Link: http://store.steampowered.com/app/203810/

Overview: Less of a game, more of an experience, yet a very short one. An amazing experience, though the price is a little too high for the content included.

Back in 2008, Dear Esther was released as free source engine mod, and it was different from many other mods at the time. For one the game (of you can call it that) focuses primarily on visuals and story telling, rather than any real gameplay you’d expect, like aims/goals, puzzles, action, etc. An in fact is just an experience where you can only look at the environment around you. 4 years on, and 2 years in development, it’s been given a makeover by former DICE employee Robert Briscoe, and boy as he done a good job.

I have never played the original Dear Esther mod (since I hadn’t even heard of it until recently), but since hearing about this retail release I was intrigued since I really do enjoy “art games“, the prime example being Tale of Tales “The Path“.

Dear Esther focuses on detailed visuals, and a focused narrative (with a narrator), as you wander through a fairly linear landscape and piece together who you are, what has happened, and what you’re actually doing on this island. However the linear nature probably works to the advantage of the game.

The narrative is well written, although slightly confusing at times, you can usually piece together what is actually going on. Is it a ghost story?… Yes and No. But what you do piece together is an overwheming sense of unhappiness by the narrator as he blurts out dialog throughout the walk. On the island as you trudge through it you’re left with an overwhelming sense of loneliness, it is devoid of any other humans, and even birds/animals are few and far between, all of this plays into an almost sense of abandonment as if the narrator has abandoned himself, or others have abandoned the narrator. Does it work? I think so.

Robert Briscoe has pushed the limits of the Source engine to its maximum, essentially creating the most beautiful Source game I’ve seen in a while. Everything from the cliffs, to the hills, the foliage, the sparse buildings, and the cave. Oh man is the cave beautiful! Also things to explore are objects scattered around the environment, although you cannot interact with them, they do clearly add to the surreal nature of the island.

The sound takes and music takes on a very minimalistic approach which works in favour of the experience you have. It really showcases the loneliness and the sense of abandonment on the island. I recommend playing with a headset and in a darkened room to get the best experience possible.

Although spread over 4 chapters/segments, you can barely notice moving from one to the next, the only thing telling you is a loading screen. This brings me on to the main faults I have with the game, first it is incredibly slow-moving, literally, your character is trudging along at a slow pace (although this is explained why when you start piecing together the story).

Next, and the most major complaint I have is that it is incredibly, incredibly short, it took me just over an hour to reach the finale, especially when you mix the factor of the price of the game into it. Right now it is £6.99 ($9.99) on the Steam store, and for an hour to two hour-long game/experience/whatever, I really do think that is a bit to steep, especially since I don’t exactly see any major replay value to the game other than finding areas I did not visit or to piece the story together completely.

This is because I usually think of games and £1 per hour as being worth the cost, although one could also look at is as being the same price for a movie which especially with the more recent ones I’ve seen Dear Esther is much better.  However I would see no reason it not recommending it when it does go on sale at 1/2 the price or even lower.

Final Thoughts

Overall it was a truly spectacular experience if not a game, with a great narrative and hints of a very sad, unhappy, and lonely story beneath. I would wholeheartedly recommend this IF the price was lower, right now I believe that it is potentially too steep to warrant an hour long experience.

Summary

Pros:

- Amazing graphics pushing the Source engine to its limit.

- Great narrative, with very good voice acting

- More of an experience, less of a game.

- Great minimalistic soundtrack

Cons:

- Too short

- Walking at a slow pace

- Slightly confusing at times

Roundup:

Graphics: 9/10

Audio: 8/10

Narrative: 8/10

Replay Value: 3/10

Overall:

Without a factor for price: 8/10.

With a factor of price: 6/10

Marisa down… Just About.

Marisa… as much as I love you, you can’t beat the Tengu!

Game: 東方花映塚　～ Phantasmagoria of Flower View

Aya Shameimaru (Me – Left) vs Marisa Kirisame (Lunatic CPU – Right)

Wow. Marisa was pretty difficult.

Marisa’s EX attacks and her Level 4 lasers can completely limit off sections of the screen which force you into a narrow strip, and this doesn’t combine well with Aya’s speed meaning a single movement on my behalf could meant fried crow for dinner.

Marisa is also amazing at building up charge and combo, which means a whole lot of level 2 and 3 spamming by her, though (luckily) for me the AI doesn’t do that as much, this is exactly why I love playing Marisa against humans, or if I’m going up against a high score. I was playing a bit retarded at times (as I have done in the other 2 videos as well >.>) but managed to regain my composure when under fire, really it’s all about trusting your hitbox.

1st round lost by a bit. On the 2nd and 3rd I managed to win, barely. This makes it one of the most exciting matches I’ve played in a while!

Since I recorded this match right after I lost to Marisa, we don’t start off on equal score, but managed to get it back by the end.

And those bullets… So. Many. Bullets.

Also I am looking for people to do some netplay with, add me on steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/ColdLink

Video quality stuttering due to a problem between FRAPS and by HDD, I’ll try to sort that out, but it looks like a new HDD is the best option

I also do very impromptu live streams @ http://www.twitch.tv/coldlink, so follow me there or on my twitter which is accessed from the twitter icon in the header!

Other Runs I’ve done: Bullets and Bullets

Next Up: The Perfect and Elegant Maid & The Half-human Half-phantom and Half-baked

Man… finding an image with just Aya and Marisa proved difficult… but hey this one is pretty awesome, if only I knew who the artist was -

[Sankaku Channel]

Should make this into a series where I fight all the characters!

Again Aya = Win against CPU

Game: 東方花映塚　～ Phantasmagoria of Flower View

Aya Shameimaru (Me – Left) vs Reimu Hakurei (Lunatic CPU – Right)

Compared to Shikieki, Reimu was a walk in the park.

I had taken two recordings of when I beat her, however decided only to keep the second, due to the fact that it was more exciting.Partly because I was playing retarded, and then in round 3 was very, very tense! Round 1 – Complete failure, didn’t read bullets, wasnt expecting to win since I’d already done a good run. Round 2 – Much better, actually started reading bullets better. Round 3 – Failed again… until I was down to 1/2 health, then I started playing better (or the CPU started playing worse).

And those bullets… So. Many. Bullets. Reimu’s attacks are great at creating walls to limit your movement.

Also I am looking for people to do some netplay with, add me on steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/ColdLink

Video quality stuttering due to a problem between FRAPS and by HDD, i’ll try and sort that out, but it looks like a new HDD is the best option

Marisa run coming soon… she’s a bit more difficult

I also do very inpromptu live streams @ http://www.twitch.tv/coldlink, so follow me there or on my twitter which can be accessed from the twitter icon in the header!

Obligatory Image :3

[pixiv]

Time to try Ultra Mode hack?

Man have I been playing ALOT of Touhou recently, especially Touhou 9: Phantagasmoria of Flower View. All I can say is:

Aya = Win against CPU.

Computer seems to be bad at reading her EX attack…

Though still took me countless attempts to do this. Lunatic AI is just plain unfair!

And those bullets… So. Many. Bullets.

First round I took a beating. Though the second and third I was honestly suprised I won!

Also looking for people to do some netplay with in Touhou 9, add me on steam and we can sort something out: http://steamcommunity.com/id/ColdLink

Video quality not amazing, but Youtube doesn’t do 60fps, and artefacting/blurring due to way to fast movement!

[pixiv]

Fight Against SOPA/PIPA & Protect the Interweb: americancensorship.org

Vote is happening on the 24th January 2012!

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Even if you’re not in America (Like Me!)

We’ll all be left affected if it passes

And we might be left in DESPAIR:

From Star Wars: The Old Republic. Planet: Corellia

So what is Lost at Infinity?

Well simply put, I decided to make a post which would be a massive of ideas, thoughts, and content, both IRL and digital, shoved into a single point, i.e Infinity, a place which holds everything, but is also extremely small or large at the scale you look at it. Also a place where I focus on more my life and what affects me.

So far its been around 2 months since I have been at university and it has been fairly enjoyable, so far at least.

One thing I didn’t expect was how hard it was actually going to be, which is probably the main reason I had put blogging on hold.

Although I am still watching (albeit slowly), Guilty Crown, and Persona 4: The Animation, though the weekly updates on each one, although not too difficult, took too long to write-up, again making that a second priority. However I am enjoying them both even if I have only seen around 4 episodes of each so far, I guess christmas is coming up, which should give me time to catch up on them, and write-up a season review on both

Other than there has been one other major reason I haven’t been around. Skyrim.

Skyrim is possibly the only game this entire year which I was actually looking forward too, and I got to say I am impressed with it, so far I’ve palyed with it for around 80 hours, and even though I have completed the main quest, there are a lot of side missions to do, as well as many, many places I  havent explored yet. It truly combines the wonder of Morrowind, with the improved gameplay of Oblivion. Yes it has its fair share of problems, such as the horrible PC UI, but you can look past that and play the game for what it is, a fully open world RPG.

Also recently the “full” version of Minecraft has been released, and have played some of that, I’ve also been slowly setting up a server which will so be open to everyone without a white list, being used as a private server with friends until I can get the mods installed which will stop unfair play. Look out for a post on that in the near future when that is sorted out and tested.

As you may already know, I am currently studying Physics at the University of Sussex. Sussex is an extremely beautiful place, and the university is just outside of Brighton, giving the best of the countryside and city in one place. Physics as well is also a truly wonderful subject, difficult, but extremely enjoyable and rewarding (especially after spending 12 hours on a single problem sheet, and then getting it right after ).

Next week is extremely busy, I have a few exams, more deadlines, a presentation (which I’ll put up on here after), so a busy schedule ahead, though only for 2 more weeks until christmas holidays begin

Anyway that’s all I have time for, no pictures (for now), so fairly plain and dull, but probably won’t be like that in the future…

Well the guys over at MinutePhysics have great videos explaining really complex stuff really easily and under one minute!!!

Check them out, some videos below

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Anime Related Posts delayed… I’ve been busy at University doing some of the stuff in the videos above!

So we have our second victim… Yousuke’s Crush, Saki Konishi

I gotta say Igor is even creepier in the anime..

I love how the OP shows each character’s Arcana… in this case for Chie it is the Chariot

How can you not resist… :3

Yuu’s power is different to other characters since he has the “wildcard” ability, which allows him access to the velvet room to fuse together new persona (personi?) as well as being able to switch between them as well, though not sure how much of that we’ll actually see.

A wild ultra-creep appears..

..Yukiko uses unimpressed. It’s super effective…

Wild ultra-creep runs away.

It’s nice to see all the weird teachers are here..

I gotta feel sorry for the guy..

Hold the rope will you..

Oh wait… it snapped

Just like the game, nothing seems to phase our main character, as Yousuke also points out, whether is awakening to new, awesome powers, or finding that a bear has nothing inside of it (yet ). Again the episode is full of awesome references like the status screen this time showing bravery up a rank

Glasses = Win

Although the story is feeling a bit rushed, we’re getting the first bits of character development this time, and the focus is on Yousuke.

Or should I say Yousuke and Shadow Yousuke!

“I am a Shadow, the true self.”

The shadow selves play a very important role in ‘unlocking’ the person’s persona, since they are a manifestations of one’s true feeling, a part of ourself we know exists yet doesn’t want to accept, the more you reject the more power the shadow gets. Essentially meaning awesome fight ensues:

Shadow Yousuke… evolved

I gotta say that the fight scenes in the anime are pretty awesome with the persona on shadow fighting, though I gotta say I wished that they had stuck to the fighting style in the game which involved the characters fighting the shadows and backed up by their persona when needed, this would have added a better element in IMO.

After some lengthy bantering (more so that in the game) Yousuke finally accepts the shadow as himself, in the process unlocking his persona Jiraya. His arcana? The Magician.

I swear Chie is much cuter in the anime than in-game… and being voiced by Yui Horie is a double win!

The Yousuke Hanamura social link rank up. Level 1. Yousuke will now take a mortal blow for you in battle (Or something like that)

Yukiko looks great in a kimono…

… and Yuu approves (as do I)

See You Next Week!!!

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I’ve decided to use a text lite approach in writing these posts since its much more enjoyable to look at images that read walls of text, I’ve also tried to keep it spoiler-lite as well and not try to narrate the story (what’s the episode for otherwise), trying to keep it a summary instead.

In other news no Guilty Crown yet since no “good” subs yet, so that’ll probably be delayed until tomorrow at the latest (hopefully). I’ve also picked up Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai, I probably won’t blog that weekly, but will do a first impressions episode at around the episode 4-5 mark (3 weeks at the least).

]]> http://coldlink.wordpress.com/2011/10/14/backside-of-the-tv-persona-4-the-animation-episode-2/feed/ 1 coldlink p4_02_02 p4_02_04 p4_02_01 p4_02_03 p4_02_05 p4_02_06 p4_02_08 p4_02_07 p4_02_09 p4_02_10 p4_02_11 p4_02_12 p4_02_13 p4_02_28 p4_02_14 p4_02_15 p4_02_16 p4_02_17 p4_02_18 p4_02_19 p4_02_20 p4_02_21 p4_02_22 p4_02_23 jiraya p4_02_24 p4_02_25 p4_02_26 p4_02_27 http://coldlink.wordpress.com/2011/10/12/welcome-to-the-velvet-room-persona-4-the-animation-episode-1/ http://coldlink.wordpress.com/2011/10/12/welcome-to-the-velvet-room-persona-4-the-animation-episode-1/#comments Wed, 12 Oct 2011 17:49:55 +0000 ColdLink http://coldlink.wordpress.com/?p=957 ]]> [You’re myself, I’m yourself]

And so the journey begins…

Let me say that judging by this first episode it seems the show will probably stay in line with the original game, however fitting a roughly 50+ hour-long game into the space of around 24 episodes is still no easy feat, and it can already be seen that a few things are missing and some unexplained these are fairly minor with the episode covering much of the major points well in the space of 24-mins.

Let me also say that the references included from the game although a new watcher won’t recognise, are the fanboys dream. More on that later.

Our story begins with our main character Yuu Narukami awakening in the Velvet Room, where we are introduced to two very important characters, first is Igor, second is Margaret, whom we’ll find more about over the coming episodes.

Yuu Narukami

There we arrive in Inaba where we meet his detective uncle Ryotaro Dojima and cousin Nanako Dojima whom he’ll be staying with for the course of the 1 year time span. From that day everything changes.

Dojima

Nanako :3

In the space of 24 mins we’re introduced to the mysterious murders, the midnight channel, the “TV” world, and the introduction to the personas.

Rise in the poster…

The handshake which changes the world…

I see dead people…

At the same time we’re introduced to the more “light-hearted” elements of the series which is the school life and general day-to-day activities, where we meet classmates and future party members, Chie Satonaka, Yukiko Amagi, and Yousuke Hanamura, and also our lovable teddy “Kuma”.

Welcome to home room w/ The “Moron King” or “Morokin”

Chie

Yousuke

Yukiko = <3

KUUUMMMMAA!!!

By the end with the first encounter with the shadows, and the awakening of Izanagi, it was petty awesome… and hopefully more next time as well

The first victim…

Welcome to the midnight channel..

Watching TV at night gives you migraines!

O.o

What I really enjoyed was the references that only Persona players would have got, firstly the opening music for this episode “Pursuing my True Self” is also the opening to the game, then we have the background music most of which (if not all were from the game.

This picture cannot be explained…

Calender Transition = Win

Status Transition = Double Win

Other references include the emoticons, and the calender transition screen as well as the status screen as well.

Inside the TV

A wild shadow appears…

For those who have a glasses fetish

Yuu’s character was also pretty well done, I wouldn’t know how they would play him since he silent in the game and you can choose much of his dialouge when you get to do so, however I think they got the point between quiet protagnist and talking protagonist just about right

If my memory serves me correct these are Lying Hableries

Tongue Raped?

Awakening…

Izanagi..

Oh yes.. they included the close-ups..

Izanagi uses Zio… it’s super effective. Wild Lying Hablerie fainted.

See you next time.

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The post is extremely late and rushed, with the writing  quality not as high as I’d like it to have been, however I won’t be able to make it much better right now.

Hopefully next episode I will have more time to spend, since I was back home at the weekend with not much time on my hands to write it up then, and Monday and Tuesday I was bogged down with university work >.<

PS… Guilty Crown and Persona 4 on Friday evening hopefully