Update Three Hundred and Two: 16 April 2019
the Inner World: the Last Wind Monk
22 hours playtime, ~5 hrs actual, 25 of 25 achievements
7/10
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
This game was a bit shorter than I expected, though I don’t think it suffers for it. At the beginning of the Last Wind Monk, I have to admit I felt like this sequel was kind of… unnecessary. I liked the previous Inner World game much more than I thought I would, and felt the story wrapped up neatly. Adding a new story with a new complication just felt…. like, ehhh, okay.
But beyond an excuse to make another game and have people solve more kind of goofy puzzles, I really enjoyed the overarching theme of Robert, the main character, recovering from the trauma of his upbringing by the previous game’s antagonist. It’s typically played for laughs, yes, because this is a lighthearted game, but the core of Robert being hampered by the villain’s voice in his head and afraid to stand up for himself and how he has to move on from that is, like, really nice.
Also, like, bewilderingly, (but good bewilderingly), the romance that was hinted toward between Laura (your deuteragonist, still in rare pushy delightful form) and Robert seemed to be usurped by the introduction of a girl who crushes hard on Laura, all the way through to the end where the last shot is the girl holding Laura while Laura and Robert just shake hands. I’m usually pretty sensitive to this shit (AMONG OTHER THINGS i SAY VERY LOUDLY AND QUITE SENSITIVELY) and while it was obviously partly meant to be funny… it didn’t come across as cruel or that the character is meant to be a really negative or nasty trope. She’s portrayed as sweet and nice and she just has a crush… on another girl. That was a cute little surprise!
Otherwise: everything else is standard cozy fare, which is good. It’s been a bit since I played a point and click.
Next up: Okay, remember how I said I was going to finish out my challenge me? I…. lied. I really want to save Fallout: New Vegas for next year, so I’ll end my challenge here. Thank you so much again to BLAEO user Neku for picking for me!
This is one of the oldest games in my backlog, and I figure it’s time to get it out.
See you soon!
Next year is ages away. Is there a reason for waiting to play it?
I’m planning a year-long retrospective called ‘Hindsight is 2020’ where all next year I focus on replaying games I’ve played before. I want to take time to revisit and appreciate all the great stuff I’ve already experienced, and especially pay attention to things I enjoyed but haven’t played again in a long time (Tales of Vesperia, New Vegas, BioShock, Ace Attorney, etc) and see what new things I can get out of them. It’s a way to say ‘hello again’ to the past, I don’t know, decade and a half of playing video games.
Oh that sounds nice. I totally get that. I had that with my fruit of grisaia where playing more of the backstory helped me notice things I overlooked before and with spoilers certain games like bioshock is gonna end up like yep you may be new but now I see everything!
👏PLAY👏NEW👏VEGAS👏IN👏2019👏
Yeah, I’d been surprised to see a sequel as it had a very… ending-like ending? Glad it’s still overall a good game though, can’t wait to have time to play it xD
I really liked Toren. I hope you do too.
So do I! I’ve seen mixed reviews, but I’m willing to just let it be what it is. I’m having a hard time finding time to play it, though - I kind of want to just play it in one sitting, but setting aside about 3 hours for it is proving difficult. I want to start it today, though!
Just… maybe… after a nap.
Toren was decent. I think it took me like two hours to complete it. ish.
That’s what it says on how long to beat, too. So that’s good! I figure it’s long past due for letting it sit.