Let's Play! Anodyne! An Open Love Letter to Zelda

[Tebryn]

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u131/Tebryn_Cabal/images_zps1e32e806.jpg

Welcome to Let's Play! Anodyne, an action RPG in the vein of old school titles like Zelda: Link's Awakening and Zelda: A Link to the Past. Created by Sean Hogan and Jonathan Kittaka, our story follows Young through a cerebral dungeon crawl and exploration adventure through urban and abstract themed areas. The game holds a 16 bit graphical style, a further throw back to it's roots in the Zelda Franchise and Super Nintendo era video games.This series will be uploaded daily, Monday through Friday before 12 AM EST.

Episode 1: Broom Pusher (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T0dno28w5A)
Episode 2: Dungeon Janitor (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO2wnPdn_8g)
Episode 3: Looking for Answers Where There Are None (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC_wrm4oxFo)
Episode 4: Red Tide (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg5ovUDMtl0)
Episode 5: Your Mother (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzfOVEcg3JM)
Episode 6: Dust Buster (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNGtUVNYNCA&feature=youtu.be)
Episode 7: Doppelganger (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgfbJGEXU34&feature=youtu.be)
Episode 8: Another Brick in the Wall (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsh1fmS1YMo&feature=youtu.be)
Episode 9: The Cube King (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y416dngT7E&feature=youtu.be)
Episode 10: 8-Bit Throw Back (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtjyCi5VwR8&feature=youtu.be)
Episode 11: Open Bar (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNdIPsKhta4&feature=youtu.be)
Episode 12: Room Service (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAdlVKoLX9s&feature=youtu.be)
Episode 13: The Circus You are Not (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5edQO6J-7I&feature=youtu.be)
Episode 14: Hightop Hilarity (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE0wk9cAuPs)
Episode 15: Why are You Standing Behind Me (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jRIQb38E3A&feature=youtu.be)
Episode 16: Motel 666 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xEQ_RA9JcE&feature=youtu.be)
Episode 17: Later That Evening (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J95sGs3pm6c&feature=youtu.be)
Episode 18: Broken Controller (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l7PQmGaM7I&feature=youtu.be)
Episode 19: Fade to White (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlEDK5bQgWg&feature=youtu.be)
Anodyne Special: 49 Card Pick Up (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6tTFWHwGN0&feature=youtu.be)

[Domochevsky]

Huh... my interest is piqueted. Consider yourself observed. :smallconfused:

[Tebryn]

Thank you for the observation! I hope you enjoy! :smallsmile:

[Tebryn]

Episode Six is up (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNGtUVNYNCA&feature=youtu.be). :smallsmile:

[KillianHawkeye]

Interesting game....

[Tebryn]

Indeed. It's getting pretty trippy. Something tells me it's some form of coma dream and we'll wake up at the end. Another throw back to Zelda: Link's Awakening.

[Domochevsky]

Episode Six is up (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNGtUVNYNCA&feature=youtu.be). :smallsmile:

Two items of note:

a) Needs more reading of stones (you skipped at least one in that episode and one more in a earlier one) and

b) Needs less swearing. There are people who can pull it off. You are not one of them. :smallwink:

[Tebryn]

Two items of note:

a) Needs more reading of stones (you skipped at least one in that episode and one more in a earlier one) and

b) Needs less swearing. There are people who can pull it off. You are not one of them. :smallwink:

I'll keep in mind. :smallredface:

[Tebryn]

Episode 7: Doppelganger (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgfbJGEXU34&feature=youtu.be) is up. I record in chunks, so I'll keep the above advice under advisement in the next batch of recordings, have one more episode pre-recorded. :smallredface:

[Domochevsky]

Episode 7: Doppelganger (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgfbJGEXU34&feature=youtu.be) is up. I record in chunks, so I'll keep the above advice under advisement in the next batch of recordings, have one more episode pre-recorded. :smallredface:

Alright then. :smallsmile:
(Btw, you missed a staircase at 14:30ish ...and ignored a chest at 16:50 o_O)

...man, these silent guys are kinda creepy. Weird, certainly.

[Tebryn]

Alright then. :smallsmile:
(Btw, you missed a staircase at 14:30ish ...and ignored a chest at 16:50 o_O)

...man, these silent guys are kinda creepy. Weird, certainly.

Ya, it's a mixture of keeping commentary coming or at least on my mind and just being so engrossed with the games exploration bits that...some things just get swallowed up in the haze. The silent guys are super creepy...the added mumbling in the soundtrack when they're on the screen is an amazing effect as well.

I'm doing/have done a few horror games on my channel as well and I find Anodyne almost as creepy even though it's not billed as that kind of game. My only complaints are with the jumping controls...they're a bit wonky...and the fact I can't keep the volume level where I want it when I restart the game. I imagine the latter will be fixed when it's ported to Desura and Steam.

[Tebryn]

Episode 8: Another Brick in the Wall (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsh1fmS1YMo&feature=youtu.be)is up. The plot continues to thicken and point to a rather unsettling story all told.

[Domochevsky]

Well, that solves those particular dungeon items. :smallsmile:

(Hm... i could believe if this story went down the "you're in a coma" route, but the game seems to be a bit too self-aware to go down a route as clichee as that.)

[Tebryn]

Well, that solves those particular dungeon items. :smallsmile:

(Hm... i could believe if this story went down the "you're in a coma" route, but the game seems to be a bit too self-aware to go down a route as clichee as that.)

Ya, I was wondering what kind of item I'd need to solve those puzzles, apparently nothing!

The more I study it, I believe it's not a coma but some form of immersion therapy. The Sage is the psychologist/psychiatrist and he's walking us through an adventure in our own mind to...fix what ever problem I suspect will be revealed at the end boss/end game.

[Tebryn]

And Episode 9: The Cube King (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y416dngT7E&feature=youtu.be) is up. I'm not even sure what's going on anymore.

[Tebryn]

Episode Ten: 8-Bit Throw Back (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtjyCi5VwR8&feature=youtu.be) starts a whole new recording block, did some of it after/during a party so...there may be minor inebriation going on in the next episode or two.

[Domochevsky]

Hm... yeah, i got nuthin'. Not sure what to make of the theme so far. The sudden retro-jump? (In which you fight nothing, are actively discouraged to do so and all creatures are bigger and faster than you ) Maybe a metaphor for "childhood"? :smallconfused:

No idea what's up with the dual light/dark cube kings, though. This has the potential to drift entirely off into armchair psychology.

[Tebryn]

Hm... yeah, i got nuthin'. Not sure what to make of the theme so far. The sudden retro-jump? (In which you fight nothing, are actively discouraged to do so and all creatures are bigger and faster than you ) Maybe a metaphor for "childhood"? :smallconfused:

No idea what's up with the dual light/dark cube kings, though. This has the potential to drift entirely off into armchair psychology.

I beat the game this weekend, and without spoilering much...I can at least say there is no armchair psychiatry going on in the game. Take that as you will.

The next episode or two were done after a rather rowdy party I held over the weekend so if inebriated play isn't your cup of tea then skip today's episode, as nothing of consequence was accomplished, more because the game threw a curveball platforming dungeon at me than anything else. If however you find the idea amusing...I don't have anything to lose looking foolish.

Episode 11: Open Bar (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNdIPsKhta4&feature=youtu.be)

[Morph Bark]

I beat the game this weekend, and without spoilering much...I can at least say there is no armchair psychiatry going on in the game. Take that as you will.

In a way, that's a shame. The game looks pretty odd in places in your Let's Play, but overall decently fun. I can certainly see the older 2D Zelda inspiration in it.

[Tebryn]

In a way, that's a shame. The game looks pretty odd in places in your Let's Play, but overall decently fun. I can certainly see the older 2D Zelda inspiration in it.

Thanks for watching first off! Ya...it's really rather disappointing. There's a lot I want to say now about the game, I've spoken to some RL friends about it already. I'll be doing my thoughts on the game when it's all done being posted which should be next Thursday.

[Tebryn]

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Episode 12: Room Service (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAdlVKoLX9s&feature=youtu.be)

[Morph Bark]

With that puzzle at the end, you should've first gone to that block you can't get past, jump over the pit with that running booster (and land on the opposite booster), hit the button to open the gate, hit the button to switch those crystal blocks blocking your path, go back, and get past.

[Tebryn]

With that puzzle at the end, you should've first gone to that block you can't get past, jump over the pit with that running booster (and land on the opposite booster), hit the button to open the gate, hit the button to switch those crystal blocks blocking your path, go back, and get past.

Ya, I generally run around for a bit in a dungeon and then get down to brass tacks so to speak. The Acrobat Dungeon, as I am calling it, is probably the hardest in terms of jumping and what not. Either that or I just suck.

At any rate! Episode 13!

Episode 13: The Circus You are Not (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5edQO6J-7I&feature=youtu.be)

[Mewtarthio]

It's not your imagination. The circus really is the jumpiest of dungeons.

(It's also, incidentally, the only dungeon that actually creeped me out a bit.)

[Tebryn]

Ya, it does make sense though. It was also probably the only dungeon (I stress dungeon) that gave me a bit of a pause.

[Tebryn]

Episode 14: Hightop Hilarity (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE0wk9cAuPs) is up :smallsmile: Moving slowly to the end of the game.

[Domochevsky]

Hm, seeing this go on... kinda makes it hard to suspect that this is all in the head of one person. Seems more like you're jumping from mind to mind, similar to Psychonauts. :smallconfused:

[Tebryn]

Hm, seeing this go on... kinda makes it hard to suspect that this is all in the head of one person. Seems more like you're jumping from mind to mind, similar to Psychonauts. :smallconfused:

I wish it had a little more in common with Psychonauts story-line wise. It gives a lot of call outs to other Indie Games and just games in general, I just didn't do those on camera because they're just...not interesting and you can only get to two before you beat the game. One was The Binding of Isaac and the other was Zelda.


Also Episode 15: Why are You Standing Behind Me (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jRIQb38E3A&feature=youtu.be) Getting closer to the end.

[Domochevsky]

Man, Young Town is no joke... but i'm starting to worry that there will be no apparent solution to any of this. :smallconfused:

(21:30, you completely ignored the path in the top left. >_> )

On a sidenote: I like how the first thing you did when you got a stabbing weapon is wantonly kill people. Talk about there being murderers outside. :smallamused:

[KillianHawkeye]

On a sidenote: I like how the first thing you did when you got a stabbing weapon is wantonly kill people. Talk about there being murderers outside. :smallamused:

While hilarious, I suspect that's a side effect of the 'Attack' function and the 'Talk' function being tied to the same key. Although he continues slaughtering townsfolk left and right, so you might be on to something...... :smallamused:

[Tebryn]

Man, Young Town is no joke... but i'm starting to worry that there will be no apparent solution to any of this. :smallconfused:

There is, I can at least say that for now. Is it satisfying? Your mileage may vary.


(21:30, you completely ignored the path in the top left. >_> )

Ya, chalk it up to the same tunnel vision as other things being missed. Not really an excuse...more an explanation.


On a sidenote: I like how the first thing you did when you got a stabbing weapon is wantonly kill people. Talk about there being murderers outside. :smallamused:

:smallwink:


While hilarious, I suspect that's a side effect of the 'Attack' function and the 'Talk' function being tied to the same key. Although he continues slaughtering townsfolk left and right, so you might be on to something...... :smallamused:

I don't think it's so much as a "side" effect as working as intended. I really was shocked the first time it happened, which was a really neat twist in the game.

[Tebryn]

Episode 16: Motel 666 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xEQ_RA9JcE&feature=youtu.be) is up. We're nearing the end folks. Last episode goes up Thursday.

[Domochevsky]

Episode 16: Motel 666 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xEQ_RA9JcE&feature=youtu.be) is up. We're nearing the end folks. Last episode goes up Thursday.

Let's hope you didn't use that key in the wrong place. >_>

[Tebryn]

Let's hope you didn't use that key in the wrong place. >_>

<_<

Episode 17: Later That Evening (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J95sGs3pm6c&feature=youtu.be)

[Domochevsky]

Hm, there's 4 fields, each able to hold 4x3 cards. I think you have a good deal yet to go on that angle. :smallconfused:

(Dat fighting...)

[Tebryn]

Hm, there's 4 fields, each able to hold 4x3 cards. I think you have a good deal yet to go on that angle. :smallconfused:

(Dat fighting...)

There's 49 cards in all, only 37 of them can be found before beating the end boss. I only miss one in the main game. I've got the other 13 I missed off camera but they don't add to the story. They're just kinda bragging rights.

[Domochevsky]

Aw. I guess then the only thing left in that corner is you doing a video dedicated to all cards after the final boss (showing and reading them out) if possible.

[Tebryn]

Aw. I guess then the only thing left in that corner is you doing a video dedicated to all cards after the final boss (showing and reading them out) if possible.

I'd be more than happy to do that. I'll added it to my recording rotation for the week. I was sick all weekend long so I didn't get to record as much as I wanted.

[Domochevsky]

Nice. In that line i'd then also hear your thoughts on how each of them fits into the grand scheme of things for this game (if there is such a thing as transparent symbolism after everything got acomplished). :smallsmile:

[Tebryn]

Episode 18: Broken Controller (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l7PQmGaM7I&feature=youtu.be)

[Tebryn]

And we've come to the final episode. Thanks everyone for watching! I really appreciate it. :smallredface:

Episode 19: Fade to White (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlEDK5bQgWg&feature=youtu.be)

And of course, final thoughts.


I've got really mixed feelings about this game. On one hand, I want to like it more than I do. On the other, had it been on an old school system I think I'd have broken a controller on a few parts. Done by two guys over less than a year...it's good but by that metric there are a lot of really good indie games that have been lambasted all over the place. It's got a retro feel and draws me back to a fond period of my childhood where I could spend six hours in Zelda: A Link to the Past and enjoy every minute of it, even the tough parts. But for all its promise of being an open love letter to the old school Zelda series, when you open said letter up it's a hastily scrawled jumble on a crumpled napkin with some mayo on the side. Sure there are dungeon crawls and boss fights against weird and powerful entities but it all sort of rings hollow at the end of it all. That's not to say the game is an utter pile however, there were sparkles of something beautiful in the empty world. Sparkles that kept me going only to push me off a bridge for my boyish curiosity.

The Bad: The game lacked a lot of things, a storyline and a difficulty curve being two things I began to sorely miss. The enemies varied in difficulty from push over to obnoxious and sometimes the placement of them were beyond aggravating. While I wasn't the best at the combat by any metric, like a few things in this little mini-rant wasn't necessarily all my fault. The broom was a neat little gimmick and a bit of an amusement at the start of the game but of the three upgrades you get only one was really useful all the time. The other you only got at the end of the game and was at best superfluous until Post-Game "adventures". Coupled with the stark lack of other items to vary the adventure safe for the jumping boots, it was the first of the deviations from Zelda and not for the good.

The Jumping Boots and game physics were the next source of major issue with me. Jumps you'd made a hundred times before suddenly fail because your tears of rage fuel the capricious Troll Engine that beats at the heart of this game. Added to this was an unmentioned and exceedingly aggravating physics aspect to the jumps. Jumps you made for sure would suddenly slide you off into a dark pit as if you still had momentum. Sometimes it wouldn't and once again you were at the mercy of the Troll Engine. The puzzles kept on this Difficulty Wave, at their lowest they were as simple as any beginner video game could throw at you without being insulting. At their highest they rivaled The Meat Circus from Psychonauts. The entire range of these puzzles aren't partitioned into increasingly hard dungeons, instead placed in each stop like a miserable stew.

Coupled with this was the utter lack of anything connecting the dungeons to the world or the world to the story or the story to anything resembling the game in any sense of the word. The characters you meet are only tangentially related to the world, making any time you stumble on them awkward or utterly meaningless. Why chase the blue rabbits in the forest? Why even go to the forest is a better question. The set pieces were pretty but empty. Unlike the game they were so lovingly representing, the world of Anodyne is devoid of charm. The cast of colorful characters like the Gorons or the Zora is replaced with drab one off characters who simply move in place, saying a few different lines that all ammount to the same meaningless garbage. Why give them extended dialogue when none of it matters? It doesn't advance or give hints to the story. It doesn't give insight into Young, the silent "protagonist" and I air quote that because at the end of the day Young was only the protagonist because he was what the camera followed.

Then there were the cards. What did they accomplish? Hell if I know. I got all them, a feat that I almost didn't finish from the sheer inanity of it all. They also don't give us any insight into the world. Each gives a blurb of text but it may as well all be fluff for how much it effected the game. The comments ranged from the vaguely creepy that the game seemed to shoot for to... incomprehensible. Characters shouting their last name isn't Saches, only to learn at the credit roll that the character was named Goldman. Not that he told us that, which would have given us context to the joke and thus actually a bit of humor potentially.

This all culminates to the biggest problem I have with this game. There isn't a story. We're teased with one at the start and it's left to rot at the end. What starts out as an eerie dark world with a few moments that actually startled me devolved into a slew of referential jokes about popular indie games and non-indie games in the same deft and soulless manner as you'd find in a Sunday morning comic strip like Garfield. Why are we trying to save the Briar? Why is the Briar another kid at the end of the story and not a massive thicket of green shrubs? Why is The Briar given a The when it's a person in the first place? Who the hell was the Sage? Was the world in our head, some magical realm feeding off our characters dementia or something different altogether? What's the darkness?

What were any of the Dungeons past perhaps the third even there for? What did any of the bosses actually mean? The first three actually talk to your character, make comments about him but that drops the minute you wander into a dilapidated hotel and fight a bunch of eye monsters. The end is a literal fade to white after fighting The Briar, which I had thought we were trying to save from The Darkness but it turns out The Darkness took a lunch break or something while we were away and The Briar felt bad we wouldn't get one more boss battle in before we left Anodyne for good. It was all together disappointing to watch what could have been a visceral descent into the loneliness and rage of a young boy manifested through his only outlet for entertainment into a boring, though pretty, slough that by the time I got to the end boss, was more than a little happy was finally over.


The Good: The musical score for Anodyne was stellar, I found myself several days later repeating the merry or often times not so merry jingle to myself while playing other games much to the agitation of my friends. The enemies were interestingly designed despite some of them wanting to make me rip my hair out and the characters you met were interestingly designed as well.

For as empty as they are, the world is at least designed well. While parts don't feel alive or even useful, others breathe life until you're sick of it. The dungeons, save for the Acrobat dungeon that will haunt my dreams, are well designed and are at the very least rather short. Take that as you will I suppose.

Wrapping it Up: Despite the much longer section dedicated to all the bits in this game that really got to me, I can't say I disliked my time through the whole game in reflection. I've had a week or so to really think about it, on top of playing games I enjoy beyond measure has put this game in prespective. It promises a lot but doesn't really ever fully deliver. It was perhaps an overly ambitious project done by two close friends. I want to like the game more because they obviously put a lot of work into the project and supporting developers like them is important. But I can't lie, the game is mediocre and if they'd had even a few more hands on the project I'd be very moved to say it wasn't even that.

[Domochevsky]

:sigh:

So it's another Art Game. All the questions, none of the answers. I don't like that. I never did. :smallannoyed:

This is kinda marring the journey through all of this via hindsight, decreasing my opinion of the game by a good deal. Quite a bummer, that.

Good flight; botched the landing hard. I give it a ME3 out of 10.

[Tebryn]

:sigh:

So it's another Art Game. All the questions, none of the answers. I don't like that. I never did. :smallannoyed:

This is kinda marring the journey through all of this via hindsight, decreasing my opinion of the game by a good deal. Quite a bummer, that.

Good flight; botched the landing hard. I give it a ME3 out of 10.

This may be a bit early of me, but I'm calling it now. My most disappointing game of 2013. I mean, I could have gone through what I thought it all was in my long winded semi-rant but it really didn't seem to hold much of a point. It'd be fanfiction at that point. If only they'd spent a little more time with the story and a little less with the stupid cards. I really began to resent getting cards by the end of the Let's Play and not like...a magic wand or another cool gadget to use to beat the dungeon I was in. They made me feel like the game had a great distate for me and it was showering me in useless garbage to show it. The dungeons were fun but it got repetitive by the fourth. I was downright sick of jumping by the end of the second to last episode. The creators boast on their site about how hard their puzzles are but they're not hard. They're just made to tick you off and that's what we call Artificial Difficulty and it's bullcrap.

[KillianHawkeye]

So disappointing!

Well, Tebryn, let me just say: Thanks for playing this so that the rest of us don't have to.

[Tebryn]

So disappointing!

Well, Tebryn, let me just say: Thanks for playing this so that the rest of us don't have to.

Thank you for watching!

[Tebryn]

As promised, here's a special episode of Anodyne for all the cards

Anodyne Special: 49 Card Pick Up (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6tTFWHwGN0&feature=youtu.be)