quite sincerely the most bizarre thing i've ever played that wasn't supposed to be surreal.
sure, it's a budget game. but there's things going on here that go beyond "we didn't have the money" and are just unexplainable.
the concept of mobius is fascinating, and μ is a joy to interact with whenever you're given the chance to. i really appreciate that, in a way, this game follows cosMoP's warning in "the real disappearance of hatsune miku", wherein a product (vocaloid) that can give those who would otherwise not have a voice in society a chance to share their thoughts and feelings with the world is also a double-edged sword due to the fact that you have people liking the robot more than the human behind it. no matter how much passion you put behind your piece, there are many that will just click because they see their favorite vocaloid singing it and enjoy it because of that. this theme matches the musicians club really well since, as they are they 'villians' of the game, they are the ones who have knowledge of mobius but don't want to leave for various reasons that all have to do with feeling cheated by society by things they couldn't control.
back on the vocaloid/song aspect, μ is the vessel for all the producers, and the music they're making is all very personal to them, but they are lacking the fulfillment two-fold -- they themselves know that the world is fake and that any happiness they receive is from μ's power. the only thing they can create from their heart that μ can't are the songs... but μ herself is the one they have to sit and watch perform their intimate pieces to thousands of NPC drones that will just eat up anything she sings. it's quite a suffocating concept that makes you really believe why people like the musicians would be 'stuck' in mobius, constantly telling themselves 'it's better to be here than the real world'.
if the game focused on all of that, it'd be a real delight! unfortunately, it's bogged down by extremely inconsistent writing between character episode's (this game's version of social links), extremely inconsistent writing between the characters themselves, and a silly main plot featuring thorn v.s. shogo that leaves you a bit disappointed in comparison to literally anything else they couldve made the game's conclusion about.
the combat is a sore spot for a ton of people, but i don't really mind as the game heals you after every battle. with the understanding that you will be fully restored, it makes sense that they chose to go with the unique 'time manipulation' turn based combat since each battle will take a while if you're dealing with any more than one enemy. if you weren't healed, battles would be long and dungeons would take forever to get through due to you presumably having to take even more time to think through combat so you wouldn't lose health/sp. i will appreciate a game making combat something to think about rather than something to smash one button on.
fans of vocaloid and all the feelings of isolation that come with it should definitely at least watch a playthrough of this game. it's got beautiful artwork, amazing and varied music, no sense of consistent tone, and an overall amateur feel about it, so it might as well be a vocaloid song.
sure, it's a budget game. but there's things going on here that go beyond "we didn't have the money" and are just unexplainable.
the concept of mobius is fascinating, and μ is a joy to interact with whenever you're given the chance to. i really appreciate that, in a way, this game follows cosMoP's warning in "the real disappearance of hatsune miku", wherein a product (vocaloid) that can give those who would otherwise not have a voice in society a chance to share their thoughts and feelings with the world is also a double-edged sword due to the fact that you have people liking the robot more than the human behind it. no matter how much passion you put behind your piece, there are many that will just click because they see their favorite vocaloid singing it and enjoy it because of that. this theme matches the musicians club really well since, as they are they 'villians' of the game, they are the ones who have knowledge of mobius but don't want to leave for various reasons that all have to do with feeling cheated by society by things they couldn't control.
back on the vocaloid/song aspect, μ is the vessel for all the producers, and the music they're making is all very personal to them, but they are lacking the fulfillment two-fold -- they themselves know that the world is fake and that any happiness they receive is from μ's power. the only thing they can create from their heart that μ can't are the songs... but μ herself is the one they have to sit and watch perform their intimate pieces to thousands of NPC drones that will just eat up anything she sings. it's quite a suffocating concept that makes you really believe why people like the musicians would be 'stuck' in mobius, constantly telling themselves 'it's better to be here than the real world'.
if the game focused on all of that, it'd be a real delight! unfortunately, it's bogged down by extremely inconsistent writing between character episode's (this game's version of social links), extremely inconsistent writing between the characters themselves, and a silly main plot featuring thorn v.s. shogo that leaves you a bit disappointed in comparison to literally anything else they couldve made the game's conclusion about.
the combat is a sore spot for a ton of people, but i don't really mind as the game heals you after every battle. with the understanding that you will be fully restored, it makes sense that they chose to go with the unique 'time manipulation' turn based combat since each battle will take a while if you're dealing with any more than one enemy. if you weren't healed, battles would be long and dungeons would take forever to get through due to you presumably having to take even more time to think through combat so you wouldn't lose health/sp. i will appreciate a game making combat something to think about rather than something to smash one button on.
fans of vocaloid and all the feelings of isolation that come with it should definitely at least watch a playthrough of this game. it's got beautiful artwork, amazing and varied music, no sense of consistent tone, and an overall amateur feel about it, so it might as well be a vocaloid song.
3 Comments
@hyli no worries. i've heard nothing but praise for the second one, and honestly if this game just didn't have such a weird fascination with thorn and making her story be the climax when it's...really nothing special, i wouldve enjoyed this one way more lol. can't wait to play the second and see what it's all about :)
very nice, I hope you enjoy 2 when you play it :) I also just wanna say that your last comment about it having an amateur feel about it and being like a vocaloid song puts the entire experience way better than I could even as a huge fan of the game
dehri
2 years ago
The character episodes are also vastly improved as you don't do them in one go anymore and have to do it across the entire game.