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Emio - The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club


Dcubed

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Maybe they’ll finally put the other FDC games on sale to help promote this?  Hey, I can but hope. I’m keen to play them but my backlog is still so large I need a really good reason to justify buying them…

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  • 4 weeks later...

Free demo dropping on 20th August (Tuesday) with the opening chapters of the game, and additional chapters being added on 23rd and 28th before the full release on 29th August – and yes, you can carry your progress from the demo over to the full game! 

Lovely stuff! 

Edited by Julius
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  • 2 weeks later...
Posted (edited)

Haven't seen one of these in a while... But we have a new Not-Iwata-Asks Ask The Developer interview to go along with this game!

https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/News/2024/August/Ask-the-Developer-Vol-12-Emio-The-Smiling-Man-Famicom-Detective-Club-Chapter-1-2637237.html

Interestingly, it turns out that the FDC Remakes only happened because MAGES were able to successfully pitch the project to Nintendo with a fully animated prototype, which in turn allowed Sakamoto to pitch a brand new FDC game afterwards (and yes, MAGES have also co-developed Emio).  The possibility of getting a FDC remake or new game greenlit hadn't even crossed Sakamoto's mind until MAGES came hard at Nintendo with their prototype, by some miracle succeeded with their pitch, and opened up the door for Sakamoto to get involved.

Also, the game's co-producer Kaori Miyachi (who was also co-writer alongside Sakamoto) only first played the FDC games for the first time when they came out on the 3DS VC! :D

Edited by Dcubed
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  • 3 weeks later...
1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Currently £35 on Amazon for those interested. That's a tenner knocked off the price already.

Do you have to play the other 2 games to understand what's going on in this one or are they are separate thing?

Not played this one yet, but I’d say you don’t need to have played the others.

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19 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Currently £35 on Amazon for those interested. That's a tenner knocked off the price already.

Do you have to play the other 2 games to understand what's going on in this one or are they are separate thing?

AFAIK, it’s a standalone story.  So you don’t need to have played the others first.

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I ended up enjoying the demo and bought the full game from Amazon.

I like how breezy the first 3 chapters have been. They don't overstay their welcome and I hope the rest of the game stays that way.

The story seems very grim at the moment but the game does a good job with sprinkling a few lighter scenes in between the dark ones. Some of the interactions with characters have been quite funny.

I know I've mentioned this before but I appreciate Nintendo actually finishing a game before release. I popped the cartridge in and no update needed. Lovely stuff.

I really need to get some new joycons. I'm constantly having to fight with the cursor when I'm investigating scenes. I managed to play through Wario Ware and Another Code with them being knackered but they seem to be getting worse.

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It's over and the credits have rolled. What a finale.

giphy.gif?cid=6c09b952f1f6syegpxjsi5fwmk

I can't be faffed with sorting out spoiler tags so I won't go into the story and ending. I will say that I loved playing through this though. Enjoyed it far more than the Pheonix Wright trilogy that I played a couple of months ago. I found those games to be tedious, whereas this I found to be very compelling and intruiging.

If the other 2 games on the eShop ever get a decent discount then I will certainly pick them up. I could buy some vouchers and get them that way but, with me buying physical when I can, there isn't another game on the list for me to buy.

Anyway, surprisingly there appears to be some post game content. Wasn't expecting that at all. 

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Post game is done. Wow. Grab the popcorn because there's a cracking bit of viewing that's around half an hour long that wraps up everything. Very well done.

The main game is pretty grim at times but I was wondering why an 18 rating was given. If that didn't warrant the rating then the post game stuff certainly did. Very dark, chilling and gruesome.

It's absolutely nuts that Nintendo is attached to this and admire the balls they had to do it. It's funny, they are pretty much always seen as a kiddy company but this game is probably more adult and better written than most of the Western story driven games that are out there. 

Definitely a high recommendation from me. Great game to snuggle up with on a night and play a few chapters, especially with the Winter nights drawing in.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Thoroughly enjoying it so far.  It's certainly a more grounded affair than the likes of the Ace Attorney series, very much in-line with the previous FDC titles.  The story has some interesting twists and turns, but it feels like we're still far off the ending and finding out who Emio is; despite me having a pretty good idea about who the culprit might be...

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... wait, what?

... well that flashed up all of a sudden out of nowhere! Alright! Let's see where this rabbit hole takes us...

Edited by Dcubed
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1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said:

 

samuel-l-jackson-hold-on-your-butts.gif

... you certainly weren't kidding!

It definitely earned its 18 rating, that's for sure!

I'll have to leave more detailed thoughts later on, as time is not on my side right now, but I can certainly see why Sakamoto said that the ending would be divisive!

To be honest though, I have an issue to raise that isn't so much related to the content of the ending itself, but moreso about the overall game structure...

Spoiler

You can really tell that Yoshio Sakamoto and Kaori Miyachi really began by writing the ending first and then working their way backwards.  It was clearly the main focus, as the rest of the game's story is kind of a big red herring from start to finish.

The fact that almost all of the Minoru Epilogue is told in the form of a literal 30 min FMV movie (while almost no FMV is used throughout the entire rest of the game) is also emblematic of how all of the game's production effort was placed on the ending first and foremost.  To be honest, I feel pretty conflicted about how top-heavy the storytelling really is here.  While I ended up enjoying my time with the game all throughout, I can absolutely understand why some people might feel a bit short changed by the way the game's story is told; as it's so top-heavy that the majority of the start of the game may feel like it is essentially a big waste of your time, since a lot of it ends up being largely irrelevent to Minoru's overarching story, despite having most of the necessary breadcrumbs that lead to the end.

Also, the ending comes along very suddenly, with what feels a bit like a deus ex machina moment as some random construction worker just so happens to tell you where he drove to, and then you just so happen to arrive at the same time as Junko.  It feels a bit rushed and out of nowhere as a result.

Still, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this game! The ending certainly was worth the ride! :D

BTW, minor little thing but...

Spoiler

I like how the game ended with you getting a report card/grade for your investigative work; just like in the original two FDC games.  Had a feeling that it would be the case, but nice to see regardless :)

Edited by Dcubed
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