Recent reviews by ya boi

This game is worth more than they're charging for

Finally. Freakin' Finally.
I have been waiting for years for Finding Paradise to release, and it's finally here.
Finding Paradise is the direct sequel to Freebird Games' smash hit To The Moon, and is just as good. Still just as short, still just as bitter-sweet, Finding Paradise has the same qualities that made To The Moon great.

like I said, I've been waiting for this game for years, and I'm not afraid to admit that I've been known to fanboy a bit, but this game is great. I played it all the way through the night it came out, and have spent the subsequent days obsessively refreshing Freebird Games' Bandcamp page because I want that soundtrack to play at my birthday, my funeral, hell even my wedding. I daresay that I even enjoyed Finding Paradise's soundtrack more than to To The Moon's.

Once more, Shall we get into the nitty gritty?

The Story
As with To The Moon, Finding Paradise doesn't just have a story. It is a story. It's the same length as To The Moon (which honestly I find it baffling that they can fit so much emotion into so little time), so it'll net you about four hours. Finding Paradise's story conveys a message about being true to yourself, much like To The Moon's, and it does so wonderfully.

Finding Paradise sees the return of our favorite protagonists, Neil Watts and Eva Rosalene along with a couple more familiar faces, helping a new patient fulfill his last wish. This time 'round we're tasked with helping a man named Colin find happiness. Now, that's all I'm going to tell you, becasue telling you much more would just mess with the masterfully crafted flow of the story.

Finding Paradise is sad, which is good, I like sad, and don't get me wrong, the story is still leagues ahead of what most other games do nowadays, but it wasn't as compelling as To The Moon's. I'm gonna repeat myself here: This game's story is great. On my list of games an stories that I wish I could both forget to play again, and also never forget ever, this one ranks right behind To The Moon. I'm saying this to make one thing clear: I'm about to criticize this, but be warned that I'm comparing this to what is, quite possibly, my favorite game, story, whaterver-the-hell-you-want-to-call-it of all time. You have been warned.

Finding paradise's story has one big thing that made it fall short of To The Moon's, and that's just that it requires a little bit more suspension of disbelief. In a game where you've got a giant megacorp visiting senior citizens to change their memories, it's not gonna be hard to set aside a little bit of logic to enjoy such a wonderful story. This is really the only thing stopping Finding Paradise from being better than To The Moon, which is saying something.

The Gameplay
Exactly the same as To The Moon's, if you're looking for compelling gameplay, you're in the wrong place.


The Music
Don't tell my buddy Tom I said this, but I may just think that Finding Paradise has better music than To The Moon. I mean it. Finding Paradise's soundtrack adds another layer to To The Moon's, and that's for good reason. Where To The Moon focused on Johnny, who plays piano, Finding Paradise features two whole new instruments: Guitar and Cello, becasue there are two characters who play the guitar and cello. Huh, fancy that.

On top of everything else, Laura Shigihara is back, and better than ever in Finding Paradise, with a lyrical number that rivals Everything's Alright both musically and emotionally.

If you want to listen to it, you can find it on Bandcamp here[freebirdgames.bandcamp.com] or on steam here.


Now, for everybody's favorite section!...

Rant
Jesus H. Christ I swear I screamed like a little girl when I got the email that this game released. I have been waiting for so long for this, that I bought this the instant I got home, and actually got it before it went on sale.

Like I said in the Story section, this game falls a nanometer short of To The Moon, and that is only, only because it seemingly adds just a tad more fantasy. And hey, for all I know it could actually happen in real life, so there's that.

/rant

If you're somehow here without having played To The Moon, you can pick it up here:

and read my review on it here.

There's a little note in this game to Freebird Games' intermediary game A Bird Story, which you can find here:

Keep in mind that you don't have to play this first, though I highly recommend it.




If you enjoy To The Moon and Laura Shigihara's music, you should also check out her game Rakuen. It's a lovely game that I thoroughly enjoyed, and you can get it on steam, here:

and if you're not sure whether or not it's for you, check out my review on it here.

This is worth every penny

Hooooooooooo boy, where to start with Rakuen?
First off, I want to start this by saying that I played Rakuen at a relatively tough time in my life. One that left me slightly emotionally unsatble, but I think that helped me really come to understand the meaning behind this masterpiece of a game.

I've been a fan of Laura Shigihara for a while now, but mostly because of her singing. When I heard that she was makiing a game, I hopped right on the criminally small hype train and rode that baby all the way to Emotional Breakdown Station, which is a cheezy way of saying that I cried. A lot. This game left me a blithering mess for hours afterward, so be warned.

Now, let's get into the nitty gritty.

The Story
If you're looking for a good story, then you've found it. Rakuen is a story about a young boy in a hospital, so you know it's gonna be sad. It's quite a bit longer than the game that most people compare it to To The Moon by about double the length, rounding out to about 10 hours of heavily story based gameplay.

The story takes place (mostly) in the imagination of a young boy, and is split up into segments based on the person of focus. Everyone in the hospital has their own story, and each is more touching than the last. You explore a fantasy land of Too-Damn-Cute™ characters and areas, while learning the ins and outs of each patient at the hospital, all of which have their own fantasy counterparts.

Every segment is sad in its own right, but all together they make a perfect flurry packed with enough emotion to last a lifetime.

The Gameplay
The gameplay in and of itself isn't compicated. RPG Maker iso perspective. Classic indie story title stuff. What makes it so enticing though, is the puzzles. While not being complicated, the puzzles have this perfect little quirk to them, that just makes them fun to solve. I don't know if it was the characters you interact with, or what but every little step in those puzzles was just a joy to solve. They all have life to them, and each one is specifically tailored to the character arc it's placed in. All of them make perfect sense in the world that they're built in, and that's something we haven't see very often in recent times, heck even To The Moon's puzzles didn't make full sense in why they were there (more specifically, the puzzles to go down a memory level).

The Music
I said before that I like Laura's music, and I'll say it again. I like Laura Shigihara's music. I primarily know this from her appearances in Kan Gao's music in all of Freebird's games, but she's absolutely outdone herself with an entirely original soundtrack for Rakuen. Each track perfectly fits the area it was used in and designed for, and while I found some of the songs to be a little hard to listen to outright, most didn't have that problem.

If you enjoyed the music as much as I did, you can get it on bandcamp here[laurashigihara.bandcamp.com] or on steam here:


Rant
I played this game in a very emotional state. My dog and best friend of the past eleven years had just died not two weeks prior, and that helped me really click with this game. I'm glad that I played it when I did, and I think it'll really help for me to look back on it and reflect later on in life.

Honestly, I sat there sobbing for at least two hours over this ♥♥♥♥♥♥' game. It hit me like a ♥♥♥♥♥♥' truck.

/rant

I made this review with the assumtion that most people here will have at least heard of To The Moon, but in case you haven't, you can find it here:

or you can find its sequel here (coming soon, to theaters near you):

and hey, if you want, you can even read my review on it here.

To The Moon is a game that I didn't expect much of, but ended up being quite possibly my favorite game.

This game is absolutely worth full price

I could say some ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ here about how "To The Moon tells a masterfully orchestrated tale of humanity: Remembering who you are and what you mean to those who love you" and, to be fair, it does. The problem is that there's just nothing I can really say to make you play this game other than this: Trust me. It's short, it's sweet, and maybe a little salty from all the tears, and it should be at the very top of the "To Play:" list for anyone that enjoys a good story. Hell, for anyone because it tells a story that's relevant to all of us.

The Story
This game doesn't have a story. it is a story, but that's what makes it so great.

The story focuses on a man named Johnny, and his final wish: to go to the moon. Now, that's all the detail I'm going to tell you, because [insert ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ about experiencing the story here]. I mean, yeah, that's what makes a good story, a great story. It's also probably why I liked this game so much to be honest, because I went into it fully blind. I picked it up in a hmble bundle, like, years ago, and just played it. I have to say, it was not what I was expecting.

I was originally gonna put this in that last paragraph, but went on a tanget that I just dont want to take the time to move it somewhere else. ANYWAY, let's move on.
This story is one of humanity and unconditional love. Well, kinda. At least on the unconditional love part. It is most definitely a story about humanity. One that teaches that you need to remember who you are and what you mean to those who love you (which, conviniently, is the same fluffy ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ that I said I wasn't gonna put in here. So I'm a liar. Sue me.). Something that I know that a lot of people need to hear.

And it's just ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ good.

The Gameplay
It's not much. RPG Maker isometric perspective. It doesn't need much though. It's a story. A good one. (see above)

I don't even know why I added this section

The Music
Yes.

In all seriousness, the soundtrack is great. One of the best things about this game. You can get it on steam
or on Bandcamp[freebirdgames.bandcamp.com]

My personal reccomendations are Everything's Alright and any version of For River

Rant
I. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Love. This game.

That is all.

Hey, and if you like this there are other games from Freebird on steam. You can get Bird Story here
or, next summer, you can get Finding Paradise here.


Now nominated for Steam Awards!