Recensioni recenti di robinrescues

TL;DR : While there is a lot of good points to this game, I cannot recommend it as the photos do not scale well (if at all) on smaller monitors with low resolution. (see last paragraph for details)


The game starts with a single image explaining that someone has a very busy life and was always running and doing things, then s/he gets into a serious bicycle accident and is laying wounded on the ground, reflecting on the life they had lived ... you have 630 heart beats to restore their memories.

The first time I played this game, I literally had no idea what I was doing ... it seemed like there was just a bunch of photos and you were clicking randomly. I didn't get it - honestly, I was feeling frustrated trying to figure out what I was "supposed to do".
After I finished it the first time, I realized you were telling the person's life story through their memories. That's when the game became really enjoyable for me.
The second play through I tried to imagine what it would be like to be laying injured on the ground alone, and going through the memories of your life - so when I played through, every picture represented a memory of something important, something they treasured the memory of. What kind of person is this? What did they hold dear to them? What are the 85 memories that matter the MOST in their life? In answering those questions you create a story in your own mind about who this person is and what they value.

The game play through is very short - for me it was about 10 minutes or so for a lifetime of memories. I didn't consider this a big problem as it fits the whole theme of your "life flashing before your eyes" in the moment of death (so I found that thematically appropriate), and the price was reasonable for the game length.

I also liked the music, it was really nice. I was happy to find the soundtrack included in the game files.

This isn't your typical game, and many people may not enjoy this. Perhaps because I play a lot of visual novels, I am used to taking small bits onscreen and turning them into a larger, more in depth story in my own mind. For me, I felt the main part of the game was using your imagination to create a story through the images you chose, and the bigger story of putting the images together into a lifetime of memorable moments.

The one HUGE drawback to the game is there is no way to change the window size or photo size. I have a older windows PC that exceeds the listed requirements. However, the windows PC monitor is quite small (as it needs to fit in the corner of the bedroom). Playing this game at all available resolutions and following tips in the discussions forum still did not resolve the issue where I didn't get to see the text boxes at the bottom of the photos or the captions at the bottom at the ending. The lack of ability to see the full game images and the inability to see the text boxes did limit how much I was able to enjoy the game.

This game is family friendly, and would be great for young kids. If I had my own kids or was caring for children I could see them playing it a lot. However, as an adult player I wasn't very entertained by this game.

Tiles with cartoon style art of fruits, veggies and barnyard animals are matched against a background of farm settings. The animal tiles make sounds when you match them, which you can thankfully turn off.
There are many varied board layouts, but I found it difficult to see which tiles were blocked and which tiles were free to match.
I hated the 3d boards! As other reviewers have mentioned, that part of the game is more of a tile-matching game then mahjong.

I normally enjoy achievements and try to get 100%, but I was grateful this game didn't have any. It wasn't relaxing, wasn't fun to play, and wasn't even particularly nice to look at. I didn't enjoy playing the game, and I uninstalled as soon as I got my trading cards.

The story of your lost brother unfolds as chapters in a book are read. Generally, each chapter consists of 2 shape-based hidden object scenes, assemble and use a few objects, then a puzzle, then a word based hidden object search that reveals a magic symbol upon completion. This sequence is repeated 12 times.

Other reviewers noted that if you're experienced at HOG's, this game probably won't be much of a challenge to you - and I do agree with that assessment.
However if you (like me) are new to HOG's and trying to determine if they are a type of game you want to play, this is an excellent "starter HOG" for beginners to try out.

I had not done a shape based HOG before, and I found it a nice change of pace from the word based HOG I had previously played.
I did not like petri dish puzzle, but the rest of the puzzles were good - they made your brain think a bit but it wasn't too much of a challenge - mostly relaxing fun.

and of course, who could forget ... Bloodthirsty Penguins FTW!! LOL

I got this game as part of a bundle, and for less then $1 I feel it was a good value and I was entertained. If I had a friend I wanted to introduce to HOGs, I feel this would be a good game to gift if it was available at a similar discount.
I do feel the current price ($6.99 USD at the time of this review) is too high for what you are getting.

Since there's no "meh" rating, I'm giving it a positive but *only* if it's available to purchase at a discount.

MAC NOTE: No system requirements are given regarding the Mac OS version required, but I found that it did not run on 10.6.8 Snow Leopard but did run on 10.11 El Capitan

TL;DR : I liked the story and the characters very much, and found it to be an enjoyable read.
8/10 Stars

PROS
There are three very different love interests (all male) - a lovestruck human childhood friend, an arrogant light elf classmate, and an older dark elf detective. Characters are well developed and acted with believable motivations.
After you complete the story once, you unlock the "killer's diary", where you learn more about who the killer was and his motivations. I haven't seen anything like this in other VN games, and I felt it was a unique and valued addition to the killer's character development.
The final scene story perspective is told from the POV of the love interest, not Mia, and it gives interesting and unique insights into the character's thoughts.
The artwork was pretty and well done, and the characters changed facial expressions, eye movement, blushing, etc as they reacted to the story.
I really liked the "killer's diary" aspect of the story. It did a lot to change my impressions of him from being an amoral monster into someone who was just hopeless and desperate and pushed too far so he snapped.
Appropriate background sounds - seagulls at the park, the creaking of a door opening, etc. really help set the mood.

NEUTRAL
Music was nice and appropriate to the scenes, though since there are only 4 different songs it felt a bit repetitive and "looped" after awhile.
There were minor spelling and grammar mistakes, but it's not overly horrible for a translation.
Mages in this world seemed to be split into different specialties - elemental mages, necromancers, etc - but it's never clearly explained just what a universal mage is. Is that a mage who just hasn't chosen a specialty yet? I wish it would have been explained a bit more.

CONS
It was initially hard for me to like Mia - she is a young girl who recently lost her parents, she is having trouble adjusting to living with her uncle and going to a private school, and she is totally out of her element to deal with being stalked by a serial killer. I mostly dislike the way she lies whenever she's upset or nervous, and that's a LOT of the time. You would think with all this "practice" lying that she would be great at it, but nope - she's horrible at lying. She did become more likable as the story went on and she gained some amount of self-confidence, but she isn't a very strong female lead. Mia is a believable character, she just didn't work well for me as I prefer strong female leads to the "rescue me, damsel in distress" female leads.
It's disappointing that Professor Goldstone wasn't available as a love interest. He has such an interesting backstory, and I can see a wonderful alt story where Mia could end up with him.
For the achievement collectors: Two achievements (Aleistar's bad & normal ending) are bugged - this has been reported, and the designer blames steam/renpy for the issue - but since changing the language unlocks the achievements, I'm not convinced that is accurate. One also wonders why the issue was never fixed, if it was only a language issue?

Final Thoughts ...
Despite the weak female lead, spelling/grammar errors and bugged achievements, I really loved this VN. I would buy VN's from 7DOTS again.

I felt a bit mislead at this game being called a HOG when there were so many puzzles to solve and much object gathering and combining, but I enjoyed the story enough to overlook that.
I found the main story to be good, but felt that the Ink's prequel was the best part of the story.

Pros
I love the Steampunk theme!
You get Matthew, an adorable clockwork bird, as a helper. Honestly, I wasn't sure how I would feel about a mechanical bird but over the course of the adventure he really grew on me. :)
Beautiful artwork of a snowy remote mountain village and an inventor's castle
I liked searching for the steambugs in each scene
I liked the navigation by map, where you could walk to where you needed to go or just double click on the map and go directly there
There's no time limit on the game, you can take as long as you want/need.
No creepy horror or supernatural themes (like SO MANY other Artifex Mundi games, ick!)

Neutral
I like how the characters mouth and face move as they "talk" to you, but the voice acting is average.
The music fit well with the scenes and didn't jar me out of the game, but it wasn't especially memorable. If you like the music, there's an export option that gives you wma files. I'm on a Mac, so I used Switch to convert them into MP3 and they play fine.
Puzzles have a (delayed) skip option available so you're not forced to endure the puzzles unless you're collecting achievements.

Cons
I felt there were far too many puzzles and not enough hidden object scenes. (Yes, I do know that there's a skip option.) Some puzzles (the dollhouse, reflecting mirrors) were fun, and others (rolling balls, guide the pin) were just mind numbingly tedious.
And the biggest negative for me ... after all of the endless back and forth, gathering objects & boring puzzles to solve, the game just ... ends. Totally abruptly, you are informed that you destroyed the machine, you and Ink escape, Barber gets punished, and all is right in the world again. After all of the long journey Evangeline went through, the ending was just so jarring and abrupt. The ending cutscene just really didn't seem to fit with the story, like a sudden forced wrap up rather then a natural conclusion. I would have appreciated an ending that was more satisfying and celebrated your accomplishments.

Overall I enjoyed the story, and I would recommend this game.

TL,DR : A great VN, overall I was very happy with it - but before you play, know that Callum's route is NOT unlocked until you finish the story once so don't let him be your first love interest.


PROS
Maddie was a great female lead - she had strengths (rational thinking and fighting skill) that made her admirable, but she also had flaws (most notably, her lack of empathy) that made her seem both human and likable.
Varied love interests, who may not be like the "first impression" they portray once you get to know them better.
Speaking of love, it's also nice to see that you have choices about how much of a focus you want to put on it. You can choose a love interest that will be your best friend, sweetly romantic dream, your soulmate, a practical business arrangement - or walk away from all that and choose just friendship.
I felt like my choices really did matter in the story. If you are dismissive or rude to another character, it can come back to haunt you - sometimes even cost you your life!
World-building is very good - I liked how noble women inherit from their mothers, yet must pick a husband to rule their lands as they become his "wisdom".
Music was beautiful and appropriate to the scenes, yet did not distract from the story. Sometimes I turn the game on "jukebox" mode to have the music play in the background, it's that nice.
The artwork was good, and I was pleased to see the varied facial expressions as the story unfolded.

NEUTRAL
The story was good, and the mystery unravels a piece at a time as you explore your connection with the different love interests. However, to make the most amount of sense, the routes really do need to be read in a certain order.
I did enjoy the political aspects of this game, but I also felt a bit unsatisfied there was no clear cut "villain" - there were just fallible humans who made dubious choices. The character who supposedly set this whole situation in motion is only mentioned, and does not appear in the story.

CONS
There is NO in-game notification to tell you Callum's route is not unlocked before you complete one story.
For 2 of 4 characters, if you are not on their route, they seem to fade into the background and not be involved in the story. Did these Princes really just sit around waiting to be chosen by Maddie, and otherwise do nothing?
Only 3 backgrounds? I feel there should be one for each of the main love interests! I was also disappointed the Duke got his own background while NONE of the main love interests did. *sighs* at least the palace BG is nice …

Final Thoughts ...
My first play through I tried everything in my power to get Callum's attention, yet I kept getting pushed toward Oscar, which made me more frustrated because I did not like his character - so I got a bad ending. :(
I was so angry I nearly requested a refund, but then when I looked through the forums it said that 1) Callum's route is locked until you complete one story, and 2) there is an "optimal" play through sequence for the most enjoyment and most sense out of the story.
I was really annoyed the game did not tell you these things, and you are expected to search through forums for the info - apparently before you even start the game! If the game is going to be laid out that way, that information really should be available in a in-game "getting started" file.
I almost walked away from this game because of this - but now I am glad I stuck it out. Overall I was very happy with the game. I would buy another game by Hanako Games, but now I know better to check for info such as optimal play sequence and not expect the story to be more free-flowing.

This was both my first game on Steam, and my first free game - and I was very happy with it.
It was a beautiful novel and I enjoyed reading through the love stories with each of the two love interests.

PROS
I liked the characters, the artwork, and the fact that my choices really did matter in the story.
CONS
If I had one complaint, it was that the music was short and looped, so although it was nice it quickly grew repetitive then annoying.

Overall, it was a lovely VN that I enjoyed reading.