If you’d like to suggest non-book media you want reviewed, here’s the place. (Book suggestions go here.)
If you’re not interested in those at all, then glare angrily at the people making suggestions and go vote against it in the poll again.
Current List:
Sailor Moon
Yume Nikki
OFF
Ib
The Witch’s House
Mad Father
Misao
The Crooked Man
The Mirror Lied
Paranoiac
Re:Kinder
Mermaid Swamp
Fresh Pretty Cure
Mirai Nikki
Hierofanía
All the ways the zombie genre has failed me
Legend of the Galactic Heroes
.flow
Middens
Star-Stealing Prince
Senki Zessho Symphogear
Madoka movie
UnderTale (demo)
Rule of Rose
Vacant Sky
Alice Is Dead
Aquarion Evol
The Mother RPGs
From the New World
Queen Mary’s Script
Dreaming Mary
Well, let’s see… pretty sure you saw PMMM, but I think it can always bear re-watching and a review… Did you ever play Omikami? Because that’s a game I’d love to have your thoughts on. And if I mentioned PMMM, have you ever watched the classic of that genre, Sailor Moon? Because they’re releasing a new version of it later this year, and I wonder what you think of it…
I only played the beginning.
And I’m afraid not. I read a good chunk of the Sailor Moon manga, but only saw a couple episodes of the dub.
What about reviewing indie games, like Ib, Yume Nikki, that OFF game I’ve seen floating around…
I only know Yume Nikki of those. Other two look interesting.
Having just watched an LP of OFF, I would love to hear your thoughts on it. It’s remarkably clever and evocative, but I can’t quite decide whether or not it has any real point beyond being a gut-punch.
Err, does anime count? Dumb question, apologies. . .
Sure!
In one of your Hunger Games Interludes, you wrote a bit about Puella Magi Madoka Magica. I’d like to read more of your thoughts on that anime.
I’m not sure what a good Madoka post would be – it’s not really something that’s too easily reviewed because a lot of the impact is of not knowing what’s going to happen. Maybe more of a discussion post?
Maybe just do a normal review post, but warn for spoilers at the top before the Read More cut.
I’d be interested in seeing your opinions on PMMM (and Rebellion, too).
Would writing be an option? Like, you take a month off to add new chapters to your stories or write new oneshots? It would be a nice counterpoint if you reviewed terrible stories here and then created good ones for us to enjoy.
That could be fun, but I’m not sure how it’d work in practice.
I’d be interested in your thoughts about the new Tomb Raider game. Everyone seems to either just praise it or just goes ‘hush-hush’ on it.
But I would not only like to read a review done from a female’s point of view, but also a feminist. While the game developers might have taken out or edited that rape scene, I still have a hard time believing the game escaped all forms of sexism. And since you do a chapter by chapter, or scene by scene in-depth look at things, I think commenting on each part of the game would make for an excellent read.
I am kind of curious, but the thing is, I’ve never played any of the series, so I don’t have much of a background there. (Plus, my PS3 is currently very broken.)
Aw, that’s sucks. But I thought to at least ask. Thanks for letting me know.
Have you seen Feminist Frequencies’ review of the Hunger Games? I thought that it kind of did really badly at researching, and got the facts wrong.
Eh, you’re describing basically every discussion of the Hunger Games I’ve ever found. Almost everyone just looks at it long enough to see the main character isn’t Bella and calls it a day.
Hey, have you seen the video Everything Wrong With The Hunger Games in 3 Minutes or Less? It covered a lot of criticisms you made. But I guess you’re getting kind of tired of the Hunger Games by now.
Like three fourths of those were just nit-picking or poor comprehension or jokes for the sake of telling jokes rather than actual problems. The bit where it just let Peeta’s creepiness speak for itself was great, though.
I demand you watch Fresh Pretty Cure and tell me what you think of it.
Hm. That seems feasible. Whole thing or episode by episode?
It’s structured as a two-act story (as Precure seasons generally are), so I would suggest one review for episodes 1-25 and another for episodes 26-50.
I’d be curious to see your reaction to Mirai Nikki. There’s no dub yet, and though it seems like Funimation has bought it, there’s no news on a dub being made anytime soon. It’s a murder game anime. There’s no arena, the people are fighting for the prize to become a god (though not everyone is interested in fighting) and the interesting part is that they have diaries that give them insight to the future, which can be extremely helpful or kind of shitty.
If you want something incredibly bad, there’s always High School of the Dead. It’s sexist, disgusting, a T&A anime with basically no plots and characters that are rarely more than a stereotype.
I’d really like to see a post where you go into detail what you like in a story. Maybe even covering specific genres? It could cover books you like because their good qualities make up for the bad, like a book with a plot like Swiss cheese but fascinating characters. This is what I’d like to see the most from you, honestly. I’d love to see what you think a book needs to be great!
Oh, I’ve heard about that one but keep forgetting to check it out!
If you want something incredibly bad, there’s always High School of the Dead. It’s sexist, disgusting, a T&A anime with basically no plots and characters that are rarely more than a stereotype.
I actually ragequit before it even got that far. They figured out the zombies track by sound, so they decided to try to sneak their way through them instead of just throwing a can and watching the zombies all run off in that direction.
Maybe I could do a post on all the ways the zombie genre fails me.
Hi! I’m going to do something, and I hope it’s not bad form. If it is, I apologize in advance, and I promise not to do it again!
I noticed you played a couple of storybased games, and at least one was a visual novel. So I’m going to link you to mine.
http://hierofania.weebly.com/index.html
Hierofanía is a freeware game, and it’s about one hour long. It’s a fantasy story with seven possible questions. I wrote it and did the art for it. (A friend did the music)
If you like, and if you ever have the time for it, would you give it a try?
I’m working on the sequel now, and critical feedback on the first would be really useful for me. If you decide to review it, that would be great!
Thanks a lot for reading this! Now I’ll go back to read through your achives.
I just played it three times and got three out of seven endings, including what appears to be the True End (the one with the great big sequel hook).
There were lots of little style things I could nitpick. Is it really necessary to have “whispers” at the beginning of every line of whispered dialogue, for example? It would be less disruptive to work the fact that they’re whispering into the prose. Also the epilogue, while a great sequel hook, was kind of aggravating because when you’re playing a game where the primary mechanic is making choices, it really grates to hear your character repeatedly called stupid for not making choices that the game never gave you the option to make. For VNs, you should generally only have the narrative talk about all of the bad choices the player character made and the opportunities she missed if the *player* was given those opportunities and actually did make bad choices, because otherwise you’re just going to annoy the Hell out of said player.
But on the whole my opinion was: wow, that was a REALLY good visual novel. It was compelling, complex, twisty, and really got me into the headspace of the protagonist. My second-favorite moment was when Douglas accused my character of trying to make Utrecht manifest through her when in fact that was exactly what I as the player was hoping to accomplish on that play-through. My very favorite moment, of course, was the big reveal in the true end, because *holy fuck* that was a good twist, and I was freaking out right alongside my character. I eagerly await the sequel.
Hey, Ember, thanks so much for giving it a try.
I hadn’t really thought about annoying the players for the choices they made. I’ll think harder next time, because making choices with limited information and making mistakes is a thing that will continue to happen to the players, but no, I don’t want them to be aggravated or frustrated by the game!
I thank you for that bit, because I hadn’t thought about it from the player’s point of view. I’m sure I can make it better if I try. :)
I’m so glad you liked the story! The sequel is coming alone slowly, because I work alone, but it will be finished because I’m really invested in it. :)
I think it’s looking much prettier than the first. Hopefully, it will also have a cooler story!
Again, thanks a lot.
It looks interesting! I’ll check it out.
Thanks so much!
I hope you enjoy it, and if you don’t, I hope you will be very meticulous when explaining how much it sucks so the sequel can be better.
(Aw, I don’t know how to say it, mostly I mean, thank you for checking it out, whether you end up liking it or not)
Thanks. :)
Do you have any plans to see/review Pacific Rim?
I was thinking of seeing it today, actually, but then stuff came up. I’m hoping to see it because yay giant monsters and also I’ve been super curious what percent of Eva it is.
If you’d like to watch an old anime, I’d recommend Legend of the Galactic Heroes. The whole series (and gaiden) can be found on Youtube, which is good because buying the japanese set can be… expensive.
I’ve just been watching LoGH Gaiden finally myself. The main series is 110 episodes, so yeah. It definitely has some interesting bits, particularly comparing between efficient dictatorship and corrupt democracy and having two groups of heroes who are both good guys but will deeply, ideologically never agree. There are a lot of villains who are so deeply incompetent and malicious to anyone who is competent it’s often surprising how anyone managed to live long enough to die during this series. And almost everyone dies during this series. It’s pretty bad with women, there are maybe three or four who actually do anything over the course of the whole series, they’re mostly housewives or ornaments/symbols or at best secretaries. It’s all very 1850s Prussia/1950s America all over. I think you would like Oberstein. He’s the guy who’s always willing to call everyone else out on the fact that their “military pride” bullshit means actual people actually dying in real wars that were totally pointless and about their egos. The series as a whole is virilantly anti-war, which plays interestingly because the characters are mostly glory-hungry military commanders.
wow that is a lot of episodes
That is why it is never getting dubbed. It took me an entire summer to watch that series. It’s really four 20-some episode seasons one after another. Then there’s 52 episodes worth of gaiden prequel side-stories. On one hand, it’s really slow. On the other hand, it’s not status quo monster-a-week show by any means. Over the course of the series, stuff is steadily accomplished, the political landscape changes wildly, main characters die. It would be quite a time investment to review though, and so little happens in any individual episode that couple episode story arcs only work in chunks.
I’ve mentioned this games before elsewhere before without noticing this post (yes, I can be dumb like this).
.flow (or dotflow): Yume Nikki fan-game with the same gameplay (that is, directionless exploration of surreal enviroment). Personally I regard this game as superior to Yume Nikki because of tighter imagery and the presence of an actual ending (technically three endings, but only one of them is “true”).
Here’s the download: http://dotflow.wikidot.com/downloads
Middens: a mix between Yume Nikki-style games and RPG. Different from Yume Nikki alikes because it has an actual plot (albeit a simple one) and battle system. Pretty good game with gorgeous collage art. Also pretty cool ending (there are more then one ending, which one you get depends on how many “nothings” you collect. First is avaiable somewhere on 30 mark, the second on 60-70. Don’t know if there is more.)
Download: http://rpgmaker.net/games/3843/downloads/
Both games are freeware.
Oh, and another one. Star-Stealing Prince. An eastern-style RPG, nice mix of fairy-tale and genuine drama. Pretty good art. Battle system makes huge emphasis on buffs-debuffs mechanic, boss fights tend to be rather hard unless you are good with tactics or follow guides on official website. There are some problems with storyline (there is this huge sequence of cut-scenes in the middle where you are basically supposed to sit back and watch the movie, for example), but overall I rather like this game.
Download: http://starstealingprince.wordpress.com/download/
I think you might have done that because it was before this post was even up! Anyway, added!
Hm, no, I mentioned the games when you reviewed The Mad Father and later The Void, which was after this post was up if dates are not misleading. But anyway, have two others games.
Vacant Sky: another eastern-style RPG (and I should mention that all games I’ve suggested so far were made with RPG Maker). Techno-magical setting about a girl who died and found herself in another country pursued by cultists. Plot is intriguing, though unfortunately only two out of three episodes are completed, so the ending is very open right now. Battle system is kinda meh. It’s playable, but nothing to write home about, and dodge mechanic is annoying when enemies do it. The first episode is rather linear, the second offer more freedom, and events change slightly depending on the order you go about missions (I recommend leaving dead city investigation for the end due to some nasty consequences otherwise). Also, the game has a gorgeous soundtrack with a few original vocal songs.
Soundtrack: http://vacantsky.bandcamp.com/album/vacant-sky-ost-sounds-of-contention
(I especially recommend “Lie Your Way”)
Download: http://rpgmaker.net/games/1046/downloads/
Alice Is Dead: a flash game, rather simple and short point-and-click quest based, obviously, on Alice In Wonderland. A good way to kill an hour or so.
Episode 1: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/511552
Episode 2: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/524348
Episode 3: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/547837
Have you ever heard of Billy and Howard? It is a moronic and hideous Kindle book (you can read it here for free, please don’t give the author money, http://www.billyandhoward.com/) about two genetically engineered arsehole ten year olds who rule the world as the Illumanti. It swings between artless violence, half brained philosophy and general ugliness. Also it is unnaturally like a prequel to Wither.
Do you do fanfic? If so, I found a wonderfully horrible piece of snark bait: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9552184/1/Moon-Daughter It’s like the My Immortal of Percy Jackson, and the main character is the Sue-iest Sue I’ve ever seen.
That is a troll. The trollfic is one of the many inspired by My Immortal’s…success.
Farla does a lot of fanfiction, actually, but only at the request of the author (Review Exchange) or in large bursts, like everything posted in an entire category for a certain holiday or month. She does not single out specific authors, despite accusations to the contrary.
Yeah, bait is generally best avoided, it’s always got a hook in it.
As an anime suggestion, how about Senki Zessho Symphogear? It’s a very ridiculous anime with no sense of pacing or logic, but it’s a fun watch and there are some killer songs. It’s about a pair of teenaged girls who have to fight off wierd pseudo-aliens with power armor that’s strengthened by their singing. Basically, Magical Girl Idol Singers.
Amusingly, one of the main characters is voiced by the same seiyu as Madoka. And, the characters themselves are typical anime stereotypes (aloof kuudere dark-haired girl, spunky shonen heroine, tsundere anti-hero, mission control with baritone and kung-fu obsession) yet they still manage to be both entertaining and occasionally endearing. Specially Tsundere anti-hero gun girl. She was all kinds of badass and adorable.
Oh, and the finale episodes were beyond ridiculous with asspulls galore. But, despite these flaws, it’s a fun show and worth a watch, I think.
For additional questions, have you seen Nanoha by any chance? And, have you seen the new Madoka movie or read spoilers about it? That latter question might have been repetitive considering this is the internet . . .
Hm. How long is it, though? Zany nonsense isn’t something that lends itself to much analysis, and a million episodes just to decree I like/hate something would be a bit much.
I have not seen the Madoka movie, actually, I need to get around to that. And I don’t know much of Nanoha beyond overhearing it in passing.
It’s about thirteen episodes, though there is a second season of an additional thirteen episodes. So, 26 episodes of zany nonsense.
It’s hard to find the Madoka film online, less you want bad video quality and off-model subtitles. I remember finding one half-decent stream of it, but for the life of me, I can’t remember what site it was on.
This might not be feasible due to sheer length, but the Whateley Academy stories. See the TVTropes page to get an idea of what they’re about.
They’re very much a mixed bag. A lot of interesting ideas and lots of thought put into worldbuilding, how powers work/interact/have consequences, and some interesting and endearing characters, all bogged down by poor writing (from some authors, at least), some terribad gender stuff, and some just plain creepy stuff (only some of which is actually meant to be creepy).
Despite the issues, I found it an addicting read. Mind you, this was a few years back, and some things I didn’t have a problem with at the time now make me cringe to think back on them.
You can read some troper reviews here.
From my past experience with the divide between TvTropes’ preferences verses my own, the page makes me want to claw my eyes out to escape.
I’m sure there’s gems amid the dross, but I do my best to avoid stuff where you need to read the dross to appreciate the gems.
Christ, if TvT is grudgingly admitting it’s bad, it must create a black hole of suck that envelops your computer when you attempt to read it.
Haha, fair enough. I guess even with sporkings, you’ve gotta draw the line somewhere.
How about Undertale when it comes out? Right now there’s a demo available (be sure to play multiple times to get the various endings), and the full game is estimated to release next summer.
Hm, that does seem interesting.
Have you heard of Rule of Rose? It’s a PS2 game with an almost entirely female cast. The story is pretty unique among videogames but I’m not sure how well it holds up considering how awful the gameplay is and how consistently the game narrates emotions.
I’ve heard of it.
I did play through .hack for the story despite the gameplay, so maybe!
As another anime suggestion, there’s Aquarion Evol. It’s about a bunch of teens who have to battle aliens in mechas that are basically powered by orgasms. PG-13 orgasms, but orgasms all the same. I remember liking it when I first watched it, but there’s always seemed to be an underlying sexist tone to some of the jokes and episodes. Fanservice aside, of course. I can’t recall any slut-shaming and there were more than a few characters that were likeable, but I do wonder what someone would notice if they really watched the show with dissection in mind. It’s only 25 episodes long and there’s dub, so yeah. Again, it wasn’t troubling like High School of the Dead or Highschool DxD or any of those other sexist animes. But, I don’t know. I doubt that I was really reading into it and every other viewer I’ve encountered seems distracted by all the sex jokes.
That sounds bizarre.
The Mother RPGs, especially Mother 3. (The first one sucks, however – don’t do that one.) Mother 3 was only released in Japan, so you’ll have to download a ROM and a translation patch. The title, “Mother”, shows how it deals with themes of motherhood and loss – I never got all the way through, but the mother seemed kinda stock-y now that I think about it. This game is hilarious, and sad, and it’s conveniently split into parts for your reviewing ease. I recommend at least looking it up on TV tropes or something. I’d LOVE hearing your thoughts. And it’s not too long; you could zip through it fairly quickly.
Hm. Not too long is exactly what I want from games these days, so that could be a good fit.
I’d be interested to hear your take on Earthbound (the English title) because people basically have one off anytime someone brings it up and I thought it was just awful. I played the whole thing fueled mostly by annoyance that it could be so awful and still be considered a classic.
Hm? What’s so terrible about Earthbound? As i recall, it was a pretty standard game with a few cool moments.
I don’t think it deserves the praise it gets (especially since sometimes it seems more people like Earthbound than Planescape: Torment, the latter being THE best RPG ever made, barring its battle system), but I don’t think it’s that horrible, either.
Mostly, it’s forgettable with an exception of those few cool moments, which I guess is the reason why people like it (kinda like Harry Potter, now that I think about it).
I don’t think I would have hated it so much if I hadn’t gone in hearing about how it was the Best Thing Ever, but I found it boring and nonsensical when I tried to play it as a kid, and nothing changed as an adult.
“From the New World” is an anime/novel/manga about a world where everyone has telekinesis and how society develops around it. The plot is based on children gradually coming to understand the world they live in. I couldn’t find any worldbuilding fails and only one biology fail (although you will probably find some more) when reading about the series, and it doesn’t fall in the obvious pit of blind anti-authority and protagonists grown in a vacuum. I’ve only seen the show (the manga is supposed to be an awful adaption) but the novel is being fan translated and is more than half way done.
Hm, maybe I’ll wait on the translation.
Another game, not made in RPGMaker this time.
The White Chamber. A short horror point-and-click quest about a woman who woke up in a coffin.
The plot is rather simple, the gameplay is pretty typical for the genre, and puzzles are not difficult, but I did find the game enjoyable and well-made for a freeware project.
Has four endings determined by your actions during the game.
Can be found here: http://www.studiotrophis.com/site/projects/thewhitechamber
I watched a Let’s Play of that once. I don’t think I’d have much to add, it seems pretty straightforward.
OK then. Another suggestion.
Queen Mary’s Script.
An adventure game about a girl and her dolls.
Mostly recommend for the atmosphere which is game’s strongest point. Gameplay is pretty easy, though there are some bugs. Plot is not bad, though has some problems, and I found the ending underwhelming.
All in all, though, it is an enjoyable short game.
Can be found here: http://rpgmaker.net/games/5302/
Manga suggestion: the Enigma of Amigara Fault. A short horror story of the “mysterious shit happens, people try to understand it, bad shit happens to them, no true explanation given” type.
I found the manga atmospheric and rather scary, though when you think about it afterwards, it is very open to mocking.
Can be read here: http://brasscockroach.com/h4ll0w33n2007/manga/Amigara-Full/Amigara.html
Oh, I love everything by him. Some of the really bizarre stuff (floating head balloons strangle you) I didn’t like as much, but then someone explained why I should like it, and so now I do.
He does seem to go for the fear of the unknown where stuff the protagonists encounter isn’t obviously designed to scare or creep us out, but rather simply exist, without any reason or purpose we can comprehend.
Dreaming Mary. A cute game about a girl having a nostalgic dream about her imaginary friends.
Nice art, original soundtrack complete with vocals, four endings. Quit short game.
Can be found here: http://rpgmaker.net/games/6232/downloads/
Has a comprehensive walkthrough on youtube should you stumble.
I’d be interested to see a review of Katawa Shoujo: the visual novel in which you date disabled girls.
KS is made with ample amounts of care and sincerity for the premise. Any fetishistic or exploitative features you might expect from that summary–and from its distant 4chan background–are wholly subverted. The game does have adult content, but it’s an organic part of each storyline. Some of those scenes are good and enjoyable; others are unpleasant–be it because the characters are not emotionally ready for sex, or for other reasons.
The writing for KS can be a little uneven (different writers handled each route, and in places, it shows). The art quality can vary significantly. The soundtrack is solid, in that it adds to the emotion of a moment without overwhelming it.
Overall, it’s not a bad production for a free VN that was produced in English first and foremost, albeit in the genre of Japanese dating sims. Still, KS aspires to be something more than a piece of gratuitous sex peddling software. It aspires to be art. It says, in its treatment of many “disabled” characters, that these people are just people, no more and no less. Most of their problems and issues have to do with the fundamental nature of being human, not with missing limbs or lost sight.
That’s a message I think should be more widely heard.
Have you played Papers, Please? It’s got to be one of the best and most original indie games I’ve ever played.
I’ve been meaning to but haven’t yet. I did play the free little newpaper thing.
I would like to see your thoughts on Analogue: A Hate Story and its sequel Hate Plus! I know you’re not generally a fan of stories about sexism in futuristic societies, but this one really digs into how it happened and is basically about how it really *wasn’t* inevitable, but progress isn’t inevitable either and shouldn’t be taken for granted. Also kind of refreshing in that it’s a story about women being treated horribly that doesn’t rely on rape trauma to get its point across (there are lots of arranged marriages, but for the most part the women involved actually want to have sex with their husbands).
that doesn’t rely on rape trauma
That’s good to hear. I’ve played the two free ones (I just need to finish replaying the newer one but I keep having to stop because this time I told the character to say yes to the underage girl and oh god oh god why.)
Having gotten a little further into the sequel, there is one subplot involving straight-up rape. But it’s still just treated as one of the many, many fucked up things about the society you’re researching, rather than the one singular most terrible thing that can happen to a woman.
Re: Sorry Babe… yeah. Yeah. I decided not to do a second playthrough of that one, because from everything I heard that was not a route I was interested in seeing.
You ever consider branching out to adult fiction?
Hi there, Farla! Reading some of your reviews, it seems as if you’re not a fan of zombie movies, but you’d like to be – that is, that you’d like to see a zombie movie which doesn’t require you to turn off your brain to enjoy. Am I correct? If so, I’d like to suggest my favourite zombie movie, “Return of the Living Dead”, from 1987 (I think). There’s quite a bit of exploitation going on, as typical for the genre and decade, but overall, I thought it was the perfect mix of horror, black comedy and gore. Besides, the characters actually behave in an intelligent manner, and when they make mistakes, they’re believable ones.
Cheers!
Well, it’s more I’m a fan of the concept. I am a complete coward and generally don’t watch horror movies. I might check that one out, since older movies tend to be more tolerable on that front.
Ah, I see. Hm, I really can’t say whether you’ll find it scary or not. If you don’t mind, what is it about horror movies that scares you? The gore? The “jump scares”? Or is it the tension?
Oh, yes, I forgot to mention: this movie actually explores things from the point of view of the zombies, too. I mean, it’s not an in-depth look at “life” as a zombie, but it is an interesting look, and I thought it might serve as an encouragement for you to give it a chance, since you’ve mentioned before you’d like it for a story about zombies to actually explore what is a zombie. :-)
I would like to recommend The World Ends With You game.
I’ve played it recently, and I liked it very much.
The premise is that a rather misanthropic (he gets better) boy is forced to participate in a murdergame against Reapers. Should he survive for seven days, he gets to live. Otherwise, he’ll get erased.
Thematically, it is a game about connecting with other people and self-expression, and the story does a good job of exploring those themes.
The setting isn’t big: the game takes place in Shibuya and allows you to visit only a rather limited number of locations, but that actually works to the advantage. By the end of the game the city becomes familiar to you and you actually care what will happen to it.
I don’t agree with gameplay much. It encourages grinding, for one thing, and it requires you to pay attention to two screens and control two characters in real time (you can let the AI to play the second character, but it is not advised, generally). I also had troubles performing a certain move in the emulator I used, which blocked some abilities from me. It’s not crucial, for the most par, as there are plenty of moves I could do, but at one point I was forced to use a cheat to advance the game.
One thing I really like about the gameplay is that more often than not you are the one initiating the fights. After rpgmaker games binge, it is rather refreshing to not worry about random encounters: if I want to simply go to that shopkeeper or go on with the mission, I can actually do it without wasting time on pointless battles.
This is actually on my to-do list. I’m mired in Fable 2 right now, but I’ll make a note to do it when I’m done.
Glad to hear it.
One more thing: the soundtrack is really good. While the songs can hardly be called epic, they do contribute pretty well to the atmosphere of the living city. And it is clear that the singers were pretty enthusiastic about their work, which is always a plus.
omg TWEWY. <3
Though personally I adore the battle system, and the only time I had to do any grinding was for the secret ultimate boss. I can't imagine trying to play it on an emulator, though… it seems like it really wouldn't translate very well. You can borrow my physical copy if you want, Act.
I like the battle system well enough, it’s the need to pay attention to two screens that is annoying. I am not very good at multitasking. I don’t think that would change across platforms.
Emulator is bad when it comes to performing slash move. For some reason, it doesn’t really recognize it half of the time.
As for grinding, it’s not necessary, strictly speaking. If you simply want to enjoy the story, you can play at a low difficulty and breeze through the battles.
I am, however, addicted to collecting stuff and generally munchkining my way in games. And there are plenty of elements that encourage you to battle enemies over and over again. Drop rates, different rewards at different difficulties, pins leveling up, pin evolution, the relationships with shopkeepers which requires a lot of money and empty purchases to maintain…
Oh yeah, collecting all the things was the primary reason I never had to grind… because I’d already run around all the areas trying to find the noise and beat them on all the difficulties so I could get all the drops, etc, so I was a tad overleveled throughout most of the story.
The implementation of variable difficulty was amazing imo, definitely something I wish I saw in more games. I’m replaying for the third(?) time doing a level-one-only-hardest-difficulty-possible run, and it’s a blast.
Witch Girl Adventures RPG.
A tabletop RPG aimed at teenage girls.
I’ve seen a few flames on different forums about it, and I would like to read your opinion.
I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream game. Point-and-click quest. You’d need DOSBox or equivalent to run it.
The script for the game was written by Harlan Ellison himself, so it can be considered an expansion of the original short story. Ellison has also voiced AM – that is, the main antagonist, an insane AI with godlike powers, grandfather of all crazy AIs everywhere. And it is clear that Ellison had way, way too much fun with the role.
There is some content that would be interesting to discuss, like the handling of rape and the portrayal of Nazism, as well as the difference between Benny’s story in the original and the game.
This might be a weird question, but you don’t have an FAQ page and I couldn’t find a place to ask this. Do you guys ever privately read and critique unpublished, work-in-progress stories?
I used to– original fic what was I started posting here– but unfortunately I just don’t have the time anymore.
Last Word. http://rpgmaker.net/games/6610/
Very nice short game about social combat.
Pretty neat atmosphere of light humor.
The gameplay, unfortunately, is not very varied, but the game is short enough that it’s not a big issue.
Ooh, that looks neat! Reminds me of this.
Ah yes, I’ve played it. The game is nice, though I think the gameplay is closer to standard JRPG than in Last Word.
By the way, did you get the true ending? I was told to go to the Forgotten Plantation, but I didn’t manage to find anything new there.
The game is nice, though I think the gameplay is closer to standard JRPG than in Last Word.
Yeah, that disappointed me. It’s still nice, though.
I was told to go to the Forgotten Plantation, but I didn’t manage to find anything new there.
That confused me for a while too. While you can technically find what you need to find without any other assistance, there’s another secret there that makes finding it a lot easier. Check the attic and look for an incongruity in the lighting.
(Did you find the thing in Winthgraden Tower, by the way? That treasure chest on the isolated island? It took me a long time to figure out how to get it, and all I got was a tease that I was supposed to get it before clearing the area. Bah.)
Did you figure out what eldritch logic the hat puzzle operates on, by the way? I guessed my way through it and I still don’t understand how half the doors are supposed to work.
I don’t remember the chest, so either I stumbled upon the solution easily or just missed it.
Hats are simple.
First you need to solve a simplified version of Einstein’s riddle with only one trait: the price of hats.
First of all, there is a hat which value is “the number of hats available”, which is 5. Then there is a cheapest hat, which value is not 1. Assign that hat the value of 2 for now and go through other hats, assigning them values according to their hints (there is a hat which value is twice the value of the cheapest hat, which would be 4 for now, etc).
It is not a correct answer, however, because at one point two hats will be assigned the same value (which is against the rules, according to the sign nearby).
That means that the assumption about the price of the cheapest hat was wrong, so the value should be increased from 2 to 3. This time, everything would fit.
The actual numbers:
7 6 9
.3..5
Corresponding to hats’ arrangement.
Then you have operator assigned to each hat. Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division. They are here so you can write an equation: write the values of the hats placed at a door in order, add operators between them. The operator precedes the value of the corresponding hat, so the operator of the first hat doesn’t matter.
So, for example, let’s say you have three hats at the door. Their values and operators are as follow: 6 (subtraction), 5 (addition) and 9 (multiplication). That gives you an easy equation:
x = 6+5*9
I don’t remember if math operations should be performed step by step or if you are supposed to solve an equation as a whole.
In a former case, the equation would be different:
x = (6+5)*9
Either way, solving the equation will give you the code.
See, I thought they worked that way, but my logic was exactly the same and my answers were only right, like, half the time. I think it’s the operators that confused me; it doesn’t explain that they precede the hat value, so I was scratching my head over how to integrate the first one.
OK, I redid the hat riddle.
Points that probably caused you troubles:
– You are expected to perform the functions step by step.
– The subtraction operator matters even for the first hat as it turns the number negative.
The actual equations would be, in order:
x1 = (5/3)*9=15
x2 = (7-6)*9=9
x3 = -6/3+5=3
x4 = 7+5-6=6
Yeah, it was #1 and #3 that threw me off. 5/3 produces a non-integer, so that was messy, and nowhere does it state that the subtraction operator can turn numbers negative, especially where the first operator never matters everywhere else. Uggghh. I understand it now, but there weren’t nearly enough hints.
In exchange for educating me, I’ll tell you about a secret that eluded me for the longest time: in the mindscape containing the Final Horizon, there’s a tiny path to the northwest blocked by a boulder. You’ll want to investigate that after you beat the superboss the weather totem leads you to. I’m actually kind of curious what happens if you get there before getting the true ending…
It helps to write the equations down.
Also note that every equation starts with a number to which the addition operator is attached.
In other words, they can be rewritten as:
X1 = 0+(5/3)*9
For example.
The operator doesn’t matter most of the time because it doesn’t change anything. With 6, however, it turns the number negative.
As for the secret, I am more interested to see the true ending right now, though I might return to explore it later.
Ah, okay, that makes sense now. Still would have been nice for the game to actually explain that, though.
As for the secret, there’s a cutscene there that contains references to the true ending, so I was just curious to see if anything interesting happens if you haven’t done it yet. It’s not that big of a deal, but maybe keep a separate save file handy.
Well, another way to look at the problem is this:
– Assume that the default code is zero;
– Perform functions one by one on numbers corresponding to them.
So, at the beginning you have zero (default) and five (addition). So you add five to zero, getting five.
Now you have five (new default) and three (division). So you divide five by three.
In other words, function is always performed on the value of the hat which has that function in description.
It’s not intuitive, perhaps, but not that hard, especially compared to that cave.
So, I went to the secret location. The one with three chests, right? There is a platform over the water, when I press enter, the protagonist tells that he feels like they shouldn’t be there. So I guess the cutscene cannot be activated before the true ending.
Okay, thanks. That’s a bit disappointing but I suppose I should have expected something like that.
So, got the true ending, defeated the final optional boss (and wasn’t that a pain in the ass).
I say, the functions of the Composer are surprisingly similar to The World Ends With You, which also has the Composer.
Must be something about the name.
Hm, I visited the Attic. Did you mean the crab which restores the color as a secret?
Not sure what to do next, however. At this point I am too frustrated with the game to meticulously explore the location, I am afraid. Mostly because of the respawning monsters.
If you have the claw it should be easy to find. Check the right wall.
OK, found it, made way to the place where you are asked the code.
Any hints on that front?
Look at the area name.
Damn, I am slow today. Thanks.
Social combat is awesome.
Exeunt Omnes – http://rpgmaker.net/games/6576/
It’s basically Villain Monologue: the Game. You play as an evil overlady whose castle was raided and whose minions were defeated by the heroine. Your task is to talk her into letting you live (or, potentially, just give up on life).
The gameplay is basically a strategic puzzle. I find it hard to understand without a guide, but it is still interesting.
Gameplay time for getting one ending is about 15-30 minutes.
There are 5 ending if you count losing.
Also doubles as Bechdel Test: the Game, as it is basically two girls talking about the nature of evil, shared memories and their future.
The Desolate Hope. Weird game that I found confusing but mostly enjoyable, with a bizarre ending that left a bad taste in my mouth. Would be interested to hear your take on it.
More to Act than to Farla, since she is the one suffering through Witcher.
Daemonica. Which is basically what Witcher could’ve been. A nice relatively short adventure game. Good atmosphere, not bad plot, some neat details like the protagonist’s abilities.
Mostly point-and-click gameplay where you need to find enough information to advance the mystery. Has some fights, but they are very meh at best.
All in all, not a bad way to spend a couple of hours.
Looks very Diablo. I’ll check it out.
Yes, the graphic is about on the same level and in a similar style.
The gameplay is nothing alike, however.
Again more to Act since it’s a mystery.
Fleuret Blanc – http://rpgmaker.net/games/6686/
A nice game about a young traveler who applied into a seclusive fencing organization to make some money. When she arrives to the mansion, she is confronted with various mysteries concerning past and present of the organization.
The game uses a very nice battle system emphasizing that you are a fencer, not a warrior, and your goal is to perform with style.
Also has a curious detective system where you collect points of interest and then draw conclusions based on them which activates special events.
The artwork takes time to get used to it, though.
From downsides, I would say that mini-games can be rather annoying. They are simple, but repetitive and common.
I am also not sure what I feel about the time management system. You see, you can activate up to three events before advancing the time by activating the main plot event. Naturally, there sometimes more events available. Why, game? Why must you taunt me with what I can’t have? Though some events reappear later, so I guess it’s not impossible to see them all unless you go out of your way to avoid it.
Either way, I would like to hear your opinions.
Now that I’ve finished the game (I was about halfway done at the time I wrote the previous post), I feel the need to reinforce my recommendation. The story is really worth your time, even if it can be rather… blunt at times.
It is the game about materialism and obsessions, and it does a good job exploring the ideas. If you like Unknown Armies, this game certainly should be on your list.
I would very much enjoy an opportunity to discuss various aspects of the game here.
If you’re looking for more typical jRPGs, there’s Trails in the Sky for both Steam and probably GOG. It was recently released for both platforms but there’s an LP of the PSP version: http://lparchive.org/The-Legend-of-Heroes-Trails-in-the-Sky/
Metal Gear Solid 3. It’s widely considered to be the best game in the franchise, stands easily on its own despite not being the first game in the series, and it’s basically a love letter to Cold War espionage stories (references to James Bond abound). It has some really deep themes and is incredibly thought-provoking, and it has The Boss in it. She’s the best.
I watched a Let’s Play of it once. Quite liked it, but I don’t know what else I’d say.
Happy Birthday – http://rpgmaker.net/games/4839/
A short classic mystery game (like, about twenty minutes short).
Nothing special, but I found it enjoyable.
Gingiva – http://rpgmaker.net/games/4427/
Surreal dystopia exploration game.
A spiritual successor to Middens. The game is similar in tone and atmosphere, but has a much more prominent and strong plot.
The gameplay is kinda meh, because, unlike in Middens, enemies attack you without prompting, and the fights are rather repetitive. The atmosphere and story more than make up for it, however, in my opinion.
Also, you can fight the Patriarchy there. As in, the Patriarchy is one of the bosses you can encounter.
I noticed you’re following danganronpa2mirror on tumblr, so presumably you’re familiar with the games. What are your thoughts on them?
I found the original game really interesting, though a lot of the appeal was tangled up with the original thread’s discussion of how to handle being in a situation like this yourself. That’s what really grabbed me about it – who can you trust, what would you do, etc. I found the second game much less engaging – I wasn’t too into the characters the first time and making them way more gimmicky didn’t help, and the setting was similarly overflowing with distracting gimmicks.
Brick, 2006 film. Directed by Rian Johnson, stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It’s noir in a high school. And it works. It might be good for you to look at small bites of modern noir in other media to better compare how faithfully The Dresden Files follows the genre.
I know you mentioned reading “Cradle of Monsters” in another post, what about a review of that? Batoto has the whole manga scanned and uploaded if needed.
I only even read that far because I’d downloaded it to check it out and then ended up stuck somewhere with nothing else to do. And that was downloaded, not the far more annoying read-online. Does it get a lot more interesting as it goes on?
Please excuse the extremely late reply.
It gets somewhat interesting as it goes on and the stakes go up a bit, but the level of fanservice definitely increases a lot, and one of the major characters randomly turns evil and has a really bleh “I WAS ABUSED AS A CHILD GIVE ME YOUR PITY” backstory and motivation, plus the ending is a cheap drama twist coupled with one of those epilogues involving a glimpse into the future, which I don’t particularly like. I was moderately entertained while reading, but then again I have pretty low standards. If anything, I liked a few of the major characters (Makoto, Yume, and Takigawa mainly), and the whole thing about human morality, though mostly because I’m a sucker for that kind of stuff.
Farla, since you did the second season of “The Legend of Korra”, would you be willing to review season 3 as well? I thought it was a lot – and I mean A LOT – better than season 2, and not just because season 2 was so bad, either.
I plan to eventually get back to that, if only to see it to the end.
Cool. :-)
Have either of you watched and/or read any version of Great Teacher Onizuka? You probably have since it’s so extremely famous and old (the first google recommendation upon typing great t) but I’ll continue typing with assumption that you haven’t so I can be long winded.
Depending on which version you go with, it’s a neat mix of horrible and awesome. Manga has the highest amount of terrible, including its shitty fantranslation. Anime is the most famous and has a more balanced horrible/awesome ratio. Old TV series, strangely enough, has much more awesome than terrible (and was among the most watched things on Japanese TV back when it aired). And newer TV series is too derivative to bother with.
As can be expected of the name, it’s about the best teacher ever. His characterization varies wildly in scumbagginess between versions but his best teacherness is constant.
I’d suggest anime version for a balanced diet (and it’s even famous for having one of the first good dubs ever), but you might go for TV series if you’d prefer a sympathetic protagonist (they’re all available somewhere on the internet).
GTO is a thing everyone should see at some point or another in their lives, even if you don’t review it here.
Huh. I remember hearing a lot about it, but no, I’ve never seen it.
I found the uncle who works at nintendo to be an enjoyable game experience. it’s fairly topical horror, I think. I have
http://correlatedcontents.com/misc/UWWFN/UWWFN.html
Oh, that was fun.
Rogue Legacy. It is a good game, reasonably difficult for a roguelite (the term for roguelikes that are not as cruel or complex as those of old), and boasts a surprisingly good plot. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and has fair depth for a game of its kind.
Since you enjoy horror games, how about Knock Knock?
From the same team who made Void (Turgor), but in a very different style.
I would not really say “enjoy”. Will check it out, though.
It feels kind of weirdly meta to recommend a let’s play for review, but Didja Redo’s LP of Avalon Code is something I should be interested to hear your thoughts on. I have no idea how links work in Disqus so I just copy pasted with hope: http://lparchive.org/Avalon-Code/
It’s an extremely thorough screenshot LP showcasing all the horrible flaws of the gameplay and story-line, and also a fanfictionish rewrite of the actual terrible story into something that I thought was pretty good. (But what if I’m wrong?! Farla needs to tell me what to think!)
I don’t know if you’ve heard of the game, but it was made by people who are really truly convinced that giving people presents repeatedly is the only way to gain their affection, (by which I mean the dev team behind Harvest Moon and Rune Factory, and they use that gimmick of gameplay here too, in much less essential and more abusable fashion.) The premise of the game is that the world is going to end, this is absolutely inevitable, and you have been chosen to record aspects of the current world in a magic book in order to make the next world.
It sounds so much cooler than it turned out to be, which is why I am recommending the LP and not the game.
You ever going to do a review on Madoka Magica? I thought it was pretty cool at first, before I realized it was extremely misogynist and had some really problematic elements (like excusing Homura’s abusive behavior in the last episode because she suffered so much for Madoka’s sake or something awful like that), and then the sequel movie which had good concepts but the most awful of executions. I know you’re going to do a post on Rebellion but I don’t think you ever gave a conclusive answer on the anime itself? Either way seeing your thoughts would be most interesting to me.
Related, I think you’ve mentioned Evangelion a few times. What are your thoughts on that one?
I don’t think it’s misogynist. It’d be misogynist if it was the only way magical girls could be.
Oh, and Eva is a thing that I think best works if you’re immersed in a particular anime period and watch it right then. It had some cool stuff, it had a bunch of stuff that requires a flowchart to understand what they were trying to say, it’s pretty good but less than the sum of its parts which is kind of damning for the sort of story it presented itself as.
“It’d be misogynist if it was the only way magical girls could be.”
What do you mean by this?
If the natural state of all girl protagonists was suffering and misery, even when they get superpowers.
Actually, I also got the impression that the Madokaverse wasn’t even necessarily tilted toward inevitable despair given how little cutie Kyubey took every opportunity to try to push the girls over.
Yeah, that alone isn’t misogynist. But there’s a lot of misogyny in Madoka besides that, a lot that you don’t see until you really dig in. The director himself has said that Madoka is punishing teenage girls (who he also considers greedy) for being “self-righteous” and wanting things, which on its own is terrible without even taking anything from the show itself, which has a myriad of misogyny just hidden away. The whole magical girl system is pretty much made of it, for one.
Regarding the inevitable despair: I don’t really agree that despair isn’t an inevitability when it comes to magical girls, but it might be partially a personal viewpoint thing. Kyubey trying to press buttons at every opportunity they can get doesn’t necessarily mean despairing is a rare thing; if anything, the abundance of witches in the area suggests it’s some level of common. And since he is after the energy magical girls create, which only magical girls can create, it makes sense he’d try to witch out the girls as soon as possible.
“The director himself has said that Madoka is punishing teenage girls
(who he also considers greedy) for being “self-righteous” and wanting
things”
That’s really, really not what he said. That’s the telephone game version of that interview, which reflected poorly enough on him without twisting it.
I was going to say, Urobutchi is a huge cad, but “I delight in the suffering of children” seemed a little much even so.
In actualfax, what he said was more along the lines of “people having magical wish powers is a scary thing that might go very, very wrong because good intentions don’t always end well and people can believe whole-heartedly in the goodness of things that are actually bad.” He then drew an EXTREMELY unfortunate analogy to Islamic extremists, and also unfortunately used the word “hubris”, which I don’t think is *quite* what he meant to say.
Yeah, that sounds much more like the Gen I’ve come to know. Thanks for clarifying. /latereply
Honestly I feel like the biggest disconnect is that Urobuchi thinks he’s making sweeping statements about the human condition and just using young female characters to do it, while his detractors think he’s talking about teenage girls specifically. He just doesn’t have enough understanding of the historic importance of mahou senshi anime as female empowerment narrative to get why using the genre that way is kind of problematic.
…and he STILL ends the original series with a teenage girl *literally wishing to become God* and *not* having it blow up in her face. So no, I don’t think his overall message is “girls wanting power = hubris that must be punished”.
Yeah, Urobuchi is a very clear example of internalized misogyny.
He is completely blind when it comes to recognizing stuff he writes as sexist because as far as he is concerned, he writes about eternal questions and the nature of man and all that, and the fact that his female characters in Fate/Zero are completely defined by their relationships to men is merely a coincidence.
/Still hate him for saying magi families are traditionally patriarchal. I mean, come on, magi defy the rules of normal people and place the advancement of magecraft above everything else, including their own lives.
Still hate him for saying magi families are traditionally patriarchal. I
mean, come on, magi defy the rules of normal people and place the
advancement of magecraft above everything else, including their own
lives.
Yeah, luckily I am happy to disregard anything Urobuchi says when thinking of Nasuverse canon. KnK, Tsukihime, and F/SN actually all have at least one female scion, which is interesting. Though, you could say that there were often extraordinary circumstances. Shiki Ryougi had a male/female dual personality, and Akiha was the younger child and only became heir when her brother
diedbecame a vampirewent bonkerswas in a terrible accident that left him with frail health. Rin is just a badass who succeeded her father under Kirei’s gentle guidance.Well, KnK also has Aozaki clan with two sisters inheriting the trade.
While their story isn’t really revealed in the novel, that still leaves us with Touko the Signature Magus. With a female apprentice of her own.
True. Then on the weird side of “inheritance” there’s Roa, who reincarnates without regard for sex.
Eh, I hate it too but I think most people who do that knowing sexism is bad and wanting to include a reference to it. What’d be really sexist is just having them be patriarchal without any traditions because it’s just how things always work out.
Yeah. It’s more of a pet peeve of mine since the whole deal of magi is that in pursuit of knowledge they abandon anything that inconveniences that, like societal norms and morality. Sexism should be the first casualty since it serves no purpose and would just hinder them.
A clever way to address sexism would actually be to say that the magi families are traditionally matriarchal because the mundane world is sexist, which makes it easier for male magi to handle mundane affairs while women handle really important things like research and cutthroat magi politics.
Plus, as I recall, women on average have better stamina, which is actually important in magecraft since it’s taxing and gives you fever every time you cast a spell.
Going by the series, it seems like the wishes that blow up in people’s faces are those made for outsiders the person doesn’t understand well enough but feels obligated toward. Wishes that work out partly are ones where the person doesn’t wish for enough. The moral is aim for the sky.
I DON’T WANT TO DIE was a perfectly valid wish that worked out okay for Mami. Having a bigger wish (I wish none of us died!) would’ve only worked out better, since her main problem afterward was isolation.
I WANT TO GO BACK AND TRY AGAIN WITH MADOKA almost did it! If she’d wished to go back and actually be able to do it from the start, it’d have just worked better for her.
Stuff only starts going bad when it’s stuff like I WISH PEOPLE WOULD LISTEN TO DAD instead of directly (and more selfishly) wishing they wouldn’t all be starving. We see the end state of that with I AM TERRIBLE FOR WANTING THINGS I WISH SOMETHING FOR SOMEBODY ELSE WITH NO BENEFIT TO MYSELF being the total disaster it was.
Kyoko didn’t wish to stop starving, though. She wished for her family’s happiness. The Different Story explains this.
Which is why I used that as an example of a more selfish wish that would have been less likely to backfire.
Kyubey trying to press buttons at every opportunity they can get doesn’t necessarily mean despairing is a rare thing; if anything, the abundance of witches in the area suggests it’s some level of common.
Clearly despairing is common, the question is how common is it in a hypothetical Kyubey-free zone. I mean, the girl who wished to eat a cheesecake with her mom and he waited until right after her wish to point out that now her mom was going to die was certainly being deliberately set up. And given big wishes seem to be most effective at generating energy, that suggests having her make a bigger wish and waiting for her to despair would’ve taken way too long or not worked at all in her case. He leads the girls into what wishes they make, manipulates everything they know for maximum impact, and sets them against each other to burn magical energy and make survival that much harder. Almost all the stressors we see are Kyubey related, and that’s after he deliberately picks them as good targets.
Nagisa. I have no idea why the movie didn’t explicitly say her name.
And that makes sense. One of these days we should really get a spin-off with a lack of Kyubey in it, to see how magical girls in a Kyubey-free zone function.
Have you read anything else out of the Puella Magi franchise outside of the anime and movie? Like all the various manga spin-offs, the Different Story, etc.?
“Nagisa. I have no idea why the movie didn’t explicitly say her name.”
Okay I made a massive slip-up with this line, please just ignore it.
So, are you ever going to do a review of PMMM? You didn’t answer that part.
I already talked about it a bunch during the Hunger Games review – more if you go to my livejournal and see the comments. I still haven’t seen the movie, so possibly I’ll have more to say then.
Also, I feel like if you have to dig deep down before you find misogyny, then that’s not enough to bother me. Maybe they’re all misogynists who just didn’t communicate how incredibly much they hated women very well in the making of the show, but I see plenty of nice intentions leading to horrible stuff so what the thought process behind it was is really a tertiary issue to me.
See also: the Utena anime being an actual feminist masterpiece despite
the increasing evidence that none of the main people involved in its
creation were actually particularly good feminists.
That just gets more baffling every time I think about it.
That’s actually not that baffling. Utena could have been Ikuhara’s last project, so he went all out with the commentary and messages.
His other projects are more about making money.
He was pretty lucky to not stumble upon new sexist archetypes when he was doing the subversion of classic tropes, though.
Fair enough. Still, I’d thought you’d have at least caught the whole “only teenage girls have enough PMS to be magical” implication.
I wasn’t a fan but teenagers always have volatile emotions and we see the girls actually falling over the edge due to patriarchy. Girls are way more likely to attempt suicide so it actually does make sense they’d be better targets for the whole witches endgame.
If it was just lolPMS it wouldn’t be limited to teenagers.
Speaking of Madoka Magica, have you or Act read any of the spin-offs? (Kazumi Magica, Oriko Magica, Different Story, Suzune Magica, Tart Magica)
How about the Virals series? Ongoing, currently at four books. It’s a mystery series revolving around four kids (a girl, the protagonist, and three boys) who contract a virus that gives them wolf-themed powers. I found them really good, but was bothered by some things here and there, like how the different genders are treated.
PMMM would be awesome for a review. :D
I cannot think of any situation where you watching Mirai Nikki goes well. It just doesn’t seem like it’d work.
???
It seems like the kind of thing you wouldn’t be able to stand very much of, I mean.
Skyborn. A steampunk RPGMaker game. http://www.dancingdragongames.com/2012/skyborn/
The game is commercial, but can be obtained via… alternative means with a bit of search. Though I think the trial version should be enough to form the initial opinion.
As a game, it’s… fine, I think. Nothing truly innovative, but the gameplay works well.
But damn, does it fail plot-wise. Especially when it comes to gender stuff. And oppressive governments.
To explain would be to spoil and dilute the potential rage, so I’ll just say that the game starts with the protagonist’s brother selling her into marriage to a very douche guy. It gets worse.
The game is commercial, but can be obtained via… alternative means with a bit of search. Though I think the trial version should be enough to form the initial opinion.
Don’t worry, I don’t have ethics :D
Day Break Illusion: a very Madoka-like dark magical girl show featuring magical girls that use the arcana tarot to fight daemonia that they’re well aware are corrupted humans, and when they murder those daemonia, they’re erased from the memories of everyone but the tarot users.
Has some very interesting concepts and a very well-done villain (despite some of his creepier motives) but suffers from atrocious pacing, terrible execution of several ideas, having a filler episode despite being only a thirteen episode-long show, some very blatant copying of Madoka at times, and the themes of the actual tarot cards don’t seem to actually apply to the show/characters beyond a superficial level. I haven’t finished it yet myself, but apparently the ending was meh, and some plot points don’t get any explanation or just get completely dropped via the end. There’s also bonus creepy subtext between the protagonist and villain, which apparently was accidental according to supplementary material. I’d elaborate, but spoilers.
I think I saw the first episode of it but found it incredibly boring. Does it pick up from there?
Somewhat. I guess it depends on how much it takes to entertain you. If you were bored by the first episode, though, then I don’t think it’d be worth the time, really.
Mawaru Penguindrum: a 24-episode anime about fate, family, obsession, and penguins. I think it was a pretty good, entertaining watch overall, but had some pretty iffy moments, and it starts getting weird in the second half, and the ending is a little bit confusing (I guess from lack of clear explanation). I also thought it was a bit stuffed and could’ve used some trimming.
The Professional, also titled Leon (with an accent over the e) depending on the country. It’s a movie that came out in 1994. It is, I think, one of the prototypical “badass and little girl” movies.
Comic recommendation. Grant Morrison’s run on Doom Patrol (Doom Patrol volume 2, issues 19-63). You don’t need to read previous issues as I’ve heard they are rather meh, the tone and focus are different and they aren’t necessary to understand what’s going on.
I am reading it currently. I am not sure what I am reading, but I like it. Long live the Brotherhood of Dada!
You may also check Rachel Pollack’s run starting right after Morrison’s. I am not here yet, but I’ve heard she is rather polarizing and explores some interesting issues. Would be interesting to read your opinion.
The Path. An exploration game loosely based on Little Red Riding Hood. I liked the game because I am a fan of surreal mindfuck, but there are some dubious design choices present. Would be interesting to read your opinions, especially considering the nature of the storylines.
Sekai Oni, a manga. It starts pretty well with a little girl protagonist talking with a toothed bird, who is then killed by an asshole family member, so she drags it around. She sees weird stuff in reflection, then a monster attacks the city, the girl is transported to another world with a bunch of other characters and plot happens.
Then it all goes to hell. And not in a good way. If you want to rage for a variety of reasons, I recommend you to check this manga.
Will you review the new Mad Max?
Hey Farla! This is not necessarily a thing-to-review, but I just wanted to recommend to you Choice of Games’s “The Last Monster Master”. CoG does pretty interesting IF in general, and their ‘Mon title is an entertaining take on a genre you are, obviously, deeply involved with. I think you’ll especially enjoy one particular aspect of the final act.
I’ll also suggest the Super Robot Taisen Original Generations to you. Scifi with fun characters and interesting gameplay, also a VN.
I’ve not forgotten about it/decided I’d rather ignore it, for the record, it’s just a tough game to find.
Hahaha it’s ok, I just wanted to inflict it on her too. I figured it’d be hard. Atlus scarcity.
Farla Farla Farla! I have found an actual First Person Diplomacy game!
https://sevenkingdomsgame.wordpress.com/
Well, really, it’s a game demo, but at a little under 3/7 completion it’s longer and more complex than many full VNs I could mention. I am really impressed with it for a lot of reasons and I suspect you will be too.
I agree with this, just the demo made it one of the best visual novels I’ve ever played.
Holy crap that was awesome.
Twig: https://twigserial.wordpress.com/
Another work by Wildbow, though different from his previous ones. He clearly learned from his mistakes and got away from his “and now everything gets worse” formula. The story is more episodic than Worm or Pact, with each arc being mostly self-contained, even though they are connected by a continuous narrative. There are more breathers as well. The focus is also on group dynamic rather than individual protagonists, which makes for a nice change of pace.
The story is currently in progress, but still worth a check.
Relevant to this blog: https://twitter.com/dystopianya
Chosen quotes:
“Your blood is special,” she said, looking at me stoically.
“Does that mean my parents are special too?”
“What? Who cares. No. What?”
“His green eyes flash and I glare at him with my green eyes. Our green eyes meet. He smirks.”
“A young girl scurried by. She reminds me of my sister. I decide I will now do everything I can to protect that tiny stranger.”
Isn’t that a parody, though?
Yes, and it’s hilarious.
Divinity Fatum: http://divinityfatum.blogspot.com/ or http://divinityfatum.tumblr.com/
A game where you play as a girl who wakes up in a dark, rainy city with no memories of who she is or how she got there. It’s split into three acts, one a wanderfest, one a more linearly structured story with a lot of social commentary, the third also linear but involving battles. I find it good for the most part, though it does contain some problems that I noticed, such as the sexualization and somewhat questionable treatment of female characters, and the social commentary is a bit heavy-handed and preachy at times.
I find it a very intriguing and thought-provoking game, and was wondering what you would think of it. Currently it’s unfinished, but there’s a very substantial amount of content there already.
Some of Moga’s games: http://moga.tumblr.com/games (warning: the page has a large flashing image, moving background, and small font in bright magenta.) Specifically, I’m Scared of Girls, Ghost Suburb II (it’s standalone, so you don’t need to play the currently-nonexistent Ghost Suburb I to understand anything in it), and Safety: Life is a Maze. Moga’s games have a very distinct art style (though it’s not exactly great on the eyes sometimes, as the games page demonstrates) and are usually short (and unfinished to varying extents; all three I listed are basically finished) but very unique and intriguing. They’re the kinds of games that usually leave a lot up to viewer interpretation.
I’m Scared of Girls deals with a character named Lamb who has died and must cut ties with their former life, which was not exactly a great life. Touches on gender identity a bit, and Lamb’s identity is left somewhat ambiguous IIRC (haven’t played in a while).
Ghost Suburb II deals with hospitals and mental illness, starring an insomniac nurse named Okay and her best friend, a floating eyeball named Gertrud. Personally I think this is one of Moga’s best games. Quite a lot is left open-ended in this game.
Safety: Life is a Maze is extremely difficult, so I didn’t get very far in, but it deals with a girl named Mina who wakes in a strange replica of her home, plus minotaur horns. Its interface is pretty unique for an RPG Maker 2003 game. It, plus its predecessor-in-name-only (just named “Safety”), are currently undergoing some overhauling and updating, so perhaps you might want to leave this one off to the side until the update comes, or just try it as it is anyway.
Soul Sunder. I’d describe it as a survival horror RPG. The only source of healing is items so you have to manage your resources carefully. The story takes a lot of inspiration from Silent Hill, which might pique your interest. Also, reverse fridging!
Yo-Kai Watch – It’s another monster-collecting RPG for the 3DS, so it might be interesting to compare how it differs from Pokemon.
Neko Atsume – Put food and toys in your backyard, get cats. Take pictures of cats. Get fish to buy more cat toys. Rename cats to DQ commentators. OK, maybe not that last step.
http://www.gamezebo.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/nekoatsumeguide_02.jpg
Undertale? I saw you do a review of the demo and you made a post when it was released, and would love to see you do a review on it. Don’t feel I need to explain what it is seeing as you already know of it, do it if you feel like it. I personally loved it and it’s writing, so I wonder what you will think of it.
A seinen manga called Kasane by Daruma Matsuura (apparently her first work).
About an ugly girl with the power to steal faces. It’s a subject it’s easy to fuck up (women! so vain!), but I think the author gave it a decent treatment, though I’d enjoy a second opinion.
I was expecting it to be horror, and the first chapters looked like they were aiming for that, but it’s actually geared more toward the psychological.
I bought the first volume in France, but I don’t know if it’s released in the U.S., though a fan-translated version is available online.
I think you need another big housekeeping pass. Suggestion posts are quite bloated by now.
In other news, how about more to the pile:
Hey, have you heard of the new Madoka movie? It might be interesting (to see how far Shinbo would go to get more money).
10 Cloverfield Lane
It’s less a suggestion for reviewing and more something I think you (or anyone who’s reading this) might enjoy. The trailer made me fear it would be stupid, but it’s actually pretty good. Heroine’s awesome. She’s the kind of character fiction needs to use more: not someone special, but very resourceful and brave.
Interested in trying a nuzlocke of red/blue/yellow… in French?
I heard a rumor, swept across the internet on various blogs: that Batman vs Superman sucked as expected. So I’m asking, since you made a post about Man of Steel, will you make a post detailing how it sucked (or maybe Spoony since I think he is into comic books?) or will I have to see it myself (for Science!)?