Somehow, I knew this would happen. I took me so long to figure out OTB's
many systems and find my stride that there was indeed a high probability that I
would find myself sated before reaching the final boss; and that high
probability has now become reality. I still love that game with a passion, but
I also have my fill of it for the time being.
Mind you, I did everything I mentioned in my last
post. I roamed
dungeons, racked up skills, had fun with breeding, acquired Heirlooms and, last
but certainly not least, I cleared my fourth Feast of All Demons; and I had
tons of fun doing all that. It was so utterly fulfilling, in fact, that I feel
like the game should end right here and now. On top of that, my inner clock
tells me that I've been playing for 60 hours at the very least, and that's more
than enough for an RPG playthrough. So I'm gonna call it quits for now, and bid
adieu to my clan while I'm at it: because let's be honest, when I feel the itch
to play OTB again, I'll certainly start anew and roll with a fresh new
family. Sayonara, Ebisu Clan: we had great times together, and I regret
nothing.
Since I'm done for now, I might as well deliver some final thoughts on OTB.
That game's official subtitle might as well have been 'Player vs. Randomness',
because that's exactly what the whole thing is about. That game is nothing but
a giant random fest: from dungeon layouts to boss hideouts, from stats gains to
monster drops, from units' looks to their gene pools, everything is subject to
variations — some minute, some wild. Will you, the player, take up the gauntlet
and make the most of what you're allotted in any given run? Will you get lucky,
or will you have a hard ride? This randomness is actually one of my favourite
features in OTB: although it can be taxing to wrap one's head around it
at first, it also guarantees that no two runs of the game will ever be the
same, which makes for great replay value.
I guess I should also comment on the Nueko situation, i.e. OTB's most
controversial feature. Nueko's forced inclusion in my party was nowhere near as
vexatious as I had feared from reading online comments on the matter; however,
I also sincerely feel that said inclusion adds absolutely nothing to the game.
In fact, Nueko as a whole adds absolutely nothing to the game. It was nearly
laughable to hear the gods describe her as that irresistible femme fatale who
wrapped everybody around her finger, when she was actually behaving like a
sullen, boring teenager everytime I got to interact with her. Why was she even
there at all, may I ask? Was she supposed to be OTB's official waifu,
dragging in the otaku crew in her wake? Or was she supposed to act as a story
beacon, reminding the player of the narrative issues at stake? I don't know,
and I honestly don't care. All I saw in Nueko was an free extra party member
for boss fights; and while I certainly didn't need her to do the deed, I still
made the most of her occasional presence. Still, I would have preferred OTB's
story to be solely about my clan; because as it was, I couldn't bring
myself to follow it, let alone care about it. Why should I give a crap about
the family matters of complete strangers, when I have my own family to tend to?
What do I care about a god's mommy complex, when my own clan's fast-dying
members fight an uphill battle against fate itself? Letting the player be privy
to that little family drama between immortals was tacky and tactless at best,
and a big fat instance of trolling at worst.
What else? I was planning to write a list of the game's good and bad points,
but I'll shelve it until my next run — and until I clear the game for good. Not
only do I feel too sated to write another full post about OTB right now,
but I've fought enough cheated final bosses and witnessed enough lame story
resolutions to know that endgames can indeed provide plenty of material for
such lists. And so, dear fellow gamers, I'll take my leave of OTB for
the time being. It's an fantastic game, and I love it to pieces; you can bet I'll replay it someday, be it in japanese or in english. Thanks for
reading, and drop by anytime!
Tehvidya26 March 2019 at 20:50
60 whole hours. You lasted a lot longer than I'd expected, given how frustrating this game can be. You summed up the problem with Nueko very accurately as well. She adds nothing to the experience and subtracts plenty, plus her whole family drama has nothing to do with you. I hope you'll get the chance to experience the original Ore no Shikabane wo Koete yuke game sometime.
I'm honestly
quite surprised myself by my own patience towards that game, especially given
the number of setbacks I had to endure in the early stages. I guess my
masochistic streak was at its peak during that playthrough. :P
I do own the original game on the PSP, so it's pretty safe to assume that I'll
indeed play it at some point. From what I've seen, the gameplay mechanics are
awfully similar to the ones in Oreshika 2; that makes me think that I could
probably play the original right now and navigate my way through it quite
decently, despite my lacklustre japanese.
Tehvidya28 March 2019 at 22:09
I want to say "Nooo! Wait for a localization!" but who am I kidding. It's not gonna happen :(
Indeed. What a pity, I'm sure that game would have garnered decent success. The general consensus seems to be that it's actually better than Oreshika 2 — not to mention that the PSP was the portable RPG machine par excellence, with a much larger install base than the Vita. Aaah, such a missed opportunity. :(
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