Quick Look: Rain

The Demons! I love the style of this game, but it does seem a little stale gameplay wise.

Do the demons have souls?

Surprise QL!

Sweet! I like the Fatality when all the water goes in through their head and he pops them from the inside.

Oh... wait a sec...

G-G-G-GHOSTS!

I think GB is well on its way to being the eminent destination for "Only Happy When It Rains" references. I feel like this is the third in a month. (not complaining, mind)

I just started watching this, but I will not be satisfied until there is a Kevin Bacon's Invisible Man joke.

Edit: There were no Kevin Bacon jokes, but the rain giraffes made up for the lack of one.

This game seems interesting, but it is not Brad's Annual Hearfelt, Touching, Slightly Emo Indie Darling with Fantastic Artwork for 2013!

I just finished this game. The mechanics stay relatively simple, but change enough to stay engaging. But the real draw here is the atmosphere and minimalist story telling/design, which if you are into that sort of thing can really grab you.

edit: Also the reason @brad was getting mud all over his body is because as he was jumping off the platforms in the chase he was falling into the mud puddles on all 4s causing the mud to get everywhere.

Quick quick look! Kind of tolerable.

Stellar song.

So this isn't a game about the Kpop artist Rain?

Oh god, the first 4 minutes of this crack me up!

How heavy is the rain?

Maaan this game is pretentious as fuck. Not as much as that other French game they quick looked a while back.

And gamers' misunderstanding of the concept of pretense continues.

leaves falling and key tapping

fin.

Man, this is just another emo indie gimmick platformer. Nothing about this looks interesting at all.

the current trend of indie games all being hyper emotional is getting kinda tiresome. All these "indie darlings" are just gimmick based platformers with an emotional story and good art design.

I watched the entire quicklook and it just looks boring, tedious and pretentious as fuck.

Cool.

@bbk: I fear for many people they will never understand the proper use of the term.

Some of the things Brad complains seem arbitrary don't seem terribly arbitrary to me. That said, I didn't see much in here that sold me on the game enough to want to buy it immediately.

@crazybagman: thanks, i thought so.

Wow...Brad really had nothing for this one huh?

@kid_gloves@bbk Pretentious: Attempting to impress by affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed.

I'm often a fan of the "artsy" games, but this one does look a little obnoxious in its pretentiousness. Things like the "fin" etc are a bit too much, considering the quality of the writing. It can be just as misguided to assume someone doesn't know what they're talking about because they think the game is being too pretentious for its own good. Just because a game goes after an idea that seems artful doesn't mean that they execute on it. Gamers are often too quick to dismiss because something is trying to bring more maturity to the form, but sometimes (as with books, movies etc) being abstract or arty doesn't provide thematic or narrative depth.

You guys forgot Purple Rain, probably THE rain song

Late night QL's? Awesome

@brol4w said:

There's also CCR's "Have you ever seen the rain".

This game doesn't feel pretentious at all. Some games, yeah I totally see it. This one, I can't agree. Maybe your pretentious meter is set to high?

@xavtron: Fair enough. But I've beaten this game, it does not affect any great importance or pretend to be deep or greater than what it is. Fin while often used in pretentious things is after all just a word and the setting is france. People ARE working off an assumption of it pretending to be deep shit, they haven't played it are just assuming that is what it goes for. I have played it, it does not do these things.

The game is just a simple minimal story about kids lost in a scary world, no real deeper message or illusion of deep message here. It just tries to evoke a melancholy mood around a simple yet heartfelt story.

Thinking about it, I think "pretentious" is often just a dismissal of intent but this game makes a compelling case for considering accusations of pretentiousness also reflecting a differential in execution vs. intent at least to some degree. Certainly almost all pretentiousness accusations are in anticipation of self-importance and/or perceived "artiness" incidentally defined but introducing execution into the mix might account for negative reactions to this specific combination of theme and execution regardless of whether people consider it pretentious.

That really was quite plain.

I have a strong distaste for people who throw around words like "arty" or "pretentious" in a snooty tone as a way of dismissing something without making any valid critiques about the thing in question. Don't just go "oh this pretentious piece of shit" just say "it would've been nice if they would've made something more than a stale platformer". When you say something is 'too arty' you aren't really making a good criticism.

Also:

Even cooler comment dood.

YOU DONT CRY WHEN IT RAINS IT RAINS WHEN YOU CRY

I've... seen things you people wouldn't believe... Shimmering hounds that strike at you in your beds. I watched Giraffes glitter in the dark near the Arc de Triomphe. All those... moments... will be lost in time, like tears... in... rain.

Jeff made it pretty clear that he does not give a fuck about this game.

Pour Brad and Jeff, water they thinking? A couple puns is ok, but knowing when to reign it in is better.

Don't know what Adam Boyes would have done for them when faced with such a deluge. Clearly they need to call Justin Culvert instead,

And The Eurythmics "Here comes the rain again" which is the song that I immediately thought of.

Brad, you jumped from a bigger height twice in a row into muddy puddles which caused bigger splashes. This could be an explanation for why your upper half got dirty.

Tja, seems a bit lacking in some aspects. Looks like it can be more frustrating gameplay wise.

@bacongames: I totally get what you mean, but unfortunately for this game or for its creators... those things are very surface level. They probably should have done better to curb those elements which end up being by far the most superficial aspects and very cursory to the game itself. I wonder how much of that is translation.

It is a weird one because the pretentious seeming aspects are very surface layer, while the core of the game is anything but.

Looks nice.

I hate you so much...

I might not always want to play these kind of games, but i'm really glad they are made.

Not every game needs to be about headshots or sick cars.

except it was made in Japan, and is supposed to be an homage to french music, art, etc

yea, indie....except its made by Sony internally...nice troll

Brads feelings about this game are weird considering how much he loved Brothers. Thats not a particularly long game either and did have some terrible bugs (i had to restart a chapter right at the end because scripting wouldnt trigger and that was the only way to fix it.)

I kept thinking you were refferencing this song when you said "only happy when it rains."

@kid_gloves Thanks, I very much appreciate your perspective, especially as you have played the game through.

I tend not to use pretentious as an automatically negative term. I'm a big movie fan, many people consider Terence Malick films to be pretentious, they are not incorrect but I feel he lives up to and delivers on all of his pretensions with as much depth. Games like the Swapper and Kentucky Route Zero have artistic aspirations that they succeed in achieving. Granted I have not played this, but, I do not think this will for me (note: I was excited on the first trailer), I found all of the text to detract from the game and all I have to go from is the quick look (which is what a quick look is for), which left me wanting more from both gameplay and narrative. Kentucky route zero immediately made me want to buy it, this didn't. I found this pretentious in the negative sense.

Looks like the kind of game you'd play if you have trouble falling asleep.

I feel you.