This is one of those games that throws you off, confuses you, and even scares you from time to time.
Before I go into any further detail, I have one thing to say:
Everyone should give this game a chance, but there is one catch:
You will
NEVER find this game, and even if you do, it will cost you more money than you'd be willing to spend on a Playstation one game.
So to play it, you will likely have to break international copyright laws.
Lucky for you, the knowledge of Japanese isn't all that important, the menu is in English, and there is only a little bit of text in Japanese (aside from in a few of the texture sets)
Released on the Playstation one in 1998, this game never saw release outside of Japan, and it had a fairly short production run in Japan.
Like I said, there is a good chance you haven't heard of it.
This game is based on a diary one of the developers kept about their dreams, and this person may-or-may not have been on LSD at the time (my guess, he was)
Now that you've got some sort of background knowledge, let's begin:
Story:
I don't even know, there really isn't one here.
Gameplay: 5
I figured that videos were in order for this one:
Pretty simple, just a first person game with no plot, no goals, nothing to shoot, and nothing to shoot with.
You just walk, the whole game all you can do is walk.
So you ask yourself: "Why is this worth a five?"
There is more to it than that.
When you bump into most objects, you are "linked" to another area, which is kind of jarring at first, you can be in some Edo-era town in Japan, walk into a tree and suddenly be transported into some twisted mechanical toyland populated by toy soldiers and a train with a face.
While there are no "enemies" you aren't always alone, sometimes you run across creatures that remind me of a Pink Floyd song. Some creatures just remain stationary, some roam around on a set course paying no mind to you, others flee from you and some chase you down.
More important than any other being you might run across, is the shadow man, who is dressed in gray from head toe, he even has gray skin.
This guy is not your friend, and he is the closest thing to an enemy you have. When you see him, your best bet is to turn around and run like hell, hoping you get away from him. Getting to close to him ends your dream automatically, and erases your dream.
Now about ending dreams:
Each "Day" in game is considered one dream. These last around ten minutes before you wake up.
Dreams end also when you should die, this happens when you fall of a cliff or get shot down by a rogue bi-plane.
The other circumstance that ends your dream is the shadow man, so stay away from him.
Things about this game are very random, the area you are linked to is random, the textures the objects have in the area are random, the creatures you may or may not encounter are random, and the music is random.
You can replicate the way another person played down to the frame, and you would still see something different from them.
There is a graph at the end of each dream, this is the best way to track "progress" The game does have and ending, and the only way to achieve this is to fill every single spot on this graph:
Your position on the graph is determined by various factors of your dream, the areas you linked to, the textures you saw, the music you heard and the odd beings you encountered, so naturally when a Tengu holding a marijuana leaf attacked me, it makes sense that I would have moved down and right on the graph.
Here's a rundown of what it means:
Upper: Upbeat music, bright colors, pleasant landscapes and pink elephants and other nice creatures that don't scare the crap out of you, more common early on.
Downer: No music, or slow music, dark colors, unpleasant landscapes and scary creatures like a head with two faces, with arms and legs growing out of it, this becomes more frequent as the days progress.
Static: Very few areas, maybe you ended up linking back and forth between two or three areas, few creatures seen, more common early on.
Dynamic: Lots of areas linked to, and lots of creatures encountered, this becomes more frequent as the days progress.
One last note:
There are two kinds of dreams that you play no part in:
Text dreams, which are what appears to be excerpts from the journal this game was based on.
Movie dreams, which are just random videos, from watching a guy out in public, to pigeons being stupid, to a child eating cereal in an elevator. These make no sense at all.
Graphics: 4
I've seen a lot better, and a lot worse.
Because of the number of textures, the areas don't seem too repetitive, and the creatures look pretty cool.
Screenshots:
(posted in groups)
Sound: 4
The sound is pretty cool, except for a few sound effects, like when you are walking across a rickety old bridge.
The music has around 500 different "patterns" to it, they come from mixing of a few basic tracks and changing the tone, pitch and tempo. It is pretty catchy.
Replay Value: 5
No matter how many times you play this, you probably won't see exactly the same thing twice.
It is always cool to see where your dream lands on the graph, in hopes that you fill it out and see the end.
Overall: 5
Play it, just give it a shot, it is a good game that is worth playing.
Like I said, you will probably have to illegally download it to ever play it.
Linear Mode
