REIVES'S PROFILE

It's really fortunate that the game has been getting some spotlight; I'm really grateful for it. Hopefully it helps a bit to open the gate for shedding some light on games from the RM community and others too in the future; there're many projects out here that really deserve it. Fingers crossed!

Thanks for the review Sgt., I appreciate it.

If I may have a word on the topic of the all-over-the-place scores for this game:
Personally, I certainly don't believe it's a 5/5 game, or a 1/5 game for that matter. However, cal just gave realization to a good point: The extremely high-end reviews of Quintessence are often irrational. But that's not necessarily a bad thing, and I think there's a rational explanation for it.

Many games offer a variety sources of satisfaction, from a sense of accomplishment of puzzle games to sense of adventure in games with exploration elements. Most games have a mix of many of these. However, as a weirdo that coughs up balls of cutscenes and character dialogues non-stop from a movie-director-wannabe, Quintessence essentially completely depends on one single thing -- to create an emotional attachment.

Everything it focuses on, from details like lighting-overlays to aid the atmosphere to the OST, is aimed at that one single goal. It still certainly doesn't work with everybody, especially since being attached to a story or character or just the particular way a story is told really varies from person to person. But for those who *do* end up being emotionally attached, everything else is suddenly passively forgiven. Emotional attachment makes a person irrational and vulnerable.

It's kinda like when I watched Elfen Lied. There were oh-so-many crap aspects in that show, from the excess gore-for-the-sake-of-gore/shock to the various juvenile aspects of certain parts of its story, but in the end, because a part of its story or just the way it was told struck a particular chord and made me attached, I suddenly didn't care about any of its shortcomings and automatically gave it an irrationally high score in my head. To some who didn't end up with the same level of emotional attachment, though, it seemed rather silly and gimmicky.

I think when it comes down to it, it's sort of a form of mental exploitation. But I think I'm just going to go with the artsy-fartsy excuse and say that as long as it's enjoyed in one way or another, cheers. The only negative is the fear of hype backlash, but it's too late for that anyways. From my personal perspective as its author, I think of Quintessence as my "Eragon in its less-than-flattering light"; it was my first project, started a long time ago, and if anything, there were many, many lessons learned from its making indeed. . . but hopefully, it had many other aspects to keep as well.

Aye, my observations were merely the initial inspiration for writing it - it is ultimately just a light-hearted joke song and shouldn't be taken seriously; it features a 2 feet tall protagonist with a best friend of 10 feet, after all. :p Thanks for the comments everyone! (By the way, do you know which age groups that average includes, Felds?)

@uh: Oh wow, now that you mention it, I'll never look at that cow the same way again.

I am relatively short for a guy (5'8), and when one day I suddenly noticed that most of the guys on campus are taller than me, I called B.S. and got the excuse to write this song. Hope you enjoy it regardless of your vertical measurement!

Click: mp3
They're All So Freakin' Tall
Reives

LYRICS:
-----------
My best friend is much taller than me
He's 10 feet high I'm 2 feet tall,
he throws me like a basketball

I slide through the hoop and cannot help but think
One day I'm gonna rule it all,
I'll be the player and not the ball

I carry around a boulder to stand on
when we take pictures together (Boohoo)

When we go indoors he hits his head on second floor
as I breeze through the doggy door

Oh he's .. just .. so damn .. TALL!
(They're ALL so fricken tall)

It's no fair,
I pull my hair,
I drink my milk and say my prayer
Calcium-god,
dear laughing cow,
You can press my button now


I've never seen a running parade
Never got to drop an icecream cone
on an uncle's balding head

I spiked my hair to better compare
Then drew a face on my spikey hair
pretending to stare

Oh I should marry CN tower to
get some height in the DNA

Hugging her concrete may be cold in the Winter
but at least she's used to PDA

And they're still .. all .. so damn .. TALL!
(I'm not short, they're all just tall!)

It's no fair,
I pull my hair,
I drink my milk and say my prayer

Calcium-god,
Dear laughing cow,
You can press my button now

Any time now
Any time now
Any time now
..(+x4)

Any time now,
oh the world's gonna fade away
Any time now,
all our frailties will cease to weight

Any time now,
The laughing cow'll press my button

Any time now
Any time now
(+x4)

Any time. . .


So the laughing cow does not care for me, I say:
"That's okay, cause you just suck,
go get headshot by a puck"

Who needs to grow up to be Paul anyway?
I bet he had to pick up poo from
his blue ox Babe every single day

Maybe the reason I'm not growing is
I'm just not whining nearly enough

Whine, whine, whine whine whine whine whine whine whine whine..-
Someone please call the waaambulance

All I want .. is to .. be damn .. TALL!
(They're ALL so fricken tall)

It's no fair,
I pull my hair,
I drink my milk and say my prayer
Calcium-god,
Dear laughing cow,
You can press my button now

It's just no fair,
I pull my hair,
I drink soy milk and say my prayer
Calcium-god ,
Dear Mr. Bean,
Won't you press my button now



Reference: Laughing Cow cheese.

Really like the colouring style, it's quite pleasant to look at. The arms do seem a bit awkward, though - in the first one, it's (as already said) a bit too small and in a strange bend, and the second one's arm just seems overly skinny to the elbow. But definitely many great things going on here overall. Good luck to ya!