htoL#NiQ - The Firefly Diary

This game is interesting and fun as it is frustrating and annoying. While it is not a long game, it took about a week to finish the game. The only way for J and I to beat the game was to switch off and sleep once we realized we were unable to beat the part. Taking a break really helps a lot in this game. No break and the game starts to become unbearable to play.

Warning: Spoilers

Limited Edition included game, art book and soundtrack.

The game starts with a little girl named Mion who wakes up on a table and a firefly name Lumen who finds her. The player controls Lumen to guide Mion to walk, sit, climb, push/pull and interact with the world around her. Soon after, another firefly name Umbra joins Mion and Lumen. Umbra can only move within shadows. Planted in the world are Memory Fragments. There are 13 total, which reveals Mion's memory as well as how to get the "true" ending.

Chapters + Endings

There are 4 chapters with sub-stages and a extra chapter for this game. In the first chapter, Mion is escaping from a ruin. This chapter is the easiest and didn't take much time to get through.  The boss was a giant shadow that chased down Mion. Umbra was used to defeat this boss. The memory fragments makes it worth continuing on with the story. 

Starting point. Awaken on a table in a ruined area.

In the second chapter, she is in a thermal power plant. There was a level where Mion was unconscious throughout the whole level which made it quite difficult to get through. The boss was an interesting addition since it was seen in the memory fragment as a creation the mother made. It was a robot with a giant mouth and wheels. The difficultly of this chapter was mainly timing everything.

Wake up! >_<

In the third chapter, Mion is in a sewer and forest area. The sewer area had a part with the controls reversed due to the mushroom on her head. Reversed controls are difficult! The forest area was nice for a change until I saw a dead Mion-like body hanging from a tree. This chapter is way more grotesque than the others and I just mostly let J play it. I don't really want to get nightmares and I can't handle too much horror (luckily I didn't). There was a ton of dying in this chapter, since it suppose to get more difficult. The boss looked a blob of roots and a large eye in the middle. It was difficult and it took many tries to beat it.

Nice looking forest area.

In the fourth chapter, Mion is in a maze of doors which leads to rooms that looked like her home with the addition of glitches. This chapter was difficult mainly at the puzzle where Lumen had to transverse without touching the sides of the maze. This part took FOREVER. Once through, it was almost smooth sailing to the end of the game. Of course, there had to be more reverse controls with the mushroom. The boss...was a joke compared to the earlier ones. The boss consist of a silhouette of the mother and father. It was just a game where the player had to pick which one the father was (1 of 4) and which box the mother was in (1 of 3). If picked incorrectly, the screen starts to glitch. After defeating this boss, Mion wakes up in a house and ahead is a door to the outside. As she reaches the door, she starts getting headaches and continues to go forward until she falls off the cliff. (Bad ending)

The hardest part...getting through that maze without getting zapped. Also after is a pillar of fire which is shut off by aiming the plant down and going to umbra mode when Mion is close enough to the chain to shoot the plant.

OMG WE'RE FREE!

Well that sucks, Mion fell off a cliff.

To get chapter X, all memory fragments must be retrieved. It's clear where the player must go to get the other ending. In here, there is a large tree and a girl that is Mion with a red aura. The current Mion with roots on her head is expelled from the body and real Mion takes the body. Lumen and Umbra abandons Root Mion. Root Mion realizes what happens and is angry. Monsters are summoned to attack the tree. This part only consist of protecting the tree with plants. While not terribly difficult, it took a while to figure out what shadow Mion did. She drops a plant and makes a spike come out to stun the monsters coming to attack her. After the battle is over, Lumen and Umbra fizzles out of existence and real Mion is expelled from the body and is crying. The tree is reborn and the shadow monsters no longer exists. Root Mion comforts real Mion. (Good ending)

Looks like they became friends.

Final Thoughts

The story was great. It was interesting and kept me wanting to know the full story of what happened. It is still unknown how Mion originally died but due to her death, it brought about all these "clones" of Mion who went out of control and destroyed everything.

The controls is the only gripe we had with the game. Since everything was the same action, it was difficult to tell Mion to sit next to a plant when the game decides to just move the plant instead. Or having Mion grab the box but instead she grabs it for a second and lets go. At first, we played the game with touch screen and found out buttons can be used instead. The buttons were easier but still difficult on some levels. Touch screen was best when moving through the mazes with Lumen.

The music was great. Most of it was suspenseful but my favorite was the bedroom theme. The happy and innocent music was relieving to know there was a time where everything was perfect. J's favorite is the theme with the chapter 4 boss. It sounds like a circus song where it's fun and goofy. He also likes where is my key?.

The visuals were great. Sometimes things can't be seen unless in Umbra mode but that's the fun of trying to find things to solve the current predicament. The artwork is nice and I'm glad we got the art book from the limited edition version.

We took a chance on this game by getting the limited edition even though we knew it was "okay" for a game. It wasn't terribly expensive so it was worth the extra money. We probably will never get all the trophies since it requires such precision and effort that we're not sure we want to put in. We're happy with the game but I wouldn't recommended to those who can't stand doing a part over and over again.