Impressions

I doubt there's much chance of any of FF12's developers receiving my impressions of their game when I'm done with it, but mine of Blackwell Legacy may actually have some currency beyond my own circle of friends. Of course few of Manifesto's games are corporate monoliths, but Dave Gilbert comes across as such a personable fellow in his games that it would feel like a cop-out not to actually reply. Those commentaries are a great idea, particularly for offsetting the grim contents of Blackwell and Shivah.

Like urban alienation. Wow, but did he bring that across. Not only has Rosa lost her family, but she's almost completely unknown among her neighbors after living 5 years in her apartment building. Her employer's an asshole, and college students just don't want to be bothered. When she meets her new ghostly companion, her prospects for developing a normal set of social relations are shattered - but maybe not. I hope future installments include more friends like Nishanthi, for Rosa's sake.

I'm a little surprised by one comment Dave made in his commentary, about a conversation regarding Joey's tie. Perhaps it was the double entendre readings that eluded him. After all, given Rosa's great social awkwardness its unlikely she's had many romantic liaisons, and now suddenly she'll be living the rest of her life with a strange male. Indeed the scenario reminds me of the 'magical girlfriend' genre of Japanese manga (typified by such stories as Ah! My Goddess or 3x3 Eyes), except that the protagonist here is female obviously, and there's no really overt sexual attraction .. with the possible exception of this unintended innuendo, anyway.

So I have to count myself as a 'Wadjet Eye' fan now. I have to know how Dave develops the story's ambiguous philosophy. I don't think I'm spoiling to say that at the end of this first game Rosa appears to have accepted Joey into her life, but the "lesson" she takes with that is less happy, that to deny her alienation would deny what she needs to do for her sanity. This appears more optimistic than Lovecraft's mercy, anyway.

I'll be likewise interested to see how the Wadjet Eye's technical proficiency improves. I haven't played many AGS games, or even touched its editor, but I imagine that Dave's projects must be some of the more technically ambitious efforts in that environment. I can see that from some places that don't quite work.

- In one scene, Rosa needs to hide, a little MGS moment. Even knowing the correct response, I had to repeat this several times to succeed.
- It's possible to complete your writing assignment before visiting the neighbor; doing both advances the story. However, when you click on the bedroom door Rosa complains that she can't sleep because she has to work.
- Dave mentions taking over a week to manually import several thousand voice samples into his AGS project. Assuming that this activity involved no analysis or creativity, this is objectively tragic. Is there no 'make' equilivant for AGS, a programming tool for leveraging the computer's proficiency for automation to managing project resources?

To review: Blackwell Legacy is a fantastic, provocative start from the little development studio that could. If you're considering playing it, the game is well-written and robust for its various intriguing puzzles.