LISA

[Oh Shit I'm Sorry]

The Joyful is a pretty good sequel all things considered, but it definitely needed more time in the workshop. It's too short and feels a bit abrupt, which makes sense - it's, what, a 5 hour sequel to a 20 hour game? I enjoyed it, but I think it really really needed to have more in it.

The QTEs were definitely my biggest problem with it. I didn't even realize they were a thing until late in the game (because I am an idiot). Would have liked to see a bit more expanding on the whole Lisa was evil thing but I didn't mind it being short (dunno how far you can stretch an RPG with only one character).

Birdie is probably the most broken character in the game so long as you have someone that can use fire. It's insane how much he can trivialize some of the later bosses, but I guess that's kinda offset by the permadeath system.

For reference, I had a similar team, except I used Nern because Nern had great healing abilities.

I think he may be a requirement on joyless runs and if you're planning to have Brad lose both arms because fireballs still work even when suffering from withdrawal. I get that it wouldn't make sense narratively but there needed to be far more joy available in the game because there was never any point using addict companions with how limited it was.

So has this guy made anything else since LISA? Or was he lost to TDS as well?

He made a dumb tweet or two after his father passed but I haven't seen anything of that level. As for the first question, no.

 

[Sable]

Pointless is coming along rather nicely if you like fangames.

The first chapter was basically repolished a couple of months ago, and he's almost done with the second.

8888KILL8888

 

[Most Dumbest Bitch]

So has this guy made anything else since LISA? Or was he lost to TDS as well?

He went underground to continue working on his next game, Ninja Tears. I'm a little apprehensive because, to my understanding, Ninja Tears is essentially going to be what Lisa the Painful was originally supposed to be - a Fist of the North Star-esque RPG with not much by way of a story. That changed when Dingaling decided to merge that environment with his old Lisa game and gave it a real backdrop. You can kind of tell in the game itself since there are some places where they don't mix well, but overall, I think that incorporating the Lisa story into the world of Olathe made the game much richer and a better experience.

TL;DR The gameplay of the Painful is incredible, but what really sold it for me was the story, and I don't think it would have been as good of an experience without that story. So I'm really dreading Ninja Tears just for fear that he's not going to incorporate as much story as he did with the Painful.

I gotta say, as depressing as this game was, it was very well-made. You can tell it was made by someone with a vision and a passion for RPGs and knew just how to twist conventions to either tell a joke or deliver a gut-punch.

I agree; the game's quality is nothing short of astounding, considering he did every part of it on his own and managed to not burn out in the process. The story is well-written, the game is pretty well-coded (with a few small issues here or there; the coding aspect was clearly his weak point), and the OST is nothing short of legendary. He's ultra talented.

The QTEs were definitely my biggest problem with it.

Full disclosure, I completely forgot about the QTEs. I think I put them out of my mind because they have quickly become one of my least favorite game mechanics, and it's easier to just forget about them.

Would have liked to see a bit more expanding on the whole Lisa was evil thing but I didn't mind it being short

That's actually something I really disliked about the Joyful. The fact that Buzzo, who is one of the absolute most evil people in the wasteland, is allowed to blame Lisa for everything he's ever done, and get away with it? That shit is fucked. She was definitely a fucked up kid, but who wouldn't be after experiencing what she did for her entire life? It just felt really sudden to pin it all on her, like she was the ultimate villain of the entire series - it just doesn't click.

In fairness, Lisa is my favorite character, so I am completely biased. But I'm still right.

Pointless is coming along rather nicely if you like fangames.

The first chapter was basically repolished a couple of months ago, and he's almost done with the second.

I've heard good things about Pointless, but I'm a Lisa purist. Every fangame I've seen has completely missed the mark on what made Lisa so good, and since most of them have absolutely zero connection to Lisa herself, they feel pretty - forgive the pun - pointless to me. I'd rather just replay the original games than get into unofficial spin-off territory.

That said, Pointless is probably the only one worth playing, and if I was going to try one out, that would certainly be the one.

 

[Haramburger]

LISA is proof that good things can come out of RPG Maker. ❤

 

[ZehnBoat]

LISA is proof that good things can come out of RPG Maker. ❤

that's true if you ignore OFF, yumi nikki, and space funeral

 

[Sable]

That said, Pointless is probably the only one worth playing, and if I was going to try one out, that would certainly be the one.

Hopeful is actually pretty good too, though it had it's issues. Then again, it's been reworked a lot since I played it specifically because of those issues.

Generally with spinoffs, they're less about Lisa but more about the post-flash world.

 

[Most Dumbest Bitch]

LISA is proof that good things can come out of RPG Maker. ❤

Not to get too off-topic, but RPGMaker is a pretty versatile platform and a lot can be done with it if the devs know what they're doing. Ib, The Witch's House, and End Roll are some of my favorite games to come out of it.

That said - and now back on topic - I wholly agree. It's not really fair to compare the First to the Painful since they're so different, but it's undeniable that the Painful is the better game, from its construction to the time and effort put into it. However, both as a precursor to the events of the Painful and as a standalone, the First really is fantastic story-wise, even if the gameplay could have used a lot more playtesting.

Generally with spinoffs, they're less about Lisa but more about the post-flash world.

That's generally why I find them less compelling. The appeal of Lisa for me has always been, well, Lisa. Even though she never shows up in the game itself, and her name is said aloud maybe once, the Painful is still all about her, and the Joyful too - it all boils down to what happened to Lisa. That's where I think the fangames miss the heart of the games, and that's why I can never really get into them. Olathe isn't a particularly original setting, if we're being honest, so I feel that the fangames could honestly do a lot better for themselves by disassociating from the Lisa name and becoming a self-contained universe of their own.