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Papo & Yo |OT| Like Father, Unlike Son.

boiled goose

good with gravy
interesting, but is it just me or does this look pretty bad graphically???
not just technically, but the overall look is just terrible.
 

benny_a

extra source of jiggaflops
Can anyone who has played this tell me what, if anything, the dolls are about? Use spoilers if you have to.
Very late game spoiler:
It's for the second playthrough. After the first playthrough the dolls get hats that you can collect for a trophy.
 
Thanks, if it's late in the game I'll avoid the spoiler. I saw one which seemed inaccessible and another that was down a ladder. Went down to it but nothing happened, no button prompt or anything so figured it was for something that was never completed before release.
 

Ridley327

Member
Completed this in mostly one sitting. This is one of those games where you kinda feel bad about harping on it due to the personal nature of it, but you can't deny yourself the feeling that it's almost entirely amateur hour over at the studio that made it. There's just so many laughably bad aspects about the game, and yet those small moments that do make it occasionally worthwhile (particularly a late game homage to Inception) that almost redeem the entire thing. I think I'm tempted to say that I fully recommend playing this terrible game.
 

Koroviev

Member
Completed this in mostly one sitting. This is one of those games where you kinda feel bad about harping on it due to the personal nature of it, but you can't deny yourself the feeling that it's almost entirely amateur hour over at the studio that made it. There's just so many laughably bad aspects about the game, and yet those small moments that do make it occasionally worthwhile (particularly a late game homage to Inception) that almost redeem the entire thing. I think I'm tempted to say that I fully recommend playing this terrible game.

The cornucopia of technical issues notwithstanding, how well does the game deliver on its premise? I might bite if there's some big payoff that justifies the time, but I'm not interested in something that feels derivative or manipulative (see: most American animated films).
 
Could definitely be better. But I enjoyed it. I would certainly have loved a better engine the game. A lot more work into hit detection and animation as well. Something with lots of blending like Uncharted, of course they don't have the same budget.. but there are only a couple characters. Anyway, I'd suggest people play it after a price drop.
 
Completed this in mostly one sitting. This is one of those games where you kinda feel bad about harping on it due to the personal nature of it, but you can't deny yourself the feeling that it's almost entirely amateur hour over at the studio that made it. There's just so many laughably bad aspects about the game, and yet those small moments that do make it occasionally worthwhile (particularly a late game homage to Inception) that almost redeem the entire thing. I think I'm tempted to say that I fully recommend playing this terrible game.

Terrible? I think that's being pretty harsh. It's a little janky at times but I still think it's a good game. The mechanics are solid, the story is interesting and the puzzles are well designed. The biggest problem with it is the lack of polish, which makes me think that they just got too ambitious for their first project.
 

Ridley327

Member
The cornucopia of technical issues notwithstanding, how well does the game deliver on its premise? I might bite if there's some big payoff that justifies the time, but I'm not interested in something that feels derivative or manipulative (see: most American animated films).

I would like to say that the game approaches its subject matter with a great deal of subtlety, but that would be lying because there is absolutely no subtlety at all. The last area of the game is dedicated to beating you over the head with the parallels of the symbolism, making sure you're conscious enough to continue, and then proceeds to beat you over the head even more with an even larger "DID YOU GET IT?!?" stick.

That's why the game leaves people conflicted; it's obviously comes from a very raw and honest place from inside the creators, but how it's executed is borderline comical, and I don't think that was the intent.

Huge spoilers:
One of the earlier posters mentioned just how insane it was that they would go so out of their way to point out the alcohol parallels with the frogs by actually giving you a machine that converts bottles of alcohol into frogs, but I could only stare at my screen in amazement in the next section, which has has a machine dumping out a dozen mannequins of the little girl that's been acting as the battered wife/mother stand-in the whole time, for you to drop on top of monster so he can beat the hell out of them to build a bridge.
 

Roto13

Member
I don't know about the puzzles being "well-designed." They're fun to solve just for the crazy stuff that happens when you flip switches, but they're every bit as obvious as the metaphors in the story. Look around for things you can interact with, interact with them all, and bam, puzzle solved.
 
Just finished it. Was pretty rough around the edges but for the most part really enjoyed it. Really liked the setting and design of the world, the Ghibliesque mechanics and thought it told an interesting story. Ending was pretty powerful.

I can see why it got very mixed reviews. It's pretty janky, sometimes it became frustrating trying to jump or pick up stuff because the controls didn't seem precise, other times the platforming was easy and fluid. The puzzles were pretty straight forward and could have been better refined and made more challenging. Some other stuff bugged me like the lack of mouth movement and the kid calling out Luuula all the time.

Would still recommend it. I think based on the premise and design if this game had a bigger team/budget and better QA it could have been a classic. Look forward to see what they do in their next game.
 

Koroviev

Member
I would like to say that the game approaches its subject matter with a great deal of subtlety, but that would be lying because there is absolutely no subtlety at all. The last area of the game is dedicated to beating you over the head with the parallels of the symbolism, making sure you're conscious enough to continue, and then proceeds to beat you over the head even more with an even larger "DID YOU GET IT?!?" stick.

That's why the game leaves people conflicted; it's obviously comes from a very raw and honest place from inside the creators, but how it's executed is borderline comical, and I don't think that was the intent.

Huge spoilers:
One of the earlier posters mentioned just how insane it was that they would go so out of their way to point out the alcohol parallels with the frogs by actually giving you a machine that converts bottles of alcohol into frogs, but I could only stare at my screen in amazement in the next section, which has has a machine dumping out a dozen mannequins of the little girl that's been acting as the battered wife/mother stand-in the whole time, for you to drop on top of monster so he can beat the hell out of them to build a bridge.

Wow, that is really over-the-top. Maybe I'll just stick to playing Ico for right now.
 
I've just finished the game and it is honestly one of the most endearing games I have played. I loved it even though the puzzles were slightly on the easy side, there were a couple of times where I had to take a second to think about what to do

I honestly didn't find it glitchy at all. There was one moment at the very start, when I was walking through a tunnel and I had to jump through it a bit. But that was the only thing. I don't know of I was lucky or some people are really nitpicking.

A different opinion on the end game

first off the inception moment was spectacular.
In regards to people feeling that the appearance of the literal bottles of alcohol was a step to far. I took this as slightly different meaning. I thought that prior to this section the boy had wrapped everything up in this make believe shroud to help himself deal with the horrible situations his father was putting him in. Then when the flame (his therapist?) talks to him about putting his bad memories behind him and moving on and he changes the cartoonised images of monster into the real images of his farther. I took this as him coming to terms with what had/was happening and by facing the harsh reality head on he could finally mentally escape his father. That's why I felt that he had to physically handle the bottles of alcohol.

Sorry if that seems like a garbled mess. Even if you don't agree I hope you can understand the point I was trying to make.
 

Returners

Member
A different opinion on the end game

first off the inception moment was spectacular.
In regards to people feeling that the appearance of the literal bottles of alcohol was a step to far. I took this as slightly different meaning. I thought that prior to this section the boy had wrapped everything up in this make believe shroud to help himself deal with the horrible situations his father was putting him in. Then when the flame (his therapist?) talks to him about putting his bad memories behind him and moving on and he changes the cartoonised images of monster into the real images of his farther. I took this as him coming to terms with what had/was happening and by facing the harsh reality head on he could finally mentally escape his father. That's why I felt that he had to physically handle the bottles of alcohol.

This is exactly what I got from the end game.

I don't understand the IGN score at all, but to each their own. Listening to their playstation podcast though I have to say its like they did not want to diss their own person who reviewed the game, even if they actually have different opinions about it.

It definitely needs polish, but I felt the same feeling at the
fake
end of Journey as I did after finishing this game.

I'm back and forth on the mechanics though, specifically on the death (or there lack of) from monster. It diminishes the franticness of running away, but at the same time, there isn't a frustrating part of the game when Monster has to turn.

I felt bad when I had to feed it frogs because I thought it was the solution to the puzzle, only to have it turn against me. It just sucks.

I don't think its worth 15 bucks, but I do think anyone who has enjoyed the puzzle mechanics introduced in the demo should get it when it goes on sale. The story is, in my opinion, very personal and emotionally engaging.
 
I think we're a little spoiled with gaming when it comes to tolerating less than perfect execution. Clearly this game had a lower-budget finish to it, but I still had my jaw on the ground with its ideas and visuals. Yeah there were some control hitches and visual weirdness here and there, but at the end of the day I really didn't care. There's a bigger picture here, and it's not just because of its message. The puzzles and sense of wonder at every new section really had me glued to this game. You literally have no idea what will happen next from puzzle to puzzle, and some events will leave you floored. I was.

I see people having a problem with how harshly the game beats you over the heard with it's metaphors, but I saw it as a previous poster did where it was
Quico coming to terms with the reality of his situation. I wasn't 100% on it, but it also shows Quico leaving the closet he was hiding in at the final chapter. The entire game was his mental escape and the wish to "cure" his father. But in the end he had to face the reality that there is no cure and leave the fairy tale in his imagination.

I think people really need to give this game a chance. It's rough, but it's worth it. For the ideas, the atmosphere, the creativity. Some moments that occur during gameplay were simply some of the most amazing things I've done this generation. I'm sad to see it ignored like this, and I'm hoping more people take the chance and pick it up. I've moved on to finally playing Journey, but my mind is still on P&Y. There is certainly some wow factor that Journey has lost with me thanks to having played the former. Excited to see what the team tackles next. Props to Sony on their support.
 

Chao

Member
Tried this game's demo. Had to turn it off before finishing it, god damn what a boring game. I know it's an indie game but fuck man, almost fell asleep
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
finally caught up with this game today. Loved it. Although the father/son dynamic is fairly obvious from the start, I still felt quite emotional at the end of the game.

In terms of how it moved me, its definitely up there with Ico and SotC. Gameplay had a 'flower' feel to it, maybe just the ethereal unreal nature of things, can't quite put my finger on it.
 
I'd say a solid five hours, maybe slightly less depending on how long you take to solve the puzzles. Although there are more than a couple of puzzles that depend more on finding the next right thing to interact with rather than solving something. Hope you enjoy it though, one of my favorite games of the generation.
 
Finished the game for the first time. Must say I was impressed, despite technical issues, and the worst jumping mechanics ever. It was good, dealing with a very mature theme.

Will try for a 2nd playthrough and go get those hats.
 
Had this sitting since release,and just finished it. I really enjoyed it, very sad IMO considering the dev went through this and a bunch of others as well.
 
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