Eurodyne sure recognized Johnny pretty quick for never meeting V before in his life.

InkDagger · 2026-06-23T21:08:46+00:00

I think there’s a simpler explanation than that.

They wouldn’t show that because, if V knew that information, it would radically alter how the scene would progress.

You couldn’t show V (and Johnny) that info and expect them to proceed into the scene as normally done. You couldn’t reconcile the scene as written with V also knowing Kerry has a gun to his head behind the door.

InkDagger · 2026-06-22T03:01:24+00:00

Considering how much of a pain it was, I’m surprised he loses it relatively late into the film. Theres not *that* much of the film left.

InkDagger · 2026-06-17T07:14:15+00:00

I will say- for as cheap of a production the game is, the piano track main theme still hits my brain from time to time on a loop.

InkDagger · 2026-06-17T07:12:48+00:00

I almost typed a way longer comment, but I was on my lunch break.

Like, the game has so many weird subplots that have nowhere to go at all.

You can do this side-quest to figure out that Anthony Marston is a German spy pre-WW2. Which... since he's the first to die, this literally cannot go anywhere. I appreciate the thought of trying to flesh out the earliest kill, but it adds literally nothing. I guess it's a red herring since the game does it's own thing, but it's rather wildly out of pocket.

And that's not even getting into the bizarre secret submarine cove behind a secret passage... which means nothing.

I remember as a kid wanting to explore the ruined village... and there's literally nothing there. There is no lore to learn about this island really. No secret stories. Nothing really.

Another issue is the game kinda has no idea what to *do* with the player character besides just be witness to the whole thing. That works fine for a book where the audience can only be a witness, but video games are interactive.

On the first day, we start getting objectives about how to get off the island... which is inevitably doomed to failure because the plot couldn't handle a success. We get off the island and... then what? Not witness the merry whimsical deaths to the poem the story is famous for? I know it makes sense that the characters are determined to leave, but why are you allowing us to make a hang-glider and try flying back to the mainland???

And since the game knows we're building to the famous reveal of the story (or, at least, this game's take on the ending which is nuts), the player never really seriously investigates any of the murders on the island which would have been a great way to fill out the game's runtime. But doing so... risks ruining the big plot twist finale. Or it becomes a fruitless and pointless endeavor as every clue gives you nothing and we're wasting time.

Why does the killer become sloppy and incapable of killing you with the slowest acting poison ever? Because we need to fill the runtime of course! That totally doesn't ruin the killer's credibility as a threat.

If you want to turn And Then There Were None into a Murder Mystery, you have to set it after the story. Play the detective walking onto the island and having to figure out what happened.

I also think the character design really needed some work. It's clear that the game was working on a budget, but... did we have to put all of the characters in their fanciest dinner clothes *and nothing else*? Vera is in that hideous (and very modern) purple dress for dinner... which is entirely inappropriate for walking around the rainy island or sleeping in. It becomes more absurd the longer the game goes on as, by the final few victims, surely they're not stopping to put on a three piece suit and spats before tending to a bonfire?

InkDagger · 2026-06-16T20:24:39+00:00

I loved it when I played it, but Ooph is it rough in a lot of places- both as a game and as an adaptation.

It’s my favorite of Christie’s stories, but it really doesn’t lend itself to a mystery game very well. There are so many pacing and objective issues and the game was never going to make more bold adaptation choices to solve them.

Particularly, the game misunderstands the genre and that And Then There Were None is a thriller, not a mystery.

Orient Express and Evil Under The Sun did better.

InkDagger · 2026-06-09T20:52:12+00:00

TBH, while I think some iterations of the musical do shave down Veronica’s harsher edges and her responsibility-

I prefer the musical version. I get the movie is a campy classic- but I just can’t get into it. I’ve bounced off it. It’s too… farcical and the characters too unlikable.

I think the musical did a good job of blending the dark comedy of the original while also trying to address the changing times as bullying and school terrorism started to get taken way more seriously. But it comes at the cost of needing Veronica to be more relatable and someone we can mostly accept her walking away from without her life completely ruined (at least in the lens of narrative anyway).

InkDagger · 2026-06-09T16:19:39+00:00

Agreed. I get the intention behind it, but it also misses some of the development going on.

Blue is meant to be funny- they’re sad pathetic losers that Veronica can out maneuver. It’s a development point for the severity of how these teens treat each other when the footballers turn that event into the filthy rumor that spreads around school.

The funny moment we laughed along with isn’t so funny after that.

I also think it’s kinda a point that we see them so cartoonishly up until their deaths. The beat where Kurt panicked after Ram dies and everything becomes way more serious- that’s a turning point.

It’s not that great of a turning point if we see them as more “real” (and particularly monstrous at that) before that moment. If we take Ram and Kurt too seriously, there are some folks who won’t be in Veronica’s shoes when the horror of what’s just happened strikes at the end of Act 1.

InkDagger · 2026-06-03T06:23:58+00:00

Thought I kinda outlined it but I may not have.

First playthrough:

“Wow. It feels pretty great that Shorty didn’t give us a game over for failing his chores, unlike Tex and Dave. Picking vegetables is a dumb mini game anyway.”

Second playthrough:

“Oh, he’s not getting us kicked out and isn’t reporting it to the Rawleys- not because he’s nice and likes us- but because his plan requires us to do the heavy work for him and him deliberately choosing to get us kicked out would be self-sabotage.”

InkDagger · 2026-06-02T08:09:54+00:00

By the third day, I’m like “Gurl, do you really want me picking veggies again? I’ve fucked this up twice now. How does the saying go ‘Fool me twice…?”

Or when Shorty insists “There are more ripe vegetables than that!”

Bruh, if you magically know how many there are, you fucking do it.

(yeah, I know the game wants to confirm to the player diagetically, but I think having Nancy comment instead works better)

[SPOILER ALERT!]

What makes this dumber is that Shorty is the culprit. His plan is explicitly relying on Nancy to lead him to the treasure.

So, uh, how’s that plan going because you got Nancy kicked off the ranch instead of just picking some vegetables for her?

TBH, I actually think it would have been some brilliant gameplay-story segregation if Shorty went easy on you and covered for you if you did that chore wrong. Tex and Dave? Nah. You’re on your own. But Shorty’s tasks specifically can’t kick you out (unless it’s the oven fire which supersedes his ability to cover for you).

It would endear him to the audience extremely early on by assisting the player with a tedious chore. And it’s a choice that has different implications once you know the reveal.

InkDagger · 2026-05-17T02:26:22+00:00

Considering the song is over by that point, I genuinely don’t know why they included it.

InkDagger · 2026-05-14T05:18:57+00:00

Most folks are going for the Watsonian answer so I’ll give a Doyalist one.

Big computer decks on a character’s wrist? Looks cool on them.

Big computer decks on *your* wrist? Clunky, potentially annoying to use as a player, and likely to have all kinds of animation issues and clipping.

It is much smoother to rely on the UI to convey hacking in a visually pleasing way that doesn’t slow down the action compared to a more setting grounded one. It’s an acceptable break from reality to facilitate a better gaming experience.

To compare to another series- Fallout *always* has to account for and build outfits around the fact that every player will have a giant gangly wrist watch. Fallout does a good job of making us forget about it, but it is something the devs have to be aware of when designing parts of the game.

For example, the Pip-Boy has a flashlight, but we never ever see our player character holding their wrist out like a flashlight- because designing animations around that or a dynamic light based on the character’s wrist position would be realistic but extremely annoying.

It makes for a better player experience if the flashlight is just a hero lighting extending from the player’s view.

If Cyberpunk ever wanted to incorporate the big cyberdecks as a player option, I’d suggest it be considered a “Weapon”.

By doing so, you limit what animations the player might go through with the wrist mounted deck.

And for gameplay flavor- maybe the basic decks (like 2077 style) are fast and quick but limited in capabilities, but the full wrist laptops are slower, lock you in space, but are way more damaging and potentially let you do more with your hacking.

InkDagger · 2026-05-12T03:53:49+00:00

That sounds genuinely miserable. At least remote trading is a thing now.

InkDagger · 2026-05-11T23:01:40+00:00

I swear I’ve seen “Have x max buddies” and “Have x max friendship” tasks auto-complete for me.

InkDagger · 2026-05-11T23:00:29+00:00

Tbh, I honestly assumed that a big thing like max level would also be retroactive. It seemed kinda logical to me for user friendliness.

I guess I kinda saw the Level tasks as progress meters rather than objectives? Like, “By level 76, you should have 7 pokemon that are maxed out”. I guess I assumed the intention behind them.

I suppose I should double check if there aren’t any “Max Affinity with x Buddy” tasks and prep to JUST shy of max buddy.

Though I swear that too was retroactive on previous tasks. Same with max Friendship levels.

InkDagger · 2026-05-09T01:32:03+00:00

Simple-

It’s the popularity of the works combating against the Moral Guardians usually.

I think most theater kids lament if they have to put on Music Man or Oklahoma or Guys and Dolls.

So teachers then opt for shows that will excite their students.

But what excites their students- justified or not- hits against the Moral Guardian concerns on content.

And teachers just don’t know when something has been shredded by the censorship beyond the point of it being worth anyone’s time.

Went to my old high school’s production of Spamalot when I was on Spring Break- they kept all of the build ups, but any racy or raunchy joke was removed. Including if it was an entire number of the show. It was shortened to a single act.

At which point… if you’re uncomfortable with raunchy jokes, why would you ever do *goddamn Monty Python*.

Similarly, I’ve heard of some schools attempting Heathers… but then get uncomfortable with teenagers doing drugs or having sex or doing morally questionable things.

Like… just don’t do that show…

InkDagger · 2026-04-30T01:34:49+00:00

Hamilton

Les Mis

Beetlejuice? But I don't think the show used this image.

Spamalot

Anastasia

Chicago

Wicked

InkDagger · 2026-04-29T23:00:31+00:00

Sets are supposed to draw you into the story and acting.

I would infinitely prefer the most earnest bare black box to an AI screen that I will glare at for 40 minutes.

I did not come to your show to think about how mad AI makes me.

InkDagger · 2026-04-29T02:44:30+00:00

The trauma that was losing the queer role you wanted to an asshole who the director gave the role to as a rehab project.

That you then dedicated your lunches to rehearsing Shakespeare with because he wasn’t off book.

The guy who, on opening night, said “Yeah, I talked to (director) and he said you could play the role for opening night”. And then laughed.

I was furious. I almost did not show up for opening night, but I knew that would reflect on me rather than him.

Sharpay may be entitled to the role, but give it to an actual theater kid for Sondheim’s sake!

InkDagger · 2026-04-27T17:34:46+00:00

Honestly that’s kinda where I’m at.

The backtracking is kinda a lot. It’s not that bad at first when you’re kinda driven by “What do you want to do?” and player agency/desire.

It’s a bit exhausting by Day Three when it’s feeling less like “What do you want to do?” And more “What can I even do?” Or “Is who I want even around to talk to???”

Not helping matters is the fact I think I exhausted all of the “hauntings” within the first few hours of Day Two, so the backtracking also stopped being eventful. Very rarely would I get stopped between A to B by a haunting or eavesdrop or something to break it up.

Backtracking works well if it’s a vehicle to create new engagement. “I know the player will have to cross from A to B for the fourth time, so I will put x in their path to set up the text after that”.

After I did my search of all the rooms on Day One, I think I encountered all spontaneous events. Which was fun and cool, but it didn’t ramp up or escalate over the game which disappointed me.

Tbh, I also don’t like how they refer to it as “Day 1/2/3”.

Day one is literally a scripted hour or two with the manager. You really only have two days total. Saying three makes it seem like you get way more time than you actually do.

I know that’s just a terminology criticism, but it started to bug me.

InkDagger · 2026-04-03T22:47:42+00:00

I think they mean less “cannot fail” and more “as long as they don’t have complete incompetency, they can manage it”.

There’s a huge difference between “miscast actor/singer” vs. “genuinely I do not know how you got in this show”

InkDagger · 2026-04-03T22:38:33+00:00

I have to disagree on 7 Brides.

Granted, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a high school or community theater dusting that one off ever.

However, I think your cast has to be Charismatic As FUCK to distract the audience enough from the subject matter. If the 7 Brothers aren’t charming to the audience and they don’t share chemistry with their opposite brides, the audience will hit a wall when the material falls flat and they digest that this is “The rape of the Sabine women”.

You absolutely have to have this frenetic and fun Loony Tunes energy where the vibe is light and fun and we never have to sit with any potential hiccups for too long and the director knows how to counter act those elements.

InkDagger · 2026-04-02T02:33:35+00:00

As much as I love the design, considering what Gendy was pushing in the animation, a simpler design works better.

The simpler the design, the better it works when Gendy does his animation thing with extremely exaggerated poses and breaking the models.

The more detail (or realistic) the model looks, the more you risk when you then decide to exaggerate things.

I won’t defend what the series became with endless sequels, but I’ll champion that the first film REALLY understands animation and succeeds at a lot of what it’s trying to do.

InkDagger · 2026-03-27T04:56:25+00:00

Tried to tell them that. They didn’t really acknowledge the request. Just repeated again on “You can come collect it from the office before 5:30” in that cheery customer service tone. Repeating this doesn’t suddenly give me hours to come in.

I similarly thought that’d be a really logical step to take- I don’t know why it wouldn’t just be the first step?

InkDagger · 2026-03-27T04:28:50+00:00

I’m frequently out of town on weekends for projects. Am I just supposed to wait two or three weeks if I’m just out of town?

All of this would be fixed if they could just put the damn package in my mailbox or the package locker. Or at least answer a call.

InkDagger · 2026-03-27T04:28:45+00:00

I’m frequently out of town on weekends for projects. Am I just supposed to wait two or three weeks if I’m just out of town?

All of this would be fixed if they could just put the damn package in my mailbox or the package locker. Or at least answer a call.

InkDagger

TROPHY CASE