Tag: Windows

#WeeklyGameMusic: Glass Moon (カルタグラ～ツキ狂イノ病～)

Posted on by Taro Omiya

In a rare look for this series, this week’s #WeeklyGameMusic is a track from a Japanese (…and adult…and violent) visual novel: Cartagra ~Tsuki kurui no Yamai~ (or in its original Japanese: カルタグラ～ツキ狂イノ病～), developed by Innocent Grey. MANYO’s track, Glass Moon was, as this writer understood it, originally composed with lyrics in mind; however, this writer wasn’t able to find the vocal version. Still, even its instrumentals are great. Take a listen:

Naturally like all Visual Novels, Cartagra read like any other choose-your-own-adventure stories, with graphics, sound, and music to accent the experience. The story is set in 1950s Japan, where ex-police officer Shugo Takashiro is taking on freelance detective jobs. Bit in the dumps, he received a missing person report that immediately catches his interest: it turns out his former girlfriend, Yura Kozuki, whom he had to sadly leave to fight World War 2, has now gone missing. With the help of Kazuna Kozuki, Yura’s twin sister, the two look for clues on what happened to her, only to find a terrifying series of events lurking in the background.

Cartagra is a Japan-only game released for the Playstation 2 and Windows. Fan translations to English does exist, though this writer hasn’t tried them yet.

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#WeeklyGameMusic: Turn Back (The Beginner’s Guide)

Posted on by Taro Omiya

Note: this week’s #WeeklyGameMusic is a pretty big spoiler for the indie walking simulator, The Beginner’s Guide. This blog post itself will keep spoilers to a minimum, but if you want to listen to the track, proceed with caution. Besides, the game’s brilliant, so take this as an incentive to play it soon!

Turn Back, written and performed by Halina Heron, puts a neat bow to the deep story one walks through in The Beginner’s Guide. Everything Unlimited Ltd.’s follow-up to The Stanley Parable takes an unexpected direction: where as Stanley sets up a meta narrative commentary about games, The Beginner’s Guide is a commentary with no fourth wall to begin with. It’s a bold decision from the developers with a huge pay-off at the very end; an experience you don’t want to miss!

(Before getting into the game itself, I had trouble adding the rest of credits for this track anywhere else, so here it is: Turn Back is published by Ryan Roth, and its lyrics were written from both Halina and Davey Wreden himself.)

The Beginner’s Guide is a game where its gameplay is extremely easy to describe, but its narrative is much more complex than it first appears. It’s a classic, hour-long walking simulator where one explores the world through typical first-person controls. And indeed, the first level is a lightly edited copy of a map from Counter-Strike, as famed indie game developer and narrator of this game, Davey Wreden describes its history. According to Mr. Wreden, this remixed level is created by another experimental developer, Coda, and encourages the player to explore other games Coda has made. Aaand that’s about as far as I’m willing to introduce about the story.

The Beginner’s Guide is available on Steam for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

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#WeeklyGameMusic: Song of the Ancients ~ Fate (NieR)

Posted on by Taro Omiya

In celebration of the upcoming NieR remake coming up…albeit, the Japan-only version instead of the better-liked Western one, this week’s #WeeklyGameMusic celebrates the game’s most memorable boss battle theme, the Song of the Ancients, Fate variation (this game also features an adoptive soundtrack). Composed by Keiichi Okabe, Kakeru Ishihama, Keigo Hoashi, and Takafumi Nishimura, this track from now-defunct Cavia classic fits well with the tragic undertone behind this Drakengard spin-off series.

In a future only a couple decades from now, Japan is totaled by the constant snow, lasting well past the summer. In addition to the uncomfortably consistent weather, humans has been haunted by a growing and deadly population of ethereal creatures, shades. In this mess, begins the survivalist journey between a man and his daughter…or brother and sister, depending on which version you’re playing (Gestalt and Replicant respectively). Unfortunately for our hero, the daughter seems to be suffering an incurable disease.

Oh, wait, nevermind: the actual game takes place a full millennium past modern times. And, uh, apparently magic exists? Huh, that’s weir-*shuffles notes*…no, the plots still the same. Our hero, Nier is still trying to keep his sickly daughter/sister, Yonah, alive. Shades still haunts the town Nier lives in. The world is in a constant state of decline. So, uh, how did they survive for so long? Are they amnesic? Why are we suddenly in a fantasy town setting? This…this is still Japan, right? And why is the opening dialogue filled near-back-to-back with slurs?

NieR is an action JRPG renowned for its innovative narrative techniques. At first blush, the game appears like a simple hack-and-slash. Those who’ve played the highly acclaimed NieR: Automata knows, however, the game rapidly changes gameplay, with an eccentric set of party members following along your bizarre adventure. In addition, the series’ trademark multiple endings, each providing a new perspective in the main story, is here as well. Much like how the gameplay changes perspective frequently, so to will the player’s understanding of the overall plot.

NieR was originally released in the US on the Xbox 360 exclusively. It’s remake, NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139… will be released soon for Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

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#WeeklyGameMusic: Blue Chair (Cloudberry Kingdom)

Posted on by Taro Omiya

Let’s get those blood pumping with this week’s #WeeklyGameMusic! Blue Chair, composed by Blind Digital, is one of the many fantastic themes composed for Pwnee Studios’ procedurally generated platformer game, Cloudberry Kingdom. The indie game’s extraordinary algorithm can generate both reasonable Super Mario-like stages, and Kaizo-level, controller-breaking ridiculousness.

Oh no! The evil king, Kobbler, has kidnapped the fair (…and sarcastic) Princess! And to add to the insult, he stole the infinite level generator orb as well! It’s up to a brave…tired…middle-aged hero named Bob to save her.

You know…

That same, bland, sexist plot again.

Obviously poking fun at the usual paper-thin Super Mario plot, Cloudberry Kingdom plays like the Nintendo classic, but with more focus on flow rather than precision. The platformer’s algorithm always calculates at least one plausible path, meaning a lot of the levels are generated with constant movement in mind. To further add variation to the play, the game provides many different control variations, including inclusion of double-jump, jetpacks, Sonic-like momentum-based movement, no-gravity, always-bouncing, etc.

Another innovation the game provides is actually having a demo-mode where an AI demonstrates how to complete a level. This is particularly impressive when one drastically ramps up the complexity of the game to generate levels that are absurdly difficult. One would think like Nintendo’s assist mode, this would help the player to understand the level better, but…

Cloudberry Kingdom is available on Windows via Steam, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and the Wii U

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#WeeklyGameMusic: Lovely City (Lovely Planet)

Posted on by Taro Omiya

#WeeklyGameMusic: New week, new music. I’m excited to introduce to you all Lovely City, composed by one of my favorite composers, Calum Bowen. This absolutely jamming track is from the hectic (and Indian!) first-person action game, Lovely Planet.

Lovely Planet is a fast-paced first-person shooter and platformer where all red enemies needs to be eliminated before touching the goal pole. Despite the simple premise, cartoony world, and lack of story, the game is actually designed as a speed-running game. Much of the appeal of the game is optimizing your route to beat your prior–and the world’s–score.

Lovely Planet is available on Windows, Mac, and Linux via Steam.

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#WeeklyGameMusic: Blue Sky Town – Dol Dona (.hack//G.U.)

Posted on by Taro Omiya

#WeeklyGameMusic: New week, new music. Today’s track is Blue Sky Town – Dol Dona, composed by Chikayo Fukuda. It’s a pleasant town music from Bandai Namco’s mega-long multi-media series, .hack, specifically, the .hack//G.U. trilogy.

Before there was Sword Art Online (SAO), there was .hack. That’s right, this game, manga, and anime series all takes place in the fictional MMO Action-RPG, The World. Dull naming aside, much like SAO, players start falling into a comatose state, both in-game and in real-life. Unlike SAO, the devs blame it to a computer virus, presumably spread by malicious players. The G.U. trilogy stars Haseo, who seeks for revenge after his close friend catches this comatose spell.

.hack//G.U. is a single-player action-JRPG series. Unlike, you know, real MMORPGs, .hack//G.U. is a story-driven game with no character customization, and A.I.-controlled party members. The party explores randomly-generated dungeons: battle initiates when a monster gets close to the party, constraining them into a tight circle. Perhaps the more unique side of the game is how narrative plays: there are email logs, marriage simulation, and other MMORPG-like communication methods to suck the player into its universe.

.hack//G.U. is available on PC via Steam, PS4, and PS2.

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