[Game Journal] Crawling through games

Devalue · Dec 11, 2023

Golden Sun

Dug out another old game from the past. Came out in 2001 (in North America) for the Game Boy Advance. Shares a year with Super Smash Brothers Melee, the original Pikmin, and the original Animal Crossing. Remembers beating this game (and the sequel) a few times. Has not tried it in a solid decade or so, though.

Tried to change things up as well. Knew exactly what to focus on: Djinn. What are Djinn? A little elemental creature with its own special attack. Might be a shield, healing, buff, or elemental damage. Comes in all four elements: Venus (Earth), Mercury (Water), Jupiter (Wind), and Mars (Fire).

Also affects your character's class, depending on how you assign them. Take Isaac, the Venus adept, for example. Normally learns Quake with no Djinn or with Venus Djinn. Picks up Growth instead with a Mars Djinn. Learns more fire-based spells with more Mars Djinn.

Usually stuck the Djinn with their adept type. Worked alright. Wanted to experiment with the other classes. Supposedly offers better stats, but maybe weaker spells? Shrugs. Never really messed with it much, outside of a spell necessary for the field.

Decided on the following final classes:

Isaac: Conjurer (6 Jupiter, 1 Venus). Learns some buffs and debuffs.
Garet: Berserker (6 Venus, 1 Mars). High Attack stat. Also Revive.
Ivan: Sage (6 Mercury, 1 Jupiter). Strong spells...supposedly.
Mia: Water Monk (6 Mars, 1 Mercury). Process of elimination. Grabs party-wide healing spells in any split like this.

Notes one other difference with this approach. Skews towards a spell-heavy combat strategy. Typically spammed Djinns and summons on bosses (except with Mia, the dedicated healer). Affects your class when you do that, however. Drops your stats and changes your spell list mid-battle. Feels like a higher price with the fancier classes.

Quickly discovered why experimentation never happened. Do you know what happens when you take away Isaac's Venus Djinn? Loses the only healing spell your party has until your fourth (and final) party member arrives. Gets nothing good in return either. Could get that heal back on Ivan, the Jupiter adept, with a Venus Djinn. Disappears if the Djinn is ready for summoning, however. Might lose access to your only heal when you need it.

Stuck with it anyways. Kept Isaac's Djinn offline to retain the heal while waiting for Mia to show up. Did not feel great.

Remembered a good chunk of the early game. Forgot how puzzle-y the game is, however. Went in expecting a decent number of puzzles with the Move ability. Forgot about the sheer number of log, pipe, and hopping puzzles. Grew a little tired of them over time. Hated some poorly marked hidden doors needed to progress near the end too.

Exacerbated the puzzle situation with random encounters and big rooms. Waded through inconsequential encounter after inconsequential encounter. Ran from some, perhaps unwisely, given the amount of money on-hand. Wanted Earthbound's autowin feature so bad. Offers some Repel-like items in the item shop. Lasts nowhere near long enough.

Recruited Mia and immediately shut off her Mars Djinn. Was not going to sacrifice healing.

Appreciates some of the less important story bits in the game. Saved someone by dragging their tree-ified body ashore early on. Rescued another person from a boulder, which is also missable. Wrote new dialogue for everyone back in Vale (the hometown), especially for Isaac's and Garet's families. Still likes the general setting of the world too.

Grabbed more and more Djinn. Reached the full 28 Djinn in the game. Enabled the above endgame classes. Only raised more questions about the class system. Example: Looked at Isaac's (Venus adept) healing spells.

0-1 Venus Djinn and nothing else: Cure, Cure Well, and Potent Cure.
1-4 Jupiter Djinn and nothing else: No healing spells
6 Jupiter Djinn and nothing else: Cure, Cure Well, Potent Cure, and Revive.
6 Jupiter Djinn and 1 Venus Djinn: No healing spells (same spell list as 5 Jupiter Djinn).

Starts with healing by default. Loses it by adding a little Jupiter. Gains it back with tons of Jupiter. Loses it again by adding in a little Venus. What? Please explain how that makes sense.

Gave the fancy classes a whirl. Describes it as disappointing. Yielded good stats, yes. Weakened their spells to the point of preferring normal attacks for single target. Made good use of the attack and resistance buffs. Considers the debuffs bad (short and a chance of not working). Appreciated two people with a party heal too. Did that make up for basically playing without Djinn and summons? Not really (based on memory, anyways).

Became annoyed with the story at times. Asked the bad people why they are doing what they are, probably several times. Look at this exchange after the final boss:

Ivan: "They're gone, Felix! You don't have to light the beacons anymore..."

Felix: "Yes, I do. If I don't light the beacons..."

Garet: "What will happen?"

Felix: "It's no use talking about it...Just wait and see!"

Useless. Refused to tell the player about the greater story time and time again.

Raced through the game surprisingly quickly. Expected to begrudgingly put it down to do the Pokemon DLC. Not so. Finished the game in a few days.

Remarks on one other feature of the game. Passes off save game data to the sequel, The Lost Age, via password or link cable. Spits out a real doozy of a password. Puts the old games with password-based saves to shame. Only tested the Gold password.

Spoiler: Passwords

A quick rundown of overall thoughts:

Never grew tired of the music. Slowed down to listen to it sometimes.
Cannot say anything too bad about the graphics. Looks kind of grainy when you size up the resolution. Feels unfair to criticize that, though. Designed it for a smaller screen. Looks fine at the proper resolution, even today.
Too many random encounters. Halve the encounter rate. Double the experience.
Does not like the class system.
Likes the game's magic system (in terms of setting). Rates the storytelling as subpar, though.

Rating: 6.5/10? Okay. Is not particularly enthused to play it again anytime soon.

Devalue · Jan 25, 2024

Detailed two games in this entry.

Fire Emblem: Engage (third playthrough)

Picks up Fire Emblem: Engage yet again. Adds the DLC into the mix this time. Introduced some restrictions to this playthrough.

Cannot follow the unit's normal promotion line. Means situations like not being able to promote a Sword Fighter into a Swordsmaster or Hero. Forbids anything deemed "close enough" or used in a previous playthrough too. Also changes pre-promoted units as able (exception: Vander). Allows Master Sealing, then Second Sealing directly afterwards too.
Unique inherited skills for all units. Typically favored Canter and +Speed for a lot of people. Brings it down to a maximum of two users (the Sigurd emblem bearer and one other unit, in the case of Canter). Promotes skill diversity.
Try to include the following unused classes: Hero, Berserker, Royal Knight, Great Knight, Paladin, Enchanter, and Mage Cannoneer. Also try to use some never-before-used units.

Played out normally at the start. Prioritized completing Tiki's paralogue as soon as possible (after Chapter 6). Inherited Starsphere (+15% to all stat growths) on Celine from that and gave Tiki to Alear. Benefits from getting that before leveling a bunch.

Made one slight error. Grabbed the Revanche, a very powerful axe once refined. Funneled a bunch of resources into it. Restricts it to A-rank Axes, however. Left Vander the only one who could wield it for a while. Preferred not to do that.

Dealt with Anna's paralogue next. Returned to story missions after that. Tried to get the 5% Second Seal chance from the 4-star Ancient Well reward. No luck there, sadly. Bought three Second Seals after beating Chapter 8. Handed them out to Chloe (Sage), Celine (Martial Master), and Anna (Mage). Chose them because of their base class's offensive stat growths favoring something else. Risked weak offenses by staying in them too long.

Proved to be a big boost for Chloe. Was one of the fortunate few to have their planned build early...or close enough to it. Tanked with Micaiah-engraved Elsurge for a while. Beat baseline Fire/Wind, especially without having many magic growths yet.

Cleared the more relevent DLC emblem maps (Soren, Chrom, Veronica) before losing a bunch of emblems from Chapter 10+11. Also completed the Fell Xenologue to get Madeline, the Enchanter class item, and the Mage Cannoneer class item. Appreciated the latter two because of units getting close to the unpromoted level cap. Could not use Madeline, however. Comes in as a General. Needed to change that, per the rules.

Pushed more story progression. Loaded up on the planned inherited skills (Canter, Tome Precision, +Magic) before losing all the emblems. Piles on the Second Seals, at least. Sells three Second Seals after Chapter 11, another 3 after Chapter 13, and a third batch of 3 after Chapter 14. Stuck everyone in their rightful classes in short order.

Cannot think of much else interesting past that, as far as general progression goes. Finished the other two DLC emblem maps. Beat story maps and old emblem maps as they came up. Skipped Roy's paralogue, since no one used his emblem or skills. (Also skipped Jean's paralogue early on, for the record.)

Thoughts on the DLC

New emblems: A pretty good selection. Really appreciated more magical options. Helped out slow, defensive tanks with Hector as well. Helped out critical builds even more with a x4 crit damage (which did not really need it). Bets on Reprisal (+Attack for lost health) being a part of something overpowered. Hold Out, Vantage, Reprisal? Costs a fortune for Reprisal, at least.
New emblem maps: Hit or miss. Enjoyed Soren's and Chrom's maps well enough. Felt tough, but manageable. Hated Camilla's map. Loops you across the map, all while getting harassed by reinforcements. Took a long time to beat. Grew a little tired of reinforcements on Tiki's and Hector's maps too. Says very little about Veronica's map. Felt pretty straightforward.
New engraves: Mostly bad. Sacrifices too much for too little. Sinks your Dodge a lot, leading to more criticals against you.
Fell Xenologue: Terrible. Never wants to do it again. Entered at a really bad time, admittedly. Provides you with preset classes and items for all units. Retains your emblems and inherited skills. Problem: Had low base stat Firene units and no useful inherited skills. Tuned it pretty hard as well.

Mentions two main issues with the Fell Xenologue.
1. No experience. Must complete all six maps to get any reward. Places chests on some of these maps too. Clears your inventory between maps. What is the point of those chests? (Makes sense in one case, but not the others.)
2. Chapter 5. Traps Alear in a cage. Pokes at Alear for the entire map. Also deals with Nel fighting a boss alone (and poorly). Requires you to stick a Physic healer (or two) on them while you work your way to the end. Finds more Physic staves on that map too. Results in a soft time limit. Sure, fine.
  
  Designed this map to take as long as possible, however. Starts in the upper-left. Imprisoned Alear and Nel in the top-center. Must go down and around that to the upper-right, then cut to the left.
Enchanter. Kind of useless. Expends an item charge to give effects. Does not like the effects much, on top of using items. 30% chance of ignoring damage? Why do you want the chance? Immunity to Freeze? How often does that happen? Used this maybe three times in the whole playthrough. Used Rally Spectrum instead (or healed).
Mage Cannoneer. Okay. Outranges those long-range dragon lizards. Provides plenty of chain attacks with Lucina. Worked well with Venom Blast. Appreciated the occasional Freeze too. Probably averaged 70% (displayed) hit rates all game, on the downside, despite having Dexterity +5 and Boucheron's maxed Build of 18. Mitigated this a little with Divine Pulse.
Overall: Welcomes the new options and builds. Could do without the entire Fell Xenologue. Will either never do it again or set it to Auto for most of the time. Makes the whole DLC feel overpriced, as a result.

Listed builds (with comments) and final stats below.

Spoiler: Individual Unit Comments and Builds

Spoiler: Time, MVP, and Kills

Enjoyed the playthrough overall. Resulted in some very good units and some very bad ones. Cannot believe how well some of them turned out.

Ideas for another potential playthrough:

No Killer weapons. Allow the Revanche still.
Use all the bad engraves.
No fancy Engage moves? Maybe limit it to 1 per map?

Considered a Bond Rings only run. Removes the fun of building units. May cost tons of bond fragments too.

Sea of Stars
(Spoilers ahead.)

Will try to keep this brief. Slacked off on writing this for some time. Detailed another Fire Emblem run below too.

Came into this expecting Chrono Trigger. Heard about bits and pieces before playing. Cared about enemy positioning. Brought one of the Chrono Trigger composers on board for some music. Actually referenced Chrono Trigger at least twice too ("Mountains are Nice" and a Time Egg answer). Argues Zeal and the final boss to be very similar in appearance too.

Likens it more to the handheld Mario & Luigi RPG games instead. Says that mostly for the action commands (press A at a specific time to hit twice or harder). Mentions the Moonerang attack too, which functions almost identically to the Green/Red Shell Bros move. Grew kind of tired of those games, as well.

Combat: Might as well start here. Likes the combat mechanics on paper: regain mana with regular attacks, get boost charges for regular attacks, and stop enemy spells by doing certain damage types. Rewards you with combo points for even bigger attacks by disrupting the enemy spell (partially or wholly). Where does it go wrong, then?

1. Starts off with enough mana for one skill.
2. Typically requires a skill (or two or three) to disrupt the enemy spell.

Necessitates saving your skills until, essentially, a big sign pops up saying to use them. Risks taking more damage otherwise. Runs counter to what the game tells you in the tutorial area, oddly. Tells the player to use your skills and not waste your mana regeneration from normal attacks.

Barely increases your mana pool throughout the game. Went from...8 to 22? Varied by character a little. (Writes this a few weeks after beating the game too.)

Was not the only time the game contradicted itself. Grabbed a quote from the game:

Brugaves said:
And remember to think of timed hits as a welcome addition when you pull it off, rather than something you're supposed to do perfectly all the time.

Proceeds to throw monsters at you that require you to hit the timings to disrupt the spell in time. Probably happened within the hour.

Will say that applied to timing blocks, however. Rips you to shreds in the Mario & Luigi RPG games by failing to dodge. Never felt too bad here.

One additional point in the game's favor: relics. Appears to be something akin to a difficulty slider. Offers bonuses or penalties. Turned on one to always get the timing on regular hits, but get less damage from it. Serves to help too, in the case of a relic to make a rainbow star appear when you get the timing. Wishes for one like the Paper Mario Timing Tutor, however. Told you when to press the button.

Swings back to one last negative thing about the combat: bosses. Had too much health. Could have cut their health in half. Only ever became dicey near the very end of the game (where they had even more health). Died once...to a normal encounter with a very overtuned monster. Almost died to the reskin too.

Story: Not great. Relies too heavily on deus ex machina. Receives a total of...seven prophecies? 2 for Zale, 2 for Valere, 2 for Garl, and 1 for Resh'an. Also gives Garl an epipheny to go to four random places. Adds another event where Resh'an intervenes and creates a portal to a place so you can grab some unknown, but very important item.

Dislikes the betrayal in the story as well. Hated the cycle of Dwellers and Solstice Warriors killing each other. Sure, okay. Solves that by...helping create a Dweller that will kill all of you? Chose to work for the person who made the Dwellers in the first place too. ...What? Makes zero sense.

Felt superfluous at times too. Sends you to a doomed world near the end. Adds backstory to one of the characters. Should have just been able to go to the final dungeon there, but sure, fine. What was the point of the bird kingdom existing, though? Could have cut that whole section out.

Graphics: Very nice pixel art. Complains about some of the darker landscapes, however. Understands doing one area to be extra creepy. Looked way too dark at times. Snapped a few screenshots of the good and the bad.

Spoiler: Screenshots

Music: Heard a lot of this soundtrack before playing from someone using the soundtrack. Dulled the reception, possibly. Seems pretty good, though. Never really grew tired of it.

Overall: 6/10. Okay. Would not recommend it. 100%ed it in maybe 33-35 hours? (Does not feel like looking it up.) Felt more like 50 hours. Used a guide for the last 10/60 rainbow conches. Do not bother 100%ing the game, also. Look it up and save yourself 5 hours or so.

Devalue · Feb 9, 2024

Return to Monkey Island

(Spoilers ahead)

Started Monkey Island games from a young age. Remembers a grandparent who owned the original Secret of Monkey Island game. Played it on now-ancient technology: 5.25 inch floppy disks.

(The left-most, black one. May have owned it at home on the right-most. Not sure.)

Segues into the latest game, Return to Monkey Island. Opens with an older Guybrush Threepwood telling a story to Boybrush. Nailed this feeling in the first part, for better or for worse. Pays a bunch of homeage to the earlier games. Likens it to Tales of Symphonia 2, for those that have played it. Talks about the past with every named person. Constructed a museum containing items Guybrush had (and even a few puzzle solutions).

Carries a heavy air of change as well. Replaced the old pirate leaders with new ones. Caters to a less rowdy crowd at the Scumm Bar now. Closed several stores. Sees a going-out-of-business sale at the International House of Mojo. Cannot buy a ship (because of Stan being in jail). Feels like a grandparent talking about standing still in a world moving on.

Expresses something similar in a developer note when you beat the game. Knows the developers for what they did in the past. Wants to recapture the past (and finish the story).

Found the first three parts of the game a little lacking. Enjoyed some of the dialogue. Apologized to the swordmaster with a Forgiveness Frog. Filled it with information from around the town. Allowed any option for the last input. Chose "You scare the heck out of me". Was not side-splittingly funny, but an amusingly strange part. Cannot think of anything great beyond that, however.

Picked up in Part Four. Opened up several islands. Allowed greater exploration. Particularly liked when Guybrush breaks the crown of keys (to get the golden key in the center). Noticed some polish in the paintings and statues too. Changes from the old leader to the new leader (Guybrush). Took a screenshot of a flier made to promote limes to cure scurvy too. Chose the name and slogan (from a list of options).

Spoiler: Flier

Kind of drops the ball at the end. Brings up all the destruction and pain you caused throughout the game. Expected some kind of court scene after getting the titular Secret of Monkey Island. Chased LeChuck and the new pirate leaders. Entered a door, expecting a final confrontation, and...no. Reveals everything to be a kind of fun house that is shutting down. Snagged the key off a hook, next to the wooden standup of LeChuck, and grabbed the chest. Turns out to be a t-shirt (which tracks for Monkey Island). Shut off the lights and left after that. (Calls it out as a strange ending in-game, in fairness.)

Tried to say the chest at the end was not important. Stressed the journey, the silly jokes, and the anticipation of finding the secret to be the fun part. Agrees with that, to some degree. Does not like puzzle games that much. Enjoys Monkey Island for the dialogue and silly solutions. Robs you of the final leg of the journey, though. Wanted to beat LeChuck/a pirate leader or do a trial scene. Ends too abruptly.

On the puzzles themselves: Not too difficult. Usually had an idea of what the puzzle chain looked like. Complains about some things here and there. Tells you to find a voodoo charm called the Bite of a Thousand Needles at one point. Outright refuses to tell you anything else about it. Used one of the in-game hints on that. Referred to the multiple carnivorous plants that you used to guide yourself through a forest maze (along with mushrooms and flowers).

Verdict: 6/10? (Probably gives that score out too often.) Had some nice moments and some less pleasant moments. Would not recommend it to someone that has not played Monkey Island. Complete the first two games (or more), then maybe consider this game if it is on sale.

Devalue · Apr 15, 2024

Stardew Valley

Recalls Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town somewhat fondly. Thoroughly enjoyed Rune Factory 4: Special. Has never played Stardew Valley or watched more than five minutes, however. Was never opposed to the idea. Largely expected something too basic to maintain interest, especially after playing Rune Factory. Finally decided to give it a shot because of Archipelago multiworlds and a lack of other interesting games. Questioned how good a randomized version would be. Promised some kind of extra value, though, if the base game felt too simple.

Recognized some familiar systems: the same plant/harvest cycle, energy limitations, gathering your own materials for buildings, and upgrading tools. Presented a more engaging, if occasionally frustrating, fishing minigame than the old Harvest Moon. Was a definite fan of skill levels and professions within them. Included some simple combat too, which was welcome over empty mines.

Sought more mechanics to dig into and mess around with, however. Delivered on that. Designed several different farm layouts with their own advantages and disadvantages. Offers plenty of machines: recycling for trash, bait bins, crystalariums, kegs, preserve bins, tree taps, and more. Boosts stats temporarily with cooking, if desired. Equips rings for a few effects (although not enough). Discovers minerals and artifacts for a museum, typically through geodes (random drops from stone and monsters) or random special dig spots around town. Hooks you in for some longer quests once you reach Autumn for the first time as well.

Focused on the Community Center, first and foremost. Viewed it as the central goal. Prioritized anything seasonal that was required. Pushed the mines a fair amount too, as one of the other possible Archipelago goals. Fished for cash to obtain tool upgrades beyond those two goals. Maxed Fishing skill first among all the skills. Cleared the mines sometime in Fall.

Needed just three items for the Community Center at the start of Year 2: a Truffle, a Rabbit's Foot, and a Pomegranate. Bought and planted the Pomegranate Tree Sapling, only for the Traveling Merchant to sell a pomegranate not longer after. Fine. Invested a bunch of cash into upgrading the coop for the rabbit...and sniped by the Traveling Merchant again, after the final upgrade. Delayed the barn upgrade in favor of a long-term investment (Starfruit seeds). Eventually completed the barn and bought a very pricy pig. Took forever for that pig to deliver. Completed the Community Center around Summer 18 (of Year 2).

Sailed off to Ginger Island after that. Did not overly care for that area. Hid Golden Walnuts everywhere. Dislikes some of the tricks for these. Forces you to walk into areas that look like walls (obscured by leaves or trees), often without any kind of indicator. Represented a minority of Golden Walnuts, to be sure, but enough to be annoying.

Eventually took stock of what constitutes "the end" for playing Stardew Valley, somewhere near the end of Year 2. Ruled out Perfection. Settled on reaching the bottom of the Dangerous Mines, making the best sword, finishing the museum, getting all the skill masteries, and maxing out friendships. Considered a few more achievements (such as reading all the books) as optional.

Received the best evaluation from Grandfather at the start of Year 3. Forged the best sword, filled out the museum, and maxed out skill masteries by mid-Spring. Read all the books, as a nice bonus. Maxed out the last friendship in...early Summer? (Took forever to be friends with Leo. Had most others by the end of Year 2.)

Suffered terrible luck in getting the Dangerous Mines, however. Triggers it by accepting a quest from Qi. Posts two random quests every week. Did not mind other quests at first. Fueled the purchase of items for the best sword. Waited about two full seasons to see the quest, however. Branched out to other goals while waiting.

Shipped 15 of each crop. Not a big reach. Grew a variety for quests.
Shipped every item. Eyed the collection from the start, although not the achievement.
Complete all the Monster Slayer quests (slay 1000 slimes, 600 dust sprites, ...). Mainly needed Pepper Rexes. Ran through Skull Caverns several times for the last 20-ish.
Completed the raccoon quests. Would not have done this, if not for the quest taking so long to show up.
Cook every recipe. Barely crested 10 recipes prior to Summer of Year 3. Ignored it because of cooking being unnecessary and also requiring some specific fish. Completed this during and slightly after the Dangerous Mines quest, but more on that in a moment.

Finally accepted the Dangerous Mines quest on Fall 1. Put more effort into it than a simple reskin. Reused the layout, yes. Added new monsters, upped the number of monsters, and changed the scenery a little. For anyone familiar with only the normal mines, see:

Mentioned cooking while on this Dangerous Mines quest. Still had four recipes left at the start of Fall. Needed:

Two Eels (a Spring/Fall fish) for two recipes. Rained during the quest, conveniently. Popped out of the mines and bought some Eel Bait.
A recipe. Had the ingredients. Waited for a dumb recipe for ages. Sells this recipe on the Ginger Island resort. Buys it from one specific NPC. Appears randomly at about noon. Waited about two weeks for it to happen. Had nothing else to do, for the most part. Walked out a little after 6 AM. Stood there until noon. Went to bed and repeated the process. Jumped out of the mines to check, similar to the eels. Paid off.
An Apricot (a Spring fruit). Failed to hold one back. Planted the tree. Never stored any. Sold the ones from the fruit bat cave too. Finished the mines quest on Wednesday. Nothing in the cave on Thursday. Lucked into an apricot on Friday. Nice.

_______

From the Perfection Tracker:

Produce & Forage Shipped: 100%
Obelisks on Farm: 1/4 (Island only)
Golden Clock on Farm: No (10 million. Very no.)
Monster Slayer Hero: Yes
Great Friends: 100%
Farmer Level: 25/25
Found All Stardrops: No (never married or took on a roommate)
Cooking Recipes Made: 100%
Crafting Recipes Made: 32%
Fish Caught: 100%
Golden Walnuts Found: 121/130

Total Complete: 69% (unintentional).

Seems rather low, considering the accomplishments made. Presumes Stardrops to be all-or-nothing. Assigns 10% to the Golden Clock alone too. Could fill in a bunch of crafting recipes, but why bother?

Rates the game as...8.5/10? Maybe 9/10. Really enjoyed playing. Harbors a few complaints, like item quality causing issues (eating up extra space and requiring 5 of the same rarity sometimes) and combat a hair too simple. Looks forward to trying an Archipelago of this sometime.

Devalue · Apr 20, 2024

Long Live the Queen

Gave this game a shot for this month's Game-Along. Watched playthroughs of it years ago. Forgot some details, thankfully, given it is a story-based game.

Controls Elodie, a princess of the country of Nova. Recently lost her mother, the former queen. Stands poised to inherit the throne. Must survive until then, however.

Selects classes to level up a variety of skills, from Composure to Foreign Intelligence to Divination to Swords. Uses these skills to pass simple checks in the story (such as if Skill >= 40). Unlocks extra dialogue, options, or information from successful checks. Suffers things like worse approval and potentially death from failures.

Cannot quite pick classes as easily as you want, however. Deals with Elodie's mood throughout the game. Experiences emotions like Afraid, Cheerful, and Lonely. Influences Elodie's mood primarily through weekend activities, but occasionally story events too. But why is mood important? Adds bonuses and penalties to learning based on Elodie's mood. Learns Medicine skills slower when Angry, but faster when Lonely.

Praises this game for all the different ways events can play out. May explore a forest, encounter/avoid assassins, and fight a war based on some of your decisions. Glances at one of the later weeks (arguably one of the better examples). Did the nobles declare a civil war on you? And do you have a hostage? Did you explore the forest with someone? Did they go into the forest alone? Did you tell this person's parents about their plan? Did you break off your engagement...and which one? Became queen a few times to try to see more story (and died a few more times).

Highlights some of the skill-up flavor text too. Found it interesting. One quote:

Flattery Level 70 said:
A certain class of dramatic personality believes utterly that they are ugly and unpopular, even if this is untrue. Flattering their appearance will make them pull away and mistrust you. Instead, compliment their intelligence; this tends to be their weakness.

Suffers from becoming a game of trial and error, though. Contains zero randomness. Figures out some common death spots over time. May head down a different story path...only to die to a surprise Herbs check. May be difficult to switch Elodie's mood to learn the skills you want over time too. Learns how to manage mood, for the most part. Wishes for better UI on what moods influence without being in said mood.

Criticizes the skill balancing a little, on another note. Finds some skills fairly useless, like most of the Animal Handling skills. Calls for two skills in the game precisely once each. Considers Lumen skills phenomenal, on the flip side.

Would recommend checking it out, either by watching a playthrough or playing it yourself. Cautions about this game's length, however. Reaches endings pretty quickly. May only take...two hours to win? Drops on repeat playthroughs. Will probably not get more than 10 hours of gameplay out of it unless you want to view a lot of different paths. Consider that before forking over the cash.

[Game Journal] Crawling through games

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