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The Council review
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by Ronah

Однажды я услышала о The Council. Об её многочисленных развилках, о неожиданных твистах, о том, что в перспективе она могла бы обставить игры Telltale. Я заинтересовалась и купила. Спойлер: зря я это сделала.

Первые три эпизода были... приемлемыми. Пускай мои глаза ломались о кривые анимации, странный дизайн лиц персонажей (очень на любителя), тут и там вылезающие текстуры, я не могла не отметить красоту особняка, где происходит основное действие - о да, окружение сделано на славу, - и костюмов. Пускай саундтреки подобраны плохо практически в каждой сцене (слишком мажорные и веселенькие для мрачной детективной истории), мои уши насладились озвучкой персонажей. Пускай на смерть одного из них, которая могла бы стать основой для этой детективной истории, сценаристы очень быстро забили, а попытки в отыгрыш любого характера Луи пресекались в ближайших кат-сценах, меня зацепили диалоги. Да, в игре действительно очень много развилок. Да, теоретически она реиграбельна.

Другое дело, что переигрывать её не хочется. Я удалила её, как только получила последнюю ачивку. Ачивки - вот что держало меня в игре. А знаете, почему? Да потому что четвёртый эпизод заставил меня схватиться за голову; а после пятого я стонала: "Куда вы слили сюжет..."

В последних двух эпизодах творится неистовая дичь. Поклонники оккультизма, вам, наверное, зайдёт. А вот мне резкая смена тона повествования не зашла. Смена темы, когда ничто не предвещало, - не зашла. Уже не хотелось разбираться, кто кому чей сын, чья дочь и чей грешный любовник. Хотелось получить уже последнюю ачивку - и свалить.

Такое ощущение, что сценаристы по полной вложились в первый эпизод; на втором решили изменить основную концепцию сюжета и забить на детективные каноны; в третьем нас начали к этим изменениям плавно подводить (фраза "Нет времени объяснять, Луи!" ну очень показательна); в четвертом нам всё объяснили, а лучше бы не объясняли. Выкатили ВОТ ТАКЕННЫЙ РОЯЛЬ из ближайшего куста, так ещё и расстроенный... А доделывать пятый эпизод сценаристам расхотелось. Видали последнюю главку пятого эпизода? Она длилась чуть дольше, чем я обычно завариваю себе чай. Ровно три зевка.

Любопытно, насколько ненужной этому сюжету оказалась в итоге Сара де Рише; насколько нелепо разрешилась ситуация с Элизабет; насколько незаслуженно неубиваемым может быть герой, в которого за игру стреляли дважды, и оба раза - наповал (!); и насколько слит сюжетный потенциал кардинала Пьяджи. Впрочем, остальным персонажам тоже досталось.

Короче говоря, я разочарована донельзя. Могли бы хоть с саркофагами что-нибудь интересное придумать. Кстати, я пока ещё не знаю, сколько в игре концовок, но неприятно поразило, что и у меня, и у моего друга концовки идентичны, хотя мы принимали очень разные решения.

P. S. Финальная схватка с главным антагонистом побеждает в номинациях: "Можно пропустить, если моргнуть" и "Ваш пафос смешон".
«Buggy as hell»
«Waste of time»
«Boooring»
«Ugly as my life»

Other reviews8

Storytelling masterpiece with gorgeous character designs like The Dutchess and Emily Hillsburrow both of those characters I loved those character designs are fantastic and example of what we need more of cultured and beautiful woman characters not uglified nerfed hideous designs we get in current radfem destroyed western gaming since about 2019,this game also has three dimensional characters and superb masterful writing,worldbuilding and storytelling. It's entertaining and fun and has great choice and consequence mechanics and amazing storytelling with many branching paths.
10/10 highly recommend it if you enjoy telltale games or Detroit Become Human there is a high chance you will love this.
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«Boooring»
If you want a story-driven game where choices matter, this feels like a solid choice. I picked it up on sale for $5 and it kept me guessing to the end. And it made me live with my mistakes, which was rough! I'm so used to being a bit reckless in games, only to have them roll things back for me to try again, but not this game.  At the end of each chapter, it lists all the ways you failed and what opportunities you missed. That might sound awful, but really it just makes you want to play it all over again. 

I just finished my first playthrough. I did not get a good ending at all, but I'm going to wait a bit to forget some of the details before I start over and see if I can do better with my choices and my skill points.
Translated by
Microsoft from Deutsch
The Council-Review You belong to an Order and are on the Lookout for your Mother, who is also a member of the same Order. She was invited to an Island she hasn't come back from. Basically, this is where your Adventure begins. The Council has quite a lot of In-game sequences where you can intervene from time to time, but more on that. It's set in the Past and it's about an Order and the missing Mother as I said. Each Character in the Game has their own Personality and Secrets. You have to look behind the Façade and find out what happened to find your Mother again. You can choose from 3 Character classes at the Beginning. The Agony of Choice Then you actually sit there and think to yourself, "Okay ... 3 Character Classes. So What can they do? " So you first read through the Description and notice that the Game becomes huge in terms of the solutions. There are character Classes--The Diplomats--He can negotiate well and does well what a Diplomat is good at. Also possibly looking behind the Façade of the Characters--The Detective--This Detects around and can question people and secretly take things and examine Them. Since I've only played with--the Occultist--so far, I can say a little more about this one. The Occultist can manipulate People and use words to get the Other person to tell you more and thus to sphy out his Secrets. Also, the Occultist Is loading and is very good at sciences, which can be an Advantage with some Puzzles Yes-I price the Occultists here, but I'm sure that the Developers have given each Character the Opportunity to solve Puzzles neatly. An Example is a Piece of Paper where something was written with Secret Ink. The Scientifically gifted person will probably know how to make this Font visible again, while other Character classes probably have a different Solution ... So far I have not even dealt with the other Character Classes. But what everyone has In Common are probably the Talent Points. Anyone can distribute Talent points and thus in the respective Professions (in The Occultist Science, Beauty, Manipulation) in others probably more other Skills that one can increase. Watch out where you use something!!! Using skills is limited. They cost Points. One has Initially I think I have 6-7 in mind, which can be multiplied later. After any Benefit of a Skill, be it to manipulate someone or what scientific Or remember where to have read what, the Points drop. Enteagainst can be used by Distributing Talent points between the respective Ability or by Potions that give these Points back or Even expand them by a Point Or cancel negative Effects. Conversations are first Class The Sequences are basically the Conversations as well. In many Conversations you have a certain Time to Answer, for some you don't. Every Conversation, every Path you choose to do, changes the Story sustainably, even in the following Episodes, where the Impact is likely to be greatest here than in telltale games. There are Confrontations in Conversations, among other Things. Here it is important for The Other things to do something to convince Each other or to tell you something specific, basically to chat up Secrets. You then have a Confrontation Bar at the top. You have a certain Number of False Attempts, if you have not managed to continue the Conversation to the last Point, but is considered a Failure. Important Things could be missed here. But even in the Confrontations, you can use your Talents like Manipulation and the like-with point costs, of course. Story is captivating Comparing the Game with other Games of this Kind you can already see things here. For Example, I wanted to know what happens if I had gone with Emily instead of Elisabeth. While with me the End of the Story was a completely different one than with another Livestreamer/Lets Player, I was convinced ... I want to start the Game after I have the game through definitely another Try, maybe as a Detective to see how the Game develops so then. So It has tremendous Replay value ... Unfortunately, the first Episode is currently only available and I am Eagerly awaiting The 2nd. Hope she's coming soon ... Because I'm hyped. Update: Now there are already 3 Episodes and these Episodes keep the Quality. The Adventure remains exciting and exciting.
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Favorite Thing: The story took a little too long to get going but once it did I enjoyed it.
Least Favorite Thing: If you want to keep a good stock of items and not miss any conversations the game forces you into this boring loop of thread the same paths over and over each time things reset for a new episode/quest.

Date Completed: 2019-03-17
Playtime: ~ 16h
Enjoyment: 7/10
Recommendation: The story is interesting enough to be worth your time.
The game seems to be not ready for the release. Now it’s full of bugs, typos and other mistakes. There are “such bad that even funny” things like dialogues and the voice acting, but some mechanics are simply frustrating. You can’t skip the scenes you’ve already seen, the cursor speed is too slow even maximized and the camera is always too close to the characters. Why didn’t they make a first-person view? The world will never know. There is a lot of work with the game to do - and maybe one day it’ll become playable.
Despite a bug with servants everything is very nice here. The bug is quite funny though: the servants confuse the floors in the Manor. They are sure that the first floor is the second and the second is the third. However, this little confusing moment doesn’t ruin the story which is really involving and exciting. If the developers let to use the keys 1-4 to consume items, the gameplay will become perfect too!