Laura Shigihara

Did you get creeped out at the messed-up memories part at all? Probably not... but holy shike when I saw Johnny's little brother dead on a classroom floor yikes. Also, the penultimate choice.... idealizing your love and forgetting her reality completely or dealing with the problems that did happen mainly as a consequence of Johnny's little hissie fits at a psychologist office.... yeah. I don't know how he managed to make a character so likable and unlikable at the same time.

What gets me is that I'm not really sure if I liked how it turned out. Like, the entire time he was talking about going to the moon. It wasn't literal. It was a metaphor for wanting to meet up with River if ever they were separated. Also, the love they shared in the altered memory seemed so fleeting and less emotionally strong that the one they had with all the trouble and strife of the original memory. But honestly, the fact that I'm looking this deeply into it shows that it has risen far past being just an RPG Maker game and has become it's own independent story. And I could only ever hope to get anywhere near that.

I AGREE SO MUCH. It wasn't perfect and ideal, but life ain't perfect and ideal! I theorized that even more tragically, he REALIZED what it meant to him after calling the agency, right before he fell unconscious. They could only access his memory from that one point where he's outside the lighthouse(in my head, it was right before he was going in to make that final revelation), and bam they begin to change everything around since they're a company and can't possibly know what he means since they're accessing available memories.

But yeah... the only evidence I really have is that Johnny is sitting out there when the tech duo talks to him, and then when you have to check the lighthouse early in the game, the twins say "It looks like someone's been in here recently! Or something like that. I mean. Whoa. So many bunnies, but he did appear to study them especially carefully after River's death.

The one thing that did make me cry more during the ending(I didn't cry before that, at all and was surprised) is that Johnny's brother got a chance at living. That felt a lot less fleeting and did kinda fundamentally explain why Johnny was so messed up as to why he had such a personality complex in high school. Just so much sheer love and support was there, and it was so crazy that it was emulated like that for him. Perhaps that was worth it for that- but then I can't help but feel for River. Early on? I wasn't super attached. Post carnival? Holy crap, dude. She loved him so much for that long, but because of something completely out of her control, could not figure out how to accurately tell him. Seeing him destroy the stuff that reminded her of that time, her comfort items, destroying his motivations she thought he had(actually remembering they met so many years ago and made a cute romantic promise).... augh I was balling for that as well. River is dead and buried, and the only man she ever loved not only didn't remember they had such a touching moment, but destroyed any of the reality they spent together, like the awkward lighthouse dancing scene that was pretty sweet.

And I can't even say what I would've done in Johnny's situation. That's what kills me. I say I'd keep the hurt because there is both love and hurt in life, but who knows?

Also, I agree about the standards! I really think custom sprite animations help a game so much(Neil's headpalms and whatnot)... but I think aside from great story and craftsmanship, it's a concept that is unique, people can relate to, and it touches lives. I think it's a type of story that's in the minority in a lot of the PC RPGM games especially. I see people venturing outside tropes so much more on the consoles at times, and pushing the limits... and what do the PC people do with endless possibilities... they go always fantasy or grunge and stuff and augh. This isn't to say that the genre is the problem though- it's the story. You can tell a great medieval story people can relate to on some level too, I think. But that's part of the reason my game is still in pre-processing. I want the whole story fleshed out first- but there's some serious non-traditional ideas. Which, they're mainly for me anyways. I want a game I can relate to a bit more. I think everyone does that a little with the games they make- they're a bit for themselves, too.

Speaking of Neil though, there's a pretty crazy cool theory going around. He has a pain flash at the end of the game while Eva has already left Johnny's grave, and he's on the way to leave. The theory is that he or someone else(Eva?) are reliving their lives and having memories modified. Maybe the Johnny situation was handled entirely wrong to begin with, and he wanted to remedy that. I think the creator said it was not the case(and kind of a teasing wait and see vagueness to it), but the fact that one heartbeat sound effect and a red screen flash spawned that theory is expert eventing!

Which, that's another fair point! This game had a lot of utility custom scripts(so it could be played as an adventure click game especially), but the main meat was how well the dialogue, story, and eventing was done. The puzzles were fine, but it wasn't like some mind-blowing thing when you actually did the sequence, but finding the orbs and stuff were all eventing I think... and wow.

I also felt really bad for River. She had genuinely done nothing wrong. Like, she deserved the spot that she had in Johnny's life. And taking that away felt cruel. So I can see why Neil reacted the way he did at the thought of erasing River from Johnny's memory. And you're right. The scenes like the lighthouse dance and the decision to build a house by Anya were so much more real and loving than anything that came of the altered memory. It almost makes the old memories better despite the hard life.

About the theory though. I really hope it's not like that. The whole Inception thing was lame enough in the movie its self. I wouldn't want to see the game take the same route. Though there is definitely something going on. Even before that scene, before Johnny's death, he left quickly only to be stopped by Lily. When asked, he said he had to go pee or something. Then caught Eva on the way and gave a totally different story on why he had to leave. So something is definitely up.

Hurray for spoiler convo! Actually, they don't make mention of this quite explicitly enough, but they mention(or imply) that Neil is addicted to painkillers. If you pick him in the faux battle, apparently, he has less than max HP because of it. He has some kinda chronic pain condition, which the creator has assured people it was just a "pain" animation at the end of the game, and he takes another painkiller.

I also wish we could've explored River's mind more as well, but the blanks were filled quite nicely. I never thought I'd feel for her initially, but holy crap. I felt even worse for their mutual friend, the actress. It's also outright stated she has Asperger's too, and she puts on a mask to even deal with the outside world and stuff, and envied River.

I really hope episode 2 comes out soon. I definitely don't mind the games being short, since they're kinda like a compendium of delicious short stories culminating into a game series. Aww yeah paper airplane part 2~

But it HAS to be more than just something about painkillers. Hell, he could have been popping all the painkillers he wants and just telling people it's Prolisec OTC or something. Heartburn's a b*tch.

Heartburn is a biznatch!
They're definitely painkillers(as Eva, when you get the roadkill you can find those by the car)... but the reason why is where he's making terrible excuses, haha.

http://freebirdgames.com/forum/index.php?topic=4398.0

The speculation that Neil is dying is not something I can disprove. Honestly, that was my first impression from that scene- just that kinda hesitation, heartbeat, pain flash, and lingering... wondering about death perhaps since Johnny has just passed on. Wondering perhaps about his choices in life(that'd be so hard not to do in that line of work). What I hadn't thought of though, was what was mentioned in that topic. How badly he wants to break protocol to help Johnny and stuff. I pegged him for a jerk with a heart of gold trope(well, he probably is), but that kinda makes sense too.

The fact that I'm still thinking about it today really shines a light on how much it touched me. It's really amazing that this was made with RPG Maker, even though with heavy scripting. I pretty much forgot it was RMXP (XP of all things!) until I went into the menu screen. And even then it was well-camouflaged. I think this game absolutely legitimizes RPG Maker as platform for serious game creation. That said, I'll get into the meat of the game.

Story

In a word, magnificent. In more than that, read what I say.

The way the story was built up was masterful. Being introduced to the scientists and having them do a couple random things before jumping into the main plot was a great way to show who we were going to have as our guides into this man's mind. They manage to give some much-needed comic relief to a story full of tragedy and triumph. It must have been extremely tough to make a story that moved backwards but still gave the player a feeling of progression. The mystery behind the items and how they connected was fantastic.

The way that River used the rabbits, especially the blue one with the yellow tummy, to try and help Johnny remember the promise they made and that she remembered from so long ago made me have feels. And she was trying so hard, even though she couldn't tell him outright what it was. It gave the song "Everything's Alright" a brand-new and more heart-breaking meaning (done justice by my favorite female musician, Laura Shigihara, but more on music later). The miracle that they made that promise so long ago and that they managed to reunite and even get married is a lovely sentiment.

More to come