I will always be the second best player of challenge 16 in Otoko Cross: Pretty Boys Dropout!
holy shit, lost media of biblically accurate angels with dementia in a liminal and strangely familiar space!?!??! Sign me UP dude!!!!!!!
2007
The tactics system is undefendedable. Such a DRASTIC change to a very basic action should have the entire game built around justifying it, not some vague "well the characters are kinda their own person you know." This is like if Mario Bros had Another World's controls. Came to this conclusion seeing the story in reload having no strong justification for such a mechanic.
2024
This review contains spoilers
It's a good game, I feel like a 6 star is harsh, but man, man, I just can't. I'm so glad I didn't play FES or P3P because holy shit I can only imagine how much I would have disliked them.
I think it was a huge mistake to take out the tired mechanic. Now there is no reason to not just finish a block the first day it becomes available. What fun I had with SP management was destroyed when i realized Fuuka restores SP with her Theurgy. You snowball less than you do in Persona 5, but you still snowball. I'm glad that unlike 5, I feel like I am playing a game.
The social links range from like 3 pretty good ones, most below average, and some downright terrible. Holy crap, they are so shallow. I started skipping through some of the worst ones like the weeb and the milf hunter.
And the story, I don't think any of the Arcs other than Yukari and Ken were very interesting. I think some people defend the tactics system because SEES isn't supposed to be a buddy-buddy group, but honestly I think it is but just written so poorly it seems like it isn't. I hate Mitsuru especially, ironically one of the dumbest characters and clearly misses things that the smart girl should see. Like why did she not bring anything up when Shinji and Ken joined? She literally goes "OH NO I FORGOT" like fucking Homer Simpson.
And there's just so much nonsense backstory. It all feels so contrived and the magic system is not nearly interesting enough for me to give a rat's ass. The secret experiments origin of shadows is so wack compared to everything else that I just can't take it seriously.
But what made me quit playing is the pacing of the Nyx arc. Holy shit, the whiplash from seeing all the Lost around the city. There is absolutely no build up of dread, you're just expected to be scared of what's coming because????? Like why would Ryoji saying you can't kill Nyx clearly sounds more like "no way she's too powerful" because there is no demonstration about why exactly we should assume he means it in the sense they intend (that literally you can't escape it).
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA it sucks because I think I see the personalized copy of Persona 3 everyone else must be playing, but my copy is apparently the only one where this Nyx payoff kinda fucking blows ass and isn't interesting at all?
I just don't care, I've known about this story for years a decade and I was excited to see the genre-redefining, trope-subverting, atmospheric, dark and eerie, emotionally draining, gut wrenching, aesthetically heavy dread-inducing, suspenseful build up with strong character development and gradual feeling of escalation, bone-chilling slow burn with “say more with less” approach and soul-shaking, blood-curdling, skin-crawling and nerve-wracking exercise in persistently looming dread where tension and anxiety permeates every frame as the game reaches its nail-biting, jaw-clenching and paranoia-inducing final climax, free of any cheap power of friendship plot lines or cartoonish scooby doo gang that everyone else sees. But I don't see it
And no, I don't think darker lighting in the dorm would have made the pacing better for any FES fans.
I think it was a huge mistake to take out the tired mechanic. Now there is no reason to not just finish a block the first day it becomes available. What fun I had with SP management was destroyed when i realized Fuuka restores SP with her Theurgy. You snowball less than you do in Persona 5, but you still snowball. I'm glad that unlike 5, I feel like I am playing a game.
The social links range from like 3 pretty good ones, most below average, and some downright terrible. Holy crap, they are so shallow. I started skipping through some of the worst ones like the weeb and the milf hunter.
And the story, I don't think any of the Arcs other than Yukari and Ken were very interesting. I think some people defend the tactics system because SEES isn't supposed to be a buddy-buddy group, but honestly I think it is but just written so poorly it seems like it isn't. I hate Mitsuru especially, ironically one of the dumbest characters and clearly misses things that the smart girl should see. Like why did she not bring anything up when Shinji and Ken joined? She literally goes "OH NO I FORGOT" like fucking Homer Simpson.
And there's just so much nonsense backstory. It all feels so contrived and the magic system is not nearly interesting enough for me to give a rat's ass. The secret experiments origin of shadows is so wack compared to everything else that I just can't take it seriously.
But what made me quit playing is the pacing of the Nyx arc. Holy shit, the whiplash from seeing all the Lost around the city. There is absolutely no build up of dread, you're just expected to be scared of what's coming because????? Like why would Ryoji saying you can't kill Nyx clearly sounds more like "no way she's too powerful" because there is no demonstration about why exactly we should assume he means it in the sense they intend (that literally you can't escape it).
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA it sucks because I think I see the personalized copy of Persona 3 everyone else must be playing, but my copy is apparently the only one where this Nyx payoff kinda fucking blows ass and isn't interesting at all?
I just don't care, I've known about this story for years a decade and I was excited to see the genre-redefining, trope-subverting, atmospheric, dark and eerie, emotionally draining, gut wrenching, aesthetically heavy dread-inducing, suspenseful build up with strong character development and gradual feeling of escalation, bone-chilling slow burn with “say more with less” approach and soul-shaking, blood-curdling, skin-crawling and nerve-wracking exercise in persistently looming dread where tension and anxiety permeates every frame as the game reaches its nail-biting, jaw-clenching and paranoia-inducing final climax, free of any cheap power of friendship plot lines or cartoonish scooby doo gang that everyone else sees. But I don't see it
And no, I don't think darker lighting in the dorm would have made the pacing better for any FES fans.
2023
you can go ANYWHERE, as long as you can click it on the map.
1998
The first game in a very, very long time to keep me up for hours on end. The kind of game you think about during work and just want to play more of. The last game that did this so consistently was EU4.
Play with the augustus mod
Play with the augustus mod
2022
Perhaps it is ironic that humans in Signalis are referred to as “Gestalts”, a term that refers to a part that makes up a greater whole. In contrast, Signalis is filled with many ideas that, while well-executed in isolation, fail to complement each other at best and actively detract from each other at worse.
The worst example of this is the setting and atmosphere of the game. Signalis occupies a terrible compromise between the atmospheres of old-school Resident Evil and Silent Hill. RE’s horror comes from its grounding in reality, the fact that all monsters you face are explainable scientific mutations that serve a practical purpose as bioweapons. SH is the opposite, the monsters are otherworld, and often have anatomy that would be detrimental to have for an actual living being. The horror comes from the fact that these things should not, perhaps even cannot, exist.
Signalis has decided to have its cake and eat it too by making the source of the monsters be both psychological and physical; they result from radiation poisoning that itself results from psychic projects of a girl sick with radiation poisoning. This leads to enemy and world design that conflicts with itself; the horror from the grounded atmosphere is at odds with horror from its otherworldly atmosphere. The sci-fi dystopia you live in is explained in much greater detail than SH’s touristy town flyers but in much less detail than RE’s cold and calculated scientific reporting. The monster designs look like psychological mesh, but the game reminds you constantly that they are just infected. Ultimately, the two atmospheres feel duck taped together and poorly thought out.
Which is a shame because like I said, the individual parts here are amazing. The capital S survival horror is even stricter than old-school RE and made me feel more terror than those games ever did. The artsy references to German expressionism and fractals are refreshingly well thought-out in contrast to the copy-pasting from Wikipedia that so many other games fall back on. The main romance is tear-jerking and well-executed. The idea of robots having specific neural patterns for tasks that you need to socialize them to instead of being GAI that are basically just human is the most realistic approach to anthropomorphic robots I’ve seen in fiction, which I say as someone who actually works in AI.
But it all feels scattered and conflicting. The replika’s instruction manuals take away from the emotion intensity. The Evangelion-style cuts to Lovecraft quotes take me out of the intense struggle to just survive. The flashing German and Chinese text takes away from the active pondering the game is trying to make me do because I don’t speak those languages. All the genius in the moment-to-moment experience is ruined by the game’s inability to keep a consistent tone and identity. It’s a whole worse than the sum of its parts.
The worst example of this is the setting and atmosphere of the game. Signalis occupies a terrible compromise between the atmospheres of old-school Resident Evil and Silent Hill. RE’s horror comes from its grounding in reality, the fact that all monsters you face are explainable scientific mutations that serve a practical purpose as bioweapons. SH is the opposite, the monsters are otherworld, and often have anatomy that would be detrimental to have for an actual living being. The horror comes from the fact that these things should not, perhaps even cannot, exist.
Signalis has decided to have its cake and eat it too by making the source of the monsters be both psychological and physical; they result from radiation poisoning that itself results from psychic projects of a girl sick with radiation poisoning. This leads to enemy and world design that conflicts with itself; the horror from the grounded atmosphere is at odds with horror from its otherworldly atmosphere. The sci-fi dystopia you live in is explained in much greater detail than SH’s touristy town flyers but in much less detail than RE’s cold and calculated scientific reporting. The monster designs look like psychological mesh, but the game reminds you constantly that they are just infected. Ultimately, the two atmospheres feel duck taped together and poorly thought out.
Which is a shame because like I said, the individual parts here are amazing. The capital S survival horror is even stricter than old-school RE and made me feel more terror than those games ever did. The artsy references to German expressionism and fractals are refreshingly well thought-out in contrast to the copy-pasting from Wikipedia that so many other games fall back on. The main romance is tear-jerking and well-executed. The idea of robots having specific neural patterns for tasks that you need to socialize them to instead of being GAI that are basically just human is the most realistic approach to anthropomorphic robots I’ve seen in fiction, which I say as someone who actually works in AI.
But it all feels scattered and conflicting. The replika’s instruction manuals take away from the emotion intensity. The Evangelion-style cuts to Lovecraft quotes take me out of the intense struggle to just survive. The flashing German and Chinese text takes away from the active pondering the game is trying to make me do because I don’t speak those languages. All the genius in the moment-to-moment experience is ruined by the game’s inability to keep a consistent tone and identity. It’s a whole worse than the sum of its parts.
1997
Am I missing something? Like I'm fine with the combat and all, but the world of Fallout 1 is so easily broken. There is very little continuity between your actions in the game. For example:
- I killed Highwater prior to meeting the thieve's guild, yet I'm able to complete the quest with no repercussions when I go to buy the necklace I sold to a merchant
- Nightkin guards still attack you on sight even if you dress as one of the priests
- In the very beginning of the game Aradash told me to "get rid of these rad scorpions" before I even started that quest or explaining the situation
- People in Junktown bring up Gizmo even after you kill him
- The vault 13 medic won't heal you after you deliver the waterchip
- My character somehow obtains the knowledge that Doc Morbid is supplying Bob's stand from just killing him
Surely, a game with such narrow scope and such basic combat should have an air-tight interaction system and continuity right? There is so much discontinuity, and I think I even broke a quest at one point. How does anyone find this game immersive given this?
- I killed Highwater prior to meeting the thieve's guild, yet I'm able to complete the quest with no repercussions when I go to buy the necklace I sold to a merchant
- Nightkin guards still attack you on sight even if you dress as one of the priests
- In the very beginning of the game Aradash told me to "get rid of these rad scorpions" before I even started that quest or explaining the situation
- People in Junktown bring up Gizmo even after you kill him
- The vault 13 medic won't heal you after you deliver the waterchip
- My character somehow obtains the knowledge that Doc Morbid is supplying Bob's stand from just killing him
Surely, a game with such narrow scope and such basic combat should have an air-tight interaction system and continuity right? There is so much discontinuity, and I think I even broke a quest at one point. How does anyone find this game immersive given this?
2020
Why are people calling this game soulless? I got like thousands of souls during my playthrough
2022
sooo mid
Consolecels will NEVER be able to play My Stepbro is a Femboy. PCchads, how do we keep winning?
I can't believe they would make a character who previously didn't identify with the gender they were assigned at birth as a statement against the outdated social norms of their village now detransition. There are already enough cis people in guilty gear :/
2007
oh... he just like me! he just like me fr!
The two major thing that killed this game for me is the ride Pokémon and the changed speed mechanics. Ride Pokémon make it so you don't have to think while exploring and the fact that speed no longer determines who goes first makes it so you don't have to think while battling. It sucks too because if you removed these two things, which would be pretty easy to do, it would make for a so much better experience.
Note: played with an enhancement mod (you should always look up enhancement mods on the community page for games released more than 5 years ago come on guys)
Damn, I thought this was going to be ass from what I remember from my childhood, but this was awesome. Compared to Adventure 2, it has way higher highs and way, WAY lower lows, but I love how experimental the formats were. In contrast to what seems to be the majority opinion, I only really think Tails and Big's sections were bad, but in contrast, I think every section other is better than its equivalent in SA2, and Amy's section would be my favorite overall if it wasn't so short.
Damn, I thought this was going to be ass from what I remember from my childhood, but this was awesome. Compared to Adventure 2, it has way higher highs and way, WAY lower lows, but I love how experimental the formats were. In contrast to what seems to be the majority opinion, I only really think Tails and Big's sections were bad, but in contrast, I think every section other is better than its equivalent in SA2, and Amy's section would be my favorite overall if it wasn't so short.