i rolled credits on the game last night and finished collecting the last of the cards this morning, so attack of the friday monsters is done and dusted.
i would call this a special game. i think @phylaxis said it best that it makes proper use of perspective in that the monsters are both real and not real. there are plenty of winks and instances of narrative irony that clue you into what’s really going on, but at the same time these things are belied by contradictions that make you think “well, maybe i don’t know.” i think this gets pretty close to the experience of being a kid, or at least gets close to capturing that mystique.
this was my first millennium kitchen game, so while i was expecting “something” from the writing, i wasn’t sure what. i found it pretty charming. there were silly or saccharine moments that weren’t quite my tempo, but there were also moments of honesty and ambivalence that were memorable on their own, which is to say nothing of their place in a video game.
overall, the strongest component here was the vibes. the painterly backgrounds, the cinematic camera angles, the soundtrack and audio ambiance, the delicate method of storytelling, the slow and patient gameplay. it was great! perfect runtime, too, imo. as much as it whetted my appetite for more millennium kitchen games, i kinda wish they were all 2-3 hours.
I also finished the game last night. I really enjoyed it. I also really enjoyed the sort of child like “mystery” over what is or isn’t real when it comes to the monsters. The character of Frank in particular added to this feeling, partially b/c I was reminded of one neighbor in my neighborhood growing up who was a little weird, and different than the other adults. What was their deal? There was something… otherworldly about them.
The writing was cute, the art delightful, and I found the use of 3D simple but effective. I think it was just the right length for what it was - it’s simpler than say a Boku no Natsuyasumi, Natsumon, or the recent Shin Chan games, but it gave me that same sense of nostalgia for childhood that those do as well.
Played through this one today (right before playing my daily Boku 2) and liked this particular Ayabe outing quite a bit. I liked how, at some point, it felt like the entire town was in on something together–whether or not the monsters are real, the entire town knows, and they celebrate it. It was quite the fun little world to drop into.
From a gameplay structure point I felt it was a bit thin and under-explained, but that didn’t really matter while playing; it has impeccable vibes and makes for an interesting contrast to the slower pace of Boku 1 and 2.
This is a cool little short story / novella of a game. I liked that it tells a tight, contained story that also lets you take your time and enjoy the vibes and sense of place. I was perhaps most impressed with the game’s ability to keep me on the hook with its central mystery; I really didn’t know whether the kaiju were going to be real or just part of the TV show until pretty much the very end.
Everything else was enjoyable, too. I liked the card game even though it often felt like it had more to do with luck than skill. The quest updates and collectible card glims were interesting…on the one hand, they gave a constant tangible sense of activity and progress. On the other, they felt extremely video gamey and maybe unnecessary. I’ve never really played the Boku games, but my sense is they flow much more naturalistically and trust you to decide if something important happened or not, which probably ultimately shows more confidence. I get that this is its own thing, though, so I’m not going to hold that against it. Plus, this game was so darn charming that I can’t help but like it. From the moment he said “my dad is a dry cleaner” in the opening theme song, I knew I was in for some good stuff.
Hey all. I really like this game. I’ve played it a couple of times and always dug its chilled out vibes and sense of place. It makes me wonder if I’d like other Millenium Kitchen games too.
I forget how I came across your blog, but I’ve been a regular reader for a few years. I love your posts! I read them whenever I can. So cool to find you on these forums.
I did finish this earlier in the month. I haven’t played any other Millennium Kitchen games, but I really enjoyed the setting of this. I spent a lot of my teenage formative years watching various anime, so media set in rural Japan has a real nostalgic charm for me. The sound of cicadas for example is super evocative.
I have a bit of a hangup where if there is a gameplay system going on in a game I kind of have to engage with it, so I spent too long on the card game stuff honestly and didn’t have the best time. It got me to thinking that if a game is just about narrative or vibes or hanging out or whatever, I’d prefer if it didn’t even try adding token videogame mechanics. I’ve had similar experiences in lots of games where I’m like “I love this, except the gamey part”.