom vivenciar o drama de cada personagem.
Não tem muito o que falar da historia sem estragar a experiência. São jovens confusos no seus últimos dias de colegial buscando objetivos e novas experiências, e com isso muitas das vezes se expressando com a força.
Na estrutura, ele é um jogo é um mundo aberto sem mapa ou qualquer objetivo, o jogador é livre para fazer o que bem entender diariamente controlando Ringo. Seja estudar, trabalhar, malhar, roubar, entrar em confusão e etc.
Na parte técnica faltou um polimento, mas nada que vá estragar o jogo. O combate é bem simples, um botão para soco outro para chute, novos golpes são aprendidos praticando alguma arte marcial.
Não sei muito bem como colocar em palavras o que estou sentindo sobre ele no momento mas com certeza um dos meus favoritos, cada hora nele valeu muito a pena, é minha ambientação e tema favorito nos mangás e aqui é feito com maestria. É muito bom vivenciar o drama de cada personagem.
As a guy who loves Crows and Kyou Kara Ore Wa, and who hates Tokyo Revengers, I can safely say this game was good.
While I kind of wanted a little more to it (like perhaps the ability to join the basketball team or something, idk), I understand that the scope of a game like this has to be relatively small. It's a game where everything is inevitable.
The only thing I would probably change is the music that plays when you enter the school, and the fight music interrupting that beautiful guitar on the west-side of town.
While I kind of wanted a little more to it (like perhaps the ability to join the basketball team or something, idk), I understand that the scope of a game like this has to be relatively small. It's a game where everything is inevitable.
The only thing I would probably change is the music that plays when you enter the school, and the fight music interrupting that beautiful guitar on the west-side of town.
It matters not how you play, this game will give you a lot to think about. Regardless of your monitor, you will feel yourself reflected on it.
You can Put your hands in your pockets and let a cigarette hang from your mouth
muito legal essa liberdade de cara que o jogo já dá, pode ser confusa e te deixar meio perdido mas combina perfeitamente com essa temática que eu amo muito, é literalmente kids return e blue spring mas como jogo
Picked up this game when it came out on a whim, and it took me around three and a half years to stop getting filtered by the mechanics - But when I did I found something truly special. The mechanics are still kinda ass but their obfuscation and how you have to make your own little schedules and keep track of stuff work wonders for immersion, and definitely strengthen the idea of how you spend your time the game goes for.
Play it if you want something poignant and unique. It'll take a bit of getting used to, but it's worth it long term.
Play it if you want something poignant and unique. It'll take a bit of getting used to, but it's worth it long term.
Es increíble como un juego que estuve a punto de quitar a los 15 minutos de empezarlo me haya podido acabar gustando tanto.
Con apariencia de beat'em up, motivo por el que lo compré (spoiler: no tiene apenas nada de ese género) se esconde un ensayo sobre la vida desde el punto de vista de su desarrollador, yeo. Un juego en el que puedes hacer muchas cosas que tienen un impacto en el prota, Ringo, pero no en el jugador, y cuyo fuerte es el avance en las relaciones del propio Ringo y sus amigos, chavales de 16-17 años que por algún motivo tienen conversaciones filosóficas que parecerían ultra maduras hasta para personas en su treintena (el guion y los diálogos son una cosa maravillosa, hasta el punto de querer repetir las mismas actividades una y otra vez simplemente por ver qué charla nueva te vas a encontrar). Con una jugabilidad que no es nada del otro mundo, y a la vez bastante críptica, los diferentes eventos con cinemáticas que vas viendo, van en ascenso, y culminan en un final muy existencialista y potentísimo y que para mí justifica el tiempo invertido, no es para todo el mundo, es un hit or miss de manual, pero como primera experiencia en una obra de este tipo solo puedo decir que es un sobresaliente de los pies a la cabeza. Ah, y las referencias a libros y películas, así como la banda sonora, son exquisitas, me he quedado con ganas de jugar las otras dos propuestas de yeo, algo que haré pronto seguramente.
Top tier track: Prehistory theme
Con apariencia de beat'em up, motivo por el que lo compré (spoiler: no tiene apenas nada de ese género) se esconde un ensayo sobre la vida desde el punto de vista de su desarrollador, yeo. Un juego en el que puedes hacer muchas cosas que tienen un impacto en el prota, Ringo, pero no en el jugador, y cuyo fuerte es el avance en las relaciones del propio Ringo y sus amigos, chavales de 16-17 años que por algún motivo tienen conversaciones filosóficas que parecerían ultra maduras hasta para personas en su treintena (el guion y los diálogos son una cosa maravillosa, hasta el punto de querer repetir las mismas actividades una y otra vez simplemente por ver qué charla nueva te vas a encontrar). Con una jugabilidad que no es nada del otro mundo, y a la vez bastante críptica, los diferentes eventos con cinemáticas que vas viendo, van en ascenso, y culminan en un final muy existencialista y potentísimo y que para mí justifica el tiempo invertido, no es para todo el mundo, es un hit or miss de manual, pero como primera experiencia en una obra de este tipo solo puedo decir que es un sobresaliente de los pies a la cabeza. Ah, y las referencias a libros y películas, así como la banda sonora, son exquisitas, me he quedado con ganas de jugar las otras dos propuestas de yeo, algo que haré pronto seguramente.
Top tier track: Prehistory theme
Time is slipping away. You have made decisions that have you behind the 8 ball and with both your youth and the school closing in, what will you do? This game challenges you to bristle at every missed connection, every missed moment and what remaining opportunities are for you. I lost time to this game and I mean that. I invested time but this game often has you just watching your character progress, doing the menial task, it makes you think about how you use your own time. Your own time as a gamer is fleeting and the reflective nature of this game gets you to ponder what’s going on in your own life.
It does that through true emergent gameplay . The mechanics are barely told to you, progress is unclear. You need to read around to find the school schedule. You need to study the movement of your peer group. You need to create routines. There is no map, so you have to deepen your own relationship with the area to really feel like you are understanding. You can invest in books or a tv. You can invest in boxing or judo. You can skip classes to pick up a job or study . The thing is that how you get to these choices or how they occur feel idiosyncratic. You have to do things in certain ways to get these to happen. You have to happen upon chance encounters, this is a real world.
They take this into the brawling segments . There is a moment that I realized that I had a truce with a gang only because I never thought to fight them before. I hadn’t realized that starting a fight with them would cause a ruckus. There was a threat , a warning, a whole new story cutscene days later in my play after I started a random fight with them . This occurred strictly because I accidentally started a fight somewhere I never did before. It made me realize interactions were so subtle to convey connections. The gang members used to light my lighter . I didn’t think of that but it makes sense that they were peers, even if the game wouldn't tell you that explicitly.
That is how the stories unfold. You never know when the intermissions show up and derail your schedule. It feels like real human development. You lose dialogue options because of certain events, days later people ask about what happens. You feel heartened by what’s happening in your friends life. The moment I got into Kens house after the big incident that got him to stop boxing made me erupt in excitement. I made decisions in gameplay that were unneeded strictly because I was moved emotionally or wanted to see how things progressed. The Yuna conversations were the reason I invested so much in literature.
This game tells you nothing though. And a lot is waiting and watching time pass. The cryptic nature is a boon a weakness. It can feel like marvelous emergent design but sometimes a game that doesn’t want you to do anything . It’s thoroughly refreshing and accentuates wonderful writing with a poignant ending. I came for a brawler and mechanically it’s solid enough with options that open up based on your choices but this is a life sim , and if you want to see freedom in design and trusting that you can save the end of high school as a troubled gang leader? This will teach you about design and time. (Look up something very briefly, like 5 minutes for some basic mechanics, just to set sail and never look up anything again, it is vague enough that I must say that).
It does that through true emergent gameplay . The mechanics are barely told to you, progress is unclear. You need to read around to find the school schedule. You need to study the movement of your peer group. You need to create routines. There is no map, so you have to deepen your own relationship with the area to really feel like you are understanding. You can invest in books or a tv. You can invest in boxing or judo. You can skip classes to pick up a job or study . The thing is that how you get to these choices or how they occur feel idiosyncratic. You have to do things in certain ways to get these to happen. You have to happen upon chance encounters, this is a real world.
They take this into the brawling segments . There is a moment that I realized that I had a truce with a gang only because I never thought to fight them before. I hadn’t realized that starting a fight with them would cause a ruckus. There was a threat , a warning, a whole new story cutscene days later in my play after I started a random fight with them . This occurred strictly because I accidentally started a fight somewhere I never did before. It made me realize interactions were so subtle to convey connections. The gang members used to light my lighter . I didn’t think of that but it makes sense that they were peers, even if the game wouldn't tell you that explicitly.
That is how the stories unfold. You never know when the intermissions show up and derail your schedule. It feels like real human development. You lose dialogue options because of certain events, days later people ask about what happens. You feel heartened by what’s happening in your friends life. The moment I got into Kens house after the big incident that got him to stop boxing made me erupt in excitement. I made decisions in gameplay that were unneeded strictly because I was moved emotionally or wanted to see how things progressed. The Yuna conversations were the reason I invested so much in literature.
This game tells you nothing though. And a lot is waiting and watching time pass. The cryptic nature is a boon a weakness. It can feel like marvelous emergent design but sometimes a game that doesn’t want you to do anything . It’s thoroughly refreshing and accentuates wonderful writing with a poignant ending. I came for a brawler and mechanically it’s solid enough with options that open up based on your choices but this is a life sim , and if you want to see freedom in design and trusting that you can save the end of high school as a troubled gang leader? This will teach you about design and time. (Look up something very briefly, like 5 minutes for some basic mechanics, just to set sail and never look up anything again, it is vague enough that I must say that).
Port on PS Vita.
I'm really really glad that in my lifetime video games have evolved to a place where when I say "I don't get it," I can talk about pace, theming, tone, story... all sorts of actual interpretive tasks beyond baseline interaction and aesthetic. The dude who makes these games is my analog to a director who I respect the hell out of and don't think I'm ever going to like anything he's made. Maybe one day it'll click. I'm not going to try and force that.
If Kenka Banchou do a banchou life sim using the cool factor (supposing so, since the only with english translation is like this), The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa uses everything more depressive about them. Sure, you have cool stuff happening but is just a small time fantasy, the reality comes crushing right after.
Everything is made to reflex Ringo and his friends and even the player too. If Shenmue suggests things and made you think something, The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa ask directly. The cast is made of teenagers that already lose in life. Ken can't go to pro boxing because he always enters in fights and always end with a broken hand, Goro can't be an artist because is like everything is against him, Masaru have a gambling addiction being only 18 years old, Shiro try to do the right thing and always gets in fight and Ringo doesn't have anything anymore. He left the opportunity of being a national champion, he doesn't have the wish to do anything anymore, he can try to be a better student but for what? Everyone wants to fight him. Is just the very relatable moment in banchou works when you see the characters knowloding how everything sucks and even if they did the right choices the system is against them.
The mix of russian literature with japanese movies and mangas sure goes hard.
Everything is made to reflex Ringo and his friends and even the player too. If Shenmue suggests things and made you think something, The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa ask directly. The cast is made of teenagers that already lose in life. Ken can't go to pro boxing because he always enters in fights and always end with a broken hand, Goro can't be an artist because is like everything is against him, Masaru have a gambling addiction being only 18 years old, Shiro try to do the right thing and always gets in fight and Ringo doesn't have anything anymore. He left the opportunity of being a national champion, he doesn't have the wish to do anything anymore, he can try to be a better student but for what? Everyone wants to fight him. Is just the very relatable moment in banchou works when you see the characters knowloding how everything sucks and even if they did the right choices the system is against them.
The mix of russian literature with japanese movies and mangas sure goes hard.
Super charming game that doesn't have enough of it's charm to fill out it's gameplay, I like what's there, but a lot of what's there is repeated. Super charming art.
ideia boa, execução daora
palmas em especial pras músicas e pro visual em pixel art, mt bom mesmo, ambos
gameplay não é ruim mas tbm não é ótima, dá pra tankar
a história parece ser meio paradona, leve, contemplativa, isso não é ruim, parece ser justamente a proposta do jogo
n to na vibe agora mas um dia com certeza vou zerar, enquanto isso, fica a recomendação pra quem curte jogo de não fazer muita coisa ala stardew valley (sim, senti semelhança K), japão e seus deliquentes, e pixel art bem feita :)
palmas em especial pras músicas e pro visual em pixel art, mt bom mesmo, ambos
gameplay não é ruim mas tbm não é ótima, dá pra tankar
a história parece ser meio paradona, leve, contemplativa, isso não é ruim, parece ser justamente a proposta do jogo
n to na vibe agora mas um dia com certeza vou zerar, enquanto isso, fica a recomendação pra quem curte jogo de não fazer muita coisa ala stardew valley (sim, senti semelhança K), japão e seus deliquentes, e pixel art bem feita :)
This review contains spoilers
I spent so much time studying, going to classes, completing essays... I like to think Ringo eventually turned his life around and went to college. Still, you can see he's attached to his meaningless, directionless habits while trying to deny reality (like when he tries morally justify stealing from people he knocked out as if it was part of some honorable code of war. He's glorifying this empty way of life). It's hard to become a new person if you're stuck trying to pursue a fake, idealized world. There was a bug during the last sequence that made the soundtrack completely silent, but I think it helped emphasize just how empty his entire existence has become. He's an empty man, abandoned after everyone around him grew out of an outdated mindset.
This game is a gift that keeps on giving. The plot and characters are mostly pretty simple, but the variety of things you can do is, for me personally, the best part. I am on my second playthrough right now, and I keep on finding new activities you can do in this game. My only problem is that some combat skills you can learn are sometimes worse than what you already can do by default, but maybe I am just using them wrong.
Los amigos de Ringo Ishikawa juega al despiste constantemente con las expectativas. Tras su apariencia de beatem up clásico se esconde un relato íntimo y existencialista sobre un grupo de adolescentes que no sabe qué hacer con su vida una vez que lleguen a ser adultos.
Y lo hace con una filosofía de diseño de mínimos y con mecánicas que nunca se molesta en presentar que nos deja descubrir, experimentar y combinar por nuestra cuenta. ¡Y que satisfactorio es cuando eso pasa!
Es el anti videojuego en el mejor sentido de la expresión. Uno en el que puedes estar minutos pulsando un botón para que tu protagonista esté leyendo un libro, mientras pasan las horas del día y que, tras terminar, tras haber perdido tu valioso tiempo, la recompensa sea… ninguna. Y parece una decisión de diseño horrible pero no lo es, porque Ringo Ishikawa es una de esas experiencias que no pueden ser definidas por palabras, si no que tienen que ser vivida. Porque a veces está bien perder 6 horas de tu vida en jugar a un simple videojuego.
Y lo hace con una filosofía de diseño de mínimos y con mecánicas que nunca se molesta en presentar que nos deja descubrir, experimentar y combinar por nuestra cuenta. ¡Y que satisfactorio es cuando eso pasa!
Es el anti videojuego en el mejor sentido de la expresión. Uno en el que puedes estar minutos pulsando un botón para que tu protagonista esté leyendo un libro, mientras pasan las horas del día y que, tras terminar, tras haber perdido tu valioso tiempo, la recompensa sea… ninguna. Y parece una decisión de diseño horrible pero no lo es, porque Ringo Ishikawa es una de esas experiencias que no pueden ser definidas por palabras, si no que tienen que ser vivida. Porque a veces está bien perder 6 horas de tu vida en jugar a un simple videojuego.
The game starts with a battle inside a train. In the aftermath, the beaten thugs stay on the floor until the train stops. Once off, another fight begins. After that, you proceed to the next screen and another fight begins. This one has no end, just a fade to black and a title drop. No catharsis on any punch or on any victory. After that, another message. A year has gone by. The same gang feud is still going on and getting worse.
After this skip, the first thing you see is Ringo's professor telling him that the last days of high school are coming up, and it’s time to decide where to head on with your life. In here, the already decontextualized beat’em up setting gains a new dimension when noticing that the violence is not just non-cathartic, but a background. Some gangs fight each other, some others want to fight you, you can run away from any of them and if you get beat up there is no fail state, just another action in the world and waking at home after some rest.
This may be a disheartening view of the world just because, but when examining your own actions, it becomes evident that there is no other way, or not easily so. You have no financial support and will starve for most of the time, at the very least on the first days. Your only income source is to pick money from beaten thugs, by your own hand or not, and it’s easy to assume that most of the teenagers around are in a very similar place.
The means for covering basic necessities is just a small part, since Ringo’s life is explored in all its aspects, since he wakes until he goes to sleep. Here it is interesting to see his approach to hobbies or interests like literature, studies, or even exercise, be it through fights or through training with some masters. In any case, the result of taking interest in those topics will be some numbers going up. Simple abstraction or not, intentional or not, despite whether Ringo is interested in what he is doing or not, what remains is a cold number, an objective. This could be compared with how modern Persona games free time actions help you build stats making every decision a strategic decision, at least partially, but here the answer is more vague, or directly non-existent, there is no benefit to what to do or not to do because there are no good or bad outcomes. The usual short length on most events, just a few lines of dialogue, help to convey both the fugacity and sudden impact of the small moments and their relative insignificance on the bigger picture when searching for a change.
The game takes influence from Yakuza and Shenmue, and while it’s easy to see where it comes from, there is a major difference. There is no immediate catharsis on the infinite time for side activities like in Yakuza and no real objective to struggle for like in Shenmue. If anything, it looks more like what San Andreas would be if there were no missions, just going around the neighborhood as the days go by. But the days will eventually end. To me, the most similar game to Ringo Ishikawa is Boku no Natsuyasumi.
Of course, with a very different tone, there is a similar sense in getting up every day and going around from one screen to another looking for things to do in the city. Also, at least in my case, a certain routine started to appear, making each day like a small poetry exercise. I liked to go to some places at some time, to repeat some activities, to create my own daily plan in both games. In both, the intention is to get the better of every day. In Boku no Natsuyasumi, the conclusion was that even the days when nothing happened were as good as any other. In Ringo Ishikawa, even when something happens, the sense is that of still being lost, and then marching another day trying to find something.
Here is a lot to praise about how the map and the scenarios are constructed. Even though the tall infinite buildings can be seen in the background of many screens, the feeling when running around is that the place is too small and that there is a kind of life that cannot be escaped whatever you do.
If Kunio-kun and the eighties manga school gangster aesthetic suggest some sense of freedom through the sheer strength of youth, Ringo Ishikawa uses the template to illustrate the opposite, the end of the fantasy and the realization of how hard it is for a teenager to escape from where they are, or if it is even possible.
I went to school every day because I knew my friends were there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTeK48Z2HuA
After this skip, the first thing you see is Ringo's professor telling him that the last days of high school are coming up, and it’s time to decide where to head on with your life. In here, the already decontextualized beat’em up setting gains a new dimension when noticing that the violence is not just non-cathartic, but a background. Some gangs fight each other, some others want to fight you, you can run away from any of them and if you get beat up there is no fail state, just another action in the world and waking at home after some rest.
This may be a disheartening view of the world just because, but when examining your own actions, it becomes evident that there is no other way, or not easily so. You have no financial support and will starve for most of the time, at the very least on the first days. Your only income source is to pick money from beaten thugs, by your own hand or not, and it’s easy to assume that most of the teenagers around are in a very similar place.
The means for covering basic necessities is just a small part, since Ringo’s life is explored in all its aspects, since he wakes until he goes to sleep. Here it is interesting to see his approach to hobbies or interests like literature, studies, or even exercise, be it through fights or through training with some masters. In any case, the result of taking interest in those topics will be some numbers going up. Simple abstraction or not, intentional or not, despite whether Ringo is interested in what he is doing or not, what remains is a cold number, an objective. This could be compared with how modern Persona games free time actions help you build stats making every decision a strategic decision, at least partially, but here the answer is more vague, or directly non-existent, there is no benefit to what to do or not to do because there are no good or bad outcomes. The usual short length on most events, just a few lines of dialogue, help to convey both the fugacity and sudden impact of the small moments and their relative insignificance on the bigger picture when searching for a change.
The game takes influence from Yakuza and Shenmue, and while it’s easy to see where it comes from, there is a major difference. There is no immediate catharsis on the infinite time for side activities like in Yakuza and no real objective to struggle for like in Shenmue. If anything, it looks more like what San Andreas would be if there were no missions, just going around the neighborhood as the days go by. But the days will eventually end. To me, the most similar game to Ringo Ishikawa is Boku no Natsuyasumi.
Of course, with a very different tone, there is a similar sense in getting up every day and going around from one screen to another looking for things to do in the city. Also, at least in my case, a certain routine started to appear, making each day like a small poetry exercise. I liked to go to some places at some time, to repeat some activities, to create my own daily plan in both games. In both, the intention is to get the better of every day. In Boku no Natsuyasumi, the conclusion was that even the days when nothing happened were as good as any other. In Ringo Ishikawa, even when something happens, the sense is that of still being lost, and then marching another day trying to find something.
Here is a lot to praise about how the map and the scenarios are constructed. Even though the tall infinite buildings can be seen in the background of many screens, the feeling when running around is that the place is too small and that there is a kind of life that cannot be escaped whatever you do.
If Kunio-kun and the eighties manga school gangster aesthetic suggest some sense of freedom through the sheer strength of youth, Ringo Ishikawa uses the template to illustrate the opposite, the end of the fantasy and the realization of how hard it is for a teenager to escape from where they are, or if it is even possible.
I went to school every day because I knew my friends were there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTeK48Z2HuA
This review contains spoilers
I've been doing a repeat run of The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa alongside a friend of mine who's been playing for the first time, Discord streaming his playthrough. This particular friend sends Ringo to class every day without fail and pushes the mortal human's ability to stay awake just to cram in as much studying/exercise as possible. He is - by the game's standards - richer than god, and yet he routinely risks Ringo's wellbeing to loot random enemies in the world for truly pathetic amounts of money, usually less than 50 yen. He is as mystified by my playthrough as I am by his: if his Ringo is about making numbers go up, mine is about the intangibles. I have not purposely improved a single skill that the game measures. My Ringo is a voracious reader, but makes no special effort to dedicate time to employment or education - not unless it helps him buy books.
I suppose I'm the one with the aberrant playstyle. The experienced gamer knows that more often than not, filling every spare second with stuff pays off - more XP, more money, more NPC affection, etc. But I know how this whole thing ends. I know that Ringo Ishikawa is stubborn. You can study all you want, but he will never let his teacher read his essay to the class. You can make him read Anna Karenina and Rumble Fish and Winesburg, Ohio and Confessions of a Mask and by the time you reach the only conversation in the game where he discusses these books with someone else, it's pretty clear that Ringo is not "in it" to brag about what he read or watched or played or did. He speaks brusquely, frequently teases his closest friends, and maintains a kind of... firm kindness with acquaintances. It feels somehow appropriate to have this stubbornly principled teenage delinquent skip school to read The Brothers Karamazov in a single sitting before declaring "I'd need to re-read it a few times to let it all sink in. A powerful read."
The game is going to start laying out the hints pretty early - Ringo's friends are becoming their own people, and while the gang is ostensibly still together, nobody's heart is really in it anymore. With this, your time is limited.
With this - this realization - how do you spend your time? Watching my friend trek all the way to school and back feels like reaching that point in a conversation where you realize that your brain is just not wired in a way that allows you to fully relate to the other person. Their perspective is too alien, their values too different. Perhaps you can understand the thoughts that lead them to their conclusion, but the idea of your own brain producing those same thoughts feels... wrong. Improbable.
Why does my Ringo read? If I'm honest with you, it's not for him. When you make Ringo read, he sits down, a page counter appears above his head, and you watch it tick up as the day passes - no fast forwards, no special music. Ringo reads for the same reason that he and his friends will sometimes stop in the park, or in the rice fields outside of town, or on the balcony of his apartment, smoking and having conversations that only they can hear. He does it because it lets me linger in the empty space, because it makes me feel overwhelmingly present in those moments. And when you sit there with them, maybe you can push it to the back of your mind that Ken probably won't join any more of your fights, or that Masaru keeps asking you for money and never explains why. Those precious seconds where the gang is still together stretch out into minutes - but no more than that - and you have to move on.
As of the time of this writing, my friend still has not finished the game. It's actually been almost a month at this point, and there's a solid possibility he may not return to it. I won't push him. Maybe he didn't like to linger in those moments like I do. Maybe he moved on, moved past the gang, maybe his Ringo grows up. Perhaps he'll enjoy it better that way: as a little slice of life where everything was still just fine - not perfect, but fine. The last thing his Ringo does is drag his friends to support Goro's newfound passion for theater. My Ringo?
My Ringo boards the train alone.
I suppose I'm the one with the aberrant playstyle. The experienced gamer knows that more often than not, filling every spare second with stuff pays off - more XP, more money, more NPC affection, etc. But I know how this whole thing ends. I know that Ringo Ishikawa is stubborn. You can study all you want, but he will never let his teacher read his essay to the class. You can make him read Anna Karenina and Rumble Fish and Winesburg, Ohio and Confessions of a Mask and by the time you reach the only conversation in the game where he discusses these books with someone else, it's pretty clear that Ringo is not "in it" to brag about what he read or watched or played or did. He speaks brusquely, frequently teases his closest friends, and maintains a kind of... firm kindness with acquaintances. It feels somehow appropriate to have this stubbornly principled teenage delinquent skip school to read The Brothers Karamazov in a single sitting before declaring "I'd need to re-read it a few times to let it all sink in. A powerful read."
The game is going to start laying out the hints pretty early - Ringo's friends are becoming their own people, and while the gang is ostensibly still together, nobody's heart is really in it anymore. With this, your time is limited.
With this - this realization - how do you spend your time? Watching my friend trek all the way to school and back feels like reaching that point in a conversation where you realize that your brain is just not wired in a way that allows you to fully relate to the other person. Their perspective is too alien, their values too different. Perhaps you can understand the thoughts that lead them to their conclusion, but the idea of your own brain producing those same thoughts feels... wrong. Improbable.
Why does my Ringo read? If I'm honest with you, it's not for him. When you make Ringo read, he sits down, a page counter appears above his head, and you watch it tick up as the day passes - no fast forwards, no special music. Ringo reads for the same reason that he and his friends will sometimes stop in the park, or in the rice fields outside of town, or on the balcony of his apartment, smoking and having conversations that only they can hear. He does it because it lets me linger in the empty space, because it makes me feel overwhelmingly present in those moments. And when you sit there with them, maybe you can push it to the back of your mind that Ken probably won't join any more of your fights, or that Masaru keeps asking you for money and never explains why. Those precious seconds where the gang is still together stretch out into minutes - but no more than that - and you have to move on.
As of the time of this writing, my friend still has not finished the game. It's actually been almost a month at this point, and there's a solid possibility he may not return to it. I won't push him. Maybe he didn't like to linger in those moments like I do. Maybe he moved on, moved past the gang, maybe his Ringo grows up. Perhaps he'll enjoy it better that way: as a little slice of life where everything was still just fine - not perfect, but fine. The last thing his Ringo does is drag his friends to support Goro's newfound passion for theater. My Ringo?
My Ringo boards the train alone.
only played maybe 45 mins before giving up because it’s so sucks. shit designed to make waspy chuds pog out and plays like a flash game, I will never finish no more heroes bc it’s the exact same fucking vibe as this lol