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Natural 20 posted:A video game... of the year! "Stunned" was a good way to put it. I can't believe this was considered "GAME OF THE YEAR" by anybody. You can have games with forgivable flaws and all, sure, but the story being that awkward and poorly delivered really should've been enough to bring it down and let something else claim the title. Even though everything after the elephant was an improvement, the ending doesn't make up for the low points at all imo. Instead of an emotional high note or anything satisfying to look like things are actually getting better, Rose is just like "okay."  and it creeps me the hell out, things are still deeply wrong here, that kid needs 5 years of therapy yesterday
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Mar 26, 2022 02:58
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| # ? Apr 29, 2024 14:52 |
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I think this game could use a dark side ending option. May suddenly switches to singing death metal during the grand finale, the two burn The Book of Love in one of the worst homages ever (Cody laughs and exclaims "I bet Dr. Hakim did NOT SEE this coming!), and they finally wind up on trial for a string of mad crimes. Close with them objecting to a charge of conspiracy to defraud the government: "IT'S NOT A CONSPIRACY, IT'S COL-LAB-O-RAY-SHUHHHHN!" They totally forget they have a kid during this.
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Mar 26, 2022 04:44
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"You can find lots of treasures in the trash," said the developers when they needed a story to go along with all these really cool set pieces and gameplay mechanics. 100% better game with a couple who were trying-ish to save a marriage without the kid. No "magic note" mcguffin to drive the second half, but instead the major issues they see with each other generate the first half's set pieces. May never finishes projects around the house, leading to the shed level. Maybe Cody is "Too much of a child" so the kid's room set pieces spring up through the bickering. Have the elephant in the room be a metaphor for them ripping each others dreams apart. Then show some drat remorse for hurting each other, Book does Couple's Therapy, and they either do or don't stay together at the end. Terrible writing with some really fantastic game design.
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Mar 26, 2022 06:30
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I still agree with the goon who posted earlier that this game would be 100% better without Rose and all the issues attached to her. But even without that, the central message here is garbage. May and Cody have gone back to the early dating days of their relationship, discovering new interests and spending more time together, of course they're feeling better towards each other. That doesn't magically fix any of the reasons they're getting divorced in the first place. This whole cycle is just going to repeat again in a year. Except maybe by then Rose will be so messed up she summons a demon.
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Mar 26, 2022 09:48
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That sure was a video game
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Mar 26, 2022 17:34
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Black Robe posted:Except maybe by then Rose will be so messed up she summons a demon. You sure the book wasn't one already? But  on your post.Now let's forget this was ever a thing with Soma Cruz's terrible, horrible, no good very bad day.
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Mar 26, 2022 18:23
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I am having serious trouble remembering any other game with such a serious quality disconnect between story and gameplay, nevermind one that had good gameplay and abysmal story. Even the very start of video games just had paper-thin story rather than such atrocious and voluminous garbage. It feels so horrendously wasted to have the fantastic breadth of co-op gameplay ideas present in this game simply vomited over by this drek. This poo poo could have been another Portal if it had been handled better, or frankly with any care at all. Heckin' mad at video games. 
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Mar 26, 2022 19:21
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I finally got around to watching this (sorry, I've been very busy) and... ugh. I don't see what all the fuss was about, honestly. I find this game utterly insufferable, and it's kind of shocking to me how effectively the awful writing torpedoes all of the genuinely good ideas (in terms of gameplay and level design) that were there. Take that, anyone who says gameplay is the only thing that matters! I'm genuinely curious, did it feel different when playing it? Were there enough gaps between the story moments for the gameplay to shine and drive the bad writing out of your minds? From watching it in LP form it's hard for me to tell if or how often it manages to get out of its own way. I agree with all of the suggestions that cutting out Rose would solve quite a lot of the issues, if this was just a "couple reconnects after relationship has started growing stale and learns to resolve the petty day-to-day conflicts" it would have worked a lot better and the tone of Awful Book's advice would probably have worked better. (Bonding through their dislike of the lovely advice and condescension also works as a way for them to reconnect, a common enemy can absolutely build solidarity.) All that said, put me down as another baffled that this won Game of the Year ("Oscar bait game writing" felt pretty apt, that was a great turn of phrase). Maybe it rode the height of the asymmetrical multiplayer trend? (It does seem like a genuinely good example of design as far as that goes.)
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Mar 28, 2022 13:58
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Explopyro posted:I finally got around to watching this (sorry, I've been very busy) and... ugh. I don't see what all the fuss was about, honestly. I find this game utterly insufferable, and it's kind of shocking to me how effectively the awful writing torpedoes all of the genuinely good ideas (in terms of gameplay and level design) that were there. Take that, anyone who says gameplay is the only thing that matters! Gameplay is the only thing that truly matters in a game. Unless it's like Metal Gear where you're there for the Kojima insanity, not any brilliant gameplay. Or Shadow of the Colossus, or Ico. I think I lost my point somewhere. Anyways, in my opinion what matters depends on where the focus is; and where the focus is presented to be. Let's take Diablo 2 vs Diablo 3. The former had an excuse plot with like 10 minutes total of cutscenes, quest text that amounted to here there be demons go kill them, and decent to good gameplay. It was clear the story was an afterthought, so who cared about it; also the very little we had mostly made sense. The latter had the same gameplay (until it fell apart in hell difficulty, although I hear it's been fixed since launch), and a similarly excuse plot. Except said plot was in your face, continuously, and it didn't loving shut up. It had a ratio to one good* plot beat to, uh, a LOT of completely stupid nonsensical ones. And again, it never shut up. It really ruined the overall game experience because it was clear that unlike 2, the game wanted the players to take the story seriously, to feel the pathos and the writing. So we did and guess what it sucked. *end of act 2: Azmodan: "you fell for my disguise and now I have you trapped" PC: "I knew from the start it was you and now your real body is in range for a boss fight" boss fight happens, Azmodan dies, party proceeds to act 3. So for this game? The writing is clearly meant to be an intended part of the experience. The writers are proud of the writing. But it sucks so much it drags everything down by a lot. E: on the other side compared to Metal Gear is Devil May Cry (not that DmC abomination) or Bayonetta. Where the gameplay is  and the plot is "we know you're not here for this so just take a breather for a couple minutes, shut off your brain and enjoy the stupid spectacle while you recover for next chapter"
Omobono fucked around with this message at 18:08 on Mar 28, 2022 |
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Mar 28, 2022 17:59
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Explopyro posted:I'm genuinely curious, did it feel different when playing it? Were there enough gaps between the story moments for the gameplay to shine and drive the bad writing out of your minds? From watching it in LP form it's hard for me to tell if or how often it manages to get out of its own way. The game was really fun to play, we discussed it in the videos but most of the setpieces were enjoyable and the platforming itself felt relatively tight. I was always aware of the story in the back of my mind but largely once Cutie had happened it was something that we commented on in the moment as just a justification for the next set piece. I think ultimately a lot of the writing didn't really bother us because Tea and I just enjoy playing games with each other. It's hard to get upset about that stuff when you just tend to have fun together anyway. To an extent I think that actually led to fewer particularly memey moments as we played. We're a good team as things go and I can't actually recall us ever having an argument about anything.
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Mar 29, 2022 17:05
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| # ? Apr 29, 2024 14:52 |
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Just finished this LP, I was real far behind. For a while after the toy room I thought that the plot was going to do a subversion where it turns out you can't save a marriage with cool platforming setpieces and some pithy catchphrases about "CO-LAB-BOR-RAY-SHUN" and telling a couple how they've lost their passion, especially when Cody and May didn't seem to be slowing down in their bickering and sniping at each other. It would have fit with the devs' other game, A Way Out, which had a twist ending. But no, as the game went on and the bickering mostly vanished magically around the garden episode, it became clear that no, they were playing everything completely straight. Game does look fun to play though. Even if Tea's laptop was about to actually become a toaster several times.
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Apr 14, 2022 08:12
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