|
|
Post by Sundrinker on Mar 5, 2024 20:30:31 GMT -6
It's difficult for me to get immersed in games with pixel art, but ... Jeez, sounds like this game was done exceptionally well and achieved what it was designed to. Like, yikes. I'm dying to know all the spoilers, but I won't beg you to relive it.  Oh, it would be my pleasure to tell you. My review was ~3000 words long because, despite everything, I just can't shut up about this game, lol. I remember when I first came across this game on itch.io, a comment that caught my eye stated that the OP was afflicted with " Pocket Mirror brain rot" and "suffered from the fact it is unknown on the internet". I try to pay attention to the signs that life gives me, and this was definitely one of them, yet I foolishly ignored it. I'm now living that same reality lol.
First, the story of Little Goody Two Shoes is about Elise, tired of her miserable life as a maid-of-all-work in some German village, entering into a contract with a occult forest entity in order to gain riches and a comfortable life. One of the clauses was that she had to forfeit the name of her first-born daughter to the demon.
By the demon's magic, a nobleman falls in love with Elise, they get married and takes her away to live happily ever after... not. Elise ends up living in arguably more misery caused by physical and mental sickness as well as dealing with the pernicious ins-and-out of high society in Austria. Her firstborn daughter, Goldia, grows up in a dysfunctional family as a result.
Now, back to Pocket Mirror. Most of the secondary female characters Goldia meets through her journey are revealed to be "reflections" of herself. They're split personalities she developed to come with her family situation.
Fleta, the childish and narcissistic one, is the first one to come up. I'm not sure what the reason for her being is. Maybe it was Goldia's attempt as displacing her immature traits unto someone else or maybe Fleta was just born out of loneliness.
The second one, Lisette, is created as a reaction to Goldia finding some letters in her mother's room. It's not exactly stated what was in the letters, because of course the whole game is like that, but it's stated that it had to do with Goldia/Fleta. As a denial reaction, Fleta starts blaming every bad thing that happens on Lisette. Lisette essentially becomes the scapegoat personality, which drives her crazy. Throughout most her arc, she's hellbent on either killing Goldia or destroying the pocket mirror. I'll get to the latter shortly.
Then finally Harpae comes to life. This motherly figure is born out of Goldia's inability to bear the demands or her family as well as the tormenting Lisette. Harpae's raison d'être is to protect Goldia and bear all her responsibilities.
The end goal of the game is for Goldia to resolve and reintegrate all of her different subpersonalities.
What about Enjel? She's revealed to be the demon's doing. He created his own "reflection" of Goldia in attempt to steal the MacGuffin pocket mirror. It's, of course, not explicitly stated what this pocket mirror actually is besides being an important gift Elise gave to her daughter. It's apparently explained in LGTS what it's actually about, but that's only in the true ending, which I did not get because I also royally messed up my run of that game. It is inferred that it's some kind of protection against the demon and that he cannot touch it directly. At one point Lisette states that a soul inhabits the pocket mirror but I can't say for sure what that's about.
An interesting point is that in, Harpae's chapter, which takes place inside a manor, you come across unsettling scenes. Voice of children crying behind locked doors, unpleasant adult conversations and you overhear a drunken father scolding his child. I only understood after I came back to the game that those are all reflections of Goldia's childhood memories. It was... painful and also underlines the need that Goldia had for someone like Harpae.
Also, whether you succeed or not in resolving each subpersonality at the end of their arcs, they LITERALLY SHATTER right in front of you like glass. Holy crap. The difference being whether they will accept it with peace or they will oppose it until the bitter end.
So, for the endings. Pocket Mirror has no happy endings. It's a tragedy though and through. I'll only address two of them here, which start the same way.
Say you managed to correctly resolve every other character's arc and you're now facing Enjel with the truth of what she is and what she's trying to accomplish. You'll have one final chase scene in which you have to grab the pocket mirror first.
If Enjel wins, you paradoxically get the true ending. Engel touches the pocket mirror and shatters. She blames the "strange boy" (the demon), insisting that he tricked her. Then Goldia walks through a door and into a white light. She wakes up in a room. She looks significantly older. Looking around, you find some papers on a desk. It's a psychological evaluation of Goldia. The medical report tells us that she suffers from schizophrenia, multiple personality disorder and some other one I can't remember. You learn that she's the only surviving member or her family and that she's currently held in a psychiatric hospital in Vienna. Everything that happened during the storyline took place inside the maiden's coma.
If Goldia wins, you get the "best ending", which I disagree with being the best. So, in this scenario Goldia makes peace with Enjel despite everything and promises her that she'll help her make her dream come true: to become a real girl. In that instance, Goldia accepts Enjel as part of herself even if she originally wasn't. When she walks through the gate and into the light, we're transported to an alternate timeline or something. We see Elise in front her old country house. She never made a deal with the demon nor did she attain riches. We see Goldia come up to her mother, all ecstatic, with a pair of ruby red shoes she found in her garden and her mother promises her she can wear them once she's older.
The thing is, you only learn in LGTS that the shoes are the demon's hex. If you wear them, you become fated to meet the "strange boy" and strike a deal with him. My interpretation is that by accepting Enjel as part of herself, she also accepts the demon. So even if Elise escapes this fate, her daughter becomes the bearer of it. That one made me cry.
|
|
|
|
Post by RAVENEYE on Mar 6, 2024 10:41:42 GMT -6
It's difficult for me to get immersed in games with pixel art, but ... Jeez, sounds like this game was done exceptionally well and achieved what it was designed to. Like, yikes. I'm dying to know all the spoilers, but I won't beg you to relive it. Oh, it would be my pleasure to tell you. My review was ~3000 words long because, despite everything, I just can't shut up about this game, lol. I remember when I first came across this game on itch.io, a comment that caught my eye stated that the OP was afflicted with " Pocket Mirror brain rot" and "suffered from the fact it is unknown on the internet". I try to pay attention to the signs that life gives me, and this was definitely one of them, yet I foolishly ignored it. I'm now living that same reality lol.
First, the story of Little Goody Two Shoes is about Elise, tired of her miserable life as a maid-of-all-work in some German village, entering into a contract with a occult forest entity in order to gain riches and a comfortable life. One of the clauses was that she had to forfeit the name of her first-born daughter to the demon.
By the demon's magic, a nobleman falls in love with Elise, they get married and takes her away to live happily ever after... not. Elise ends up living in arguably more misery caused by physical and mental sickness as well as dealing with the pernicious ins-and-out of high society in Austria. Her firstborn daughter, Goldia, grows up in a dysfunctional family as a result.
Now, back to Pocket Mirror. Most of the secondary female characters Goldia meets through her journey are revealed to be "reflections" of herself. They're split personalities she developed to come with her family situation.
Fleta, the childish and narcissistic one, is the first one to come up. I'm not sure what the reason for her being is. Maybe it was Goldia's attempt as displacing her immature traits unto someone else or maybe Fleta was just born out of loneliness.
The second one, Lisette, is created as a reaction to Goldia finding some letters in her mother's room. It's not exactly stated what was in the letters, because of course the whole game is like that, but it's stated that it had to do with Goldia/Fleta. As a denial reaction, Fleta starts blaming every bad thing that happens on Lisette. Lisette essentially becomes the scapegoat personality, which drives her crazy. Throughout most her arc, she's hellbent on either killing Goldia or destroying the pocket mirror. I'll get to the latter shortly.
Then finally Harpae comes to life. This motherly figure is born out of Goldia's inability to bear the demands or her family as well as the tormenting Lisette. Harpae's raison d'être is to protect Goldia and bear all her responsibilities.
The end goal of the game is for Goldia to resolve and reintegrate all of her different subpersonalities.
What about Enjel? She's revealed to be the demon's doing. He created his own "reflection" of Goldia in attempt to steal the MacGuffin pocket mirror. It's, of course, not explicitly stated what this pocket mirror actually is besides being an important gift Elise gave to her daughter. It's apparently explained in LGTS what it's actually about, but that's only in the true ending, which I did not get because I also royally messed up my run of that game. It is inferred that it's some kind of protection against the demon and that he cannot touch it directly. At one point Lisette states that a soul inhabits the pocket mirror but I can't say for sure what that's about.
An interesting point is that in, Harpae's chapter, which takes place inside a manor, you come across unsettling scenes. Voice of children crying behind locked doors, unpleasant adult conversations and you overhear a drunken father scolding his child. I only understood after I came back to the game that those are all reflections of Goldia's childhood memories. It was... painful and also underlines the need that Goldia had for someone like Harpae.
Also, whether you succeed or not in resolving each subpersonality at the end of their arcs, they LITERALLY SHATTER right in front of you like glass. Holy crap. The difference being whether they will accept it with peace or they will oppose it until the bitter end.
So, for the endings. Pocket Mirror has no happy endings. It's a tragedy though and through. I'll only address two of them here, which start the same way.
Say you managed to correctly resolve every other character's arc and you're now facing Enjel with the truth of what she is and what she's trying to accomplish. You'll have one final chase scene in which you have to grab the pocket mirror first.
If Enjel wins, you paradoxically get the true ending. Engel touches the pocket mirror and shatters. She blames the "strange boy" (the demon), insisting that he tricked her. Then Goldia walks through a door and into a white light. She wakes up in a room. She looks significantly older. Looking around, you find some papers on a desk. It's a psychological evaluation of Goldia. The medical report tells us that she suffers from schizophrenia, multiple personality disorder and some other one I can't remember. You learn that she's the only surviving member or her family and that she's currently held in a psychiatric hospital in Vienna. Everything that happened during the storyline took place inside the maiden's coma.
If Goldia wins, you get the "best ending", which I disagree with being the best. So, in this scenario Goldia makes peace with Enjel despite everything and promises her that she'll help her make her dream come true: to become a real girl. In that instance, Goldia accepts Enjel as part of herself even if she originally wasn't. When she walks through the gate and into the light, we're transported to an alternate timeline or something. We see Elise in front her old country house. She never made a deal with the demon nor did she attain riches. We see Goldia come up to her mother, all ecstatic, with a pair of ruby red shoes she found in her garden and her mother promises her she can wear them once she's older.
The thing is, you only learn in LGTS that the shoes are the demon's hex. If you wear them, you become fated to meet the "strange boy" and strike a deal with him. My interpretation is that by accepting Enjel as part of herself, she also accepts the demon. So even if Elise escapes this fate, her daughter becomes the bearer of it. That one made me cry.
Holy moly! That's brutal! Sounds like a great story, though, for sure! |
|
|
|
Post by Sundrinker on Mar 6, 2024 19:42:15 GMT -6
Good post, and like Raveneye, I'm getting curious about this game. Maybe I'll read about it on TV Tropes. It does sound like it must've been disturbing and something I really don't need in my life. There were times I even just read about disturbing media and had trouble getting it out of my head. Yeah, it's not something I would recommend to have in your life. If you really want to know though, it's best you just spoil yourself the story. You'll avoid the disturbing parts of the story. I think I know what you mean about wonder, and it's a nice thing, at least during the times I've had it. Some of the pieces of media that had the biggest effect on me had a sense of awe or transcendence above just being interesting or emotional. I wonder if it's something that a creator can intentionally put in their work, or if it's something on our end we feel when we click with the work. I have that same unanswered question about wonder. I think there has to be an element of genuine inspiration and not just something that can be crafted by thinking about it. Thinking over about what evokes a sense of wonder in me, I can list of few examples. - Mystical or devotional literature. More specifically, when the text taps into some deeper aspect of reality.
- A lot of the MtG stuff from the original Zendikar block. From the concept to the living earth manifesting as "the roil", to the land art and the whole mystery behind the hedron structures.
- In fiction, two examples come to mind: *Love Hina* and *Young Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai*. The closest I feel I can pinpoint is that both series are grounded yet have some element of things supernatural, beyond the real or, um, greater forces at work. Even with that explanation, I feel unsatisfied.
I appreciate you getting so thorough about how the game was effective. It makes me want to try to write something that affects you— but not traumatizes you, no. I need to think about enticingly mysterious beginnings, beauty, and well-done symbolism. Yeah, I felt it was important. Even if it was just for my own understanding about how to approach a story. Do it, take on that challenge! |
|
Behemoth
Smoke
Posts: 8 
Custom Title: Devil Rogue
Preferred Pronouns: he/him
|
Post by Behemoth on Jun 5, 2024 17:26:52 GMT -6
My wife and I are running through the new season of Diablo IV. V Rising is releasing on PS5 in a few days, so looking forward to that, love adventure/crafting type games.
|
|
|
|
Post by RAVENEYE on Aug 18, 2024 17:12:20 GMT -6
Speaking of adventure/crafting type games, I just started playing Fallout 76. As a HUGE fan of Fallout 4, I had steered clear of FO76 for all kinds of reasons. But finally decided to try it out and was all prepared to hate it and have a load of stuff to complain about. Alas. I can't. I got nothing. I friggin' love it. The level up system took me a while to learn, and constantly managing inventory weight is a bit of a drag (because I can't use my regular cheats or mods to fix that issue. No, I can't hoard 5000 pounds of raw meat or 8352 doses of Psycho across the Wasteland anymore). But the map is huge and open-world, as it should be. Only 24 players are allowed in each instance of that huge map, so it feels mostly empty and abandoned, as it should. A constant flow of events to bring players together if they choose. Or not, if they don't. A housing system that lets you build your own cabin or castle. And all kinds of stuff I'm extremely surprised to find and love about it. What's my favorite part though is the familiar feel of it. It feels just like FO4. Same character creation system, same UI, same sound effects, etc. So, coming from FO4, there wasn't much of a learning curse. Just dive in and go. (That's not at all the case for Skyrim/ElderScrollsOnline, not even remotely do the two have the same feel. Except for the lore and place names, you'd not know the two games are even related.) So, I'll be spending lots of time in Tamriel AND the Wasteland now.    |
|
|
|
Post by HDSimplicityy on Aug 27, 2024 23:19:49 GMT -6
I just recently finished the story DLC to Horizon Forbidden West: The Burning Shores. It took me quite a while to get to it in my TBP list. I saw that the gameplay was super fun and the art style was as eye-popping as normal. But there were character development decisions that I knew I wouldn't like.
I played it anyway and had a good time. The story was reasonably good. I just don't like what the writers were developing Aloy to be at a couple of places. And they provide options for players to choose.
Anyway, yeah! Here is to another 2-3 years before the third game is announced. If Guerilla Games mixes the storytelling of the first game with the gameplay of the second, their third game is going to be outstanding. Zero Dawn sits in my list of the Top Ten best games I have played.
|
|
|
|
Post by RAVENEYE on Aug 30, 2024 15:10:05 GMT -6
I just recently finished the story DLC to Horizon Forbidden West: The Burning Shores. It took me quite a while to get to it in my TBP list. I saw that the gameplay was super fun and the art style was as eye-popping as normal. But there were character development decisions that I knew I wouldn't like. I played it anyway and had a good time. The story was reasonably good. I just don't like what the writers were developing Aloy to be at a couple of places. And they provide options for players to choose. Anyway, yeah! Here is to another 2-3 years before the third game is announced. If Guerilla Games mixes the storytelling of the first game with the gameplay of the second, their third game is going to be outstanding. Zero Dawn sits in my list of the Top Ten best games I have played. Ooo, good to know. Loved what I played of Zero Dawn. Why did I not finish it? I have no idea. Got distracted probably. Such a gorgeous game. |
|
|
|
Post by Caulder Melhaire on Oct 19, 2024 22:44:16 GMT -6
21 years later, I'm playing Silent Hill 2 for the first time again.
As a massive Silent Hill snob, with zero faith remaining in Konami's ability to produce a competent game or hire someone to do a proper movie adaptation, I can say this is, without a doubt, an absolute masterpiece of a game. I had faith from what they showed us along the way, but I was still hesitant to drop the cash on it. I've been burned by remakes and remasters all my life, and I genuinely could not be more impressed with the way Team Bloober recreated such an iconic entry in the series. It's one of my top games of all time, and I absolutely started crying tears of nostalgic joy when I heard Mary read those opening lines all over again.
I really thought that Silent Hill would be a case of limited tech accounting for a huge part of the scare factor and mystery, and I still feel that's true for the OG entries. But the remake is unbelievably terrifying with a whole new gen of graphical and auditory mayhem. The sound team alone deserves an award for the way they translated the old ambiance scares without drifting into cheesy territory or being too-much. Like I'm genuinely impressed with how much I'm peeing my pants over a storyline and creatures and sound effects that I've confronted probably 30+ times over the years.
The new character models are everything (Angela actually looking her age, Maria having more distinction than just her outfit) and - I know it was a low bar to begin with, but - the voice acting is leaps and bounds over the old cast. There's now little bits of banter scattered throughout, which makes it feel like you're actually escorting a human being with real human reactions through the nightmarish town. And everything is just different enough to screw with the long-time fans who still remember where to go and what to collect. Even the puzzles have been expanded, in ways that blew my mind when I realized what the implications they unveiled were telling me.
Like, c'mon, I've played SH2 so many times! I know these buildings, I know these maps, these jumpscares, and yet they added just enough new content and tweaks that everything is ever so slightly off and it's just a delightfully uncanny effect. And the added content feels so right, mostly because it adds in little bits of exposition and breadcrumbs that were sorely lacking in the original. It's a decent balance that doesn't spoon-feed you the story, but gives enough clues to pick up on some of the deeper secrets of the town without having to spend hours and hours on Silent Hill forums.
9/10, for some minor things here and there, and because combat is still infuriating. They gave us a dodge function, thank the heavens, but now enemies have the ability to juke and leap like a friggin pro boxer. The mannequin enemies were always in my nightmares, and in the remake they've become Mike Tyson on Hell-PCP, except if he also got to skitter across the ground and hide under tables and behind lockers. Cracks me up how they finally gave us a broader range of motion in combat, but it still balances out to be just awful enough to make me cuss and drop the lead pipe in favor of the "I'll-show-you!" shotgun.
But yeah. It's good. My God, It's good. I cannot believe how much I love it. Please, Bloober, PLEASE do the first and third games next. I believe in y'all.
|
|
|
|
Post by RAVENEYE on Oct 21, 2024 9:53:46 GMT -6
21 years later, I'm playing Silent Hill 2 for the first time again.
...
Like, c'mon, I've played SH2 so many times! I know these buildings, I know these maps, these jumpscares, and yet they added just enough new content and tweaks that everything is ever so slightly off and it's just a delightfully uncanny effect. And the added content feels so right, mostly because it adds in little bits of exposition and breadcrumbs that were sorely lacking in the original. It's a decent balance that doesn't spoon-feed you the story, but gives enough clues to pick up on some of the deeper secrets of the town without having to spend hours and hours on Silent Hill forums.
9/10, for some minor things here and there, and because combat is still infuriating. They gave us a dodge function, thank the heavens, but now enemies have the ability to juke and leap like a friggin pro boxer. The mannequin enemies were always in my nightmares, and in the remake they've become Mike Tyson on Hell-PCP, except if he also got to skitter across the ground and hide under tables and behind lockers. Cracks me up how they finally gave us a broader range of motion in combat, but it still balances out to be just awful enough to make me cuss and drop the lead pipe in favor of the "I'll-show-you!" shotgun.
But yeah. It's good. My God, It's good. I cannot believe how much I love it. Please, Bloober, PLEASE do the first and third games next. I believe in y'all. The graphics! So amazingly upgraded. Would be so fabulous if ALL most-loved games would be given this much TLC to keep them relevant for today's systems and players. Was it on Discord that you posted the comparison between the original graphics and the updated ones? Like, wow. I know Morrowind is being converted to Skyrim's graphics, but Skyrim looks ancient now and needs this very thing done to it. Good grief, imagine how spectacular the dragons would look if given this treatment. I'd probably piss myself. |
|
|
|
Post by HDSimplicityy on Oct 21, 2024 19:53:53 GMT -6
Bethesda needs to switch to UE5. Then build a fresh engine.
Buuutt NOOO. They're stuck in the past! *Frownface*
|
|
|
|
Post by Mazulla on Oct 27, 2024 12:08:00 GMT -6
For anyone that has played "Gris" (and for those that haven't - it's also very good), "Neva" just came out a couple weeks ago from the same game studio. I highly recommend it. This game is gorgeous visually and musically, and the story is beautiful for having very few spoken words in-game (although admittedly this game also crushed me). It gives me Studio Ghibli vibes with some similarities to Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke. I played it over the last couple of days and finished it at about the 7-8 hour mark (with a PS platinum trophy). A fairly short but memorable gem. Here are some pics from the game:      |
|
|
|
Post by RAVENEYE on Oct 28, 2024 23:41:20 GMT -6
Wow, Mazulla, those are gorgeous graphics. |
|
|
|
Post by HDSimplicityy on Oct 29, 2024 20:28:20 GMT -6
Gris is a super pretty game.
Its puzzles get challenging later in the story.
|
|
|
|
Post by saintofm on Oct 29, 2024 20:41:30 GMT -6
Just started Halo Infinet. Really good open world game so far.
|
|
You add them to your profile as you do them around the forum.
