I wanted more!
Sound design and art direction are unimpeachable. Character design does a great job illustrating each character's idiosyncrasies without feeling like caricature. Character in general is the strong point of this game, every one just oozes charm and I loved how character-focused the plotlines/drives were.
Dice mechanics are great but fall a little flat as the difficulty bottoms out almost immediately. Early into the game I failed a drive because I took too long and completely lost access to an entire character's arc. I wanted more moments like that. The game starts to set up more tough choices, i.e. different characters demanding the same rare resource at around the same time, etc., but the choices were always robbed of impact when I realized I could just... get more. The NPC in question waited patiently for their turn and didn't even acknowledge I had made a choice at all. I liked the parts where characters re-appeared in different arcs referencing past events, but those were few and far between.
I LOVED Lem and Mina, their entire arc was masterful. I wish every character was as fleshed out as they were, and every arc had as many opportunities for interaction as theirs did. Their ending is my favorite and also (unfortunately) the only one that felt conclusive of the ones I got. The other ones tended to just sort of throw a dramatic "final choice" out of nowhere and fade out with little to no denouement. I think this could have worked, the interruption of whatever drives you were following could be an effective narrative shock, but, like the resource choices, they don't make you stand by that choice. It is way too easy to just boot your save back up with no consequence and immediately see the alternative. I get the function of this as a way to help completionists avoid replays, but I WANTED to replay the game. Within a few cycles, I was already thinking "okay so next run I'll prioritize this and focus on these stats..." etc etc. In a game with multiple starting classes I figured that was the point. But that desire faded as resource management became trivial and my stats were near-maxed long before the ending.
I honestly hope Jump Over the Age makes another one of these, not a sequel but another game that carries on the (brilliant) mechanics and storytelling of this and expands on them.
Sound design and art direction are unimpeachable. Character design does a great job illustrating each character's idiosyncrasies without feeling like caricature. Character in general is the strong point of this game, every one just oozes charm and I loved how character-focused the plotlines/drives were.
Dice mechanics are great but fall a little flat as the difficulty bottoms out almost immediately. Early into the game I failed a drive because I took too long and completely lost access to an entire character's arc. I wanted more moments like that. The game starts to set up more tough choices, i.e. different characters demanding the same rare resource at around the same time, etc., but the choices were always robbed of impact when I realized I could just... get more. The NPC in question waited patiently for their turn and didn't even acknowledge I had made a choice at all. I liked the parts where characters re-appeared in different arcs referencing past events, but those were few and far between.
I LOVED Lem and Mina, their entire arc was masterful. I wish every character was as fleshed out as they were, and every arc had as many opportunities for interaction as theirs did. Their ending is my favorite and also (unfortunately) the only one that felt conclusive of the ones I got. The other ones tended to just sort of throw a dramatic "final choice" out of nowhere and fade out with little to no denouement. I think this could have worked, the interruption of whatever drives you were following could be an effective narrative shock, but, like the resource choices, they don't make you stand by that choice. It is way too easy to just boot your save back up with no consequence and immediately see the alternative. I get the function of this as a way to help completionists avoid replays, but I WANTED to replay the game. Within a few cycles, I was already thinking "okay so next run I'll prioritize this and focus on these stats..." etc etc. In a game with multiple starting classes I figured that was the point. But that desire faded as resource management became trivial and my stats were near-maxed long before the ending.
I honestly hope Jump Over the Age makes another one of these, not a sequel but another game that carries on the (brilliant) mechanics and storytelling of this and expands on them.