This review contains spoilers
Some scattered thoughts on this one instead of a proper well-done writeup, sorry! (This just means I didn't proofread it) Vague spoilers throughout for up until the super duper credits roll, if you've seen that you're safe
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed what I’ve played of this, but I feel like it put its best foot forward to its own detriment. I had a lot of fun finding these little secrets and mechanical quirks that nudged me towards taking notes and trying to intuit some stuff for myself. That was great, but by the second story I’d exhausted everything that made sense to me and didn’t seem incredibly fiddly to pull off (seriously I am never doing any of the brand puzzles), compounded by the fact that the puzzles themselves were demanding so much of my limited brainpower at that point that I wasn’t really excited about secret-hunting any more.
The puzzle mechanics themselves are cool and some of the puzzles really push the tiniest details to the front (B208 hard was FUNNY when I realised what it wanted me to do), but sometimes solutions get really fiddly and tedious. Like, just shuffling a bunch of blocks around for ages. Some of the letter rooms on hard are good examples of this, because they’re very easy but just need you to slowly shuffle along to the set of blocks off in the distance and slowly ferry them back. Maybe sokoban games are just fiddly by nature, I remember getting similarly annoyed with Baba is You at some points. Also I like how easy it is to quit out of the game (this sounds like a joke but it's not), doubled with the fact that the trees (sorry, LOTUS EATERS or whatever the fuck you called them) quit you out as well. It's easy to take a break and I appreciate that. Didn't know where else to put that sorry
My motivation isn’t helped by the writing being, like, tolerable at best and just actively unenjoyable at worst. I thought there were some nice bits in a few of the vignettes, but I’m not really sure what the unabashed horniness adds to the game. Seriously I feel like half the game is just an excuse for the artist to draw enormous triple Z cup honkers. Not sure about this whole child abuse arc either. Maybe it gets a payoff that makes up for the fact that there’s child abuse. Probably not. At the start I thought the story was a cute enough way to add another layer of mystery, but unlike ZR they do actually want you to care about the characters this time. I don’t care about the characters this time.
Just finished the third story and I know there’s a super duper secret true ending final boss afterwards, I probably won’t bother with that unless the friend I’ve been talking to gets there and ends up doing it. It’s been a lot of fun but I’ve slowly been losing my enthusiasm and I think the more I push it the less I’ll end up liking this game. Like if I was feeling a bit pettier I would drop it to a 3.5 because of the end of the 3rd story, did not enjoy that bit at all! Leave it on as good a note as possible yknow
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed what I’ve played of this, but I feel like it put its best foot forward to its own detriment. I had a lot of fun finding these little secrets and mechanical quirks that nudged me towards taking notes and trying to intuit some stuff for myself. That was great, but by the second story I’d exhausted everything that made sense to me and didn’t seem incredibly fiddly to pull off (seriously I am never doing any of the brand puzzles), compounded by the fact that the puzzles themselves were demanding so much of my limited brainpower at that point that I wasn’t really excited about secret-hunting any more.
The puzzle mechanics themselves are cool and some of the puzzles really push the tiniest details to the front (B208 hard was FUNNY when I realised what it wanted me to do), but sometimes solutions get really fiddly and tedious. Like, just shuffling a bunch of blocks around for ages. Some of the letter rooms on hard are good examples of this, because they’re very easy but just need you to slowly shuffle along to the set of blocks off in the distance and slowly ferry them back. Maybe sokoban games are just fiddly by nature, I remember getting similarly annoyed with Baba is You at some points. Also I like how easy it is to quit out of the game (this sounds like a joke but it's not), doubled with the fact that the trees (sorry, LOTUS EATERS or whatever the fuck you called them) quit you out as well. It's easy to take a break and I appreciate that. Didn't know where else to put that sorry
My motivation isn’t helped by the writing being, like, tolerable at best and just actively unenjoyable at worst. I thought there were some nice bits in a few of the vignettes, but I’m not really sure what the unabashed horniness adds to the game. Seriously I feel like half the game is just an excuse for the artist to draw enormous triple Z cup honkers. Not sure about this whole child abuse arc either. Maybe it gets a payoff that makes up for the fact that there’s child abuse. Probably not. At the start I thought the story was a cute enough way to add another layer of mystery, but unlike ZR they do actually want you to care about the characters this time. I don’t care about the characters this time.
Just finished the third story and I know there’s a super duper secret true ending final boss afterwards, I probably won’t bother with that unless the friend I’ve been talking to gets there and ends up doing it. It’s been a lot of fun but I’ve slowly been losing my enthusiasm and I think the more I push it the less I’ll end up liking this game. Like if I was feeling a bit pettier I would drop it to a 3.5 because of the end of the 3rd story, did not enjoy that bit at all! Leave it on as good a note as possible yknow
curse
8 months ago