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[jsnlxndrlv]

It's easy to forget that this game's actually sort of a Sims-lite horror game. I got so caught up trying to sleep through nice weather in order to complete rainy-day sidequests during Chapter 4 that the combat in Chapter 5 caught me completely off guard. Fortunately, the infinite-durability wrench I got for investigating two of the victim's friends has made the basic enemies a total breeze. The downside is that, having outclassed my guns and most melee weapons, I don't have (as much) reason to go fishing anymore. Well, I say that: I can still catch donuts and first aid kits that way. And fish, I guess.

I'm glad I finally started using a FAQ for the sidequests. My default approach to games is unnecessarily conservative; I would never use York's cigarettes to advance time because I didn't want to risk missing something. Now that I know exactly what's available and when, maybe I can stop wasting most of my playtime on driving around from one closed landmark to the next. Maybe I can actually make some forward progress.

I can't help laughing every time York smiles in this game. It's terrible and hilarious at once. It just looks so wrong, but also perfect.

[François]

I can't help laughing every time York smiles in this game. It's terrible and hilarious at once. It just looks so wrong, but also perfect.

I think some people see that smile and think that it's because the graphics are shit, but I have the feeling that it's meant to convey the image that York just has a creepy-ass smile. I mean, I heard the "whoah is that a dreamcast game" quips, and yeah, the terrain is awful and those trees are ridiculous, but the main characters seem well-made enough. Plus I thought some effects were very well done, like the way clothes get soaked with rain, or the lighting in some places.

Thinking about it now, I think the only thing that bugged me was how I felt that Emily looked like a blonde Yuna.

[jsnlxndrlv]

I just beat this game tonight. I managed to avoid any spoilers before they happened in the game.

This game is amazing. The rollercoaster over the last six chapters left me feeling emotionally disemboweled. I haven't felt as much investment in characters since Persona 4.

In retrospect, this post makes me cringe:

Surprised I haven't seen you guys talking about Deadly Premonition, which is so delightfully terrible that Destructoid gave it a perfect score. People keep describing it as Twin Peaks as reimagined as a Silent Hill/Shenmue hybrid.

...because Deadly Premonition is legitimately good, and suggesting it's mainly worthwhile for scenes like this sells the game short. It knows exactly what it's going to do, and it uses its mechanics perfectly to accomplish that goal. Its weaknesses are ones which are as irrelevant as possible to the story it wants to tell.

I am almost dumbfounded by how good this game is.

[Miss Cat Ears]

I bought the game, now I can't wait until I own a PS3 so I can play it

[jsnlxndrlv]

You made the right decision. Deadly Premonition's worth buying a console for.

[François]

Oooh, there's a interview with SWERY up on Gamasutra. When I first saw that pseudonym in the opening credits, I was all "dude, really? is that a thing now, just the one word?", but he actually seems super likeable, and, well, his work speaks for itself.

In other news, I'm trying to work out [spoiler]the alphabet connection.

If I remember correctly:
-The victims are Anna, Becky, Carol, Diane and Emily.
-Forrest knows, George thinks he knows, and Harry knows bits and pieces.
-Isaac and Isaiah are Jim's grandchildren as well as Keith and Lilly's sons.
-Nick is Olivia's husband.
-Quint is Richard's son; Richard is interested in Sallie.
-Xander is York/Zach's father.

It's clear there's something to it. You can fill the whole alphabet, though the links aren't always so easy to make; you might get Michael, Polly, Thomas, Ushah, Valentine and Willie.[/spoiler] I dunno, it's kind of neat.

[jsnlxndrlv]

[spoiler]There's almost no repetitions. The major jarring one that screws up the patterned appropriateness is Fiona "Freckles", who I don't think has a last name, cohabiting on F with Forrest Kaysen in the middle of the major case-related characters.[/spoiler]

[Miss Cat Ears]

I bought a ps3 then I got chopped by a raincoat wearing guy with an axe

[Miss Cat Ears]

INVESTIGATION FAIL

JAPANESE WORDS

[François]

Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut - PC Reveal

HOLY SHIT GUYS A PC RELEASE OF THE DIRECTOR'S CUT

everybody needs to vote this up on greenlight iesus cristo seriously i never ask for anything

[jsnlxndrlv]

I have lingering affection for Deadly Premonition, but ever since reading James "Adilegian" Howell's criticisms, I feel like that affection was probably misplaced. Spoilers, I suppose.

...The history of the town is pretty interesting, and I'm enjoying this, but my enjoyment of the plot and characters is hampered by the narrow gender roles that circumscribe the characters as well as the possible events that can unfold.

In particular, my mind goes back to a conversation between York and George wherein one says (paraphrased), "Life is about the strong hurting the weak... adults to children, men to women, and criminals to victims." I keep wanting to give the game the benefit of the doubt by ascribing such a stupid worldview to specific characters, but it actually seems to permeate the narrative's own ethos, so it makes the events and characters largely implausible to me. It's a significant weakness in the plot and atmosphere, and one that has largely undermined my ability to "get sucked into" the plot. It's also a point where the game diverges (to its detriment) from its source material, as women in Twin Peaks, while often sexualized and put into victim roles, could also be bold and brassy to get what they want without being punished for those characteristics. (Here I think, in particular, of Catherine Martell.)

I like to make myself open to enjoying things that I disagree with, but this actually goes beyond disagreement with an explicit message -- and it goes into the territory of having my pleasure thwarted by implicit sexism. What's bothersome is that the plot completely depends upon that implicit sexism to even operate, and I would like to see a stronger act of imagination than one that relies upon dated social norms.

But, with that said, I'm giving the game a fair shake before I write it off as hobbled by dumb presumptions. I need to do more side quests, and I want to get better equipment if only to shorten the length of the action sequences, which are frankly among the worst I've played in years. The gunplay is boring, and the QTE sequences are painfully illogical.

HEY LET ME RUN DOWN THIS CORRIDOR AWAY FROM THE AXE MURDERER OH WAIT LET ME GINGERLY STEP ONTO THIS SLIGHT ELEVATION NOW STEP DOWN OH SHIT GOTTA PUSH A BOX PUSH A BOX PUSH A BOX

I'm sure these are not unique criticisms, but they're significant flaws that call attention to what a trainwreck the game is on the level of production. Worse is the fact that the game can't even keep up with its own scripted events during QTEs and undermines its own gimmicks!

You're given two windows during the Raincoat Killer chase scenes, one to show York's/the player's POV and the other window belongs to the killer's first person POV, presumably to create tension. This whole effect is undermined when the script calls for the killer to appear right in front of York (WHOA SHOCK) and the Killer's FPV shows him two rooms back because he's been busy hacking up mannequins.

It's a mess in so many ways. I can remember enjoying games like this ironically but I don't think I do anymore.

I'll finish it because I want to see the breadth of what the fuss is about.

I've just [spoiler]run down the stairs with the massive QTE sequence against bigspawn Kaysen, and now I'm on top of the demolished belltower fighting Staypuff Marshmallow Kaysen.

I'm annoyed that the choice you're given between shooting Keysen or Emily is false, since nothing about choosing the Kaysen option should prevent the Emily scenario from occurring. Stupid.

I'm also grossed out that the game covers traditional rape-soiling ideas with its own conceits with the red tree growing out of Emily's abdomen.[/spoiler]

I imagine this game's appeal lies in its kitch factor, perhaps in the same way people like Troma movies.

I think that's part of my problem right there. I don't enjoy things ironically (usually), and I enjoy videogames with absurd elements (like MGS) because of a polished execution of that absurdity. Deadly Premonition comes off looking like a half-assed rendition of a stupid vision.

The draw to me was always in the bizarre world you explore, as a bizarre character who has bizarre introspective dialogue.

Twin Peaks probably ruined Deadly Premonition for me, in this respect, because it strove for a bizarre character with a bizarre introspective dialogue but made it interesting and convincing. I felt like York's character's weirdness was comprised wholly of gimmicks bordering on one-liners (oh that york and his coffee, that guy), and -- outside of the Zack sidestory -- I felt that everything was superficially trumped up.

Cooper in Twin Peaks had visions, Tibetan meditation, and chaos magick from a background of spiritual revelation and self-study. Zack saw some weird screwed up stuff when he was a kid and got that second personality, but the occult/visionary elements of his character are merely asserted, not advanced, and come off as insubstantial attempts to parrot superior source material.

On top of that, the primary unique aspect of York's character draws from the molded waters of anime cliche: Saw a personal trauma thing as a child, got awesome powers (?) (!!!!). What's there isn't original enough for me to like, and not executed well enough for me to feel gracious toward.

Basically, what Deadly Premonition wants to do -- not even what it does -- has been done better. It's not original, and it's not a quality execution of that rhymed content.

I too found myself disgusted at the things you found issue with toward the end, but I'm not as judgmental towards its themes since that isn't my main draw.

I can usually look through misogyny or implicit sexism to enjoy a broader drama happening in a story, but the fact that, in the 21st century, implicit sexism and honor-killing a rape victim are fundamental parts of a "deep" and "weird" story blows my mind. This material is stupid child's play, has no imagination,  replicates the kind of social indoctrination that can make rape victims see themselves as "soiled," and is inexcusably vulgar. The game never redeems its flaws, in theme or performance.

the thing about the kitsch appeal is that everything about the game that isn't just a second-rate twin peaks is a fifth-rate something else. it's not like it's riding on the virtue of its own inexplicable brand of quirkiness heretofore unseen.

This is pretty on the mark for me. It's quirkiness is derivative, its execution sucks, the game is internally inconsistent in a way that doesn't merely call attention to its seams but puts them center stage, and nothing is done well.

[patito]

I don't know, for the most part the plot and the action sequences always seem very disconnected from each other, so calling them QTEs illogical seems pretty silly, since the entire action sequences tend to be illogical.

And well, Emily seemed to me like one of the most competent characters in the entire thing. notwithstanding what happens to her in the end. But then again the entire thing goes bananas in the end.