Revier's Stuff of Dubious Value

As usual, my commentary is in italics, with the exception of dialogue. The doctors left behind a memory full of personal objects strewn about. With an umbrella, they proceed to move forward to... ... A stormy day outside the lighthouse. We see Johnny standing right over his wife's grave, wearing an expression of grief. The doctors begin talking. Dr. Watts: When it comes to rain, "through" is better than "onto". Dr. Rosalene: I don't mind it regardless. Dr. Rosalene:  (turning towards Johnny) Seems like these memory hops only span a short period of time... Dr. Rosalene: (turning back to Neil) We need to find a leaping memento, or it's going to take forever. Dr. Watts: (turning to the cliffs on the right) Meh, enjoy the scenery. Demonstrated here is the issue of relying on mementos - if the memories linked by them aren't close enough, or miss vital information, or are too close, you run the risk of having a poor understanding of the motives you're

  As usual, my commentary is in italics, except for dialogue. Last time, Watts was chewed out by Rosalene for having spent too much time snooping around the house. Thing is, what was supposed to be a house tour turned out to be a house, lighthouse and the grounds tour, because of weird origami rabbits. Anyway, the machine's all set up for use now. So he initiates it! - The doctor and Lily both turn towards the doctors as they begin to don their helmets. Dr. Watts: Ready or not, here it goes! - All three helmets light up, and the power dims again. Upon starting the machine's program, the screen quickly fills with light and flashes to... - ...the same room, but in yellow and black and white, alternatingly. Dr. Rosalene: This should be the last accessible memory. Dr. Rosalene: Disable speech for all except Johnny. - Watts presses a button and then speaks, facing Rosalene. Dr. Watts: Done. Let's get 'im. So yeah, this machine basically lets people view the memories of ot

As usual, my commentary is in italics, except for dialogue.   Watts now has two kids following him. They directed him to the study, so that's where he's going. As soon as Watts enters, the kids move to the side and begin talking. Tommy: This is da' book room! Sarah:  (excitedly) The key to the funny room is in the thickest book on the upper shelf! Talking to them again: Tommy: Just a bunch of books in here. Tommy: They've nothing I don't know about, though!! Tommy: Me and Sarah used to have book fights until one of us needed a bandaid. Tommy: Ma told us to stop, but we do it anyway! Sarah: Tommy used to throw books at me and call it a book fight. Sarah: ... Until one day, I threw one back and he needed a bandaid. Heehee! Sarah: I wonder if Johnny has actually read all these books! Kids being kids... Looking through the study, we find the key inside Dusklight. Dr. Watts:  (thinking) ... The man sure knows where to hide things. Going outside the study makes Sa

 Act 1 As usual, my commentary is in italics, except for in dialogue. - We cut to darkness, with sounds of footsteps audible. Someone speaks up. Lily: Dr. Watts and Dr. Rosalene, I presume? - The screen fades into the interior of the house, the doctors are now inside and the kids are nowhere to be seen. Lily: Thanks for coming on such a short notice. Dr. Watts: ( raising hand) That's okay, I tend to be bad at predicting deaths as well. Dr. Rosalene: Are you the patient's daughter? Lily: Oh no, I am just his caretaker. - The kids come in running from upstairs, disappearing into a room towards the left. Watts, Rosalene and Lily all follow them with their gaze. Lily: ... And these are my children, Sarah and Tommy. Lily:  (turning back to face Rosalene and Watts) It's not exactly a nine-to-five job, so Johnny lets us live here. Dr. Rosalene: I suppose this "Johnny" is our man? Dr. Watts: ... "Johnny"? Dr. Watts: Listen, if it's a kid we're deali

 Ever since I played Harmony of Dissonance, I always wondered what a moody and hellish version of Aria of Sorrow's castle would look like, ala Castle B of the former game. JonataGuitar's excellent recolor mod for AoS inspired me to work on this idea. It took quite a lot of practice, and opinions from others, but I'm happy with what I've got so far. Screenshots below: Let me know what you think! As for the next post of A Long Look at To the Moon: it's coming soon. Stay tuned!

 In 2011, Kan Gao released a game on Steam and GOG. It was unassuming, only having Quintessence and The Mirror Lied mentioned as past work in its trailer. Of these, Quintessence was an incomplete and obscure, though ambitious JRPG that had won some awards, while The Mirror Lied was a short, somewhat abstract adventure game. While perhaps showing promise, these would not sell the game on their own. Despite this, the trailer was effective - it had the voice of Laura Shigihara, used music and sound carefully to sell a narrative that promised a poignant story - one of a man reliving his life and fulfilling his last wishes right before his death. Many people were piqued by it, and it became incredibly successful, cultivating a decently sized following for someone who was barely visible on the scene before. 11 years later, this game spawned a full fledged franchise in its own right, with two "mainline" sequels and a shitton of "side" material. I will go through them as

Note: I will put my commentary in italics, and the rest of the text in regular writing style to make it easier to follow, with the exception of dialogue. I will try my best to give a fair overview of the story, so that the reader can follow it well enough and understand what I'm commenting on. Moving forward...   The title screen begins promisingly enough. We have the motif of a moon as the main object of interest, with its rays prominently and creatively lighting up the currently selected option on the screen. Also visible is a lighthouse, which, spoilers, is fairly crucial for the plot of this game. A pleasant and moody ditty combined with a calm, relaxing night background round off the theme nicely. On that note though, why no Options menu? The game opens with a scenic overview of a house and the lighthouse nearby. We briefly get a glimpse of two people on the bench, looking at the lighthouse, then we cut to the inside of the house.  A girl plays a piano version of the title the