I know, I know, I'm stupid late on this one, but I wanted to play it through a second time and mull it over properly before talking about it.
(Here be spoilers, yee have been warned.)
(Although if you haven't played the game you're not going to understand a fucking thing I say here anyway.)
So yeah... Transistor. Sweet game from the makers of Bastion. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Looks pretty, sounds great, liked the combat system and skill system, blah-de-blah-de-blah.
Mostly though, I wanna talk about the story. Because, God damn, I know games like to use the ol' in medias res to get straight into the action, but this might be one of the most extreme examples I've ever seen. By the time you get even a tenuous grip on just what the fuck is going on the game is basically over, and even then you're left with a lot of unanswered questions.
Thing is, I honestly can't decide whether or not they went to far with it. Piecing together the setting and events from fragments and context certainly feels more organic than being handed a tour guide at the door and gives a sense of mystery.
On the other hand, I feel they could have been a good deal more generous with said story fragments and I get the distinct impression that a great deal of things are left unexplained because the developers themselves weren't at all interested in a tight, cohesive plot and probably didn't have any answers. For example, what exactly is the Transistor itself and what does it do? I know it's a fantastical device, I'm not expecting blueprints and hard science, but some hints would have been nice. Because as it is, it seems to do whatever the story needs it to, from being an oversized telekinetic shank to reality-rewriting paintbrush.
On a similar note, why was Red rendered mute? And how? Does the Transistor do that too? Because it felt like they just wanted an excuse to do their silent protagonist + sexy disembodied voice thing.
Another criticism I have is that the scope of the story was a bit too big for the game's budget. It's made clear that you are bearing witness to the doom of a bustling city, if not an entire civilization, involving the deaths of millions and the rearrangement of the landscape, if not the very laws of physics. But you never see any of this happen. It's either just happened when you arrive or is going down somewhere else, just out of sight.
At the end of the day though, despite any annoyances with the game's narrative vagueness, I did like it a lot. The melancholy atmosphere was great and the bittersweet relationship of the main characters was immensely charming, especially considering that we're dealing with a mute lady and a possessed magical USB stick.
I'm very curious to know what other people made of the game and if anyone picked up on anything that I missed.
(Here be spoilers, yee have been warned.)
(Although if you haven't played the game you're not going to understand a fucking thing I say here anyway.)
So yeah... Transistor. Sweet game from the makers of Bastion. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Looks pretty, sounds great, liked the combat system and skill system, blah-de-blah-de-blah.
Mostly though, I wanna talk about the story. Because, God damn, I know games like to use the ol' in medias res to get straight into the action, but this might be one of the most extreme examples I've ever seen. By the time you get even a tenuous grip on just what the fuck is going on the game is basically over, and even then you're left with a lot of unanswered questions.
Thing is, I honestly can't decide whether or not they went to far with it. Piecing together the setting and events from fragments and context certainly feels more organic than being handed a tour guide at the door and gives a sense of mystery.
On the other hand, I feel they could have been a good deal more generous with said story fragments and I get the distinct impression that a great deal of things are left unexplained because the developers themselves weren't at all interested in a tight, cohesive plot and probably didn't have any answers. For example, what exactly is the Transistor itself and what does it do? I know it's a fantastical device, I'm not expecting blueprints and hard science, but some hints would have been nice. Because as it is, it seems to do whatever the story needs it to, from being an oversized telekinetic shank to reality-rewriting paintbrush.
On a similar note, why was Red rendered mute? And how? Does the Transistor do that too? Because it felt like they just wanted an excuse to do their silent protagonist + sexy disembodied voice thing.
Another criticism I have is that the scope of the story was a bit too big for the game's budget. It's made clear that you are bearing witness to the doom of a bustling city, if not an entire civilization, involving the deaths of millions and the rearrangement of the landscape, if not the very laws of physics. But you never see any of this happen. It's either just happened when you arrive or is going down somewhere else, just out of sight.
At the end of the day though, despite any annoyances with the game's narrative vagueness, I did like it a lot. The melancholy atmosphere was great and the bittersweet relationship of the main characters was immensely charming, especially considering that we're dealing with a mute lady and a possessed magical USB stick.
I'm very curious to know what other people made of the game and if anyone picked up on anything that I missed.