Finally finished Portopia, which was apparently only 3 days from when I made my last post! So probably 4 days in total to beat it.
-> also if you don't read the manual, you can press B to switch to another menu with more actions. If you want the game, it's in my previous post about it.
Like I said in my first impressions, the game requires a lot of pixel hunting. I appreciate the non linear nature, letting you progress in different ways. There was an item I only found I'd done everything else I could by then, but you could also find it as your first action in the game. It's fun to think different people could progress differently and it works. Calling it open world is a bit of a stretch though, by that metric any game that has different screens is open world.
Some frustration is to be expected, because you might want to do one thing but the game expects you to play within its bounds. Also the item I mentioned has literally 0 clues as to how to get it - that's the pixel hunting part. I give the spoilers below because you literally won't progress until you find them. Once I did, a lot of the game became a breeze as you get into the logic of how it works.
The dialogue was endearing, kudos to the translation team for preserving the game's personality. Every character is distinct. Because of the size limitation of NES cartridges though the game is also pretty short; I breezed through the ending (no doubt helped by my use of a walkthrough but I also only needed it for 2 puzzles). The story does feel like more when you start; there's a murder, someone has disappeared, you learn of the potential suspects, but then once stuff falls into place you think, oh, was that it? But I do want more! Give me a bigger game!
I recommend the game, just don't expect too much. it's a NES game that fits on 48kb and 2kb of ram thanks to creative coding. The plot twist is a nice touch but it's not mind-blowing or anything, and ultimately it's a police case of a lender who died.
I can definitely see how it inspired the Japanese game dev scene though, with its larger-than-life characters, plot twist and complex mysteries (even if the game is ultimately short, it has more than one murder in it and 8 characters)
But honestly in this day and age if you get stuck on something too much, use a walkthrough. Life is too precious to spend aimlessly walking around.
There's also a 2023 tech demo free on steam but it uses NLP that doesn't work in english and you can only input the exact same commands that are in the NES version. It's supposed to parse language but it doesn't lol. It does point out the famous 3 items for you though apparently.
Would love a proper sequel to this game with modern tech. In a way it was kinda like playing the investigation portions of Ace Attorney but with more actions at my disposal.
items you need (walkthrough)
There is a tiny little hint to get these items, the manual says to investigate the crime scene carefully. But I don't know how you'd expect anyone to check these places specifically unless they run the magnifying glass on literally every pixel of the screen.
You need to find three items with the magnifying glass -> ring outside the mansion bottom right corner of door, lighter in living room bottom right corner under table, kouzou's picture in study crime scene, bottom right corner of drawer.
And some spoiler thoughts about the ending.
spoiler ending
As for Yasu being the real criminal there are some hints as well. When you find the other bodies he is very quick to want to close the case. When you find the diary he seems contemplative and makes a comment about the real killer finding it. It was kinda fun when I realized because he was with you since the beginning and he does look like Fumie, but it also falls out of nowhere. Why did he become a police officer? Why kill the guy now? When did Fumie start working with him, and did she know about the inheritance?
You're supposed to Take->Clothes 3 times at the police station after you find the diary. I knew of the interaction and actually did it once on Yasu and it didn't do anything. Would people really do it 3 times in a row when the first time is inconclusive? You'd just think oh it's not the right move.
The entire diary section itself was frustrating tbh. The maze was not so tough once you figure out the right way to go, though the safe and key is basically useless and a waste of time. I found the key by pure luck in the bookcase. The map is truthful but then once again you have to do something 3 times in a row with no indication that it's the right move the first time. Who would expect to bump into the wall instead of using the magnifying glass or hammer on it?
Aside from that it was an enjoyable experience for what it was
