archivistbluum
13 reviews liked by archivistbluum
In Stars and Time
2023
i would do unspeakable things for odile
In Stars and Time
2023
This review contains spoilers
homo groundhog day gave me a headache
For a full hour after I finished this game, I looked through my game collection and my backloggery (my entries on this website are incomplete as of the time of writing). I have never played a game that I've felt this divided on. Throughout playing the game, I entered different ratings on here to gauge how I felt, and they went from 5 stars to half a star. In Stars and Time has some truly dreadful ideas that would tank any other game, ideas so bad that you question how the hell nobody during the lengthy development of this game didn't point out how bad they were. The first line of this review isn't a joke, I have a pounding headache after finishing this game.
With all of that typed out, you gotta understand how good the writing and characters are in this game. I adore the entire main cast unconditionally. In terms of my favorite party members in a RPG, they're all probably in the top ten. The game starts at the end of a long journey, there's character interactions and development that we clearly missed, and yet the characters were written well enough that I had a deep connection to everyone and would look forward to seeing new bits of dialogue around the main dungeon. I'm not generous towards this game at all, and I tried to look for specific lines or scenes that might not have sat well, and I couldn't find anything.
The presentation of the game is, again, way too good for how bad of an idea this game ended up being. Despite being in (mostly) black and white, I never had any visual confusion towards what I was looking at. The key pieces of art during specific cut-scenes were a highlight, and somehow augmented the already stellar dialogue. The music and its permutations, even if those permutations were bad, was fitting for each of the scenes. A ton of talent went into the AV sections of the game, time well spent.
It's a shame the game itself is such an awful waste of this talent. Waste might be going too far, because what we got was still fine, but the entire time I was playing this game, I just wished I was playing the previous 45 hours of this JRPG that we're never going to get. The time looping elements of the gameplay compare poorly to other games with time travel elements. The main dungeon gets monotonous by the second time you've played through all of the floors. The final boss fight is really fun and engaging the first time you go through it, and feels like a chore the 12th time. The game has limited ways of alleviating looping frustrations for the player, like being able to warp to higher up floors or having reminders of where items are, but they come off more as band-aid solutions for an underlying system that isn't fun to play through. Why do I have to grind random fights just to warp to higher up floors? There are times in the game where the only new piece of dialogue requires that you know exactly where to go in the dungeon, and that requires either playing through 20 min of content you've seen a hundred times already, or paying this limited currency to skip that monotony for two minutes of dialogue, after which you'll speedrun killing yourself.
That frustration's supposed to be the point, right? The player is supposed to feel the frustration that Siffrin has to deal with, going through the same events over and over. Mission accomplished, when I had to go through the semi-randomized version of the dungeon at the end of the game, I was not having a good time at all. There's reviews on this website that mention how much they like elements of the game, but dropped the game because it was too repetitive. If you set out to make a bad game, and succeed, you still made a bad game.
If the game itself was just kinda butt, and the rest of the narrative was a 10/10 I'd give this game a perfect score and move on with life. There are specific narrative directions that drove me up a wall. The king being irredeemably bad was such a missed opportunity. There's an attempt midway through the game to talk to and empathize with the main antagonist, and initially I thought this was going to go in the direction of "even if you try to choose peace, the main character is still trapped in this time loop for reasons that'll be explained later". A real gut punch that fits with the tone of the game. Instead, he'll backstab the party and crush a child in his bare hands, something that doesn't fit the vibe of the game and makes the character less interesting. I didn't give a single shit about the king after that scene, he was just a monster that had to be dealt with.
The endgame also left a sour taste in my mouth, to the point I almost dropped the game. There isn't a gradual degradation of Siffrin's mental state, after hitting a specific dead end they just snap and attempt to destroy all of the relationships the game had lovingly built up to that point. I think that the way he went about this was out of character and poorly done, flat out. I hated having to sit through each of the scenes. The final permutation of the dungeon and the character's inner battle didn't work for me at all, and again, even if that's the point, it's a stupid point. Act 5 is the nadir of the game. It feels like this otherwise touching, wonderful game got its shirt stuck on the "what if we made an earthbound like game but secretly it was really fucked up" current that needs to die and never come back. We've had enough of that trope for a lifetime. I thought whatever comment the game was trying to make on mental illness was flaccid and incoherent. This game was a 1/10 for me at this point.
My frustrations with this game have been made very clear, but how I feel about the main cast may not have been. They are all still some of my favorite characters I've seen in a video game in years. How they react to Siffrin at the end, and their not-parting dialogue made it worth it. In Stars and Time, despite being critically flawed, makes you feel every emotional beat that it wants you to. This game will play you like a damn fiddle, in ways that nothing else that came out this year can. Despite the game's many issues, In Stars and Time stuck the landing. It won.
For a full hour after I finished this game, I looked through my game collection and my backloggery (my entries on this website are incomplete as of the time of writing). I have never played a game that I've felt this divided on. Throughout playing the game, I entered different ratings on here to gauge how I felt, and they went from 5 stars to half a star. In Stars and Time has some truly dreadful ideas that would tank any other game, ideas so bad that you question how the hell nobody during the lengthy development of this game didn't point out how bad they were. The first line of this review isn't a joke, I have a pounding headache after finishing this game.
With all of that typed out, you gotta understand how good the writing and characters are in this game. I adore the entire main cast unconditionally. In terms of my favorite party members in a RPG, they're all probably in the top ten. The game starts at the end of a long journey, there's character interactions and development that we clearly missed, and yet the characters were written well enough that I had a deep connection to everyone and would look forward to seeing new bits of dialogue around the main dungeon. I'm not generous towards this game at all, and I tried to look for specific lines or scenes that might not have sat well, and I couldn't find anything.
The presentation of the game is, again, way too good for how bad of an idea this game ended up being. Despite being in (mostly) black and white, I never had any visual confusion towards what I was looking at. The key pieces of art during specific cut-scenes were a highlight, and somehow augmented the already stellar dialogue. The music and its permutations, even if those permutations were bad, was fitting for each of the scenes. A ton of talent went into the AV sections of the game, time well spent.
It's a shame the game itself is such an awful waste of this talent. Waste might be going too far, because what we got was still fine, but the entire time I was playing this game, I just wished I was playing the previous 45 hours of this JRPG that we're never going to get. The time looping elements of the gameplay compare poorly to other games with time travel elements. The main dungeon gets monotonous by the second time you've played through all of the floors. The final boss fight is really fun and engaging the first time you go through it, and feels like a chore the 12th time. The game has limited ways of alleviating looping frustrations for the player, like being able to warp to higher up floors or having reminders of where items are, but they come off more as band-aid solutions for an underlying system that isn't fun to play through. Why do I have to grind random fights just to warp to higher up floors? There are times in the game where the only new piece of dialogue requires that you know exactly where to go in the dungeon, and that requires either playing through 20 min of content you've seen a hundred times already, or paying this limited currency to skip that monotony for two minutes of dialogue, after which you'll speedrun killing yourself.
That frustration's supposed to be the point, right? The player is supposed to feel the frustration that Siffrin has to deal with, going through the same events over and over. Mission accomplished, when I had to go through the semi-randomized version of the dungeon at the end of the game, I was not having a good time at all. There's reviews on this website that mention how much they like elements of the game, but dropped the game because it was too repetitive. If you set out to make a bad game, and succeed, you still made a bad game.
If the game itself was just kinda butt, and the rest of the narrative was a 10/10 I'd give this game a perfect score and move on with life. There are specific narrative directions that drove me up a wall. The king being irredeemably bad was such a missed opportunity. There's an attempt midway through the game to talk to and empathize with the main antagonist, and initially I thought this was going to go in the direction of "even if you try to choose peace, the main character is still trapped in this time loop for reasons that'll be explained later". A real gut punch that fits with the tone of the game. Instead, he'll backstab the party and crush a child in his bare hands, something that doesn't fit the vibe of the game and makes the character less interesting. I didn't give a single shit about the king after that scene, he was just a monster that had to be dealt with.
The endgame also left a sour taste in my mouth, to the point I almost dropped the game. There isn't a gradual degradation of Siffrin's mental state, after hitting a specific dead end they just snap and attempt to destroy all of the relationships the game had lovingly built up to that point. I think that the way he went about this was out of character and poorly done, flat out. I hated having to sit through each of the scenes. The final permutation of the dungeon and the character's inner battle didn't work for me at all, and again, even if that's the point, it's a stupid point. Act 5 is the nadir of the game. It feels like this otherwise touching, wonderful game got its shirt stuck on the "what if we made an earthbound like game but secretly it was really fucked up" current that needs to die and never come back. We've had enough of that trope for a lifetime. I thought whatever comment the game was trying to make on mental illness was flaccid and incoherent. This game was a 1/10 for me at this point.
My frustrations with this game have been made very clear, but how I feel about the main cast may not have been. They are all still some of my favorite characters I've seen in a video game in years. How they react to Siffrin at the end, and their not-parting dialogue made it worth it. In Stars and Time, despite being critically flawed, makes you feel every emotional beat that it wants you to. This game will play you like a damn fiddle, in ways that nothing else that came out this year can. Despite the game's many issues, In Stars and Time stuck the landing. It won.
Mad Father
2020
stunning game with very engaging characters, i loved them all very much. i wish there was a happy ending </3
GRAPHICS: Genuinely gorgeous. The world, the creature designs, Alice (the hair physics!), the fact that her appearance and outfit changes depending on the chapter you're in to better match the area around you (a mermaid-esque dress for the Deluded Depths, a dark steampunk look for the Hatter's Domain, a soft floral outfit for the Mysterious East), it's all beautiful - even if that beauty is sometimes a very twisted brand of it. The additional outfits are wonderful, too - I personally love the Late But Lucky, Cheshire, and Hattress dresses (she has cogs for pupils!). The Vale of Tears is beautiful, especially in the moments before the game begins to pull out the darker stuff, and the Cardbridge genuinely took my breath away.
CHARACTERS: The game mostly focuses on Alice (who is great by herself - I've read a fair number of essays on how important her character and how her mental health/story was handled were), but there are some fascinating and well-conceptualised supporting characters too. The Cheshire Cat has always been a favourite, as has his appearance, the Carpenter is always fun to get to again on replays, and the Queen of Hearts is beautifully designed. The main antagonist is appropriately sinister and ominous.
DIALOGUE/VOICE ACTING: I thought the voice acting was pretty good, and everyone's approaches to their lines fit well with the tone of the game. Alice's voice is sharp and she hits the emotional beats pretty well, and the Cheshire Cat and Bumby are stand-outs.
PLOT: It's dark and potentially upsetting for younger players, but I got into this game at 11-12 and loved it, so your mileage may vary. It weaves between twisted and dreamlike while in Wonderland to depressingly realistic while in London or when confronting Alice's mental state.
GAMEPLAY: Platformers aren't usually my thing, but I really enjoyed the platforming in this game. The different worlds keep everything varied and interesting, and there are always different things to keep you on your toes - you're platforming over dominoes in Vale of Tears, giant cogs and steam jets in Hatter's Domain, paper fans in the Mysterious East, floating playing cards in the Cardbridge, etc. The combat is fun enough, with a variety of different and interesting weapons to unlock along the way, and I found myself having to be pretty strategic about when to dodge and when to attack and when to back off, so it wasn't just mindless slashing.
MULTIPLAYER: None.
Favourite Male Character: The Cheshire Cat ...does he count as male?
Favourite Female Character: Alice
First Character I Liked: Alice
Favourite Character Design: The Cheshire Cat
Favourite Moment: Either floating down into Wonderland for the first time, the first time entering Cardbridge, or the train station scene at the end
Favourite OST: Vale of Tears, Jack Splatter, Radcliffe's Fate
Least Favourite Character: Bumby
CHARACTERS: The game mostly focuses on Alice (who is great by herself - I've read a fair number of essays on how important her character and how her mental health/story was handled were), but there are some fascinating and well-conceptualised supporting characters too. The Cheshire Cat has always been a favourite, as has his appearance, the Carpenter is always fun to get to again on replays, and the Queen of Hearts is beautifully designed. The main antagonist is appropriately sinister and ominous.
DIALOGUE/VOICE ACTING: I thought the voice acting was pretty good, and everyone's approaches to their lines fit well with the tone of the game. Alice's voice is sharp and she hits the emotional beats pretty well, and the Cheshire Cat and Bumby are stand-outs.
PLOT: It's dark and potentially upsetting for younger players, but I got into this game at 11-12 and loved it, so your mileage may vary. It weaves between twisted and dreamlike while in Wonderland to depressingly realistic while in London or when confronting Alice's mental state.
GAMEPLAY: Platformers aren't usually my thing, but I really enjoyed the platforming in this game. The different worlds keep everything varied and interesting, and there are always different things to keep you on your toes - you're platforming over dominoes in Vale of Tears, giant cogs and steam jets in Hatter's Domain, paper fans in the Mysterious East, floating playing cards in the Cardbridge, etc. The combat is fun enough, with a variety of different and interesting weapons to unlock along the way, and I found myself having to be pretty strategic about when to dodge and when to attack and when to back off, so it wasn't just mindless slashing.
MULTIPLAYER: None.
Favourite Male Character: The Cheshire Cat ...does he count as male?
Favourite Female Character: Alice
First Character I Liked: Alice
Favourite Character Design: The Cheshire Cat
Favourite Moment: Either floating down into Wonderland for the first time, the first time entering Cardbridge, or the train station scene at the end
Favourite OST: Vale of Tears, Jack Splatter, Radcliffe's Fate
Least Favourite Character: Bumby
Hades
2018
bisexuality.
Yume Nikki
2004
Yume Nikki and I have been passing acquaintances for more than a decade. Every so often, I'd fire the game up (undoubtedly an outdated build, now that I think about it) and explore a little; and, after an hour or two, put it down, bored.
However, if this and the general tone of other reviews here is any indication, Yume Nikki wasn't the kind of game I could easily put to the side and declare "not for me". Even as I searched Madotsuki's dream-wastes for gripping ephemera, and frequently came away empty-handed (and slightly disquieted), the game never lost its grip on me - since 2012, when I first downloaded it.
And- you know what, in retrospect, I realise was my grave mistake in those days?
I played Yume Nikki with a guide.
Trying to shortcut your stay in these dreams, treat your stay in Madotsuki's dreams like "tourism", get to the "interesting part" where something cool happens that makes the wandering "worth it"- well, that attitude diminishes the wandering! It robs the game of its ability to unfold its atmosphere to its fullest. Ahead of anything else, Yume Nikki, in your mind, must NEVER be a "problem to solve". "A game to complete." I get those that want to bypass the Hellmaze (it's the reason I took away a half-star from its score lol), but...
Yume Nikki needs you to remain, and to persist. Yume Nikki needs you to wander. Yume Nikki needs you to be subsumed, wants to be played in a dark room with no distractions and certainly no walkthroughs open on the side.
And when I finally did it like that, when I embraced the uncertainty and the depths of its exploration,
Yume Nikki rewarded me.
Earlier this year, on a single exploration through this dream, I saw both some of the most inspiring art I've seen in any video game, and played through the most heart-thumping stealth segment in any video game I've ever played: I went to space; I delved into sewers. I grew long hair. I extinguished fire by controlling rain. I tiptoed around bookshelves to evade a bloody ball of hair that, in the top-down perspective, was just as frequently obscured as myself, often needing me to make educated guesses of its whereabouts.
EDIT: A friend told me later that what I saw couldn't have hurt me - but it certainly didn't feel safe - which further solidifies my point.
After that play session, I was energised - and I finally really understood this game. All the years of trying had been worth it.
Yume Nikki, if you let it be itself undissected, is a game you come away from with stories to tell.
I genuinely feel like it's not a game that wants you to complete it - while I'm not spoiling the ending here, the game's conclusion certainly makes that interpretation sound.
It's also one of those true video game mysteries: For people who don't know Japanese especially, but I think for basically everyone who isn't Kikiyama, this game's internal workings in RPG Maker 2003 are so complex that I don't think we'll ever come to holistically understand it, and know every single thing it's capable of.
And that's more than okay. That's beautiful! Play Yume Nikki - and don't be afraid of wandering.
However, if this and the general tone of other reviews here is any indication, Yume Nikki wasn't the kind of game I could easily put to the side and declare "not for me". Even as I searched Madotsuki's dream-wastes for gripping ephemera, and frequently came away empty-handed (and slightly disquieted), the game never lost its grip on me - since 2012, when I first downloaded it.
And- you know what, in retrospect, I realise was my grave mistake in those days?
I played Yume Nikki with a guide.
Trying to shortcut your stay in these dreams, treat your stay in Madotsuki's dreams like "tourism", get to the "interesting part" where something cool happens that makes the wandering "worth it"- well, that attitude diminishes the wandering! It robs the game of its ability to unfold its atmosphere to its fullest. Ahead of anything else, Yume Nikki, in your mind, must NEVER be a "problem to solve". "A game to complete." I get those that want to bypass the Hellmaze (it's the reason I took away a half-star from its score lol), but...
Yume Nikki needs you to remain, and to persist. Yume Nikki needs you to wander. Yume Nikki needs you to be subsumed, wants to be played in a dark room with no distractions and certainly no walkthroughs open on the side.
And when I finally did it like that, when I embraced the uncertainty and the depths of its exploration,
Yume Nikki rewarded me.
Earlier this year, on a single exploration through this dream, I saw both some of the most inspiring art I've seen in any video game, and played through the most heart-thumping stealth segment in any video game I've ever played: I went to space; I delved into sewers. I grew long hair. I extinguished fire by controlling rain. I tiptoed around bookshelves to evade a bloody ball of hair that, in the top-down perspective, was just as frequently obscured as myself, often needing me to make educated guesses of its whereabouts.
EDIT: A friend told me later that what I saw couldn't have hurt me - but it certainly didn't feel safe - which further solidifies my point.
After that play session, I was energised - and I finally really understood this game. All the years of trying had been worth it.
Yume Nikki, if you let it be itself undissected, is a game you come away from with stories to tell.
I genuinely feel like it's not a game that wants you to complete it - while I'm not spoiling the ending here, the game's conclusion certainly makes that interpretation sound.
It's also one of those true video game mysteries: For people who don't know Japanese especially, but I think for basically everyone who isn't Kikiyama, this game's internal workings in RPG Maker 2003 are so complex that I don't think we'll ever come to holistically understand it, and know every single thing it's capable of.
And that's more than okay. That's beautiful! Play Yume Nikki - and don't be afraid of wandering.
Cupid Parasite
2020
Cupid Parasite is an absolutel WILD RIDE of an otome, and I mean that in the best way possible. If you love lots of laugh-out-loud moments in your otome games, then play this game. CupiPara also goes out of its way to cram in as many cheesy romance tropes as possible. Here is a list of just a few that can be found in the various routes of this story:
- Fake dating
- Soulmates
- Friends to lovers
- Forbidden love
- Secret identity
...And many more that I can't list without giving spoilers. CupiPara knows exactly what it is, and embraces its cheesiness fully. Huge recommend if you want a sweet and funny read.
Also, Ryuki is my favorite.
- Fake dating
- Soulmates
- Friends to lovers
- Forbidden love
- Secret identity
...And many more that I can't list without giving spoilers. CupiPara knows exactly what it is, and embraces its cheesiness fully. Huge recommend if you want a sweet and funny read.
Also, Ryuki is my favorite.
Shadow the Hedgehog
2005
If it weren't for the disgrace of a video game I have as my only .5 star, Shadow The Hedgehog would probably be the closest game to being the absolute worst I've played to completion. Its 4am when writing this and I could make the argument that this game wasted more of my time than UDG, but that could just be due to how fucking long each route drags on despite only clocking in about an hour after the first couple runs.
This game isn't worth going the extra mile to analyze gameplay or story wise so I'll just summarize my thoughts as best as I possibly can. Story wise, I genuinely think this is the worst the franchise has to offer. The story is so fucking bad that I'm blanking on literally anything to say, as it retreads the worst beats SA2 covers, defeating the point of what that game and Heroes were trying to set up. Instead of this being about Shadow rediscovering himself through those living in the present, of which are his friends(?), we instead have him leaving his past behind him and making good on his promise to Maria (and now Gerald)... AGAIN. Its a waste of time by itself and I'm just describing half of the routes. The Dark side routes are laughably bad as morality choices and spit in the face of every single character involved, but it would be a pretty cool mechanic in a competent game. The idea of siding with the heroes for 90% of the game then switching at the very end to the Black Arms would be hilarious, as long as it meant playing a game that wasn't this. Speaking of the routes, hope you like playing the game 10 times to get the "true ending"! I'm perfectly fine with replaying zones in Sonic games, sometimes even just for an hour straight to familiarize myself with the level in its entirety, but there isn't a single stage in this game that deserves that kind of repeated attention, its just lazy and each level isn't designed for this at all, as these are probably the most linear stages in the series other than Forces. For the gameplay itself, it is quite literally Heroes but even more slippery, thats it. As per the course with Sonic Team games, there's always something unfinished about it to its core, and the reuse of the engine and past level assets are flat out vile. To specify the reuse of engine would be fine but Heroes handling shouldn't be used in anything but that game, as it rarely even worked there either. As far as the gunplay, its not the worst thing ever. There are a lot moments of jank but its one the only new additions to this game that I can say I'm fine with. The other new addition I can say I like is the new english cast. Not much to say as they don't stay very long but this, Sonic X and 06 are probably the worst way to start voicing the characters, as Sega didn't have much in mind for what they wanted them to be. It wasn't until Unleashed where I'd say they hit their stride consistenly, which sucks but such is the enjoyment of mid 2000s voice direction.
So yeah this wasn't fun, and it didn't help that I had no nostalgia of this entry to speak of, something I can't say for most of the other games of this era and going forward. Also I know its not that serious but at the same time, the people who pass this off as just mid or harmless in context of the franchise are part of the problem as to why Sonic had an identity crisis after this point (although Sega is mostly to blame for it obviously, about 75% I'd say).
This game isn't worth going the extra mile to analyze gameplay or story wise so I'll just summarize my thoughts as best as I possibly can. Story wise, I genuinely think this is the worst the franchise has to offer. The story is so fucking bad that I'm blanking on literally anything to say, as it retreads the worst beats SA2 covers, defeating the point of what that game and Heroes were trying to set up. Instead of this being about Shadow rediscovering himself through those living in the present, of which are his friends(?), we instead have him leaving his past behind him and making good on his promise to Maria (and now Gerald)... AGAIN. Its a waste of time by itself and I'm just describing half of the routes. The Dark side routes are laughably bad as morality choices and spit in the face of every single character involved, but it would be a pretty cool mechanic in a competent game. The idea of siding with the heroes for 90% of the game then switching at the very end to the Black Arms would be hilarious, as long as it meant playing a game that wasn't this. Speaking of the routes, hope you like playing the game 10 times to get the "true ending"! I'm perfectly fine with replaying zones in Sonic games, sometimes even just for an hour straight to familiarize myself with the level in its entirety, but there isn't a single stage in this game that deserves that kind of repeated attention, its just lazy and each level isn't designed for this at all, as these are probably the most linear stages in the series other than Forces. For the gameplay itself, it is quite literally Heroes but even more slippery, thats it. As per the course with Sonic Team games, there's always something unfinished about it to its core, and the reuse of the engine and past level assets are flat out vile. To specify the reuse of engine would be fine but Heroes handling shouldn't be used in anything but that game, as it rarely even worked there either. As far as the gunplay, its not the worst thing ever. There are a lot moments of jank but its one the only new additions to this game that I can say I'm fine with. The other new addition I can say I like is the new english cast. Not much to say as they don't stay very long but this, Sonic X and 06 are probably the worst way to start voicing the characters, as Sega didn't have much in mind for what they wanted them to be. It wasn't until Unleashed where I'd say they hit their stride consistenly, which sucks but such is the enjoyment of mid 2000s voice direction.
So yeah this wasn't fun, and it didn't help that I had no nostalgia of this entry to speak of, something I can't say for most of the other games of this era and going forward. Also I know its not that serious but at the same time, the people who pass this off as just mid or harmless in context of the franchise are part of the problem as to why Sonic had an identity crisis after this point (although Sega is mostly to blame for it obviously, about 75% I'd say).
Butterfly Soup
2017
what a lovely game. personally, i would recommend this to any sapphic person!
Kirby: Squeak Squad
2006
hehe we steal cheese from mice mmmm