More reviews
Jul. 19th, 2021 11:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrTV: Loki
Webcomics: Under the Oak Tree, Tigress Queen
Games: The Lost Art of Innkeeping, Calico, Nekopara: Catboys Paradise, Hive Time, Ruya
TV:
Loki Season 1: I overall quite enjoyed this. It had its flaws, especially with pacing, but was a fun, if not very deep, exploration of Loki's character and the nature of Fate, with lots of alternate timeline shenanigans. Despite all the hype about ~genderfluidity etc it was exactly as cisheteronormative as I was expecting it to be, because Marvel. And it never stopped being Unfortunate about the black characters. Also don't go into the final episode expecting a neat, satisfying wrap up of all the plot threads and character arcs. BUT OTHER THAN ALL THAT I liked it, it has a sort of janky Dr Who-ish charm, like the writers were having fun playing around with characters and ideas even if the results weren't perfect. (Also, if you're wondering: All my predictions were COMPLETELY wrong haha)
Webcomics:
Under the Oak Tree: Incredibly tropey, lightly smutty Korean m/f romance webtoon about a tiny, anxious, abused noble girl in an arranged marriage with a huge, gruff, common warrior turned feudal lord. They're a sweet couple, and I'm enjoying it, but it is very het.
Tigress Queen: m/f romance American fantasy webcomic about a huge pampered prince in an arranged marriage with the tiny, badass, bitter woman who runs a small, mistreated enemy country. Plays around with tropes a little but still mostly pretty conventional. Not very far along but fun so far.
Games:
The Lost Art of Innkeeping (Windows Only): A simple but fun little game about running an inn. It's logistics, but on a very small scale, trying to figure out the best way to accomodate and impress up to five sets of guests with different and sometimes conflicting needs and preferences. There's also quests to help people, improve the inn and nearby village etc. The writing/characterisation is paper-thin but cute. The gameplay and 2D pixelated art is pure RPG maker but does the job. I spent my first playthrough a bit stressed out because I wasn't going to make enough money before the time limit, but then discovered that (a) As long as you have 12K you can keep playing (b) Reaching the time limit unlocks New Game+, which has a few extra events. I think using a walkthrough the first time through would have taken the fun out of it, the 'screw up the first playthrough, get it right in a New Game+" approach was more fun and seems to be the expected approach. But you'll likely need a walkthrough and several playthroughs to get all the achievements, if that's something you care about.
Calico (Windows Only): a gentle, cute, diverse, somewhat janky game about running a cat cafe. Has a very odd cooking mechanic where you are a tiny person throwing ingredients into a big bowl which the janky 3D physics made a bit frustrating. I enjoyed wandering around as a chubby androgynous character meeting animals/people and doing fetch quests, but got bored after an hour or two, I might give it another go at some point.
Nekopara: Catboys Paradise: (Windows Only) A free, fluffy, G-rated catboy dating sim from a Japanese company that usually makes porny catgirl visual novels. Very well made for what it is but the unaddressed consent issues creeped me out. You play a Shy Nice Girl who's just graduated college, who's hired some catboys to be waiters in the cafe she inherited from her grandpa. It is very pretty and well made, and the one route I've played (the boyish one, Dill) was cute, plotless, slice of life where nice people are nice to each other and form a cute, slightly romantic bond involving a lot of blushing and holding hands. The heroine has no name, face, or on-screen dialogue, instead the catboys react as if she'd said things like in a drama CD. The catboys are biologically wired to be cuddly and subby, wanting head pats and for the heroine to become their official forever owner. I was torn between being into it and creeped out by the power differential so I made the mistake of looking up the wiki and was SO CREEPED OUT by the porny 'catgirls have the same rights as regular cats' worldbuilding I'm not sure I can play again unless I can convince myself this is a major AU from the catgirl games. I feel like it would actually bother me less in porn but since this is non-sexual romance I need to be convinced they'll be happy romantically and not be distracted by thoughts about catboy civil rights. But if you're into mildly furry, mildly femdom plotless fluff and can turn your brain off you might have more fun than me.
Hive Time: A base building game about running a bee hive. Well made, with lots of options to make it easier or more challenging, but I don't enjoy this kind of base building.
Ruya (Windows only): a pretty, puzzley take on match-3 that didn't work for me for some reason. The framing story involves a f/f relationship where one of them broke up or died and the other is working through her grief.
Webcomics: Under the Oak Tree, Tigress Queen
Games: The Lost Art of Innkeeping, Calico, Nekopara: Catboys Paradise, Hive Time, Ruya
TV:
Loki Season 1: I overall quite enjoyed this. It had its flaws, especially with pacing, but was a fun, if not very deep, exploration of Loki's character and the nature of Fate, with lots of alternate timeline shenanigans. Despite all the hype about ~genderfluidity etc it was exactly as cisheteronormative as I was expecting it to be, because Marvel. And it never stopped being Unfortunate about the black characters. Also don't go into the final episode expecting a neat, satisfying wrap up of all the plot threads and character arcs. BUT OTHER THAN ALL THAT I liked it, it has a sort of janky Dr Who-ish charm, like the writers were having fun playing around with characters and ideas even if the results weren't perfect. (Also, if you're wondering: All my predictions were COMPLETELY wrong haha)
Webcomics:
Under the Oak Tree: Incredibly tropey, lightly smutty Korean m/f romance webtoon about a tiny, anxious, abused noble girl in an arranged marriage with a huge, gruff, common warrior turned feudal lord. They're a sweet couple, and I'm enjoying it, but it is very het.
Tigress Queen: m/f romance American fantasy webcomic about a huge pampered prince in an arranged marriage with the tiny, badass, bitter woman who runs a small, mistreated enemy country. Plays around with tropes a little but still mostly pretty conventional. Not very far along but fun so far.
Games:
The Lost Art of Innkeeping (Windows Only): A simple but fun little game about running an inn. It's logistics, but on a very small scale, trying to figure out the best way to accomodate and impress up to five sets of guests with different and sometimes conflicting needs and preferences. There's also quests to help people, improve the inn and nearby village etc. The writing/characterisation is paper-thin but cute. The gameplay and 2D pixelated art is pure RPG maker but does the job. I spent my first playthrough a bit stressed out because I wasn't going to make enough money before the time limit, but then discovered that (a) As long as you have 12K you can keep playing (b) Reaching the time limit unlocks New Game+, which has a few extra events. I think using a walkthrough the first time through would have taken the fun out of it, the 'screw up the first playthrough, get it right in a New Game+" approach was more fun and seems to be the expected approach. But you'll likely need a walkthrough and several playthroughs to get all the achievements, if that's something you care about.
Calico (Windows Only): a gentle, cute, diverse, somewhat janky game about running a cat cafe. Has a very odd cooking mechanic where you are a tiny person throwing ingredients into a big bowl which the janky 3D physics made a bit frustrating. I enjoyed wandering around as a chubby androgynous character meeting animals/people and doing fetch quests, but got bored after an hour or two, I might give it another go at some point.
Nekopara: Catboys Paradise: (Windows Only) A free, fluffy, G-rated catboy dating sim from a Japanese company that usually makes porny catgirl visual novels. Very well made for what it is but the unaddressed consent issues creeped me out. You play a Shy Nice Girl who's just graduated college, who's hired some catboys to be waiters in the cafe she inherited from her grandpa. It is very pretty and well made, and the one route I've played (the boyish one, Dill) was cute, plotless, slice of life where nice people are nice to each other and form a cute, slightly romantic bond involving a lot of blushing and holding hands. The heroine has no name, face, or on-screen dialogue, instead the catboys react as if she'd said things like in a drama CD. The catboys are biologically wired to be cuddly and subby, wanting head pats and for the heroine to become their official forever owner. I was torn between being into it and creeped out by the power differential so I made the mistake of looking up the wiki and was SO CREEPED OUT by the porny 'catgirls have the same rights as regular cats' worldbuilding I'm not sure I can play again unless I can convince myself this is a major AU from the catgirl games. I feel like it would actually bother me less in porn but since this is non-sexual romance I need to be convinced they'll be happy romantically and not be distracted by thoughts about catboy civil rights. But if you're into mildly furry, mildly femdom plotless fluff and can turn your brain off you might have more fun than me.
Hive Time: A base building game about running a bee hive. Well made, with lots of options to make it easier or more challenging, but I don't enjoy this kind of base building.
Ruya (Windows only): a pretty, puzzley take on match-3 that didn't work for me for some reason. The framing story involves a f/f relationship where one of them broke up or died and the other is working through her grief.
