Game Thoughts: Virtue's Last Reward
After struggling to find something to catch my attention for some time, I got a copy of Virtue's Last Reward for the 3DS. I vaguely remembered the wild storyline from its predecessor, and this title pulled me in almost immediately.
I am admittedly embarrassed and slightly ashamed. Of late I have been so keen to find ways to expand my mind and looking for classic literature that suits my taste to almost no avail -- yet here is a borderline nonsensical, anime-trope-laden game consisting almost entirely of watching avatars talk for hours and I lose myself. I am very certainly not more well-read for having completed this title, but I did have a great time.
The dialogue is interspersed with generally well-made escape rooms filled with puzzles and character banter, and the branching storyline and multi-world theory tie-in that was present in the first game remain compelling and fresh. Knowing how wildly twisty the first game's story was, I attempted to stay ahead of the big reveals with outlandish guesses that were consistently proven not-outlandish enough.
The story did drag at times, and around the 20-hours-committed point I really wanted to be done, but felt I was too deep to give up. In an infuriating blessing in disguise, my game had a bug in a later puzzle causing me to quit and lose several hours of progress, freeing me to go watch the remainder of the story on youtube and discovering there were still many hours to go. I was thankfully done with the choose-your-own-adventure aspects of the game, so it was easy to watch the remaining story threads be tied up at 2-3 times speed.
As an aside, watching this particular game at a speed multiplier is wonderfully ironic.
While the finale was nearly impossible to follow, I'd not lie and claim I didn't have a great time experiencing the story -- there aren't many stories I can think of that manage to be quite so absurd while remaining (mostly) coherent. I need a break from this style of gameplay now, but I'll most definitely consider the third and final title in the series.