Wintermelon
[Balan Wonderworld] Alright I've been fascinated with this hot mess from the start and I've come into some cursed knowledge
Wintermelon
which is that the main hero and villain are both perfectly standard anime pretty boys under their usual looks
Wintermelon
As much as I would call Balan's design a little busy and Lance's kind of dull, look at the DOWNGRADE 
Wintermelon
miles you ass
that is a severe downgrade wtf
Wintermelon
RIGHT,
wicker stan
WOW...
Wintermelon
also. I might dip my nose into the novelization because it is by all accounts remarkably less dissapointing than the game
Wintermelon
and has some Neat Stuff going on
Wayward Haze
I was super curious about this game.
Wintermelon
I've not seen anyone have the patience to tackle the whole thing because it has a lot of problems (bleeds secondhand embarrassment from the dancing and slightly weird motion capture animation, doesn't really have a story, has a weird control scheme that is so simple it feeds back into being frustrating, and so-on) but the visual design is what everyone
Wintermelon
is into and the novelization gives some substance to the style
Wintermelon
the snapcube demo playthrough is very fun
Wintermelon
and I see a lot of positivity for it on my twitter timelines but its literally all about the designs
Wintermelon
I have not seen a single person say ANYTHING good about the game itself which is. fascinating to me
Wintermelon
the whole phenomenon
Wayward Haze
Wow. And it was done by one of the big Sonic designers, too. I'd expected something a bit more polished
Wintermelon
yep! its not that its unpolished, seemingly, just that its not fun which is a shame
Wintermelon
their big idea seemed to be "lets make it appeal to young kids, make it as simple as possible" which led to some very weird choices
Wintermelon
they also didn't even market it really which led to it being a flop
Wintermelon
the creator of NiGHTS was doing it and really riding on it as Square Enix's first platformer, which is part of why it came out weird
Wintermelon
let me grab the What Happened video on it its fascinating
Wintermelon
deeply cursed final face reveal 
miles you ass
wheeze
Wintermelon
Balan Wonderworld - What Happened?
Wintermelon
the promised video
Wintermelon
the anime man head throws EVERYTHING out of whack. The loss of the good hair. The giant hands. The tiny mouth. W h y
Wayward Haze
Yeah those are some baaaaad proportions
Wintermelon
his normal man face is like glancing just behind a person and seeing the devil
Wintermelon
like to be fair the longer I look at his outfit design the worse it is but... hoo boy
Wintermelon
clown-loving friend has strong feelings on this 
miles you ass
milquetoast clown
miles you ass
Honestly Lance is a Gender before the face reveal
Wintermelon
he is!!
miles you ass
a whoooole gender
The Sun Rises
god the anime look turns their big hands from fun playing with proportions in character design into Yaoi Hands
Wintermelon
yeah...
Wayward Haze
Lance looks like a TWEWY reject design honestly
Wintermelon
I'm very tired today this is the only thing I've been able to get worked up about other than the absolutely horror I feel at my corn snake having escaped again
Wintermelon
WHY THE FUCK DOES HE LOOK LIKE THAT
Wintermelon
I CANNOT see this anime twink having that big goofy smile and bombastic energy
wicker stan
I hate the face reveal so much
Wintermelon
Its VERY bad
Wintermelon
it 100% does not suit him even!!
Wintermelon
Like I like the idea already that the hat just Is his face why why the fuck is it THAT
wicker stan
I love the hat 
wicker stan
One of the things I heard about the game was that there’s no kind of in game dialogue or story because they wanted players to have the exact same story experience regardless of language which is interesting but also not...ideal to convey...anything...ever
Wintermelon
Yeah you have to unlock something to even get the songs in a language that's not gibberish
Wintermelon
No subtitles, no language, no story, just some lightly animated slideshows and absolutely no given motivation for the actual conflict
Wintermelon
the novel even gives much broader stories and context for the human characters because they're. Not portrayed great in the game, needless to say
Wintermelon
"This chess master fell into despair because he lost one game" vs. "He hit a losing streak and became so obsessed with regaining this title that he neglected his terminally ill wife and in anger after her death threw out all his accomplishments"
wicker stan
WOW
wicker stan
wow...
Wintermelon
Yeah this is why I'm tempted to actually look into the novel
Wintermelon
cause it sounds buckwild
wicker stan
If you do PLEASE share the details I’m fascinated
Wintermelon
I absolutely will