Pumpkin's Video Game Diary!

[Pumpkin]

eden* - They were only two, on the planet (Steam)

Note: Minor character spoilers in the character section.

Sometime in the future, a red star appears in the sky to signal the end of days. Soon, the world will end. Earth needs to come up with a solutions, so they engineer "super-humans", known as 'Felixes'. These felixes are smarter and live longer and with these advantages, they create great ships to bring humanity in to space. At the forefront of this research is a felix named Sion.

A young military man by the name of Ryou is assigned to the secret base that houses Sion, the most important being on the planet. Our story starts when the Earth Evacuation Project is nearing completion. Soon, the last humans will be brought out in to space, leaving the doomed planet Earth behind. Along with his coworker Lavie, Ryou learns more about Sion and her life at the base. He also meets a strange but happy maid named Elica and runs in to an old acquaintance from the past, Major Inaba, who will also now be serving as his superior.

Ryou learns a lot about himself, his past, and how to look forward. He comes to terms with who he has become since he began his military career at a young age, and he learns more about the felixes such as Elica and Sion. As he and Sion grow closer, she entrusts him with her greatest wish of all: to be free.

eden* is a linear visual novel in which there are no decisions to be made. You simply follow along with the story. There are no split paths or multiple endings. You can change a few settings such as text font, and you can also save your progress at any time. A memories section also opens up upon completion for you to view all of the CG's that you viewed during the story. It is also on the short side, it took me only 8 hours to complete. It can easily be finished in a few days if you have the time and want a VN to read.

Characters:
(In no particular order)
Sion: The felix in charge of the Earth Evacuation Project. Very intelligent but rather anti-social.
Ryou: The protagonist, a young, serious military man charged with protecting Sion.
Lavie: A military woman who works with Ryou, what she lacks in brute strength, she makes up for in skill and cunning.
Elica: A made in the service of Sion, she is very friendly and outgoing.
Inaba: Major Inaba is in charge of the secret base where Ryou is assigned, at least on the Military side of things. A slacker who has a history with Ryou.
Natsume: A young woman whom Ryou considers his sister, much of her story is a mystery.
Maya: A spunky young journalist who admires Sion more than anyone in the world.

Overall I enjoyed it. A few things bugged me, they used a lot of tired tropes such as "super young people with laundry list of accomplishments" and "totally 100 year old girl who looks like a young teenager", which I didn't really like. Some parts also felt a bit forced. But with those negatives aside, I found it to be a very sweet story. The first part was less up my alley but afterwards it did a really good job at mood setting, making things feel both sad and hopeful at the same time. The backgrounds were also stunning with an incredible amount of detail put in to them. Despite the cliche base some of the characters had, I liked most of them and most of the dialogue and development felt natural and believable. It isn't my favourite VN, but it was an enjoyable read, a sweet story, beautiful to look at, and well worth the 8 hours I spent on it. A great VN for a relaxed rainy day.

Verdict:
LIKED IT

[Karifean]

Glad you liked it! I agree with pretty much everything you said, though I didn't mind the use of those tropes all that much seeing as how it's such a short story. More than anything I just found it enjoyable seeing these characters interact and grow over the course of the story, and while it's nothing groundbreaking or amazing, it's just... nice.

[Pumpkin]

Emily is Away (Steam)

Emily is Away is a short, free, nostalgia inducing game available on Steam. This game takes you back to 2002 and the following years when MSN Messenger and other similar messaging services were the thing to do. You choose a name for your character and a screenname as well as an icon every chapter and you chat with a girl named Emily. You can also check her profile and the profile of some made up friends, change your background and text colour to any obnoxious thin you want, and watch this short story unfold as you decide how to interact with this girl your character has a crush on.

Starting senior year of High School, you'll have a conversation every year throughout college. Sometimes conversation options will show up for you to select from. Then all you have to do is faux type on your keyboard and the game will auto-fill it in with your chosen response. Occasionally a decision will have an impact on the goings on in future chapters and you will be shown things like "You chose to___" and "Emily will remember that." Most chapters end with the titular Emily is away to indicate the conclusion.

This game is rather short with each chapter only taking maybe 10-20 minutes to complete, depending on your reading speed. With that being said, it really did manage to instill the feeling of nostalgia from my 12 year old self MSN Messengering people. It also has some cute touches like seeing your character delete and rephrase things to avoid embarrassment, which they actually use to great effect towards the end. While I wasn't super fond of Emily by the end of it who had grown a bit bitter and dramatic, the dialogue was actually pretty believable and fit rather well. Things felt awkward when they were supposed to and uncomfortable when they were supposed to, and the ending to this hour long game managed to have an emotional impact in regards to these two characters that we spent our time with. I wasn't expecting much from a short, free game, but I ended up pleasantly surprised.. It's nothing ground breaking or magical, but if nostalgic sentimentality is your thing, I would definitely recommend you check it out.

Verdict:
LIKED IT

[Psychotic]

Oh, I saw a LP of this the other day! It's a really interesting experience. Firstly for the nostalgia of the bands and movies that make up the yearly icons which is great. But the main thing is the content itself which is really poignant. Like, the way it depicted a close friendship and crush slowly descends into something awkward and uncomfortable as you drift apart was right on the smurfing nose.

Emily herself is kind of meh but then that's not the point of her, I think she's meant to be a vehicle to view your own past with. It really got me thinking about a couple of girls I was head over heels for in my youth and we almost but didn't quite make it, and then how they just became strangers. It's sad, we talked for hours every day, they meant the world to me. Both still live within like half an hour of me but I still don't think I'd have anything to say to them if I saw them. It's odd and sad that we drift through people's lives like that. I know I'm being pretentious so forgive me but to me that's the message of Emily is Away.

Also fyi it's based on AIM rather than MSN. SORRY CAN'T ESCAPE FROM THE PEDANTIC POLICE

[Pumpkin]

OKAY SORRY BASED ON AIM NOT MSN MESSENGER

I was just comparing it to that because that's what my own experience was and what it reminded me of. But it's based on AIM!

Also, I agree with your assessment. It reminded me of similar situations, actually. The ending especially was excellent as simple as it was. It got me right in the feels.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

I used to hang out in Yahoo chat rooms back when Yahoo was actually a force on the internets. I do sometimes wonder what happened to the people I used to chat with on a regular basis. One of them became a pen pal (like actual, real letters through the mail! Crazy!). She was like a little sister, but between moving and going longer periods of time with no internet we eventually lost touch. It's a shame.

[Pumpkin]

Grandia II (PlayStation 2)

Story:
Long ago, Light and Darkness fought. Although it is said that Granas, God of Light defeated Valmar, God of Darkness, Valmar's Moon looms still in the sky, threatening the "Day of Darkness" when he will revive and the world will be plunged in to darkness. Ryudo, our hero, is hired to escort Elena, a songstress of the Church of Granas to perform a ritual at a nearby location. Unfortunately, things take a turn for the worse when Elena finds herself possessed by the Wings of Valmar. The wings take the form of a woman named Millenia who sometimes takes control of Elena's body. It is then Ryudo's job to take Elena to see the Pope in order to purge her of the darkness inside. On their journey they come to find that Elena isn't the only one struggling with this darkness and that perhaps Valmar's revival is close at hand.

Gameplay:
Grandia II is an RPG with an interesting twist on the combat system. In battle, you will see a bar on the lower right hand side of the screen. It has three sections, 'Wait,' 'Command', and 'Act'. Depending on a few factors such as character speed and previous actions, characters and enemy icons will move along this bar. Once their icon reaches Command, a command can be input for the character, such as Item, Defend, Moves or Magic, and one of the two versions of attack which I will discuss further in. Depending on the characters Move or special attack/magic level, their icon will continue along the bar until it reaches 'Act' and the command will be executed. The higher their move or special attack/magic level for the particular special attack/magic used, the faster they will execute the command.

Timing is critical in battles. There are two forms of attack: Combo and Critical. Combo deals more damage and is generally executed faster, while Critical has a chance of delaying or outright canceling an enemy action. If an enemy (or ally) is hit with a Critical attack when their icon is in-between the Command and Act bars, their action will be canceled. In order to properly time these things, the player must know their characters and enemies. They need to know the speed with which their characters move and attack, the positioning relative to the enemy, as well as how quickly or slowly the enemy actions execute. While you can simply go through battles by Comboing, you'll take a lot of unnecessary damage and, especially during boss fights, you'll have a much harder time. It also involves some strategy to knowing when to Combo and when to Critical. If a Combo will defeat an enemy, it might be better to use that instead of simply canceling the enemy move. It really makes you pay attention to how your characters act and when in order to use the system effectively.

There are a few things to build up in this game for your characters. After battles you will receive special coins. Some are used for special attacks and others for magic. Each character has special attacks that are unique to them. These can be learned at certain points in the story or by spending Special Coins. Each move can also be leveled up, gaining a star with each level until it reaches 5 stars and is maxed out. This also costs Special Coins and will reduce the amount of time needed to execute the move. Magic is leveled up through Mana Eggs that are obtained throughout the game. Unlike special attacks, magic is through the mana eggs which can be equipped on anyone. Leveling up the mana eggs uses magic coins which will allow for learning more magic spells depending on the egg, as well as leveling up the magic spells similarly to the special attacks. The eggs will retain their levels and spells no matter who has them equipped and they can be changed whenever the player wants. Finally, through skill books players can level up and add skills to players that provide beneficial effects such as strength or magic up. These use either special or magic coins depending on the particular skill.

World:
In this game you will be exploring towns and villages as well as dungeons. The world map will simply show you the destination which you will pick and go to. As the game progresses you will often be cut off from certain locations, although you may be able to explore them when you return. While dungeons start off mostly linear, they do get more complex as the game goes on and can be pretty confusing. Most towns have both an inn and a shop. While recovering can be done for free at any save point of Inn, choosing to rest at an inn will often provide additional scenes and dialogue for your characters.

Characters:
(Ordered from favourite to least favourite)
Tio: An automata who struggles with the concept of being her own master and what it means to have a heart.
Roan: A kind young man who likes to help others and always seeks to learn more.
Mareg: A warrior in touch with nature who is seeking revenge on a man who brought destruction to his village.
Millenia: The Wings of Valmar, she often possesses Elena. Very dramatic and has feelings for Ryudo.
Elena: A songstress of the Church of Granas, she is very religious and as such is troubled by the evil within her.
Ryudo: The main protagonist, a Geohound (mercenary of sorts), hired to keep Elena out of harm's way on her journey.

Overall:
I very much enjoyed Grandia II. The story was good and I enjoyed the theme of showing that not everything is black and white, that things can be both good and bad, or even neither. It's a theme I think should be explored more and that it was very well done in this case. The battle system was interesting and I did like it, and I also enjoyed having as much freedom to build up my characters my own way and at my own pace. Some of the special attack and spell effects looked pretty good. My favourite part was the character interactions and watching them grow together and form relationships. That would be the strongest point of the game in my opinion. The character section above was challenging because I actually really like all of the characters and they're all pretty close together in terms of who I like most and least. There were also some great scenes that touched my heart and made me think. There are some negatives though, as well. The dungeons could be frustrating, especially with the lack of a map. I hated the fact that there was no map. The sound effects could also be grating. The game also suffered from some random slowdown and could be a bit glitchy at times, although it was nothing that really affected the gameplay. Finally, some of the dialogue was cheesy and cringeworthy and could feel a bit forced. Overall though, the positives outweighed the negatives and I am very happy to have played this game. The story and characters were excellent and the battle system was fun. Would highly recommend to RPG fans.

Verdict:
LIKED IT A LOT

[Karifean]

Sounds interesting. I do enjoy me some moral ambiguity. And that whole system with Combo and Critical sounds really nice! Was it a difficult game?

[Pumpkin]

Not really. If you made sure to fight every enemy you came across and leveled your magics and special attacks appropriately it was a pretty good difficulty I'd say. I never needed to go back and grind but some bosses were still a challenge and you really had to pay attention to what you were doing.

[Kalevala]

I remember watching an ex play Grandia II years ago and the voice acting being absolutely awful, but that could have been because of awkwardly written dialogue more so than the talents of the actors themselves.

[Fynn]

I bought this game on a whim many years ago, and when I started playing it, it was just kinda "eh". But then I move on and things started getting really exciting, and overall it was one of the more surprisingly enjoyable games that I have ever played.

Also, Millenia is such a joy to watch. I remember her theatricals vividly to this day. She also had by far the best battle banter. "Deep fried goose" indeed.

[Pumpkin]

To The Moon (Steam)

To The Moon is a short adventure game. You play as Dr. Eva Rosalene and Dr. Neil Watts, two professionals who's job it is to guide people to their dreams before they pass away. Their client this time is a man named John. His dying wish, to go to the moon. Using their magical future technology, Eva and Neil will travel back through his memories, trying to learn why he wants to go to the moon and altering those memories so that he will have motivated himself to achieve this dream.

As you play the game you will travel back in time through John's memories. You will have a scale displayed which will show you where you are in his life. As you enter different memories, you will click around on objects and explore the environments in order to create memory links and return further in to the past. You'll of course also watch his memories unfold and learn more about him and his life. After obtaining five memory nodes in each memory, you'll be able to travel further back. This involves a small mini-game puzzle where you flip squares to uncover the memento.

That is the gist of the game. It is much more about the story than the gameplay, although it does switch things up for you once in a while by adding certain mini-games. There's whack-a-mole, horseback riding, throwing plants at zombies. These gameplay mechanics don't last long but do serve to spice things up once in a while. You'll also be able to read notes and view items that you've examined throughout the story as well. On top of learning about John and his life, you'll also learn more about Eva and Neil as well, and a sequel has been announced for late this year or early next year. This is a stand alone game, however, and you will get a full and complete story if you play this game.

Overall I really liked this game. It was sweet and touching and pulled at the heart strings. I was a bit worried John's life would be all magic and rainbows and, while that would still be enjoyable, I much more enjoyed that this game showed the ups and downs of his life. He didn't get everything he wanted, his life wasn't always magical, and sometimes it was downright tragic. But it was a very touching to experience John's memories, his successes and his mistakes, in an attempt to guide him to his dream of seeing the moon. This isn't action packed or heavy on the gameplay, it's more like playing an interactive movie or reading a good book, so if that type of thing is up your alley, I would highly recommend it. I very much enjoyed my time spent with To The Moon.

Verdict:
LIKED IT A LOT

[Karifean]

Sounds like something worth buying.

throwing plants at zombies

Yep, sold.

[Psychotic]

Oh yeah I love To The Moon, the twist is really smurfing sad.

[Fynn]

I had a blast playing To The Moon together with my wife. I wish more games put as much effort into their stories and characaters