Codex Review RPG Codex Review: Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children is like the best goddamned game ever made

[flyingjohn]

why this game's mere aesthetic is enough to put you off completely, but you're willing to put up with say games like KOTC2 that basically look like dross?

It is not just the aesthetic. Codex really loves story and aesthetic combinations, that is why Torment ranks so highly in any list.
Troubleshooter fails miserably at both.

 

[Mortmal]

I would've spared a brofist were you not an annoying cunt with your "Even forum veteran Grunker, an inveterate hater of anime aesthetics in all their aspects, found the game to be a masterpiece of system design." right there in the blurb.

Liking thing 'despite' the aesthetic is a dogwhistle for being in the closet, in which case the text is going to be needlessly catty. Next time, find someone who actually enjoys anime aesthetics to write about a game with anime aesthetics. For the exact same reason I don't give a shit about anything written by idiots who talk about mecha games being good 'despite' being mecha games.

Indeed, I share the feeling, but you have to separate the artist's personality from the art, and the reviewer from the review. Despite Grunker being a well-known cunt, and no one will deny it, his review is okay, and he deserves his brofist like other Codexers who do reviews.

 

[Jaedar]

why this game's mere aesthetic is enough to put you off completely, but you're willing to put up with say games like KOTC2 that basically look like dross?

It is not just the aesthetic. Codex really loves story and aesthetic combinations, that is why Torment ranks so highly in any list.
Troubleshooter fails miserably at both.

A lot of people do just seem to find anime-adjacent artstyles (and character/story tropes) genuinely repulsive.

 

[Drowed]

It is not just the aesthetic. Codex really loves story and aesthetic combinations, that is why Torment ranks so highly in any list.
Troubleshooter fails miserably at both.

For me, it was the story. I don't care for anime-style art, hell, many of my favorite games are in anime style. I grew up watching Dragon Ball Z and Saint Seiya (which as far as I know had a horrendous adaptation in the US), so even though I haven't watched anime in decades, I certainly have a certain nostalgia for the visual style it evokes. I wouldn't say it's my favorite visual style, but it's not a dealbreaker by any means.

However, the story needs to be either bearable or ignorable. Either you let me focus primarily on the gameplay, or you need to have a story that isn't aggressively mediocre. Ironically, a bad story is often preferable, because I can laugh at the absurdity of the situation. But something about Troubleshooter's story hit that exact point where it takes itself too seriously for me to tolerate the melodramatic parts, but simultaneously its emotional punches are so weak that you don't even feel them. Some reaction is better than no reaction, in most cases.

That being said, I do like the game's visual style. The characters themselves are bland, but they're not the worst part. The combat system and abilities sound pretty interesting, actually the entire gameplay of the game appeals to me. It's just not enough to overcome the disinterest the story caused.

 

[Konjad]

I could look past graphics if it had mature writing (or was non-existent), but it's clearly written for 10 year olds so I won't.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Man, almost wanna play it because Grunker usually knows his shit, but the aesthetics are not my bag of dicks.

 

[Maxie]

I could look past graphics if it had mature writing (or was non-existent), but it's clearly written for 10 year olds so I won't.

define mature writing, my nigger with a hard r.

 

[Konjad]

I could look past graphics if it had mature writing (or was non-existent), but it's clearly written for 10 year olds so I won't.

define mature writing, my nigger with a hard r.

Something that isn't written for kids. Doesn't need to be good, even something in-between like Baldur's Gate 3 would do. But these anime-style drama etc I cannot stand.

On another thought, if they were inspired by anime for kids then they should get inspired by something like Aria and it could end up decent, instead of whatever this over-dramatized Persona/Pokemon style is.

 

[Maxie]

I could look past graphics if it had mature writing (or was non-existent), but it's clearly written for 10 year olds so I won't.

define mature writing, my nigger with a hard r.

Something that isn't written for kids. Doesn't need to be good, even something in-between like Baldur's Gate 3 would do. But these anime-style drama etc I cannot stand.

On another thought, if they were inspired by anime for kids then they should get inspired by something like Aria and it could end up decent, instead of whatever this over-dramatized Persona/Pokemon style is.

yeah, write a fucking battle-heavy tactics game inspired by Aria
Konrad, you're being delusional, you've huffed too much glue, your ratio is dropping, there is an accident

 

[Konjad]

I could look past graphics if it had mature writing (or was non-existent), but it's clearly written for 10 year olds so I won't.

define mature writing, my nigger with a hard r.

Something that isn't written for kids. Doesn't need to be good, even something in-between like Baldur's Gate 3 would do. But these anime-style drama etc I cannot stand.

On another thought, if they were inspired by anime for kids then they should get inspired by something like Aria and it could end up decent, instead of whatever this over-dramatized Persona/Pokemon style is.

yeah, write a fucking battle-heavy tactics game inspired by Aria
Konrad, you're being delusional, you've huffed too much glue, your ratio is dropping, there is an accident

If you enjoy such storytelling then good for you. However, I can't but cringe reading Troubleshooter texts.

 

[Maxie]

I could look past graphics if it had mature writing (or was non-existent), but it's clearly written for 10 year olds so I won't.

define mature writing, my nigger with a hard r.

Something that isn't written for kids. Doesn't need to be good, even something in-between like Baldur's Gate 3 would do. But these anime-style drama etc I cannot stand.

On another thought, if they were inspired by anime for kids then they should get inspired by something like Aria and it could end up decent, instead of whatever this over-dramatized Persona/Pokemon style is.

yeah, write a fucking battle-heavy tactics game inspired by Aria
Konrad, you're being delusional, you've huffed too much glue, your ratio is dropping, there is an accident

If you enjoy such storytelling then good for you. However, I can't but cringe reading Troubleshooter texts.

you will not slither out of the challenge i have set

 

[Konjad]

I could look past graphics if it had mature writing (or was non-existent), but it's clearly written for 10 year olds so I won't.

define mature writing, my nigger with a hard r.

Something that isn't written for kids. Doesn't need to be good, even something in-between like Baldur's Gate 3 would do. But these anime-style drama etc I cannot stand.

On another thought, if they were inspired by anime for kids then they should get inspired by something like Aria and it could end up decent, instead of whatever this over-dramatized Persona/Pokemon style is.

yeah, write a fucking battle-heavy tactics game inspired by Aria
Konrad, you're being delusional, you've huffed too much glue, your ratio is dropping, there is an accident

If you enjoy such storytelling then good for you. However, I can't but cringe reading Troubleshooter texts.

you will not slither out of the challenge i have set

Oh, I wouldn't even dream of beating you in a mental challenge.

 

[sebas]

Something that isn't written for kids.

The story is very much in line with the aesthetic, yes it's anime but very grounded. There is some meat to it (ie. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoon_class_theory) and the dramatic exposition isn't overly done (by korean standards) but the translation is just so so bad.

If they had hired a translator instead of using Google Translate or whatever the fuck they did it wouldn't have come off like a mentally impaired 7 year old telling you all about his pokemon dreams but alas, it is what it is.

 

[Grunker]

Something that isn't written for kids.

The story is very much in line with the aesthetic, yes it's anime but very grounded. There is some meat to it (ie. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoon_class_theory) and the dramatic exposition isn't overly done (by korean standards) but the translation is just so so bad.

If they had hired a translator instead of using Google Translate or whatever the fuck they did it wouldn't have come off like a mentally impaired 7 year old telling you all about his pokemon dreams but alas, it is what it is.

It’s not at all the translation. Tigranes, among others, have vouched that the story is just as bad in the original Korean.

Every bit of dry of exposition (and that’s almost all the text consists of) is stated literally, in the same way a child might tell an “and then…” story (e.g.: “Jason, the so-and-so, who was known for such-and-such, and enjoyed this-and-this). These statements are repeated ad nauseam all throughout the game. The game starts about 20 million plot lines, doesn’t conclude on the 50 central ones and then produces two DLCs with completely separate stories (that also aren’t finished) that almost don’t touch the main plot at all. Everything is introduced and handled in the most haphazard way possible, basic facts and events are completely unintelligible, characters have no discerning characteristics beyond their most basic archetypes and often drop these when the text requires it. There are about a hundred boring side characters (seriously, every single minor one-mission villain in the game gets multiple text boxes of expositon) while central characters have the most basic facts about them left untold. Some parts of the story are told so often and with such soul crushing repetitiveness that you can’t help but be in awe when the game itself forgets about them all of the sudden. Explanations and causalities are often changed to fit whatever the writer thought of 10 minutes later and are mostly so totally nonsensical anyway that even the game itself gives up the facade of any consistent connection between story threads and just explain them away with a literal “tell not show” dialogue box.

The writing is inept, utterly incoherent, stupefyingly childish and, ultimately, the most worthless bit of fiction I have ever - ever, in my life - read. It is factually impossible to summarize how disgustingly poorly the story is written because it is simply bad in so many ways it must be experienced to be understood.

To blame it on a translation is a joke of epic proportions.

 

[mindx2]

So Grunker for someone such as myself who has not played JRPGs (that I remember, I am getting old) and knows nothing about character, personality, story-line, anime stereotypes but enjoy combat-centric games like Telepath Tactics... would I like/enjoy it/be able to ignore the bad? I mean, I was able to get through BG3's story so...

 

[Infinitron]

The writing is inept, utterly incoherent, stupefyingly childish and, ultimately, the most worthless bit of fiction I have ever - ever, in my life - read. It is factually impossible to summarize how disgustingly poorly the story is written because it is simply bad in so many ways it must be experienced to be understood.

Does it have any so-bad-it's-good memes?

 

[Grunker]

So Grunker for someone such as myself who has not played JRPGs (that I remember, I am getting old) and knows nothing about character, personality, story-line, anime stereotypes but enjoy combat-centric games like Telepath Tactics... would I like/enjoy it/be able to ignore the bad? I mean, I was able to get through BG3's story so...

All cutscenes and dialogue are skippable, so I’d say yes. Worst part you have to deal with is the slow drip feed of your team, so skip side content as applicable until you have at least Giselle, I’d say. Which is a good ways in

 

[Damned Registrations]

Am I the only one that realized you can just skip the story? Dialogue goes by in a matter of seconds for each mission if you're skipping. It's basically like a 5-10 second loading screen before your 15-45 minute mission.

 

[Shaki]

Guys, don't skip the story, some Codexers swore that if you observe it very, very carefully, and play through the game twice, it will start making some sense. You just have to be true hardcore RPG gamers, not some story skipping casuals, I'm sure it will all be worth it in the end.

 

[ArchAngel]

This game has been on my list to play for years. It is 100% finished now? Someone said devs are still patching it?

Is combat and character building really that fun you can just skip all story and play it as some kind of turn based party based Diablo?

 

[luj1]

Could the local "prestigious patricians" please explain why this game's mere aesthetic is enough to put you off completely, but you're willing to put up with say games like KOTC2 that basically look like dross?

Because some people never understood the appeal of anime/JRPGs, whereas KotC 2 tokens have okay 2D art

We literally have a thread for anime porn and a foot fetish thread, you could try asking the ambassadors Darth Canoli and JarlFrank, respectively

 

[JarlFrank]

I like this game and the artstyle didn't put me off completely, it's vastly superior to most anime artstyles. The setting and writing are complete gonzo insanity, which is also fine by me - this one is all about the gameplay, which is great.

As long as the gameplay is top tier I can deal with any aesthetic.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

I can't get past childish anime graphics and texts.

I could look past graphics if it had mature writing (or was non-existent), but it's clearly written for 10 year olds so I won't.

 

[Tao]

I just bougth it a few days ago lmao.

 

[Vagabond Merchant]

All the shilling here made me buy it, but I am at the verge of refunding after reading this thread