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queenluaLong Live the Queen [x] is such a hecking delight of a game that I'd recommend it pretty unreservedly to whoever.
Normally, I do not dump VNs into the "unreserved recommendation" bucket—not because I don't love VNs, but because they tend to be an acquired taste; not everyone enjoys when their game feels more like reading a book than playing a thing, so I have to know a bit about the person before I recommend one.
But Long Live the Queen marries the VN format to some simulation game mechanics, resulting in a brisk, tight gameplay loop that's immensely satisfying, lending itself to endless "just one more try!" play-thoughts, and a storyline that's breezy and interesting but not overdone.
The premise is straightforward: your mother, the Queen of Nova, passed away, and you've got ~a year to do all the studying, politicking, and preparation you can manage before you inherit the throne yourself.
Like many old-school adventure games, this results in a lot of dead ends—death by snakebite, by assassination, by rogue mage, whatever. But the dead ends never feel annoying—you always end up learning a bit more about the world at each end, vow to study more Intrigue or Poison or Lore the next time, and try again. This is the first RPG game in a long time where I didn't simply reach for a guide when I got stuck. Normally I'm lazy; normally I just want to get on with the story. But here, the process of forging my own way ahead was the satisfying thing, in-and-of itself, and I had a blast jotting down notes as I got a little further each time.
The mechanics are based around two simple things: mood, and classes. You take classes to level up various skills, but how much you learn in those classes depends on your mood: if you're feeling lonely, you'll be better at studying Conversation-based skills; if you're feeling cheerful, you won't be in the mood to study Military-based skills. Each week you can take two classes and pick one event to adjust your mood, and events unfold based on checks on whatever skills you've developed.
The skills offer just enough resistance to turn what could be simple "pick option A or B" choices into satisfying little puzzles; how can I stay Willful long enough to master all the Intrigue skills when my dad keeps lecturing me and totally harshing my mood?
And probably my main takeaway, game-design-wise, was how little text you need to get across a satisfying story to the player. This VN is not trying to tell some deeply dramatic, nuanced, novelesque story; characters tend to only have very short lines of dialogue, and thin characterization. But, they still feel full and exciting—because, one, all that negative space gives you plenty of room to project whatever you like onto these characters, and two, you have so much control over the narrative that they feel real and engaging. The game designer is not trying to tell you some Correct Story TM; they're getting out of your way as much as possible, so that you can actually experience and build the story yourself.
It was interesting to contrast that with the NORCO demo [x] that I played on the same day. I've been following NORCO's development... oh, gosh, ever since some of the author's heron pixel art made the rounds on Tumblr, like, years and years ago? Weird, slightly-scifi-y deep south is my jam and I'm so invested in where this project is going.
But the demo left me a little cold. Where LLtQ was deft and light-footed, NORCO felt a tad overwritten and drag-y. The pixel art is gorgeous, and absolutely the centerpiece, but I felt like we spent too much time clearing our throat and looking at the dreary run-down suburb without interacting with it much, or very meaningfully. It feels like the world's about to open up, when we get on a motorcycle with the house android to go and try and find my brother... but then we cut to a lengthy flashback sequence! which opens with more ponderous, slow text! augh! I'm still interested in seeing the final result; there was a lot to like in the demo, but, gosh, there's something satisfying about something minimal and carefully-done that's easy to forget.
Normally, I do not dump VNs into the "unreserved recommendation" bucket—not because I don't love VNs, but because they tend to be an acquired taste; not everyone enjoys when their game feels more like reading a book than playing a thing, so I have to know a bit about the person before I recommend one.
But Long Live the Queen marries the VN format to some simulation game mechanics, resulting in a brisk, tight gameplay loop that's immensely satisfying, lending itself to endless "just one more try!" play-thoughts, and a storyline that's breezy and interesting but not overdone.
The premise is straightforward: your mother, the Queen of Nova, passed away, and you've got ~a year to do all the studying, politicking, and preparation you can manage before you inherit the throne yourself.
Like many old-school adventure games, this results in a lot of dead ends—death by snakebite, by assassination, by rogue mage, whatever. But the dead ends never feel annoying—you always end up learning a bit more about the world at each end, vow to study more Intrigue or Poison or Lore the next time, and try again. This is the first RPG game in a long time where I didn't simply reach for a guide when I got stuck. Normally I'm lazy; normally I just want to get on with the story. But here, the process of forging my own way ahead was the satisfying thing, in-and-of itself, and I had a blast jotting down notes as I got a little further each time.
The mechanics are based around two simple things: mood, and classes. You take classes to level up various skills, but how much you learn in those classes depends on your mood: if you're feeling lonely, you'll be better at studying Conversation-based skills; if you're feeling cheerful, you won't be in the mood to study Military-based skills. Each week you can take two classes and pick one event to adjust your mood, and events unfold based on checks on whatever skills you've developed.
The skills offer just enough resistance to turn what could be simple "pick option A or B" choices into satisfying little puzzles; how can I stay Willful long enough to master all the Intrigue skills when my dad keeps lecturing me and totally harshing my mood?
And probably my main takeaway, game-design-wise, was how little text you need to get across a satisfying story to the player. This VN is not trying to tell some deeply dramatic, nuanced, novelesque story; characters tend to only have very short lines of dialogue, and thin characterization. But, they still feel full and exciting—because, one, all that negative space gives you plenty of room to project whatever you like onto these characters, and two, you have so much control over the narrative that they feel real and engaging. The game designer is not trying to tell you some Correct Story TM; they're getting out of your way as much as possible, so that you can actually experience and build the story yourself.
It was interesting to contrast that with the NORCO demo [x] that I played on the same day. I've been following NORCO's development... oh, gosh, ever since some of the author's heron pixel art made the rounds on Tumblr, like, years and years ago? Weird, slightly-scifi-y deep south is my jam and I'm so invested in where this project is going.
But the demo left me a little cold. Where LLtQ was deft and light-footed, NORCO felt a tad overwritten and drag-y. The pixel art is gorgeous, and absolutely the centerpiece, but I felt like we spent too much time clearing our throat and looking at the dreary run-down suburb without interacting with it much, or very meaningfully. It feels like the world's about to open up, when we get on a motorcycle with the house android to go and try and find my brother... but then we cut to a lengthy flashback sequence! which opens with more ponderous, slow text! augh! I'm still interested in seeing the final result; there was a lot to like in the demo, but, gosh, there's something satisfying about something minimal and carefully-done that's easy to forget.
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Date: 2021-09-17 02:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-09-22 08:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-10-06 03:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-10-06 05:03 am (UTC)haha yes! also, the outfits... loved exploring all the cute outfits you could get for each specialty...!