LogFAQs > #970604122

63. Norco (2022)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/5/5/AABKTfAAEDqD.jpg

Before playing Norco, I'd heard comparisons to Disco Elysium and Kentucky Route Zero, which filled me with excitement and apprehension, since I love DE and hate KRZ. Fitting that the game ended up middling I guess? Though I see the similarities to DE more than KRZ, I think. It has a similar focus on interesting writing and descriptions, though they're not on DE's level. Part of that is probably due to the lack of voice acting - DE's voice acting was incredible, and there's no voices in Norco. Norco's probably at its best when people are having interesting conversations, of which there are a fair few, since its narration isn't all that special.

I feel like Norco does a good job at making the overall story interesting - there's a lot of fun mysteries that get introduced early on, and the answers to those mysteries are generally great. It suffers a bit more with characters though. I don't really care about any of them, other than maybe Leblanc, and even he took some time to grow on me. He benefits from his humor hitting more often - the game has a fair amount of jokes, but many of them aren't that funny IMO (with some incredible exceptions, like the cat part, and Leblanc's transformation).

Finally, though it's a heavily story-based game, there is a decent amount of gameplay in Norco, most of it bad. The 'puzzles' aren't good, the JRPG battles are okay but kinda feel like a waste of time, and the boat sections are godawful. It also seems fairly buggy - there's one room where it crashed three times on me, despite playing over a month after release. It's also a lot less open than it feels like it should be - there are a few sections where you get to explore at your own pace, but only a few. Your choices in general are pretty limited and seem insignificant. Compared to something like Disco Elysium, it just isn't on the same level.

Next game hint: a platformer that benefited from being played co-op but is pretty weak compared to the entry in its series that came out in 2022 (2018)