Let's Sperg Jaimas Plays a Mediocre Game: Night In the Woods - A Narrative Game Better Than Most JRATG Titles

[Jaimas]

I originally balked when @Hodor and @Collections Agent suggested I play this one; by all accounts the visuals for this one looked all right, the music seemed decent, and there was a shocking number of really rave reviews for it.

At first I thought it was like Undertale in that it simply had a devoted fanbase and that unlike Undertale, I wasn't the intended audience for the damned thing. I was content to let things lie, but then several Kiwis kept telling me I needed to play this. Then Hodor got me a copy, and, after a bit of jiggery-pokery, I managed to get the fucking thing working.

They were right. Holy shit, they were right.

Night In the Woods is a mixed-genre game, which I can essentially describe as a 2D narrative game with platforming elements. I know absolutely nothing about it going in, so this should be wildly entertaining for at least someone on this website. Let's begin.

This intro quote is all we are given, with no context. I'm sure this will make sense at some point.

I hope.

Let's cut right to the good points for this game so far: Its use of audio is good, the music is excellent, and the graphics, though nothing fantastic, are at least enjoyable. That said, let's cut right into the grit and cover our protagonist, that little shambling orange-shirted cat-abomination above.

This character is Mae. Mae is one of the most insufferable main characters I have seen in a video game. I have known assholes in horror movies who exist solely to be tortured in an Eli Roth movie that are less fucking enfuriating than this character. I'll get into more details as I progress, but for now, know that she has a LOLSORANDOM sense of humor and complains about literally everything. She wears the same outfit every day and I'm entirely sure smells terrible. I speak no hyperbole when I say I'm at best reasonably sure that if Mae were a real person, she'd have a thread on this forum.

Mae has arrived at the bus terminal late: Almost 11PM. You get the distinct feeling she wasn't in any hurry to be here.

After initial exploration and some of the most heavy-handed foreshadowing I've seen in a game since the intro of Vampire Rain, this stork-looking motherfucker is trying to repair the door. He'll let you out when he finishes his repair, which he's almost done with, and all he asks in exchange is a soda. The machine is rigged to give out freebies, so no harm no foul and Mae gives him yon drink. Finally, we can leave this fucking place.

One thing I do really like about the game is that the graphics are sharp. Everything has a sort of weird, non-union Paper Mario vibe thing. They're not great by any stretch; the art style has some really brain-dead issues with lighting responses and everything has this surreal quality that makes everything look weird. Characters literally never change expression, either, which is also fucking bizarre.

We proceed into the park and once again, we're bludgeoned with symbolism as we see downed trees, garbage, and outflow pipes through the woods. Mae continues her ceaseless complaints.

Is now a bad time to say that I'm imagining that this and the Lakeview Cabin series take place in the same universe? It would explain a lot, and it would give me an impetus to care because crazy moustached guy could show up.

Here we see a great example of constant sameface. Trying to climb up causes the logjam to collapse and nearly kill Mae's ass. Her response is that it was awesome; my response is that I clearly paid @lolwut's army of migrant biting pears far too much for that booby trap.

Finally, we get to this area, where I wound up spending ten minutes trying to figure out where to go. Nothing is properly conveyed, and even if you follow the jumps accordingly, the final "super jump" will basically only work when the game decides it should. Finally it humors me, but not before I exhaust all of Mae's "looking at things" options and have driven home that Mae believes she's the queen of this town and basically believes she is owed her living space.

Nice, game.

Halfway back, Mae draws this in her sketchbook. Cute.

Finally Mae faceplants into the pavement and lives. Damn it. Mae's aunt, a police officer, saw her break into the old playground and offers to take her home. Mae acts like an asshole for no particular reason and Mae's aunt threatens to arrest her. Finally Mae agrees to get in the car.

And here is the point where Mae crosses a threshold of likability. She was quirky but sort of interesting at first; here the character drops any pretense of who she is supposed to represent when she's a massive cunt to her father (who was clearly worried about her) and her Aunt (who brought her here) for no particular reason and goes on to say "fuck the police" regarding her Aunt.

Despite Mae acting like an ass, her parents seem legitimately kind and sympathetic. I swear to god, the only way this fucking cat could be more Tumblr would be if she if it turned out she wound up coming back here due to fucking everything up somehow. Don't worry. She will.

She then draws this in her book. Classy.

Mae goes to bed. Nice of her parents to realize she may be coming back.

The following morning, we meet with mom, who Mae is slightly less of a cunt towards. As it turns out, Mae came here due to some sort of problem, and in a real hurry, but won't explain what it was. I think I know where this is going. After mild discussion of current events, Mae goes exploring.

The street is bright and colorful. Goat guy here actually is pretty blunt, and says that he always had a feeling that Mae would either do really well, or sit on her ass as a NEET until the day she died. This succeeds at making Mae have a sad and making me laugh. You're a cool guy, Goatman. Glad to have someone I can root for.

Not long after this, we get the truth: Mae dropped out of school. Fittingly enough, she did so because she's a fucking awful student and doesn't care about anything but herself, and suddenly this game's popularity with Tumblr is starting to make much more sense to me.

I like the village environment, but this game has no subtlety and as you play you see various clues towards what's coming down the pipe story-wise. There's hints of people losing their jobs, increased construction around town, and increased urbanization. Also a cat who may or may not show signs of being a serial killer at the end of the block.

In the underpass, we learn that Mae has a history of theft and apparently stole from this guy's stand several times.

Way to make me hate her even more, game. Does this character have any redeeming traits?

HELLO FELLOW CHILDREN I AM ONE OF YOU

It goes about as well as you think and she's not cool enough to hang out with, so they tell Mae to fuck off.

Soonafter I meet a mouse who says she's not allowed to talk to Mae because Mae hospitalized another student at the middle school for no particular reason. Mae even admits to this. So she's a thief, NEET, serial complainer, and a bully.

This character does die at some point, right? Because right now I've seen characters who are designed to be Jason Voorhees kill-fodder that are more likable.

More "quality" art.

I saved at this point. We'll resume the adventure when time allows.

So far though, this is a bizarre trek through a game with a thoroughly unlikable protagonist. Jeez.

 

[Collections Agent]

if Mae were a real person, she'd have a thread on this forum.

Don't worry, the story gets better. Betters not the right word. It gets more involved.

If you're anything like me (and your summary so far seems to be pretty close to my own feelings), you'll end up rooting for 2 of our 4 main characters and despising the other 2 (see above image).

 

[lolwut]

my response is that I clearly paid @lolwut's army of migrant biting pears far too much for that booby trap.

In my defense, they don't have hands. You should be glad they even accomplished that much.

 

[Ruin]

Have you encountered any trannies or genderspecials yet?

 

[Tranhuviya]

In my defense, they don't have hands. You should be glad they even accomplished that much.

Spoiler: Liar

How did no-handed creatures manage to build such edifices? Again his memory provided the answer: Polarians were adept at circular manipulation of objects and concepts. They did not carry building blocks into place, they rolled building spheres into place. Where men laid bricks, Polarians rolled stones. Where men hammered nails, Polarians squeezed glue. The end result was rather similar, as though civilization shaped itself into certain configurations regardless of the sapient species invoking it. Here there were no square skyscrapers, but domed dunes serving the same purpose.

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

Big Skeleton? Oh fuck, are we going to run into Papyrus at some point?

Actually, that would increase game quality by a factor of "a lot". Papyrus was awesome.

 

[Jaimas]

So pushing forward, the writing is all the fuck over the place. This episode has some of the better stuff so far.

Sometimes it's clever, even bizarrely self-aware, other times delightfully quirky, yet other times testicle-punchingly chaotic. The game has about as much sanity as an episode of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, which really I keep getting flashbacks of while playing this. It will then have moments of genuinely good writing, only to chase this with examples of oh god, when does the hurting stop levels of writing thereafter.

There is no middle ground.

Thankfully this game has enough going for it that even at this point, where it's been finding ways to annoy the shit out of me, it's by far the best game covered by JRATG so far.

Moving on.

I'm about to steal someone else's bit and I don't give a damn:

Seriously. Chekov's gun.

Next we meet Gregg. Despite my reservations, I really like Gregg so far.

Gregg is clearly designed to be a sort of second-stringer for Mae's characterization, but he makes up for it by having dialogue and actions that basically establish him as an insane lovable idiot like Lenny from Of Mice and Men, and if you imagine every single line of dialogue he has as being done in Chris' voice, it really makes this character fucking fun to watch.

He's also gay as hell, but in a shocking change of pace from pretty much every fucking game I've ever reviewed for this website so far, he's not handled as if he's a checkbox. He's a character whose quirkiness and humor are first and foremost, and while he's not really all that robust comparatively-speaking, his sheer stupidity somewhat redeems him and he comes across as just kind of fun to watch in action. The fact that he's also gay is practically an afterthought and nobody pays it even a fraction of an inch of mind from what we've seen so far. That's a rare case of decent writing, and will always get props from me.

He also does this shit, which I need to cover:

That seems famil--

So... Yeah, he does this all the time. It's like that arm-flailing thing you see in shitty G-Mod movies.

Can't say I can't appreciate something that stupid. Suffice to say, Gregg's very happy to see an old friend and touch base.

So is Mae, as her notebook soon indicates. TUNNEL FOXES RULE!

Gregg invites Mae to join the gang for band practice since Mae used to play bass. Quickly Mae winds up joining Angus (an old friend of Mae's, also Gregg's boyfriend), and setting up at the old Party Barn for a jam-session. Every decent comedy needs a straight man, and Night in the Woods chooses to make that straight man a gay man. I see what you did there, game. Well-played.

In all seriousness, Angus has a sort of dry wit and well-to-do attitude that makes him likable.
The dude's like wallpaper, though. It's hard to get a read on him.

Enter Bea. This gothy crocodile is a treat. She's kind of subtle and taciturn, but she's also the sort who will not tolerate anyone's shit. A recent addition to the band, Bea doesn't really like Mae very much, though there's not much evidence as to why. While disrespecting Mae is something I can always get behind, I'm still not sure what's up with this so far. She's still likable in this sort of third-party-Mexican-equivalent-of-a-Scott Pilgrim character way.

We then move on to a new minigame.

The minigame is a Rock Band sort of minigame. Essentially, it's a rhythm game. Fuck me.

Kiwis, I'm good at many things when it comes to vidya. I've beaten every boss in Bloodborne. I've beaten many RTS games on the hardest difficulty setting. I've beaten Zelda II: The Adventure of Link without getting the candle or cross and without getting a game over. I've beaten Bionic Commando: Rearmed on the hardest difficulty. I've beaten every Gears of War game up to that one starring Baird on the hardest difficulty setting. I've beaten every Souls game I've played, often beating every superboss in each. I've done unspakable things to teams in Destiny PVP back when I still gave a shit. Less said of the shit I've accomplished in the Etrian Odyssey series, the better.

I am fucking awful at Rhythm games. However, I am not one to back down from a challenge and I'm not going to let some shit like this interdict this game series. I will get through this, flailing all the way if necessary. So this moment turns into existential horror. Mae is told she sucks at bass, but to her credit, she's never played this song before and there was no indication anything like this was coming.

Later, our team gets pizza and discusses the band. All of them have jobs these days, even if they don't necessarily enjoy them, because they are trying to into adulthood. Like Mae, Bea is also an ex-collegiate, though what happened to cause this is not fully clear. Finally, the group gets ready to head home, and in a move that forevermore fucks with whatever tone this fucking game was going for, the group finds a severed arm on the sidewalk.

Well that escalated quickly.

Suffice to say, Mae, being about as autistic as one can be, pokes it with a stick.

Toying with the arm inevitably draws the cops, and in a shocking change from the norm, Mae has an outbreak of common sense.

Aunt Molly takes the arm into evidence and contacts the authorities. Molly sends them home but suggests that the group stay together or in pairs for the moment - while she doesn't think this is necessarily a killer or anything around, she wants the kids to be safe just in case. Is anyone else getting flashbacks of Morioh? Because I am getting flashbacks of Morioh in this beautiful duwang, and I'm going to be fucking making Diamond is Unbreakable jokes like crazy if this shit keeps up.

Bea agrees to drive Mae home.

On the way back, Mae asks about why Bea is working at the Ol' Pickaxe (the bar her parents own). When asked if she takes umbrace with her parents setting her up to take over the business, Bea kicks Mae out of the car. This is simultaneously hilarious and a little bit creepy.

Mae's notebook is filled with updates.

And frank commentary on my skills. Fuck you too, Mae.

And then something actually cool happens.

In a legit scene, Mae has a heartfelt talk with her dad. It's legitimately touching and Mae isn't an ass this time. The two talk it up for quite a bit, Mae's dad tells a dad joke, as is proper, and you actually get a feeling that whatever tomfoolery is involved with their relationship, they at least care about one another. The notebook then follows suit:

D'aaaw.

The following morning, Mae tries to internet only to find out she's downloaded 400,000 viruses:

Mae states her intention to bring this to Angus for repairs.

Outside, this curmudgeonly old fuck goes on about how Mae will never amount to anything and that everyone "remembers what she did." The fuck did she do? Who the fuck is this guy? Thankfully, I know from @Sable how to end awkward conversations with the elderly and wander off and that does the trick. First things first, we got to the Snack Falcon and meet with Gregg so he can tell us where Angus is.

Of note, this is one area that angered me. Lemme explain.

Angus said where he worked yesterday. I went there first, and indeed, this comes first on the route to Gregg's workplace - but Mae wouldn't ask where he was until I met Gregg.

Well fuck me for being fucking intelligent, game. At least we get this out of it:

I'd be lying if I said this didn't remind me of shit my father did when I was little.
Shit like shoving Steak Fries up his nose and claiming to be a walrus. Good times.
Gregg tells us what I already knew, and we got to Angus' building.

At Angus' building, the comms button is out and I'm perplexed by a button puzzle that makes little sense until Mae shocks herself on purpose, and then Angus buzzes her in.

Dude's dapper as fuck.

 

[Collections Agent]

Can't wait until you get to the branching story paths @Jaimas

There will often be cases where Gregg and Bea both want to hang with you. Because my chat wanted to fuck the Gator, I always hung out with Bea. However, because I did so I never learned anything about Gregg or did any of his "side missions".

If you have the chance I'd recommend hanging with Gregg when offered the chance so you can experience something totally different than I did

 

[Sable]

Considering how autistic Main Cat has been portrayed as so far, Bea kicking her out of the car strikes me as amusing.

 

[Jaimas]

Just a foreward: I do intend to be resuming this particular JRATG soon. Right now, however, wrapping up the ongoing Kiwi Let's Sperg takes priority.

 

[Jaimas]

Again, the writing is all over the place. Some great, some moderate, some terrible. Characterization is just as much of an unsettling potluck as well. If we go purely by the standards of games I've reviewed for JRATG, then Night in the Woods is easily the best game that has been featured by a landslide, mostly because the game isn't terrible and has so much content in it that its comparatively slipshod protagonist usually doesn't get much of a chance to wear on you. Even Mae has her moments, which I'll get into in this episode. For now, courage.

After the fucking annoying puzzle that was Angus' Door Buzzer, Mae's allowed in, chats it up with the guy, and he gives her an anti-malware program that should clear out all the spyware Mae got from looking at porn. I'm not joking, Angus openly establishes that this is how Mae got it and Mae tries to deny it. Hilariously.

Angus even gets the classiest entry in Mae's book so far:

That night, Mae chats with Gregg and Angus using her fixed compy 486, and Angus tells her to check out the updated version of her favorite game. What follows is a piece of shockingly good mini-gamery.

Demon Tower is a staggeringly good top-down dungeon-crawler minigame that basically is what would happen if Dark Souls fucked Binding of Isaac on top of a pile of Legend of Zelda cartridges. It consists of 10 levels where you need to find the key on each floor and ascend the tower. You can only attack 1-2 times before getting tired, so you need to strike fast then back off. The game is really hard, but surprisingly good, with some old-school pixel art and some surprisingly good gameplay for what is such a simple little game.

Seriously, it alone is better than pretty much every other JRATG title.

The game has a sort of grimdark cutesy aesthetic. Each level plays out the same way:
Kill the enemies, find the key, open the door, fight the boss.

The game gets hard in a hurry. The second boss is a hard hitter and requires quick dodges and an attack-and-retreat regimen to bring down.

The next boss zips around summoning Skeletons. So now this game officially has the Tyce endorsement.

Each time you beat a boss, you gain more mobility, but your max health decreases permanently, making the challenge level rise in kind.

The bosses are unique and chilling: This enemy wizard gets eaten by the actual boss, a giant version of the blob monsters, and you need to cut that one to pieces and then those pieces to pieces.It's a tough battle.

I keep going until around level 6 or so, when the bosses become too much of a pain in the dick.
God as my witness, I will return and conquer this.

Back in reality, Mae discusses an upcoming party she learned about from Gregg with her mom, who is as awesome as ever. Despite getting off on the wrong foot, Mae really opens up to her family, and starts to suck a lot less as both a character and as a person.

These old farts are talking about how the statue isn't important enough to be worth saving.
If this doesn't become a plot point later, I'll eat @Techpriest's hat.

Mae meets with Bea, who volunteers to drive the group to the party, and Mae then confirms it with our favorite Autistic Gay Fox:

Gregg does his little wacky waving inflatable armflailing tubeman routine till his arms get tired. Gregg is great.

Back home, Mae meets with Molly, who is worried. Molly clearly is taking the discovery of the severed limb pretty hard, and implores Mae to be careful at the party tonight.

Mae takes it better than expected:

Finally with her mom and dad, Mae enjoys a delicious taco dinner, and then prepares for the night's festivities.

This is a really well-done scene, getting across that Mae is a raging weal of insecurities - about her weight, about her personality, and about her ability to deal with people. She comes across as surprisingly vulnerable, not wanting her ex to be there just so she can try to enjoy tonight without being as awkward as she usually is, and she resolves to try to do her best. It's a surprisingly strong moment for the character considering Mae's writing is otherwise all the fuck over the place.

Mae readies for the party, and the chapter ends.

 

[Dual Rectifier]

Can't wait for the next installments of this game. Keep it up. Good luck on defeating the last few bosses, as well. So far, it seems like a game wrapped up in good and bad portions, with some mismanagement of talent.

Side note, is it just me, or is the bloom in the game's outside areas just really overly powerful? When you can notice the bloom, isn't that a bad thing?

 

[RisingPhoenix]

Interested in this title and good to see it's actually looking kind of decent. Looking forward to future installments!

 

[Jaimas]

The writing continues to pinball between great and beam me up, @Sable, there's no intelligent life down here.

We now cut to Bea's car, already in progress.

Gregg is the king of the awkward conversation.

Shockingly, there isn't much to do at the party.

Gregg provides his wit and wisdom regarding the guitar-playing asshat in the background. Gregg is my favorite idiot.

Do you see that bespectacled raccoon guy with the white hat? That's apparently Cole, Mae's ex. Mae wants to interact with him but also doesn't because she's a gigantic fuck-up and socially awkward as shit. Eventually Mae drinks like 2 beers and works up the courage to talk to him. Given how Mae has talked this up, I expect myself to cringe about as hard as a victim of a Sarin gas attack. After all, Mae is close to idiot tumblrina standards, and obviously Cole is thus going to be Satan.

So imagine my surprise when that cringe never happens.

In another bit of decent writing, Cole is a decent kid. It's very clear that he likes Mae, but that Mae is too much of a cavalcade of fuck-uppery for a relationship. The scene has a fucking amazing River City Ransom reference that not only did I not expect, but genuinely got a laugh out of me. This aside, the dialogue makes very clear that the break-up and subsequent fallout was entirely Mae's fault, due to her incapacity to not fuck up.

At this point Mae drinks heavily. And by that I mean like 2 beers.
It ends poorly.

I'm going to take this moment to point out that whoever wrote this has no idea how drunk people sound or act. Christ.

So Mae makes a complete dumbass out of herself, basically losing her shit about how she's a pathological fuck-up, and it quickly becomes unclear whether Gregg's idiocy is due to his own issues, a compensation mechanism, or if Gregg's just trying to catch up to Mae's bigger idiocy. I have so many questions. Bea and Cole try to calm Mae down.

Mae pukes up her dinner and the night ends in failure, as guitar douche continues to play in the background.

The ride home is touching and tragic, with Mae talking to Bea and getting across that the two were extremely close friends once. They aren't anymore, and the reason is Mae - Mae, being a pathological fuck-up, squandered her opportunities while Bea worked herself ragged for the same ones. The entire thing comes across as so harsh and mean-spirited that you legitimately can't help but sort of feel for both, even though Mae's been an asshole up till this point.

Bea lays into her so hard, in fact, that she goes too far.

Mae breaks down crying. Bea agrees to bring Mae inside to make sure she's safe.

Bea tucks Mae in, calling her by a name she hasn't used since elementary school.

That night, Mae has a dream sequence. She's running around with a bat, exploring a psychedelic cityscape.

She then runs into a terrifying symbolic plot device.

After it tries to kill you with symbolism, Mae not-so-symbolically beats the fuck out of it.

She defeats it, the bird statue breaks apart, and the night ends as chapter 2 begins.

Back in Demon's Tower, I beat the sixth and seventh bosses.

These levels are getting fucking frustrating and eight is too hard even for my skills.
I'll come back to it.

Mae discusses last night with her mom, who informs her that the town center's open. She also advises Mae not to walk on power lines because a child got barbequed walking on them, don'tcha know. Also Mae could be arrested.

Goddamnit, Mae.

 

[Herbert Hoover]

Really looking forward to the rest of this

 

[Honeybunny]

The inconsistent writing may have to do with the fact that the game had two writers - Bethany Hockenberry (who was also one of the designers for the game) and Scott Benson (artist, and, well, see his twitter)

While this hardly proves anything (plenty of games with good writing have had multiple writers) and I'm probably wrong it wouldn't surprise me if the inconsistency stems from one of the writers being pretty good while the other is... Yeah

 

[Jaimas]

The inconsistent writing may have to do with the fact that the game had two writers - Bethany Hockenberry (who was also one of the designers for the game) and Scott Benson (artist, and, well, see his twitter)

While this hardly proves anything (plenty of games with good writing have had multiple writers) and I'm probably wrong it wouldn't surprise me if the inconsistency stems from one of the writers being pretty good while the other is... Yeah

I've looked into it, and the Schizophrenic writing is exactly because of what you described.

The LOLSORANDUM humor, the completely incoherent tone, Mae's dialogue in general, the fact that so many characters we're ostensibly supposed to root for coming across as autists; these are all due to Benson, who had a very clear "vision" of what the game was supposed to be like as far as tone.

Hockenberry meanwhile is why the more coherent narratives, theming, and character moments happen, since she wanted the work to have more weight overall. It's like both writers had a conflict over what to put in and someone higher up said "FUCK IT LET'S DO BOTH"

 

[Kiwi Jeff]

My sister just finished this game the other night. We were all a little disappointed by the ending.

 

[Jaimas]

Back in the game, Mom gives this advice:

Basically, this is hinting at something hinted at by @Collections Agent: You can only spend so much time with various characters in the game and you're given the choice between hanging out with Gregg or hanging out with Bea. Since Bea was a choice already taken by several previous Kiwis, I'm going to go with Gregg.

Gregg's manic armflailing dance demands it.

Heading through town in the morning, Mae meets with one of the locals, and we learn that there's a method to Mae's madness: Her psychiatrist suggested she keep a journal. As it turns out, Mae is, indeed, a fucking mental-case with anger control problems. A long-time friend of hers was also assigned to keep a journal, and apparently was caught stealing drugs from NITW Wal-Mart Analogue Ham Planet.

We check in with Angus and Bea, who inform me that band practice is tonight.

And then... Tragedy.

Mae learns that her favorite restaurant, Pastabilities, is gone. Closed after almost thirty years, and with that the best pasta place in town is closed. Mae is so, so upset right now.

Finally Mae hooks up with Gregg and we go to Band Practice.

After I fail at Band Practice again (because I can't do rhythm games worth a damn), Angus has to go early and Bea is sort of busy, so Gregg asks Mae if she's up for some crimes. Goddamnit, Gregg.

Eventually the Pair heads to the old Food Donkey and manages to get in due to an old.... Acquaintance.

This asshole is Steve Scriggans. Steve is literally that guy, the character. He makes constant "your mom" jokes and is a total piece of shit, making even Mae at her absolute worst look positively angelic in contrast. Gregg clearly has some deal going with the guy, and the "Crimes" he speaks of seem to involve going to an abandoned store with nothing in it and looking for something. Dipshit lost the keys though.

I find the keys in short order and come back to tweedle-dumb and tweedle-dumber repeatedly kicking the doors like morons.

This reminds me of this one time I was playing Splinter Cell: Conviction and heard a loud banging sound, and entered a room only to find @KidKitty repeatedly kicking a door. Good times.

Finally, we reach the objective of Gregg's "Crimes": Giant mascot heads. Gregg can't decide which to take so I get to choose and we go with the bunny. Steve fucks off and is not missed, and a minigame commences.

Gregg gives you directions. You do them. That's about it. Either way we get the giant head upstairs after about 27 seconds of Gregg going up and down the same two stairs. Because Autism.

The pair get their prize home and eat food. They chat it up, and Gregg explains that he intends to move to Bright Springs with Angus once they get enough money. Gregg also explains his relationship to Steve: Gregg can't afford to get in trouble the old-fashioned way - not with the big move coming up - but still likes to stir up mischief. Ergo he looks the other way when Steve absconds with minor items from the Snack Falcon, and in return Steve hooks him up with shenannigans. Gregg wants to perform one big last caper before he moves though and the mascot uniform seems to be core to this.

Afterwards you play a minigame where you throw pierogis at Gregg through the air so he can snack on 'em.

BEST FRIENDS.

That Night, Dad agrees to move the boxes if Mae agrees to watch Garbo and Malloy with him.

These two are the same geniuses from the intro sequence. More symbolism maybe.

They have this cornball Statler and Waldorf routine going on that is equal parts derp and timeless. It honestly almost works.

That night Mae checks in with her buds via ChattrBox, mostly discussing the events of the day.

Mae settles in fro the night, and goes to sleep.

Here we go again.

This dream sequence is less abrupt than the main, involving quite a bit of exploration and searching. In this area, Mae has to find a series of towers, each one of which will reveal a musician who begins to play and harmonize as you find more of them.

I don't know what it's supposed to symbolize but it's cool I guess. Eventually you find all four and you make your way into the center, whereupo--

OOOOH SHIIIIIIIIIIII--

Chapter end. Goddamnit, Mae. Your subconscious sucks.

 

[Collections Agent]

Back in the game, Mom gives this advice:

Basically, this is hinting at something hinted at by @Collections Agent: You can only spend so much time with various characters in the game and you're given the choice between hanging out with Gregg or hanging out with Bea. Since Bea was a choice already taken by several previous Kiwis, I'm going to go with Gregg.

Gregg's manic armflailing dance demands it.

Heading through town in the morning, Mae meets with one of the locals, and we learn that there's a method to Mae's madness: Her psychiatrist suggested she keep a journal. As it turns out, Mae is, indeed, a fucking mental-case with anger control problems. A long-time friend of hers was also assigned to keep a journal, and apparently was caught stealing drugs from NITW Wal-Mart Analogue Ham Planet.

We check in with Angus and Bea, who inform me that band practice is tonight.

And then... Tragedy.

Mae learns that her favorite restaurant, Pastabilities, is gone. Closed after almost thirty years, and with that the best pasta place in town is closed. Mae is so, so upset right now.

Finally Mae hooks up with Gregg and we go to Band Practice.

After I fail at Band Practice again (because I can't do rhythm games worth a damn), Angus has to go early and Bea is sort of busy, so Gregg asks Mae if she's up for some crimes. Goddamnit, Gregg.

Eventually the Pair heads to the old Food Donkey and manages to get in due to an old.... Acquaintance.

This asshole is Steve Scriggans. Steve is literally that guy, the character. He makes constant "your mom" jokes and is a total piece of shit, making even Mae at her absolute worst look positively angelic in contrast. Gregg clearly has some deal going with the guy, and the "Crimes" he speaks of seem to involve going to an abandoned store with nothing in it and looking for something. Dipshit lost the keys though.

I find the keys in short order and come back to tweedle-dumb and tweedle-dumber repeatedly kicking the doors like morons.

This reminds me of this one time I was playing Splinter Cell: Conviction and heard a loud banging sound, and entered a room only to find @KidKitty repeatedly kicking a door. Good times.

Finally, we reach the objective of Gregg's "Crimes": Giant mascot heads. Gregg can't decide which to take so I get to choose and we go with the bunny. Steve fucks off and is not missed, and a minigame commences.

Gregg gives you directions. You do them. That's about it. Either way we get the giant head upstairs after about 27 seconds of Gregg going up and down the same two stairs. Because Autism.

The pair get their prize home and eat food. They chat it up, and Gregg explains that he intends to move to Bright Springs with Angus once they get enough money. Gregg also explains his relationship to Steve: Gregg can't afford to get in trouble the old-fashioned way - not with the big move coming up - but still likes to stir up mischief. Ergo he looks the other way when Steve absconds with minor items from the Snack Falcon, and in return Steve hooks him up with shenannigans. Gregg wants to perform one big last caper before he moves though and the mascot uniform seems to be core to this.

Afterwards you play a minigame where you throw pierogis at Gregg through the air so he can snack on 'em.

BEST FRIENDS.

That Night, Dad agrees to move the boxes if Mae agrees to watch Garbo and Malloy with him.

These two are the same geniuses from the intro sequence. More symbolism maybe.

They have this cornball Statler and Waldorf routine going on that is equal parts derp and timeless. It honestly almost works.

That night Mae checks in with her buds via ChattrBox, mostly discussing the events of the day.

Mae settles in fro the night, and goes to sleep.

Here we go again.

This dream sequence is less abrupt than the main, involving quite a bit of exploration and searching. In this area, Mae has to find a series of towers, each one of which will reveal a musician who begins to play and harmonize as you find more of them.

I don't know what it's supposed to symbolize but it's cool I guess. Eventually you find all four and you make your way into the center, whereupo--

OOOOH SHIIIIIIIIIIII--

Chapter end. Goddamnit, Mae. Your subconscious sucks.

Grats on picking the Greg path, literally no one I know has picked it (and like 5 of my viewers played the game).

It's gonna be interesting to see how different it is.

I think you missed the hot topic shoplifting though @Jaimas , but that's not a big deal since Bea forces you to return what you stole and apologize to the cashier

So yeah you're pretty much taking the autistic Renegade path lol