To the Moon

[Erkki]

I already posted this in the Indie Games Compendium Extravaganza, but this game deserves its own thread.

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It's an adventure game that looks somewhat like an old school RPG. It's a story of a particularly difficult case for a tandem of doctors who fulfill people's last wishes by going into their memories and altering them using futuristic machinery.

It's a really great story. I haven't finished it and don't know how long it is exactly, but so far it's been wonderful.

For me, the countdown to tears is over!

[toblix]

I already posted this in the Indie Games Compendium Extravaganza, but this game deserves its own thread.

Also, this thread deserves its own link: Link.

[Erkki]

Also, this thread deserves its own link: Link.

Ah. I was so emotionally destabilized by the game that I forgot the link.

And while I'm here again I'll add a Desura link, much easier to buy there (and try the 1 hour demo first).

I've been really surprised lately that Desura might be as good as Steam (haven't explored it that much yet, but I've bought two games there and installed a couple of mods). It's like the Steam for games who don't get easily accepted on Steam, probably.

[Tanukitsune]

To The Moon is a very strange game, it's an adventure games made in RPG Maker.

Except it's gameplay is so strange I couldn't call it an adventure. I'll just explain what the game is about.

It's an dying old man who wants his wish granted, a certain company can do it... kinda? What they do is enter your memories and change them so your life dream's become true. Which is kinda messed up?

The gameplay is all about entering the old man's memories finding an item that will link it to an earlier memory until you reach his childhood, where you can influence them easier. But it's not that easy, you have to find other items to unlock the barrier to the next memory and play a silly minigame. I don't really understand how this works, each "key" is a specific color, but isn't unlocked by touching items of that color OR by touching other items that were important to the old man... I've gotten "keys" by interacting with people the old man probably even didn't talk to.

The interesting thing is that it's a virtual memory and people become more static-like when the character doesn't remember them well, which is a nice touch.

If it wasn't obvious from the title, the old man wants to go to the Moon, and as you advance in the plot you'll find out more about his past and why he really wants to go to the Moon.

The gameplay is almost boring at the beginning, but the story is the main drive of the game.

These spoilers ruin the game, don't read them unless you don't want to play or have already:

The old man had a wife with a certain ailment, everybody act like it's some terrible disease, but it ended up being Asperger's. I don't know much about this ailment, but the 90% internet claims to have it, I can't help to be a little jaded towards to this disease.

You find out he had a twin brother which died very young, he took some meds that block the memory, but they also blocked the memory of his first meeting with his future wife and why he really wants to go to the Moon, so...

It was heart wrenching to see the wife trying to make the old man remember the blocked memory, her actions didn't make sense until you see this memory.

Also, to fix things, they resurrect his brother, that way his wish to go to the Moon isn't blocked, but it's pretty messed up.

The game is kinda steep at about 10€ for a 4 hour RPG Maker game though.

[brkl]

Is it really made in RPG maker? I didn't know that piece of software was advanced enough. The game feels like a complete product. It looks like an RPG, but it doesn't play like an adventure game forced into an RPG engine.

[Lu]

I played the demo (basically the full game, but your playtime is limited to an hour) and I really liked what I played. Totally willing to buy it if the price gets lowered or if it goes on sale.

[Tanukitsune]

Desura says the engine is "RPG Maker XP", and it does feel like an adventure made with RPG Maker, it even has an old style RPG save menu, which is doesn't really need since you can't die, at least, I don't think you can.

[brkl]

What I meant was that "an adventure game made with RPG maker" sounds kinda cheap and poor to me, but that's not what it feels like.

[Erkki]

It's my game of the year candidate along with Witcher 2, mostly because it made me cry. Don't remember if it's the first game that made me cry, but if it's not there's only been one other.

[Tanukitsune]

I must admit, it's the most heart wrenching game I've played in ages, if not ever?

[castorp]

FYI:

The game's on Steam now and a bit cheaper for the moment. Those who bought it already directly from the developers can get a Steam key - you just have to write them. (Info)

It has a truly wonderful, smartly constructed story and one of the most moving ones I ever played. Still comes to mind after half a year from time to time. Go play it, all you people!

Also this:

[osmosisch]

People were saying that this game is the closest thing to Dear Esther and Gone Home so given that it's just 2 euro on steam right now I picked it up and played through it - what an interesting experience!

 

I found the graphics to be a huge turn-off at first, but there's so many cool touches showing what a labour of love this is that I was soon won over. 

 

Similarly, the controls could be very irritating at times (clunky and wonky with the mouse anyway).

 

Some spoilery ramblings:

The writing was really patchy in some places. Especially the children sounded completely off to me - nobody young talks like that. The dynamic between the doctors was always fun, and they both gained some real depth. 

 

The disease subplot of the wife and the building of the house fell a bit flat for me.

 

What did work very well for me was the realisation of how betablockers messed up their relationship, and how hard River tried to break through this.

 

The sequence where Johnny's memory finally gets rearranged so he'll go to the moon was very nicely done, with Watts trying to stop it and everything going haywire with crazily mingled memories in all the classrooms.

 

The moment that really got me was when they held hands in the shuttle going up at the end. That was lovely.

 

Overall I have to say that this story would have worked better for me without such a gimmicky narrative structure around it. Further, the fact that the happy ending is nothing else than a shot of endorphins to make a dying man a bit happier leaves a bit of a sour taste. It's a very depressing thought to me that one's mistakes should only be realised when it's too late, and then a fake reality should be constructed for, well, no reason that a shot of morphine wouldn't do as well for.

 

Definitely worth playing, with some great high notes.

[Twig]

Also they added a cheesemint for

beating the game!!!

so now everyone's obligated to play it.

[osmosisch]

Well I did just that and got nothing so I'm guessing you're misinformed or there's something weird going on.

[Twig]

http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/2013/08/22/man-up-and-earn-your-steam-achievement-by-playing-to-the-moon/

 

I wouldn't know because I'm not about to play the game again to get a cheese. I'm just parroting. Though I do think that thing's existed for a while and maybe just never worked I dunno.

 

http://steamcommunity.com/stats/206440/achievements

[Roderick]

I played it a few weeks ago; nice experience. I too was put off by the 'JRPG' style at first, but once I got into the groove of the game, it was enjoyable. The gameplay elements were a bit tacked on, it felt a little like padding. I feel this game would've worked better as a straight-up visual novel, but it was fine how it was.