Hello. I am, once again, writing about the To the Moon series. No, don't be alarmed, I'm not here to yell about how bad the games are. Just to contemplate on my relationship with the games and how it has changed over the years.
I will quickly skip over my college years, as there's not much to say about them - back then, I was a big Kan Gao fanboy, and would've gladly indulged in anything he put out.
I will briefly write about my first return to the fandom, back in late 2021 - I was immature back then, and the hype of people talking up To the Moon, the disappointment I had playing it, and the frustration when I realized that game's success had put Quintessence: The Blighted Venom's development on a long pause, alongside some bad real life experiences all combined to make me a rather toxic person.
It also didn't help that I felt people on the Freebird Games Discord weren't listening to my (what I thought at the time were impeccable) critiques, and were just looking to shut me down.
But let's fast forward past that and look at a more pleasant perspective.
Since I have matured considerably since then (I feel so, at the least), I feel like I can identify the artistic qualities of these games better, as well as their (incredibly subjective) failings. So, let's do exactly that!
I'd say its only major flaw is that it presents itself as a romance, and while Johnny and River's relationship certainly fuels the drama of this story, it's not quite the main appeal of the story. Regardless, this still holds up and is still a pretty solid story.
The only real "flaw", inasmuch as it can be called one, is that after To the Moon, this feels like an odd step back. It's understandable that it wants to tell its own story, but losing the tension and atmosphere of To the Moon is quite the handicap, not helped by its plot being rather short and generic. But approached on its own merits, it's still a nice touching tale.
(Where are the minisodes? Well.... I'll return to them later.)
To begin with, while this story was, in theory, written to "work" without the context of A Bird Story, in practice losing that context affects the perception of Colin greatly. Colin, in his childhood moments, comes off not as a lonely boy daydreaming about his life, but a happy boy experiencing a content, cheesy childhood with his girl friend.
The second problem, more serious than the first, is that a lot of Colin's "adult" memories are spent travelling rather aimlessly. The tension that drove To the Moon is completely gone, and instead we're treated to painstaking scenes of Colin whining about how, despite his wealth and his loving family, he can't find fulfillment.
Thankfully, the story does get better. At around the halfway mark, it is revealed that his so called "childhood friend" was in fact a lie, a shocking yet fairly sensible twist backed up by the story's evidence. Afterwards, a thrilling action sequence and a surprisingly decent series of philosophical discussions seals the deal convincingly.
Of course, it is worth repeating that these are all subjective takes, yet I think that, given the material, they hew fairly close to how someone at "average" would experience them.
Anyway...
However, the first part of the story ends up being merely set dressing for what's its "true" plot - Lynri, an ambitious researcher cursed with a slowly ticking deadly disease, falling in love with Quincy, a casual goofball of a man. I think their story didn't click with me because I found their romance rather cliched.
To their credit, Freebird Games does attempt to spice this story up with twists, like Quincy and Lynri drifting apart due to the latter's work, or Lynri leaving her company because she discovers they were trying to use her as a convenient test subject.
The problem is, many of these are rather predictable, and seem to follow the same bundle of tropes that by now have seen plenty of use in at least the three previous stories, if not the many stories out there. To wit - I found myself laughing when they tried to pass off the death of the couple's baby as a SUPER SHOCKING SAD DEVASTATING twist, even though I could see it coming from at least a mile away.
With that story out of the way, the final twist is at the least interesting and sensible, though it's delivered a bit clunkily - Lynri and Quincy were the parents of Neil, one of the main series doctors, Lynri's "life" was actually him simulating a life where she lived, in contrast to reality where she eventually died after birthing him, and he had spent a considerable amount of his lifetime in service of seeing her live, even if only within a machine. Too bad most of this impact is lost without the context of previous games featuring Neil.
On the whole, Impostor Factory is not bad, but it's certainly rather watered down from the series' highs, and feels a bit like an overtly fanservicey story, in a very weird way. Speaking of fanservice though...
So, a few years after To the Moon, Freebird Games decided to put out two small episodes - one in 2013, the other in 2015. They were focused completely on the series doctors, Neil and Eva. These stories were mostly cute, inoffensive affairs, with the first episode featuring some surprisingly thoughtful dialogue and the second capturing a few embers of To the Moon's strong atmosphere.
The issue is that, after Impostor Factory, Freebird Games decided to make stories solely about the doctors, and that wouldn't be a problem, except for the part where the doctors are kinda not great as protagonists? They work fine enough in short stories, and as "co commentators" in the two "big" stories they feature in, but as the main dish themselves, they're, errm, kinda generic?
They certainly don't have enough going on to be interesting as characters or a couple. Like, yeah, sure, Neil is hiding his terrible secret disease from Eva, and Eva is sad because he died too quickly for her to reconcile herself, but so what? What is this special dark sauce that's supposed to make their relationship so compelling? Unfortunately, I have no clue, and so I find myself largely uninterested in these stories.
I am still interested in the RPG, but moreso because I am interested to see how this team will pull off an RPG rather than the story itself. It's possible that they could surprise me with the story, especially if they put some good philosophical discussions in, but I'm keeping my expectations reasonable.
And hey, I AM looking forward to the RPG myself. Just...for different reasons.
I will quickly skip over my college years, as there's not much to say about them - back then, I was a big Kan Gao fanboy, and would've gladly indulged in anything he put out.
I will briefly write about my first return to the fandom, back in late 2021 - I was immature back then, and the hype of people talking up To the Moon, the disappointment I had playing it, and the frustration when I realized that game's success had put Quintessence: The Blighted Venom's development on a long pause, alongside some bad real life experiences all combined to make me a rather toxic person.
It also didn't help that I felt people on the Freebird Games Discord weren't listening to my (what I thought at the time were impeccable) critiques, and were just looking to shut me down.
But let's fast forward past that and look at a more pleasant perspective.
Since I have matured considerably since then (I feel so, at the least), I feel like I can identify the artistic qualities of these games better, as well as their (incredibly subjective) failings. So, let's do exactly that!
To the Moon
Obviously, the story that started it all. What it does best is the atmosphere of Johnny's memories - the narration uses a lot of delightful tricks to constantly keep the viewer at unease, and the story provides a series of good mindfuck moments towards its end.I'd say its only major flaw is that it presents itself as a romance, and while Johnny and River's relationship certainly fuels the drama of this story, it's not quite the main appeal of the story. Regardless, this still holds up and is still a pretty solid story.
A Bird Story
Freebird Games' second commercial story, and a far cry from To the Moon. There's no patients, no dying wishes, nothing of the sort. Instead, we're treated to a simple story of a dreamy, mischievous, lonely boy who forms an at first cute, but later unhealthy friendship with a wounded bird. It's a pretty straightforward, unpretentious story that relies heavily on animations and sound cues to tell itself.The only real "flaw", inasmuch as it can be called one, is that after To the Moon, this feels like an odd step back. It's understandable that it wants to tell its own story, but losing the tension and atmosphere of To the Moon is quite the handicap, not helped by its plot being rather short and generic. But approached on its own merits, it's still a nice touching tale.
(Where are the minisodes? Well.... I'll return to them later.)
Finding Paradise
Now we come to the second "big" tale, the story of A Bird Story's boy, fully grown up as Colin, starring as the second patient of the series. This is something of a fan favorite, and it's certainly a solid story, but there are caveats.To begin with, while this story was, in theory, written to "work" without the context of A Bird Story, in practice losing that context affects the perception of Colin greatly. Colin, in his childhood moments, comes off not as a lonely boy daydreaming about his life, but a happy boy experiencing a content, cheesy childhood with his girl friend.
The second problem, more serious than the first, is that a lot of Colin's "adult" memories are spent travelling rather aimlessly. The tension that drove To the Moon is completely gone, and instead we're treated to painstaking scenes of Colin whining about how, despite his wealth and his loving family, he can't find fulfillment.
Thankfully, the story does get better. At around the halfway mark, it is revealed that his so called "childhood friend" was in fact a lie, a shocking yet fairly sensible twist backed up by the story's evidence. Afterwards, a thrilling action sequence and a surprisingly decent series of philosophical discussions seals the deal convincingly.
Of course, it is worth repeating that these are all subjective takes, yet I think that, given the material, they hew fairly close to how someone at "average" would experience them.
Anyway...
Impostor Factory
Freebird Games' third and last "big" story in the series, often seen as their weirdest one. Impostor Factory first begins with a seemingly completely new premise, with Quincy, a random new guy, being invited to a shady manor. Naturally, things go pear shaped and he eventually finds himself at the center of a fucked up plot.However, the first part of the story ends up being merely set dressing for what's its "true" plot - Lynri, an ambitious researcher cursed with a slowly ticking deadly disease, falling in love with Quincy, a casual goofball of a man. I think their story didn't click with me because I found their romance rather cliched.
To their credit, Freebird Games does attempt to spice this story up with twists, like Quincy and Lynri drifting apart due to the latter's work, or Lynri leaving her company because she discovers they were trying to use her as a convenient test subject.
The problem is, many of these are rather predictable, and seem to follow the same bundle of tropes that by now have seen plenty of use in at least the three previous stories, if not the many stories out there. To wit - I found myself laughing when they tried to pass off the death of the couple's baby as a SUPER SHOCKING SAD DEVASTATING twist, even though I could see it coming from at least a mile away.
With that story out of the way, the final twist is at the least interesting and sensible, though it's delivered a bit clunkily - Lynri and Quincy were the parents of Neil, one of the main series doctors, Lynri's "life" was actually him simulating a life where she lived, in contrast to reality where she eventually died after birthing him, and he had spent a considerable amount of his lifetime in service of seeing her live, even if only within a machine. Too bad most of this impact is lost without the context of previous games featuring Neil.
On the whole, Impostor Factory is not bad, but it's certainly rather watered down from the series' highs, and feels a bit like an overtly fanservicey story, in a very weird way. Speaking of fanservice though...
Sigmund Minisodes, Beach Episode, Last Hour RPG etc
So, a few years after To the Moon, Freebird Games decided to put out two small episodes - one in 2013, the other in 2015. They were focused completely on the series doctors, Neil and Eva. These stories were mostly cute, inoffensive affairs, with the first episode featuring some surprisingly thoughtful dialogue and the second capturing a few embers of To the Moon's strong atmosphere.
The issue is that, after Impostor Factory, Freebird Games decided to make stories solely about the doctors, and that wouldn't be a problem, except for the part where the doctors are kinda not great as protagonists? They work fine enough in short stories, and as "co commentators" in the two "big" stories they feature in, but as the main dish themselves, they're, errm, kinda generic?
They certainly don't have enough going on to be interesting as characters or a couple. Like, yeah, sure, Neil is hiding his terrible secret disease from Eva, and Eva is sad because he died too quickly for her to reconcile herself, but so what? What is this special dark sauce that's supposed to make their relationship so compelling? Unfortunately, I have no clue, and so I find myself largely uninterested in these stories.
I am still interested in the RPG, but moreso because I am interested to see how this team will pull off an RPG rather than the story itself. It's possible that they could surprise me with the story, especially if they put some good philosophical discussions in, but I'm keeping my expectations reasonable.
Closing
I may have ended on a negative note, but I do want to insist that, at the very least, the first three stories are worth experiencing. And while I'm not the target audience for either Impostor Factory or its followups, they do seem to have their appeal, especially since a lot of the fanbase does like the two doctors as a couple. Furthermore, it should be more than clear that this is ultimately just the musings of one person, not a gospel truth about these stories or any such silliness.And hey, I AM looking forward to the RPG myself. Just...for different reasons.
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