Immediately I am forming opinions on Phantasy Reverie's PC Port. I'm using Proton on Linux so I'm going to have some uncommon issues, but the key mapping appears pretty borked so far. It won't detect my controller so I'm trying to make a Steam Input map, but the menus all seem to use all sorts of inconsistent keys with no place to remap or check what they all are? The only option menus are game specific. It's a real pain.

I've also been struggling because the game doesn't like to be alt-tabbed much. It's also in love with my pen display even if I set my larger monitor to the primary.

Aside from technical issues, I've at least played up to the end of the first level in Door to Phantomile. Mixed feelings. The level itself was beautiful and the gameplay feels smoother than ever so far. Well aside from the pause you now make when running and throwing that is pretty annoying. Maybe I'll get used to it.

The new in-game opening cutscene doesn't really hold a candle to the original pre-rendered scene and kinda immediately reveals the limited budget and time this game probably had. Other mid level cutscenes have some changes that don't capture things quite right. They kept the original audio though! Which is great compared to the alternatives if they didn't have the time or money to do more. The original VO is fantastic, though pretty low fidelity.

So yeah. I'm already feeling like the definitive modernization I would like to see is still out of reach, but still I'm pretty excited to go through the rest, if the game will behave for me.

...I wonder how feasible this would be to mod.

Klonoa: Door to Phantomile wallpaper (Namco, PSX)

The wimdy boy. The sleepy adventure cabbit. It's Klonoa! and I'd like to talk about him a little. (maybe a lot)

If you're unaware of this little guy, he's the protagonist to a relatively obscure series of games of the same name. The first releasing on the PS1 under the title Klonoa: Door to Phantomile. This game and its sequel, Lunatea's Veil, are known for their execution of 2.5D platforming, pathing the player and camera around the curves of 3D levels. You're able to even fork or merge paths in places depending on how you platform!¹ The first game in particular also known for its story, but we'll get to that later.

You should also be aware that we're actually a day out from the release of Klonoa: Phantasy Reverie Series, bundled remakes of both Klonoa 1 and 2! Phantomile had previously received a remake on the Wii, but it wasn't the most faithful. For Lunatea, this is its first re-release since the original on PS2. It's an exciting release for Klonoa fans after many years of neglect for the little traveler.

Now you know him!

A little at least. So what do I have to say?

A lot, and it's honestly a bit paralyzing. But what I think what I want now is just just a little introduction future blogs I'll make, and to share a little of what the first game in the series means to me ahead of its new release.

Door to Phantomile is one of my absolute favorite games. It's a joy to play, has fantastic characters, is beautiful and technically impressive. But most of all, its surprising and deceptively nuanced story deeply resonated with me. It has creatively inspired me for years now as I slowly chip away at developing my own story and characters. I admit that to a degree what I see in DtP is down to interpretation, relating to my experiences and identity, but its a shock I can even make such interpretations from this game! It's given me a spark and some direction to express concepts really close to me.

You should give the game a try! I have no idea how faithful an experience the new remake will be, but either way I would strongly suggest emulating it on PS1.² Even if you play Reverie, give the original a try later! It's really special. And if you don't end up seeing anything quite like I do, I hope to share that myself. Both in future posts and the work on my own game!

Have a good one!

Footnotes

1. Klonoa's execution of 2.5D is something I aim to study for gamedev reasons, so I'll probably end up writing a blog on what I learn. I've yet to see a good (or any) write up on this.

2. I recommend using BeetlePSX/Mednafen over ePSXe to emulate Door to Phantomile. In my experience with ePSXe the game experiences a handful of relatively minor visual bugs (it's still very playable). Duckstation might be good too, but I haven't tried it out yet. Apparently it now has a core for Retroarch called Swanstation!