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spierfics · 5 years

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Hdjdkd your fics make me so happy oh my gosbhdhe, but i had a silly fic idea. Basically, a spiderman/love, simon au? Doesn't matter which boy is spiderboy? Thank you again, for sharing your writing with us!! Your writing is so sweet!!

Over the Clouds - Spierfeld Fic

If Bram had known taking AP Chemistry would involve getting bitten by a radioactive spider; one which gave him super strength, insane reflexes, a sixth sense and the ability to shoot webs; Bram would have simply taken Physics.

But Bram had gotten used to the craziness by this point. It had been almost two years since the incident occurred, and more than a year since Spider-Man became a public figure.

The first few months were the toughest, especially since he had nobody to talk to. He had been afraid to speak to Garrett after he’d nearly rendered him unconscious with a pass on the field. The soccer ball had hit Garrett so badly that the school needed to call an ambulance.

Bram quit the team that day.

But Garrett wasn’t someone who quit on his friends, showing up at Bram’s home every day to make sure he was alright. Eventually, Bram told him the truth. It wasn’t like he could hide it forever, especially from someone who was as involved in his life as Garrett was.

“This is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen,” Garrett said in complete awe when he’d first seen what Bram could do.

“Well, I’m still crap at everything,” Bram shrugged. “Not really a hero,”

“You’re not a hero,” Garrett replied. “You’re a fucking superhero,”

“Oh my god, did you read the latest article on Spidey?” Abby squealed, scrolling through her phone frantically.

Simon barely registered what she was saying, having been momentarily distracted. Bram Greenfeld had just entered the cafeteria.

Sure, Simon had been obsessed with the masked vigilante earlier in the year; but he’d given up on the idea of ever meeting him, let alone imagine a romantic scenario with the two of them together.

Simon wanted to focus on someone more real, and the way that adorable boy smiled at him sometimes made Simon forget that anyone else other than Bram existed. His crush on Bram had started a few months back when he and Bram were selected to help show new students around.

There was something about him, an aura, that he had a secret too. A part of himself that he couldn’t share with everyone, but he wanted to. It was something Simon couldn’t shake off, and since that day, Bram Greenfeld had been on his mind.

“Si! That woman he saved from the condo fire the other day, said she heard him up close and he sounded like her son. She said he sounded like a kid, not a man!” Abby nearly yelled, pulling Simon out of his thoughts.

“What’s your point?” Simon said, finally tearing his attention away from the table across from them.

“That he could be our age!” Abby rationalized. “He’s not necessarily a man, he could just be a regular kid like us,”

“What kind of kid would give up his everyday life to go around saving people?” Leah imposed, “You don’t think people around him would figure that out? Like his family? Or his friends?”

“Not if he was good at keeping secrets,” Abby replied back. “Come on, Nick. Back me up,”

“Hiding such a massive part of your identity from everyone you know,” Nick thought carefully. “Nah, that’s impossible,“

Simon tried his best not to roll his eyes.

It was way past midnight when Bram finally arrived home, way past the curfew he’d set for himself on school nights. It had been a quiet day, for the most part, there was one mugging and three cats in trees that were successfully taken care of.

Then there was the robbery, on a local grocery shop near an intersection. Bram had run into some trouble there, but Bram left that guy unconscious and tied up outside the store for the cops to find. So all in all, it ended pretty well.

Bram mentally checked his agenda, recalling that he’d managed to finish his Math homework during lunch, which he ate on a non-operational crane. His acrophobia was quite a battle in those early days of training, but he’d gotten control over his fear now. The sights he’d gotten to see were some of the most beautiful in his life.

Thinking of beautiful things, Bram’s mind casually drifted to one person; Simon Spier. Bram had only spoken to him a few times, through their common friend, but never on an individual basis. Bram wished he had the courage.

He scoffed out loud. Bram swung from building to building on a daily basis. He had run into burning apartments and physically fought men with guns. But nothing scared him more than having a conversation with his crush.

‘This is why there aren’t any teenage heroes,’ Bram thought to himself, flinching as he took off his suit.

Something was wrong.

It’s been a week since Bram had come to school, and although Simon had not-so-casually brought it up in a conversation with his friends, he hadn’t gotten any answers. He built up the courage, or stupidity, to go ask Garrett who always was by Bram’s side.

“Um, hey, Garrett?”

Garrett looked up from his phone, momentarily confused since they’d hardly ever spoken to each other, but then offered Simon a huge smile.

“Spier! How are you?”

Simon hesitated before sitting down opposite Garrett, he was certain that he wasn’t on a last-name basis with Garrett, who often called his team-mates by their last name.

Regardless, he seemed like he was in a good mood, and Simon realized that Garrett probably didn’t care about why Simon was asking about Bram.

“I was just wondering…” Simon said in a small voice. “I haven’t seen Bram for a bit. Is he okay?”

Garrett eyed Simon suspiciously as if he were trying to analyze his intentions.

Simon cursed himself, knowing that asking would be a mistake, Garrett was going to find out and he’d tell Bram and then the entire school would…

“Bram pulled something on the pitch a few days ago, and it still hasn’t healed up,” Garrett finally offered. “But I’ll let him know you said ‘hi’,”

“Oh no! No, I was just worried because we’re partnered up in this Chemistry project together and I just hadn’t seen him…” Simon trailed off as he got up.

The thing was, both boys were lying to the other. And both of them knew it. Nick had told all of them that Bram had quit the team a while back. And Garrett knew Bram had vowed to never take another Chemistry class again in his life.

Garrett went to visit Bram that afternoon, sitting at his desk as Bram rested in bed. It was tough seeing his friend like this, knowing that he could do nothing to help him other than cheer him up.

A few days back, ‘Spider-Man’ had interrupted a grocery store robbery, and he must have been distracted because he came back home with a gunshot wound in his arm.

Apparently, he’d been feigning illness a little too well, and his mother let him take a few days off of school. Garrett was tasked with bringing Bram his assignments and a bunch of medical supplies.

“It’s looking better,” Garrett said, eyeing the wound.

“Scrapes and cuts heal up fast, but I guess this one was a little deeper,” Bram replied.

“That bullet nearly took your freaking arm off, and you didn’t even realize until you got home,”

“It was the adrenaline,” Bram explained.

“Aren’t your spider-senses supposed to defend you from that sort of stuff,”

“It did,” Bram defended himself. “That bullet was meant for my chest, I moved out of the way,”

“Fine,” Garrett surrendered. “Spier asked about you today,”

Bram immediately sat up in bed, staring at Garrett and urging him to elaborate.

“I don’t know! He was worried that you haven’t shown up all week, and then he wrote it off to some B.S excuse about being science partners or something,”

Bram couldn’t contain his smile, “I guess I’ll be back at school tomorrow,”

“Ok, Romeo. But remember, you can’t let distractions get the best of you,”

“I’ll try,”

He had a feeling this was going to be a good day, considering that Bram was finally back after his mysterious disappearance, and even offered him a smile as he sat down next to Garrett after lunch.

Their entire History class had a field trip together that day, and Simon was particularly excited since he and Bram were the only ones who knew each other in that class.

The bus ride wasn’t filled with too much entertainment, but somehow he’d found the courage to offer his seat to Bram, who kindly accepted. Bram was so easy to talk to, once they got past the initial shyness, the conversation flowed easily.

By the time they got to the museum, Simon felt like they were inseparable.

“Hey Bram, I think we’re going to head to the café in about twenty minutes…” Simon began but could see that Bram’s expression had suddenly changed.

“Did you feel that?” Bram asked looking around at nothing in particular.

“No,” Simon replied.

“Si, you need to get out of this building. Take as many people as you can with you, okay!” Bram said in a frantic tone.

Simon was momentarily frozen, not knowing whether he should focus on the random change in Bram’s demeanour, the weight of his words or the nickname that Bram had so effortlessly used.

Simon could barely catch his breath, racing out of the building and holding on to Bram’s hand. He didn’t know how Bram was running that fast, but before he knew it they were out of the building.

“It looks like Mr. Sykes got the class out,” Bram commented, counting the number of their classmates.

“What was that,” Simon asked, his voice shaking.

“I don’t know,” Bram answered, keeping his gaze on the upper floors of the museum. “You should join everyone,”

“What about you?” Simon asked, wondering why Bram seemed so preoccupied at a time like this.

“I’ll join you in a second. I’m going to look for some staff members and talk to them,”

“Why? Did you see something,”

“Yeah, I think I did,”

Bram found an abandoned corner of the building, which housed industrial-sized garbage containers. A perfect cover, and within moments Bram was suited up.

He walked back a few steps before slinging a web to the top of the building. He was sure there would be an entrance up there.

Surely enough, there was and as Bram carefully stepped into the building, he could hear voices. There were four men, definitely armed and Bram planned the entire fight out.

Within seconds, he climbed up on the ceiling, taking advantage of the one who was a lookout and knocking him out cold.

One seemed to be focused on a large piece of artillery, something that could have caused the explosion, while the other two seemed to be looking at blueprints. Bram decided to go after the two, knocking their heads together in one go.

The last one turned around in a panicked state and fired his handgun at Bram. He managed to dodge them without much effort and managed to swing the gun right out of his hands. Another web pulled the final criminal towards him, and Bram used the leverage to kick him down into unconsciousness.

Tying up the criminals was always the most difficult part, as Bram always worried one would wake up and move around, but the four of them were wrapped around a pillar within ten minutes.

Bram shook his head, why couldn’t he have one day off.

Next, Bram checked the main floors for anyone who wasn’t in the building and then exited the museum. He took a moment to address everyone in the crowd, ensuring them that they were all safe, and he’d taken care of those who were involved in the crime.

“Please let the authorities know that they’ll find the four men in the northwest section of the enclave in the upper level. They’ve been disarmed and the artillery is military-grade. If anyone’s in serious need of medical attention, I can get them to a hospital right now,”

“We’re missing people!” Mr. Sykes called out to him, and Bram panicked before remembering he was a student too.

“How many people?” Bram asked, trying to deepen his voice.

“Two of my students. Bram Greenfeld and Simon Spier,”

“Simon?”

“Yes, and Abraham Greenfeld. According to some of my kids, Simon went to look for his friend,”

“And you let him?!” Bram yelled but caught himself in time before he went too far. “Sorry, I’ll go look for the two of them, just please keep everyone else safe,”

Mr. Sykes nodded, slightly backing away in fear.

Simon knew that sneaking into the building wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but he couldn’t imagine leaving Bram in that type of danger. Currently, he was stuck in an elevator, which had stopped working halfway through.

The lights were flickering on and off, and Simon was sure he’d heard gunshots. It was only a matter of time before someone found him, and it could mean either rescue or something worse.

It felt like forever before he heard another sound, and Simon wasn’t sure if he was imagining those sounds. Someone was calling his name, and he was ninety percent sure any criminals wouldn’t be on a first-name basis with him.

“Simon! Are you here?”

For some reason, Simon thought he recognized that voice, so he shouted back: “Bram! I’m in here!”

The elevator doors began creaking, and Simon knew there was no earthly way Bram could open those with his bare hands. And he was correct because it wasn’t Bram.

“Spider-Man?”

“Hey, are you alright?”

Simon felt like that the masked vigilante sounded eerily similar to Bram, but blamed it on the frantic situation he was in.

“Y-Yeah. I’m okay,” Simon stuttered. “Are you alright?”

Spider-Man seemed to be confused, and paused before saying, “Nobody’s ever asked me that before,”

Simon couldn’t see it, but he was sure that the guy beneath the mask was smiling at him.

“I’m gonna step into the elevator okay? And then I’m going to help you out. This elevator is stuck between two floors, so there’s a bit of a drop, but you’re gonna be safe, understand?”

“Got it,”

“Okay. I’m stepping in now,”

Spider-Man took a step inside and Simon could feel the structure shake beneath him; the hero beside him could clearly feel it too. Spider-Man carefully opened the hatch above them and seemed to be measuring the space mentally.

Then he offered his hand to Simon, who took it slowly.

“Just hold on as tight as you can, okay. And don’t look down,”

Simon wrapped one arm around his shoulder and the other around his neck, holding on as tight as possible. In a flash, Spidey shot a web up and Simon could feel himself being yanked upwards. He closed his eyes shut, but the sound of the crash was unmistakable. That could have been him.

When he felt his feet on solid ground, Simon finally opened up his eyes. He was clearly high up, higher than he’d ever been before. Looking down at the crowd below, he realized he was on the roof of the building.

“You’re okay,” Spider-Man offered him some comfort.

“Did you find Bram?”

The masked hero waited a moment before responding. “Bram?”

“He’s my…” Simon paused. “He’s my friend, the one I went back in looking for,”

“I wouldn’t advise doing that in the future,” the disguised hero replied sternly. “There was nobody else in the building, but I’ll keep an eye out for him,”

“Okay. Thanks for saving me and everything,” Simon said to him casually, “let me know if there’s any way I can pay you back.”

Simon was certain he had just made Spider-Man laugh, and he could definitely put that down on his bucket list.

After dropping off Simon with the crowd, Bram changed back into his regular clothes within a matter of minutes and raced back around the building.

“Bram!” Simon said, as soon as he saw him, running up and wrapping his arms around him in a hug. “Are you hurt?”

“No. I’m fine. I went looking for you,”

“So did I,” Simon replied. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Bram nodded. “Are you?”

“Yeah, got into a little bit of trouble, but I got out of it just fine. Met Spider-Man,” Simon shrugged, sporting a shy smile.

“Oh?” Bram returned his smile.

“He’s not all that he’s hyped up to be,” Simon replied jokingly.

Arriving home, his mother greeted with a tight hug, refusing to let him go for a number of minutes.

‘If only she knew’ Bram thought to himself.

As the day turned into night, Bram went over the day’s events in his mind. He had an urge to swing on by to Simon’s house, in full costume, knowing that it was probably the dumbest thing he could ever do. Maybe this was why crushes and heroism didn’t mix well together, but Bram had to remember he was a teenager, and priorities were always muddled.

He paced around back and forth in his room, putting the mask on and off wondering who would impress Simon more. He knew the obvious answer was Spidey, but Bram had a feeling that he and Simon had gotten off considerably well throughout the day. Simon had actually gone looking for him, and that had to mean something.

He almost missed the knock on his door, and barely had time to shove the mask under his bed.

“Honey?” Bram’s mom opened the door an inch. “There’s someone here to see you?”

“Garrett?”

“Nope,” Bram’s mom replied mysteriously.

Bram walked down the stairs and was pleasantly surprised to see Simon in his foyer.

“Si?” Bram said, walking up to him, face riddled with confusion.

“Hey, Bram. I-I wanted to see how you were doing, after today,” Simon shuffled in place.

“We can step outside,” Bram offered, wondering if Simon wanted to talk alone.

They sat together on their front porch, and Simon tried to keep his breathing under control. He had no idea how he’d built up the courage to do this, but he knew he had to.

If his experience today had taught him anything, it was that nothing was promised, not even the next moment. Today could have ended very differently for him, for Bram, and for everyone there. And he knew that someone wouldn’t always be there to save them.

He needed to let Bram know the truth.

“I like you,” Simon blurted out as soon as they sat down.

“What?”

“I know that sounds fucking weird to hear, and I don’t even know if you like guys, or let alone like me…but I could have died today and I realized that I couldn’t let a day go by without letting you know that…”

“Si?” Bram interrupted.

“Yeah?”

“In case you haven’t noticed, I like you too. A lot,” Bram replied.

“Oh?”

“And if it’s okay with you, I’d really like to kiss you,”

“That’s more than okay,”

Bram carefully leaned in to close the distance, closing his eyes in time. He felt the gentlest movement against his mouth and Bram felt his heart skip a beat. Simon was kissing him back.

Bram wanted to stay in this moment for as long as he could, but he knew that this one act was going to change everything. This was going to be another person who he’d either be keeping a secret from, or to whom he’d be confessing a heavy truth. This was someone who’s safety could be used against him. Someone with whom he would fall in love.

But Bram pushed away those intrusive thoughts, giving his all to the kiss. At that moment, he decided, nothing else was going to matter. No bad guys, no overbearing stress, not his secret identity; nobody existed outside of the bubble of himself and the boy in his arms.

There would come a time where he’d have to trust Simon with everything, and Bram had an inkling it would turn out fine. After all, Simon owed him one.

#love simon #rennwynn #love simon fanfiction #love simon fanfic #svthsa #svthsa fanfiction #svthsa fanfic #simon spier #bram greenfeld #simon vs the homosapiens agenda #simon x bram

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postgamecontent · 7 years

Text

The Summer of Adventure: Threads of Fate

Original Release Date: October 14, 1999 (JPN)

Original Hardware: Sony PlayStation

I'll open this article with a little honesty. I had trouble with Threads of Fate, both playing it and writing about it. As with Legend of Mana, this was my first experience with the game. Unlike Legend of Mana, Threads of Fate wasn't better than I was expecting, or even as good as I had imagined. Fortunately, it's also not a bad game by any means, but it lacks a certain something. In reading up on the game's development, it became clear why I had trouble investing myself in this game. It's not meant to be a deep game or even a very serious one. The intended vibe was something like a cartoon for kids, and with that knowledge in tow, its lack of narrative substance or mechanical complexity makes complete sense. Still, this is the Summer of Adventure. I made my way through the game and am now trying to get this write-up together instead of just ignoring it and playing Chrono Cross.

I'm not sure where I got the idea that Threads of Fate was done by the same team as the 1998 action RPG Brave Fencer Musashi, but I was completely mistaken. Given how close their release dates were, I suppose that's understandable. Instead, the development team was largely filled with veterans of Chrono Trigger and Xenogears, along with a surprising amount of new faces. Even among those with experience, many team members were taking on new roles. Chief among them was Koji Sugimoto, the game's director. Sugimoto had only done programming work for the company before this game, with his debut being in the role of a visual programmer on Chrono Trigger. He was just 20 years old when that game was released, but somehow only a few years later was given the reins of a fairly major production. Threads of Fate would be the only game released where he served as a director. After that, he returned to his programming duties on titles such as Final Fantasy 10 and Crisis Core.

There are a number of notable staff members who contributed to the game. Makoto Shimamoto is credited with the original story idea and the event planning. He would be among the developers who left Square to continue the Xeno series at Monolith. Shimamoto was one of the main designers of the battle systems found in Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, Xenosaga, and Xenoblade. Like many members of Monolith, he also made contributions to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, though the exact nature of his work on that title will likely remain a mystery. Threads of Fate's scenario was written by Daisuke Watanabe. At the time, he was a fresh face, but he would go on to earn writing credits on the entire Kingdom Hearts series, along with Final Fantasy 10, 12, 13, 13-2, and Lightning Returns. The soundtrack was composed by Junya Nakano in a rare solo effort. Nakano can frequently be found collaborating with Masashi Hamauzu on games such as Front Mission: Gun Hazard and Final Fantasy 10.

With all of that talent and more on board, you might expect something big from Threads of Fate. It's important to remember, however, that many of these future stars were still near the start of their respective careers. There's a sense of tentativeness about Threads of Fate that may well spring from that. It's not so much that the game lacks confidence, so to speak, but that it almost seems afraid of attracting too much attention. Indeed, as Square games of this era go, Threads of Fate might be the most forgotten. It's not the most thrilling or epic, nor is it memorably terrible, or even particularly unique. The interesting or unusual things it does do have failed to make much of a mark in the general gaming consciousness. As an example, one of the heroes of the game, Rue, wields one of those ridiculous-looking pizza-slicer weapons, but whenever that particular Square quirk is brought up, it's always in reference to Luso from Final Fantasy Tactics A2.

According to an interview that director Sugimoto did with Gather Your Party a couple of years ago, Threads of Fate was built to satisfy three major goals. Like others on the team, he was just coming off of Xenogears, and he couldn't help but wonder if kids would be able to understand or enjoy games like that. He felt that kids were future customers that weren't exactly well-served by many of Square's games. Sugimoto wisely believed that for the sake of the company's future, they ought to start addressing that audience. As a programmer, Sugimoto really enjoyed doing 3D coding. Very little of Square's output at that time was in full 3D, so he wanted his game to cover that, as well. Finally, since this was his first shot at the director's chair, he wanted to come out of the gates with something exciting and lively.

Did he accomplish those goals? Well, to an extent, I guess he did. There's no denying that Threads of Fate is more kid-friendly than things like Final Fantasy 8 and Xenogears. The story certainly has some characteristically Square-like twists to it, but the tone is closer to a children's anime than the usual angsty teen adventure Square was largely turning out at the time. There are plenty of silly jokes, goofy expressions, and bits of physical comedy that help maintain that cartoony mood, and the game's true ending is really just an open-ended bridge to the next adventure. The gameplay is similarly light. Overall, there aren't many systems to grapple with, and each of the two heroes will only have to deal with a portion of them during their playthrough. Map designs are largely straightforward, and the combat system doesn't go much farther than stick-and-move. The difficulty is somewhat low in all respects. A single playthrough runs 15-20 hours or so, but you'll have to reach the end with both characters if you want to see an extra scene. That's a little on the longer side for an action-RPG, but I could imagine someone enjoying bashing things around for that length of time, even if I didn't.

For a fully polygonal game, Threads of Fate looks and runs quite well. Square was generally fond of using a mix of 2D and 3D assets in this period. Using 2D backgrounds freed up resources to make the 3D main characters look better than you would expect from the PlayStation, so it was a pretty good choice for the kinds of games Square was making. Threads of Fate went all-in on the polygons, and it's fairly impressive in that context. Comparing Threads of Fate to Brave Fencer Musashi makes it seem like the former is almost an entire generation ahead. While it's not quite as attractive as Mega Man Legends, it has a similar sort of appeal to its visuals. Come to think of it, the sense of humor isn't far off from that game's, either. The game makes good use of its 3D visuals with dynamic camera angles and combat mechanics that take the added visual depth into account.

While I won't go so far as to accuse the game of being dull, I think it's in the director's third goal that it stumbles the most. If the aim was to make something exciting and lively, I'd say that the team only halfway accomplished that. Amusingly enough, its main failure can be found in one of its notable selling points. The game has two protagonists, Rue and Mint. While they are both working towards the same goal, their narrative paths are quite different. The stories frequently cross over with each other, but the tone of each is quite distinct. Rue is seeking a relic that he hopes can bring his friend back to life. He ends up on a typical Square quest for identity once his origins are revealed. Unfortunately, his personality is exceptionally boring. The game is aware of that and hangs a hat on it often, but hanging a hat on something doesn't remove it from the room. Mint seeks the same relic, but for totally childish and selfish purposes. She wants to show up her younger sister and take over the world. She's a total brat, and she only evens out a little bit over the course of the game, thank goodness.

From a story standpoint, Rue's quest seems to be trying more, but it ends up being far too cliche. It also drags you through some really awful existential speeches. By contrast, Mint's story is a breath of fresh air. It's silly, shallow, and not afraid to be completely stupid if it thinks that will earn a chuckle. She's a princess who likes to jump-kick first and ask questions later, and she has an acute phobia of pumpkins that the game milks for all it's worth. I'll go as far as to say that the optimal playthrough of Threads of Fate is to play Mint's quest first, and then just leave it at that. Your only reward for doing Rue's side of things is an avalanche of Pinocchio winks and a brief cut-scene that sets up a never-to-come sequel.

It extends to more than just the story, though. Rue and Mint also have different gameplay styles. Mint can cast a variety of useful magic spells. Her repertoire constantly expands over the course of the game, and the only catch is that you need to keep an eye on your MP. Those points will slowly restore as you whack away at the enemies with physical attacks, giving the gameplay a nice balance between safe ranged strikes and risky but necessary close combat. Rue is a little different. He can change his shape into the forms of the enemies he fights. Unfortunately, he can only change into the last five enemies he has encountered, which makes that ability very unreliable. Rue has to depend more on his trusty weapon. Given the general lack of zip in the melee combat, it makes for a long slog. I suppose it's cool on paper, and I can't deny that it's an innovative way to introduce some puzzles outside of the normal action-RPG stuff.

Threads of Fate is at its best when it's being goofy. Its serious moments have been done many times before, and far better. But when it starts parading out its cast of bizarre NPCs, it's hard not to smile a little. Characters like the star-obsessed Duke, the self-absorbed Rod, or the garish Fancy Mel are not only weird and wonderful in their own right, they bounce off of the heroes really well. Especially Mint, who is frankly having none of this foolishness even as she is cranking up the absurdity all on her own. The game's localization doesn't try very hard taking any of this seriously, and although it comes off as rough and amateurish in places, neither of those qualities are particularly out of place in both this game and its era. The overall courseness that the English script is prone to is practically a perfect match for the bratty Mint, who isn't nearly as elegant or amazing as she thinks she is.

Had I encountered the game in the right time or place, I might have liked Threads of Fate better. It has charm to burn and it's certainly competent in most regards. I guess the problem is that it doesn't seem all that interested in being anything more than that. And while it's not a terribly long game in the grander scheme, any enjoyment to be gleaned from the gameplay is exhausted well before the credits roll on even the first playthrough. That's a long ride on silly jokes alone. That said, it's not hard to find people who absolutely adore the game, and it certainly got its fair share of positive reviews in its time. It's also probably unfair to expect so much from a game that was explicitly designed to appeal to children. Again, it's not a bad game at all. I'm not displeased that I played it. But I also didn't take much away from the game, so it's hard to say if people with no existing connection to it should bother diving back in time to give it a go.

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#gaming #retro #summer of adventure #threads of fate #square enix #playstation #rpg

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