#iji game

[twobiit]

Iji vs Asha rematch

[yenyenlive]

Hmm iji... OH RIGHT, IJI!

Yo today I was struck with a train of thought that left me hanging and thinking about the game Iji for a while there. This is going to be a long post going over the game and story mostly. Alternative and specific details will come in different posts.

For those who don't know iji is a free indie game made my Daniel Remar in 2008. It follows the titular character, Iji Kataiser, as she and her family were visitng the lab her dad worked in. Until an alien invasion hit the planet, which knocked her out and put her in a coma.

When she wakes up, she hears some scientists being attacked by aliens but through the intercom she hears her brother and he explains the situation. It's been months, the labs were taken over as an alien facility, basically everyone died including her family, she survived because they made her a cyborg and implanted her with alien technology such as a nano shield, which allows her to use alien weapons. She is basically their only chance of survival and this is clearly too much for her.

I really admire how the game shows us that yes, putting a kid through this is definetly too much ans iji needs to sit down and process all of this before she sets out. She isn't a door kicking, gum chewing basass, or at least not yet. And the game has many moments similar to this one where it makes the choice to show something that isn't seen too often in storytelling. Like the effects of denial in the loss of loved ones.

The gameplay is kinda simple. Plays like a pretty grounded 2D platformer with the kind of animation from the old prince of persia games. Iji can use her nano gun to utilize either lethal or stun rounds to either kill or avoid enemies. I love this cause the game doesn't tell you this but it reaaaaally has details about sort of pacifist and genocide runs like in undertale, but this game precedes it by almost a decade. There are so many little and big details about the story that change through your own actions.

Through the game, iji can find logs made by the aliens, which she can read through the translation built into her nano field. She is worried at how human the aliens are, how she can understand them, how she knows that they are actually in a deplorable state running away from a bigger alien faction and this might be the last hope of their species. I empathise a lot with them, even if they did basically kill all of humabity. Oh yeah they did do that, iji doesnt find out till later and this also takes a toll on her. Knowing they might be the last if not some of the last humans alive but also the fact that her brother prefered to ommit this big important fact??

So yeah, you do either the spare or kill on the aliens and the story differs on that a bit, making you feel like you are really paving your own path. The leader of these aliens that are called the Tasen fights you regardless and dies. Then the alien faction hunting them down finds them, these are the komato. Who at first were presented by iji's brother as alien police but nah, warmongering alien race.

Hell breaks loose as both alien races are fighting and killing eachothee and with iji in the middle. The Komato know of her as "Human Anomaly" as she has avoided all their attacks or killed enough of them be threatening. That's when the assasins show up, who are special forces that teleport around to kill their target, with the highlight of them all being Asha.

What a legend that Asha. A full psychopath who says he is a big time killer, is missing an arm due to deleporting like a dumbass and has voicelines(??).

(I thought the fake transparency was funny)

In the end the game is spectacular and the multiple routes really reaaaaally increase the value of the experience as so many small details are taken intk account. Daniel Remar is god damn MASTER at making his worlds and stories feel alive and real.

[demimonde-semigoddess]

Do y'all think ANYONE would get it if I did Iji for Wondercon...

[demimonde-semigoddess]

Item: A Shield Rarity: ✦ Uncommon

What video game will you defend forever?

Feed your dashboard by answering my question, blogger.

I'm sure Iji has aged worse than I would like it to have. I think it would probably feel quite slow for my tastes these days if I ever went back to it.

But like, come on. It's a freeware game from 2008. It's formative shit for me. The music is fun, the bosses are fun, the writing feels great. It's iconic!

From the various bored alien soldiers trying to hack their guns to unlock alternate firing modes to the heartbreaking stories like Vatelaika and PAE, to the branching flavor of Iji's behaviors as you progress...

There's so much love in there, man.

[mmpkc-art]

Iji is mad.

[antimnemonic]

My favorite thing about Iji is that it sincerely tries to pass off "manipulate everyone into killing each other" as opposed to "kill everyone yourself" as a "pacifist" route hey, you didn't personally kill that guy! in fact, he did it for you! that means you get a happy ending!