Update Two Hundred and Two: 4 August 2018

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

It’s been quite a while since I played Learning to Manage Chaos, but I had a much better impression of that game than this one. For those of you waiting with bated breath for some kind of worthwhile continuance—unfortunately, we gotta keep waiting.

Blissfully short, Dysfunctional Systems: Orientation is like being stuck in stop-and-start traffic. It starts TOO in media res, leaping immediately into the main character entering this strange new school. The few sentences that lay out the setting are more bewildering than if they had just been left out. Things move quickly, general nondescript entering college fluff. Then the brakes get slammed on and you LITERALLY sit through college lecture classes with her, going from speedy nothingness to bogged-down ham-handed exposition walls. It’s all set up with zero payoff, and little reason as to why… why read this? Any of it?

An unpleasant ride. Made more unpleasant by the sprites - a different artist than last time, with shading that’s just a touch too realistic for the ungodly huge eyes they have. I greatly preferred the art style before.

Ugh, a bummer!

Next up: Ooo, another shorty game. Maybe I can squeeze it in before I start playing RiME…

See you soon!