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Millenia’s Game Year 2014

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OrionO - 23 April 2014 10:28 PM

Anyway, does a game have to be released in 2014 to qualify for consideration? What about games with only one episode released so far?

Is this question aimed at me as recommendations for play? I didn’t quite get what you meant there. I’m obviously playing older games too. Just tracking what I play through this year.

And thanks to Tim for the VNDB link, found a lot fo interesting stuff from there. Noticed there were a lot of Visual Novels for android but regretfully most of them require some kind of micro payments to advance at all, or to be able to advance more than a few sentences per day. Quit annoying. I’ve still been reading some of those slowly progressing otome games (games for girls), mainly filling up my need for trashy romance novels. They are very good for that and honestly I could even pay for them, but not micro payments, that is the total devil to me and I do not succumb to it no matter what.

One totally free visual novel for android was a2 ~a due~ which was pretty good. It is one of those otome games and has a romance in it, but it also tells about love for music and I think the main character as the story itself is well written.

I also played a couple of games for PC. First was Boku No Shokora, which is an extremely short, silly romance game, but I was very much enterntained Smile It also had a “sequel”, White Day patch that added another chapter to the story. Another vn I played was superbly crazy yaoi hentai (that basically means gay porn) game Hadaka Shitsuji. Very silly and very K18. Honestly, it was kinda awesome, the best hentai game I ever played. You could pursue several butlers in the game and the main character turned out to be quite a sadistic dick. There was also one girl but I wasn’t very interested in her Tongue.

I’m still gonna keep checking out these games but I think I need to go back to BS marathon, and I still haven’t played the new Blackwell game, because I decided to do a replay marathon for it too.

     

Currently Playing: Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Recently Played: Red Embrace: Hollywood, Dorfromantik, Heirs & Graces, AI: The Somnium Files, PRICE, Frostpunk, The Shapeshifting Detective (CPT), Disco Elysium, Dream Daddy, Four Last Things, Jenny LeClue - Detectivu, The Signifier

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I played quite a lot of those silly Voltage romance sims too, which are basically like Harlequins as visual novels, except that because of their Japanese origin the protagonists were often so timid virgins that it really even went a bit weird sometimes. I think I grew a bit bored of them too. Though I could mention that In Your Arms Tonight (3.5/5) was actually pretty good with the protagonist being a 30 yo and finding out (in the prologue so shouldn’t be a spoiler) that his (arranged marriage) husband is cheating on her.


Also there was an American Voltage game White Lies where the protagonist had to pretend to have a husband to get her dream job. It worked a lot like a regular chick lit novel and was rather entertaining. All these are real fluff though, so beware.


But then I played another yaoi visual novel Dramatical Murder and damn it was good (4.5/5). Towards the end there are one or two explicit scenes between men so there’s that, but even without them I would have really enjoyed the game. One actually wants to play all the routes to find out what’s exactly happening. It’s a sci-fi plot with mystery and conspiracy and the main character seems to have his own secrets. There’s a sequel - at least sort of - that I also looked through. It has some good and bad endings and all of them are rather explicit, so it’s probably more about fan service there. But can’t really complain because I really like the visuals and sounds of the game and the sex scenes don’t bother me (or well, you know, there are some scenes, especially in the bad endings that are kinda, well… but I mean they don’t ruin the game for me). I would definitely recommend this to anyone who can stomach visual novels and yaoi.


At this point I got sick and couldn’t play anything really. First it was the headaches, then nausea and then double vision. When I got a bit better I basically played a bit of WoW again with my laptop in the hospital and stayed clear of any story heavy experiences before I could really enjoy them (and not just endure them).

Just a little while ago I finally had the chance to finish up The Wolf Among Us and yeah, I still love it. Though with all the crap going in my head I felt like I wasn’t perfectly on top the plot. And I totally admit that there really isn’t much to actually play in the game - boohoo, I’ve just played like 30 visual novels anyway Wink - but they just do something so horribly right there that it’s amazing. I love the world, characters, visuals, the sound - oh my god the sound. I could seriously just watch those characters chitchat for hours. I even went and read some of the comics and while I really liked them too, I think Telltale did it even better (probably the sound again). I know I would probably pee my pants if they did more of a “real” detective adventure out of this. Bigby as Lewton, one can dream. But there just isn’t a better setting for me than washed out fairytale characters in a noir town. Overall I give the game 4.5/5 score, the second episode was perhaps the weakest and only get a 4.

I’m just not going to add pictures of TWAU since everyone knows what I’m talking about and to be honest anything about Bloody Mary is probably way too scary to be posted around freely.

     

Currently Playing: Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Recently Played: Red Embrace: Hollywood, Dorfromantik, Heirs & Graces, AI: The Somnium Files, PRICE, Frostpunk, The Shapeshifting Detective (CPT), Disco Elysium, Dream Daddy, Four Last Things, Jenny LeClue - Detectivu, The Signifier

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Joined 2005-12-06

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I’ve started Final Fantasy XIII the third time now, and let me tell you why. Originally I bought it when it was released (or at least very soon after) as FF has “always” been one my favourite game series. I never really warmed up to the 12th game even though some people consider it even to be the best one, and don’t have experience on the MMOs (though I did ponder about trying XIV at some point) but otherwise I’ve really spent a lot of time on the newer titles (7->). I’ve also played some of the old ones, II and XI at least, but not to the end.

Anyway, even though I actually really liked the XIII, for some reason I had one of my pauses with it (RL issue or getting excited about another game, don’t remeber) and when I finally wanted to get back to it I felt that I didn’t really remember the plot or the combat system, so I just started it from the beginning. I wasn’t horribly far anyway, maybe in chapter 6 or something. This time I played it further, at least past ch10, but then our Xbox kinda broke and I was forced into another break.

Later on we bought a PS3 and finally this summer I bought the game for it and started it once again. Playing kinda slowly now, about a chapter at a time. It still pretty entertaining the third time around even though I’ve never reached the conclusion.

I personally have enjoyed the turn based combat style FF series has had and that was one of the reasons why I never felt XII, but in XIII I like the combat. Perhaps it’s not exactly super awesome but it works, and it’s rather easy to follow. It is still of course more hectic than the turn based ones were and I haven’t completely figured out the summons yet.

I like the world and the whole larger-than-life plot that’s so common to FF. The game is also very pretty. I mean it’s not Beyond: Two Souls pretty but very nice - it’s not a very new game anymore anyway. The characters aren’t bad, though I don’t really have a huge favourite or anything. My 6yo daughter really seems to like Snow Grin (the boys in the game seem to have a lot of “girl names” like Snow and Hope), and of course the little pink haired girl Vanille. There seems to be a pink hair theme to this game, on XII there were tons of blondes. The voice acting seems good enough too.

The game mostly progresses very much in a straight line, not much room for exploring. But I heard there’s still tons and tons of extra stuff in the end game so I’ll have to see what that’s like. So far going forward like this hasn’t really bothered me, though a vast world to explore probably might have made the game better.

     

Currently Playing: Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Recently Played: Red Embrace: Hollywood, Dorfromantik, Heirs & Graces, AI: The Somnium Files, PRICE, Frostpunk, The Shapeshifting Detective (CPT), Disco Elysium, Dream Daddy, Four Last Things, Jenny LeClue - Detectivu, The Signifier

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Joined 2005-12-06

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I will be continuing on BS marathon and even Face Noir at some point, but I think Diablo III and Hearthstone kinda got dropped out now. I mean they have a lot of good stuff in them but I just don’t have time for everything, so I feel reluctant starting them. Even the card game really takes time and you’d need to learn tactics and stuff.

I also noticed I never wrote anything about Blackwell Epiphany, or the whole series really. I replayed the earlier parts to get the most of it. Need to fix that at some point. One of my favourite adventure series and very deserving of full 5 stars. Feeling pretty sad now that it’s over.

     

Currently Playing: Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Recently Played: Red Embrace: Hollywood, Dorfromantik, Heirs & Graces, AI: The Somnium Files, PRICE, Frostpunk, The Shapeshifting Detective (CPT), Disco Elysium, Dream Daddy, Four Last Things, Jenny LeClue - Detectivu, The Signifier

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FFXIII opens up in a chapter near the end, gives some time to exploration of a big area and has lots of side quests. Until there it’s pretty mush a straight line. Of course you can even ignore most of the side stuff in that chapter and continue to end. I didn’t mind FFXIII, the combat system has is good when you learn everything, but the characters and story were not very good for me.

Completely agree with Blackwell Epiphany. Smile

     
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Yes in FFXIII I’m not terribly sure about the whole plot yet, but I think it is interesting enough. But I do think the whole scifi world, the mysterious Cocoon and the Falcie are built up nicely. The characters do not move me terribly. I know a lot of people actually hate the FF main characters, especially Tidus in X but I never went that far. I don’t especially love the teen types but they don’t bother me. On XIII I just haven’t really bonded with any of them, when in earlier games I usually find 2-4 favourites I really like to play with. So this might turn out to be something that takes away from the enjoyment.

I really want to buy the FFX HD version to PS3 too but not right now when I’m tight on money and have tons of other games to play.

I’ll be writing something about the Blackwell games, Divinity: Original Sin and Angelica Weaver - Catch Me When You Can at some point here. (Going to have a parents meeting at school and then another visit to hospital again etc. but luckily it’s not like these ramblings have a deadline here.)

     

Currently Playing: Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Recently Played: Red Embrace: Hollywood, Dorfromantik, Heirs & Graces, AI: The Somnium Files, PRICE, Frostpunk, The Shapeshifting Detective (CPT), Disco Elysium, Dream Daddy, Four Last Things, Jenny LeClue - Detectivu, The Signifier

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In the spring I had my The Blackwell game marathon, and boy was that enjoyable. I only played those games once back when I bought them and while I had the idea of the big picture, I had conveniently forgotten most of the details to enjoy a replay even from the puzzle solving perspective. And playing them through one after another gave me a better insight on the story of course. Having pauses (mainly the longer pause between 3rd and 4th game made me forget a bunch of connections).

I still think the first game, Legacy, is rather just an appertizer, it’s quite short and just barely gets you into the Blackwell world. But you can already see the potential in the puzzles and the story. The game is a strong 4/5 even as it is. And I still love the second game, Unbound, which I rank at 4.5/5, Lauren has a special place in my heart. I think I always was a bit of a sucker for prequels, especially with tragic characters. I know some people say you could play the second game first because it happens earlier chronologically, and while it might actually be interesting to make the connections that way around, personally I feel that playing Lauren after already knowing what happens to her adds depth to the character and the story in whole. I wish I could experience it both ways though. Might try the reverse order in my next playthrough.

The third game, Convergence, already establishes itself as a masterpiece again both in puzzles and storytelling. Another 4.5/5, this time more from objective merit while Unbound got it just because of love. On the third game the bigger mystery starts to really reveal itself too, I am a sucker for fate, especially when playing around with the concept, not just plainly having a prophecy and being stuck with it. And all these little things that tied together making it impossible being a coincidence anymore (irl I really don’t believe in fate).

The fourth game, Deception, was excellent. I think I originally gave it 4.5/5 but I’m leaning towards 5/5 now, because why not? There aren’t so many games I’ve given 5, there’s room for a couple of more. Paranormal conspiracy, mystery, interesting and likable characters, great puzzles and fun gameplay. I can’t really ask for more. I somewhat disliked the cartoony character portraits in the fourth game and only heard afterwards that there was an update to them that I hadn’t noticed. Will need to check out the alternative portraits on my next playthrough (do I need to make a list?)

And finally we get to conclusion, Epiphany, and oh man. I would give it 6/5 if I could. The game really puts on another new gear and races on. Firstly it’s a lot longer, I really didn’t mind paying the 15$ or something that it was, most adventures these days hardly are longer than the ~7 hours I played Epiphany. And the time was filled with greatness. I love how we go back to some of the old characters and how finally big parts of the mystery are revealed. I am very sad that the fun ends here though. It’s okay that not every little thing was explained, but the Blackwell universe certainly would have still had some juice for more games. And I’m not 100% about the conclusion with our two main characters either. I can’t say that I’d be disappointed, I think the game is just awesome in and out, but I have mixed feelings, probably because I love both of the characters so much. It’s hard to even think about ending that would leave me completely satisfied.

Crazy ride with Rosangela and Joey, and most of all fun ride. I really love Wadjet Eye games for their gameplay, as I rarely notice myself enjoying the puzzles so much. I really like Gemini Rue and Resonance too but The Blackwell series is still my favourite. All of these games have their share of scifi/paranormal/mystery so they are very intriguing plotwise, but Blackwell wins by heart. It’s so warm and sympathic, and the protagonists (and their relationship) just rule.

But the greatest thing is that I still have some Wadjet Eye games on my library to play!

     

Currently Playing: Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Recently Played: Red Embrace: Hollywood, Dorfromantik, Heirs & Graces, AI: The Somnium Files, PRICE, Frostpunk, The Shapeshifting Detective (CPT), Disco Elysium, Dream Daddy, Four Last Things, Jenny LeClue - Detectivu, The Signifier

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I totally agree that the Blackwell series is great, especially the conclusion in Epiphany.

I however don’t get why anyone would want to play Unbound first, just because it chronologically happens first then it doesn’t means that it also happens first narratively.

     

You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ

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I don’t think anyone especially recommended playing the second game first but I’ve stumbled into some discussions about the Blackwell games’ order, mainly someone asking if they need to be played in certain order, and on that point some people have commented that basically you can play the second game first. But I agree that the first game is such a good introduction to the story, it would be a bit silly to deviate from the original order. For a person that already knows the series it might still be an interesting experiment though, so I really think I might swap their order on the next playthrough, just to see how it feels.

     

Currently Playing: Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Recently Played: Red Embrace: Hollywood, Dorfromantik, Heirs & Graces, AI: The Somnium Files, PRICE, Frostpunk, The Shapeshifting Detective (CPT), Disco Elysium, Dream Daddy, Four Last Things, Jenny LeClue - Detectivu, The Signifier

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Divinity: Original Sin has been a good old school RPG to play co-op with my spouse. We hardly play anything together except for WoW so it was very nice to finally find a decent game to try. (He doesn’t really enjoy adventures as he wants more fast paced game play and usually also character development, so he gets bored with p&c and interactive movies types.) Back in the day I remember we started Neverwinter Nights 2 several times but it was so horribly clunky we never ended up playing more than a couple of hours.

Anyway, back to Divinity. It’s a very nice game. The world is somewhat basic fantasy world with humans and orcs and elves and undead at least. For what I’ve heard the game sets in a time a good while before the earlier Divinity games (which I haven’t played and apparently there really is no need to play them either to get into the world and the plot). I personally find the both the main plots interesting, there are two levels like Culpa Innata: the case you’re sent to study and then the bigger mystery that you are tangled into. In addition there are tons and tons of side quests with their own stories. I consider the game very story heavy and it might be something an adventure fan could enjoy. Though I think I need to advance on the main stories a bit more to judge if they are anything spectacular.

You control two characters in the game (or one of two if you play with a friend) and rather soon in the game there is an option to get two more fighters to join your party. We went and took ‘lone wolf’ traits that denied these extra friends but make our characters gain more experience. Like any RPG you allocate points to make your character as you wish it to be. There are several ready archetypes but you can always create a character totally from scratch too and pick and choose whatever you want.

There are some funny skills in the game like the ability to speak to animals - which I took, of course! I am playing a charismatic elementalist kinda type (using all elemental magic shools, which are actually implemented nicely: spread oil to slow, light it on fire, make water puddle to the ground and then stun everyone standing on it with a lightning bolt etc.) and my spouse is playing some kind of thief/ranger mixup.

The time we spend in town - which takes a lot of the game - I spend chatting with the people and reading books, and my thief friend sneaks around looting everything he can get his hands on. This is actually working combination, so I can enjoy the lore and he doesn’t get bored - and we get some money out of it to buy new skills.

The combat is also turn based so I can definitely recommend the game to all the action-shy people here too. The normal difficulty setting is actually normal though, you can get your asses handed to you now and then, especially if you go and try an enemy higher level than you. I think that’s fine, since there is also an easy option to choose from.

Steam says I’ve clocked 25 hours but there’s many and many hours of afk time there. Don’t really know how much time we’ve actually spent in the game. I think we’re still lvl 6 at the moment and there’s loads of stuff to do in the first town. But the first town supposedly takes a big hunk of the game anyway.

Not sure when we can continue again because of work shifts (not mine), kids (yes, mine) etc. but I am interested to see where the story is going.

     

Currently Playing: Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Recently Played: Red Embrace: Hollywood, Dorfromantik, Heirs & Graces, AI: The Somnium Files, PRICE, Frostpunk, The Shapeshifting Detective (CPT), Disco Elysium, Dream Daddy, Four Last Things, Jenny LeClue - Detectivu, The Signifier

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I played a couple of short freeware adventures, that were more like visual novels really (again) but anyway…

Coming Out Simulator 2014 is extremely short (15-30 mins maybe), autobiographical chat about a young bisexual trying to come out to his conservative parents. It is a very simple game both by gameplay and appearance. But it works very well catching the complex atmosphere. I gave it a 4/5 for being a thought provoking and interesting piece of real life drama. Reminds me of Facade and other games like that. You can play the game here.


Ars Harmonia has a very different theme then. We’re talking about the near future with demon hunters now. But perhaps a bit unexpectely the plot actually involves some everyday drama too, about family and relationships. The game felt surprisingly light considering the gore (text only) and demonic theme.

Ars Harmonia plays mostly like a visual novel but it has some puzzles in it, making it closer being “a real adventure”. The length is rather short, maybe 1-2 hours. But it is established (also ingame) that we are playing just one case here. There has been some promises of continuation to the (to-be-)series.

In a way Ars Harmonia is a much better game than Coming Out Simulator, being more of a game and having a quite high standard graphics and sound for a freeware piece, while also presenting an interesting enough story. But overall it just lacked some of the “oomph” so I’m giving it a 3,5/5 (still a good score). The download of the game is here.

     

Currently Playing: Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Recently Played: Red Embrace: Hollywood, Dorfromantik, Heirs & Graces, AI: The Somnium Files, PRICE, Frostpunk, The Shapeshifting Detective (CPT), Disco Elysium, Dream Daddy, Four Last Things, Jenny LeClue - Detectivu, The Signifier

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