potential spoilers ahead.
ok, so for all those out there who have no idea what i'm talking about, Lux Pain is a novel-style DS game that came out in March. i bought it because it looked like a cross between two of my favorite DS titles: Hotel Dusk and the Phoenix Wright series. on the back of the box, it looked great: the in-depth story and deep, loveable characters from Hotel Dusk combined with the interesting gameplay of Phoenix Wright. best of both worlds, right?
wrong.
first off, let me say that the characters are loveable. i found myself growing very attached to some of the characters, and, as lame as this may sound (keep comments to yourself, please), i was actally sad when one of the main NPCs was killed. it put a major damper on the rest of the game. and the concept of the gameplay is really interesting- you use your magic, golden eye to read peoples minds and figure out their motives and feelings.
but notice i said that the CONCEPT was interesting. the gameplay itself is duller then pac-man would be if the ghosts ran from YOU. all you get to do in between the many, many, MANY cutscenes is rub on the DS touchscreen like you're trying to erase something on picto-chat. that's about it. i'm serious. the few "boss battles" throughout the game are incredibly easy, won by, in most cases, rapidly tapping on the touchscreen. there is no diffuculty setting on Lux Pain, but by the end of the second chapter, i was desperate for an upgrade to "hard" just to get a decent challenge.
so the gameplay falls flat on its face. but hey, didn't the gameplay in Hotel Dusk also fall flat? weren't the puzzles really easy and could be solved on the first try? isn't the reason you love the game the rich storyline and in-depth characters? yes, all that is true. but in Lux Pain, the story is screwed up too.
let me start off with those characters i mentioned earlier: there are simply TOO MANY of them. Hotel Dusk had about 10 in the whole game, and you interacted with them fairly regularly. Lux Pain, on the other hand, has about 25. and 10 you talk to on a daily basis. and every character has their own backstory that seems like it could go places. BUT NEVER DOES. for example, one character you meet is a fat, bitter lady who marries men for their cash then dumps them. during one of the mind reading sequences you learn that she's planning to burn down a building to collect insurance money. BUT SHE NEVER DOES. her story sounded interesting but ultimately went nowhere, leaving me perplexed as to why she needed to exist at all. i mean, she certainly didn't contribute to the main storyline, which is actually pretty gripping, and in itself might have saved the game for me if it didn't have two major issues.
issue one: the localization SUCKS. it is dreadful. it isn't even just akward phrasing- there are blatant misspellings of words. in one scene, i went to the nurse's office in a high school. but when the nurse asked why i was there, she asked me what i was doing in the "Burse's office". the main character? his name is Atsuki. several times, it was spelled "Atsuku". and let's not forget the fact that the translators apparently got genders confused, because every time a guy did something, "she" did it. and if a girl did something, "he" did it. i haven't seen so many localization errors since "Ragnarok" was mistranslated as "Kangaroo" in Tales of Phantasia (if you know what that is, give yourself a pat on the back).
plus, the voice actors aren't even using the same script as the localizers. there was a scene at the very end where you've defeated the final boss, and your friend comes in to finish him off. what the defeated guy says is: "Oh, good. I'd rather be killed by a pro." what the text says is: "i would much rather be taken out by you." it makes the UNSKIPPABLE cutscenes impossible to enjoy. but that STILL isn't the deal breaker.
the deal breaker is the ending. now, if you never replay a game ever, let me wrap this up here (actually, if you've read this whole thing, thanks. you are a great person). don't buy Lux Pain. it isn't worth the time or money. but if you do replay games, listen up: in Hotel Dusk, at the end of the game, you have the option of meeting up with all the charaters one at a time and having a final talk with them that gives you a final sense of "closure" about them. then the game ends, with all questions answered (kinda). this soft, easy ending makes me just want to play the game over and over. in Lux Pain, conversely, the ending goes as such:
you defeat the final boss. a support character goes, "oh atsuki, i was so worried." another support character says, "good job, atsuki. get some rest." AND THEN THE GAME ENDS. that's it. the screen goes black and the credits roll, with nary an epilogue of any kind to answer unanswered questions. and there are PLENTY of those in this game. and not the Hotel Dusk kind where they aren't answered on purpose to create a sense of mystery about the game. these are questions that could easily be answered. but they aren't. so there is absolutely no replay value. which is what breaks this game for me.
in closing: like i said before, do not buy Lux Pain. it's dull, confusing, and its only good feature (the story) is marred by shoddy localization and dreadful ending. it's as if you're watching a japanese-language version of the Lord of the Rings, and after Gollum falls into the lava with the Ring, the movie ends right then and there. don't buy this game. don't even rent it. you will regret it.
and, if anyone is still reading by this point, thank you. you make me feel like i actually made a difference.
ok, so for all those out there who have no idea what i'm talking about, Lux Pain is a novel-style DS game that came out in March. i bought it because it looked like a cross between two of my favorite DS titles: Hotel Dusk and the Phoenix Wright series. on the back of the box, it looked great: the in-depth story and deep, loveable characters from Hotel Dusk combined with the interesting gameplay of Phoenix Wright. best of both worlds, right?
wrong.
first off, let me say that the characters are loveable. i found myself growing very attached to some of the characters, and, as lame as this may sound (keep comments to yourself, please), i was actally sad when one of the main NPCs was killed. it put a major damper on the rest of the game. and the concept of the gameplay is really interesting- you use your magic, golden eye to read peoples minds and figure out their motives and feelings.
but notice i said that the CONCEPT was interesting. the gameplay itself is duller then pac-man would be if the ghosts ran from YOU. all you get to do in between the many, many, MANY cutscenes is rub on the DS touchscreen like you're trying to erase something on picto-chat. that's about it. i'm serious. the few "boss battles" throughout the game are incredibly easy, won by, in most cases, rapidly tapping on the touchscreen. there is no diffuculty setting on Lux Pain, but by the end of the second chapter, i was desperate for an upgrade to "hard" just to get a decent challenge.
so the gameplay falls flat on its face. but hey, didn't the gameplay in Hotel Dusk also fall flat? weren't the puzzles really easy and could be solved on the first try? isn't the reason you love the game the rich storyline and in-depth characters? yes, all that is true. but in Lux Pain, the story is screwed up too.
let me start off with those characters i mentioned earlier: there are simply TOO MANY of them. Hotel Dusk had about 10 in the whole game, and you interacted with them fairly regularly. Lux Pain, on the other hand, has about 25. and 10 you talk to on a daily basis. and every character has their own backstory that seems like it could go places. BUT NEVER DOES. for example, one character you meet is a fat, bitter lady who marries men for their cash then dumps them. during one of the mind reading sequences you learn that she's planning to burn down a building to collect insurance money. BUT SHE NEVER DOES. her story sounded interesting but ultimately went nowhere, leaving me perplexed as to why she needed to exist at all. i mean, she certainly didn't contribute to the main storyline, which is actually pretty gripping, and in itself might have saved the game for me if it didn't have two major issues.
issue one: the localization SUCKS. it is dreadful. it isn't even just akward phrasing- there are blatant misspellings of words. in one scene, i went to the nurse's office in a high school. but when the nurse asked why i was there, she asked me what i was doing in the "Burse's office". the main character? his name is Atsuki. several times, it was spelled "Atsuku". and let's not forget the fact that the translators apparently got genders confused, because every time a guy did something, "she" did it. and if a girl did something, "he" did it. i haven't seen so many localization errors since "Ragnarok" was mistranslated as "Kangaroo" in Tales of Phantasia (if you know what that is, give yourself a pat on the back).
plus, the voice actors aren't even using the same script as the localizers. there was a scene at the very end where you've defeated the final boss, and your friend comes in to finish him off. what the defeated guy says is: "Oh, good. I'd rather be killed by a pro." what the text says is: "i would much rather be taken out by you." it makes the UNSKIPPABLE cutscenes impossible to enjoy. but that STILL isn't the deal breaker.
the deal breaker is the ending. now, if you never replay a game ever, let me wrap this up here (actually, if you've read this whole thing, thanks. you are a great person). don't buy Lux Pain. it isn't worth the time or money. but if you do replay games, listen up: in Hotel Dusk, at the end of the game, you have the option of meeting up with all the charaters one at a time and having a final talk with them that gives you a final sense of "closure" about them. then the game ends, with all questions answered (kinda). this soft, easy ending makes me just want to play the game over and over. in Lux Pain, conversely, the ending goes as such:
you defeat the final boss. a support character goes, "oh atsuki, i was so worried." another support character says, "good job, atsuki. get some rest." AND THEN THE GAME ENDS. that's it. the screen goes black and the credits roll, with nary an epilogue of any kind to answer unanswered questions. and there are PLENTY of those in this game. and not the Hotel Dusk kind where they aren't answered on purpose to create a sense of mystery about the game. these are questions that could easily be answered. but they aren't. so there is absolutely no replay value. which is what breaks this game for me.
in closing: like i said before, do not buy Lux Pain. it's dull, confusing, and its only good feature (the story) is marred by shoddy localization and dreadful ending. it's as if you're watching a japanese-language version of the Lord of the Rings, and after Gollum falls into the lava with the Ring, the movie ends right then and there. don't buy this game. don't even rent it. you will regret it.
and, if anyone is still reading by this point, thank you. you make me feel like i actually made a difference.
