Lifeline (2004) Deserves Better 

It's much better to make a game with big ideas that misses the mark than one that doesn't even attempt anything interesting

I've played partway through this game a few times, including really close to when it came out. Somehow, when Rio was asking for the name of a weapon, I said some stuff that was wrong, had no idea what she wanted, and just said... something that I can't remember, and she HEARD molotov cocktail. I kinda wish that most of the conversation moments in the game worked like that ended up happening, almost like she suddenly remembered what she was thinking of because I didn't have a clue but she managed to pull the memory out after talking. It would have been a nice way to avoid softlocks like the Naomi one at the beginning. I still want to see someone really redo this idea in the modern era, it's a concept and an experience that has lived in my memory for nearly two decades now and I have no ill feelings toward this game... except that one time I couldn't figure out what it wanted me to call something in one of the rooms that had a shiny thing in or behind it...

The dynamic between Rio Lifeline and the player reminds me a lot of Oneshot

Wait this is way too high quality to have 50 views

Found your channel cuz of Hbomb's new video, and this video is exactly what i enjoy to see in videos about games and media. Looking at what is interesting about a game, not just "heres why its good/heres why its bad." If someone is reviewing a game i like its either I agree with them and I like it, or they dislike it, in which case the video isnt for me anyways cuz I like it. I don't know much about Lifeline beyond the funny clips that get shared around every so often, and this was extremely interesting. You took a look at what Lifeline itself does and whats interesting about that. And thats what the best do, Ragnarox, Jacob Geller, I hold this video up there right alongside them and I've only just discovered your channel today. Wish I could find folks that do this kinda thing for like JRPGs cuz I love em, but most the stuff i find is like "heres whats good/bad" reviews

Great video as always! I never finished this or got very far so it was cool to see how neat the rest of the game actually was. Based on some of the stuff in the intro I didn't expect it to "try" as much as it did I guess but there was a lot of passion put into it from the looks of it

Stumbled upon this video and wow your thoughts and ideas are so thoroughly conveyed and very well spoken. Really hope your videos get more traction cause they deserve it.

I'm interested in this game. But when I look at the game's IMDb page, it credits Kristen Bell, of all people, as Rio's VA and I was mindblown and crazy for a short while, that is until I look further. In the game's own Fandom wiki, it credited Kristen Miller as the character's VA which makes more sense imo.

thank you ricki for getting me to try an old game that I have not heard of

Great video! I really enjoyed Lifeline and found it to be incredibly engaging and memorable, always been a bit sad that most folk see it as a joke game or gimmick when it does feel like something special and unique. You sum it up really well in that when it works, it really works. It feels good to direct Rio around early on with the simple combat encounters and puzzles, and as you get better at directing her you it does start to feel like a well oiled machine (not counting whenever she would chug a healing item down when I asked her to reload). Even if the combat, puzzles and plot aren't anything special on their own I feel like they really do become something special with the voice controls. They really make you feel like part of the story and it's a unique feeling not many games emulate. I'd love to see someone make a spiritual successor following some of your suggestions for how the experience could be streamlined and improved. Chatting to Rio and guiding her through exploration and fights can genuinely feel super engaging and cool, but I sadly found the illusion broken a few times in those sequences where the game is looking for you to say something really specific. In particular I remember trying to comfort her in the bathrooms ended up breaking my immersion and crossing over into frustrating, since I couldn't figure out the exact wording the game was looking for. Looking forward to watching more of your stuff, keep up the amazing work!

Thank you for your essays; they've not only been wonderful and enriching to listen to for their own sake, but they've also been great to listen to while I too engage in the sisyphean task of trying to improve at art!

The game really does deserve better, its such as shame that we will likely never get a sequel

That guy needs a comeback!

games like lifeline and event0 are my favourite type of game

As someone who played Lethal Company ot Phasmophobia, where you have someone on the inside and communicate with them with errors, this is an awesome game with a cool idea. Bring this idea to a Multiplayer game, where the person on the inside has NO UI and the Operator sees everything, telling the person to reload or tell them their status and you'll have a good trust-building game.

This was great

For the longest time I had fused this game with Haunting Ground and kept thinking there was a game where you controlled the girl AND a Doggo xD.