Reseñas recientes de stardustsunday

I actually found the game quite fun - the story is silly in a nonsensical, campy kind of way and the progression is quite good, however this game has so many serious, unfixed problems that I can't recommend it. Here are just some of them:

1) The mouse cursor doesn't refresh properly, leaving mouse trails that end up blocking all other objects within the inventory bar and outside the main location screen.

2) There is one piece missing from one of the puzzles where you need to piece together a broken object! How the eff the developers managed to do this I do not know, but in one of the later stages (I think it was level 20-something) near the end of the game, the boat repair puzzle lacks 1 piece, so you cannot complete it. The only good thing is that this doesn't break the game, because you have the option to solve a hidden object scene instead of completing this puzzle.

3) Clicks sometimes don't register. During a hidden object scene you may have to click more than once on an object before the game registers it as being found.

4) Puzzles where you must spot the differences between 2 pictures contain erroneous hotspots. E.g. If you spot a difference (the difference being an extra object added to the picture) and you click on the extra object in the first picture, it says you're wrong, because they only register the spot where there was no object (and not the spot where the new object was added) as the correct answer.

The language editing also leaves much to be desired. While for the most part the English was ok, there were a few puzzles whose English instructions had very obviously not been edited by anyone. If you're going to hire someone to do your editing, could you please ensure they edit ALL parts of the game and not just some???

This could've been fun. Story progression was good and this game had a few unique HOG-solving styles (e.g. a device which could send heavy objects into another realm so you could see what was hidden behind them - yes, not kidding! Silly but it worked!). However the fun is largely killed by puzzles that have breaking bugs in them, and the screen/cursor refresh issue that other reviewers have also mentioned. Developer seems not to have cared about testing/fixing these before the game was released, and seems not to care now either.

Have completed the game and found yet another broken puzzle. There's one that requires you to throw rings into 3 bowls, near the end of the game. It's impossible to get any ring into the 1st bowl, no matter how hard you try. And somehow - as if the developers realised this - after you try multiple times, the first bowl suddenly disappears on its own, even though you didn't manage to get any rings into it.

You play a woman experiencing a recurring nightmare about an asylum tragedy. After getting a letter from your estranged sister asking you to visit her, you decide to investigate further. This game is the first part of an apparent trilogy, so the story does not conclude here.

Story
✔ Interesting premise.
✖ Narrative is very poorly written and put together, with tons of spelling, grammar and semantic mistakes that make it difficult to ascertain what exactly the writer is trying to say and what/how/when events actually transpired.
✖ Notes in your diary appear even before you have viewed the scene/object that entry talks about. E.g. You enter a room with a crack in a mirror, but you haven't yet looked at the mirror and seen that crack, yet your diary already mentions it and gives a hint as to what you should do next.
✖ There are errors in the timeline, like for instance items/technology not matching the era they're supposed to be from, characters not dressed the way they should be, etc.
✖ There are also logical inconsistencies and contradictions here and there that make the story very convoluted/confusing... or maybe it just appeared that way because the narration was simply too horrible for me to figure out what the hell was happening.
✖ No desire to find out more in Part 2 because of the atrocious storytelling.

Graphics
✔ Game allows you to adjust the brightness level, so no issue with stuff being too dark to see.
✔ Graphics are standard 2D HOG fare, with a fair amount of 3D cutscenes throughout the game, triggered by the completion of key puzzles.
✔ Animation is smooth.
✖ In at least a few of the cutscenes, your character's face reacts in shock before she is told the shocking thing she's supposed to be reacting to.
✖ Some of the humans look like wax mannequins.
✖ The villain is NOT SCARY in the least, and looks like a cheap Halloween hack. I'm pretty sure a 4-year-old child would be able to draw something much more sinister.
✖ The jumpscares are NOT SCARY; they are annoying and laughable. There's one where the villain comes towards you very fast, her face in a grimace. I actually burst out laughing because I thought, "Did they seriously expect anyone to be frightened by THAT?"

Puzzles
Throughout the game they were decidedly dumb and senseless, but the worst of them occurred in the bonus chapter.
Examples:
● You find a lockpick in a hidden object scene, but are unable to take it out of the scene to pick the hundreds of other locks that need opening.
● You do a "spot the differences" puzzle that claims to help you unlock a code on a door, except it has absolutely NOTHING TO DO WITH to the solution. You could've figured out the code without having to do this puzzle at all, and all this puzzle served to do instead was mislead you!
● You have a piece of paper with clues on it that disappears from your diary even before you have a chance to fully input all the clues on a computer terminal in the game (the clues are optional - probably for you to find more pieces of the story).
● You have a knife in your inventory which you could use for the next 1000 tasks, that disappears for no reason after a few uses, presumably because the developers think it's time you solved another senseless adventure puzzle component!

A "horror" HOG with a non-scary villain, that lacks even a fraction of the horror atmosphere found in a barely-passable horror game. Story is so poorly written that it's hard to determine what exactly is going on. Animation shows character reacting in shock before she is told of shocking news. Bonus chapter is rubbish in terms of puzzles and clues. The only reason I would recommend playing this game, is to see how hard you'll laugh when you see the villain and wonder how some people could actually think it would elicit scares.

The story starts out very promising - you're a researcher on an alien planet who needs to take your partner back to earth for medical treatment after an accident, but while navigating your spacecraft back to earth, you crash land on other planets and find yourself in different time periods. (Or something like that.)

The first chapter of the game is passable, but in the second chapter, a hidden object scene requires you to use items found in the scene that get placed in your inventory, to uncover other hidden items in the scene. This would normally be fine, except:

1) there is absolutely no indication which items on the list require this extra step to be found;
2) the scene doesn't have any hotspots, and your mouse cursor also doesn't change when you hover any item that can be interacted with, so the only way you can know whether an item is interactive or not is to click on it;
3) objects in the scene are so unclear/vague-looking that you have no idea what they are; and
4) many items are poorly labelled (e.g. a generic piece of cloth was called a "duster" - & how am I supposed to know that?!).

Because of this I found myself randomly clicking on every single item in the scene to see if something could be used on it or not. It also didn't help that many of these HO puzzles were completely unrelated to the item they were supposed to yield, so you couldn't figure out the solution by logic either.

There's also the problem of multiple same objects in a scene:
In the first chapter also had you search for a "box", when there were 2 large ones right in front of you. The game didn't accept those though - instead the correct answer was a PACKAGE, which didn't look remotely like a "box" (it had rounded edges).

I also noticed a distinct difference between the quality of the first and second chapters. The game started out with good narration and properly translated English, but by the second chapter, you could tell the text was no longer being edited properly. The HO scenes in particular contained atrocious English. Even my Russian friend Olga who learned English just a few years ago could do better.

I like the fact that this game contains a vast variety of different environments and locales; it's a shame that (I suspect) they ran out of money to pay their English translator/editor, and whoever thought up or implemented the HO puzzles has a rock for a brain.

10 minutes and 2 playthroughs is all you need. Try not to cry.
10分钟长，需玩2次。尽量别哭。

OST here:
音乐：
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUm8zcYjomg

This is a time-killer puzzle game where you're supposed to connect 2 same-coloured circles, in the process "using up" every single dot on the grid. Lines cannot intersect one another. This is the type of game you play while you're having lunch or waiting for someone - that sort of thing. There are 100 levels altogether which'll give you ~1-2 hours' total playtime at average speed. Achievements unlock several at a time after you complete each level (they stop unlocking at level 70+ though, then start unlocking again after another few levels).

The Good
+ Brainless fun with soothing music
+ Good default colour scheme
+ Interesting achievements

The Bad
- Most of the puzzles do not have a unique solution - i.e. you're expected to solve them via trial & error and not logic
- Many of the levels are too easy or resemble other levels
- There is no gradation of skill level, as in, the levels do not increase in difficulty (the last few levels starting from 90+ were in fact among the easiest to solve)
- Mouse is slow and lags like hell especially on the levels with the bigger grids, making it a huge pain to drag the lines from one point to another
- Useless, stupid menu
✘ E.g. #1: Had no idea what the "achievements" command was for/about; pressing it didn't visibly change anything, nor were there any prompts telling you what this command was for
✘ E.g. #2: The "fullscreen" menu option doesn't work; I assumed that deactivating it would mean you could play in windowed mode, but nope, that didn't work and nothing happened whether it was activated or deactivated (not like I could tell which was which anyway because see below)
✘ E.g. #3: You have no idea whether the menu commands are "on" or "off"

Get only for the achievements, which you have to work for. Puzzles are decidedly average and the mouse lag is a huge pain.

You're a cat whose aim is to get former Iranian PM Mohammad Mosaddeq out of every room he's in, so the "story" can progress. To do this you need to manipulate certain objects within the room you're in. Some thinking and experimentation are involved.

Story-wise, this is just a very summarised and haphazard timeline of events starting from Mosaddeq's rise to power to his eventual fall from grace. There isn't enough information in the game for you to know how and why these historical events happened, so if you want to find out more you'll have to google it on your own.

Not quite sure what the point of this game is, but I'm still giving it a thumbs up because the artwork is stunning, the platforming aspect was fun enough while it lasted, and the presentation was well done.

Not a fan of how resource-heavy this game was though (the game even asks you to "close all programmes" while playing, because of its 2 GB memory requirement).

- Click the main story through to the end, then unlock the epilogue and read through it for 100% achievement
- Main story topics: adultery & paedophilia (depending on what the age of consent is where you live)
- Visuals are sparse but attractive, though the mom looks way too young
- No visible nudity, but involves disturbing adult themes and is therefore not suitable for young kids and maybe even teens

This was somewhat reminiscent of "Lolita". There are some questionable morals involved here. However I do think this is still worth a playthrough due to the engaging way this was written, and how the author managed to effectively convey the protagonist's thoughts through his introspection and self-reflection. What is "right" or "wrong"? What should have been the best course of action? Sometimes things aren't that straightforward...

The epilogue wraps things up nicely, so no worries about unresolved tension.


MAIN STORY

Eiji, a 40-something-year-old writer/poet, decides to take a break from his wife and 2 grown sons, by journeying up into the mountains to stay at an isolated inn. Along the way he reflects that even though he's been with his wife for 20+ years and they have what seems to be the "perfect" life, he's grown tired of the sameness and daily routine, and also started to despise his wife a little, simply because she hasn't changed and he knows exactly what to expect from her. Yet at the same time while he is resentful of his wife, he is also aware that he should not be, for she has been nothing more than the perfect wife to him all this time, serving him perfect meals and taking perfect care of their 2 children. Hence coupled with the resentment, he also feels guilt. He hopes that his 6-day stay at the inn will dispel such thoughts and reignite his love for his wife.

Arriving at the inn, Eiji finds that it's run by a woman also around his age - Miss Kakuichi, who's a widow. She has a 16-year-old daughter, Reiko, whom he can't take his eyes off. (You see where this is going.) Reiko is tasked with helping Eiji settle in, bringing him his food, and doing housekeeping.

While cleaning his room the next day, Reiko stumbles upon one of Eiji's books containing romantic poems he wrote - including one about his wife - a long time ago. When she learns that Eiji is the author, she is instantly enthralled, and Eiji and Reiko connect on an emotional level.

As the days pass, Reiko and Eiji spend more time together and become closer. Reiko's mother, the innkeeper, finally learns about this and forbids both of them from having any further contact.

Eiji struggles with but accepts that he shouldn't see Reiko anymore as her mother loves her and he obviously can't, being married. But the night before he is to leave the inn, he decides to go for a soak in the hotel's onsen (hot spring), and while there he spots a completely naked Reiko inside. She pretends not to see him until the last minute, giving him a full view of her body in the meantime. When she finally calls out to him, Eiji runs back to his room.

Even as Eiji tries to put Reiko out of his mind, she goes to his room and he eventually invites her in. She confesses that she was trying to seduce him all this while, reason being that she's very lonely at the inn and her mother is so controlling and possessive that she fears she will die an "old maid" and never be loved by a man. Yet on the other hand she can't bring herself to ever leave her mother because, despite disliking the way her mother treats her, deep down she still loves her mother very much. Eiji tells Reiko that he doesn't love her, and that she doesn't love him either, so any attempt at a relationship between them is pointless. He also says that she needs to "be her own person", and implies that she should break away eventually from her mother to find her own happiness. Seeing Reiko so sad though, Eiji can't help but feel sorry for her, and ends up deflowering her.

After the deed, Eiji reflects to us that he only told Reiko he didn't love her so as not to give her false hope, but the truth is that he does indeed "love" her.

EPILOGUE

It is now 6 years after what happened between Eiji and Reiko. We learn that Reiko is now married with a 3-year-old daughter. She has also obviously plucked up enough courage to leave her mother and the inn, moving away from the countryside to the city to lead a new life with her husband. She has plans to travel the world with him, and is learning poetry and French.

Before going home, she stops by a bookstore to pick up something. We learn that it is a newly published poetry book, written by Eiji. She paid a lot to get a copy. When she opens it, the first page reads, "To Reiko. May you find your own happiness." We know what this is a reference to - the exact words Eiji had told Reiko back when they slept together.

Reiko decides not to read the poems dedicated to her, as she knows that she has achieved the happiness she was looking for, and it is pointless to dwell on past memories.

A 20-minute VN with a few choices here and there. There are 3 separate stories involving 2 different protagonists, 1 of them a girl (Jill) and the other a guy (Tyrone). The stories don't appear to be linked and you can read them in any order.

Story
● Jill is a live-streamer and her plot involves her visiting a supposedly haunted hospital on Halloween in search of ghosts, in order to entertain her audience.
● Tyrone is a modern-day "acolyte". He features in 2 different stories: 1 of them involves him investigating the disappearance of several children; the other involves ridding a house of a ghost.
All stories were interesting enough to keep me going, though I much preferred Tyrone's as I found Jill a somewhat irritating and airheaded character.

Sound & Graphics
The game is fully voiced, and for the most part the actors did a good job (except for the black guy in Jill's story, who sounded like a fake Irishman pretending to be black... wait, maybe he was?!). Visuals are colourful & stylish, and matched the story very well.

A good-quality production well worth a play, especially if you like horror stories. Not scary at all (you won't have problems playing this alone in the dark) but fun to get through nonetheless.

This is a kinetic VN, meaning there are no choices and you just click to the end. After about 300+ clicks with nothing happening and too many characters I cared zilch about being introduced, I decided to speed-click through to the end to see if anything happened later on. Yes, after what seemed like a lifetime of pressing my left mouse button, apparently people did get stabbed and disemboweled (though there are no visuals to accompany this, just the same generic bloodspatter against a black background), but... it was still boring. The story just didn't start out interesting and never became so. Narration was loose and directionless. The protagonist ("you") is someone I never gave a rat's ar$e about. Her musings were insufferably dull and insipid. The whole VN was a tedious, humdrum affair with zero payoff, which left my index and middle fingers aching due to the number of clicks I had to make just to get to the end (the "auto" function was useless as it was slow as hell). This game needs to add a single achievement - for reaching the conclusion (I estimated it must have taken me ~5000+ clicks btw).

画面好看，故事垃圾，废话多到能让人睡着去。我点点点到结局，也没什么事发生，中间好像有人受伤或死掉，坦白讲我也不在乎。