Amitte

Progress report: March ‘22 (a.k.a. Not Actually Broken…?)

Yeahhh, so… while the orthopedist still jotted down that I’ve got a broken bone (just in case), apparently the whole problem is a space that opened up between the bones. Thanks to that, I could replace the cast with an orthopedic shoe. …which had to be paid for out of pocket, so between that and home-delivered groceries, this month’s been hard. My next appointment is in less than a week from now, though, so I can’t wait to finally be able to walk on my own again after that.
As for this month’s assasinations…

Our Life: Beginnings and Always - These devs, they’ve got it all wrong. Summers are no fun if you don’t know what these characters go through in school. Building a love interest from the ground up is no fun if it means inevitably sacrificing any personality they may have had, were they allowed to have any agency of their own. Watching characters grow up is… well, it is fun, but only because the effect is always cool. I appreciate the effort of making as many people as possible feel included, but as the saying goes, you can’t please everyone. There are dozens of choices that don’t contribute to the narrative at all; their sole existence is for the player to feel seen… which is ironic, considering you can fantasize about what you look like in the game through all of its duration, yet you won’t see yourself past the customization screen. Then there’s the fact that the game is unashamedly designed for the player to fall in love with its sole love interest, whose name isn’t even a name and eyebrows look like someone tried doing roadwork on them. How could you possibly fall in love with someone who doesn’t care about you? You would think that choosing to keep your distance (albeit politely, with no negativity implied) would make the guy eventually reveal some semblance of personality, something that makes you want to learn more about him… but alas, if you say “bye”, he says “bye”; if you say “no”, he says “okay”. …but wait! That’s because he’s autistic! At first I was ready to throw hands - in what world is autism an excuse for having little to no personality?! …but then I saw some things in him that I could relate to, so I figured I might as well let that grudge go. However! The game introduces multiple other characters on the side and entertains the idea of letting you get closer to them… which goes nowhere, in the end. A true shame, because they all have more personality than the LI. I do have to say, though, that the devs are working on DLC to make two other characters dateable. DLC! Ha, miss me with that sheesh. I’d rather they worked on the “voiced name” option being actually worth it (you only hear it maybe 5 times over the course of the whole game…) and the intro to Step 4 being taken out of the base game unless you actually own it. Seriously, who thought it would be a great idea to let the game go to an error screen when it can’t find Step 4? LOL
To sum it up, the art is pleasing to the eye, the music is nice, the partial voice acting does its job… but unless you’ve never played any straight-forward dating games and/or you have a desperate need to feel validated in your choice of sandwich toppings and farmers’ market groceries, you likely won’t enjoy this game.

Supreme League of Patriots Issue 2: Patriot Frames - See this post, there’s really nothing more to add about this one.

Time Mysteries 3: The Final Enigma - I will admit, I rushed through this one last night, so I could have it count for March. Just like its prequels, it remains hardly appealing to the eye, and in some cases, the ear (who on earth thought having a freaking “serious soldier march”-esque song, which even seems to sound louder than other tracks, in a HOG was a good idea?). Once again, I hardly cared about who was who, but if the main character says she could finally get her well-deserved rest, I will gladly take mine too.
Also, Rasputin… what the fuck.

See you next month!

about 2 years ago* 0 comments