Thirsty Suitors Review – “I’m Jala Goddamn Jayaratne!”

At a look, Thirsty Suitors is a recreation about revenge. Its story follows the not too long ago heartbroken Jala Jayaratne, who returns to her hometown solely to be relentlessly attacked by a league of evil exes. But additionally it is a lot greater than that. As the story progresses, we come to find that none of those exes are evil per se, and Jala herself is extremely fallible. She left scorched earth in all of her earlier relationships in Timber Hills, and her solely possibility now’s to reconcile and take accountability with every of those exes. Her makes an attempt to make good take the type of turn-based fight constructed upon RPG development that has a singular taste and is enjoyable to have interaction with. There’s even a surprisingly satisfying skateboarding mechanic. In so some ways, Thirsty Suitors is exclusive and artistic, however when all is claimed and executed, what makes an enduring impression is a private, susceptible, and culturally nuanced story about making issues proper.As beforehand talked about, you’ll be combating every of Jala’s exes all through the sport in turn-based fight, leveling up stats, studying new expertise to make fights simpler, and utilizing summons that may be unlocked by means of sidequests or the primary story. Each struggle is a dialog, a puzzle, and a battle in a single the place the target is to find the weak point of an opponent by means of a technique of trial and error. Once you’ve got recognized that weak point, you’ll be able to inflict standing illnesses or deal further injury to chip away at their well being. The RPG mechanics and the method of exploring and exploiting weak point are offered as a back-and-forth between Jala and her interlocutor the place previous wounds are reopened and points are hashed out till the dynamic between them evolves or resolves. This system manages to work within the foundational aspect of RPGs however cleverly rethinks it to additionally give it narrative weight. The trial and error course of is one among choosing dialogue choices, and these can have an effect past the battle too. Make the best selections and you will give you a plan that’ll pinpoint the enemies’ weaknesses by means of taunts, so you’ll be able to simply trounce them with the usage of the proper expertise.Jala’s preliminary ambition and consciousness of her wrongdoings are distinctive for the primary character of an RPG, not to mention one spearheaded by a queer South Asian girl. Jala conveys her self-awareness by internalizing that she is the one at fault in all of her earlier relationships, which manifests within the recreation as a banter between herself and a narrator. The narrator is a voice she has conjured up that’s paying homage to her sister, Aruni, in seems, voice, and tone. This, it seems, can also be a method for Jala to grapple together with her strained relationship together with her sister whereas nonetheless having steering internally. The dialogue between them had me laughing all through the sport’s 17-hour runtime. The snide, direct, and reassuring nature of this narrator determine permits Jala to convey her struggles successfully by presenting these challenges to a different entity in a candid method. The Narrator presents the steering she seeks all through the sport although her precise sister avoids confronting Jala. Each of Jala’s exes additionally has a coping mechanism akin to Irfan and what different characters name his “obsession with his cat” to the purpose of carrying his pet round wherever he goes.Conversations with different characters, like members of the family or exes, offer you completely different dialogue decisions that can decide Jala’s stats and construct, and can form how a given narrative second performs out. The three builds, or paths, out there to the participant are The Heartbreaker, The Star, and The Bohemian. Each of those determines whether or not Jala has elevated assault rank, hit factors, or Will Power (the latter is expended to make use of Taunts or Skills in fight).Battles mostly play out towards the random suitors that Jala’s patti (grandmother) has despatched to “win her love.” You can select to start out these battles as usually or as little as you want by interacting with “Grift or Gift?” packing containers. Grifts can be fights and presents will earn you in-game foreign money with out having to struggle any suitors. The final result of interacting with these “Grift or Gift?” packing containers is randomized to keep up a component of shock. It continues to be helpful to have full well being and/or Will Power earlier than interacting with these packing containers, nonetheless, since a battle might happen you will need to be ready.Thirsty Suitor’s battle system could be daunting at first, because it delivers loads of details about its mechanics up entrance and expects you to retain it after the primary struggle, however there’s a helpful “Thirstpedia” within the choices menu that may be a useful information that can break down how the primary fight mechanics work and the alternative ways to make use of them to Jala’s benefit. While the mechanics do ultimately click on into place, getting there might require referencing this information as a substitute of relying solely on the sport’s temporary tutorial.Like many turn-based RPGs, fight is constructed on a system of weaknesses. In Thirsty Suitors, most weaknesses are decided by Mood, of which there are 5: Thirsty, Raging, Shocking, Impressive, and Heartless. Different Taunts are used to determine the Mood simplest to make use of on an enemy. If your chosen Taunt is efficient on the enemy, it would inflict standing results on the opponent and earn you an additional flip that can be utilized to inflict Taunts on different enemies or land a robust Skill in your now weakened goal. It’s a well-known however satisfying system of building openings, exploiting them, after which repeating to construct momentum.In your first dozen or so battles, it does really feel like a trial and error course of to determine the weaknesses of enemies. In different RPGs akin to Persona 3, exploiting a weak point of an enemy kind permits the participant to retain that info on the precise weak point. But in Thirsty Suitors, this isn’t preserved since weaknesses are usually not as constant from battle to battle. To decipher weaknesses, the dialogue from the preliminary battle introductions may help. For instance, an enemy would possibly begin their battle introduction by pushing Jala for marriage. This little trace can function a clue to zero in on utilizing a Thirsty or a Heartless Taunt with success. Almost all the time these hints of enemy weaknesses are current. They are delicate, however a great way to supply just a little help, and over time it turns into a lot simpler to interpret how the dialogue is guiding you in battle. It is satisfying every time to use a weak point and obtain further turns to proceed taunting different enemies or unleash highly effective expertise. I totally loved that I may have that “aha!” second and acquire the higher hand or flip the tables as quickly as I discovered an enemy’s weak point.When utilizing these Taunts (or Skills), you’ll have to coordinate your button presses or directional inputs, inflicting the related Mood for added turns. In the identical respect, timing button presses and directional inputs when your opponent is attacking assist you to mitigate injury from oncoming enemy assaults or Taunts. Thankfully, gamers can simply activate choices that robotically full the onscreen prompts. It can get hectic when combating enemies, so having these choices available permits freedom to not fear about lacking actual timings and helps with accessibility for many who want it. Altogether, Thirsty Suitor’s fight could be very gratifying, particularly once you handle to make use of the proper Taunt on an enemy. It feels nice to correctly use the sport’s Mood system to your benefit and emerge victorious from a battle, particularly once you handle to do it fully unscathed. Gameplay and narrative weight for dialogue decisions come within the type of how a lot HP or WP is elevated for the following bout. Certain plot factors or conversations between characters can evolve and alter relying in your decisions as properly.Battles are zany, charming, and endearing, and the completely different taunts and expertise are a giant a part of that too. I could not assist however smile at how absurd the fight can develop into by playfully poking at South Asian tropes, but in addition subverting them utilizing the sport’s RPG mechanics. Calling your personal mom as a summon in these psychological battles to deal large injury together with her slipper is objectively hilarious and likewise, why not? Everything is truthful recreation in these surrealist and fantastical fights, so calling your chappal-wielding mom to deal big injury, much more so in the event you do it with an acceptable enemy and unlock secret dialogue interactions. The battle mechanics do not change an excessive amount of all through the sport, however the recreation’s evocation of South Asian tropes retains issues contemporary so that every battle stays satisfying, even in the event you’re not intimately aware of South Asian tradition.Each of Jala’s exes has turmoil and trauma, all with their very own coping mechanisms, and that trauma impacts Jala in her personal life separate from that relationship. For instance, Diya is a lesbian and one among Jala’s exes. She was disowned by her household at a younger age, leaving her with nowhere to go. Her dad and mom, who dwell in the identical city don’t even acknowledge her. After their confrontation, Jala is pressured to mirror on her personal life and relationship together with her household. She confronts her father and asks if her father would have disowned Jala similarly, which results in an surprising revelation about Auntie Chandra, who sees being a queer elder as a accountability for the youthful era of Timber Hills. There is a considerate intersection between characters that highlights the domino impact of interactions, relationships, and behaviors. There are deep bonds and lengthy histories that come to gentle, and many do not even have Jala on the middle of all of it. It is spectacular how the sport explores themes of queer trauma, particularly queer South Asian trauma, in excruciating element, whereas not shying away from the fact that being queer is troublesome for therefore many causes.Characters all have nuances and complexities boiling underneath the floor that talk to how they have been modified and I actually admire that aspect of the writing. Andile making an attempt to juggle his ancestors, roots, cultures, and traditions whereas being overtly non-binary, but in addition subvert that they aren’t “small, petite” because the phrase “non-binary” tends to use in white/western circles, for instance. I can not assist however need to study extra in regards to the folks on this city and listen to the tales that make every of them distinctive, to the extent that it is disappointing when anybody is not given sufficient time to totally discover, as is the case for Andile.I used to be additionally stunned by Thirsty Suitors’ predominant journey mechanic, skateboarding, which is each a simple and fascinating option to get round. Outside of her residence, Jala will robotically use her skateboard and she will bounce on completely different guardrails, shred on benches, and hold off wires to do completely different methods. By simply holding down the set off or altering the path with the left analog stick when already on any of those objects, you’ll construct up combo multipliers with completely different methods or strikes. You can freely hop round to completely different objects or run on the facet of partitions to stack up the combos. Hitting any of the denizens roaming round or any objects will drop your combo multipliers, so you will have to pay attention to the environment and adapt to what’s forward. When you are feeling like ending your in depth combo, there are specific objects such because the fountain in the midst of Downtown to complete your factors in a trendy showstopping method. The recreation’s skating is intricate and well-crafted, with a few of the challenges educating you the best way to do extra expert-level methods. Between story aims, I discovered myself getting sidetracked skating round Downtown or the Skatepark–not even by any particular out there challenges, however moderately by the hypnotic pleasure of making an attempt new methods and increase the combo multiplier or unlocking new characters to skate (you’ll be able to skateboard as a canine that wears wings!). Online Leaderboards assist you to compete towards your pals on challenges, supplying you with the additional push to do higher or rank greater on the Leaderboards for bragging rights. Having just a little message pop up that you’ve earned a brand new private finest or trumped one among your pals is a satisfying feeling.The recreation has a plethora of non-obligatory skateboarding actions and challenges that can grant you gadgets or in-game foreign money, and there are a number of obligatory ones as properly. However, there are accessibility choices to autoskate, which alleviates the potential roadblock of the obligatory skateboarding challenges wanted to progress the sport’s story.The final core mechanic of Thirsty Suitors is cooking. Jala can cook dinner many various South Asian dishes and, like the sport’s battle mechanics or the skating, you’ll be able to simply activate accessibility options to excellent the cooking segments, since in addition they require actual execution of on-screen prompts. Jala brings a pizzaz and oomph to cooking duties that’s enamoring to observe due to the superb animation work on show. Simple duties like washing her arms or shaking spices have her do flips, jumps, and trendy maneuvers across the kitchen, and it is a delight to observe.Cooking dishes can also be an integral mechanic of the sport with cooking executed in a step-by-step trend overseen by one among Jala’s dad and mom, and I discovered myself creating the identical meals once more to decide on completely different dialogue choices. Outside of offering further dialogue between Jala together with her dad and mom to debate completely different matters akin to marriage and life’s obstacles, or inquire about issues Jala by no means knew about, the dishes you cook dinner can be utilized in battle. The higher you execute the cooking steps, the extra approval (and warmth) you’ll obtain out of your dad and mom. Approvals add up, granting you bonus dishes to make use of in battle with stronger results. Oothoappam will restore HP over time, for instance, however Oothoappam+1 will restore extra HP over time and briefly lower the injury taken.Even although I did not use the accessibility choices, having them out there is most welcome. These accessibility options permit many several types of gamers to strive a turn-based RPG akin to this, and it’s already such a rarity for video games on this style, with speedy button presses or round motions, to supply these simply togglable options. It exhibits the care the builders positioned not simply on the sport’s illustration or storytelling, however the participant too.Like the animations, the sport’s music could be very complimentary to the presentation. The predominant battle theme towards Patti’s suitors can be a monitor you’ll hear loads, however I by no means bored with listening to it. My favourite tracks are the person ones orchestrated from the sport’s completely different boss battles, and as quickly as you beat any boss you need to use jukeboxes round Downtown to hearken to particular tracks in your free time.The cel-shaded artwork model and colourful environments actually showcase the characters by uplifting their fashions. Each boss battle is crammed with inventive thrives. One boss battle could have backgrounds in pink with crystals and diamonds abound, like a royal kingdom. Another boss’ atmosphere is ghoulish, darkish, and vampiric like a graveyard. The environments and aesthetics very successfully spotlight the qualities and vibe of the ex you are combating.One of my favourite features of the sport was the usage of widespread tradition references. Hearing references to Neon Genesis Evangelion, The Shining, and different artwork however with a singular spin on actually highlighting the sport’s personal allegories, analogs, and analogies. A non-playable character says they love Neon Genesis Evangelion as a result of they “love giant mechs, but hate their dad,” which is an fascinating option to discover the struggles of explaining to others who you’re, and exhibiting that artwork generally is a excellent stepping stone to discovering that. These references additionally current Timber Hills as if it have been an actual place that’s impacted by the affect of media and artwork we have now in our world, making all of it really feel relatable consequently.The method Thirsty Suitors meshes turn-based fight, cooking minigames, and a skateboarding simulator is a large success. On paper, so many disjointed concepts do not sound like they may work, however Thirsty Suitors brings all of it collectively in spectacular trend. And it does so whereas additionally elevating and celebrating South Asian characters and their tales in a modern-day setting.