Some other indie games I've played

[olivermoss]

Iiiii have three braincells today because I was up late last night thinking I was so close to the ending of one of these...

Both are games I've seen recced a lot, but the actual game not talked about much

* Return of the Obra Dinn
This is an interesting puzzle game with a weird aesthetic. It's by Lucas Pope who makes weird experimental indie games that gain cult followings. It's very simple and stripped down and also complicated. The design is very lean. It's like he made the most stripped down version of the game possible to still ship the core concept and it's a masterwork in that regard.

However, the core gameplay loop doesn't work for me. It took me a bit to figure it out because I went in blind. Everyone says this is a game to go in blind on, so I did. However, if I was going to make a serious go at solving this I would actually print out some of the pages of the book the player character carries for reference. I can't memorize pixelated faced while flipping through a complicated bookmarking system in the book. I would also legit take cell phone pics of the screen at times.

I may actually do that someday. I have solved sections of the plot and would be interesting in completing it. It is a project I can't take on now, but am tucking aside for if I want a project like that.

* I Was A Teenage Exocolonist. Man, if ever a game should get an award for me hearing about it and hearing about it, but noooo one seems to talk to talk about specifics, this might win. What little I thought I knew about the game turned out to be not correct. I had a suspicion that this game would annoy me in certain specific ways, and I was right about that. But I pushed through those parts out of curiosity.

Also, I am pretending that there aren't tens of thousands of games out there I could buy. I am pretending only my library exists. It's a different approach, esp to indie games, to pretend like there aren't tens of thousands of options and maybe just keep browsing... It's easier to get really engaged in a game if you aren't thinking about finding your perfect game and just focus on what is in front of you.



This game is unusual. Choices make impacts. Also, I had reactions to things in the story that I typically do not have in games. It's very interesting how the narrative is handled.

One problem is that if you really want to engage with the game and not just do a walk through, the game expects you to play multiple times. There are very few maps and all of the maps have a very limited number of events. You have to replay certain maps a lot to advance certain parts of the plot. It's like the problem people had with Dragon Age 2, but a lot worse.

Admittedly, I was looking forward to playing a game with a romance system and thought sexytimes were a thing and they are sort of? But not how I expected. Also, you can't talk to the other teens about what is really going on except for one and also dialogue options are very limited with most LIs. Basically, I wound up feeling like my character was isolated from the romance option I was after and I think that would be the case with most or all.

I had some reactions to things in this game that were very ... let's say mercenary. I am typically a goodie-two-shoes in games. This game caused very nihilist reactions in me, and I think that's by design. The moral situation is complicated.

I am curious about a few specific things about the game and possible plot branches. But I don't want to spoil anything and I don't to cycle through new games with more info, especially since you can't keep perks or gear.

Replays would mean dozens of trips to the far side of The Wresting Ridges, having to deal with the player character being ten again, dealing the with the player character and friends having the start of puberty/periods again.... some people really vibe on this slow, tender, slice of life stuff involving teenage years but I am NOT one of them. Pastels and music that sounds like a music box and... no I do not vibe with this.

Each level is a year of your life and you're only an adult for like 10% of the game.

I am glad I played what I did. The narrative is really complex and, again, I was not expecting the reactions I had or the underlying bleakness. I am really curious if it's at all feasible to figure certain things out in the first play through, if any of the romances go anywhere.

Watching characters stuck in a time loop is interesting and funny. Being a character stuck in a time loop is different... but time loop game play has been a big thing in the past few years. Also, people love this game. It is popular.

anyway, tl:dr obviously this game got to me in ways because I want to babble about it, but also am very conflicted about it in a few ways. I also found it absording even though some aspects deeply annoy me and now I've got no brain cells due to lack of sleep.

Comments

[eglantiere]

don't know if it'll be useful for you re: things that annoy you, but a good way to play out a variety of choices without replaying from scratch again is to get a nice balanced save by the point Helios arrives (save whoever you want to save, put enough points into exploration, level your charisma up a bit, give regular gifts to everybody) and then just really focus your each five-year playthrough on whatever character or ending you're chasing.

[olivermoss]

Yeah, that is a good way to power through stuff. I'd probably need a guide so I would be sure of what's scripted and what's not. I don't know, I am more interested in digging into the lore and possibilities and the intended gameplay. I am interested in the group the initial colonists belonged to, they seem possibly creepy to me.

I finally watched the trailer, I hadn't, and it implied a time loop in the trailer. So, yeah, repeat playthroughs is the intended system.

[mistressofmuses]

I really love some time loops, but one that extends over that long a time period sounds... weird to me. Though I can potentially see the appeal, depending on how it's handled.
Much like I can understand the appeal of replaying to unlock more aspects of something that can't all be seen in one playthrough... but it depends a lot on how the game itself handles that, as well as how annoying it actually is to go back through it repeatedly!

There are SO many indie game options out there... I hear about so few of them, and even that super limited number seems near overwhelming. But I think that's a really good idea, in terms of just focusing on ones you have and such... I can see how it would be easy to quest for the perfect option, and therefore nope out of a lot of things super quickly because they AREN'T the perfect game for you... when trying to engage with the game despite that might wind up being more enjoyable in the long run. (Even if they still aren't the perfect game for you.) If that makes sense, lol. I may be low on brain cells today, too.

[olivermoss]

I'm an MMO player so I obviously am down with replaying content. But, I am also used to a lot of quality of life features for that which let me skip cutscenes, skip right to what I want to be doing.

Honestly, the worst part about being an MMO player is that I'm playing a game with ten years of polish in terms of quality of life features, optimizing UI, cleaning up rough bits like unclear wording, etc.

I am glad I played what I did of Exocolonist. I did a bit of a new loop and was just like nope, not happening. And for Obra Dinn it was like, there have been times in my life when I would have loved a project like this. That time is not now.

There is amazing stuff out there. Part of why I am playing more is because Inscryption was So Good and I am kind of chasing that a little. But, even though I haven't found that I am glad I played Unavowed.

What's really helped for me is that some streamers I follow do variety gaming, so I am somewhat aware of other games. That is how I found Inscryption and Phasmophobia. That is also how I am aware of Vampire Survivor which is blowing up huge right now, even if I have 0 interest in playing it. Also, Riftbreaker is a super cool hybrid of genres, but again I enjoy knowing about it from watching Mukluk a bit and am not going to buy.

[mistressofmuses]

That's a super good point, about the quality of life features that make that replaying much easier. (My favorite timeloop/multiple timeline games are the first two Zero Escape games, but the first one did NOT have a lot of those features, and it can be a drag at times. By the second one they had introduced a lot of those things that make it easier, like dialogue you can fast-forward through but will stop if there's a part you haven't gotten before, and ways to skip whole sections if there's nothing new to do, and it is SUCH a relief.)

A lot of indie games don't have the benefit of that sort of longevity that lends itself to those improvements for the player experience.

I should find some letsplays or the like for some of these, just because I really do enjoy knowing what's going on in the indie game sphere! Especially with how many really cool things have come out in the last few years, and how much choice there really is now! ...it's just a bummer knowing that even really cool ones are unplayable for me, at least for the time being. (Baby steps - maybe someday I'll have a computer that works for games, ha.)

[olivermoss]

I'm sorry there is so much you can't play. That is really frustrating. Let's Plays can be good. I use them sometimes and also, obviously, I watch people play on twitch.

It's more common now for indie games to get the sort of polish they need to not randomly waste of few hours of your time. I keep wanting to take another stab at Scarlet Hollow, but me misjudging one response borked my playthrough and, last I checked, you can't manage your own saves. The game saves for you. Worrying that you might misinterpret a single line of writing is the wrong type of tension while playing. This is why I wind up watching some games instead of playing them.

[mistressofmuses]

Yeah, it's a bummer. Someday I'll be able to! Or I'll just rely on Let's Plays, ha.

Very true - as the indie game field has gotten a lot more crowded, I think people have started putting a bit more polish on a lot of the games. Plus there's likely just more awareness about that BEING a potential pitfall.

Oh jeez, that sounds HORRIBLY frustrating. That is definitely not the kind of tension I want - I'm fine with having to figure things out, but being unable to go back (either in-game or by reloading a save) to fix something or try again because I clicked the wrong button or picked the wrong dialogue option is NOT a fun experience IMO.

[olivermoss]

Also, the market is pretty strong for indie to mid level games, and companies have experience from making multiple. That helps a lot. Daniel Mullins games have come a looong way in terms of polish.

[mistressofmuses]

That's a very good point as well! Even if some particular games don't get patches or changes to improve them, the people who create them DO benefit from knowledge of what worked well or didn't, both for their games and other indie games. That absolutely has led to games mostly improving in the field, I'm sure.