Take me down to a paradise city

Recently I had the pleasure of casting another game from my Hall of Shame. And who’s the lucky candidate? None other than Rakuen!

 Original image located here. Accessed 14th June 2020

I first became aware of Rakuen through it apparently being a tearjerker that exceeds the legendary To the Moon. That sounded like a challenge to me so I took it! But upon obtaining the game I noticed something: This was developed and published by one Laura Shigihara – a name I recognised through her contributions to the soundtrack of the afore-mentioned To the Moon. Well, if she wants to take a stab at making her own game then good for her.

But perhaps the connection to To the Moon may be telling: There are numerous similarities in both games (both made in RPG maker, both sharing a staff name and both inspiring the waterworks) that separating them presents a difficult prospect. So the real question here is: can Rakuen stand up on its own two feet?

The answer is a resounding yes.

What makes this game unique for me is that it tackles a theme rarely approached by games: The PC is a child going on a journey accompanied by his mother. You don’t see many mothers in game (this is, after all, a medium where its users have frequently uttered the words “Awwww Ma-ummmmm!”) so this game is indeed trying something different. Perhaps that many gamers today are parents themselves that we are seeing a game where a mother plays a key role - moreso considering that the story presented in Rakuen is just as much the Mother’s as it is the Boy’s.

Being a story-driven game, the narrative is effectively carrying this game but never once does it crack under the weight. It is an indeed an emotional roller-coaster dealing with issues such as loss, regret, letting go and redemption. And the technical department is no slouch either: the graphics and world building are indeed beautiful and the music is truly unforgettable.

Clearly Laura made this game because she felt she had a story to tell. And so it would seem that it was the right call to make.

We like the Moon

Apparently there's an anime movie in the works based on indie darling To the Moon.

Source

Seems Grave of the Fireflies has some competition for 'biggest tear-jerker'

Perfect Blue

According to my Steam profile I have, at time of writing, notched up seven perfect games. This means, for the uninitiated, that I have scored all the achievements that came attached to the game.

Not a bad feat I have to say.

This in turn makes an interesting contrast to the XBLA achievements: I have plenty of XBLA achievements to my name but no perfect games to speak of. What does this mean? Are the XBLA achievements too demanding? Or are the Steam achievements easier to get?

I think the Steam achievements are indeed easier to get – why, To the Moon has a grand total of one achievement and that is for beating it, thus setting up a perfect game in the bag. That is not to say that the Steam has its own share of demanding achievements – there’s plenty of Age of Empires 2 achievements that require fighting a thousand battles – but I have found that many Steam achievements require less effort than many XBLA achievements. Why is this so? One would think that the Steam achievements would offer some kind of fighting chance instead of being near impossible. And when a game offers an achievement that actually seems feasible of scoring, one would gravitate to the game and the platform it is offered upon. After all, if a game is worth the trouble of getting a perfect rating then it must be a pretty awesome game, right?

Still, there’s no way I’ll be fighting a thousand battles in Age of Empires 2. I do have a life you know…

With friends like these

I went onto Steam this evening and I noticed there must be a bug in effect - for all my friends on my Steam profile are all credited with playing all of my games.

Still, bug or no bug, it was nice to see a large amount of people agreeing with my gaming tastes. And playing To the Moon

Shut up and Play the Game

I've been traversing through Planescape Torment in recent weeks and, whilst I haven't got far, the game itself is proving to be engaging. It's making me pay attention to the dialogue and my journal - where I've previously skipped over in other games - so that must account for something.

But somehow I can see a problem: The writing may be top-notch but the combat is kinda dull. It is more or less like thwacking people over the head than actual life-threatening combat. If anything, the lame combat somehow makes the many kills The Nameless One racked up seem difficult to swallow.
Now that I think of it, the combat seems more like an afterthought, behind the massive effort gone into the writing. I heard that it is possible to talk your way out of certain situations and, true or not, it suggests that maybe the combat wasn't the intent of the game.

But strangely, a decade plus on, Planescape Torment is still a highly regarded game, beloved by fans and critics and still acknowledged as one of the finest games ever made. This makes an interesting point considering the many games that have been condemned for having too much story and not enough game. Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy 13 have both copped it for trying to tell a story whilst involving the player as little as possible. And yet we praise games that do the same thing: To the Moon requires the player to do little more then push the protagonists forward in the narrative and yet it's hailed as having an emotional effect on the player. Indeed, you could make the same argument for Planescape in that for the eternal search of finding more and more about the Nameless One and recovering his memories, all the player is doing is pushing him from one revelation to another.

So how much can a story-strong/gameplay-weak get away with it? Such games have had a rancid reputation throughout gaming history (Sega CD anyone?) so how can a game like To the Moon can do the same thing and still be highly regarded? I guess it all comes down to the story: it must be compelling and and must require at least some involvement with the player. Because, unlike a book or a movie, the medium of gaming is unique in that requires participation from the audience. So it would seem a story-strong/gameplay-weak game can succeed if the story was engaging enough and the involvement from the player is clearly defined.

But to have uninspiring combat in an RPG is problematic. Granted it is nearly a prerequisite for modern RPGs to have a damn good story but how many RPGs have managed to achieve that balance between engaging story and engaging gameplay? Mass Effect? Jade Empire?

Still this is but the first few steps into the world of Planescape Torment. i have yet to leave Sigil so whether or not things will get better has yet to be seen....

Hasta la Vista baby!

Another game has been given the boot from my Hall of Shame: Grim Fandango!

As mentioned earlier, I was one of the lucky ones who managed to get this game through purchasing it from a store shelf. And once again this was one of those games that carried with it a huge amount of expectation: Best adventure game EVAH, the last great Adventure game LucasArts made, a flop that didn’t sell enough due to everyone else playing FPS shooters at the time. And once again this was a game that possessed enough mythical qualities that it threatened to overshadow the game itself.

So what did I think of it?
If anything it was a surprise.

It’s been established before that I’ve never latched onto the fifth generation/late nineties period of gaming. Having grown up with the previous generations, I found a lot to dislike about the then current generation: I thought the graphics looked hideous, the 3d worlds looked boring and restrictive and was puzzled as to how the actual gameplay would work. Of course in the years since, my view has softened and I’ve found much to enjoy from that period of gaming history – yet the issues I had at the time still resonate.
And it’s those issues that may have influenced my experience with Grim Fandango. And having spent last summer playing a lot of LucasArts adventures, the first impressions with Grim Fandango weren’t pretty. Some of the character models looked weird, the mouse interface was sorely missed, the use of the keyboard was problematic and the transitions from cutscene to gameplay were painfully obvious.

Nevertheless I pressed ahead and, as I went on, I found a lot to admire about Grim Fandango. True I may have issues with the gameplay but there was indeed strength within the story that the game wanted to tell. It’s kinda funny how people these days grumble about games being too much story and not enough game but this is one case where the story is more than enough to save whatever failings the gameplay may have (To the Moon anyone?).
One thing I really got out of the story is how it really feels like conveys the sense of time and how it really looks like it’s playing out across four years of a character’s life (ironic when the character in question is DEAD). It was fascinating to see Manny go through various careers and display a wide range of ambitions. Actually now I think of it, one really does get a sense of identity being conveyed throughout the game both in finding and utilization – that may have been intentional but personally I’d rather state the obvious than miss something by a country mile. And personally I’d rather have any game trying to say something to its audience any day of the week.
So yes, the story is indeed a strong one in Grim Fandango so what about the rest of it? I love the design and art direction throughout the game (the brief foray into the world of the living is a hoot). The various references to Casablanca are great and I will admit I even developed an attachment to Glotis. 
Is all of it enough for me to ignore the gameplay issues? Yes I think so.

Mind you, playing Grim Fandango with the hindsight that it’s the last shining moment of the adventure game genre does indeed present an interesting perspective. Indeed, one gets the idea that this was the final peak – it delivered on so many levels that there wasn’t really much left for the genre to say. Thus perhaps it wasn’t surprising that the adventure game more or less died in the wake of Grim Fandango – indeed nothing that has followed since has really reached the peaks LucasArts achieved (okay maybe Time Gentlemen Please but even that was commentary on the genre).
Still even if Grim Fandango was the end point for the adventure game genre it certainly was a grand way to bow out.

So yeah: Grim Fandango is awesome. It may not have been a big hit but to me playing it is akin to being admitted to a secret club where no one else knows of it and it’s all yours to enjoy.
And no one can take that away from you.

Would you believe they put a Man on the Moon?

Another game has been given the boot from my Hall of Shame: To the Moon!

There's a wide variety of Indie games available on Steam - but with such a large number it becomes something of a challenge for one game to stand out from the rest. So why To the Moon? Well I'd heard that it was released 2011 but already gained a reputation for being one of the greatest tearjerkers ever conceived in gaming.
And my immediate response was: 'You're on Buster!'
Far be it from me to be a masochist who relishes in being depressed but I'm not one to back down from a challenge.

So what did I take away from this game upon it's completion?
What indeed....

Let me get this out of the way: To the Moon is a failure as game. There isn't much for the player to do except drive the player characters from one location to the next along an extremely linear path. There is little to do except solve small picture puzzles and collect objects within a contained environment. Many gamers, these days it seems, really hate how games are dictated by linearity and how their role as a player is reduced to nothing more than pushing the narrative forward.

So it pretty much falls to the story to hold this game up - and if that is the case then To the Moon's story would have a strength rating comparable to Hercules.
I won't give too much away but I've seen a lot of stories played out in gaming and To the Moon stands head and shoulders as one of the best. It was fascinating to see the life of a character play out, complete with bad luck and missed opportunities - I'm not sure if any other game has attempted this but I give Firebird credit for having the balls to do so. Also, it was great to see the use of symbolism and finding out how all the clues given over the course of the game slot into place. In addition, River proved to be a fascinating character and her romance with Johnny came across as nothing short of compelling. In fact, now that i think of it, this game really did work for me at a personal level - and if a game can do that then it must be a damn good one.
Mind you, the presence of the goofier moments of dialogue were puzzling. They seemed like they'd come in from a completely different game and an intrusion into the mood of the game. It could be argued that the goofy dialogue provided a relief for the player but somehow I doubt it was necessary.
And the conclusion? Well I didn't shed a tear - but I would be lying if I said I didn't feel a lump in my throat.

Also worthy of mention is the music (THE MUSIC!). There's only so many adjectives I can use but it's best people discover it for themselves - in fact now I feel kinda silly for buying the game on Steam and not the physical edition which included the soundtrack!

That being said does To the Moon work as a game? Could it have worked better as a movie? That's hard to say. It can't be argued that movies are indeed hard to get made these days (a statement made baffling considering the rubbish that sometimes gets made) so many people with great ideas are finding a different way to get them across - whether in comics or in games. Now whilst having a game that's completely story driven may sound like it's completely defeating the purpose of it being a game itself - but the story is such a strong one that playing To the Moon, I found myself all too willing to forget whatever shortcomings in the gameplay department.
And that in itself is worthy of a medal.