To the Moon - Total Recall-meets-Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Pages

Saw this on Ars today:

article wrote:

When Kan Gao's grandfather was hospitalized with a heart condition and Gao began to think about the inevitability of death, he took those themes and translated them into a game: To The Moon, a PC adventure masquerading as a 16-bit RPG.

"I wondered that when my time came, whether I'd regret what came to be and wish to be able to get a second chance to fulfill what I wanted," Gao told Ars about his reaction to his grandfather's medical condition. "And hey, I probably will, if not just for the reason that the grass is greener on the other side."

That desire for a second chance is what spawned the Total Recall-meets-Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind story of To The Moon. In the game world, doctors can implant artificial memories into the brains of patients, but the results are so devastating that the patient can no longer function properly once the procedure is completed. This procedure is reserved for the terminally ill, serving as a sort of last wish.

It's not all deadly serious, though.

"Despite the melodramatic nature of the theme, To the Moon is actually a tragicomedy," explained Gao. "While it certainly is a serious story in the core, the journey doesn’t always take itself too seriously, as it is seen through the perspectives of the doctors who aren’t always particularly sensitive. To put it pretentiously, it’s a bit of a play-in-a-play, and the difficulty comes from balancing the two sides."

Looks very interesting. I like the theme, and I'm always a sucker for tragicomedy's if done well.

Game's website

Trailer

Release: this fall.

Anyone else following this?

We're tracking it for Fringe Busters.

wordsmythe wrote:

We're tracking it for Fringe Busters.

Thanks, looking forward to reading your take on it.

This is getting more press than I would've expected. Laura Shigihara turned me onto the game as she's doing some of the music. Then RPS talked about it. Now Ars. Wow.

Hurray! Somebody started a thread back in the day, and I was pointed to it. Finished the game late last night. I'll post thoughts later.

They put up a launch trailer today. I like it. It shows a bit more of the game's funnier side.

I am going to put all of my thoughts together on the game eventually. I just need some more time. I posted some in the "Finished any games lately?" thread.

This is out finally? Where's my wallet?

Also, I'd be surprised if RPS doesn't toss a review on the pile as well.

I had a look at all those reviews, and they are pretty thorough. I don't think I'll go into detail on my experiences as they are similar to what the reviews posted earlier express. So, read those damn reviews, and buy the damn game. As I mentioned in the "Finished any games lately" thread, this game just went to my GOTY #1 spot above Portal 2 and The Witcher 2 (games I was previously thinking might be my personal GOTY). I bought the soundtrack and will be finishing the game for a second time asap.

As a reminder, you can play the game for 1 hour for free. After that, you need to buy a license for $12 bucks. The game is 4-5 hours, so you can basically play 25% of the game for free.

Where is the money hole where I put my money to get this ga... oh! Oh, there it is.

The Rock Paper Shotgun review went up. I agree with everything except at the end he makes it sounds like Laura Shigihara made it all when it was actually Kan Gao (main game creator) who did the music. I don't know how much she was involved other than singing on a song or two.

Edit: Looking at the OST (which I bought of course) she created one song and did vocals on another.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

The Rock Paper Shotgun review went up. I agree with everything except at the end he makes it sounds like Laura Shigihara made it all when it was actually Kan Gao (main game creator) who did the music. I don't know how much she was involved other than singing on a song or two.

Edit: Looking at the OST (which I bought of course) she created one song and did vocals on another.

What it does have, however, is incredible music by creator Gao, including a perfectly used piano refrain that so brilliantly scores much of the game. When there’s so much meaning to be found just in the choice of notes used in the music, you know you’re onto something special. And at the end there’s a song by Laura Shigihara.

I don't get that at all, but then again I already knew who was doing what and how much. C'est la vie.

garion333 wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:

The Rock Paper Shotgun review went up. I agree with everything except at the end he makes it sounds like Laura Shigihara made it all when it was actually Kan Gao (main game creator) who did the music. I don't know how much she was involved other than singing on a song or two.

Edit: Looking at the OST (which I bought of course) she created one song and did vocals on another.

What it does have, however, is incredible music by creator Gao, including a perfectly used piano refrain that so brilliantly scores much of the game. When there’s so much meaning to be found just in the choice of notes used in the music, you know you’re onto something special. And at the end there’s a song by Laura Shigihara.

I don't get that at all, but then again I already knew who was doing what and how much. C'est la vie.

If you look at page 2 of the comments, some people mentioned it and John Walker corrected the article. It's funny because I looked at what you said and said to myself "I could have sworn" but thought that maybe I skimmed too fast this morning.

Ah, not surprised that's what happened.

I ordered this finally as I kept getting an error from their store page. Will (hopefully) play through it this weekend.

garion333 wrote:

Ah, not surprised that's what happened.

I ordered this finally as I kept getting an error from their store page. Will (hopefully) play through it this weekend.

Hurray! As far as I can tell, I'm the only one who's played it on here so far. Seeing as it's my game of the year at the moment, I would like to know what other people on here think of it.

Christ, that RPS review had me near tears. This game is going to wreck me. Bought.

I just played it, and damn. I'll admit it. A few tears worth of water came out of my eyes throughout the playthrough.

Quick review: This game is basically ALL story. It is NOT an RPG. It's like a very light and easy adventure puzzle game - VERY. You will not get stuck in this game. But hey - the story is good, the dialogue is well-written, and the story is extremely personal. I enjoyed it thoroughly and finished it in one setting (about 3 hours).

stevesan wrote:

I just played it, and damn. I'll admit it. A few tears worth of water came out of my eyes throughout the playthrough.

Quick review: This game is basically ALL story. It is NOT an RPG. It's like a very light and easy adventure puzzle game - VERY. You will not get stuck in this game. But hey - the story is good, the dialogue is well-written, and the story is extremely personal. I enjoyed it thoroughly and finished it in one setting (about 3 hours).

Welcome to the teary eyed club!

How many folks would like us to do this for a Fringe Busters screening?

wordsmythe wrote:

How many folks would like us to do this for a Fringe Busters screening?

Aye.

shoptroll wrote:
wordsmythe wrote:

How many folks would like us to do this for a Fringe Busters screening?

Aye.

Aye 2.

Just bought it. My new laptop will arrive Monday or Tuesday next week, this seems like the perfect first game to play on it.

I think we all know where I stand on the Fringe Busters questions.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

I think we all know where I stand on the Fringe Busters questions. ;)

Does it have anything to do with your tag?

wordsmythe wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:

I think we all know where I stand on the Fringe Busters questions. ;)

Does it have anything to do with your tag?

I just finished it. I'm *slightly* emotionally spent, and I think my sentiments would be a complete replication of other opinions in this thread, so I won't waste anyone's time.

Thanks, tuffalo.

Damnit, just made a post on this game in another thread while completely overlooking that there was actually a whole thread dedicated to it already.

I'm about halfway in this game and man has it been an experience. While I'm totally not a "guy who never cries about anything", games never did manage to have an emotional effect on me except Shadow of the Colossus. But this game made me pretty moist eyed so far.

Anyways, time to finish the rest.

Did anyone else buy this through PayPal? I was redirected via Plimus and got a PayPal mail in the end with this info:

PayPal wrote:

Your funds will be transferred when the merchant processes your payment. Any money in your PayPal account at that time will be used before any other payment source.

Does this mean that someone first has to manually approve of my payment before I get a mail with the license key and download info?

EDIT: nevermind, it was in my spam folder :-O

Just finished it and, well sh*t. This might be the best story I've experienced in a game so far, and I don't easily make statements like that. In my previous post I stated that I thought I was half way and it made me pretty moist eyed, but turned out I was only at about a third and it turned me into a bawling little girl for the last part.

I cannot recommend this enough, unless you only want a game for the gameplay and hate good stories.

Want to try this, but I keep getting a problem with the RGSS player. Looks like there's quite a bit of stuff I'll need to try tinkering around with.

stevesan wrote:

Quick review: This game is basically ALL story. It is NOT an RPG. It's like a very light and easy adventure puzzle game - VERY. You will not get stuck in this game. But hey - the story is good, the dialogue is well-written, and the story is extremely personal. I enjoyed it thoroughly and finished it in one setting (about 3 hours).

/dummy-Jeff

I'm stuck. I'm playing the free hour trial, and just after the opening car accident, you get out and walk around -- well there's no apparent place to go. Two arrows pointing up (NW, and NE). If I take the NE arrow/exit, i go to a forest area, with nothing to do and no exits except the way I came in. If I take the NW arrow/exit, one of the characters says "the sign says the house is the other way" or some such, and I can't exit that way.

I examined the squirrel, the sign, the car, got the equipment from the car, and walked down the paved road.

What am I missing

/dummy

Pages