Dust: A Tale of Perseverance

Book of Shadows got me thinking about digital-download games and the interesting avenues they open up.  They give game publishers like XSEED a chance to deliver games like Corpse Party – games that might not have a market sitting on a Gamestop shelf.  They also give game developers a chance to try and create something truly unique – both groups benefitting from the (seemingly) reduced overhead of a digital distribution outlet.

One digital download game first came to my attention about a year back, when I heard the story of an artist who had won Microsoft’s Dream.Build.Play with his prototype game that he made while teaching himself to program.  From what I heard, this developer was almost single-handedly doing the art, programming, and writing on the full game.  I looked up a video of the prototype and was blown away, both as a gamer and an aspiring developer.  However, I didn’t hear anything on that game until it hit the XBLA store (complete with a Toonami review) at the tail end of last summer.

Copyright Humble Hearts/Dean Dodrill

Excitement over a game’s “Making Of” story can only carry it so far.  Dust: An Elysian Tail lives up to its creative roots.  The game follows an amnesiac protagonist named Dust, his talking sword, and the sword’s chatty guardian Fidget.  Dust uses his blade and his fierce skills to help people and fend off an evil general, all while searching for his memory.  The game’s premise may not sound like it’s breaking any new ground, but a few interesting plot twists, endearing characters, and reasonable pacing keep the game fresh.

For those more concerned about challenging and engaging gameplay, you won’t be disappointed.  Dust is a 2D beat-em-up/RPG hybrid with visual novel-style cutscenes for good measure.  Each area is vast and full of places to explore.  The enemies are challenging and plentiful, with the game’s level-up system allowing for ample opportunity to prepare your character for any challenge.  Battling and leveling were enjoyable necessities.  Dust and his flying accomplice Fidget will also gain special skills and combination attacks that can be used to deal with larger groups of enemies. And there will be large swarms of enemies, at times flooding the screen.

Though not getting distracted by the artwork will be equally challenging.  Dust’s world is colorful and carefully illustrated.  While the style is certainly much more cartoon-y than many games nowadays, it is not for lack of detail or skill.  From the first moments of gameplay, players will be able to see Dean Dodrill’s strength as an artist.  The aesthetic is matched throughout the game –  characters and enemies do not look out of place against the 2D backdrops.

The audio is one area that Dodrill handed off to another company.  HyperDuck SoundWorks provides a lively soundtrack that blends into the game well, whether you’re fending off swarms of zombies in the Sorrowing Meadows or watching Dust explore his past.  The game also includes voice acting.  The quality varies throughout the game (many of the actors appear to be new).  Dust’s delivery is a little overdramatic at times and while many players will find Fidget amusing and endearing (I certainly did), the high-pitched mascot may grate on some players’ nerves.  However, by the end of the game, many of the actors hit their stride and settle in to their characters.  If you’re not taken by the voice-acting from the start, give it some time.

All-in-all, I found Dust to be a fantastic game.  It was enjoyable to play, beautiful to look it, had a good soundtrack and a story that carried my interest through to the end.  I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys a challenging 2D game in the vein of Metroid or Castlevania, to JRPG/anime/visual novel fans who enjoy a light and interesting story, or to anyone looking for a brief nostalgia fix.  My expectations were exceeded and I hope to see more in the future from Humble Hearts.

Dust is now available on XBOX Live for 1200 Microsoft Points.

Should You Open this “Book of Shadows”?

This space should probably belong to the discussion of ideas such as “the end of the PSP life cycle” and “niche Japanese games using an even more niche game mechanic” – or even the fact that this is my first review of 2013!  However, I’m pretty sure I hear scissors opening and closing somewhere in the distance, so I should probably start reviewing the chilling sequel to XSEED’s 2011 PSP release “Corpse Party”

Let me save some of you some time – if you have not played the first PSP Corpse Party game, Book of Shadows will do nothing for you.  Likewise, if you didn’t like the first game, Book of Shadows will not change your mind.  The appeal of the first seven chapters of this game is completely centered around giving more backstory and depth to characters and events from the first game.  The game’s unlockable final chapter “Blood Drive” is all about…

You know what?  Let’s not talk about “Blood Drive”.  Not yet.  I’m not ready.

One of this sequel’s tough selling points is that it completely changes its gameplay mechanics.  I loved the SNES-style RPG-without-combat mechanic from the first game.  There was something about controlling the characters’ movements and what they investigated that added to the sense of immersion for me.  When I heard Book of Shadows exchanged the first game’s mechanics for a point-and-click/visual novel hybrid style, I was very disappointed.

After playing this game, I definitely prefer the first game’s gameplay mechanics, but I do think Book of Shadows managed to make good use of the point-and-click search mode.  Outside of visual novel-style story sequences, players usually explore areas in a point-and-click “Search Mode” and use a point-and-click map to move from room to room.  While the slow-moving map definitely added atmosphere (executed best in Chapter 4), it got tedious at times – having to wait forever while moving from one end of the school to the other (though you can use the R button to speed the process along)  Some of the “Search Mode” sequences were well done and very frightening, but I wish there had been more to them, particularly in “Blood Drive”.  For all the emphasis placed on exploration in the first game, the “Search Mode” sequences would have been a perfect opportunity to add some scares.

Being a visual novel-style game, Book of Shadows contains a lot of new artwork.  If you enjoyed the art style and CGs in the first game, you won’t be disappointed.  I personally prefer this style over the more stylized PC version and really liked some of the CGs, but there were scenes where I felt the artwork took away from the game and atmosphere.  The first game relied heavily on audio and written description for most of its “Wrong Ends”.  This is a trend continued in Book of Shadows, but there are a couple endings or scenes where the developers did decide to display a CG, but the CG doesn’t fit what’s being described in the text.  While I don’t know that I necessarily wanted to see what was going on, the addition of an inappropriate static image rather than a black screen takes away from the experience.

Speaking of the writing, it’s effectively creepy in this installment.  XSEED once again takes liberties with the translation, but they match the tone of the first game.  In most cases (particularly dialogue), they successfully capture the emotions of the characters better than a stiff translation and I think it’s in the dialogue sequences that the embellishments shine.  The care taken in describing the sinister events on some of the bad endings makes them as uncomfortable to read as they should be!  My one complaint in terms of writing is a complaint I have for many visual novels.  The narrative sequences – where the current POV character describes the scene, events, emotions, etc – occasionally don’t fit that character or even someone in their age group.  They use vocabulary and reference things it would be very odd for them to know.  If it were delivered in third person, this would be a non-issue, but as the game is in first-person, the mismatch can be jarring.  For the most part, it doesn’t take away from the game.  It’s common in visual novels and I suspect it’s equally present in the Japanese text, but players will notice this from time to time.

The plot itself is splintered into seven chapters that must be cleared in order, followed by one “hidden” chapter that can either be unlocked by viewing 100% of the endings in every other chapter or by loading save data from the first game (also netting you CGs from the first game), in which case you only have to clear the first seven chapters.  The main chapters either follow events prior to the first game or events that take place during/after one of the first game’s bad endings.  The only chapter that could be considered a proper sequel to the first game’s True Ending is the hidden final chapter “Blood Drive”.  While I enjoyed Blood Drive and found that chapter alone worth the price of admission, all of the chapters were enjoyable and added to the Corpse Party universe.  There were definitely some endings that proved disturbing and some segments that were uncomfortable, but overall, I felt like this was a solid horror game.

Finally, the audio.  The bone-chilling audio.  The audio emerges as a strong point once more.  The soundtrack is compelling and appropriate for the game’s atmosphere.  This series is definitely one I’d love to have a physical soundtrack for!  The voices are also recorded binaurally in this game.  Even without headphones, the effect is fantastic!  The game includes three unlockable audio bonuses: access to the music tracks, audio interviews with the voice actors, and an EVP machine where you match up characters’ voiced lines from the game to make a new “conversation”.

So if you played and enjoyed the first game, should you play Book of Shadows?  Absolutely.  Don’t let the gameplay genre shift scare you away from an enjoyable horror tale that takes the time to expand on its large cast from the first game.

As for me?  I’m just going to go avoid sleeping because of something else.  :D

Book of Shadows is available on the PSP/PSVita PSN Store for 19.99 now!

An invitation to the Corpse Party you shouldn’t turn down…

GENRE: Horror Adventure

SYSTEM: PSP (PSN download only)

RATING: M

PRICE: $19.99

COMPANY: XSeed (Official game website)

(still trying to recover a different pre-Thanksgiving review, bear with me.  In the meantime, please enjoy this review for a truly terrifying PSP experience!)

Horror, like humor, can be quite subjective.  Both rely a lot on what the audience brings to the experience – if they’re in a thoughtful, serious mood, it’ll be harder to make them laugh.  Horror is similar – you have to be willing to suspend your disbelief. No matter how good the scares are, if you’re not open to the experience, it may well have no effect.

This, perhaps, is the biggest strike against Corpse Party, and one not entirely fair.  I believe that many players, especially in the West, won’t give this game the time of day, due to the 16-bit graphics and the anime cut-in characters.  Which is a shame.  Because those who do allow themselves the chance to delve into the experience are in for far more then a traditional survival horror romp.

Copyright Team GrisGris/5pb/XSeed Games 2011

The story follows 7 high school students, one little sister, and their teacher.  Cleaning up after the school’s cultural festival, class representitive and occult fanatic Ayumi decides they should celebrate the last day of transferring student Mayu by telling a ghost story and performing a charm she found online.  Shortly after performing the charm, an earthquake devastates the building and the students wake up – in the elementary school that provided the setting for Ayumi’s horrific ghost story.

Relatively typical ghost story set up so far, right?

But there’s not much that’s typical about Corpse Party.   The game started out in the mid-1990s as a NEC PC-9801 game developed by a small group of developers using the RPG Maker software.  Over the years, the game garnered a surprising number of fans and with them, fangames.  Those fangames lead Team GrisGris to return to Corpse Party and remake it – twice.  The second (and further updated) remake, which was released on the PSP, is the game that XSeed brought to the PSN on November 22nd.  The game maintains a 16-bit look that is updated and further expanded with anime portraits for the characters and occasional anime-style CG images depicting important images.

The gameplay that takes the characters through their horrific advneture is mostly reminiscent of a 1990s SNES RPG, without the random battles.  Characters in your party do have HP, but it rarely means anything – by the time you’ve stumbled into danger, it’s already far too late.  The majority of gameplay revolves around exploring the school, guiding your characters out of harm’s way, participating in timed events, solving puzzles, and retrieving items.  The gameplay is minimal compared to most modern games and the game could be said to be more visual novel than RPG.  But the gameplay plays an important role in making you feel connected to your characters and their fates.  While dialogue choices can effect outcomes, the endings that may have the strongest effect are the ones achieved when you failed to save a friend from death in time.  Or failed to run from a ghost.

Or accidentally ran into one.

The writing is the other thread connecting the player to the characters.  The main cast at first appears to be your generic cast of anime regulars (with some adjustments), but they quickly develop well past mere archetypes.  Past memories and conversations flesh out the character and make the player more cautious of just who they want to protect at all costs – and who they might be willing to sacrifice as well.  Development continues well outside of a character’s immediate role in the game.  The game’s central plot is well developed as well, leaving a few small lose ends, but otherwise tying up the mystery of the school nicely with several interesting plot twists.

The audio is this game’s other remarkable feature.  The game is best played with headphones, not just to increase the atmosphere, but because of the game being recorded binaurally.  This means that it was recorded with two microphones, which gives the voice acting the effect of sounding like the voices are all around you.  A character moving sideways down the hall not only sounds like they’re getting further away, but the sound seems to come from where they are in relation to your character.  When this is used to effect, it’s extremely chilling.

The voice acting is very good.  Most of the cast are veteran voice actors and play their parts believably as well.  The game’s audio is Japanese only, but I believe this will add to the effect.  The sound effects are gritty as well and many of the games most horrific ending rely completely on text and audio, leaving the screen black.  In these situations, your imagination has the tendency to produce things far more disturbing than any illustrated CG ever could.  The soundtrack is also worth a mention.  it maintains a balance between being true to the game’s 16-bit roots and having a more modern feel.  But most importantly, it does a good job of not intruding on the effects the rest of the audio has on the game.

This game isn’t for everyone.  If you hate the anime aesthetic or simply can’t get over games that don’t meet today’s graphical standards, then you won’t be able to enjoy this game.  Which is a shame.  I don’t think this game could have been done with modern 3D graphics (I think this video on the Uncanny Valley does a good job explaining one of the reasons I believe this.).

But if you’re ready to let your mind be taken to a truly horrifying place – one with well-developed characters you’ll actually want to see through til the bitter end of this spooky   thriller – download this game for your PSP.

Ludum Dare 21

Masochistic timed challenges attached to creative endeavors seem like an interesting construct that, while not created on the internet, certainly have been encouraged by the access to resources, other people with which to commiserate, and Youtube videos of cats doing their thing and dudes enjoying multiple rainbows. And in the grand tradition of challenges like NaNoWriMo and 24-Hour-Comic, there’s Ludum Dare, a challenge for people to create a game based on a certain theme within 48 hours as an individual, or 72 as a team (referred to as the Jam version).  The contest takes place in April, August, and December.  For the 21st Ludum Dare, the theme was announced just two hours agao:

Escape.

So I’m giving it a shot using the Ren’Py visual novel engine I mentioned a few posts back.  It’s the only engine I’m comfortable enough with, and though my artwork’s rather crude, I figure I’ll give it a shot.  Although, I suppose blogging about it is more a detour…isn’t it?

Anyone else attempting Ludum Dare 21?

The death and life of the visual novel (in America)

So earlier last month, Aksys made a pretty exciting announcement – they will be releasing Fate/Extra and Hakuouki.  This announcement is both exciting and surprising on many accounts.  First of all, while the PSP thrives on in Japan, both consumers and companies are quick to label it a dead console in the West, particularly in North America.  (How much weight this argument holds is a discussion in and of itself.  Doing a quick scan of VGChartz shows no PSP games on last year’s top selling games chart, while handheld competitor Nintendo DS had 4.  The DS’ hardware and software sales numbers are also far ahead of PSP’s.) Part of the issue could be just as much due to companies giving up on the PSP and thus less software being released.  Piracy has also been a major problem for the system…

The second surprising aspect is the genre of these games.  One is an alternate universe RPG based off of the visual-novel-turned-manga-and-anime-property Fate/Stay Night.  Then there’s Hakuouki, a Japanese visual novel/dating sim-style game.  Targeted at female players. And that is the interesting aspect that will make this a product to watch.  Hakuouki appears to have culminated from a survey on fans’ interest on otome (girl-targeted) games that Aksys posted a few months ago.

Copyright 2008 Idea Factory

Aksys is no stranger to risky niche properties and they have already been relatively successful with another visual novel property – the Nintendo DS visual novel/puzzle game 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors.  However, the major thing separating the two games is this 999 has a more interactive puzzle element, which Hakuouki lacks.  And let’s not forget the highly amusing Phoenix Wright series, visual novel style games with limited gameplay in the form of a point-and-click element.

Visual novels haven’t had a very successful history in the US.  Aside from a few companies selling eroge (games usually targeted at players 18+) such as Peach Princess and JAST, and newer companies or attempts such as MangaGamer or Aksys’ own attempts, there really aren’t a lot of visual novels on the US market.  The company Hirameki had a decent run with their Anime Play line and titles such as Ever17 (a personal favorite) and Hourglass of Summer, but they closed down in 2008.  The anime aesthetic, lack of more interactive gameplay elements, age restrictions for the eroge titles, and the fact that some console companies are reluctant to have a “novel” on their system, thus leaving these games relegated to PC releases without store shelf space are all factors that have hurt the visual novel’s past prospects in the US.

While the majority of visual novels released here have followed a male protagonist, the success of game series such as Harvest Moon and Rune Factory may also bode well for the amount of female players out there who are looking for more games featuring romantic elements.

Aksys seems quite aware of this reality and it will be interesting to see how they intend to handle it.  They have already reached out to fans with a survey (results posted at )

In the meantime, if you’re interested in visual novels, here are some links:

The Wikipedia article on Visual Novels.

The Visual Novel Database.

And if you’re feeling creative or just interested in what independent creators outside of Japan have done with the genre, check out the website for the Ren’Py visual novel engine. The site includes a database of games made with the engine, the free downloadable engine for making visual novels, and a reasonably active forum where you can talk with other visual novel fans or get help making your own.