Koi Koi!

Koi koi is both the name of this storygame and that of a japanese card game where the player is required to claim cards on the board by matching them with the ones in their hands to create combinations (yakus) to win points before an opposing player does the same. Now imagine playing such a game with the fate of the world at stake and you have the basic idea of what this storygame really is: A battle against the Demon Lord and the pawns that he has brought under his control, fought over a tabletop rather than a battlefield.

<<SPOILERS AHEAD>>

WRITING:

For a storygame that puts the game first, there is a surprising amount of story here as well. I've always maintained that the best sort of stories for arcade type games with multiple stages is a premise that can explain it all in a single stroke. Koi koi delivers just that by giving you the brief explanation that the reader is hunting down sacrifants who possess fragments of the Demon Lord's soul. This concept holds up well enough throughout all the stages, allowing the story in turn to move quickly to the gameplay without holding up readers in too much exposition between stages. Actual AAA arcade style games like Mortal Kombat are screwing up in this regard turning their story modes into a sort of bloated movie so kudos to the author for getting this right.

I did not notice any SPAG errors in the writing itself. I should also mention that the dialogue during the matches was pretty funny. It was particularly impressive to see that they had unique reactions to different abilities. Little things like that are what tell me that the author was truly passionate about this experience and I appreciate that.

CHARACTERS:

Koi koi features a delightful cast of quirky characters just waiting to be challenged. Each of them have their own unique traits that remain consistent throughout. That being said, there isn't really much to talk about in terms of character development or depth. I suppose delving too much into their individual stories would have distracted from the actual game. Even so, I did find myself wishing that I could learn more about these characters or watch them interact with each other a bit more.

I will say that the crafty Demon Lord was quite memorable. The thought of beating him kept me motivated enough to play through the game twice after all.

GAMEPLAY:

I normally title this section "Structure" and talk about the branching but considering that this game is mostly linear, I decided to switch things up and talk about the core game here instead.

Koi Koi seems like a simple enough game on the surface. But once you start understanding the strategies of which combinations you should gun for, it becomes quite the mental exercise. The game also adds abilities on top of that which add an extra layer of complexity. The Yunikawa fight in Heroic mode was particularly thrilling, with Yunikawa pulling out surprise abilities that might just end your run with ease.

That being said, there are a few small problems. Firstly, the 'Go back' button can trivialize most of the challenge that the game has to offer. You don't have to expend luck points when you can just rewind to a point from which you can change the outcome of a game. What's more, it looks like the sequence of cards that are to be pulled from the deck is randomized at the beginning of the round. This means that if I discard say March - Plains A and then draw September - Animal, I can use the 'Go back' button and discard September - Plains A to immediately scoop up September - Animal as soon as it is drawn from the deck. Pretty over powered as you might imagine.

The second problem I faced was probably one that was more specific to me, but I really wish that the cards on the board had text under them stating their names. While I'm not exactly colorblind, I do tend to perform quite badly in such tests. As such I was having a difficult time finding matches just by border colors alone. I'm glad that the names of the cards appear on hover at least, but I feel like I might have had a faster experience if the names were just mentioned below the cards.

Aside from those, Koi Koi offers quite an enjoyable gameplay loop. I can fully see myself revisiting this game to play it whenever I have some free time.

I'm going to be quite honest, I do not how to play Koi Koi! And I did at first give it a try at the easiest difficulty option available, but then I found myself having greater interest in the story that was beneath this game. I can tell that much work in variables and the like went into this story-game, and it certainly makes it one of the very unique ones on this site. There's a very technical game that can be played here, with colorful vivid card images, as well as dialogue that is present in the very story itself.

Koi Koi! I can say it's a story that gets many things right at the end of the day. This is a game that is very accessible for many potential types of readers. If one wants a balanced challenge, that's available. If one wants a fierce challenge that really tests them, that's also there. Oh, and if there's someone who simply finds themselves curious of the story? There's no shortage of an interesting cast of characters that our 'hero' will meet on his journey. I've played casually, in the sense that there was really only story for my experience, but even the story seems to have plentiful work placed into it to make it a memorable and fun one.

One thing I personally enjoyed is the differences that are present when one goes through the story, and then goes through another time in a different unlocked scenario. I don't how Killa_Robot pulls it off, but reading through this a second time, and seeing the changes that are added into things certainly felt very rewarding, and it was certainly appreciated.

What's present in this story-game is a rather remarkable grasp on how deep the depths of the editor can go. It certainly must have been a bit of a painstaking ordeal to keep the framework of this story-game to be as strong as it is, but it is so well done and crafted. At first, I thought it would be intimidating to try and get into this, but Killa_Robot does more than his fair share of work in making them very far from the case.

This is certainly worth any amount of time that a reader might find themselves spending on it. There's a story with a surprising amount more depth that I intentionally thought that it would have at first glance, but it's a story that I found to be quite entertaining. It's quite "anime-like" in the way it is told, and I just happen to not be an individual that is turned away from such things. Besides that, the story is quite the interesting adventure with some genuinely humorous, as well as surprising and shocking moments.

I don't think I could possibly recommend it anymore than I have already, but this is incredible work.

Great job, Killa_Robot.

Haven't played this in a while, but I remember that it was really fun. Not going to give out an eight for free, though, so you get a seven.

Very impressive writing and game implementation.

I spent so long on this i missed a test

Looks like you put a lot into this

Aw man, this was a surprisingly fun and challenging experience. The fact that you were able to implement a whole card game in the editor is simply amazing to me. Makes me wonder what else you could do with it.

finally beat heroic mode... what an experience!

I have no idea how to play Koi Koi, and the rules seem too god dang complicated, but the scripting for this must have been insane. I am in awe.

I keep on coming back to play this. It's just so addicting and fun!