Phoenix Wright, Liar, and Murder by Numbers

I finished the Phoenix Wright Trilogy!  I started the final chapter late last night and ended up staying up till 8am to finish it in a single setting.  The three games took me a total of 68 hours to complete, with all 30 achievements, which is pretty good value (22p/hr) for £14.99.  The collection - which is normally priced at £29.99, I bought it when it was discounted on first release - include the games Ace Attorney, Justice for All, and Trials and Tribulations, spanning 14 episodes.  I started the game way back on the 28th February, with the first episode, and just completed the last one this morning.  Each episode took a day or two, with most of the time coming from taking breaks inbetween completing episodes.

The Phoenix Wright games - all of which, as far as I know, have similar gameplay - are courtroom-drama detective games.  You play as a lawyer, usually the titular Phoenix Wright, who is trying to prove that their client is innocent.  There are two different arenas for this; out in the field, where you move around locations involved in the crime, and in the courtroom, where you listen to witness testimony and point out where it contradicts other evidence.  Some of the smaller chapters only have the courtroom segments.  These advance like a visual novel, with your correct answers or presentation of evidence allowing the plot to move forward.  The field segments are more freestyle, with you moving around areas, questioning people, and looking for evidence.  Finding certain things or asking certain questions unlocks more conversation options or allows you access to more people or locations.  It's not possible for you to move forward without having the evidence or knowledge you'll need in the next segment.  Trials are limited to three days in length, and, just to up the stakes further, clients found guilty of murder are usually assigned the death penalty.  Apparently, a lot of the game acts as a commentary on the Japanese legal system. The three day limit does have gameplay implications, as it minimises the session of discovery/courtroom per episode.

It is very satisfying, exposing liars in court and figuring out what actually happened.  I originally played the second game of the trilogy, Justice for All, waaaaaay back in 2006, when I was in America, on my exes Nintendo DS.  This was long enough ago that, despite writing a guide for the game at the time, I'd forgotten a lot of the details.  The games do lack replay value, because so much of the joy is in discovering the twists and turns of the case, which means there are diminishing returns in playing the game over without a long gap.  I am eagerly awaiting the UK/Steam release of other games in the series.

While playing the trilogy, I also discovered a similar game, Murder by Numbers.  You play as a robot, Scout, whose memory is damaged.  Mistaking an actress playing a detective for an actual detective, he enlists her help over four detective missions.  

Most of the gameplay is like the fieldwork sections of Phoenix Wright, with your character moving between locations, searching for evidence, and talking to witnesses/suspects.  There are no courtroom segments.  The other major difference is the inclusion of Hanjie/picross puzzles, which serve as a metaphor for Scout's visual systems coming back online, and also as a metaphor for the detective work itself.  That makes a lot of sense to me - in both detective work and logic puzzles, you're building up pictures of what must be true based on tiny little pieces of information, e.g., if this is true, that must also be true, but that cannot be true.  I love Hanjie puzzles, so that was a big appeal for me, and you can try them out online if you're not sure if you are or not.  The game cost me £8.39 and I played it for 52 hours, despite it only having 4 episodes.  This is because of the puzzles.  I spent a lot of time staring at them while watching Community in another window.  Sometimes I'd put the game in the background while I did something else for a bit, and then I'd come back with fresh eyes.  So, those 52 hours are not as active as the time spent playing the Phoenix Wright games.

I enjoyed the game a lot.  It feels very much like a 90s TV show.  I liked that one character casually refers to a tampon in her purse at one point, because I've never seen a menstrual product mentioned in a video game before.  It's like that thing about ads for razor blades never shaving a leg with hair on it - just a complete erasure of the lived experience of most women (and some men), to the point where it's weirdly refreshing to just acknowledge it as a completely normal part of everyday life.  I also learned a bit about drag culture, and I liked that this was just a part of the characters' lives, that was sometimes relevant, sometimes not.  As opposed to, for example, being their entire character.  This game was different from the others mentioned in this post through being more western in style/feeling and less obviously Japanese.

The final game I wanted to mention here is Liar, a mobile game I played last year.  There are three storylines you can play through.  In each of them, you are working out which of the people around you are liars, exposing one per chapter.  Despite taking place entirely in the field, it does play more like the courtroom sections of Phoenix Wright, in that, it's on rails, with no player input on where your character goes, and with your character answering questions or presenting evidence when asked.  If you get the answers wrong, you get to see how your character's life goes wrong through trusting the wrong person, while, if you get it right, you're one step closer to finding your true love/best friend/most trustworthy coworker.  There are also sections where your player is scrolling through a facebook equivalent, sometimes saving images or posts to asks about later, which is an interesting bit of gameplay.  The game is free, but it is one of those where you have a certain number of 'tickets' per day, with tickets being used to access a certain amount of gameplay.  I found this a little frustrating at times, but the tickets weren't as unreasonably tight as in some games and I enjoyed the story (and the lack of ads) enough to stick with it.  That said, I'd have no problem with watching

ads to earn tickets or whatever, I'm okay with that sort of arrangement.

One thing I would like to warn people about with this game is that there is a trans character, and she's sometimes referred to or treated in ways which come off...well, a bit disrespectfully.  I think some of this can be attributed to cultural differences and translation issues, but, yeah, be aware of this if it's something you're likely to find hurtful or which you would rather not deal with.

Steam's recommendation algorithm is trash

Look, I know that writing an effective recommendation algorithm is difficult.  That's why, back in 2009, Netflix offered a $1 million dollar reward for improving the algorithm by 10%.  But, really Steam, if I've played the first game for hours, surely there's a higher than average chance that I'll be interested in the sequel?  How have I not played anything similar in the past?  I played the first game!  The gameplay - having played the demo - keeps all the good bits!  Sure, some sequels - like Anodyne 2 - take a totally different approach to the gameplay, which I don't think I'll enjoy, but I'd still like you to acknowledge that I've played the first game and that I might like to know a sequel exists.

Crystalline

Crystalline is a bit of an odd one.  It's a visual novel which feels like playing Tales of Symphonia or a similar RPG crossed with reading a romance novel.  In a lot of the visual novels I've played, the action is limited to a handle of locations because it's about relating to people rather than questing.  While this one is about relating to people, it's also about a journey.  And, as I said, a romance novel.  You can wingman for the beta couple (which I enjoyed) as well as having your viewpoint character pursue (or not) one romance option.  This lead to a problem for me; I didn't like the one romance option.  I am not a fan of the blonde, blue-eyed cliche.  I have a weakness for bitches, which is not a word I would use for non-fictional women, but does sum-up what I mean.  Strong, powerful women, who take no shit from anyone and go after their own dreams, like Vera Oberlin (of Monster Prom) or Kim Kaswell (of Drop Dead Diva, a TV show) or even Scarlet O'Hara.  Nice, boring, mousey women just aren't my type, which does not gel with what this game is offering. 

I also did not like that the game kept accusing my character of being a paedophile over an 18-year-old girl, especially when it's about non-optional dialogue.  Sure, okay, my party are under the impression that the 18-year-old is much younger and will not react well to any implied romance with her, so I'll avoid any of those options, if the game gives me that choice, which it doesn't always.

The game has eight multiple endings, which is nice.  To be honest, after playing for 13 hours and seeing six of them, I have lost interest.  This is largely because the true ending - adequately romancing the heroine and passing the mini-games - was far too easy to get.  I'm okay with the easy mini-games - though it got a bit boring on my second run through - but I was actively trying to choose the worst romance options.  I disrespected her boundaries, acted like a pervy creep, showed hentai to the youngest member of the group, and hit on other women in front of her, and she still considered me her one true love.  What is wrong with this woman?  I didn't like her to start with, and this just dropped any respect I had for her down to the floor.  And since romance is the largest part of the gameplay, that's where my enjoyment ran out.  I don't regret buying the game (£3.74) or playing it, and I might even play it again someday and try for endings E and F.  That said, my opinion on the game is a solid 'meh'.

Oh, and what is with those jiggle-physics?  Sure, boobs lol, but it really just made the game lag annoyingly.   And did every single female character need to jiggle?  Was that really necessary?

“The Tarkov Shooter” Guide

This guide was written by my fiance, whose Battlestate name is Thunderhawk__.   Thunderhawk regularly streams Tarkov at ThunderhawkTwitch.

This guide is out-of-date.  A new version, updated for Version 0.12.10 is available here.  It is current as of April 2021.

I want to preface this guide with some words of caution regarding your personal progression and the concept of play conditioning developed by HBomberguy. Play conditioning acknowledges the effect the introduction of game mechanics has on the player. His video essay on the subject can be found here.  I mention this because in writing this guide I am robbing Escape From Tarkov’s only chance to teach these lessons itself, much like you can only be introduced to the masterpiece that is The Witcher 3 once. So I will be including what I believe to be the intended lesson and hopefully that will translate to other quests of similar intensity. That said, I also understand people’s frustration in completing this questline and Jaeger can go fuck himself.

What I believe to be the intended lesson of each quest will be in white. Highlighting to reveal.

General Tips

• There are two types of Mosin and their trade-offs will become apparent within the guide. Mainly, one allows for the Kochetov Mount and the other does not.

• Insure every Mosin. Kind of goes without saying as a general tip, but this guide will have you switch between the two variants of Mosin so by the time you require the other Mosin it should have returned should you die in your attempt.
• Scavs spawn in waves at various points during the raid, take note when holding position near scav spawns.
• Any amount of additional map knowledge can make a huge difference in Tarkov. This guide will largely concentrate on Shoreline and Woods based on Scav spawn locations.  The Wiki has maps of each level and the relevant scav spawns.
• This guide will make little recommendations towards what armour to equip before your raid. Though I will suggest that if you find one quest particularly difficult you should take it into consideration.
• Extracting is not necessary and runs that result in death may still complete the quest for you
• Types of Ammunition: for Scav based objectives the LPZ Gzh is suitable but for PMC based objectives you may want to switch to ammunition with higher penetration, I prefer the 7BT1. You may have noticed that most kills with the Mosin are one-shot. This is because most of its ammunition deals enough damage to destroy an area of the body and those shots on to the head or the thorax result in instant death so always aim high centre mass or for the head to kill. I use this table as reference: https://odealo.com/articles/escape-from-tarkov-ammo-chart

Part One

Kill 8 Scavs over 40 metres away with Mosin rifle without scope.

Equip the infantry Mosin, which is sold by Prapor at loyalty level 1. Do not equip any scopes except iron sights. Use the Shoreline map and head for either the Gas Station or the Power Substation, whichever is closest. Each side has a ridge providing good vantage with the required distance and the Scav spawns are reliable with at least three at each location.

Lesson: Map knowledge, the handling of the Mosin and possibly an awareness of the Scav’s terminator-like aim.  End.

Part Two

Make 3 hits in the legs from more than 60 metres away with a Mosin.
Make 2 headshots from more than 60 metres away with a Mosin.

Take the sniper variant of the Mosin to make use of the Kochetov Mount you were just rewarded and head back to Shoreline’s Gas Station and Power Substation. This quest may be completed with just two Scavs through aiming for their legs first followed by a headshot and if you hit both legs of one Scav. Be wary of hitting the same leg twice as the first shot may have destroyed the limb and further damage results is considered true damage, likely resulting in death.

Lesson: The effect of hitting limbs, notably that opponents cannot run away with destroyed legs making them easier targets, a likely issue if you missed any shots in completing the first quest. This is also likely the player's first experience at marksmanship and is the first instance of designing a loadout based on an objective.  End.

Part Three

Kill 4 PMC operatives with a Mosin at close range, less than 25 metres away.

Switch back to the infantry-style Mosin. Avoid adding scopes as this hurts the ergonomic value of the weapon, which makes a big difference.  I recommend iron sights and modifications such as the recoil pad, pistol grip or the Monte Carlo stock. These are discretionary based on your budget.

The main strategy here is to play Factory and react to your spawn. If you spawn close to forklifts then play for the potential of two players spawning in close proximity, such as glass corridor. Should you spawn anywhere else then make a break for the top floor corridor and catch players making their way to offices.  The callouts here can be found in the Wiki map. Remember that the ammunition of the Mosin has high penetration and high damage so aim for high centre mass as well as the head, players with low armour will likely die in one hit.

Lesson: Map knowledge and the difference in potential between the sniper and infantry variants of the Mosin. End.

Part Four

Level up the Sniper Rifles skill to 4.

Progression is gained through landing sniper hits on enemies with sniper rifles or reloading sniper rifles. You may rinse and repeat any of the strategies used in the previous parts or you can find a hiding spot in any level and repeatedly reload a mosin to increase the sniper skill. As the Mosin is bolt-action it will drop a round on the floor during reloading, allowing you to repeatedly reload and increase the skill indefinitely. Though I recommend taking plenty of rounds and not taking the trouble to pick up the ones you drop in the interest of time. The increase in skill may vary from patch to patch but you can determine the increase by loading an offline raid and measuring the amount of increase to determine the rate and then calculate how many rounds you require to hit level 4 from that.

Lesson: This quest is more about consistency, arguably a fundamental of EFT, and will likely make you a better shot in the process.  End.

Part Five

Kill 10 Scavs at Customs with a Mosin rifle between 21:00 and 5:00.

Either style of Mosin is acceptable provided you take into account their styles and use. Try only to use the sniper Mosin at range with a scope and the infantry Mosin at close range with iron sights and ergonomically benefitting modifications such as the pistol grip, recoil pad and the Monte Carlo stock. This choice will be important depending on the operational range of the night-vision equipment you decide to take.

Head to customs and note the Scav spawn locations.  From this you may either travel between each location to find Scavs or, the more recommended option, camp a Scav spawn location and wait for them to arrive. The latter has less chance of drawing attention from other PMC’s who may have better night-raid equipment and will cut your run short. I also recommend a headset given the stealthier nature of PMC’s during night raids.

Lesson: An introduction to night raids, sighting range and Scav behaviour. End.

Part Six

Kill 7 Scav snipers with a Mosin.

Your preferred Mosin is acceptable as there is technically no range requirement, but bear in mind that whilst the sniper Mosin provides range allowing for easier shots on the Scavs, the infantry Mosin lends itself to better ergonomics with iron sights allowing for better odds in engagements with players.

Head to Shoreline.  Whilst there are more potentially more spawns in Customs it is worth noting that the other PMC’s are in closer proximity and make it difficult to get the kill without revealing your location. Note the sniper Scav locations and from your spawn head directly to the sniper’s location. The sniper at the Power Substation spawns 100% of the time and may be difficult to hit or appear missing if they are on the other side of the building’s roof. Meanwhile the Rock Passage sniper has a high frequency spawn but is not guaranteed, so if you do not see them you may head for extract. Just be wary of potential players camping the Rock Passage extract.

Lesson: Mostly map knowledge and weapon suitability. Throughout these challenges, the Mosin began to grow on me but it pales in comparison to semi-automatic and fully automatic counterparts.   You cannot expect to go toe-to-toe with this weapon unless you are very experienced.  Instead, you will need to get the drop on people.  This is why whilst Customs has better potential, it is less suitable given its liability for close range combat and the vulnerability of the snipers from other players.  End.

Part Seven

Kill 5 PMC operatives with a suppressed Mosin at least 55 metres away.

Once again, either Mosin is suitable provided you can hit your ranged shots with iron sights, but I recommend a scoped sniper Mosin. For this quest I also recommend Interchange. With limited extract locations it is possible to camp exits to secure kills and the size of the map allows for you to create distance between your target if needed. Bear in mind that your position will likely be compromised if you fail to land your shots.

Lesson: When sniping there are various factors to take into consideration. Bullet speed affects the drop of the round and can be affected with muzzle devices, like suppressors or the ammunition used. There is also a small lesson in weapon modding as the cheapest suppressor for the Mosin may require an adaptor. I also think there is a lesson of survival that strikes to the deeper element of Tarkov. In this instance you are given a weapon only preferably in limited scenarios and it is up to you to provide those scenarios to ensure you complete the quest.  End.

Part Eight

Kill 3 PMC operatives with a Mosin over one raid in the Woods.

I recommend the sniper Mosin with the Monte Carlo stock, the pistol grip, the recoil pad, iron sights and the Kochetov mount installed but no mount attached, instead placing the mount with a fitted scope of good range in your secure container.  If you are not familiar with the Woods map it is likely more experienced players will already have a lead on you if you attempt to go for the obvious sniper positions. Also, given the flatter plain of Woods, missed shots are more likely and you sacrifice your position for every missed shot.

From here the strategy has two parts, an early kill and good position. First, study the PMC spawns of Woods, you want to circle back from your own spawn and drop on a nearby PMC, preferably one that places you further from the centre of the map at to not attract other PMC’s. Secondly, you want to either continue along the spawns and track the other PMC’s, note they may be approaching your position given how the openness of the map allows for accessibly line of sight, or attach the scope from your secure container and snipe PMC’s securing loot near the Lumber Mill. Patience is critical. Also be wary of drawing unnecessary attention to yourself, some attention is good to attract players, but not when you are vulnerable yourself. Avoid looting until you are sure you are clear. Surviving the raid is paramount to the quest to grant you more map knowledge and whilst you may feel rushed to secure kills given the timer for the raid it is always possible another player is in the level with you.

Lesson: I believe this quest not only culminates all the previous quests but also requires you to develop the lessons further to complete it. From studying Scav spawns you now need to be aware of PMC spawns and how that affects how the raid plays out. The versatility of the sniper Mosin over the infantry Mosin become apparent, given one can attach a scope in raid. Woods is also a very open map making it easy for other players to seek you out when you give your position away in engagements, teaching you to be critical of your surroundings and the value of map knowledge. This quest also teaches you the most valuable quest for EFT, patience.  End.


I hope this guide helps.

Monster Prom and The Yawhg

I got Monster Prom and Monster Prom Second Term on Humble Bundle for the combined price of £6.  Since I played it for 33 hours last week (18p per hour) I'd say it was worth.  Second Term is DLC rather than a sequel - it adds more events, scenarios, and characters to the original game, without overwriting the original things.  That said, some scenarios only occur if you choose to play without Second Term, which is an option you're presented with before beginning each session.

A game of Monster Prom is played over the six - or three - weeks before prom, depending on whether you choose to play a short or long game.  Your goal, ostensibly, is to woo one of your six most popular classmates.  In each week you get three choices - where to spend your mornings, where to spend your afternoons, and who you sit with at lunch.  The morning and afternoon events provide you with a +2 boost to each stat, depending on location, and are followed by an event involving some of your classmates.  Your response to those events will, depending on your stats, be successful or not, with the former usually boosting your stats again and the latter dropping them slightly.  There's also a chance that the events will increase one or more classmate's affection towards you.  If you sit with your classmates at lunch you'll be given a choice, your response to which will boost your affection with one of them.  Alternatively, you can sit with some of the characters you're not trying to take to prom, and then you'll get an event which boosts one stat by +4.  Again, which stat is dependent on your choice.  The game stats that a long game should take about an hour while a short game is half that, but if you read faster than average, it will be shorter.  You can't save and abandon a game partway through because they're designed to be played in a single sitting.  There's also multiplayer modes for 2-4, which involves people taking turns to play.  The game suggests little games/debates to decide who should go first in each round, but you can ignore them and tell the game to randomise instead.  Players can't go to the same place or sit at the same table at lunch, or take the same date to prom, so going first can make a difference.  In multiplayer mode, there can also be events where one character will ask a player their opinion on another player's character.

All of my images are of Vera because I love her and if you don't, you are wrong.

The game outright tells you how many possibly events and outcomes there are - around 400 for the former and 1500 for the latter - and offers an achievement for seeing all events and another for all possible outcomes.  Apparently, 0.1% of players have actually achieved this, and that doesn't include me for the same reason I didn't get the 10,000 kills achievements for Final Fantasy VIII or IX.  That is because, in spite of my perfectionist tendencies, I have labelled those achievements as "bloody stupid" and decided to ignore them.  There are a total of 52 achievements over Monster Prom and Second Term, and apart from those for seeing all events or outcomes, the only two I'm missing are for making and publishing steam mods.  You can also get an achievement for playing the game with someone else's steam mod, because the creators are very supportive of fan-made content.   Prior to playing this game, I had no idea Steam had this whole modding system, so that was fun to find out about.

On the main menu, there are a couple of different categories of images you can unlock as you play, often by achieving specific events or endings.  A few endings contribute a LOT of polaroids, because they have dramatic events to explain.  I do like the fact that each ending gets a single, specific image in 'Endings', because it makes it easier to figure out what possible endings there are and which you might have missed.  There's an ending for taking each potential classmate to prom, but taking each character to prom with each of your possible starting characters generates a unique polaroid.  There are also special endings based on completing event chains which randomly trigger, or by buying a specific item in-game.  Despite the randomness, it's surprisingly easy to aim for a specific event chain.  The game is quite good at figuring out who you're trying to woo, for example, which narrows it down quite quickly.  It does that based on a personality quiz which sets your starting stats each game and also wins you a few affection points for some characters, and by triggering events which prompt you to make choices which give you affection points for one character instead of another.  The item events aren't triggered randomly, so they're even easier to get, except for one.  That one is a free gift you can choose, which randomly gives you an item.  Many of these items are triggers for specific event-chains, and some of the random items require you to have already seen previous random events, which can be quite frustrating.  This was the longest part of unlocking everything the game had to offer, for me, but at least I saw a few more events and outcomes along the way.

Speaking of starting players, there are four, shown above.  Each is, by default, identified by the colour of their outfit, but you can choose to go by a default name or a custom name instead.  You can also choose whether your pronouns are he, she, or they.  There's no difference between them except in the images you can unlock and the images and voice clips played alongside the player dialogue.

Another strength of the game was in the characters.  They all have unique personalities, and while each individual game might be short, you learn a lot about them while unlocking all the special endings.  Polly, for example, loves Russian literature, and that comes up in several events.  Even though it's only a brief mention each time, the way it comes up in so many places fills her out more.  Likewise, in some storylines you'll receive a brief mention that Vera is adopted, while in others it doesn't come up at all.  Once you've seen a few of the storylines with her family or explaining her adoption, those little throw-away mentions become a wider part of her character.

At the end of the games credits the makers mention The Yawhg, another game I happen to own.  I have no idea where I got it from, since I didn't buy it from Steam or Humble Bundle.  I can only assume it was a gift.  The Yawhg seems to have come first, and is almost identical in play-style.  You pick a character, choose where they spend their time over 6 weeks, and then an event happens with one final choice.  However, in this case, the characters are building up to an unspecified disaster, and the choice is what role they play in rebuilding the town.  There are no characters to interact with - except, for example, the King, who is really a role rather than a person - and there's no indication of how many endings there are or rewards for achieving anything in game.  You can't choose to play one character, you have to play 2-4 instead.  I played it for 23 minutes, successfully rebuilt the town on my first go, failed on the second go, and felt like I'd seen everything the game had to offer.  It probably has other events and might even have other outcomes, but I have no idea what they might be or how to get them, and I'm not all that interested in finding them.  I'll be surprised if I ever play it again.  It's atmospheric, I guess, but honestly, Monster Prom was a lot more fun, just play that instead.

The Sexy Brutale

I bought The Sexy Brutale last week, for £7.49, and I've now 100%-ed it.  It took 9 hours, so that's 83p per minute and it was so worth it.  The game is a time-travel murder mystery.  You play one character who knows they are in a time loop and must act to prevent the deaths of 9 other guests over the course of twelve (in-game) hours.  If you've read and enjoyed The 7 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (7 and 1/2 in America, I think) I can quite confidently predict that you will enjoy the story of this game.  It's a great, intriguing story that slowly reveals itself to you as you play the game.  One of the things I really enjoyed was how well the gameplay and story were intertwined, and how natural they felt together.


 The game takes place in the titular Sexy Brutale, a combined mansion/casino, and it is essentially a puzzle game.  I was worried the game would be too complex for me, but it's actually very forgiving.  Saving the nine guests is spread over multiple chapters, and saving each generally only requires a few actions.  The mansion gradually opens up throughout the game as you move through the story and gain new abilities, which means it's generally quite clear which section of the mansion you're focusing on in any given section.  You spend a loop or two figuring out where the guests are and following them to see how they die, picking up items as you go.  There's only a handful of items you can find and interactive with - and the game makes it very clear, visually, what those are- so trial and error is quite an efficient way to play.  You can't directly interact with any guests or staff, which is where a lot of the puzzle aspect comes from, but that also serves to simplify the game.  For me, it was exactly the right level of challenging to be enjoyable.


Once you've successfully saved a guest once, you don't need to worry about doing it again or remembering it for a golden run or anything like that.  It's also not really possible to lose.  The worst that happens is you run out of time - and once you have an idea of what to do, the timing isn't that tight - and start the day over.  Handily, some puzzles and items remain solved or obtained, so there's a much lower amount of repetition than you might expect.  You can also set your start point to different locations, so you don't have to repeat the route to the same area every single loop.  The game is also forgiving as regards to collectables, of which there are several.  Some are only available before or after other events, but none are too complicated, and many are hidden in plain sight or there's some hint available.  Several items are only available after a character's death, but, even after you've saved them once, they'll continue to die on subsequent loops - it's only the final loop that matters after all, watch Groundhog Day - so you won't miss anything permanently.  Some areas of the mansion are lost to you for a little while, but you'll be able to access them all by the end of the game.  Even if you proceed right to the ending sequence - which I did accidentally, while stumbling around - you can choose to do a few more loops so you can finish exploring, though that does mean you have to watch some events happen again.  You should be fairly used to it at that point though.

The in-game map is quite helpful.  When you get a skill that allows you to interact with a new type of object, you can generally find it clearly marked.  It will also show you where other characters are at different times, once you've seen them moving through the mansion.  Entering the same room as another character won't kill you, it will just reset the loop if you linger too long.  You generally have enough time to exit before that happens though.

One thing that did annoy me a little was that the controls are sometimes lacking in responsiveness.  You're generally not trying to do anything too dextrous, and there's enough leeway that you won't ruin a loop, but I did gain the habit of hammering on a button 6 times or so for everything I wanted to do.  There was also a bit of lag when moving between two screens, which might explain the lack of responsiveness.  To be fair, maybe it's my PC.

I want to talk more about how story and gameplay are intertwined, but to do that properly, I'll need to include spoilers.  Hence the section below, which assumes you have already finished the game.  Highlight to read.

By the time I entered the garden and saw Eleanor, I had an inkling that, somehow, the character I was playing was Lucas battling with his inner demons, because that's a well-used twist for this sort of story.  That's not a criticism - the game handles it extremely well.  And what I realised at that point is that the Sexy Brutale - not bolded because I'm referring to the actual mansion, not the game - was built by a damn fool.  

Lucas named his home the Sexy Brutale because it sounded cool, which isn't a bad thing, but it is the act of a someone who's a bit of a poser.  He imagines serving - or possibly did serve - drinks filled with venom.  He bought an expensive fish, knowing it wasn't worth nearly that much, purely for the story behind it.  None of these things alone are bad - we all need a bit of magic and drama in our lives - but this part of his life, the hedonistic part, devoted to stupid, dramatic, poserish things, is 90% of his world.  The bit he actually values, the important bit, is the little piece in that garden.  

The fatal flaw in his character is what led him to try to commit insurance fraud, in a big, ostentatious, stupid way.  He could have sold the mansion and declared bankruptcy.  He could have just been poor.  The plan was never going to work anyway, since it hinged on his insurance providers not realising that bombs could be set off with a timer. 

Since I imagine Eleanor didn't literally prepare a nursery in a tiny cottage in the garden, there are no bathrooms and no master suite, etc, etc, and it's also spelled out in some of the dialogue, the world we see isn't a literal representation of the Sexy Brutale.  Rather, it's symbolic, and represents Lucas' own knowledge of his flaws.  Also, I assume this was clear to everyone, but Eleanor deciding not to attend the party and stay in another part of the grounds was something Lucas was imagining to make himself feel better.  She died at the party, after all.

I really liked how the player themselves came to represent the part of Lucas' psyche that was working hard to save everyone.  It meant that forgiving him/ourselves felt earned and a natural progression of the story.  Alternatively, you might decide you hadn't explored enough and repeat the loop before going all the way to the ending.  That made sense too.  Since the day is always repeating, tomorrow can always be the day you forgive yourself.  

You might choose to collect a full deck of cards and give (in) them to your 'old habits', representing a return to hedonistic escape rather than closure.  This is genius - if you do that that means that you, the player, valued playing the game, exploring every corner and getting every achievement, over getting to the end of the story, in exactly the same way as Lucas valued 'playing the game', as someone who's hedonistic tendencies and gambling led to the events of the game, over being more sensible and boring.  That's his tragedy - if he'd been even slightly less of a hedonist, his debts might not have built up as much, or perhaps he would have just sold the damn mansion instead of trying to commit insurance fraud.  And, from the previous paragraph, Lucas knows that and yet there's still a risk that he might fall back into his old habits.  Such is addiction. 

The mansion's guests are a commentary on this as well.  Greyson dies because he can't let go of the treasure he's been hunting, with Redd dying trying to save him.  The former spells out the consequences of Lucas' hedonism, while the latter is probably something he wishes he could do - die to save the others - while also reminding him that his guests were people with their own relationships and loves who were destroyed.  Clay dies because he can't stop gambling and drinking.  Since the latter also results in Trinity's death, and the method for preventing it involves clearly spelling out what's happening on a giant screen, this probably also represents Lucas himself.  His wife died because of his own hedonism, and he clearly (based on the game existing) wishes someone had put a giant screen showing the consequences in front of his face in enough time to prevent them.  

Willow also dies because of Lucas' hedonism. The stupid fish he bought for the story and the drama.  Sure, it was also an expression of love for his wife, but billions of people are able to express their love without going into massive amounts of debt. It can also serve as a metaphor for hedonism leading to depression, since Willow's symptoms and death look like depression, and depression is probably the best label for what Lucas' - the real, outside Lucas - is experiencing during this inner torment.  

Aurum and Thanos also die because of Lucas' hedonism and carelessness.  However, they die on the elevator leading to the basement, where Lucas' symbolism starts to unravel and become more literal representations, so it makes sense that their death - by fire - is fundamentally the same as their actual deaths. It also occurs to me that Aurum and Thanos were both hired for specific skills, and weren't family members or given their own rooms in the mansion.  Maybe Lucas was able to envision their deaths as they literally happened because he wasn't quite as close to them.  Alternatively, maybe theirs were the only bodies he actually saw, in real life, and that's what the imaginary versions are based on.

I found Tequila's death to be one of the most interesting.  Her skill was the one you need to reach Eleanor and to eventually find forgiveness.  She also wrote a song for Lucas and Eleanor, so perhaps that's why her singing is needed for player-Lucas to see Eleanor in the garden.  In both cases, it's her song and her voice bringing them together or celebrating their being together.  

And yet, the staff say horrible things about Tequila - calling her a 'jealous tart' at one point, if I recall correctly - and don't just kill her but throw her corpse down a chute to be eaten by a spider.  I feel like Tequila and Lucas' relationship was a little more complicated than his friendship with his other guests, especially since her death occurs while she's singing a song about her jealousy over Eleanor.  

Then there's her name.  Perhaps the scorn and hatred for Tequila - despite her being a beloved friend - is because she's linked to the most hedonistic part of his life, to the drinking and the gambling, and maybe womanising.  Maybe, secretly, deep down, Lucas believes that, if he'd spent less of his life with Tequila and more with Eleanor, he wouldn't have become the sort of person who'd end up in the situation he did.