![]() ![]() As it turns out, there's a reason for this - the story isn't in the game, but in a separate tie-in novel. It has a lot of problems, and one of them is simply that it's nearly impossible to figure out what's going on - the story comes across as a string of random events instead of anything coherent. But hey, I don’t own the video game and at least I didn’t shell out sixty dollars for an AAA disappointment, am I right?īy now many in the gaming community are aware of Balan Wonderworld. It definitely wasn’t worth the ten bucks I coughed up for it (and for a kindle version, no less I don’t think a physical copy exists, at least not in English). ![]() The artwork in this book is lovely, though, plain and simple.Īll in all I would say that you’re probably better off reading the wiki/out of context quotes rather than reading the book itself. There are other little bits here and there in the world building that scream potential but, much like the game, they aren’t fleshed out enough. If I had to say something I enjoyed about the bosses a lot, it’s the idea of them being monstrous forms of that particular person’s insecurities. Lots of death of loved ones and near-death experiences. The backstories for some of the characters are intensely tragic in a way that feels totally inappropriate for the young target demographic. The same applies to basically every other person. I appreciate that Leo, the protagonist, is a bit of a brat at first and has an arc, but I hesitate to call him interesting. The idea of a once-benevolent ruler of a world that exists to help people getting too attached and trapping them is super interesting which makes it all the more of a bummer that the video game (and consequent book…) he ultimately ended up in was so bleh. Be careful, Balan―or Lance they'll soon call you.” To save, there was only one thing I could do, and that was to create a new Balan: you… But now you're falling in love with them too. Balan no longer but Lance I became, and negativity began laying upon Wonderworld its claim. But I grew too close to the humans, and to their sorrow and sadness fell prey. “Before you became Balan, it was my part to play. The backstories that are ultimately revealed for them felt appropriate and earned after sitting through everything else. Their appearances were infrequent enough that their quirk of rhyming in their dialogue wasn’t bothersome. It’s at its best when it wavers from this structure, particularly with its brief appearances from Balan and Lance, the deuteragonist and antagonist. And they all follow the formula to a tee in rapid succession. Also, there are only six characters, four of which follow that formula that strictly. I would argue that its story and characters are distinct enough that it can get away with it. The anime adaption of Angels of Death, another video game, has a formula that is reminiscent of its pixel horror RPG origins-go to a new level, solve a puzzle, beat the boss, unlock a door, repeat. It’s exhausting and I had to start skimming. And-I can’t believe I’m saying this-there is a similar structure with a slight variation AGAIN for each character’s respective ending. This is later ever-so-slightly changed to go to the stage, beat the stage boss, learn the boss’ tragic backstory, repeat. It is a long, plodding laundry list of the same thing over and over and over again: go to the stage, meet the stage’s owner, talk about Balan, repeat. There are some pieces of media that are based on video games that can function okay, but this really isn’t one of them. This story structurally doesn’t work in book format. The premise is reminiscent of the show Infinity Train in that characters go to a fantastical world to solve mental health issues. I hoped that by reading the book I would be able to get some insight into why it didn’t live up to its full potential. 95% of that game has no dialogue or textual story beats or decipherable spoken words, to its intense detriment. So this is effectively a script for content that should have been in the video game Balan Wonderworld but wasn’t. ![]()
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