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If these are meant to be paeans to the backers' OCs (copyrite dont steel) you'd think they'd be up in arms over how hackneyed they are. These aren't interesting by any standard, even from the POV of an anime-ridden brain that has no understanding of culture at large. They're just...there. Piles of words that tell an inconsequential story.
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Apr 24, 2017 13:44
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kw0134 posted:If these are meant to be paeans to the backers' OCs (copyrite dont steel) you'd think they'd be up in arms over how hackneyed they are. You really wouldn't.
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Apr 24, 2017 13:49
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Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:Kinda reminds me of the Pillars backer NPCs, except those were completely optional and not one giant connected web of coincidences the player was meant to think is profound. The important difference being, of course, the backer NPCs in PoE aren't incompetently written  Just look at that. There's no meandering, no wasted exposition. In fewer than 200 words, the story communicates everything it needs to, slams you with emotion, and gets the gently caress out. In fewer than 200 words, that little paragraph says more than every god drat background dump in this game combined.
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Apr 24, 2017 14:41
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Rabies posted:It made sense from his point of view. But he hadn't seen the things that we've seen. Who's "we" here? Is he acknowledging the player now!?
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Apr 24, 2017 14:48
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inthesto posted:The important difference being, of course, the backer NPCs in PoE aren't incompetently written
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Apr 24, 2017 15:22
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inthesto posted:The important difference being, of course, the backer NPCs in PoE aren't incompetently written In fairness, the majority of the backer stories in Pillars, while maybe better written, were the same self-indulgent wankery you see here - pathos-ridden stories of tragic deaths or cruel prejudices against the character meant to underscore what special snowflakes they were. A very few were legitimately interesting, but I quickly learned to skim them very briefly. I suspect that the backers submitted Klace-calibur stories and the writers took them and did the best they could with the material given, which is why they're of higher technical quality. Buck Wildman fucked around with this message at 15:29 on Apr 24, 2017 |
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Apr 24, 2017 15:25
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Whoops
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Apr 24, 2017 15:37
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You know, with this update... is every single character in Major/Minor connected by the common thing of Armstrong? Because it seems like Shock's life was all great until his dad died at an 'investor' meeting - like the one that happened at Armstrong that also killed Archeon and Maxine's parents. Are we going to suddenly realize everyone here, had their lives go downhill when they tested bioweapons on their investors and themselves? 
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Apr 24, 2017 15:53
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I hope that the final twist of the game is that Rabies is living up to his name by being that bioweapon. Sadly, I know this game is about as twisty as a steel beam.
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Apr 24, 2017 15:54
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No, I get it now. Klace's band was just the latest project of Armstrong Inc (They'll either die from our chemicals or their own disfigured shame!) They were trying to weaponize the tragic power of emo
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Apr 24, 2017 16:12
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1YmS_VDvMY
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Apr 24, 2017 18:25
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I hate everyone in this game except for the war criminal. I gather there's no ending where she just wins and kills everyone. Too bad, that could've redeemed the game a bit.
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Apr 24, 2017 18:58
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Hammurabi posted:I hate everyone in this game except for the war criminal. I gather there's no ending where she just wins and kills everyone. Too bad, that could've redeemed the game a bit. If this abomination was done in one of the easily available dedicated VN programs, that would be a snap to edit up.
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Apr 24, 2017 19:04
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I take it the game never actually get to the point where we can say, "Hey, your Dad/Mentor/Parents/Pet Hamster died when they were looking to purchase some loving nerve gas, so maybe they weren't as great as you thought."
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Apr 24, 2017 19:31
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It was locally-sourced, fair-trade, artisanal nerve gas crafted by aboriginal, blind, shrew raver kids tripping on E, though. It balances out.
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Apr 24, 2017 19:59
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inthesto posted:The important difference being, of course, the backer NPCs in PoE aren't incompetently written I think that the difference between PoE and Major/Minor is that quite a few of the people who put their OCs in are Klace's friends, and as such probably only care about being in the game at all.
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Apr 24, 2017 21:32
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I figured the PoE backer npcs were supposed to be broken and terrible people, to enrich the ennui (takes drag of French cigarette). Klace was aiming for the opposite and failed.
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Apr 24, 2017 21:37
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 For something that was probably meant to survive months-long bombing campaigns, this bunker is very drafty.  Stop calling that math problem an equation. It's like calling a flash drive and a USB slot a puzzle.  God bless Inumi and his useless, useless brain.  Why do I get the feeling Inumi has memorized every Invader Zim episode ever?  I greet him back, with a small wave. I ask him what he's up to.  Just doing some math. I have an exam coming up soon. I don't want to fail. He seems to be taking his studies seriously. I ask him if he has some time to chat. After all, we might be here for a while. Yeah, sure. I have some questions for you, actually. Acheron told me a story about his sister.  Bad at a lot of things, maybe. I laugh -- but this makes Inumi look confused. I let him know that having powers don't make you bad. It's what you do with them that decides your allegiance. And in this case -- Acheron and I weren't evil. In fact, we were dedicated to bringing Max down. I let him know that she'll pay for what she did. I wish it didn't have to be like that. You shouldn't have to make someone pay. Especially not for being bad.  You gotta give Inumi credit for being stupid as hell but also having the same thoughts Hitler did. That's true, but it's not so simple. In fact, I know that's not what he really wants. He just wants his brother to be alive again. Yeah, sorry -- you're right. We always had so much fun together. But now Ill get sent to another home. I really wish I could stay with the tour. It was finally starting to feel like home. I mean a real one -- with a real family. If only Bro was given the same powers. He's all about saving people, you know. Just like he saved me a few years ago! Rabies, you are making a terrible mistake.  A mistake we're now going to suffer through!  I promised I'd never tell anybody this. Even Singe said I never could. But I think I can trust you, Rabies. We've been through a lot, haven't we? And we haven't even known each other long. I really wish you could've met Bro. Me and Klace had a lot in common. Maybe that's why we got along so well. We both lost our parents when we were young. But he had an important life ahead of him. He got caught up in fame and success. But he didn't have the trouble I did.  I really don't blame the powers that be for rushing to isolate you from general society as quickly as possible. It was like they wanted to get rid of me. They didn't care who looked after me. My foster parents were really rude to me. There must've been a lot of kids like me. It's like they have to move fast. The government doesn't care about quality. My foster parents ended up getting divorced. I don't think my foster Father was happy. He started to take his anger out on me.  Dear Inumi, You bring shame upon us all. Sincerely, Inumidad  Man, Inumi's parents really hit a home run with this genetic combination, huh? I came home from a walk one night. I saw my foster Father tearing them apart. "You have to move on", he said to me. But I think he was talking to himself. He must've missed my foster Mom. That's the night he got really angry.  Goddamn, does every character in this goddamn game in some sort of competition to see who can have the most pathetic sadsack backstory?  I like how this implies that Inumi was such an idiot that it actually sparked the divorce. That's remarkably extreme. I'm so sorry that he had to go through that. Some people just aren't fit to be parents. I ran from him and hid inside a closet. I took his phone and called the police. They came and helped me immediately. They said they'd find me another home. But I was really scared, so I ran away. I didn't want more parents like that. I wanted my real parents back! I took a photo with me when I ran. It was ripped in half, but still flexible.  Better not have been Shock's back alley. He's called dibs on whatever he finds in the dumpster! <  > Eventually someone found me. They asked if I was okay. I said I was -- but I was lying. That's the first time I met Bro. He asked me what was wrong. He thought that maybe I was lost. I guess I was, to be honest. But that's not why I was crying. I told him everything that happened.  When is when Klace pulled his face off to reveal he was Inumi's foster Father all along! And then it was time for another round with the scotch bottle! He lost his parents at a young age, too. And he'd been moving around the world. He didn't have a real home, either. Man, Inumi's parents must be really ugly for that kind of reaction.  I believe that was from the people playing this game. That's when he told me he was a singer. He missed his show just to talk to me. They were boo-ing since he wasn't there. So he cancelled an entire concert just to help Inumi? I don't know if that's noble or irresponsible. Either way -- leaving Inumi alone would've been bad. It seems like they bonded over childhood tragedies.  I don't think people normally hear Klace's music unless they're a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay. Those people are always so happy. They have lots of fans and money. You don't ever picture them crying. And I never really saw him cry since then. So it must've been a really rare thing. He promised me that things would be okay. He said I'd find a family again. Sometimes, you just have to wait. He told me all about his new family.  That's a drat lie. From what we've clearly seen, the band members argued with each other constantly and the band managers were complete wrecks.  Let me guess, Inumi parents died too after attending a live demonstration of Armstrong's new nerve gas.  You're still stupid. But for some reason, I didn't believe him. When he left the alley, I followed him. It was dark and I didn't want to be alone. He said he'd watch me until morning. But then he'd have to bring me somewhere. He was on a tour, and had to get going. That's the night I met Singe. He was -so- mad at Klace. He ditched his entire audience! Singe said Klace was just starting out. He couldn't afford publicity like this. He'd need a -really- good excuse.  Why does Inumi keep sticking his tongue out when the walls in this place are probably lined with SuperAsbestos? The excuse was enough for Singe. But the audience needed a reason. They deserved to know what happened. I mean -- they paid to see Klace, after all. I'd be mad too if I wasted my money. Especially if I had no idea why. Klace said that he'd be open. He'd tell them exactly what happened. Plus it would come off as good PR. Stopping to help an orphan boy? It doesn't get any nicer than that.  Couldn't Klace just join Scientology and let them take care of it? That's when he decided to take me along. But it seemed really weird to me. Was I just an excuse for the audience? Because just a moment ago, he said no. I was both grateful and confused. That's why I said he liked saving others. I don't know where I'd be otherwise. Maybe at another home -- getting hit again.  The way Inumi says this with weird clarity when he usually has the cadence of a two-year old makes me think Klace is writing from personal experience or something here. So I guess Bro "adopted" me. And it probably seems weird and sudden. But you'd understand if you were us. Two victims can connect on a deep level. You know exactly what their pain is like. I felt his -- and he felt mine.  And you were totally fine with the fact that you were literally a pawn to save Klace's career?  They only threw a few chairs onstage! Especially since they'd reschedule the show. So none of their money would go to waste. In the end -- it seemed like everybody won. That's how I got involved in the tour. That was a few years ago, now. Klace, Shock and Rocker got way more famous. That does make a lot of sense. It explains why Inumi thinks they're brothers. But I have to agree, it was a -little- odd. That's a big life change for just one night. But I can't begin to assume what they felt. Perhaps in the moment -- it was the right thing to do. The world is full of weird stories like that. It only mattered that everybody was happy in the end.  He talks up Klace in the same way that Tommy Wisseau's character in The Room is supposed to be this wonderful saint of a human being. The audience always cheered for him. As soon as he stepped out on the stage. I wanted to be like that one day, too. I looked up to him -- he taught me so much. He even helped me get home-schooling done. I still had to graduate, like everyone else. But I had a big happy family. Just like I always wanted. Well, except for when Singe is mad. He laughs softly, and I do as well.  Oh Inumi, they're never going to get those letters. Because they're in Hell, you see. I knew that they'd never get them. But it made me feel happy either way. Like I was actually talking to them. I remade the letters my foster Dad ruined. But this time, they were perfect. Just like my parents would've wanted.  Isn't your bed that giant pile of trash in the limo? klace always said that I'd see them again. But I can look forward to seeing him, too. We'll be one happy family up there. Until then -- I'll write to him, as well.  About the only way that backstory could have been more of a cliched mess is if somebody told him at some point that Santa isn't real.  God help us all when Inumi has to start studying algebra. So I wish him good luck as I start to leave. I look at the time on my phone -- almost midnight. The battle for The Ark would soon come to a close. Knowing that, I walk back the way I came. I must've talked to everybody here by now. Acheron mentioned that Dazz and Singe were elsewhere. I hoped that they were okay -- since times were tough. Speaking of tough times -- something catches my eye. There's a chalk drawing on the wall beside me. It's a picture of Inumi and Klace holding hands. The text underneath reads: "I miss you, bro."  In terms of drawings by people with dead parents, I suppose it's decent. BUT NOT NEAR AS DECENT AS PHIDGET, WHO'S GOT THE DEADEST PARENT OF THEM ALL!
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Apr 25, 2017 00:58
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GOD In any other VN, there'd at least be different character poses and backgrounds to mix these scenes up, but no. You're looking at the same sprite, the same background for god knows how long while nothing happens and this is the FOURTH TIME IN A ROW THIS HAS HAPPENED THIS IS BAD GAH
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Apr 25, 2017 01:10
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A word to all hack writers: there are a great many people, very smart, accomplished, significant people, who have lived perfectly normal, happy lives. Stable lives with many friends and loved ones. You do not have to have a hamfisted tragic backstory for EVERY character to make them matter. It's especially insipid when you write characters with traumas and problems you've clearly never experienced or meaningfully researched. When every. loving. character is some forced sob story, you not only rob such a thing of significance; you make your characters ridiculous and non-compelling, and it comes all the way back around to being amusing and worthy of mocking. If anything, having a normal stable character dropped until a stressful situation and seeing how they handle it can be even more compelling and easy to empathize with.
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Apr 25, 2017 01:13
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What did we even do to increase our bond with Inumi?
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Apr 25, 2017 01:32
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Since this is the first time we've ever really seen Inumi talk at length, I just want to bring up how much it bothers me that Inumi's voice is constantly changing. Some of his lines sound like they're being said by a traumatized and/or developmentally-disabled tween, others sounds like the standard generic wordy moron. It's absolutely impossible to get a handle on how old Inumi is supposed to be.FunkMonkey posted:A word to all hack writers: there are a great many people, very smart, accomplished, significant people, who have lived perfectly normal, happy lives. Stable lives with many friends and loved ones. You do not have to have a hamfisted tragic backstory for EVERY character to make them matter. It's especially insipid when you write characters with traumas and problems you've clearly never experienced or meaningfully researched. As an addendum, some people suffer some really nasty hardships in their life and manage to brush it off without a second thought, other people are traumatized by stuff that would barely make most people flinch. It's almost as if there's a wide variety of people and there's ways to generate drama other than "this bad thing happened to be but I persevered"
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Apr 25, 2017 01:36
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An astute point, and appreciated. The whole "hardship intrinsically fosters greatness" conceit has always been a serious pet peeve of mine, as is the flippant attitude many writers have with hardship and loss.
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Apr 25, 2017 01:40
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Maple Leaf posted:What did we even do to increase our bond with Inumi? I think that one time we answered the "magical equation that saved our lives" correctly forever ago?
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Apr 25, 2017 01:52
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If nothing else, this game is reinforcing one very important goony lesson: Getting close to
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Apr 25, 2017 02:04
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KataraniSword posted:If nothing else, this game is reinforcing one very important goony lesson: Getting close to The Hedgehog's Dilemma, now probably featuring an actual hedgehog.
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Apr 25, 2017 02:07
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My loving God it cracks me up how at the end of these infodumps each character is like INTERACTION SUBROUTINE OVER, RESUME NPC IDLE LOOP *starts drawing on wall* It's like Klace has literally no other frame of reference or thing to base his concept of a narrative on
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Apr 25, 2017 02:19
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Data Graham posted:My loving God it cracks me up how at the end of these infodumps each character is like INTERACTION SUBROUTINE OVER, RESUME NPC IDLE LOOP *starts drawing on wall* It probably doesn't help that, rather then create actual branches, the game just goes: > Check if relationship high enough >If yes info dump > Resume original script after So the conversations just awkwardly slide back into the generic, original script, instead of being at all changed from dumping their sob stories on you.
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Apr 25, 2017 02:27
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Data Graham posted:My loving God it cracks me up how at the end of these infodumps each character is like INTERACTION SUBROUTINE OVER, RESUME NPC IDLE LOOP *starts drawing on wall* This is especially strange considering the characters have no animations or anything. This type of thing makes sense for minor characters in, you know, real games, because they say something then go back to their idle animations or their daily routine or whatever. Also this Inumi info dump was the worst so far. Inumi is a mess of a character even by this game's standards and he doesn't even really play into the events of the story so I don't see why we had to suffer through all that schlock about foster homes.
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Apr 25, 2017 02:33
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ALSO KEEP IN MIND THERE ARE LIKE FOUR CHAPTERS LEFT
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Apr 25, 2017 02:32
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Cathode Raymond posted:This is especially strange considering the characters have no animations or anything. This type of thing makes sense for minor characters in, you know, real games, because they say something then go back to their idle animations or their daily routine or whatever. The foster homes will turn out to be Armstrong Inc run places to hire their child soldiers! 
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Apr 25, 2017 02:33
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Sybot posted:I take it the game never actually get to the point where we can say, "Hey, your Dad/Mentor/Parents/Pet Hamster died when they were looking to purchase some loving nerve gas, so maybe they weren't as great as you thought." Violating the Geneva Protocol is one thihng, but judging?! That's just too far
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Apr 25, 2017 02:38
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Waffleman_ posted:ALSO KEEP IN MIND THERE ARE LIKE FOUR CHAPTERS LEFT  i'm out.
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Apr 25, 2017 02:46
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With all the awkwardly written stage direction and description of movement, imagine how much fun this game would be if it was a FMV game in the vein of Darkseed or Phantasmagoria. You'd be able to see Inumi idly making a drawing-like motion next to the wall, hear extremely long, poorly voice-acted exposition vomiting!
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Apr 25, 2017 03:00
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Waffleman_ posted:GOD Dropping a text dump on the thread would give us 90% of the same effect, which is to say the verbal equivalent of an enema.
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Apr 25, 2017 03:07
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Geomancing posted:With all the awkwardly written stage direction and description of movement, imagine how much fun this game would be if it was a FMV game in the vein of Darkseed or Phantasmagoria. You'd be able to see Inumi idly making a drawing-like motion next to the wall, hear extremely long, poorly voice-acted exposition vomiting! I'd pay to see that made. 
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Apr 25, 2017 03:08
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Geomancing posted:With all the awkwardly written stage direction and description of movement, imagine how much fun this game would be if it was a FMV game in the vein of Darkseed or Phantasmagoria. You'd be able to see Inumi idly making a drawing-like motion next to the wall, hear extremely long, poorly voice-acted exposition vomiting! That would probably make this "game" better, to be entirely honest. The awful acting and cheesiness of FMV games is its own unique charm that makes them fun to watch.
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Apr 25, 2017 03:11
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Waffleman_ posted:The Hedgehog's Dilemma, now probably featuring an actual hedgehog. How about replacing a hedgehog with a sentient cog? 
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Apr 25, 2017 03:41
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Gotta exposit fast.
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Apr 25, 2017 04:02
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XavierGenisi posted:How about replacing a hedgehog with a sentient cog? I think you mean a Hedgecog
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