Event[0] Review - All the Stars Look at You

[NewClassic_v1legacy]

Event[0] Review - All the Stars Look at You

Event[0] is a disquieting journey through space.

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[Thunderous Cacophony]

Recommendation: Event[0] is a hard game to recommend because the flaws are all encompassing, but the rest of the game is exceptionally gorgeous. Worth experiencing by all but those who avoid story-based games.

This is a very strange statement that I don't think I fully understand. If the game beautifully conveys story through atmosphere, that is something that would draw story gamers in; if the central mechanic is miserable in it's use, that would repel everyone. Even if you are someone who seeks out story-based games, the fact that you can't enjoy the interaction of drawing the story out of the AI seems like it would be very off-putting.

It's a shame because it sounds like a very interesting game, especially as someone who loves to poke around environments, but an all-encompassing flaw is a hard pill to swallow. Maybe one day chatbots will be good enough to do what the developers wanted; until then, I'll hope that they continue to make games that work better than Event[0] (or patch this one with a vocabulary tree where you can construct sentences the AI can understand and have conversations it can follow).

 

[Barbas]

I remember watching an episode of Previously Recorded on this game. It appears they had an interesting concept but didn't really realize enough potential. One reason is that it's relatively easy to break the chatbot's brain and realize you're not dealing with highly sophisticated AI.

 

[NewClassic_v1legacy]

Recommendation: Event[0] is a hard game to recommend because the flaws are all encompassing, but the rest of the game is exceptionally gorgeous. Worth experiencing by all but those who avoid story-based games.

This is a very strange statement that I don't think I fully understand. If the game beautifully conveys story through atmosphere, that is something that would draw story gamers in; if the central mechanic is miserable in it's use, that would repel everyone. Even if you are someone who seeks out story-based games, the fact that you can't enjoy the interaction of drawing the story out of the AI seems like it would be very off-putting.

I think part of the reason for it is that there's nothing about interacting with Kaizen that is too discomforting. They're a strange conversation partner, and profoundly limited, but they're still effective enough. Kaizen never makes the player behave too weirdly in order to progress the story. So, it's a frustration in the same way that walking around with a very small pebble in the shoe is a problem. Unless the tiny rock manages to irk the foot enough, it's almost not worth the effort to stop, fight with the shoe, get it out, and put the shoe back on. At least, not until already seated.

So, over the course of a three-ish hour game, having a weird and limited personality as a companion isn't as bad as the game is pretty, thoughtful, and meaningful.

It's a shame because it sounds like a very interesting game, especially as someone who loves to poke around environments, but an all-encompassing flaw is a hard pill to swallow. Maybe one day chatbots will be good enough to do what the developers wanted; until then, I'll hope that they continue to make games that work better than Event[0] (or patch this one with a vocabulary tree where you can construct sentences the AI can understand and have conversations it can follow).

Which is why the recommendation and score are still so high. The concept, art design, and narrative style are good enough to be far more valuable than the mechanical flaws.