So, some of you might recall that I started writing a long form commentary on To the Moon, all the way back this January. Since then, a gracious friend of mine narrated most of its commentary portions, and today, the entire series can be viewed on Youtube!
Single Video Version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI2HyULQ6Uw
Playlist Version: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLq9gAqCjBI0jKqZD9f3A3zrEcSD4xxNoR
Afterword
Making these videos was a great learning experience. I learnt a lot about pacing, video transitions, and maintaining focus. I also learnt how to become a better narrator.
Looking back at my commentary, there are certainly quite a few places that could have used improvement. I sometimes got too hung up over technical details to put focus on the story, which was what I was mostly supposed to comment on. I was also perhaps a bit too obsessed with being fair and keeping a record of all of the dialogue, which certainly did drag down parts of the commentary. My commentary was also at times far sparser and lighter than it should've been, as I discovered while talking about this game with others.
But, all in all, the core criticisms it raised stand. This story suffers from shallow characterization, overt bouts of sentimental character drama involving said shallow characters, an extremely poor and uneven sense of pacing, and twists that seriously raise suspension of disbelief, to the point of breaking bridges. While the ideas and concepts touched within were interesting and worth exploring, the writing failed to do it much justice.
Thankfully, the rest of Freebird Games' stories are, by and large, generally better than this. They still share some of the same core flaws, which is to be expected since there is only one main author, but they do tell more interesting stories and don't squander them as hard as this. I need to put a caveat here that I haven't played Impostor Factory yet, and it could perhaps shift TtM's position in my eyes, but that's a story for another time.
Looking back at my commentary, there are certainly quite a few places that could have used improvement. I sometimes got too hung up over technical details to put focus on the story, which was what I was mostly supposed to comment on. I was also perhaps a bit too obsessed with being fair and keeping a record of all of the dialogue, which certainly did drag down parts of the commentary. My commentary was also at times far sparser and lighter than it should've been, as I discovered while talking about this game with others.
But, all in all, the core criticisms it raised stand. This story suffers from shallow characterization, overt bouts of sentimental character drama involving said shallow characters, an extremely poor and uneven sense of pacing, and twists that seriously raise suspension of disbelief, to the point of breaking bridges. While the ideas and concepts touched within were interesting and worth exploring, the writing failed to do it much justice.
Thankfully, the rest of Freebird Games' stories are, by and large, generally better than this. They still share some of the same core flaws, which is to be expected since there is only one main author, but they do tell more interesting stories and don't squander them as hard as this. I need to put a caveat here that I haven't played Impostor Factory yet, and it could perhaps shift TtM's position in my eyes, but that's a story for another time.
Take care, and feel free to give me feedback! As long as you keep it respectful, of course...
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