Thirsty Suitors

[Maryokutai]

The best way to describe this is what if Suda51 had a queer Indian cousin who also made games? It's really out there, in every sense of the phrase. The setup is basically Scott Pilgrim through an Indian lens, with the protagonist returning to her hometown after a breakup and then having to confront all her exes.

 

From a gameplay perspective you're either talking, skating around, doing some QTE-based minigames or fight in turn-based battles. I don't want to call the gameplay loop gimmicky because it's a bit derogatory, but it still explains it best. There's not much depth to anything you do, but it's a very enjoyable cocktail presented in a very wacky and charming way. During dialogue sequence you can pick answers which in turn give points for one of three different 'thirstsonas' (their word, not mine). Supposedly this impacts both the narrative and gameplay, but I haven't noticed the former and the latter just boils down to minuscule shifts towards either your HP pool, your offense or your defense.

 

Skating is wonky and clunky, but you can skip every challenge the game asks you to do before progressing. I think it's a nice enough diversion, but it's no Tony Hawk for sure. Combat meanwhile is a solid spin on the Paper Mario/Mario et Luigi formula with timed button inputs influencing damage dealt and received. Debuffs are called taunts and certain skills you have deal bonus damage if a debuff has been applied. That's pretty much it, but it's a solid template and the boss fights, while quite a bit talkative, are the clear highlights, with the exes withdrawing into some sort of mind palace where they take different forms (a bit Persona-like, now that I think about it). There's also a part where you can cook meals for combat use or to make up with your exes, which is technically just a series of QTEs intertwined by a heart-to-heart with either your mum or dad (depending on what menu you choose).

 

I'm definitely enjoying it a lot and it also has a very stylish presentation. 3D modelling can't quite keep up with the art but it's a really 'cool' game to look at with a lot of visual flourishes, nice UI art etc. The OST is really good as well, though in a less eccentric way. Overall a nice little feelgood game that still tackles some deeper subjects from a different perspective than we're used to in games.

[Maryokutai]

Beat this today, takes about 10 hours which seemed perfectly suited to what it set out to do. My impressions never really changed throughout, it's a really nice game overall. Some parts are a bit too talkative and I think the dialogue could have used more subtlety, but it does address a couple of important themes in a sensible manner. There was one annoying part towards the end where you go up against an undefeatable boss, but that fact isn't initially apparent, so I wasted a lot of healing items and therefore artificially dragged it along. 

[mfnick]

Yea I enjoyed this game. Only took me 7 hours though but I didn’t bother with any of the optional skateboarding stuff & didn’t fight any randoms in the open area bits. I got my relationship as high as I could with 3 or 4 of them. Some of the Ex entrances and battles were really fun and visually cool. Liked the parts at home too. Good game, just not particularly special at the same time. 

[Maryokutai]

I liked those parts, too. It's funny seeing Jala backflipping around at home for every banal interaction and her father was cool. I do think the game is somewhat special in the sense that it shows a subculture that's very underrepresented in games and has a weird setup to blend it together, but on a gameplay level it wouldn't set any goty discussions on fire of course.

 

I think I'm going to check out their other game at some point, Falcon Age. 

[DANGERMAN]

I started this last night, it's fun, also a nice colourful contrast from Look Outside 

 

Early impressions, I think the only thing I'm not loving is that you don't heal after combat, although there does seem to be some health pick ups around. Pretty much every fight has taken most of my health though, although I haven't been using items. 

 

I also need to get it in to my head that just because it's better to use a special attack after a taunt, it doesn't mean you have to, which speeds things up. 

 

I missed a prompt that explained which taunts won't work, something about outline colour? 

[Maryokutai]

It's just been a bit over a year but I barely remember anything about its combat systems. I thought the game would give you some info about enemy weaknesses to taunts, à la SMT. Or maybe it only saves that information if you have used them once? In any case it's something that will become clear as you move along. Same as the health stuff, which is only noticeable because your character is a bit underpowered at the beginning.