i’ve kind of lost the motivation to write anything long-form (or really any length) on this site but i do want to reflect on this one a little bit, and i hope you’ll excuse me if i sound like i’m superficially regurgitating what others have already shared.
anyway fatamoru is undeniably human at the end of the day; about how people aren’t born their current selves (whether they be “good” or “bad” in the eyes of some) and that there are always underlying circumstances that turned them into who they are today. the truth is a “weapon” — but not weapon-ized against others as it can so conspicuously be within popular works in this genre — no, the truth is not just something for an opposing force to use against those who experienced it, rather more deeply as an empathetic connection between people that is only a weapon if those who experienced it find resolve in burying it apprehensively. accepting reality and facing it head-on can be just as painful as the reality itself. no matter how dark it gets… there is always some light at the end of the tunnel. fatamoru is shockingly depressing and at times just absolutely fucking soul-crushing. at the same time, through all of the tragedy that it establishes, it still ignites some hopeful inspiration. everything does maintain a believable — and oftentimes relatable — level of realism as well that is probably the core of what makes the narrative hurt as much as it does. everything also has purpose: plenty of red herrings or details that spring up in the first half seem impossibly linked to the story but become completely logical and crucial inclusions by the end. i’m at a loss of what else i could mention so i guess i can briefly praise the characters. i don’t think there was a single one i didn’t find some form of relatability in or flat out didn’t like. they’re all distinctly special in their own ways. each with personal strategies to try and stay grounded among a world so cruel in their eyes. the value of perspective is a central theme throughout. this story fucked me up in more ways than one and i don’t think this will be an experience i’ll easily forget. i do still want to think about it more. this came to me at the right time in my life similarly to something like twewy when i played that a few years ago. shoutouts to the soundtrack for introducing me to “neoclassical darkwave.”

-prefacing this by saying i did play this in its original intended form although a bit unorthodoxly. i used VNDS to play this on DS hardware but the overall experience remains unchanged from its initial release aside from the compressed audio.

it’s self indulgent while also taking the time to indulge its audience as well. i could feel the author’s disposition behind it. ryukishi gets it. he gets those dog day weekend afternoons where you can attentively hear the birds chirping and the trees rustling in the wind. he gets those chaotic schooldays of youth where the only thoughts of importance were the ones in the present moment. how the world and its characters are portrayed puts me in a spot where i can find solace and relatability within while also appreciating the collective creativity and compassion behind its development.
i grew up (and still live) in a fairly quiet town. if you listen close enough you can hear the cicadas in their prime during the ever-warming months of june. admittedly our community isn’t nearly as small as the benevolent townsfolk of hinamizawa but there’s a level of mutuality between everyone who falls under our umbrella. we know everyone who works at that local barbershop or supermarket, and they know us back. within our pool of classmates everyone knew each other. while my circumstances weren’t on the nose with higurashi’s context, higurashi still transcends its own being and allows the reader to place it within their own sense of self and experiences.
the juxtaposition of the wacky yet wholesome character art modeled against the uncanny photographs presents this degree of intimacy and honesty. despite their contrasting appearances you can really feel the heart that they share; the author’s passion for his hometown is as strong as the characters’ for theirs. the characters themselves aren’t particularly special but i find that to be the point. a small merry band of classmates who try to enjoy every second they share together. i think the slice of life content can be a bit too much at times but it’s still highly endearing in the end and is integral to developing these characters.
how ryushiki handles the horror and mystery aspects as of now is super engrossing. a simple conversation on the phone transforms into a frenzy of mental disparity. love how little bits and pieces of the mystery are fed to the player while their appetite continues to grow as the story unfolds. i’d share more of my thoughts on the narrative…but i think i’m getting a bit ahead of myself seeing as this is only the first chapter. i intend to experience the entire story before i give my complete analysis. i just wanted to express how beautifully this initially grabbed me. i wanna thank my buddy cloudkastel for continuously pushing for me to experience this, while i was skeptical at first eventually he had sold me and i’m glad i’m taking the time to immerse myself. this is a refreshing breath of fresh air. until next time, when the higurashi cry once more.

Off has been in my peripheral view for a couple of years as one of the big RPG Maker games, which naturally gave me some expectations for the game. Clearly there has to be some reason why it's as beloved as it is, and coming out... I don't really get it.

The combat was the first hurdle to my enjoyment. I have never been a big fan of the active-time battle system from my experience with it in Final Fantasy VI/VII, which extends to this game. Even disregarding that, the combat system feels fairly shallow, with weakness and status systems I barely ever utilized, overly-specialized party members, and boss fights that largely came down to spamming the same exact special attacks then waiting for meters to recharge. During regular encounters, aside from one particular area which did make the combat a little more interesting, it was typically faster/more effective to select the auto-combat option, wait 20-30 seconds, then move on with the game.

The combat isn't the end-all be-all of the game of course. Other RPG Maker games I've played recently, particularly LiEat, didn't have great combat systems, but they still provided a memorable experience through the rest of the game.

Off certainly introduces a fair few interesting things: a surprise minigame, a couple of meta elements, some fun graphics. These separate parts all caught my interest and were well done, but it never felt like they cohered together into something greater than their sum. It kept me from ever getting immersed into the game itself, something more than just recognizing that these disparate parts are interesting and generally well made.

This hit particularly hard in the ending section, where the game is clearly going for something, and I can recognize that, but I went through right to the ending straight faced. Same with the story, I could never quite grasp in its (intentional) vagueness what the game was meant to be about. I have some ideas that I could probably coalesce by re-reading some of the dialogue, but the game never presented anything that makes me care enough to do so. I can just acknowledge that something probably exists there.

All of this to say, the game's not bad at all. It's very well put together, the art and music are good, it has good vibes (well, the vibes are horrific--but that's what its going for)... I'm just left with the feeling of "oh, that's it? alright then".

Return of the Obra Dinn is just phenomenal and I can't believe that I'm saying this because I dropped this game twice last year, but then I don't know what happened but I ended up picking it back up again from the beginning and ended up getting (probably) the most immersive gaming experience I've ever had.

I feel that this is one of those games that truly defines what separates video games from other visual mediums thanks to, what I consider to be the best use of the video game medium ever. This game is basically a murder mystery where you go to a ship lost at sea to investigate what happened there, and if this sounds boring to you, just give the game 5 minutes to change your mind. The more you investigate, the more you learn about the tragedy. The story itself is a fantastic one, mainly because of its out of order presentation. One moment its just a simple murder mystery, and the other moment it's.... well I suggest you see for yourself.

But despite all of my praises, this game definitely isn't for everyone as it very much asks for all of your attention, and there's also a possibility that you'll lose track of all the information that you've collected at some point if you don't pay attention. The game demands you to keep the story you've uncovered thus far on your mind at all times. The game itself isn't all that long, and can be finished in less than 5 sittings(like me), but the fact remains that this isn't one of those games you should push yourself into finishing. Lastly, for all the "gameplay outweighs story" people, the story is the gameplay for Obra Dinn, so.....

READ THIS
1) Try not use a walkthrough. You're missing the whole point of the game if you're using one, and you're better off dropping the game if you're doing that. If you're completely lost, checkout one of those on google. Don't watch the youtube walkthroughs at all, you'll end up ruining your experience.
2) I think this is something that anyone who's trying to get into this should know: the game, despite being confusing as fuck is very linear. It subtly does do a lot of handholding. So yeah, for those like me who were scratching their heads all the time in the first 1-2 hours, I hope this was relieving to hear.

All that being said, Return of the Obra Dinn is an experience I'll definitely never forget. The absolutely gorgeous art style, the soundtrack, the story, everything about this game is perfect. Definitely the best game I've played all year(so far).

Video game museums are beautiful places. I'm just now having this epiphany that I love being in museums in video games. I'm thinking about certain parts of the Radiohead Kid Amnesiac experience, the museum section of Sonic Mega Collection, Animal Crossing museums, the trophy gallery in Melee, Bubsy Visit the James Turrell Retrospective, all these things are very different but are what I would consider to be vital video game museums. And in that list, near the top, is the titular Namco Museum.

So Namco Museum games have been on basically every console since the PS1, and if you've played any entry besides the PS1 games, you wouldn't realize that at some point there was an actual "museum" to this so-called "Namco Museum". It's not just a catchy name for a collection of old games, it was an actual virtual location to walk around and observe exhibits in. You play as Pac-Man, as indicated by the adorable Pac-Man sprite in the bottom left corner that walks when you walk and goes "!" when he notices something you can click on. After giving a nice robot attendant your 3-letter name, you begin to wander the halls of the (relatively small) museum, featuring 6 main exhibits dedicated to the games on this entry in the series and a lounge dedicated to extras. The calm and atmospheric music, the PS1 textured marble tiles and columns, it's perfect video game museum vibes, and, tragically, this feature never made it outside of these initial entries. There's an option for if you want to just get straight to the game, you can just immediately start playing Pac-Man if you'd like, but I'm the kind of person who would much rather walk slowly to Pac-Man after going through the Pac-Man exhibit and observing several pieces of Pac-Man paraphernalia.

As for the game selection itself, obviously, you want to open with Pac-Man and Galaga, that's a no-brainer. But other all-timers like Dig Dug and Ms.Pac-Man are left out, not to be seen until later entries in the PS1 Namco Museum collection, in a move that is absolutely motivated by getting you to buy more than one of these games, but I think Namco makes up for this tactic by having this entry include two games that most people wouldn't recognize: Toypop and Bosconian. These are not only obscure entries but also just plain fun games, so including them in the first volume was a great idea. It sets the ground rules of these games: A little bit of the classics, and a little bit of the deep cuts, all treated with the same amount of historical importance. And Pole Position is there, say hi to Pole Position for me I guess.

Now obviously, this game, and this series on the PS1 in general, is not the ideal way to play any of these games. You can only play them with a d-pad, they don't emulate sound perfectly, and they take a hit lag-wise. And the museum aspect itself has some problems, like every image and piece of an exhibit taking around 5 seconds or so to load, which ends up discouraging you from checking out every piece of the museum if you value your time. But despite these problems, the vibes win out in the end. I haven't even mentioned the fantastical rooms that each game resides in. After going through little bits and details of each game, you go through a door that transports you out of the museum and into another world, much like these games did for the people who played them. Each of these rooms also has an incredible arrangement of their respective game's theme, made even more impressive considering most of them didn't have much music to work off of. No matter their problems, these games might be worth it just for these arrangements alone.

As someone who is very intrigued by Namco's classic arcade line-up and also someone who loves going through a virtual exhibit, I cannot wait to go through the rest of this series. I know this is not the ideal way to experience these games, except they are, because they're in a cool ps1 museum. Who needs accuracy when you have vibes?