don't take it personally, babe, it just ain't your story
Whew. What a game. Even though there are many reviews/articles about this great indie game by Christine Love (maker of Digital: A Love Story, another great and awesome indie game everyone should try, but I'll not elaborate and let your googling explain to you), I still feel obliged, as a player who enjoyed it extremely, to post something about it.
Don't take it personally, babe, it just ain't your story (from now on shortened to "don't take it personally" for the purposes of this post) is like a visual novel, drawn with anime-style art.
See? Pretty nice art (and cute girls xD) However, the way information is presented in don't take it personally is rather more unique than your usual visual novel (speaking from someone who has relatively little exp. with visual novels, but I do believe most convey information purely through dialogue?). While there certainly is quite a bit of dialogue, the meat of the information is actually presented through this digital live feed kinda thing.
Ok, sorry for forgetting but I obviously have to present the context slightly first. Ok you play as a middle-age English Lit teacher, and you mainly interact with your 16 yr old students. Except you don't really "play" as him, insomuch as see what he says and what he does. You do get to make choices, but the choices leave you wondering if it was really a choice at all, or if the end result would have been the same nonetheless.
Anyway, back to the digital live feed thing. It's obviously a rip-off of FB, what with walls and stuff, but it's really interesting to see how the other characters interact with each other without you being a part of it. The interaction is also very multi-faceted, as they can post publicly on each others' walls or have private conversations with each other, so you have to stay abreast of all the ongoing stuff. Thankfully, there are mostly only 2 or 3 conversations going on at the same time so you won't feel that swamped with information.
And it is mainly through this digital device that most of the issues are fleshed out to you. Homosexual relationships, bullying, your student, who is half your age, having crush on you, etc. With regards to the last example, apparently you do get to make choices to "develop it further", so to speak, but my sister was peeking over my shoulder while I was playing that segment so I was forced by my sister (who really really insisted) to choose the prudish option (not that I definitely would have chosen to lead her on if my sister wasn't around. It really does present quite a bit of a moral dilemma, and game or no, it does make you think about some issues). No matter, I plan to play through this more than once anyway.
Other than the discourse on these sensitive issues and all, I felt the thing that really made this such a joy to play was the language used. No doubt, Christine Love is great at writing dialogue (also evident in Digital: A Love Story. the dialogue (if you could call it that) in that game was definitely brilliant), and some of the back-and-forth in the game is especially wonderful. Also, the language used is so personable, so close to the language that I use everyday with my friends, it brings the characters so much closer and I am able to relate to them so much more. Ok, the language I'm referring to here is internet-speak, but it goes beyond the occasional addition of "lol" or "rofl", and it's evident that the dialogue is written by someone who has a good idea of what she's talking about. It just makes the characters seem real, because that is the way you speak with your friends too (albeit not IRL).
Also, the game managed to make me seriously laugh out loud (while using the computer in my living room) on multiple occasions. The dialogue IS that funny. Case in point, this girl was insulting this other girl, and that girl replied each successive insult with "you mad?", "you mad??" and finally with "you mad???". The other girl got so pissed off and ended with "you're impossible" or something along that vein. Clearly successful troll is successful xD
As such, I highly recommend this game to anyone and everyone. It takes only about 1hour+ to 2 hours for a single play through, and it is truly a joyride, with the exception of parts where the game obviously intends for it to be less joyful. The themes are universal enough to be enjoyed by everybody, and even if one is unfamiliar with visual novels, this might not be a bad game to start getting familiar with the medium! This is really a game about love, relationships, and how humans interact with one another.
You can download the game for free here: http://scoutshonour.com/donttakeitpersonallybabeitjustaintyourstory/.
Also, I fear that I may not have done the game justice with my not very articulate/coherent review, so you may want to check these out:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/04/06/dont-take-it-personally-review/ (Rock Paper Shotgun, fast becoming one of my fav gaming websites. The review is detailed and more or less spoiler-free)
http://jayisgames.com/archives/2011/04/dont_take_it_personally_babe_it_just_aint_your_story.php (Also more or less spoiler-free)
http://gaygamer.net/2011/04/review_dont_take_it_personally.html (Rather spoiler-ful, with a very obvious spoiler screen cap, so read at your own risk. However, it provides a rather unique perspective in that it's written by a gay. I recommend you read this after playing the game)
http://lewisdenby.wordpress.com/2011/04/04/thoughts-on-dont-take-it-personally-babe-it-just-aint-your-story/ (Also full of spoilers. Would also recommend a read after you're through with the game, to better review some issues and go through it in your head)
Okay basically those are like the top google searchers for "don't take it personally, babe, review" (with the exception of the RPS link), but they also coincidentally are great reviews, so (:
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Don't take it personally, babe, it just ain't your story (from now on shortened to "don't take it personally" for the purposes of this post) is like a visual novel, drawn with anime-style art.
See? Pretty nice art (and cute girls xD) However, the way information is presented in don't take it personally is rather more unique than your usual visual novel (speaking from someone who has relatively little exp. with visual novels, but I do believe most convey information purely through dialogue?). While there certainly is quite a bit of dialogue, the meat of the information is actually presented through this digital live feed kinda thing.
Ok, sorry for forgetting but I obviously have to present the context slightly first. Ok you play as a middle-age English Lit teacher, and you mainly interact with your 16 yr old students. Except you don't really "play" as him, insomuch as see what he says and what he does. You do get to make choices, but the choices leave you wondering if it was really a choice at all, or if the end result would have been the same nonetheless.
Anyway, back to the digital live feed thing. It's obviously a rip-off of FB, what with walls and stuff, but it's really interesting to see how the other characters interact with each other without you being a part of it. The interaction is also very multi-faceted, as they can post publicly on each others' walls or have private conversations with each other, so you have to stay abreast of all the ongoing stuff. Thankfully, there are mostly only 2 or 3 conversations going on at the same time so you won't feel that swamped with information.
And it is mainly through this digital device that most of the issues are fleshed out to you. Homosexual relationships, bullying, your student, who is half your age, having crush on you, etc. With regards to the last example, apparently you do get to make choices to "develop it further", so to speak, but my sister was peeking over my shoulder while I was playing that segment so I was forced by my sister (who really really insisted) to choose the prudish option (not that I definitely would have chosen to lead her on if my sister wasn't around. It really does present quite a bit of a moral dilemma, and game or no, it does make you think about some issues). No matter, I plan to play through this more than once anyway.
Other than the discourse on these sensitive issues and all, I felt the thing that really made this such a joy to play was the language used. No doubt, Christine Love is great at writing dialogue (also evident in Digital: A Love Story. the dialogue (if you could call it that) in that game was definitely brilliant), and some of the back-and-forth in the game is especially wonderful. Also, the language used is so personable, so close to the language that I use everyday with my friends, it brings the characters so much closer and I am able to relate to them so much more. Ok, the language I'm referring to here is internet-speak, but it goes beyond the occasional addition of "lol" or "rofl", and it's evident that the dialogue is written by someone who has a good idea of what she's talking about. It just makes the characters seem real, because that is the way you speak with your friends too (albeit not IRL).
Also, the game managed to make me seriously laugh out loud (while using the computer in my living room) on multiple occasions. The dialogue IS that funny. Case in point, this girl was insulting this other girl, and that girl replied each successive insult with "you mad?", "you mad??" and finally with "you mad???". The other girl got so pissed off and ended with "you're impossible" or something along that vein. Clearly successful troll is successful xD
As such, I highly recommend this game to anyone and everyone. It takes only about 1hour+ to 2 hours for a single play through, and it is truly a joyride, with the exception of parts where the game obviously intends for it to be less joyful. The themes are universal enough to be enjoyed by everybody, and even if one is unfamiliar with visual novels, this might not be a bad game to start getting familiar with the medium! This is really a game about love, relationships, and how humans interact with one another.
You can download the game for free here: http://scoutshonour.com/donttakeitpersonallybabeitjustaintyourstory/.
Also, I fear that I may not have done the game justice with my not very articulate/coherent review, so you may want to check these out:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/04/06/dont-take-it-personally-review/ (Rock Paper Shotgun, fast becoming one of my fav gaming websites. The review is detailed and more or less spoiler-free)
http://jayisgames.com/archives/2011/04/dont_take_it_personally_babe_it_just_aint_your_story.php (Also more or less spoiler-free)
http://gaygamer.net/2011/04/review_dont_take_it_personally.html (Rather spoiler-ful, with a very obvious spoiler screen cap, so read at your own risk. However, it provides a rather unique perspective in that it's written by a gay. I recommend you read this after playing the game)
http://lewisdenby.wordpress.com/2011/04/04/thoughts-on-dont-take-it-personally-babe-it-just-aint-your-story/ (Also full of spoilers. Would also recommend a read after you're through with the game, to better review some issues and go through it in your head)
Okay basically those are like the top google searchers for "don't take it personally, babe, review" (with the exception of the RPS link), but they also coincidentally are great reviews, so (:
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