To the moon

[Beautiful Clown Painting]

A fucking masterpiece written by a single guy in a year in a half in his room with RPG Maker. It does to video games what "Sunrise" from Murnau did for cinema: transcend the medium. 4 hours of really casual gaming/10 euros. Spread the word.

 

[Beautiful Clown Painting]

Really massive incline, if it doesn't touch you: you're dead.

 

[DwarvenFood]

not even a link. i am dissapoint.

 

[Beautiful Clown Painting]

Sorry: http://freebirdgames.com/to_the_moon/

And please: don't give a fuck about the JRPGs graphics.
And no: I'm not a plant for Freebird games, but I was so moved by this game that I agreed to join the french translation team for no money at all.
Even fucking Villain of the story, as cynic and full of venom that he is, agreed that it was a really great game (see the Top 3 2011 games from Mrs Bee topic). In fact it's his post that made me play it and I was just flabbergasted.

 

[Excidium]

Pfft. 23 BRL for a 4.5 hours long game?

 

[Monk]

Thanks for sharing that!

 

[Beautiful Clown Painting]

Pfft. 23 BRL for a 4.5 hours long game?

You'll get your money back, trust me. You can also torrent it (that's what I did first). But then I had to pay for these 4 hours, it deserves more. It's just incredible. It does advance the medium leaps ahead.

 

[RRRrrr]

I played probably half of the game but I will go to bed now. It's a true work of art, and believe me I don't say that often. I can't remember saying it for a video game until now.
This is what the medium deserves!

 

[Suchy]

I can't not give a fuck about JRPG graphics.
I can't.

 

[RRRrrr]

I can't not give a fuck about JRPG graphics.
I can't.

The graphics are actually good, although I have never played a JRPG, tbh :D You should put your prejudices away and give it a try.
I finished it and I will definitely keep an eye on Freebird Games...Maybe even register on their forum.

 

[Suchy]

Ugh...impossible in my case.

 

[felipepepe]

Pfft. 23 BRL for a 4.5 hours long game?

Not rare to spend more than that to see a 2 hours movie on a good cinema in São Paulo...

 

[Dire Roach]

Can you give a little more info about what makes it so great? Hype-y buzzwords like "true work of art" and "advances the medium" don't really say anything so all I've got is that its visual style resembles 2D JRPGs.

 

[Shadenuat]

The idea seems witty and sweet.
The plot of the game involves some scientists who can plant fake memories into people minds. The goal of the game is to relive a life of an old man by traveling into his memory to understand why he wants to, lying on a dying bed, change his memories like he actually traveled to the moon during his life.
I really want to know what they did with that kind of a plot, so a larger review from a person who actually beaten the game would be quite welcome.

 

[Notorious]

Can you give a little more info about what makes it so great? Hype-y buzzwords like "true work of art" and "advances the medium" don't really say anything so all I've got is that its visual style resembles 2D JRPGs.

Hmm a hard thing to answer. You basically revisit all the important moments of a dying person and change the past to give him a perfect moment before death. It was very touching and thought provoking and it's really less cheesy than this sounds. It has good humor and the characters are great. It has almost no game play and what it has is boring at best.
So it's impossible to give a recommendation for this game, because it is really difficult to say why I found it so good. But for that price I'm inclined to say it's worth it no matter what. (But use the trial version first just to be sure)

 

[made]

Can you give a little more info about what makes it so great?

I was curious myself so I gave the demo a try. Since there is no gameplay to speak of (you just click obvious hotspots to advance the plot), and it looks like your average snes jrpg, I figure it must be all about the story/characters. Now the premise is interesting but the execution is terrible. You have two scientists constantly bickering and firing off a firework of lame jokes ("We won't get paid unless we finish the job." "OK then, I must finance my next IKEA shopping spree." HURR) I put up with it for half an hour waiting for the point where it improves, but I somehow doubt that it does a 180 and the writing becomes intelligent and thought-provoking all of a sudden. Please let me know if I'm wrong and how much suck I must endure before it becomes good.

 

[RRRrrr]

Can you give a little more info about what makes it so great?

I was curious myself so I gave the demo a try. Since there is no gameplay to speak of (you just click obvious hotspots to advance the plot), and it looks like your average snes jrpg, I figure it must be all about the story/characters. Now the premise is interesting but the execution is terrible. You have two scientists constantly bickering and firing off a firework of lame jokes ("We won't get paid unless we finish the job." "OK then, I must finance my next IKEA shopping spree." HURR) I put up with it for half an hour waiting for the point where it improves, but I somehow doubt that it does a 180 and the writing becomes intelligent and thought-provoking all of a sudden. Please let me know if I'm wrong and how much suck I must endure before it becomes good.

The beginning is surely the most boring part of the game, but I if you didn't like it then you probably won't like the rest of the game. There is an interesting plot-twist and some tense moments, I would recommend giving it another go. You probably had too high expectations.
I have heard the "witty doctors" complaint before, and all I have to say is that real doctors tend to get very cynical because they need to move themselves away from the stress and suffering in order to stay sane. So it's the same with the main characters-it is apparent that they have had a lot of cases before and if they got emotionally involved in all of them they would have probably gone insane.

Not the mention that the game is about 4 hours-give or take. What I liked so much about it was the slow pace and the beautiful music. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZDyKMQaqNo

As for the graphics...the game doesn't really have much gameplay, so you don't have to worry about bad memories from JRPG as this has nothing to do with them. And if you give it a try there are some great landscapes.
It's hard to say what I liked about it, though, probably the overall feel about it.

 

[malko_sundervere]

I just beat this game.

Wow. Only game that's made me tear up this much is Torment, and... Some parts of Grim Fandango, if I recall correctly. That was one amazing story, with really memorable characters and excellent writing.
Now... A preface, here. There's really not much in the way of 'gameplay.' I hear that there are some really choice-and-consequence laden moments, but from the way I played it, it seemed really linear; though, I understand there are three possible endings, so, I THINK I got the best ending, this playthrough.
There are a few parts that seem really out of place - because it's mostly a pixel-hunt adventure game. One part was particularly hilarious for Codexian reasons, but seriously out place - there was a game of Whack-a-Mole that you played with the mouse to progress through the story. "What's whack-a-mole?" one of the characters asked, and was answered, "It's what people used to play instead of FPSes."
I think it was worth it for that little jab at FPS gaming, but, still, it stuck some out-of-place gameplay elements in what was essentially a visual novel.
A really, really good visual novel, but a visual novel nonetheless. No puzzle solving at all in To the Moon, and it seems unfair to judge it as a game, because it's not *really* that much of a game at all.
BUT... It is fucking excellent. The comment of "this really advances the medium" strikes me as a little over-the-top and exaggeratory, because it doesn't have anything to DO with the medium of video gaming, but it does show just how good video game writing can get.
I think I might stick it on my list of favorite adventure games, actually. Really, really beautiful.

 

[J1M]

Doesn't sound like a game.

Sounds like what Japan has always done.

It lets people who belong in a movie industry make games, because they have no movie industry of note.

 

[commie]

What the fuck is this? Everyone weeping and/or masturbating in this thread...

Only tear I ever cried in a game was at the end of Doom when I realised there was nothing left to kill.

 

[RRRrrr]

@malko_sundervere how do you know there are different endings? I couldn't find anything about C&Cs in the game and it seemed completely linear.

 

[malko_sundervere]

@malko_sundervere how do you know there are different endings? I couldn't find anything about C&Cs in the game and it seemed completely linear.

Literally, "a friend of a friend" said so. I haven't replayed it, so I can't tell you of the veracity of that claim.

 

[Beautiful Clown Painting]

It's neither emo nor japanese, you should try it, it's only four hours long. Then you'll be able to see if the praise it gets is bullshit or deserved.

 

[lightbane]

Completed it. Good for what it is, but honestly, it did not find this as "emotional" as others say. And I don't think there are multiple endings, the regular ending is "good" enough (and it's not very subtle hinting there's sequel in the making).

 

[Beautiful Clown Painting]

I don't think neither that there are multiple endings. But I wouldn't say that it's a novel nevertheless, even if it's clearly linear. It's another thing, I don't know what, frankly. I just know that it's great.