thoughts on ToL1
Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2004 3:36 am
I really enjoyed this game...it's a bit out of my normal realm, I'm not into Anime and have never played any game even remotely similar. In fact I only checked out the game because I know Blue Lemma, but I really did enjoy the game.
My main suggestion would be to have more variety, the game seems fairly linear. The answers you give seem to have only minimal impact on what happens later in the game (aside from ultimately what ending you get.) In my opinion, with games like this, the more variety the better. It will especially help with replay value. (I understand this causes the workload to increase greatly, so I guess it's up to you how far you want to go with the game.) As a couple of the other reviews suggested, even if it only 'appears' to give you more control, more dialogue and interaction is better.
Another thing that could help with the replay value is to sneak in more 'surprises', things that perhaps are hard to attain or find. Even if it's just a new dialog option, or a visual that you only get by a certain sequence of answers...stuff like that would really help the replay value, and give people something to talk about. Kinda like easter eggs.
Also there was mention a couple times of very age specific things that I didn't think were necessary. It sounded very strange when he commented on thinking the girl was cute because she was barely over twenty, or something like that. I think an easy way to get around that sounding so awkward would be to say "and she looks like she's about my age." Of course I understand that the target market for the game is that specific age range, but even still it sounds a bit silly to keep bringing up the specific age.
Anyway, the game was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to the 2nd one. Now I'm gonna have to go back and try again since I know there's a different ending if you lose to the mushrooms!
My main suggestion would be to have more variety, the game seems fairly linear. The answers you give seem to have only minimal impact on what happens later in the game (aside from ultimately what ending you get.) In my opinion, with games like this, the more variety the better. It will especially help with replay value. (I understand this causes the workload to increase greatly, so I guess it's up to you how far you want to go with the game.) As a couple of the other reviews suggested, even if it only 'appears' to give you more control, more dialogue and interaction is better.
Another thing that could help with the replay value is to sneak in more 'surprises', things that perhaps are hard to attain or find. Even if it's just a new dialog option, or a visual that you only get by a certain sequence of answers...stuff like that would really help the replay value, and give people something to talk about. Kinda like easter eggs.
Also there was mention a couple times of very age specific things that I didn't think were necessary. It sounded very strange when he commented on thinking the girl was cute because she was barely over twenty, or something like that. I think an easy way to get around that sounding so awkward would be to say "and she looks like she's about my age." Of course I understand that the target market for the game is that specific age range, but even still it sounds a bit silly to keep bringing up the specific age.
Anyway, the game was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to the 2nd one. Now I'm gonna have to go back and try again since I know there's a different ending if you lose to the mushrooms!