Can't help but feel they were a couple years too early for their ambitions. TES3:Tribunal was going to be much smaller but more detailed and double-down on emergent gameplay and I've always wondered how that would've turned out if they released in the late 90s or early 2000s. Perhaps it was too big for its own good but as Daggerfall Unity has demonstrated, there's a hell of a game underneath all the game breaking bugs and some half-implemented features, I feel they were on track to solve those problems in the sequel that never came. Daggerfall was released in 1996 with 100% proprietary technology on a 25-man team and a 15 month all-hands-on-deck production schedule. For those looking for fast action, this is definitely not the game for you as it’s as slow as a slug trudging through peanut butter, but if you would like gaming pallet cleanser to refresh your mind and warm your soul then take the wayward path to find Wayward Strand.Say what you will about Daggerfall but revisiting the procgen systemic sandbox approach to RPGs is long overdue. The mix of 2D roaming and a plethora of dialogue options had me feeling like Nancy Drew discovering clues and pieces together the disparate lives of 10 very unique characters. Taking time to talk to the old and infirm has never been so much fun. Overall, Wayward Strand is a beautiful heart-warming story and a welcome break from the madness of the world and its current crop of the hack, slash, shoot and destroy games. The music is generally serene and unobtrusive and fits the late seventies time period. The story is well written and flows very well considering the number of dialogue options and routes the stories can take. Pruess sounded more Asian, than European. Avery, and Esther are different enough and the characters they portray. The voice acting, on the whole, is fantastic, all the Australian parts such as Casey, Mr. The general story is the same but the way you reach the conclusion was different. The first time I sat with a staff member at lunch to unlock the abandoned section of the airship, whereas, on the second play through I missed lunch and listened to music with the aging Mr Pruess. Now in my second playthrough I was really happy (and surprised) to see it go in a different direction to the first. If one person mentions a missing nurse, you can now ask about it to everyone, miss that prompt and you may find yourself going down a different path. Each person holds the conversational keys to unlock new dialogue options. On the whole, it’s the dialogue that really drives this game as you will need to talk to a lot of people about a lot of things. The graphics of the rooms are detailed enough but anything outside of the airship is vague and blurry so don’t expect to see any grand vistas from the airship’s balcony. The wipe effect used when entering the rooms of the patients gives the player the feeling of uncovering a hidden truth which in some cases is true, as Casey can listen in at doors to achieve the same wipe effect. Sadly, some clipping and alignment issues mean holding or moving items looks a little weird but it’s not too destructing. The characters are beautifully designed and all convey their individual personalities and characteristics. The visual style is akin to 13, telltale games or the recently released Forgive Me Father, however, Wayward Strand is much more cheerful. The boxed frame and hand-drawn speech bubbles further enhance this comic book style. Bold black lines and a cartoon colour palette give this game a vibrancy not seen in many new games. Wayward Strand looks like it has leaped from the comic book pages of Tin Tin. As a budding journalist, you ask questions and piece together a fractured story that the many residents hold the parts. You play Casey, a young and curious girl tasked with visiting the sick and elderly that fill the ship. Set aboard a converted pre-war luxury airship, the now floating hospital is the setting for a mystery like no other. Every so often a game comes out that is so different, that you can’t help but take notice.
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