l0singmyedge
16 Reviews liked by l0singmyedge
Marvel's Spider-Man
2018
Throughout the history of video games, those that have focused on western comic book superheroes have not been particularly good. I'm framing this as a (purposefully) broad and easily-expandable idea; Some have terrible stories, some have terrible gameplay, or a mix of both. The first game that I ever played that didn't follow this predictable format was Batman: Arkham Asylum. Ten year old me at the time knew nothing about video games, but I knew that this game was a lot different from how Superman: Shadow of Apokolips felt.
It's easy to blame studios like THQ, Activision, hell, even LJN (if we're going way back) for all of the seemingly low effort superhero games that were made revolving around the superheroes that we grew up idolizing. These were essentially cash-grabs for the companies at play- consumers are bound to buy a product if it has a recognizable character on it's packaging. Marvel and DC are guilty of this throughout it's nearly decade plus run of MCU films; Why sink in unnecessary amounts of effort when the launch of the product is bound to make money, regardless of it's quality?
Marvel's Spider-Man breaks this doom loop combo of bad writing and gameplay, and capitalizes on both of them. This game's story roped me in a hell of a lot more than I ever expected it to; I am already a fan of Spider-Man himself, but I've witnessed a shocking amount of people play this game who could give less of a shit about Spider-Man (or Marvel in general). This is how you get people invested into a character or story. When a company/studio shows us this potential that they could care if they wanted to, it makes it even more upsetting to see the shitty low-effort products that are inevitably released going forward. It seems that as long as Disney keeps their paws off of Marvel Game Studios, we might be able to have a period of time where superhero games are not only good, but great.
I'm stoked to play Miles Morales and Spider-Man 2 this year. I knew I was going to play them eventually, but finally playing this game made me realize what this hype around these games actually were. I get it now!
Edit: within the next few days I'm going to write more about this game's story, and talk about it in this review
It's easy to blame studios like THQ, Activision, hell, even LJN (if we're going way back) for all of the seemingly low effort superhero games that were made revolving around the superheroes that we grew up idolizing. These were essentially cash-grabs for the companies at play- consumers are bound to buy a product if it has a recognizable character on it's packaging. Marvel and DC are guilty of this throughout it's nearly decade plus run of MCU films; Why sink in unnecessary amounts of effort when the launch of the product is bound to make money, regardless of it's quality?
Marvel's Spider-Man breaks this doom loop combo of bad writing and gameplay, and capitalizes on both of them. This game's story roped me in a hell of a lot more than I ever expected it to; I am already a fan of Spider-Man himself, but I've witnessed a shocking amount of people play this game who could give less of a shit about Spider-Man (or Marvel in general). This is how you get people invested into a character or story. When a company/studio shows us this potential that they could care if they wanted to, it makes it even more upsetting to see the shitty low-effort products that are inevitably released going forward. It seems that as long as Disney keeps their paws off of Marvel Game Studios, we might be able to have a period of time where superhero games are not only good, but great.
I'm stoked to play Miles Morales and Spider-Man 2 this year. I knew I was going to play them eventually, but finally playing this game made me realize what this hype around these games actually were. I get it now!
Edit: within the next few days I'm going to write more about this game's story, and talk about it in this review
This review contains spoilers
“..This is a miracle. You noticed the sin you committed in another world. That’s impossible to do. But you did it. That is the most unbelievable and precious of miracles that could exist in this world…” - Rika Furude
At one point I had absolutely zero interest in visual novels. A few years ago I didn't even know what a visual novel was. I was honestly not very interested in anime or manga, but those things have changed now. I was initially turned off by stereotypical anime fans in America, which I don't really think I need to elaborate on.
A few friends of mine in a close-knit community - who I can now comfortably call the best friends that I have ever had - sort of warmed me up to aforementioned mediums knowing that I did not have much background in them, initially. None of it was forced; I'd like to think I'm quite open-minded so I figured, oh why the hell not. Let me just play a 150 hour visual novel and see what I think of it.
To keep it short, this game has changed my perspective on everything that surrounds me. At this point I’ve already jumped into Ryukishi’s next piece of work, Umineko: When They Cry.
Before I start pouring my heart into this thing, I’d ask you to give my dear friend カケラSKY’s review on Higurashi: When They Cry, which you can read here.
This is also the same person who helped me finish this game - I cannot thank them enough.
Ryukishi07 is a writer. He is the writer. He is the most prolific yet efficient writer that I have ever had the pleasure of reading. There are plenty of authors out there who manage to create these expansive worlds of lore and beautiful imagery, but Ryukishi07 is different. He is someone that can operate on a level of efficiency that is dare I say unmatchable. The toolset that he brings to the keyboard is one that I find a lot of writers lack, but yet it seems so obvious to do.
Ryukishi07 writes his characters with love.
There are a lot of characters within fictional mediums that more or less feel like a chore to believe in. Emotional appeal within writing is something that can be very hit or miss, and oftentimes more than not ruin a story for me. This is a problem that I find to be true in almost every video game I play. If you look at my top games, you’ll notice that aside from Higurashi, the only narrative that has much of an emotional core is Final Fantasy VII. (You could argue about Fallout: New Vegas being emotional at parts, but it isn’t something that’s necessary in order to play or finish the game). Higurashi’s cast feels effortless as far as emotional appeal goes. To remind you, I straight up don’t like most anime. I find the writing abysmal and I can’t find emotional ground in any of the characters that surround me. It’s exhausting, and I’ll be the first to admit that it’s a problem for me rather than the medium itself. Maybe it’s just a problem with writing adult characters. Adults are confusing on an emotional level. I witness it everyday within my own life, and I see it in many others too. Children for the most part I feel are pretty straightforward in their emotions. They often say things as they see it, without taking other’s feelings into account. Which makes sense, they’re not self-aware yet at their age and not the best at realizing how what they say may impact others on an emotional level.
What I find interesting about Ryukishi07 is that this concept is flipped around entirely. The children of Hinamizawa are at an age where they’re able to communicate properly, realize their emotions, and solve problems together. This does not, however, exist in a vacuum. There was a cost that was made to be able for these children to get to this point.
Furthering through the questions arc of Higurashi: When They Cry, we see the trauma and internal emotions of these characters on an individual level. Speaking from experience here, trauma is a blessing and a curse. The curse is of course the trauma that you are dealt. Trauma is not an ideal scenario to have in your life. Trauma is, however, a learning experience. There are certain instances of trauma that put you in a position that you need to grow up faster than others. I remember being in this spot when my mother died. I was 12 years old, all of my friends around me were still kids, and I felt like I was trying to advance my life much faster than them, while simultaneously trying to hold onto my childhood without completely saying goodbye to it. I had a long road ahead of me, but for the sake of trauma, I had to develop my emotions a lot faster and further than most other people around my age at the time, and so I just had to deal with it. I don’t think that this is talked about nearly enough when pieces of art deal with the subject of trauma, and I don’t think it’s recognized nearly enough in the mental health community, professionally. Ryukishi understands this without actually ever directly saying this. Despite their trauma all being relatively different, it speaks to the group en masse and even alongside you, watching these events unfold. Keiichi Maebara, Mion Sonozaki, Shion Sonozaki, Satoko Houjou, and Rena Ryuugu, are all introspectively deep thinking characters that have their certain positions and personality traits all because of what insofar has happened to them throughout their lives. These are incredibly, incredibly smart children who throughout the game begin to better understand one another, and our understanding of what they went through becomes more clear when the topic of their trauma is brought together. I see a younger version of myself in a lot of these characters. Rika Furude, the mascot of Hinamizawa, is a perfect example. She’s technically younger than most of her peers, but on an emotional level she is tenfold of what the rest of the friend group is. This isn’t to discount the other friends, by the way. Rika Furude is just…an interesting character. I’ll get back to this momentarily.
It’s not worth going into the specifics of the individual traumas, although in relation to understanding the game and ‘solving’ Higurashi: When They Cry it is crucial to understanding the game.
The biggest part of this game that I found fascinating was what Ryukishi writes in a writers room at the end of chapter 4 or so. Maybe it isn’t Chapter 4, I could be misremembering, but regardless of this, Chapter 4 was the part of the game (aside from the opening of Chapter 2 where nobody remembers each other, and the cycles of Hinamizawa repeat themselves) where I realized I was in for much bigger of an experience than one would have originally anticipated. Anyways, Ryukishi at one point mentions the discourse among people that question whether Higurashi is a video game or not. The semantics here aren’t relevant to what the experience of Higurashi was. Call the When They Cry series whatever you want, it’s so far a brilliant piece of art that has had way bigger of an impact on my life than I ever expected.
Speaking of chapter 4, it doesn’t seem like most Higurashi fans enjoy this one as much as the other chapters in the questions arc. I think it is one of the top three chapters for me. Keep in mind we’re dealing with Ryukishi, even chapters that I found less interesting than others (e.g, Chapter 2 and Chapter 5) were still great experiences and serve as very important pieces when looking at Higurashi: When They Cry as a whole. Chapter 4 in particular is the shortest in the questions arc. The first three chapters deal with the trauma and experiences of, respectively: Keiichi Maebara/Rena Ryuugu, Mion/Shion Sonozaki, and Satoko Houjou. You’ll notice that one character is missing here, and I’ve also (intentionally) failed to mention them. The mascot of Hinamizawa, Rika Furude.
When I wrapped up the questions arc, I knew that Rika Furude was special. There was something much bigger and expansive as far as her character depth goes when compared to the other children in the friend group. I recall having a lengthy conversation with my dear friend, カケラSKY, about the conundrum of Rika’s character. Keep in mind that カケラSKY has played this game long before me, so they served as my witch for most of this experience. As we conversed, I came to the conclusion that Rika Furude is the way she is for an absolutely fascinating reason. She is a bystander. She takes the position of any one who simply reads a book, watches a movie or television show, or listens to a piece of music. She does not directly change the course of what is to happen to her friends in Hinamizawa, and she recognizes this. She is aware of the events that will happen in June 1983, and so are we, the readers. She has lived through these cycles of abuse and trauma, and remembers those experiences, just as we do too, the reader, after reading the first three chapters of the questions arc. How do we, as the reader/bystander, relate to Rika Furude? What exactly is Rika Furude? I did a lot of thinking about Rika as a character, and what her place was inside the story of Higurashi: When They Cry. A lot of this was overthinking, too, but when approaching a piece of media through love and well intentions it’s quite easy to figure out. Rika Furude is the embodiment of the viewer. Like us, she is the one who watches these events unfold, doing nothing with this knowledge, until this realization is made and action is taken to help save her friends, as well as herself, from ever dying or being murdered. Rika Furude is a bystander, watching her friends (and herself) be murdered.
At some point, sooner rather than later, we realize that we are ultimately hopeless in helping our friends in Hinamizawa. We feel despair and upset feelings watching these helpless children go through their lives, dealing with cycles of abuse and experiencing life changing trauma that puts an impact on their relationships with others, as well as internally. Given that the format of the story being told is a visual novel without routes or choices to be made, there is nothing to be done. Ryukishi recognizes this and talks about it fairly deep into the answers arc. It’s an idea that’s sort of thrown back at the viewer, though, and I don’t think offense should be taken from it. The gist of Ryukishi’s in a TIPS module asks that if we were to be able to make choices in the story of Higurashi, how much would they actually matter? We are given the choice to pick between two different boxes. Humans as a species are inherently selfish. We think that we know how to do something, and ultimately, we fail. This is not something that is the fault of the viewer. This is the world at large and a part of the media that we consume on a daily basis. If you are given a set of characters inside of a fictional world, how are we to trust that they are going to make the best decision? This question should be viewed from another perspective. Let’s spin the chessboard, if you will…
One box has a piece of caramel in it, while the other has a piece of chewing gum. They are two different outcomes, but the point of Schrodinger's cat is present here. What if one box provided you the key to solving Higurashi: When They Cry? We don’t know until that box is opened. We don’t know until we see both outcomes what the best option truly is. Even when both options are presented, what someone considers the “best” outcome of the game is entirely subjective. There is no right or wrong in the world of fiction, so what is the point of offering choices when a desired outcome is already set in stone? This leads to an interesting question regarding a point Ryukishi makes in a later part of the answers arc. He brings up the point that this game, unlike other popular VNs at the time, lacks different routes or options to see how the story progresses. How can you be sure that you will make the best decision, if choices/routes were present in Higurashi: When They Cry?
You can’t be. It’s a heartbreaking realization, but it doesn’t have to be. I’ll get back to this in a second. Anyways, you’ll never be 100% positive that your actions, or choices, will bring the best guaranteed outcome. Even in our daily lives, we have to make choices and go for something, taking bets on what the outcome is going to be. The illusion of choice, in a piece of fiction, is that your outcome is guaranteed. Rather, choices are taking a chance that a preferred outcome is what you get out of said decision.
There is a good amount of criticism surrounding Matsuribayashi, in particular the fourth subchapter. For those that may not remember, that’s the chapter where Bernkastel sets up the fragments, and you are to view them in a particular order for you to progress through the game. As a piece of metafiction I think this works quite well. As the viewer gets closer to realizing that Rika Furude is an embodiment of the viewer, where we are just acting as bystanders, the miracle of Hinamizawa can not happen. The furthering of June 1983 is not possible without our efforts alongside the children of Hinamizawa. When the puzzle pieces are in their correct spots, the miracle can now happen. A miracle can not happen if 100% effort is not given by all parties, as we see throughout each of the answers chapters.
I found myself internalizing the messages of Higurashi: When They Cry rather naturally. I eventually found myself acting upon them without even thinking of it. I think that's really the beauty of impactful art. While some aspects of your life you may have to work on, others just come naturally. Humans are born as loving creatures. There is love and compassion in all of us that we are able to act upon.
Reach out to your friends. Love the people that surround you. Ask for help when needed. You can't do this all on your own, and that's a good thing. There are billions of us here for one reason or another.
At one point I had absolutely zero interest in visual novels. A few years ago I didn't even know what a visual novel was. I was honestly not very interested in anime or manga, but those things have changed now. I was initially turned off by stereotypical anime fans in America, which I don't really think I need to elaborate on.
A few friends of mine in a close-knit community - who I can now comfortably call the best friends that I have ever had - sort of warmed me up to aforementioned mediums knowing that I did not have much background in them, initially. None of it was forced; I'd like to think I'm quite open-minded so I figured, oh why the hell not. Let me just play a 150 hour visual novel and see what I think of it.
To keep it short, this game has changed my perspective on everything that surrounds me. At this point I’ve already jumped into Ryukishi’s next piece of work, Umineko: When They Cry.
Before I start pouring my heart into this thing, I’d ask you to give my dear friend カケラSKY’s review on Higurashi: When They Cry, which you can read here.
This is also the same person who helped me finish this game - I cannot thank them enough.
Ryukishi07 is a writer. He is the writer. He is the most prolific yet efficient writer that I have ever had the pleasure of reading. There are plenty of authors out there who manage to create these expansive worlds of lore and beautiful imagery, but Ryukishi07 is different. He is someone that can operate on a level of efficiency that is dare I say unmatchable. The toolset that he brings to the keyboard is one that I find a lot of writers lack, but yet it seems so obvious to do.
Ryukishi07 writes his characters with love.
There are a lot of characters within fictional mediums that more or less feel like a chore to believe in. Emotional appeal within writing is something that can be very hit or miss, and oftentimes more than not ruin a story for me. This is a problem that I find to be true in almost every video game I play. If you look at my top games, you’ll notice that aside from Higurashi, the only narrative that has much of an emotional core is Final Fantasy VII. (You could argue about Fallout: New Vegas being emotional at parts, but it isn’t something that’s necessary in order to play or finish the game). Higurashi’s cast feels effortless as far as emotional appeal goes. To remind you, I straight up don’t like most anime. I find the writing abysmal and I can’t find emotional ground in any of the characters that surround me. It’s exhausting, and I’ll be the first to admit that it’s a problem for me rather than the medium itself. Maybe it’s just a problem with writing adult characters. Adults are confusing on an emotional level. I witness it everyday within my own life, and I see it in many others too. Children for the most part I feel are pretty straightforward in their emotions. They often say things as they see it, without taking other’s feelings into account. Which makes sense, they’re not self-aware yet at their age and not the best at realizing how what they say may impact others on an emotional level.
What I find interesting about Ryukishi07 is that this concept is flipped around entirely. The children of Hinamizawa are at an age where they’re able to communicate properly, realize their emotions, and solve problems together. This does not, however, exist in a vacuum. There was a cost that was made to be able for these children to get to this point.
Furthering through the questions arc of Higurashi: When They Cry, we see the trauma and internal emotions of these characters on an individual level. Speaking from experience here, trauma is a blessing and a curse. The curse is of course the trauma that you are dealt. Trauma is not an ideal scenario to have in your life. Trauma is, however, a learning experience. There are certain instances of trauma that put you in a position that you need to grow up faster than others. I remember being in this spot when my mother died. I was 12 years old, all of my friends around me were still kids, and I felt like I was trying to advance my life much faster than them, while simultaneously trying to hold onto my childhood without completely saying goodbye to it. I had a long road ahead of me, but for the sake of trauma, I had to develop my emotions a lot faster and further than most other people around my age at the time, and so I just had to deal with it. I don’t think that this is talked about nearly enough when pieces of art deal with the subject of trauma, and I don’t think it’s recognized nearly enough in the mental health community, professionally. Ryukishi understands this without actually ever directly saying this. Despite their trauma all being relatively different, it speaks to the group en masse and even alongside you, watching these events unfold. Keiichi Maebara, Mion Sonozaki, Shion Sonozaki, Satoko Houjou, and Rena Ryuugu, are all introspectively deep thinking characters that have their certain positions and personality traits all because of what insofar has happened to them throughout their lives. These are incredibly, incredibly smart children who throughout the game begin to better understand one another, and our understanding of what they went through becomes more clear when the topic of their trauma is brought together. I see a younger version of myself in a lot of these characters. Rika Furude, the mascot of Hinamizawa, is a perfect example. She’s technically younger than most of her peers, but on an emotional level she is tenfold of what the rest of the friend group is. This isn’t to discount the other friends, by the way. Rika Furude is just…an interesting character. I’ll get back to this momentarily.
It’s not worth going into the specifics of the individual traumas, although in relation to understanding the game and ‘solving’ Higurashi: When They Cry it is crucial to understanding the game.
The biggest part of this game that I found fascinating was what Ryukishi writes in a writers room at the end of chapter 4 or so. Maybe it isn’t Chapter 4, I could be misremembering, but regardless of this, Chapter 4 was the part of the game (aside from the opening of Chapter 2 where nobody remembers each other, and the cycles of Hinamizawa repeat themselves) where I realized I was in for much bigger of an experience than one would have originally anticipated. Anyways, Ryukishi at one point mentions the discourse among people that question whether Higurashi is a video game or not. The semantics here aren’t relevant to what the experience of Higurashi was. Call the When They Cry series whatever you want, it’s so far a brilliant piece of art that has had way bigger of an impact on my life than I ever expected.
Speaking of chapter 4, it doesn’t seem like most Higurashi fans enjoy this one as much as the other chapters in the questions arc. I think it is one of the top three chapters for me. Keep in mind we’re dealing with Ryukishi, even chapters that I found less interesting than others (e.g, Chapter 2 and Chapter 5) were still great experiences and serve as very important pieces when looking at Higurashi: When They Cry as a whole. Chapter 4 in particular is the shortest in the questions arc. The first three chapters deal with the trauma and experiences of, respectively: Keiichi Maebara/Rena Ryuugu, Mion/Shion Sonozaki, and Satoko Houjou. You’ll notice that one character is missing here, and I’ve also (intentionally) failed to mention them. The mascot of Hinamizawa, Rika Furude.
When I wrapped up the questions arc, I knew that Rika Furude was special. There was something much bigger and expansive as far as her character depth goes when compared to the other children in the friend group. I recall having a lengthy conversation with my dear friend, カケラSKY, about the conundrum of Rika’s character. Keep in mind that カケラSKY has played this game long before me, so they served as my witch for most of this experience. As we conversed, I came to the conclusion that Rika Furude is the way she is for an absolutely fascinating reason. She is a bystander. She takes the position of any one who simply reads a book, watches a movie or television show, or listens to a piece of music. She does not directly change the course of what is to happen to her friends in Hinamizawa, and she recognizes this. She is aware of the events that will happen in June 1983, and so are we, the readers. She has lived through these cycles of abuse and trauma, and remembers those experiences, just as we do too, the reader, after reading the first three chapters of the questions arc. How do we, as the reader/bystander, relate to Rika Furude? What exactly is Rika Furude? I did a lot of thinking about Rika as a character, and what her place was inside the story of Higurashi: When They Cry. A lot of this was overthinking, too, but when approaching a piece of media through love and well intentions it’s quite easy to figure out. Rika Furude is the embodiment of the viewer. Like us, she is the one who watches these events unfold, doing nothing with this knowledge, until this realization is made and action is taken to help save her friends, as well as herself, from ever dying or being murdered. Rika Furude is a bystander, watching her friends (and herself) be murdered.
At some point, sooner rather than later, we realize that we are ultimately hopeless in helping our friends in Hinamizawa. We feel despair and upset feelings watching these helpless children go through their lives, dealing with cycles of abuse and experiencing life changing trauma that puts an impact on their relationships with others, as well as internally. Given that the format of the story being told is a visual novel without routes or choices to be made, there is nothing to be done. Ryukishi recognizes this and talks about it fairly deep into the answers arc. It’s an idea that’s sort of thrown back at the viewer, though, and I don’t think offense should be taken from it. The gist of Ryukishi’s in a TIPS module asks that if we were to be able to make choices in the story of Higurashi, how much would they actually matter? We are given the choice to pick between two different boxes. Humans as a species are inherently selfish. We think that we know how to do something, and ultimately, we fail. This is not something that is the fault of the viewer. This is the world at large and a part of the media that we consume on a daily basis. If you are given a set of characters inside of a fictional world, how are we to trust that they are going to make the best decision? This question should be viewed from another perspective. Let’s spin the chessboard, if you will…
One box has a piece of caramel in it, while the other has a piece of chewing gum. They are two different outcomes, but the point of Schrodinger's cat is present here. What if one box provided you the key to solving Higurashi: When They Cry? We don’t know until that box is opened. We don’t know until we see both outcomes what the best option truly is. Even when both options are presented, what someone considers the “best” outcome of the game is entirely subjective. There is no right or wrong in the world of fiction, so what is the point of offering choices when a desired outcome is already set in stone? This leads to an interesting question regarding a point Ryukishi makes in a later part of the answers arc. He brings up the point that this game, unlike other popular VNs at the time, lacks different routes or options to see how the story progresses. How can you be sure that you will make the best decision, if choices/routes were present in Higurashi: When They Cry?
You can’t be. It’s a heartbreaking realization, but it doesn’t have to be. I’ll get back to this in a second. Anyways, you’ll never be 100% positive that your actions, or choices, will bring the best guaranteed outcome. Even in our daily lives, we have to make choices and go for something, taking bets on what the outcome is going to be. The illusion of choice, in a piece of fiction, is that your outcome is guaranteed. Rather, choices are taking a chance that a preferred outcome is what you get out of said decision.
There is a good amount of criticism surrounding Matsuribayashi, in particular the fourth subchapter. For those that may not remember, that’s the chapter where Bernkastel sets up the fragments, and you are to view them in a particular order for you to progress through the game. As a piece of metafiction I think this works quite well. As the viewer gets closer to realizing that Rika Furude is an embodiment of the viewer, where we are just acting as bystanders, the miracle of Hinamizawa can not happen. The furthering of June 1983 is not possible without our efforts alongside the children of Hinamizawa. When the puzzle pieces are in their correct spots, the miracle can now happen. A miracle can not happen if 100% effort is not given by all parties, as we see throughout each of the answers chapters.
I found myself internalizing the messages of Higurashi: When They Cry rather naturally. I eventually found myself acting upon them without even thinking of it. I think that's really the beauty of impactful art. While some aspects of your life you may have to work on, others just come naturally. Humans are born as loving creatures. There is love and compassion in all of us that we are able to act upon.
Reach out to your friends. Love the people that surround you. Ask for help when needed. You can't do this all on your own, and that's a good thing. There are billions of us here for one reason or another.
SuperS, all things considered, is a great season of the show. My third favorite so far? Unfortunately though, at this point of the series, the amount of season specific Sailor Moon tie in games began to dwindle. This left me with either the second edition of the SNES fighting game, this game, or... games for the Playdia. That I can't even read. I've sampled this game in the past, originally downloading it thinking it was some expansion to the SNES game. And. Good lord. Was I in for a shock.
This is, undoubtedly, one of the ugliest games I've seen in my life. Most games I've played or seen have at least one redeeming aspect to their presentation, even bad looking ones, but this is an exception. Terrible spritework overlays low quality backgrounds that look like Sailor Moon™ kids playmats with some of the lengthiest windup times for special moves you'll ever see. The opening FMV is amazingly horrifying as well, It has to be SEEN to believed. Not a single aspect of this game's presentation is worth praising, it truly is that ugly.
But, okay, graphics aren't everything, sure. So that just leaves the gameplay to be the redeeming aspect, right? RIGHT? Unfortunately, nothing that made the SNES game appealing carries over here. The SNES game was responsive and feels very good to control. This game... does not!!! I've played plenty of fighting games with awkward controls, believe me, but this one takes the cake. Really nothing feels responsive or good to pull off here, the hitboxes are wack, and the broken moves in the SNES game now become unfunny because of how damn slow the game is. Not only are the load times terrible, but the actual game speed itself is significantly slower than its predecessor. I legit can't think of a single nice thing to say about the gameplay here, it's really that bad.
Things I did like:
- Uranus has a cool moveset here
- The character endings made me laugh because of the shitty "congratulation" pop up immediately followed up by the end credits
- The box art with the 3d render of Sailor Moon makes Silent Hill look like fuckin child's play
In short- don't play this. The SNES fighting game is an absolute masterpiece among kusoges, while also being a stupid fun game in it's own right, play that instead. If you are that intrigued about this disaster of a fighting game, go ahead, but just know I warned you.
this ending cutscene /10
This is, undoubtedly, one of the ugliest games I've seen in my life. Most games I've played or seen have at least one redeeming aspect to their presentation, even bad looking ones, but this is an exception. Terrible spritework overlays low quality backgrounds that look like Sailor Moon™ kids playmats with some of the lengthiest windup times for special moves you'll ever see. The opening FMV is amazingly horrifying as well, It has to be SEEN to believed. Not a single aspect of this game's presentation is worth praising, it truly is that ugly.
But, okay, graphics aren't everything, sure. So that just leaves the gameplay to be the redeeming aspect, right? RIGHT? Unfortunately, nothing that made the SNES game appealing carries over here. The SNES game was responsive and feels very good to control. This game... does not!!! I've played plenty of fighting games with awkward controls, believe me, but this one takes the cake. Really nothing feels responsive or good to pull off here, the hitboxes are wack, and the broken moves in the SNES game now become unfunny because of how damn slow the game is. Not only are the load times terrible, but the actual game speed itself is significantly slower than its predecessor. I legit can't think of a single nice thing to say about the gameplay here, it's really that bad.
Things I did like:
- Uranus has a cool moveset here
- The character endings made me laugh because of the shitty "congratulation" pop up immediately followed up by the end credits
- The box art with the 3d render of Sailor Moon makes Silent Hill look like fuckin child's play
In short- don't play this. The SNES fighting game is an absolute masterpiece among kusoges, while also being a stupid fun game in it's own right, play that instead. If you are that intrigued about this disaster of a fighting game, go ahead, but just know I warned you.
this ending cutscene /10
This review contains spoilers
It's not just a horror visual novel where they all suffer.
Higurashi has some of the best, most dread inducing horror scenes I've ever seen in any horror media- visual novel or no. Ryukishi07 uses the storytelling of unreliable narrators as an avenue to make his audience understand the full force of the mental distress the characters are experiencing. Without us recognizing it, we're sympathizing with Keiichi while he murders his friends. We're sympathizing with Shion while she kills her grandmother. We're sympathizing with Rena while she's killing two people. Higurashi, ultimately, is a story of understanding. Higurashi devotes itself to the simple lesson "when you're going through something and having extreme thoughts, talk to someone about it" and operates with it on such a complex, relatable, and emotional level. It subverts it's horror elements and, despite the grizzly experiences the characters go through, pursues a happy ending. I couldn't think of a better outcome for this story. To say "they made a miracle happen and got a happy ending" is such an optimistic and pleasantly childish way of describing a horror story- but it operates well with the series. Because they are children. Because there's nothing wrong with children finding happiness, no matter their background. Because children shouldn't have to fight tooth and nail to be happy. Because children should be allowed to have miracles.
Good fucking vn.
Higurashi has some of the best, most dread inducing horror scenes I've ever seen in any horror media- visual novel or no. Ryukishi07 uses the storytelling of unreliable narrators as an avenue to make his audience understand the full force of the mental distress the characters are experiencing. Without us recognizing it, we're sympathizing with Keiichi while he murders his friends. We're sympathizing with Shion while she kills her grandmother. We're sympathizing with Rena while she's killing two people. Higurashi, ultimately, is a story of understanding. Higurashi devotes itself to the simple lesson "when you're going through something and having extreme thoughts, talk to someone about it" and operates with it on such a complex, relatable, and emotional level. It subverts it's horror elements and, despite the grizzly experiences the characters go through, pursues a happy ending. I couldn't think of a better outcome for this story. To say "they made a miracle happen and got a happy ending" is such an optimistic and pleasantly childish way of describing a horror story- but it operates well with the series. Because they are children. Because there's nothing wrong with children finding happiness, no matter their background. Because children shouldn't have to fight tooth and nail to be happy. Because children should be allowed to have miracles.
Good fucking vn.
"Yes. Sometimes it's better to let people come to these conclusions themselves."
The best way to describe Disco Elysium is greatness. I'm not talking about certain aspects about it. Not the main parts or just the climax. Everything about it is carefully constructed and well-written. From the moment you get introduced to the main character, conflict, subplots and from the very last minute after you finish the game. There's a minute precision and care on every detail of the game, it's truly amazing. The mystery's well-thought out, the process is methodical and every angle is considered. Locations are memorable. B-b-but what if it sacrificed enjoyment for writing? Overdone joke but you just have to see it. The prose and dialogue are witty, humorous, wild, and organic. Every character have distinct personalities, motivations, and beliefs and contribute to the overall picture the narrative is going for. It's incredibly refreshing seeing how the characters interact and there are consequences with every choice you make even if you attempt to avoid them. What's at stake is believable. "Okay but you're just talking as if the game is objectively great and not coming from your own opinion." You know me, I prefer reading books, and visual novels now so this type of game works for me. There are 3 things I want from creators. First, I want them to be ambitious, I meant that I don't want to see them holding back. Go ahead make me uncomfortable and I'd prefer that instead of thinking what-ifs, and buts. I want them to commit in their vision in the way that they can only do. With countless other things out there and ideas recycled, there's still room for originality. Secondly, I want the story to be thought-provoking. It could be any topic but I want it to tackle grand ideas and down-to-earth ones. It wouldn't matter if you couldn't learn or reflect about anything from it that's relevant in your life. Lastly, it must make me emotional not that it's necessary. It'd be pointless if it's forced out of me but I want just a bit of everything. Joy, sadness, anger, catharsis, frustration, empathy, regret, etc. Such is life and how art is best experienced.
Well no surprise, they succeeded in every single category with ease. I already love stories these kinds of stories and glad that it still surpassed my expectations even with minor inconveniences and shortcomings. So go ahead and let yourself soaked with it's rich world and characters. Disco Elysium is a self-discovery journey awaiting you.
The best way to describe Disco Elysium is greatness. I'm not talking about certain aspects about it. Not the main parts or just the climax. Everything about it is carefully constructed and well-written. From the moment you get introduced to the main character, conflict, subplots and from the very last minute after you finish the game. There's a minute precision and care on every detail of the game, it's truly amazing. The mystery's well-thought out, the process is methodical and every angle is considered. Locations are memorable. B-b-but what if it sacrificed enjoyment for writing? Overdone joke but you just have to see it. The prose and dialogue are witty, humorous, wild, and organic. Every character have distinct personalities, motivations, and beliefs and contribute to the overall picture the narrative is going for. It's incredibly refreshing seeing how the characters interact and there are consequences with every choice you make even if you attempt to avoid them. What's at stake is believable. "Okay but you're just talking as if the game is objectively great and not coming from your own opinion." You know me, I prefer reading books, and visual novels now so this type of game works for me. There are 3 things I want from creators. First, I want them to be ambitious, I meant that I don't want to see them holding back. Go ahead make me uncomfortable and I'd prefer that instead of thinking what-ifs, and buts. I want them to commit in their vision in the way that they can only do. With countless other things out there and ideas recycled, there's still room for originality. Secondly, I want the story to be thought-provoking. It could be any topic but I want it to tackle grand ideas and down-to-earth ones. It wouldn't matter if you couldn't learn or reflect about anything from it that's relevant in your life. Lastly, it must make me emotional not that it's necessary. It'd be pointless if it's forced out of me but I want just a bit of everything. Joy, sadness, anger, catharsis, frustration, empathy, regret, etc. Such is life and how art is best experienced.
Well no surprise, they succeeded in every single category with ease. I already love stories these kinds of stories and glad that it still surpassed my expectations even with minor inconveniences and shortcomings. So go ahead and let yourself soaked with it's rich world and characters. Disco Elysium is a self-discovery journey awaiting you.
Metal Gear Solid 2 ends in a way that makes it difficult to continue the story onward past that point, leaving any future game only one way forward; Going backward. Thus, Metal Gear Solid 3 acts as the starting point for the whole series, despite being a sequel to Metal Gear Solid 2.
Metal Gear Solid 3 is set in the early 60s, and the gameplay reflects this. Gone are the soliton radar and the Codec, leaving the player to rely on somewhat inferior technology in comparison to what the player had access to in previous titles. Taking the place of the soliton radar, the player must use devices such as the anti-personnel sensor and the motion detector to be able to detect the position of the enemy soldiers. However, these items have their own battery life, and become useless when the player depletes it. Thus, these items can’t be overused, and must be allowed to recharge when their batteries are running low.
Guns have a similar issue too when it comes to suppressors. Previous games would let you use the one suppressor you find for the entire game, whereas the suppressors you find in Metal Gear Solid 3 wear down with use, thus forcing you to be more deliberate with which guard you shoot. This contrasts with Metal Gear Solid 2, where guns like the tranquilizer and M9 could be used in a liberal manner when equipped with the suppressor, almost negating any difficulty the game had. Suppressors are generally hard to find as well, making Metal Gear Solid 3 a more engaging experience.
Snake Eater’s main gameplay philosophy revolves around the idea of survival, and thus the player must utilize whatever is around them to do so. You won’t be able to find rations as easily as you could have done in the previous two titles, and thus you must resort to hunting and eating the local wildlife to restore health. Unlike the previous titles, eating food does not automatically restore health. Instead, it restores your stamina gauge, and with that full, your health should slowly regenerate on its own. The animals that you hunt down or capture can expire as well, meaning that one can’t just stockpile food the whole game. There are food items that last much longer in the game, such as the Calorie Mate item, instant noodles, and the Russian rations. These however, are also difficult to find in comparison to just hunting down the animals present, so there’s a balance there. There is an item present known as life medicine that does restore the health bar, but these are sparse throughout the game as well and are best left saving for boss fights.
Combat is expanded as well, with the addition of CQC. Rather than just punch or choke an enemy, Snake can throw enemies to the ground to instantly knock them out, interrogate them, or use their body as a shield against other enemies. There’s also the added addition of the cure menu, adding a further bit of complexity into combat. If Snake gets injured in some way, the player’s health will decrease until they go into the cure menu to fix whatever issue they have.
Through these, the gameplay of Snake Eater becomes that much more fleshed out in comparison to Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid. There’s a level of strategy necessary here that wasn’t present in the gameplay of any of the previous titles, making it an incredibly engaging experience. This is doubly true for someone playing these games in order of release, as it challenges any previously held notions about how a Metal Gear game should play by forcing the player to be more careful with how they approach combat. It took some getting used to for me personally, but eventually Snake Eater had grown to have one of the series’ best styles of gameplay. Out of the first three Solid titles, Snake Eater easily has the most refined style of gameplay. The only thing I’d really think of that would improve Snake Eater’s gameplay would be the addition of crouch walking, as the open style of the map kind of necessitates it. Other than that, however, what is here is great.
I won’t say too much about the specifics of the story for those who want to go in blind, but I will say that I felt that it was a tad weak in comparison to the previous two titles, especially Sons of Liberty. That’s not to say that I don’t like the story or that I don’t think it’s great, as I do. Even despite what qualms I have with the story, it’s still easily one of my own personal favorite games out there, and likely one of the greatest to have ever come out. However, I do feel that Snake Eater was a bit ‘safe’ in comparison to Sons of Liberty, thus leading it to be the less interesting of the first three. I don’t blame it for being that way, and I personally believe that this was the most reasonable direction that they could have gone. I also feel as if Metal Gear Solid on the PS1 had more iconic highs overall, though that’s not to say that Snake Eater is a bad experience. Snake’s arc is fantastic here, and the characters are all extremely memorable. The music is fantastic. The world of Snake Eater feels lived in and alive in a way that other titles in the series don’t.
Metal Gear Solid 3 is an incredible experience and is very much worth playing. It’s not a terrible place to start due to it being a prequel, but I would recommend playing these titles in order of release regardless. Though one won’t be lost playing 3 first, it’s a much more rewarding and enjoyable experience having the first two solid games under your belt beforehand. Though it isn’t my favorite out of the first three Metal Gear Solid titles, Snake Eater is still easily one of my favorite games ever, and even despite it not surpassing Sons of Liberty in my eyes, still serves to be an amazing experience.
To summarize: Peak game. Would feed on a tree frog again.
Play this game.
Metal Gear Solid 3 is set in the early 60s, and the gameplay reflects this. Gone are the soliton radar and the Codec, leaving the player to rely on somewhat inferior technology in comparison to what the player had access to in previous titles. Taking the place of the soliton radar, the player must use devices such as the anti-personnel sensor and the motion detector to be able to detect the position of the enemy soldiers. However, these items have their own battery life, and become useless when the player depletes it. Thus, these items can’t be overused, and must be allowed to recharge when their batteries are running low.
Guns have a similar issue too when it comes to suppressors. Previous games would let you use the one suppressor you find for the entire game, whereas the suppressors you find in Metal Gear Solid 3 wear down with use, thus forcing you to be more deliberate with which guard you shoot. This contrasts with Metal Gear Solid 2, where guns like the tranquilizer and M9 could be used in a liberal manner when equipped with the suppressor, almost negating any difficulty the game had. Suppressors are generally hard to find as well, making Metal Gear Solid 3 a more engaging experience.
Snake Eater’s main gameplay philosophy revolves around the idea of survival, and thus the player must utilize whatever is around them to do so. You won’t be able to find rations as easily as you could have done in the previous two titles, and thus you must resort to hunting and eating the local wildlife to restore health. Unlike the previous titles, eating food does not automatically restore health. Instead, it restores your stamina gauge, and with that full, your health should slowly regenerate on its own. The animals that you hunt down or capture can expire as well, meaning that one can’t just stockpile food the whole game. There are food items that last much longer in the game, such as the Calorie Mate item, instant noodles, and the Russian rations. These however, are also difficult to find in comparison to just hunting down the animals present, so there’s a balance there. There is an item present known as life medicine that does restore the health bar, but these are sparse throughout the game as well and are best left saving for boss fights.
Combat is expanded as well, with the addition of CQC. Rather than just punch or choke an enemy, Snake can throw enemies to the ground to instantly knock them out, interrogate them, or use their body as a shield against other enemies. There’s also the added addition of the cure menu, adding a further bit of complexity into combat. If Snake gets injured in some way, the player’s health will decrease until they go into the cure menu to fix whatever issue they have.
Through these, the gameplay of Snake Eater becomes that much more fleshed out in comparison to Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid. There’s a level of strategy necessary here that wasn’t present in the gameplay of any of the previous titles, making it an incredibly engaging experience. This is doubly true for someone playing these games in order of release, as it challenges any previously held notions about how a Metal Gear game should play by forcing the player to be more careful with how they approach combat. It took some getting used to for me personally, but eventually Snake Eater had grown to have one of the series’ best styles of gameplay. Out of the first three Solid titles, Snake Eater easily has the most refined style of gameplay. The only thing I’d really think of that would improve Snake Eater’s gameplay would be the addition of crouch walking, as the open style of the map kind of necessitates it. Other than that, however, what is here is great.
I won’t say too much about the specifics of the story for those who want to go in blind, but I will say that I felt that it was a tad weak in comparison to the previous two titles, especially Sons of Liberty. That’s not to say that I don’t like the story or that I don’t think it’s great, as I do. Even despite what qualms I have with the story, it’s still easily one of my own personal favorite games out there, and likely one of the greatest to have ever come out. However, I do feel that Snake Eater was a bit ‘safe’ in comparison to Sons of Liberty, thus leading it to be the less interesting of the first three. I don’t blame it for being that way, and I personally believe that this was the most reasonable direction that they could have gone. I also feel as if Metal Gear Solid on the PS1 had more iconic highs overall, though that’s not to say that Snake Eater is a bad experience. Snake’s arc is fantastic here, and the characters are all extremely memorable. The music is fantastic. The world of Snake Eater feels lived in and alive in a way that other titles in the series don’t.
Metal Gear Solid 3 is an incredible experience and is very much worth playing. It’s not a terrible place to start due to it being a prequel, but I would recommend playing these titles in order of release regardless. Though one won’t be lost playing 3 first, it’s a much more rewarding and enjoyable experience having the first two solid games under your belt beforehand. Though it isn’t my favorite out of the first three Metal Gear Solid titles, Snake Eater is still easily one of my favorite games ever, and even despite it not surpassing Sons of Liberty in my eyes, still serves to be an amazing experience.
To summarize: Peak game. Would feed on a tree frog again.
Play this game.
I don't know if I'm ever actually going to review either half of Umineko in here, so for the moment, just consider this at best a placeholder, at worst, just my personal check-point. It's been almost three months since my friends and I finished playing Umineko. Anyone who's read my pieces on Higurashi knows what that game was to me. Umineko sits at the top of it all for me. It's just at the top of everything I've spent my 20-odd years experiencing, the culmination of so much personal journeying, growing and experiencing. I sincerely doubt anything will knock it from its pillar anytime in any near future. What this means to me on an intimate level is something that ultimately right now belongs to my friends and I intimately. I don't know if and when I'll be comfortable sharing beyond that. That is our small world which we inhabit together. Some cat boxes are best left alone, and I think any of you would understand and respect that.
If anything, I want to really extend a lot of gratitude to Ryukishi07, to 07th Expansion and Witch Hunt, especially to the late BT, whose death and more importantly his lifelong friendship with Ryukishi clearly affected how the game evolved into what it became, to the voice cast, and to my friends for all of this. Genuinely a reason to live some days. A reason to create and imagine, every single day.
愛がなければ視えない。
If anything, I want to really extend a lot of gratitude to Ryukishi07, to 07th Expansion and Witch Hunt, especially to the late BT, whose death and more importantly his lifelong friendship with Ryukishi clearly affected how the game evolved into what it became, to the voice cast, and to my friends for all of this. Genuinely a reason to live some days. A reason to create and imagine, every single day.
愛がなければ視えない。
Garten of Banban
2023
i've never seen such a bag of shit lit on fire at my doorstep get as much attention and hype as this and that's saying something
Garten of Banban
2023
watched my friend stream this and the absolute volume peak as we collectively screamed in utter disbelief that the game just ENDS was more memorable that any asset, puzzle, item, texture or sound kept within
honestly maybe the worst game i've ever seen but hardly as personally offensive as ddlc.
honestly maybe the worst game i've ever seen but hardly as personally offensive as ddlc.
the first few hours of alttp's design are nothing short of magic. the game tosses so many new items and concepts of traversal and exploration at the player and allows them to lab those ideas and figure out how they can apply these new concepts without holding their hand through it - and looking at the game from a birds eye view, this is emblematic of the entire experience. that is to say, alttp structures itself around linearity while also nudging the player in new directions enough while they take that main path that they'll find sidequests and off-the-trail objectives on their own if they're paying attention. i think more often than it doesn't the game strikes a wonderful balance with this - and most of the time it's pretty fair in what it expects from you.
presentation is both timeless and beneficially superior for gameplay now. walls are clearly designated when bombable, for instance. holes that can and should be jumped down - considering alttp's love of multi-level dungeons are typically clear in pointing that out. and even from an aesthetical standpoint, alttp shines with gorgeous sprite art and one of the series' best scores.
that said, i think the game often gets ahead of itself with lodging tons of unfun, gratuitous combat in areas where it actively detriments the experience. some dungeons are SERIOUSLY built better than others, with the skull woods and ice palace landing close to the "pretty bad" side of the scale. boss battles typically range from alright to obnoxious. but still, alttp remains a reliable and solid foundation for what the series would do moving forward and a pretty great starting point for those interested in the 2d roots of the franchise.
presentation is both timeless and beneficially superior for gameplay now. walls are clearly designated when bombable, for instance. holes that can and should be jumped down - considering alttp's love of multi-level dungeons are typically clear in pointing that out. and even from an aesthetical standpoint, alttp shines with gorgeous sprite art and one of the series' best scores.
that said, i think the game often gets ahead of itself with lodging tons of unfun, gratuitous combat in areas where it actively detriments the experience. some dungeons are SERIOUSLY built better than others, with the skull woods and ice palace landing close to the "pretty bad" side of the scale. boss battles typically range from alright to obnoxious. but still, alttp remains a reliable and solid foundation for what the series would do moving forward and a pretty great starting point for those interested in the 2d roots of the franchise.
Final Fantasy VII
1997
within a span of two months, from september to november of 2019, i lost an old friend and former lover to bone cancer at 23 years old, and my father revealed to me that he’d been diagnosed with stage 2 lung cancer. this would indicate a nearly three year journey to where i am now - a sequence of events which tested the limits of my perseverance, willpower, camaraderie, self-love, and actualization of community. my life underwent severe changes throughout this period; essentially revising my entire outlook on my relationships to patching up and mending my relationship with my dad which had resulted in some pretty catastrophic gaps gashed out pretty equally on both sides. some outside events completely reformed how i lived, the safety and love i had to provide myself for my own wellbeing, and fostering a lot of growth and evolution out of a patch where what i’d known and what i held onto were slipping through my fingers.
during this time, my father set an example of how he would choose to live. he combatted cancer and heartbreak with rudiment, structure, dedication and iron will. i watched him break on more than a few occasions. but it was through his search for that light where he found his own branch of buddhism, practice of meditation, and a new outlook on his life. he began to teach me the lessons he’d taken away - both of us being that type of person with loud, constantly-spewing minds. he instilled and internalized the idea that meditation and serenity are not about clearing the mind of thought, but finding a means to acknowledge the thought and move on from it. it was only along the lines of that practice that we both began to unbox our trauma - both conjoined and individual. it was only then when we could cultivate growth, hope, and those first rays of light.
i had no access to therapy or professional help at the time. i was between jobs when i wasn't crammed into ones that abused and berated me and my time. my greatest resources for self-love, as they are now, were my loved ones and my then-cracked-yet-unbroken devotion to art. traumatic attachments kept me apart from those things i loved most, but in the process of recovering from a sequence in time in which i felt like i’d lost myself, figured it took recessing back to those works which had so clearly defined attics of my life to that point to regain shards of who i’d been, and define who i would choose to be moving forward. over the next year, i would play final fantasy vii six times to completion, twice with friends, four times on my own. the hanging threads of grief, trauma, self-actualization v. dissociation, lack of direction - these things culminated in a story which more and more i felt whispered answers directly to me, for my consumption alone. it’s in those moments where a bond is made between art and audience where the attachment becomes not just inseparable, but near essential.
final fantasy vii doesn’t hand you answers for the questions you come to it with. there isn’t a resolution to the trauma, there isn’t a solution to the pain or the grief. it is an embrace, and a hold of the hand, and a gentle call; “here is how you live with yourself. here is how you learn to be alive again.” the sociopolitical conflicts, the internal struggles, the budding seeds of affection and fraternity don’t reach a natural apex - they hum in anticipation of a deciding factor which never comes. perpetually trapped within the question, but offering you the means to provide your own answer in life. the final shot of the game isn’t a conclusion meant to be expanded upon. it’s simply a closing of the cover, the final page turned before the index of note paper before being passed to you with the command - “apply yourself. turn this into something that matters.” so i chose to.
and i found myself in midgar again, with new friends and a new outlook.
you come back to the slums of wall market and sector 7 with a new worldview and appreciation each time. there’s a different purpose, when your relationship with this game is as intimate as mine, for coming back here. i know the smog, the street life, the feeling of inescapable, walled-in urban destitution well. you grow up in any city poor enough and you get to know midgar intimately. it’s a familiar setting with a familiar social agency. the seventh heaven crew, they’re all faces i’ve known, fires in bellies i once shared, and now understand in a different light. they’re old friends i knew in my activism years as a teenager, they’re people i looked up to and lost through the years. i’ve lost a lot of people and a lot of faith over time. it might seem like a quick moment to many but the sector 7 tower fight reminds me of people and things that exist only in memories now.
the moment the world opens up and the main theme plays, while unscripted, is one of the most powerful in the game to me. i retain that this title track might be my favorite piece of video game music and such a perfect encapsulation of the game’s philosophy and emotional core. stinging synth strings meet acoustic woodwind and orchestral drones. playful countermelodies give way to massive, bombastic chords in a rocking interplay that rarely fails to inspire, intrigue and invoke. uematsu-sensei, unquestionably at the apex of his mastery here, provides his most timeless score. i think about, am inspired by, and draw from his work here intensely. the artistry pours out from every nook of final fantasy vii - the models, the cutscenes, the background renders, the gameplay systems, the story, the use of diegetic sound, the pacing, the designs - everything came together in a way that somehow evokes equal feelings of nostalgia, futurism, dread, fear, warmth, love, hope, and utter timelessness. streaming and voice-acting this entire game with my close friends was one of the best experiences of my year. hitting each turn with a decently blind audience provided both knowing and loving perspective and the unmitigated rush of first experience - in tandem, a passing of the torch, an unspeakable gift of an unbroken chain shared between loved ones. if final fantasy vii saved my life once before, this was the run which restored its meaning and direction.
i’ve been cloud, i’ve been tifa, i’ve been barret, i’ve been nanaki. i’ve been zack, i’ve been aerith. there are lives lived in the confines of final fantasy vii which i hold as pieces of my own, countless repetitions of those stories with those resolutions my own to meet, different each time. there was something magic about the ability to, a year after that painful strike of all of that anguish, that death, that loss, that fear, sit on the end screen as the series’ endless “prelude” played amongst 32-bit starfields and openly sob for a half hour surrounded by the voices and words of my loved ones. that was the day i learned to live again. it’s more than a game when you know it this intimately. it’s more than an experience when you share these scars. it’s more than art when you hold onto so dearly. there isn’t a classifier for what final fantasy vii means to me other than, “a lot”. sometimes, less is more. i don’t have a conclusion beyond that for you. the experience recalls everyone and everything i've ever loved and lost, and all that i've come to gain and hold dear. goodbye to some, hello to all the rest. true, reading this, it may have been a waste of your time, but i’m glad i was able to share this with someone. i hope this reaches at least one of you on a level you needed today, or maybe it invokes something in you about something you love so dearly. i’m here to tell you - this is how i learned to live again. if you need someone to tell you, today, that you can too, here it is. you aren’t alone. go find those answers for yourself.
please don't step on the flowers on your way.
during this time, my father set an example of how he would choose to live. he combatted cancer and heartbreak with rudiment, structure, dedication and iron will. i watched him break on more than a few occasions. but it was through his search for that light where he found his own branch of buddhism, practice of meditation, and a new outlook on his life. he began to teach me the lessons he’d taken away - both of us being that type of person with loud, constantly-spewing minds. he instilled and internalized the idea that meditation and serenity are not about clearing the mind of thought, but finding a means to acknowledge the thought and move on from it. it was only along the lines of that practice that we both began to unbox our trauma - both conjoined and individual. it was only then when we could cultivate growth, hope, and those first rays of light.
i had no access to therapy or professional help at the time. i was between jobs when i wasn't crammed into ones that abused and berated me and my time. my greatest resources for self-love, as they are now, were my loved ones and my then-cracked-yet-unbroken devotion to art. traumatic attachments kept me apart from those things i loved most, but in the process of recovering from a sequence in time in which i felt like i’d lost myself, figured it took recessing back to those works which had so clearly defined attics of my life to that point to regain shards of who i’d been, and define who i would choose to be moving forward. over the next year, i would play final fantasy vii six times to completion, twice with friends, four times on my own. the hanging threads of grief, trauma, self-actualization v. dissociation, lack of direction - these things culminated in a story which more and more i felt whispered answers directly to me, for my consumption alone. it’s in those moments where a bond is made between art and audience where the attachment becomes not just inseparable, but near essential.
final fantasy vii doesn’t hand you answers for the questions you come to it with. there isn’t a resolution to the trauma, there isn’t a solution to the pain or the grief. it is an embrace, and a hold of the hand, and a gentle call; “here is how you live with yourself. here is how you learn to be alive again.” the sociopolitical conflicts, the internal struggles, the budding seeds of affection and fraternity don’t reach a natural apex - they hum in anticipation of a deciding factor which never comes. perpetually trapped within the question, but offering you the means to provide your own answer in life. the final shot of the game isn’t a conclusion meant to be expanded upon. it’s simply a closing of the cover, the final page turned before the index of note paper before being passed to you with the command - “apply yourself. turn this into something that matters.” so i chose to.
and i found myself in midgar again, with new friends and a new outlook.
you come back to the slums of wall market and sector 7 with a new worldview and appreciation each time. there’s a different purpose, when your relationship with this game is as intimate as mine, for coming back here. i know the smog, the street life, the feeling of inescapable, walled-in urban destitution well. you grow up in any city poor enough and you get to know midgar intimately. it’s a familiar setting with a familiar social agency. the seventh heaven crew, they’re all faces i’ve known, fires in bellies i once shared, and now understand in a different light. they’re old friends i knew in my activism years as a teenager, they’re people i looked up to and lost through the years. i’ve lost a lot of people and a lot of faith over time. it might seem like a quick moment to many but the sector 7 tower fight reminds me of people and things that exist only in memories now.
the moment the world opens up and the main theme plays, while unscripted, is one of the most powerful in the game to me. i retain that this title track might be my favorite piece of video game music and such a perfect encapsulation of the game’s philosophy and emotional core. stinging synth strings meet acoustic woodwind and orchestral drones. playful countermelodies give way to massive, bombastic chords in a rocking interplay that rarely fails to inspire, intrigue and invoke. uematsu-sensei, unquestionably at the apex of his mastery here, provides his most timeless score. i think about, am inspired by, and draw from his work here intensely. the artistry pours out from every nook of final fantasy vii - the models, the cutscenes, the background renders, the gameplay systems, the story, the use of diegetic sound, the pacing, the designs - everything came together in a way that somehow evokes equal feelings of nostalgia, futurism, dread, fear, warmth, love, hope, and utter timelessness. streaming and voice-acting this entire game with my close friends was one of the best experiences of my year. hitting each turn with a decently blind audience provided both knowing and loving perspective and the unmitigated rush of first experience - in tandem, a passing of the torch, an unspeakable gift of an unbroken chain shared between loved ones. if final fantasy vii saved my life once before, this was the run which restored its meaning and direction.
i’ve been cloud, i’ve been tifa, i’ve been barret, i’ve been nanaki. i’ve been zack, i’ve been aerith. there are lives lived in the confines of final fantasy vii which i hold as pieces of my own, countless repetitions of those stories with those resolutions my own to meet, different each time. there was something magic about the ability to, a year after that painful strike of all of that anguish, that death, that loss, that fear, sit on the end screen as the series’ endless “prelude” played amongst 32-bit starfields and openly sob for a half hour surrounded by the voices and words of my loved ones. that was the day i learned to live again. it’s more than a game when you know it this intimately. it’s more than an experience when you share these scars. it’s more than art when you hold onto so dearly. there isn’t a classifier for what final fantasy vii means to me other than, “a lot”. sometimes, less is more. i don’t have a conclusion beyond that for you. the experience recalls everyone and everything i've ever loved and lost, and all that i've come to gain and hold dear. goodbye to some, hello to all the rest. true, reading this, it may have been a waste of your time, but i’m glad i was able to share this with someone. i hope this reaches at least one of you on a level you needed today, or maybe it invokes something in you about something you love so dearly. i’m here to tell you - this is how i learned to live again. if you need someone to tell you, today, that you can too, here it is. you aren’t alone. go find those answers for yourself.
please don't step on the flowers on your way.
i'm generally not someone to go out of my way to play remasters or fan-adjusted versions of older games. most of the time, i'm more interested in getting as authentic an experience as i can out of these titles - to assess the work as its own standalone piece with the historical context behind it, splinters and all. that said, sonic 3 a.i.r. is a rare exception. for a game i have this much history with, being that i grew up with sonic 3 & knuckles, i'm happy to say that not only did this remaster completely make me understand WHY this is the best sonic game (even surpassing my beloved sonic 2 and the fantastic modern revival, sonic mania) but after revisiting this version for the FOURTH time this year and 100% completing it, achievements and all... this is my favorite 2d platformer of all time, now. one of my favorite games, period.
EVERYTHING about sonic 3 a.i.r. screams 'definitive'. the amount of customization options available to the player here, from level layouts to movesets, from item arsenals to soundtrack swaps, is on the cusp of fucking absurd. and as someone who yearns for the days of game-changing unlockables and cleverly tucked away easter eggs, sonic 3 a.i.r. had me covered in spades. the new mania-esque animations and updated 3d renders keep 3 a.i.r. feeling fresh and relevant while maintaining complete faithfulness to the original. the soundtrack remaster sounds crisp, full and lively - being a musician myself, i found the mixes here to be stellar and truly accurate to the intent of that near-perfect original score. time attack fans - i myself slowly find myself becoming one thanks to this game - are even eating good here, with a really intuitive and well designed mode to help you optimize time between runs. hell, i'm not even an achievement hunter but i sought out 100% completion with these fan-added trophies for the FUN of it. that's the sign that i've really, truly enjoyed your game.
there are still some fundamental issues that may boil up from the original sonic 3 here - i still think sandopolis and marble garden are a little patchy in comparison to the perfect streak of levels the rest of the game offers, but what's here is so good, and the feeling of just... experiencing a masterpiece fully realized to an ultimate apex of potential, that those qualms are frankly negligible. much as mario 64 remains my all-time platforming king, the 2d throne finally belongs to the blue blur. believe the hype - this one is the real deal, and a.i.r. has set that firmly in stone.
also - this got to be my 10 year old brother's first sonic game. he demanded i play sonic and he be tails. god damn it was so sweet. :)
EVERYTHING about sonic 3 a.i.r. screams 'definitive'. the amount of customization options available to the player here, from level layouts to movesets, from item arsenals to soundtrack swaps, is on the cusp of fucking absurd. and as someone who yearns for the days of game-changing unlockables and cleverly tucked away easter eggs, sonic 3 a.i.r. had me covered in spades. the new mania-esque animations and updated 3d renders keep 3 a.i.r. feeling fresh and relevant while maintaining complete faithfulness to the original. the soundtrack remaster sounds crisp, full and lively - being a musician myself, i found the mixes here to be stellar and truly accurate to the intent of that near-perfect original score. time attack fans - i myself slowly find myself becoming one thanks to this game - are even eating good here, with a really intuitive and well designed mode to help you optimize time between runs. hell, i'm not even an achievement hunter but i sought out 100% completion with these fan-added trophies for the FUN of it. that's the sign that i've really, truly enjoyed your game.
there are still some fundamental issues that may boil up from the original sonic 3 here - i still think sandopolis and marble garden are a little patchy in comparison to the perfect streak of levels the rest of the game offers, but what's here is so good, and the feeling of just... experiencing a masterpiece fully realized to an ultimate apex of potential, that those qualms are frankly negligible. much as mario 64 remains my all-time platforming king, the 2d throne finally belongs to the blue blur. believe the hype - this one is the real deal, and a.i.r. has set that firmly in stone.
also - this got to be my 10 year old brother's first sonic game. he demanded i play sonic and he be tails. god damn it was so sweet. :)
"content dictates form. less is more. god is in the details.
all in the service of clarity, without which, nothing else matters."
- stephen sondheim
above is a quote from one of my lifelong heroes who passed away a few months ago. mr. sondheim's work defined a great deal of my teenage and transitional years and upon hearing the news of his tragic passing, i took the opportunity to reflect on the ways with which he'd influenced my art, my views, and my conduct. i'm by no means a theatre type - while i spent a few years in high school co-directing and acting as a dramaturge for a local company, by no means do i enjoy the theatre as it exists to the common eye and ear. i left that world to escape the despotism of what 'must be' and what 'sells' by the overseeing eye of the major companies and self-satisfied bigwigs because, as any artist knows, when you climb a few rungs of the ladder no art is political, but all art is politics.
yet i find myself, years removed from theatre, years removed from pushing my own envelope of personal expression to a public eye, many nights in front of a google doc, or a blank notepad, or staring at my shelf, wondering when the spark is going to hit and i'll write the next pieces of my screenplay, or my next chorus to a song, or my next analysis of some 20-year-old adventure game made by a small passionate team from the literal opposite of the world. sometimes i wonder if my minimalism, my expression of big feelings in small boxes, through white and black forms with bright technicolor lights, if it's a crutch, if i'm an imitator of the conglomerate great ideas of people before me... if i shoot half this short film adaptation of a novel as a silent work, am i up my own ass for it? if i push myself creatively as a musician to a one-man audience by design, am i selling myself short? have i missed my shot at truly expressing MYself?
of course, if you've got your head screwed on halfway right, you'll realize this self-talk is a complete load of bullshit. just put the pen to the paper. put the fingers to the keys. don't worry about who sees it, don't worry about why you do it, but if you believe in it - content dictating form - and if your style is simple short strokes with deep, cutting lines - less is more - and if your heart hurts to watch it play back - god is in the details. if you are an artist, if you are a person who needs to be able to say something for the sake of saying it, you must throw away preconceptions, you must disregard what people have said of you and your work, you must take that future into your hands and seize it. all in the service of clarity, without which, nothing else matters.
live your daily rut. get up, go to work.
push hard to make those days count.
let your work be your work, and let your work be your work.
to find happiness is to be honest with oneself.
recognize the monotony but don't let it overtake you.
your career isn't your person.
every person on this site, every person reading this
i think each one of us has art inside of us waiting to blossom.
you need to be willing to find love in your heart for that, for yourself, and the willingness to seize that potential regardless of the cost and regardless of how you've hurt before.
you need to seize the future.
you need to kill the past.
flower, sun & rain was me all along, wasn't it?
all in the service of clarity, without which, nothing else matters."
- stephen sondheim
above is a quote from one of my lifelong heroes who passed away a few months ago. mr. sondheim's work defined a great deal of my teenage and transitional years and upon hearing the news of his tragic passing, i took the opportunity to reflect on the ways with which he'd influenced my art, my views, and my conduct. i'm by no means a theatre type - while i spent a few years in high school co-directing and acting as a dramaturge for a local company, by no means do i enjoy the theatre as it exists to the common eye and ear. i left that world to escape the despotism of what 'must be' and what 'sells' by the overseeing eye of the major companies and self-satisfied bigwigs because, as any artist knows, when you climb a few rungs of the ladder no art is political, but all art is politics.
yet i find myself, years removed from theatre, years removed from pushing my own envelope of personal expression to a public eye, many nights in front of a google doc, or a blank notepad, or staring at my shelf, wondering when the spark is going to hit and i'll write the next pieces of my screenplay, or my next chorus to a song, or my next analysis of some 20-year-old adventure game made by a small passionate team from the literal opposite of the world. sometimes i wonder if my minimalism, my expression of big feelings in small boxes, through white and black forms with bright technicolor lights, if it's a crutch, if i'm an imitator of the conglomerate great ideas of people before me... if i shoot half this short film adaptation of a novel as a silent work, am i up my own ass for it? if i push myself creatively as a musician to a one-man audience by design, am i selling myself short? have i missed my shot at truly expressing MYself?
of course, if you've got your head screwed on halfway right, you'll realize this self-talk is a complete load of bullshit. just put the pen to the paper. put the fingers to the keys. don't worry about who sees it, don't worry about why you do it, but if you believe in it - content dictating form - and if your style is simple short strokes with deep, cutting lines - less is more - and if your heart hurts to watch it play back - god is in the details. if you are an artist, if you are a person who needs to be able to say something for the sake of saying it, you must throw away preconceptions, you must disregard what people have said of you and your work, you must take that future into your hands and seize it. all in the service of clarity, without which, nothing else matters.
live your daily rut. get up, go to work.
push hard to make those days count.
let your work be your work, and let your work be your work.
to find happiness is to be honest with oneself.
recognize the monotony but don't let it overtake you.
your career isn't your person.
every person on this site, every person reading this
i think each one of us has art inside of us waiting to blossom.
you need to be willing to find love in your heart for that, for yourself, and the willingness to seize that potential regardless of the cost and regardless of how you've hurt before.
you need to seize the future.
you need to kill the past.
flower, sun & rain was me all along, wasn't it?
The Silver Case
2016
more than anything else, the silver case is one of the most endearingly cool games i've ever played. every change of the interface the reflect the themes of the chapter at hand, every swing-for-the-fences plot beat, every gruff toothpick-sucking one liner, every new order song title drop, everything we're shown and just as important the deliberate anticlimax of what we're NOT given and NOT shown - it all blends together to create this early masterwork that's still every bit textbook suda51 as killer7 or no more heroes, but so much more subtly grounded (in comparison) to any of his succeeding work i've played.
there's a deliberate feeling of monotony and repetition in the world and gameplay of the silver case that becomes an essential part of its narrative - whether it reflect on the beeline nothingness that is the life of tokio morishima, the scale's juxtaposing shift which grows literally larger but equally smaller and more intimate... there's just this grinding, menial feeling to all of the tasks and days gone by in the silver case. it feels as if nothing really happens until the right pawns are on the board and properly in play. you learn to love basically every person in this game to the point that you look forward to the next mundane conversation with them; you anticipate morishima going home and talking to red, or getting cyberbullied on chatrooms by teenagers, or the ballbusting stakeout chats between kusabi and sumio. so when even the slightest change occurs, it's going to take your heart for a spin. it's by design.
one of the other fine juxtapositions of the silver case is its dialogue, one of the finest localizations i've ever seen. everything about the silver case feels deliberately plastic at first; you're thrust into the world of hardened police officers spouting badass quips and insults - it's almost pastiche. the one-liners will stick around, the cool designs will stick around, but ultimately the story becomes that of broken, aging men who are being asked to examine their world and how it really works for the first time. the story of tetsu kusabi - potential candidate for my favorite character in ANY video game - carries this idea home the hardest. it's the story of a man pure in his mind of absolutes and superlatives essentially waking up for the first time, seeing the world for the pollockian quagmire of intentions, reasonings, and deliberations it actually is. the silver case is a game about hearts and minds connecting in the looming presence of y2kism, a story about the old guard and the new world on the horizon. i'll get more into the thematic underbelly of this game at a later date, because this is far from the only piece i want to make on this game - but its core structure and analysis of the dotcom era, masculinity and what we define that as, grief and trauma, isolation and abandonment, it all rings pretty true now as it did in '99, and i daresay this game even tackled concepts that it would take 2 years for mgs2 to get to earlier and perhaps equally as memorably. i see a lot of influence on death note down the line too, and as far as contemporaries, i'd say silver case is like 1/3 cowboy bebop, 1/3 ghost in the shell, and 1/3 serial experiments lain. it's memorable, powerful, important stuff.
the silver case’s ultimate resolve is pretty simple - the mysteries, the secrets, the twists, it’s all a load of bullshit anyways. it existed in a moment and that moment is gone. it’s in the past. the only way you're going to push through the pain, the grief, the trauma, the anticlimactic goodbyes, the old flames, the words left unsaid, the last memories of people and places you can't ever go back to or relive, is to simply refuse that darkness which cultivates in your past to manifest itself anymore. you have to grow and reflect and move on to become your true self. you HAVE to kill the past if you want to find that first ray of light; hope for yourself, hope for the future.
"Seize that fucking light, Akira."
THE SILVER CASE COMPLETE.
FLOWER, SUN & RAIN IS COMING...
🌕 Dreams Never End
https://youtu.be/WS1X0EBlQ3Y
there's a deliberate feeling of monotony and repetition in the world and gameplay of the silver case that becomes an essential part of its narrative - whether it reflect on the beeline nothingness that is the life of tokio morishima, the scale's juxtaposing shift which grows literally larger but equally smaller and more intimate... there's just this grinding, menial feeling to all of the tasks and days gone by in the silver case. it feels as if nothing really happens until the right pawns are on the board and properly in play. you learn to love basically every person in this game to the point that you look forward to the next mundane conversation with them; you anticipate morishima going home and talking to red, or getting cyberbullied on chatrooms by teenagers, or the ballbusting stakeout chats between kusabi and sumio. so when even the slightest change occurs, it's going to take your heart for a spin. it's by design.
one of the other fine juxtapositions of the silver case is its dialogue, one of the finest localizations i've ever seen. everything about the silver case feels deliberately plastic at first; you're thrust into the world of hardened police officers spouting badass quips and insults - it's almost pastiche. the one-liners will stick around, the cool designs will stick around, but ultimately the story becomes that of broken, aging men who are being asked to examine their world and how it really works for the first time. the story of tetsu kusabi - potential candidate for my favorite character in ANY video game - carries this idea home the hardest. it's the story of a man pure in his mind of absolutes and superlatives essentially waking up for the first time, seeing the world for the pollockian quagmire of intentions, reasonings, and deliberations it actually is. the silver case is a game about hearts and minds connecting in the looming presence of y2kism, a story about the old guard and the new world on the horizon. i'll get more into the thematic underbelly of this game at a later date, because this is far from the only piece i want to make on this game - but its core structure and analysis of the dotcom era, masculinity and what we define that as, grief and trauma, isolation and abandonment, it all rings pretty true now as it did in '99, and i daresay this game even tackled concepts that it would take 2 years for mgs2 to get to earlier and perhaps equally as memorably. i see a lot of influence on death note down the line too, and as far as contemporaries, i'd say silver case is like 1/3 cowboy bebop, 1/3 ghost in the shell, and 1/3 serial experiments lain. it's memorable, powerful, important stuff.
the silver case’s ultimate resolve is pretty simple - the mysteries, the secrets, the twists, it’s all a load of bullshit anyways. it existed in a moment and that moment is gone. it’s in the past. the only way you're going to push through the pain, the grief, the trauma, the anticlimactic goodbyes, the old flames, the words left unsaid, the last memories of people and places you can't ever go back to or relive, is to simply refuse that darkness which cultivates in your past to manifest itself anymore. you have to grow and reflect and move on to become your true self. you HAVE to kill the past if you want to find that first ray of light; hope for yourself, hope for the future.
"Seize that fucking light, Akira."
THE SILVER CASE COMPLETE.
FLOWER, SUN & RAIN IS COMING...
🌕 Dreams Never End
https://youtu.be/WS1X0EBlQ3Y
given my interest in visual novels and having experienced a few of the big names in the genre back in my teenage years, the fact that i'd never gotten around to ever17 is pretty astounding. it's one of those seminal pieces that completely changed how the medium would be executed for the foreseeable future, and something of a rite of passage in the genre even now. my first uchikoshi project i saw all the way through was 999, and after being pretty mixed and generally underwhelmed with never7, i'm happy to say ever17 is the remarkable sequel and reboot(ish) that people built it up to be.
cat out of the bag, uchikoshi is a hack in the most lovable way. he strikes me as similar to hirohiko araki in the way that he's constantly bursting at the seems with concepts he wants to share regardless of how well he can fit them into the already pacing-troubled genre of visual novels, or how much weight they end up carrying in the greater picture. he's a hack, but he's my kind of hack. and i think the fact that, to my understanding, he was a supplemental force in ever17 more than the general overseer as he was with zero escape works to this game's benefit.
given the premise of ever17, the conversations and concepts at hand actually feel naturally and relevant. basically every concept or theory introduced holds weight and feels like a naturally integrated piece of the larger puzzle. these characters have a lot more time to unwind and communicate in a way that feels natural; where 999 is in a constant state of reminding you how urgent every waking moment is, the perpetual dread of ever17 looms over and is constantly shoved aside like an impossibility, clearly out of mental defense, and it works REALLY well.
i'm a sucker for late 90s-early 00s slice of life anyways, and the moments ever17 SHOULD feel comfy, it comes naturally. the entire cast is interesting and developed well - PARTICULARLY sora and tsugumi, the latter is the rare exception of uchikoshi not only writing a genuinely empathetic and grounded woman character but stands as one of the greatest visual novel characters and respective routes i've ever played. sara and you are great too, and even coco, who embodies that loud-mouthed moe type i tend to really dislike ended up winning my heart over as her route slowly came up over the horizon. ever17's protagonists offer a phenomenal dichotomy and as the slice of life slowly peels away, especially if you play the game with its now obviously intentional route order (which IS the way you really should play it) it occurs to the reader how seamlessly all of the ideas snugly tucked away in moments of slice-of-life key-esque everydayisms and bombastic melodrama piece together into a final act perhaps too intelligent and profound for the game's own good.
ever17 is a slog at points but i chalk that up half to the nature of early vn composition as a whole and half to being completely by design. the slow days wasting away with this cast build up a social structure and a dynamic that, when tinkered with, becomes even more irregular and upsetting. it's astounding how ballsy this game gets in its final hours, even with all of the games it's inspired down the road under my belt. i'd be very surprised if another uchikoshi project gets to me the way this one did, but then, there's still remember11 down the road.
cat out of the bag, uchikoshi is a hack in the most lovable way. he strikes me as similar to hirohiko araki in the way that he's constantly bursting at the seems with concepts he wants to share regardless of how well he can fit them into the already pacing-troubled genre of visual novels, or how much weight they end up carrying in the greater picture. he's a hack, but he's my kind of hack. and i think the fact that, to my understanding, he was a supplemental force in ever17 more than the general overseer as he was with zero escape works to this game's benefit.
given the premise of ever17, the conversations and concepts at hand actually feel naturally and relevant. basically every concept or theory introduced holds weight and feels like a naturally integrated piece of the larger puzzle. these characters have a lot more time to unwind and communicate in a way that feels natural; where 999 is in a constant state of reminding you how urgent every waking moment is, the perpetual dread of ever17 looms over and is constantly shoved aside like an impossibility, clearly out of mental defense, and it works REALLY well.
i'm a sucker for late 90s-early 00s slice of life anyways, and the moments ever17 SHOULD feel comfy, it comes naturally. the entire cast is interesting and developed well - PARTICULARLY sora and tsugumi, the latter is the rare exception of uchikoshi not only writing a genuinely empathetic and grounded woman character but stands as one of the greatest visual novel characters and respective routes i've ever played. sara and you are great too, and even coco, who embodies that loud-mouthed moe type i tend to really dislike ended up winning my heart over as her route slowly came up over the horizon. ever17's protagonists offer a phenomenal dichotomy and as the slice of life slowly peels away, especially if you play the game with its now obviously intentional route order (which IS the way you really should play it) it occurs to the reader how seamlessly all of the ideas snugly tucked away in moments of slice-of-life key-esque everydayisms and bombastic melodrama piece together into a final act perhaps too intelligent and profound for the game's own good.
ever17 is a slog at points but i chalk that up half to the nature of early vn composition as a whole and half to being completely by design. the slow days wasting away with this cast build up a social structure and a dynamic that, when tinkered with, becomes even more irregular and upsetting. it's astounding how ballsy this game gets in its final hours, even with all of the games it's inspired down the road under my belt. i'd be very surprised if another uchikoshi project gets to me the way this one did, but then, there's still remember11 down the road.