Overall most helpful review

Posted on: February 1, 2017

TravelDemon

Games: 502 Reviews: 5

4 Stars if you know what you're getting

First, let's get the ugly out of the way. Memoranda suffers badly from one of the two chief iniquities of P&C adventure games: illogical puzzles (the other, pixel hunting, is not a problem here, thanks to a handy system that highlights all interactable objects on screen). Some of the solutions are so baffling that it's hard to imagine someone finishing the whole thing without a guide (I sure needed one). There are also problems with which specific item you must use to accomplish a goal, for example, at one point you must stoke a fire, but liquid propane is not an acceptable item for this, instead you have to use dried grass, because the liquid propane needs to be used to... combine with orange juice? Yeah. The game is also very goalless. There were many times when it wasn't that I was stuck on a particular puzzle, but that I simply had no idea what I was even supposed to be doing or trying to accomplish. Basically, if you don't use a guide, you will be forced to resort to the old P&C tactic of using everything on everything until something happens, and given that this is a fairly large game, that could become very frustrating. Now, the strength of this game is definitely it's mood. If you're wondering if they managed to capture the essence of Murakami's works, the answer is yes. There is a certain dream-like quality to his works that I hesitate to call surrealism, but the word that always comes to my mind is "floating". The narrator is superlative. The inflections and cadence of her speech are mesmerizing. The criticisms of the gameplay become boons to the tone. The directionlessness, the strange item combinations, serve to accentuate the "floating-ness." There is something so beautifully melancholy about wandering around, speaking to acquaintances past. There's more I want to say about the accomplishments of this game, but GOG's Draconian character limit prevents me from doing so. If you enjoyed the tone of the trailer though, you will probably enjoy this game.

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Posted on: February 6, 2017

666_Vomit_666

Verified owner

Games: Reviews: 8

Leaving the player alone ... somehow.

Generally I agree with all that Traveldemon has written; especially the flaws. The game, while nice in he setting and mood, simply lacks a direction and a willingness to engage with the player. This is especially the case through the way additional places are made available. It does not feel natural how this happens, rather it is has this touch of patronizing the player. At some point in the game, the player might long for an additional way of solving a puzzle; of some way of dealing with all confusing things in a non-ordinary manner. Everything is planned, everything is placed in front of the player and to be different is being prevented right from the start. To me the aspect of minimal discussion and interaction made the game an endurance. Why not enable the player to pick from certain phrases and let this person lead the discussion, instead of presented all ready-made. On a small side-note: How the quest with the sailor ended was a real downer ... I had hoped much more of this. Something that might have a larger impact on the game and the story.

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Posted on: January 31, 2017

alfoulkes

Verified owner

Games: 650 Reviews: 15

I liked the game alot

I like the story (I think I got the story), I like the atmosphere, the art was fantastic (best part of the game, could see odd to Amanita at times (specially the rat hole)), the puzzles were a good challenge but not too hard (at least to me), had the Haruki Murakami feel to it(I've only read one of his books , Norwegian Wood of course) but I still felt that the game was lacking in places. I wanted more character development for some of the main characters and other minor characters didn't feel like they belonged there (or really, they could have been cut out to give main characters more time). Though I felt that there was some logic towards the puzzles, I could see many people getting frustrated by them (I guess I just click with the world and they made sense to me). Maybe I read to much in the story than there is but I felt the story to be as much as a puzzle as the game itself. I will be playing again just to go through the story again. The game had enough of that Surreal feel that I like and I hope the makes learn a lot from this game and make an even better game next time.

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Posted on: April 14, 2018

omercicek

Verified owner

Games: 163 Reviews: 4

ok

illogical puzzles and out-of-context dialogue takes a lot away. nice artwork.

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Posted on: June 29, 2019

LordTchernobog

Verified owner

Games: 542 Reviews: 2

The most weirdest & atmospheric P&C game

One of the weirdest, confusing (thanks to the puzzles), yet atmospheric, well drawn graphics, and storywise the most closest attempt to think this was written by Haruki Murakami, writer of many magical surreal stories like Kafka on the Shore, Norwegian Forest, and the 1Q84 trilogy. The story weird, it goes on and on, like an episodic TV series, doin' your tasks, which sometimes ends pretty "interesting". Also the puzzles most of the time don't make sense in regular P&G games, but it does in a Murakami way - that makes game charming. The story is incredibly Murakami like; even has the same themes in said writer: mucis, cats, being alone, ect. I also found different than most game in genre is the lack of option to choose lines, to get more informations, important or not. It's just one single line, and figure out what have to do. Of course, some cases you get 3, and the last one tells it, the 1st two just... hints. What also weird for me, is the basic "look-at/speak/interact" part: some are can be automatically interacted, without giving any clue what's that and what the player suppose to do with it. What really bugs me more, is that you can't reach some part of the game, because it doesn't use it, and also has some missed opportunity too, but those are so irrelevant it doesn't need any explonation. Let's just say, it makes the game's world tiny. Most of the time you have to go back and forth each part of the game, and if the jobs done there, it closes. The OST - if we can really speak about OST - not bad, but most of 'em actually background noises, and that's it. Not really much, but I can't say "more than 15". The graphics are okay, looks pretty good, not as way cartoony like many other title in the genre, but still catches the eye, paying attention to it. Same goes to animation too. Overall: a must-play one, weird, sometimes confusing and frustrating, play this only, if you not only into P&C games, but also fan of Murakami's works. Otherwise: stay away.

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