I finally started 3 Minutes to Midnight, and so far it’s exceeding my expectations. It’s funny, it’s mysterious, and the puzzles (so far) are elaborate enough to feel satisfying, but still easy enough (mostly by keeping the number of inventory items to the absolute minimum) to not overly impede the flow of the game.
One of the advertised features, multiple solutions to puzzles, turned out a bit different than expected: it feels more like the game allows messing up the intended solution, and then provides an alternative way to progress (but I fear not without implications). I came across two of those, and both times I chose to reload instead of sticking with the consequences (if any). Which is made easy by an abundance of auto-saves.
It’s perhaps a bit too early to jump to conclusions, but what I’ve seen so far puts it in the same ballpark as the average Daedalic adventure. The same level of absurdity and mischief, but none of the wow-moments (yet).
I finished “Emio: The Smiling Man” some time ago, and I’m a bit surprised I didn’t rant about it on here since then. It’s typical of the Famicom Detective Club series (and like any other PnC / visual novel, really) in that the logic can be confounding at times, and there are points when you’ll be randomly going through all the options, hoping to stumble on the solution. I think “Emio” is slightly better than previous FDC titles in that regard in that it highlights key words to hint at what you should do next, but those “hints” can still be really vague or subtle. (Although if you are really, REALLY against ANY kind of hints, there is an option in the settings to turn off highlighted text.)
I’d love for others to play it and share their reactions. Probably goes without saying that it’s critical you don’t spoil yourself about the game in ANY way – one absolutely huge part of the experience for me was not knowing what to expect, story or otherwise.
Completed 3 Minutes to Midnight and I think that initial assessment still holds. It’s an AA-sized adventure with decent graphics, quality voice acting, fair puzzles and hardly any mini-games (all of which can be skipped). It also offers some room for experimentation, for those feeling the ambition to unlock all the possible endings (5). I have a pretty good hunch on how to get the fourth, but there are a lot of steps I missed in order to get the first three:
Also, no idea what that broken heart in chapter 2.2 signifies, or how to avoid it.
All things considered, it’s a game that goes above and beyond what would be strictly necessary, but never quite manages to produce anything truly memorable. In part, I think it’s due to how the puzzles are integrated with the story-telling: there’s no unexpected outcome of any puzzle, nothing that acts as a catalyst for events or steers the plot into an unforeseen direction. It’s more like a task list: here’s the situation, there’s the goal, now go out and tick those boxes. There is even a long flashback sequence that would have been a great opportunity to set up all the things to come, but instead all the puzzling feels tangential to the main plot line, or is a mere reaction to things completely outside the player’s control. In the end, it feels a bit like the sum of its parts is somehow less than all the parts on their own.
I’d still recommend it, if you want to feel clever for solving the puzzles, and especially if you have the desire to see all the different endings. But it’s not like you miss out in case you have better things to do.
Played Caravan SandWitch, another one of those small and stylish open world exploration games. Not quite in the same league as Sable (or Heaven’s Vault, or Paradise Killer), as it is a lot more linear, with little else to discover in terms of locations and backstory than what it spoon-feeds players as part of the main “quest” and side activities. Still, cruising around in the Van was fun, and the game is over before it gets boring. All in all a relaxing experience and a treat for the eyes.
Finished both of them. The Critter Chronicles was by far the more enjoyable of the two. Both games took me about 15 hours each to finish, but I had to push through on the Lost Crown the last couple of days. Horror is not my thing, clearly. I suspect my launchbox did not add up all the play time correctly, because it felt more 30 to 40 hours to struggle through (21 sessions over 6 weeks - about 2 hours on average), partly because of the extremely slow walking and non-skippable dialog. Or perhaps because I alt-tabbed out of the game to look up hints to not have to wander around aimlessly, the play time counter paused.
I also played through the booze of Monkey Island, which is a much shorter game. It made me realize I forgot almost everything about Escape from MI.
And I started Candle. I don’t think I’ll finish that still in 2024 though - it’s pretty but pretty hard.
Finished Candle on New Year’s Day. It has some really unfair puzzles and unclear doors/places that are hidden from sight- as everything is drawn with the same high quality that these do not stand out. Despite that it was a very enjoyable experience. I admit to having consulted a walkthrough whenever I got stuck for too long (5 to 10 minutes) with no clue what to do, because I wanted to enjoy the scenery and the story (more so than the puzzles).
If only 2024 was a leap year I could have finished it still in… oh wait.
Someone start a new thread!
I started Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. After two hours in, I’m really enjoying the leisurely pace of this game. Might be due to me not being able to handle a controller, but the game is quite forgiving on default settings. The developer probably knows its target audience
It’s typical of the Famicom Detective Club series (and like any other PnC / visual novel, really) in that the logic can be confounding at times, and there are points when you’ll be randomly going through all the options, hoping to stumble on the solution. I think “Emio” is slightly better than previous FDC titles in that regard in that it highlights key words to hint at what you should do next, but those “hints” can still be really vague or subtle. (Although if you are really, REALLY against ANY kind of hints, there is an option in the settings to turn off highlighted text.)
