There's a lot I will forgive for a good story and ridiculously opaque dialogue and event triggering is one of them.
Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir shows its age in its gameplay. I'm used to brute forcing my way through games like this but some points were so confounding I gave up and followed a walkthrough. I don't necessarily mind Mages keeping true to the original game but you may want to keep a walkthrough handy if you don't want to click the same menu options over and over again hoping for new dialogue. Despite that, the story was gripping enough for me to eagerly press on. It's a bit of a classic Japanese murder mystery, but somehow despite its age and lack of originality, it's still fascinating seeing everything unfold.
The game is fairly short, clocking in at roughly 7-8 hours due to limitations of the system it was originally on, but there is no moment wasted in those seven hours. There is no filler or moments where the pacing is off. The story clips along at a sustained pace, tensions building up as events unfold, only slightly faltering at the very end but wraps up nicely nonetheless.
It's obvious now where Ace Attorney came from. There's something special in playing a game among the first in its genre and seeing where its influences lead decades later. Mages has done a very good job with breathing life in this game. Aside from the at times frustrating navigation, it feels like a modern and well thought out visual novel with stunning presentation. The game is gorgeous in terms of graphics, sound design, complete voice acting and delightful animation. If we had a more Ace Attorney-like navigation system where it was more obvious what dialogue options were new, this would have easily become one of my new favourites but I don't fault Mages remaining faithful to the original. As it is, it's still an easy recommendation for fans of the genre.
Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir shows its age in its gameplay. I'm used to brute forcing my way through games like this but some points were so confounding I gave up and followed a walkthrough. I don't necessarily mind Mages keeping true to the original game but you may want to keep a walkthrough handy if you don't want to click the same menu options over and over again hoping for new dialogue. Despite that, the story was gripping enough for me to eagerly press on. It's a bit of a classic Japanese murder mystery, but somehow despite its age and lack of originality, it's still fascinating seeing everything unfold.
The game is fairly short, clocking in at roughly 7-8 hours due to limitations of the system it was originally on, but there is no moment wasted in those seven hours. There is no filler or moments where the pacing is off. The story clips along at a sustained pace, tensions building up as events unfold, only slightly faltering at the very end but wraps up nicely nonetheless.
It's obvious now where Ace Attorney came from. There's something special in playing a game among the first in its genre and seeing where its influences lead decades later. Mages has done a very good job with breathing life in this game. Aside from the at times frustrating navigation, it feels like a modern and well thought out visual novel with stunning presentation. The game is gorgeous in terms of graphics, sound design, complete voice acting and delightful animation. If we had a more Ace Attorney-like navigation system where it was more obvious what dialogue options were new, this would have easily become one of my new favourites but I don't fault Mages remaining faithful to the original. As it is, it's still an easy recommendation for fans of the genre.