Let me tell you about: Hiveswap (part 1), Sangatsu no Lion (season 1)
Today is my one day of weekend this week, and for once I have no plans or pressing errands to attend to because I am procrastinating on drawing my holiday card, which means I actually have time to ... write up media reviews!
(A few of them, at least.)
Here are my thoughts on a few of the things I've consumed in the past few months:
Hiveswap, part 1
If someone were to ask me "How much time and/or enjoyment am I going to get out of playing Hiveswap part 1?", I would say it depends on how much you enjoy the walkarounds in the actual Homestuck comic, and how much of a gaming completionist you are when it comes to things like exploring every single branch of every single dialogue tree. If the answers are "a lot" and "extremely," then Hiveswap will probably take you around eight hours to play and you will get a lot of delight out of interfacing the objects in your inventory with literally every single item in your house! If you don't care so much about clicking on random objects to read their flavor text and would rather just get straight to the plot, the game will probably only take an hour or two and feel very underwhelming.
I am definitely an "explore every corner, click on every thing, unlock every achievement" style of gamer (which is why I can't play very many recent games, on account being drowned in options), so overall I found Hiveswap really charming, in large part because I was allowed to interface the objects in my inventory with literally every single item in my house. It was a pretty short and straightforward installment, which one could probably argue is a little overpriced given its brevity, but from a "saving my wrists from RSI" perspective short and straightforward was probably a good thing!
The first half of the game was easily my favorite, because I found Joey and Jude instantly endearing and their house was a fun environment to explore (I hadn't previously been aware that I had any 90s nostalgia, but man, all those toys brought me back in a real way). The second half was a little less fun just because I am not a huge fan of Alternia as a setting (the color palette is so often ugly! and the "everything is bugs" jokes get old after a while), and because this half of the game had significantly fewer objects for me to interact with and some of the interactions were buggy (it would look like I could click on something but then no text would come up, I'd interact with a poster and the game would act like it was a book, etc). But even so, I did enjoy myself, and I'm optimistic about where they could go with this set-up in parts 2-4.
That said, I did have one dissatisfaction about this game, and that was Xefros. He's not a bad character in theory, and I'm open to him being developed more in future installments, but right now I feel like he suffers from possessing the same basic character template as Tavros and Jake without having a character voice that's as distinctive or likeable as either of those characters. Especially in his pesterlogs, he just feels sort of ... there. I also felt like his friendship with Joey developed way too fast; rightfully the "wariness --> budding trust --> realization that your new maybe-friend has deep-rooted self-esteem issues and that you are invested in helping him fix them --> inspiring speech where you tell him to believe in himself" cycle ought to have played out over at least a few hours, and at most multiple installments, but instead we got it in like three conversations.
Other thoughts, in brief:
The visuals: Super pretty. I also really enjoyed the animation sequences, once I figured out how to make the cutscene bug stop happening! Overall I feel like the visuals feel very "Homestuck" but also really nice to look at, which I imagine was a tough balance to strike for the developers.
The music: Didn't really stand out to me on a whole, but did a fitting job of setting the scene, whether that scene was "spooky hallway" or "spooky attic" or "spooky basement." My favorite non-spooky tracks were Joey's room and the first battle theme.
The puzzles: There were no puzzles, unless you count that snake game, which I do not. There might be more in future installments? But for me the pleasure of the game really did lie just in clicking on things to see what they would say, rather than scratching my brain to think of creative solutions to puzzling mysteries.
I also finally (finally!) watched the rest of season one of Sangatsu no Lion, just in time for the release of season two. I loved it a lot.
Misc. thoughts:
- It's been so long since I read the manga volumes corresponding to this season that I completely forgot a lot of characters and developments. For example: the entirety of that dramatic, character-defining confrontation between Rei and Asshole Alcoholic Sore Loser Shogi Player in episode 10. Also: the fact that Souya vs Shimada was not just a vehicle for us to get heartwarming-yet-bittersweet flashback pictures of Shimada playing shogi with his elderly neighbors in the snow, but this whole big arc that spanned multiple chapters. I could list more (and do below), but long story short I really enjoyed rediscovering all these moments fresh.
- The direction was great overall, I thought. There were some visual sequences that were really stunning, and I also loved the use of background music. (Some favorite tracks: 来んな！, En fermant les yeux, 作戦)
- So many story beats I love that I can't list them all. Rei's character-defining confrontation with the asshole alcoholic sore loser shogi player. Rei and Nikaidou arguing about how long ducks can stay underwater and not drown. Akari getting sad on New Year's and confiding her feelings to Rei. All of Rei's interactions with his teacher. Smith adopting that stray cat. <3
- This is one thing I had actually managed to remember, but: this series does such a good portrayal of depression, and specifically that kind of depression where you don't know you're depressed and you think that the general emptiness and malaise of your day-to-day existence are just the way things are. (Of course your apartment is empty and has no furniture or food. How else is an apartment supposed to be?) There were a lot of moments in this vein that I liked, but on this watch-through the one that stuck out the most to me was the scene where Rei is back home after spending New Year's with the Kawamotos and then he suddenly feels that familiar heaviness closing in on him; the way that scene was directed, and again the choice of music, were both really visceral and effective.
- I really enjoyed both the openings and endings! I knew "Fighter" would be perfect because it is "Fighter," but "Sayounara Bystander" also really won me over, and I'm happy Yuki is back to do the opening again for the second season.
(This entry is mirrored at https://spywindow.dreamwidth.org/236903.html, where it has
comments)
(A few of them, at least.)
Here are my thoughts on a few of the things I've consumed in the past few months:
Hiveswap, part 1
If someone were to ask me "How much time and/or enjoyment am I going to get out of playing Hiveswap part 1?", I would say it depends on how much you enjoy the walkarounds in the actual Homestuck comic, and how much of a gaming completionist you are when it comes to things like exploring every single branch of every single dialogue tree. If the answers are "a lot" and "extremely," then Hiveswap will probably take you around eight hours to play and you will get a lot of delight out of interfacing the objects in your inventory with literally every single item in your house! If you don't care so much about clicking on random objects to read their flavor text and would rather just get straight to the plot, the game will probably only take an hour or two and feel very underwhelming.
I am definitely an "explore every corner, click on every thing, unlock every achievement" style of gamer (which is why I can't play very many recent games, on account being drowned in options), so overall I found Hiveswap really charming, in large part because I was allowed to interface the objects in my inventory with literally every single item in my house. It was a pretty short and straightforward installment, which one could probably argue is a little overpriced given its brevity, but from a "saving my wrists from RSI" perspective short and straightforward was probably a good thing!
The first half of the game was easily my favorite, because I found Joey and Jude instantly endearing and their house was a fun environment to explore (I hadn't previously been aware that I had any 90s nostalgia, but man, all those toys brought me back in a real way). The second half was a little less fun just because I am not a huge fan of Alternia as a setting (the color palette is so often ugly! and the "everything is bugs" jokes get old after a while), and because this half of the game had significantly fewer objects for me to interact with and some of the interactions were buggy (it would look like I could click on something but then no text would come up, I'd interact with a poster and the game would act like it was a book, etc). But even so, I did enjoy myself, and I'm optimistic about where they could go with this set-up in parts 2-4.
That said, I did have one dissatisfaction about this game, and that was Xefros. He's not a bad character in theory, and I'm open to him being developed more in future installments, but right now I feel like he suffers from possessing the same basic character template as Tavros and Jake without having a character voice that's as distinctive or likeable as either of those characters. Especially in his pesterlogs, he just feels sort of ... there. I also felt like his friendship with Joey developed way too fast; rightfully the "wariness --> budding trust --> realization that your new maybe-friend has deep-rooted self-esteem issues and that you are invested in helping him fix them --> inspiring speech where you tell him to believe in himself" cycle ought to have played out over at least a few hours, and at most multiple installments, but instead we got it in like three conversations.
Other thoughts, in brief:
The visuals: Super pretty. I also really enjoyed the animation sequences, once I figured out how to make the cutscene bug stop happening! Overall I feel like the visuals feel very "Homestuck" but also really nice to look at, which I imagine was a tough balance to strike for the developers.
The music: Didn't really stand out to me on a whole, but did a fitting job of setting the scene, whether that scene was "spooky hallway" or "spooky attic" or "spooky basement." My favorite non-spooky tracks were Joey's room and the first battle theme.
The puzzles: There were no puzzles, unless you count that snake game, which I do not. There might be more in future installments? But for me the pleasure of the game really did lie just in clicking on things to see what they would say, rather than scratching my brain to think of creative solutions to puzzling mysteries.
I also finally (finally!) watched the rest of season one of Sangatsu no Lion, just in time for the release of season two. I loved it a lot.
Misc. thoughts:
- It's been so long since I read the manga volumes corresponding to this season that I completely forgot a lot of characters and developments. For example: the entirety of that dramatic, character-defining confrontation between Rei and Asshole Alcoholic Sore Loser Shogi Player in episode 10. Also: the fact that Souya vs Shimada was not just a vehicle for us to get heartwarming-yet-bittersweet flashback pictures of Shimada playing shogi with his elderly neighbors in the snow, but this whole big arc that spanned multiple chapters. I could list more (and do below), but long story short I really enjoyed rediscovering all these moments fresh.
- The direction was great overall, I thought. There were some visual sequences that were really stunning, and I also loved the use of background music. (Some favorite tracks: 来んな！, En fermant les yeux, 作戦)
- So many story beats I love that I can't list them all. Rei's character-defining confrontation with the asshole alcoholic sore loser shogi player. Rei and Nikaidou arguing about how long ducks can stay underwater and not drown. Akari getting sad on New Year's and confiding her feelings to Rei. All of Rei's interactions with his teacher. Smith adopting that stray cat. <3
- This is one thing I had actually managed to remember, but: this series does such a good portrayal of depression, and specifically that kind of depression where you don't know you're depressed and you think that the general emptiness and malaise of your day-to-day existence are just the way things are. (Of course your apartment is empty and has no furniture or food. How else is an apartment supposed to be?) There were a lot of moments in this vein that I liked, but on this watch-through the one that stuck out the most to me was the scene where Rei is back home after spending New Year's with the Kawamotos and then he suddenly feels that familiar heaviness closing in on him; the way that scene was directed, and again the choice of music, were both really visceral and effective.
- I really enjoyed both the openings and endings! I knew "Fighter" would be perfect because it is "Fighter," but "Sayounara Bystander" also really won me over, and I'm happy Yuki is back to do the opening again for the second season.
(This entry is mirrored at https://spywindow.dreamwidth.org/236903.html, where it has
comments)