/cog/ - Traditional & Video Gaming

Not too long ago I was thinking "Rule of Rose isn't popular enough to have a thread on plus4chan." Guess I was wrong.
I just beat the game earlier this month (the moment I reached the credits, a Rule of Rose thread on /v/ died; got unlucky... how ironic), and yesterday I finished my second play-through to get the stuff I missed.
It has become one of my favorite games. I really like the characters, the menus, the music... everything, really. Even the game play, which some people dislike, I think is fine and enjoy, though I must admit the game was frustrating at times during the first half of my first play-through.
-
Here are some ways the game could be improved:
>Improve combat by having better hit detection and preventing Jennifer from getting 'stuck' (since the enemies usually come in swarms, you will often face situations where they just beat the crap out of Jennifer and you can't really do much about it, especially if she is in a corner of a room). Make it easier to avoid such situations by making Jennifer safe from being grabbed/knocked over/hit again for a short period of time after getting hit.
>Make the revolver actually useful. It is shown a fair bit in promotional material and in the intro cut-scene, but most players will likely never use it, since it is hidden behind a secret room that can only be opened near the end of the game. It is also incredibly weak, and the fact that there aren't that many bullets and that you have to go out of your way to find them makes it even worse. I would fix it by either introducing it a bit earlier, making it so fewer bullets are needed to kill enemies and/or make the bullets come in packs (basically instead of getting only one bullet per pickup, you would get at least three; 'Jennifer found Bullet (x3)')
>Adjust Brown's path-finding mechanic a little. It actually works nicely, but in a few rare instances he will run into an obstacle or wall and then stop looking for the item, most notably in the 1st Passenger Corridor and in Sector 7 Cargo Bay.
>A way to return to the main menu. Maybe I'm dumb but I don't think there's such an option — if there is, it isn't immediately clear. Not that there are many reasons to come back to the main menu, but you know, it would be nice if the game had that option.
-
>Unfortunately this was the last game they made.
Going through the game's wiki on Fandom, I read they made some other game; 'The Black Bird' I believe it's called. Apparently it even has a few references to Rule of Rose towards the end. They released it under Orion Games instead of Punchline though, but I believe several people who worked on Rule of Rose were involved in the production of that game.
It's a shame we didn't get more games from Punchline.
>And Meg is best girl.
I have a hard time calling anyone but Jennifer "best girl." Nearly everyone but her is batshit insane. Initially I thought Eleanor was quite nice, because despite participating in all the cruel stuff, she didn't act as rude as Diana and Meg. However after re-watching the FMVs, I changed my mind. She isn't THAT much better than the other girls, she is just introverted. Still one of my favorite characters, though. Clara is also nice... poor girl. Out of all the boys, Nicholas is the least troublesome, from what I remember. Screw Xavier for causing the power outage and screw Thomas especially, that fool does nothing but lock you in rooms with Imps.
Anyway, sorry for rambling.
TL;DR: Cool game. Very cool, even. Could make with some improvements regarding combat and the addition of quality-of-life features. Punchline were great developers. Everyone in this game is insane... though probably not as insane as the people who wanted this game banned in the EU.