Stratelier
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I tried popping in Persona Q the other day on my 3DS but apparently the cartridge has died. RIP 
In the meantime, this week I picked up indie game "Spirit of the North", a game where you play a fox following a spirit fox on a journey through some very Nordic inspired snowland. It's quite beautiful, the story has not a single word of dialogue (it's all "show, don't tell", which limits the kinds of story you can tell but when you can tell one, dang) though it's not without its share of "indie game wonk", like: the fox's bark sounding a little too much like a dog's, the finicky jump physics (when near walls), time-based puzzles with thin margins for error, the legitimate difficulty of animating/placing a creature's feet on arbitrary terrain, the one spot I got nearly softlocked in (but ultimately navigated out of), the one spot I got actually softlocked in (which was apparently just 30 seconds away from the next autosave/checkpoint, too), and one or two areas that are probably too big for their own good. But it was a great experience overall.
In the meantime, this week I picked up indie game "Spirit of the North", a game where you play a fox following a spirit fox on a journey through some very Nordic inspired snowland. It's quite beautiful, the story has not a single word of dialogue (it's all "show, don't tell", which limits the kinds of story you can tell but when you can tell one, dang) though it's not without its share of "indie game wonk", like: the fox's bark sounding a little too much like a dog's, the finicky jump physics (when near walls), time-based puzzles with thin margins for error, the legitimate difficulty of animating/placing a creature's feet on arbitrary terrain, the one spot I got nearly softlocked in (but ultimately navigated out of), the one spot I got actually softlocked in (which was apparently just 30 seconds away from the next autosave/checkpoint, too), and one or two areas that are probably too big for their own good. But it was a great experience overall.
Chapter 1:
You are a fox, well furred against the snowy lands. There's a strange red band stretching across the sky, and a glowing spirit fox leading you somewhere. There are also remains of an ancient people, where you can return their staffs to release their spirits or something. Anyway, your path goes through snow, ice, crevasses and caves until you reach the end of a small cavern covered by glowing red hazardous growths that slowly choke the breath out of your fox the closer you get -- but the spirit fox comes to your rescue, releasing a blast of light that completely obliterates it ... and the floor, too, plummeting your fox into --
Chapter 2:
You survived the fall, but just barely, and your fox seems to have broken a leg. The spirit fox beckons you onward still, making sure to not leave you behind, as it illuminates various wall carvings illustrating lore. Something about a mountain, a fox, and the people who revered it (stuff which will make MUCH more sense after Chapter 4). You are led to a circle of stones before your fox's strength fails, but the spirit fox comes to the rescue again, lighting up the surrounding stones and passing its spirit energy to you, healing the fox and giving you the ability to collect, store, and deposit spirit light (for various mechanisms and puzzles throughout the game).
Chapter 3:
The spirit fox is reduced to a mere wisp but still accompanies you, occasionally pointing out things of interest, such as white flowers that charge you with spirit energy, and assisting with various mechanisms: the puzzle-solving mantra thus becomes (1) collect spirit energy then (2) deposit it in some mechanism to progress. As you arrive at an ancient ruin, you discover a room choked with the same hazardous red growths as seen in Chapter 1, but you receive the ability to charge your spirit light and release a blast to purify it, just as the spirit fox did to save you earlier. Onwards!
Chapter 4:
As your path leads into the ruins of an ancient settlement, the sky turns red and the lore starts piecing itself together: the red bands across the sky are a volcanic pollution from the nearby mountain, and it fell on this civilization, slowly choking and killing them off, and various wall carvings reprise what you learned in Chapter 2. There's some connection between the mountain and the fox ... or was it maybe two foxes? You now receive the ability to separate spirit from fox, used to pass through hazardous brambles (or walk on water) to access mechanisms you can't reach physically. After a lot of effort purifying numerous growths left behind by the volcanic pollution, you trek onwards to...
Chapter 5:
The mountain seems to be your destination, and you receive your final ability: a spirit dash that also serves as a sort of double-jump. Streams of water turn to solid volcanic flows (tar? silt?) that actually aren't as dangerous as they look, and while it is quite a long road, eventually you enter the mountain itself for...
Chapter 6:
The interior of the mountain is dark, claustrophobic, and there's only one patch of flowers for you to collect spirit energy with. But upon attempting to access what looks like (by now) a fairly standard rotating pillars puzzle, everything suddenly goes wrong: The spirit wisp with you cries out in pain, turns red, seemingly panics and now flees from you. You still have one "charge" of spirit energy to operate mechanisms with, but without flowers to "refill" this energy you have to store and retrieve it strategically to progress. Your path winds into the heart of the mountain, but at some point you are required to leave the energy behind and proceed alone in pursuit of the wisp still fleeing from you, despite a long path choked by volcanic ash and hazardous growths, and with no ability to purify it your fox suffers, slows, and ultimately collapses, proceeding onwards in spirit form while its body is left to die. Which leads to...
Chapter 7:
Separated from its body, your fox arrives in a bright spirit forest with the wisp still fleeing from you in ... fear? pain? The forest is massive and it's easy to get lost, but the path ultimately leads to a temple dedicated to the fox (foxes?), attended by spirits of the ancient people you've freed along the way. Deep in the heart of this temple you find the spirit fox, its true form lying motionless and decaying while the ancient keepers look on. But with your help the spirit fox is healed, and now it follows you: your path leads out of the temple, along an aurora spanning the whole forest and, ultimately, back to the body you left behind and with it --
Chapter 8:
Your fox is revived! The spirit fox is still following you, and your path ascends out of the mountain's depths to its peak, where you find a statue of two foxes, with a pedestal on each side, one of which holds the body of the spirit fox. The other pedestal is yours, which heals the mountain, and frees the two foxes to run and play across the sky, leaving bands of aurora in their wake as the credits roll.
If I had a dollar every time I saw a story about a fox creating the Aurora Borealis, I'd have ... two dollars. Weird that it's happened more than once.
You are a fox, well furred against the snowy lands. There's a strange red band stretching across the sky, and a glowing spirit fox leading you somewhere. There are also remains of an ancient people, where you can return their staffs to release their spirits or something. Anyway, your path goes through snow, ice, crevasses and caves until you reach the end of a small cavern covered by glowing red hazardous growths that slowly choke the breath out of your fox the closer you get -- but the spirit fox comes to your rescue, releasing a blast of light that completely obliterates it ... and the floor, too, plummeting your fox into --
Chapter 2:
You survived the fall, but just barely, and your fox seems to have broken a leg. The spirit fox beckons you onward still, making sure to not leave you behind, as it illuminates various wall carvings illustrating lore. Something about a mountain, a fox, and the people who revered it (stuff which will make MUCH more sense after Chapter 4). You are led to a circle of stones before your fox's strength fails, but the spirit fox comes to the rescue again, lighting up the surrounding stones and passing its spirit energy to you, healing the fox and giving you the ability to collect, store, and deposit spirit light (for various mechanisms and puzzles throughout the game).
Chapter 3:
The spirit fox is reduced to a mere wisp but still accompanies you, occasionally pointing out things of interest, such as white flowers that charge you with spirit energy, and assisting with various mechanisms: the puzzle-solving mantra thus becomes (1) collect spirit energy then (2) deposit it in some mechanism to progress. As you arrive at an ancient ruin, you discover a room choked with the same hazardous red growths as seen in Chapter 1, but you receive the ability to charge your spirit light and release a blast to purify it, just as the spirit fox did to save you earlier. Onwards!
Chapter 4:
As your path leads into the ruins of an ancient settlement, the sky turns red and the lore starts piecing itself together: the red bands across the sky are a volcanic pollution from the nearby mountain, and it fell on this civilization, slowly choking and killing them off, and various wall carvings reprise what you learned in Chapter 2. There's some connection between the mountain and the fox ... or was it maybe two foxes? You now receive the ability to separate spirit from fox, used to pass through hazardous brambles (or walk on water) to access mechanisms you can't reach physically. After a lot of effort purifying numerous growths left behind by the volcanic pollution, you trek onwards to...
Chapter 5:
The mountain seems to be your destination, and you receive your final ability: a spirit dash that also serves as a sort of double-jump. Streams of water turn to solid volcanic flows (tar? silt?) that actually aren't as dangerous as they look, and while it is quite a long road, eventually you enter the mountain itself for...
Chapter 6:
The interior of the mountain is dark, claustrophobic, and there's only one patch of flowers for you to collect spirit energy with. But upon attempting to access what looks like (by now) a fairly standard rotating pillars puzzle, everything suddenly goes wrong: The spirit wisp with you cries out in pain, turns red, seemingly panics and now flees from you. You still have one "charge" of spirit energy to operate mechanisms with, but without flowers to "refill" this energy you have to store and retrieve it strategically to progress. Your path winds into the heart of the mountain, but at some point you are required to leave the energy behind and proceed alone in pursuit of the wisp still fleeing from you, despite a long path choked by volcanic ash and hazardous growths, and with no ability to purify it your fox suffers, slows, and ultimately collapses, proceeding onwards in spirit form while its body is left to die. Which leads to...
Chapter 7:
Separated from its body, your fox arrives in a bright spirit forest with the wisp still fleeing from you in ... fear? pain? The forest is massive and it's easy to get lost, but the path ultimately leads to a temple dedicated to the fox (foxes?), attended by spirits of the ancient people you've freed along the way. Deep in the heart of this temple you find the spirit fox, its true form lying motionless and decaying while the ancient keepers look on. But with your help the spirit fox is healed, and now it follows you: your path leads out of the temple, along an aurora spanning the whole forest and, ultimately, back to the body you left behind and with it --
Chapter 8:
Your fox is revived! The spirit fox is still following you, and your path ascends out of the mountain's depths to its peak, where you find a statue of two foxes, with a pedestal on each side, one of which holds the body of the spirit fox. The other pedestal is yours, which heals the mountain, and frees the two foxes to run and play across the sky, leaving bands of aurora in their wake as the credits roll.
If I had a dollar every time I saw a story about a fox creating the Aurora Borealis, I'd have ... two dollars. Weird that it's happened more than once.
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