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Last year, I remember hearing about Hotel Dusk: Room 215 and was immediately drawn to it due to its detective story and simple, "sketchy" style of animation. Seeing that the game was made by Cing, who also made Trace Memory (with the same artist, no doubt), I decided to pick that game up before Hotel Dusk and give that one a run as well.
About a month ago, I got Trace Memory (eBay is so much cheaper than EBGames for used games, if you're willing to wait) and gave it a run. The story behind Trace Memory is that Ashley is turning 14, and has recived a package with a strange "DTS" unit (it's a DS with photo abilities) and a letter telling her that her father is still alive. After arriving and accidentally knocking over a gravestone, you wake up "D", a young spirit who cannot remember his past, and you wander the mansion on Blood Edward Island trying to find your father, as well as find out D's past.
The game was one of the first games to come out on the DS and was very inventive in using the DS's unique abilities (the touchscreen, microphone, and even the folding design comes into play), similar to Lost in Blue (another game I'm currently seeking out). The top screen of the DS shows a pre-rendered scene (Myst-ish) of approximately what you were looking at, and the bottom screen is a top-down 3D area in which you maneuver about in the mansion and its surroundings.
While playing Trace Memory, there are many places to go and many items to look at, and some of them trigger D's memories. What I realized, after getting to the end of the game, was that I managed to solve Ashley's puzzles, but left D's memory unresolved, ending in a "meh" ending. I haven't been inclined to return to the game for a second playthrough, but I've read online that playing through a second time gives different information on the "DTS Cards" and gives you a better insight into the characters that used to live in the mansion.
I think one of the things that has not made me return yet was due to the slow pace of the game - if I want to play through this game again, I'm going to have to run around through the mansion again, take pictures with the DTS again, and wander back-and-forth. I'm not really that interested in doing that, but with the different DTS cards and the thought of uncovering D's past (which is very complex when you're trying to sort out two families with no visual reference) I may re-approach it eventually.
I picked up Hotel Dusk on its release date, as while I found Trace Memory a bit strange, I like the quirky. Plus, it's a detective story, how could I pass that up? The concept behind Hotel Dusk is that your character, Kyle Hyde, is an ex-cop who has become a pseudo-bounty hunter masquerading as a door-to-door salesman. You've been called out to Hotel Dusk, where you are to await your "package" (orders). You're staying in a room labelled "Wish", and appropriately enough, stories have been told that everyone who stays in that room gets their wish granted.
The DS is held "book-style" (like Brain Age is held, with the touch screen on the right, or left if you're left-handed), and you walk around the Hotel using a top-down map on the right-hand screen (which you maneuver about in) while the left-hand screen displays a 3D viewpoint of what Kyle sees - unlike Trace Memory, the environments are polygonal (not prerendered), and when examining objects they light up, which points out objects much easier than Trace Memory did.
There is a lot of backstory to Kyle (including a traitor in the force who Kyle dispatched three years ago), and the characters that I've met so far in the game are very detailed and complex, and considering that there are multiple endings with this game, I can surmise that I may even get an ending where I don't solve all the loose ends. Maybe there isn't an ending where everything finishes up. We'll have to see.
Something I've noticed in both games is that if you see something, like, say, a paper clip, you won't pick it up immediately until you've gone and realized that you need it - so the paper clip sits there until you find a need to use it, then you can go pick up the clip. It's a bit annoying, but more realistic. Who's going to go around and pick up everything that they can in a real-life situation?
Plus, as Kinnon noticed, there's no text-speed option in either game. Unless you've read the text already, there's no fast-forward option and it does make draw the games out longer than necessary. I mean, I've played Hotel Dusk for probably an hour so far, and I've progressed only 20 minutes in-game. I mean yes, it's the start of the game and there's a lot of explanations necessary, but it seems to be moving quite slowly... hopefully things will progress faster soon enough. I think it took me 6 hours to get through Trace Memory.
Nontheless, I'm enjoying Hotel Dusk. I like the line-art style and watercolour look. It definitely adds to the film-noir/1970s style. Maybe once I dedicate some more time to it, I'll give a better impression of the game. But Cing has created a pair of interesting mysteries and I'm eager to find out more behind both games.
Heck, I thought that Trace Memory and Hotel Dusk would have had some relation to each other, due to the fact that some characters in the games look quite similar. But I doubt that... (but wouldn't that be bizarre?)
Yeah, my ramble-style reviews really are just rambles, aren't they? :P
About a month ago, I got Trace Memory (eBay is so much cheaper than EBGames for used games, if you're willing to wait) and gave it a run. The story behind Trace Memory is that Ashley is turning 14, and has recived a package with a strange "DTS" unit (it's a DS with photo abilities) and a letter telling her that her father is still alive. After arriving and accidentally knocking over a gravestone, you wake up "D", a young spirit who cannot remember his past, and you wander the mansion on Blood Edward Island trying to find your father, as well as find out D's past.
The game was one of the first games to come out on the DS and was very inventive in using the DS's unique abilities (the touchscreen, microphone, and even the folding design comes into play), similar to Lost in Blue (another game I'm currently seeking out). The top screen of the DS shows a pre-rendered scene (Myst-ish) of approximately what you were looking at, and the bottom screen is a top-down 3D area in which you maneuver about in the mansion and its surroundings.
While playing Trace Memory, there are many places to go and many items to look at, and some of them trigger D's memories. What I realized, after getting to the end of the game, was that I managed to solve Ashley's puzzles, but left D's memory unresolved, ending in a "meh" ending. I haven't been inclined to return to the game for a second playthrough, but I've read online that playing through a second time gives different information on the "DTS Cards" and gives you a better insight into the characters that used to live in the mansion.
I think one of the things that has not made me return yet was due to the slow pace of the game - if I want to play through this game again, I'm going to have to run around through the mansion again, take pictures with the DTS again, and wander back-and-forth. I'm not really that interested in doing that, but with the different DTS cards and the thought of uncovering D's past (which is very complex when you're trying to sort out two families with no visual reference) I may re-approach it eventually.
I picked up Hotel Dusk on its release date, as while I found Trace Memory a bit strange, I like the quirky. Plus, it's a detective story, how could I pass that up? The concept behind Hotel Dusk is that your character, Kyle Hyde, is an ex-cop who has become a pseudo-bounty hunter masquerading as a door-to-door salesman. You've been called out to Hotel Dusk, where you are to await your "package" (orders). You're staying in a room labelled "Wish", and appropriately enough, stories have been told that everyone who stays in that room gets their wish granted.
The DS is held "book-style" (like Brain Age is held, with the touch screen on the right, or left if you're left-handed), and you walk around the Hotel using a top-down map on the right-hand screen (which you maneuver about in) while the left-hand screen displays a 3D viewpoint of what Kyle sees - unlike Trace Memory, the environments are polygonal (not prerendered), and when examining objects they light up, which points out objects much easier than Trace Memory did.
There is a lot of backstory to Kyle (including a traitor in the force who Kyle dispatched three years ago), and the characters that I've met so far in the game are very detailed and complex, and considering that there are multiple endings with this game, I can surmise that I may even get an ending where I don't solve all the loose ends. Maybe there isn't an ending where everything finishes up. We'll have to see.
Something I've noticed in both games is that if you see something, like, say, a paper clip, you won't pick it up immediately until you've gone and realized that you need it - so the paper clip sits there until you find a need to use it, then you can go pick up the clip. It's a bit annoying, but more realistic. Who's going to go around and pick up everything that they can in a real-life situation?
Plus, as Kinnon noticed, there's no text-speed option in either game. Unless you've read the text already, there's no fast-forward option and it does make draw the games out longer than necessary. I mean, I've played Hotel Dusk for probably an hour so far, and I've progressed only 20 minutes in-game. I mean yes, it's the start of the game and there's a lot of explanations necessary, but it seems to be moving quite slowly... hopefully things will progress faster soon enough. I think it took me 6 hours to get through Trace Memory.
Nontheless, I'm enjoying Hotel Dusk. I like the line-art style and watercolour look. It definitely adds to the film-noir/1970s style. Maybe once I dedicate some more time to it, I'll give a better impression of the game. But Cing has created a pair of interesting mysteries and I'm eager to find out more behind both games.
Heck, I thought that Trace Memory and Hotel Dusk would have had some relation to each other, due to the fact that some characters in the games look quite similar. But I doubt that... (but wouldn't that be bizarre?)
Yeah, my ramble-style reviews really are just rambles, aren't they? :P
no subject
I'm kinda with you, but I guess... If you compare to Gyakuten Saiban, it's kinda the same thing. But I dunno. Maybe it's just slower.
Overall, seems to be progressing well. I'm at 6:40 now.
no subject
Yeah, it kinda is a text-based adventure, like Phoenix Wright. Never thought of it that way. :)