I think I’m close to finishing Wanderstop (Ivy Road), but I’m not sure. I am determined to finish it, but I–well, I’ll get to that later. Yesterday’s post was about the struggles I had with the game, and I’m going to continue in that vein today. Also, the video I’ll include below is the review I was talking about in yesterday’s post. Miss Bubbles touched upon many of the things that frustrates me about the game.
The controls remain fiddly. Boro gives me tasks from time to time, and the most recent one was filling the empty pots in the shop with flowers. That meant putting a flower from the outside into a pot, carrying it into the shop, and transferring the flower into the pot inside. For the most part, it was easy-peasy. However, there were two pots on a higher level. That meant I had to get on the ladder, spin the ladder to the right place, and then transfer the flower from the carryable pot to the pot on the shelf. Except I could not center myself properly and kept missing the prompt. Which flashed for half-a-second. I literally had to inch the ladder pixel by pixel, stopping after each movement. Then when the prompt flashed, I had to quickly mash A and hope that I actually got it.
That’s compelling gameplay, I’ll tell you what. (Spoiler, it’s fucking not.) The camera angles are still shonky, and I still clip through the environment. I have just acecpted that I will feel slightly queasy as I play the game.
I have not grown any fonder of the gameplay mechanics in the game. I will say that I do appreciate that there’s no time limit for the tasks and that I can fuck up repeatedly without making anyone angry. I don’t have to worry about anyone storming off in a huff or losing money (or making it for that matter).
I must say that I like the farming/selling part being so chill. I don’t mind a hardcore farming/restaurant sim, but ti’s a nice change of pace for that to be in the background.
That makes sense with the theme of burnout. Alta is in the clearing (that’s what it’s called) because she has lost her fighting mojo. Anyi time she tries to pick up her sword or go into the forest, she passes out. This is the big mystery, and the game makes a really big deal out of it. I had read/heard there was a big dark twist, and I was curious to see what it was. Almost every review talked about the deep feels they had about the game as well.
In the review above, Miss Bubbles warns that the game is really dark, much darker than other people allude to.
I have to say, I’ve reached the big twist. I figured it out on the way to it being revealed, and it’s not nearly as dark as people were intimating. Not NEARLY as dark. Well, let me reframe that. It was dark, but it was not shocking. And it kind of came out of nowhere. It did not feel earned, and I felt that it was thrown in purely for the purpose of being shocking. It felt maniupulative and poorly thought out.
And it drained all my interest in the story. I could think of several reasons why the devs decided to go down this road, and none of them were good. I kept playing, but I had no enthusiasm whilst continuing. Then, there was a whole section that I felt was padding, so my impatience increased tenfold. There was a really cool character who turned less and less cool as the chapter went on, and at the end of the chapter (unofficial, that’s just what I call them in my mind. When Boro lights the shrine and the clearing change. That’s what I call a chapter), nothing had changed. It was infuriating because this character said they could help Alta, but then deliberately did something so that they could no longer help her.
Again, it felt manipulative and a way to pad out the game. I’m not saying the devs were deliberately lengthening the game, but it certainly felt that way. And now, in the latest iteration of the clearing, the absolute worst character has appeared. I’ts a little kid named Monster (not her real name, but it’s a long story), who acts like every snotty kid in movies/games/TV shows acts. I fucking hate kids in most pop culture because people really do a shitty job writing them.
At least Nana is back. She’s an old lady who claims to be this great shopkeeper and tosses out business jargon like nobody’s business. She puts down Alta, saying I am lazy, incompetent, weak, and kids these days, etc. She says she deals in Nanabucks, and yet, she’ll allow me to trade things for her items. I can’t actually use any of the items, but I can place them around the shop.
She came and left during the first chapter, and I was so happy when she came back. Yes, she’s curmudgeonly, cranky, and mean to me, but she actually cares in a weird way about me. And she gives me cool shit as long as I put up with her haranguing and make her really weird coffees.
I still have a soft spot for Boro and think he’s the best character in the game. Truly, the characters are the strength of the game–along with the environments, the music, and the vibes. Oh, and the pluffins (fluffy penguins, basically), who I can now change the color of. Once I do that, they become attached to me and will follow me around. That’s a lot of fun! Except when they steal coffee/tea from me.
I keep wanting the game to be more than it is. And I don’t think it’s as clever/funny/moving as it thinks it is. People have compared it to Spiritfarer (Thunder Lotus Games) in themes and vibes, but I don’t agree. Well, I can’t say for sure about themes because I haven’t played all of this game yet, but vibes are not the same. Spiritfarer is in my top five favorite non-From games. I hold it in high esteem (exxcept for the truly dreadful platfroming), and I don’t think this game comes close.
Another mechanic gripe–A is used for interacting with people and for doing things like planting a seed. And for whatever reason, if someone has a quest they want me to do, they follow me around–as do the pluffins. You can imagine how annoying it is to try to avoid an NPC or pluffin while I’m trynig to plant, water, or harvest.
I have more to say, but that’s it for today.