- Joined
- Mar 24, 2019
Yeah there was another game sort of like this, Void Stranger, but it's not an RPG.
This edgy looping semi-gay stuff just seems to be a thing now.
Quirky Indie RPGs - Depression is optional
- Thread starter Sparky Lurker
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This edgy looping semi-gay stuff just seems to be a thing now.
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2022
I don't know if you'd be willing to go through with this game as you've come hot off of some tranny Undertale knockoff, but a few weeks back 'Undertale Yellow' released and is a fangame that has been in the works for literal years now and so far everyone says it's "really good" and may even be better than Undertale (which to be fair, that game had a lot of room for improvement in some gameplay and QoL aspects as evident by Deltarune).
I haven't played it myself yet, but I'd be interested to see what you'd have to say about it as a fangame and "spinoff" of sorts to Undertale.
LucasSomething
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2016
I blame undertale. Toby did a great job combining gameplay with themes to trick you into thinking there are 4th wall breaks when in reality it's all an isekai time loop story. The difference is that undertale is still a fun game to play regardless, while most games who do time loops feel like lazy excuses to recycle content.
I have heard this game but wasnt interested as it's unlikely to be good as the original, then i saw this game was youtube recommending me a video of an actual tranny yelling about how they got copyright strike for playing it meaning they clickbait the title with "all undertale music is at risk!" so not the best first impression.
As someone who played undertale on release (i like stealth games so i was legit aiming for a pacifist run), half the appeal was how novel it was at the time, but nowadays "inspired by undertale" is more of a redflag to me. Undertale had it's flaws but it's biggest strenght is the pacing and narrative shifts which fangames generally struggle with.
It's still the perfect game for this thread tho and it's free so... i'll check this sunday and see if it lives to the hype and post here later.
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2016
Sidenote about UNDERTALE: Funnily enough, I had a similar disappointment to Knuckle Sandwich when it was far less dark than the ending of the demo implied. Obviously it was much less of a problem but still...
If you're going to end your demo with a nasty twist, you'd best be going FULL TILT with it in the actual game. It just causes confusion otherwise.
If you're going to end your demo with a nasty twist, you'd best be going FULL TILT with it in the actual game. It just causes confusion otherwise.
LucasSomething
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2016
I have played two and half hours of undertale yellow and my face through all of it was basically this.
It feels like i'm playing someone's Alternate Universe fanfic of undertale, which is probably awesome for a hardcore fan who LOVES THAT but not to me. People say this game is better than UT but it made me appreciate the small details that make UT so fun on a first run.
First, Undertale has really well telegraphed, fun patterns while Yellow is way more about memorization and overuses red !!! warnings because a lot of shit is suddendly spawning on top of you. It also only has ONE fixed route for sparing monsters and if you botch it you have to do it again, meaning i met multiple enemies with 3 options i had no idea how to spare despite wasting +5 turns trying and had to run. This made me dread new enemies instead of being hyped for them. The encounter rate also seems higher cause i dont remember running from undertale combat ever but here i did alot.
Undertale also has this very tight pacing that is hard to explain, while yellow everyone is overwritten and talk too much while saying nothing. When i save in Undertale i get 1 message about determination, but when i save in yellow i get 6 dialogue boxes of flowey telling me to hurry up before i'm allowed to save. Like, Napstablook barely says anything and it's all good and papyrus talks a lot but it's all funny or relevant. Dalv on the other hand is a vampire OC that blabbers about corn which is the most random shit and Martlet talking about "the protocol" is not funny at all but also not "cringe humor" like alphys.
There is also this looming weight that the game is trying too hard to mimic the original plot beats but just doing them worse and unfunnier. You have the ruins and this awkward person living alone there, then snowdin with a royal guard making puzzles, there is also a namedropped cientist that i'm sure did some sick warcrimes. This also means flowey being nice to you is obvious bullshit and he is not so subtly manipulating you to get to asgore and he's probably the final boss too.
What it does better is obvious production values and the fact there is an auto run option. Enemies have actual animations for their portraits and light background changes, but most characters look like furry OCs and many enemies look like Fakemon. The only time i laughed was when a monster told me to not tell anyone and ate a rock in front of me, and that was such a dumb genuinely silly scene i chuckled.
I have not played genocide route but it allegedly works like undertale except with more boss fights and in the end you just kill them all and win lol which is surprising but obviously not canon.
Maybe my brain is experiencing "quirky humor burnout" after knuckle sandwich and stars and time but i'm just not impressed. I also played ocean heart recently, a simple zelda clone that also has jokes but it's surprisingly well written so i keep chuckling at random npcs, and even if i did the game is fun.
At least with ISAT i felt some level of the intended emotions and Knuckle sandwich had many shocking moments, so i could at least finish those games but yellow i feel nothing but boredom. It's not offensive but doesnt stand out beyond being a high effort project...
It feels like i'm playing someone's Alternate Universe fanfic of undertale, which is probably awesome for a hardcore fan who LOVES THAT but not to me. People say this game is better than UT but it made me appreciate the small details that make UT so fun on a first run.
First, Undertale has really well telegraphed, fun patterns while Yellow is way more about memorization and overuses red !!! warnings because a lot of shit is suddendly spawning on top of you. It also only has ONE fixed route for sparing monsters and if you botch it you have to do it again, meaning i met multiple enemies with 3 options i had no idea how to spare despite wasting +5 turns trying and had to run. This made me dread new enemies instead of being hyped for them. The encounter rate also seems higher cause i dont remember running from undertale combat ever but here i did alot.
Undertale also has this very tight pacing that is hard to explain, while yellow everyone is overwritten and talk too much while saying nothing. When i save in Undertale i get 1 message about determination, but when i save in yellow i get 6 dialogue boxes of flowey telling me to hurry up before i'm allowed to save. Like, Napstablook barely says anything and it's all good and papyrus talks a lot but it's all funny or relevant. Dalv on the other hand is a vampire OC that blabbers about corn which is the most random shit and Martlet talking about "the protocol" is not funny at all but also not "cringe humor" like alphys.
There is also this looming weight that the game is trying too hard to mimic the original plot beats but just doing them worse and unfunnier. You have the ruins and this awkward person living alone there, then snowdin with a royal guard making puzzles, there is also a namedropped cientist that i'm sure did some sick warcrimes. This also means flowey being nice to you is obvious bullshit and he is not so subtly manipulating you to get to asgore and he's probably the final boss too.
What it does better is obvious production values and the fact there is an auto run option. Enemies have actual animations for their portraits and light background changes, but most characters look like furry OCs and many enemies look like Fakemon. The only time i laughed was when a monster told me to not tell anyone and ate a rock in front of me, and that was such a dumb genuinely silly scene i chuckled.
I have not played genocide route but it allegedly works like undertale except with more boss fights and in the end you just kill them all and win lol which is surprising but obviously not canon.
Maybe my brain is experiencing "quirky humor burnout" after knuckle sandwich and stars and time but i'm just not impressed. I also played ocean heart recently, a simple zelda clone that also has jokes but it's surprisingly well written so i keep chuckling at random npcs, and even if i did the game is fun.
At least with ISAT i felt some level of the intended emotions and Knuckle sandwich had many shocking moments, so i could at least finish those games but yellow i feel nothing but boredom. It's not offensive but doesnt stand out beyond being a high effort project...
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2022
Does the game's lore have Flowey "manage" your saves? Because IIRC, Determination is the strongest of any and all of the souls' powers and Flowey has stated he's reset a bunch of times beforehand causing mass destruction and peace settlements for the fun of it since he has some level of "Determination" to him up until Frisk fell in the underworld. Is he doing the same here or does "Justice" (the power of the yellow soul) override Flowey's ability to savestate?
LucasSomething
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2016
Flowey is the one who saves the game and explicitly says from beginning he brings you back from death, you have to talk to him everytime you save. He hypes asgore as evil so it's not so subtly implied he wants you to beat him, probably to steal the other human souls.
I read that On genocide route the MC becomes powerful/determined to save without flowey and kills flowey too (it's non canon)
I assume pacifist run is canon and Clover (yellow heart) dies somewhere near the end for some reason and flowey doesnt help you anymore.
I assume pacifist run is canon and Clover (yellow heart) dies somewhere near the end for some reason and flowey doesnt help you anymore.
If you're interested you can check the game for free and play the first hour or two and see if you like it. It's clearly a game made FOR undertale fans and i wouldnt call myself "part of the fandom" if you know what i mean. If you're into the lore stuff you'll probably enjoy it more than i did, and if you play post a mini review here too.
Douglas Mortimer
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2022
This is looking quite good. A nice mixture of styles/perspective
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1082970/Archaelund/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1082970/Archaelund/
Sparky Lurker
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2017
Abstract dungeon crawler LSD dream emulator copycat that popped up in my recommendations:
Prequel already in development, definitely doubling down on the 3d anime stuff, charming but it feels "off":
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LucasSomething
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2016
I forgot to mention cause i didnt finish but i did in fact play chrystal story dawn of dusk, the main issue is that the game felt AWFULLY BUGGED, with things like quitting and coming back making me lose my progress and potions but chests stood open (how is it even possible) and i got hardlocked due to walking inside an npc during a cutscene by accident. I tried a little more but got stuck and saw an infinite gold chest so yeah, at least the pirated version i got was barely playable.
Either way i heard the game is 3 hour long and will get updated overtime so it's more like early acess. The little i played had no subtlety tho with the heterochromatic MC having a lost brother and dark version, it would not surprise me if it's about muh depression.
Either way i saw another game that released just yesterday, another esotheric earthbound-like
This game looks kinda ugly but the curious part is that the combat is JUST UNDERTALE outright, no shame whatsover.
I only found 1 youtube review of Atlas wept that called it "souless, boring and charmless" which is wild lol, but i'm bored and have the free time so i'll still chek.
This looks fine but more like a standard fantasy medievalesque rpg , this thread is for "quirky" indie rpgs, usually those inspired by earthbound or undertale, with focus on meta narrative, modern times, humor and/or depression, etc. It's more fitting for the indie recommendation thread.
Either way i heard the game is 3 hour long and will get updated overtime so it's more like early acess. The little i played had no subtlety tho with the heterochromatic MC having a lost brother and dark version, it would not surprise me if it's about muh depression.
Either way i saw another game that released just yesterday, another esotheric earthbound-like
This game looks kinda ugly but the curious part is that the combat is JUST UNDERTALE outright, no shame whatsover.
I only found 1 youtube review of Atlas wept that called it "souless, boring and charmless" which is wild lol, but i'm bored and have the free time so i'll still chek.
This looks fine but more like a standard fantasy medievalesque rpg , this thread is for "quirky" indie rpgs, usually those inspired by earthbound or undertale, with focus on meta narrative, modern times, humor and/or depression, etc. It's more fitting for the indie recommendation thread.
LucasSomething
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2016
I have finished Atlas Wept, it's obviously inspired by Earthbound and mother 3 (similar sprites, running system, combat hud) and undertale (dodging during combat). It's a game that is clearly held back by it's low budget as the lack of portraits and mediocre music makes it hard to sell the emotional scenes.
It's best strenght is, surprisingly, the sheer combat variety. While obviously aping off undertale system, every enemy has unique patterns and equal enemies can attack together. It also mixes jumping and gravity switch in many attacks and later on you get slippery movement on ice stage, it's never boring. Some attacks can feel kinda unfair but you can tank a lot of hits and spam heal while losing just a little bit of max health. Some bosses twist the combat in their own ways with the final boss having the biggest twist.
Offensively the game is simple and tbh thats GOOD. All attacks are short taps in a row and/or in the right spot, only the final spells are like 9 taps. Attack enemy with right skills and they get stunned and spend a while incapable of doing anything and take more melee atk dmg. Magic generally does more stun bar and the mana bar regens every turn.
This leads to a kinda nice flow where you alternate between tense dodging and casual smacking. It can get kinda repetitive but it still give you room to breath, unlike say Knuckle Sandwich which burns itself fast.
So what's the problem? The most obvious is how low budget and linear the game is. There is no equipment, enemies dont respawn, money is limited and found in the wild, there are literally zero interactable things other than limited upgrade stamps, spell unlocks and switches you find. This makes the game feels weirdly EMPTY as there is like, only 1 town in the game and you cant interact with anything on it. Even then the pacing is too slow for my tastes, as it feels like you're wandering aimless for the first 4-5 hours.
So what about the story? The steam page itself barely says anything other than being a humanist rpg, which tbh is true. This is not a Quirky earthboundlike about depression, but it's a JRPG tale about humans and gods with a few comedic cutscenes to lighten the mood. You follow through two storyliens, one with Hal and Lucy and a special bot named Gigi where they're trying to escape a war and another with country, and another where Dezi realizes everyone is possessed by smiley monsters that make people happy and brainwashed.
Also. One of the protagonist is a trans girl and that's a legit plot point because they can't be brainwashed.
Otherwise, i like that the game has some rare gameplay shifts too for variety. At one section you're in a minecart swtiching rails like sonic, at another you must escape from a big monster, i wish it happened more. There is also some genuinely cool mechanical imagery late game, as if it's clear the devs got better at art by the end.
Would i recommend this? Uuh, i guess it didnt frustrate me at all unlike the other games i played here did. If you really love undertale combat and you'll probably enjoy this but otherwise it's very mediocre, at least it's cheap. If the game had just a little more production (the "map" is a shitty 8 bit tracing), actually interactable things and better pacing it could've been genuinely good.
It's best strenght is, surprisingly, the sheer combat variety. While obviously aping off undertale system, every enemy has unique patterns and equal enemies can attack together. It also mixes jumping and gravity switch in many attacks and later on you get slippery movement on ice stage, it's never boring. Some attacks can feel kinda unfair but you can tank a lot of hits and spam heal while losing just a little bit of max health. Some bosses twist the combat in their own ways with the final boss having the biggest twist.
Offensively the game is simple and tbh thats GOOD. All attacks are short taps in a row and/or in the right spot, only the final spells are like 9 taps. Attack enemy with right skills and they get stunned and spend a while incapable of doing anything and take more melee atk dmg. Magic generally does more stun bar and the mana bar regens every turn.
This leads to a kinda nice flow where you alternate between tense dodging and casual smacking. It can get kinda repetitive but it still give you room to breath, unlike say Knuckle Sandwich which burns itself fast.
So what's the problem? The most obvious is how low budget and linear the game is. There is no equipment, enemies dont respawn, money is limited and found in the wild, there are literally zero interactable things other than limited upgrade stamps, spell unlocks and switches you find. This makes the game feels weirdly EMPTY as there is like, only 1 town in the game and you cant interact with anything on it. Even then the pacing is too slow for my tastes, as it feels like you're wandering aimless for the first 4-5 hours.
So what about the story? The steam page itself barely says anything other than being a humanist rpg, which tbh is true. This is not a Quirky earthboundlike about depression, but it's a JRPG tale about humans and gods with a few comedic cutscenes to lighten the mood. You follow through two storyliens, one with Hal and Lucy and a special bot named Gigi where they're trying to escape a war and another with country, and another where Dezi realizes everyone is possessed by smiley monsters that make people happy and brainwashed.
"Atlas wept" refers to a literal atlas who is the planet's core and he is constantly feeling the "sins" of the planet. A long time ago a being named Moth3r created atlas and humans and judges, where humans are actually time gated to only live 7 generations where they're judged by the judges for their sins and wether Atlas will restart the cycle or not.
Unsurprisingly, humanity fucking sucks and just CANT STOP KILLING ITSELF so for eons the 12 judges never unanimously agreed that humanity deserves to live but our protagonists have special cases. Hal's story is special because in this "cycle" one of the judges decides humanity is literally unfixable and they must "euthanize" everything. Gigi is actually one of the judges and saves the day but hal dies and he feels sad.
Then we find out that the grin/smiley monsters in Dezi's route were actually made by Gigi and this is a completely different cycle where Gigi decided humanity is doomed to sin and the only way to salvage it is to give them eternal bliss. Dezi shows the power of friendship to gigi and says humanity shouldnt be judged and we should be free so Gigi says we must kill atlas itself in order to end humanity time gate of 7 generations. We cant kill atlas but we prove him that we can carry our own weight and Atlas gives in. The other judges disagree but give up, humanity is finally free to live forever or wipe itself.
Unsurprisingly, humanity fucking sucks and just CANT STOP KILLING ITSELF so for eons the 12 judges never unanimously agreed that humanity deserves to live but our protagonists have special cases. Hal's story is special because in this "cycle" one of the judges decides humanity is literally unfixable and they must "euthanize" everything. Gigi is actually one of the judges and saves the day but hal dies and he feels sad.
Then we find out that the grin/smiley monsters in Dezi's route were actually made by Gigi and this is a completely different cycle where Gigi decided humanity is doomed to sin and the only way to salvage it is to give them eternal bliss. Dezi shows the power of friendship to gigi and says humanity shouldnt be judged and we should be free so Gigi says we must kill atlas itself in order to end humanity time gate of 7 generations. We cant kill atlas but we prove him that we can carry our own weight and Atlas gives in. The other judges disagree but give up, humanity is finally free to live forever or wipe itself.
Also. One of the protagonist is a trans girl and that's a legit plot point because they can't be brainwashed.
Charlie was/is a boy who dresses like a girl because he believes himself to be a girl and that's literally it. The Grins try to brainwash charlie and convince them to be normal but charlie makes multiple speeches that they're themselves and they dont need no god judging them.
Dezi also falls in love with Charlie and they kiss each like 5 times until the game, so yes it's the transbian child.
Dezi also falls in love with Charlie and they kiss each like 5 times until the game, so yes it's the transbian child.
Otherwise, i like that the game has some rare gameplay shifts too for variety. At one section you're in a minecart swtiching rails like sonic, at another you must escape from a big monster, i wish it happened more. There is also some genuinely cool mechanical imagery late game, as if it's clear the devs got better at art by the end.
Would i recommend this? Uuh, i guess it didnt frustrate me at all unlike the other games i played here did. If you really love undertale combat and you'll probably enjoy this but otherwise it's very mediocre, at least it's cheap. If the game had just a little more production (the "map" is a shitty 8 bit tracing), actually interactable things and better pacing it could've been genuinely good.
Level99Manchild
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2022
Just knowing there's tranny and woke shit in F&H just killed any interest I had in the series despite knowing O'saa (the Black Yellow Mage guy) is supposed to be gay (at least he's a gay dickhead who obeys some evil wizard).
LucasSomething
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2016
This game suddendly dropped with a demo and on first glance it SCREAMS "pretentious indie rpg maker game about depression" lol
The trailer was actually released 2 months ago
I'm playing the demo right now, it's very artsy and surreal but fine.
(what if hylics protag was goth and sad?)
Your HP is your WILL (to live) and your healing item is "a reason" (to live) lol.
After an artsty intro where we're a falling star, we become the MC and are attacked by some ghosts that want our "corporeal form" to feed it to "him". The game then ASKS if you want to defend your self over and over but the fight is unwinalbe (it seems?).
We die and appear in a house where we can examine (our?) things to level up. I assume we can only level up after death like hylics. We then return and meet a funny ghost Jury who lost his body and wants to help us return to the "mortal world" (hmmm) in exchange for our body.
We then meet some quirky well animated ghosts like one with with moon for head and other depressed ghosts and find random encounters, leading me to realize how the battle system actually works.
So like, you dont actually pick and chose actions, you have the MC ponder a random action and you decide to agree with him or not. Agree too much and he becomes happier until he goes manic and loses a turn taking damage. Doubt him and his mood goes down but do it too much and he gets depressed and also loses a turn taking damage.
(Be too happy and you become cringe, be too sad and you harm yourself, the dilemma...)
There are 3 different attack types (lash, disquiet and burden) that apparently scale with different stats and every enemy is weak/resistant to 1 type, but he can also block or ask Jury to say what the enemy does. If the bar runs out you do nothing.
This has to the most retarded battle system i ever seen, as it apparently has no purpose other than to convey through gameplay that the protagonist is bipolar and schizophrenic. Even targeting and item usage is completely random. It's not even that hard once you get it, it feels shallow and bad.
After an annoying trade sequence, helping a sad artist and sad gardener become friends again, and 1 annoying "puzzle" of answering 5 questions correctly based on stuff in the room (i legit youtubed the answer), we get in a boat to progress i guess.
Now, this is the part where i would say this is probably a shitty metaphor for a guy who died and hasnt moved on, but in a surprise twist, the game outright tells me that at the end of demo.
And you know what, i'm gonna be that guy and say it looks okaaaayish. A lot of people will call this pretentious but there are 2 jokes that make it feel the dev is self aware and it should be clear by now my standards are low and i value novelty a lot.
I will not excuse this battle system tho and it only gets a pass gets it's easy and harmless enough in the demo. These "Unique mood battles" as the steam page calls dont inspire real emotions or thinking and they dont even convey the MC well because other party members follow the same rules.
I dont understand why indie devs think normal turn based system sucks. If you want to convey emotions through turn based gameplay, you can do that with spell names, status effects, abstract descriptions, portraits etc. Videogames are a medium, use them to enhance your art dammit.
If i could put this into a normal rpg system, the MC would voice what he wants to do and you can choose to do it or something else. Do what he wants and he gets stronger and happier but do too much and you lose control over him. Do something else and he grows sad and weak until he gives up and only follows rules. Maybe add unique skills for each mood too for depth. It could still be annoying but it would give some sense of strategy instead of babysitting.
The trailer was actually released 2 months ago
I'm playing the demo right now, it's very artsy and surreal but fine.
(what if hylics protag was goth and sad?)Your HP is your WILL (to live) and your healing item is "a reason" (to live) lol.
After an artsty intro where we're a falling star, we become the MC and are attacked by some ghosts that want our "corporeal form" to feed it to "him". The game then ASKS if you want to defend your self over and over but the fight is unwinalbe (it seems?).
We die and appear in a house where we can examine (our?) things to level up. I assume we can only level up after death like hylics. We then return and meet a funny ghost Jury who lost his body and wants to help us return to the "mortal world" (hmmm) in exchange for our body.
We then meet some quirky well animated ghosts like one with with moon for head and other depressed ghosts and find random encounters, leading me to realize how the battle system actually works.
So like, you dont actually pick and chose actions, you have the MC ponder a random action and you decide to agree with him or not. Agree too much and he becomes happier until he goes manic and loses a turn taking damage. Doubt him and his mood goes down but do it too much and he gets depressed and also loses a turn taking damage.
(Be too happy and you become cringe, be too sad and you harm yourself, the dilemma...)
There are 3 different attack types (lash, disquiet and burden) that apparently scale with different stats and every enemy is weak/resistant to 1 type, but he can also block or ask Jury to say what the enemy does. If the bar runs out you do nothing.
This has to the most retarded battle system i ever seen, as it apparently has no purpose other than to convey through gameplay that the protagonist is bipolar and schizophrenic. Even targeting and item usage is completely random. It's not even that hard once you get it, it feels shallow and bad.
After an annoying trade sequence, helping a sad artist and sad gardener become friends again, and 1 annoying "puzzle" of answering 5 questions correctly based on stuff in the room (i legit youtubed the answer), we get in a boat to progress i guess.
Now, this is the part where i would say this is probably a shitty metaphor for a guy who died and hasnt moved on, but in a surprise twist, the game outright tells me that at the end of demo.
And you know what, i'm gonna be that guy and say it looks okaaaayish. A lot of people will call this pretentious but there are 2 jokes that make it feel the dev is self aware and it should be clear by now my standards are low and i value novelty a lot.
I will not excuse this battle system tho and it only gets a pass gets it's easy and harmless enough in the demo. These "Unique mood battles" as the steam page calls dont inspire real emotions or thinking and they dont even convey the MC well because other party members follow the same rules.
I dont understand why indie devs think normal turn based system sucks. If you want to convey emotions through turn based gameplay, you can do that with spell names, status effects, abstract descriptions, portraits etc. Videogames are a medium, use them to enhance your art dammit.
If i could put this into a normal rpg system, the MC would voice what he wants to do and you can choose to do it or something else. Do what he wants and he gets stronger and happier but do too much and you lose control over him. Do something else and he grows sad and weak until he gives up and only follows rules. Maybe add unique skills for each mood too for depth. It could still be annoying but it would give some sense of strategy instead of babysitting.
LucasSomething
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2016
I found pillory completely by random recommendation on someone on reddit, but yesterday i was looking at OFF things and somehow stumbled upon an rpg maker made by OFF translator that i never seen mentioned but also screams "indie sureal rpg about depression": An Outcry.
I pirated it and it starts with this
The game also gives an option to "opt out of animal death", which is really funny because i guess animal abuse sure is sadder than transphobia.
pfft
I actually like the game's artstyle and music, it's very artsy but fine. There is combat in the trailer but it doesnt seem to be the focus.
The MC is only called "The Unnamed" and repetedly over and over with They/them pronouns. This made me think their gender is ambiguous but then the first npc lifts the ball and the third slam dunks you.
OUCHIE OUCH! We ask for a cig and the granny calls you out for asking too many cigs already and straight up MURDERS YOU with a long ass speech.
(OH SHIT)
In case it's not obvious yet, the MC is nonbinary and changed names but everyone thinks they're just a faggot. Even the MC's friend will call them girl and you can tell them to not do that. The MC is also addidcted to cigs.
(i picked the skull lighter obviously)
More shit happens and the MC is a real downer. Examining the streets reminds them of the time they tried to get roadkilled. Examining a poster and it's the right wing mayor. Examine the package and find out the stuff you ordered is broken on the street. Examining a tree reminds them of their therapist (lol). Examine yourself and you wonder if you're real and everything is a chore (you have depression).
Man, i just want to play a surreal spooky rpg lol. We finally go outside and smoke one, and we save. The cigs are actually limited saves, but i guess it should be fine if the game is short. We then get a title drop, which i find funny since nothing has happened other than stablishing our life sucks.
We then hear a weird sound and our first choice, to follow or ignore. Yup, this is a branching storyline game and after ignoring i end up meeting talking crow who says someone in the building will die. I go back in the building and see... The bigot man npc dying! He was killed by nightmare crows oh no! If i was the dev, this is where i'd put the title drop.
Should play this till the end? It's certainly novel but i feel it's gonna be more of a walking simulator than a real RPG which i dont like playing.
I pirated it and it starts with this
The game also gives an option to "opt out of animal death", which is really funny because i guess animal abuse sure is sadder than transphobia.
pfft
I actually like the game's artstyle and music, it's very artsy but fine. There is combat in the trailer but it doesnt seem to be the focus.
The MC is only called "The Unnamed" and repetedly over and over with They/them pronouns. This made me think their gender is ambiguous but then the first npc lifts the ball and the third slam dunks you.
OUCHIE OUCH! We ask for a cig and the granny calls you out for asking too many cigs already and straight up MURDERS YOU with a long ass speech.
(OH SHIT)
In case it's not obvious yet, the MC is nonbinary and changed names but everyone thinks they're just a faggot. Even the MC's friend will call them girl and you can tell them to not do that. The MC is also addidcted to cigs.
(i picked the skull lighter obviously)More shit happens and the MC is a real downer. Examining the streets reminds them of the time they tried to get roadkilled. Examining a poster and it's the right wing mayor. Examine the package and find out the stuff you ordered is broken on the street. Examining a tree reminds them of their therapist (lol). Examine yourself and you wonder if you're real and everything is a chore (you have depression).
Man, i just want to play a surreal spooky rpg lol. We finally go outside and smoke one, and we save. The cigs are actually limited saves, but i guess it should be fine if the game is short. We then get a title drop, which i find funny since nothing has happened other than stablishing our life sucks.
We then hear a weird sound and our first choice, to follow or ignore. Yup, this is a branching storyline game and after ignoring i end up meeting talking crow who says someone in the building will die. I go back in the building and see... The bigot man npc dying! He was killed by nightmare crows oh no! If i was the dev, this is where i'd put the title drop.
Should play this till the end? It's certainly novel but i feel it's gonna be more of a walking simulator than a real RPG which i dont like playing.
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2019
I want you to play it so you can tell me if it gets better.
LucasSomething
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2016
I have finished it, it's fairly short thankfully but also too short for it's own good i think. It has some interesting ideas but never develops enough on them. You can also tell the obvious OFF inspiration when it goes meta but it always feels too short or pretentious.
For starters, there is only ONE real branching choice which is wether you Follow that cry you heard or ignore, both leading to significant changes in how the MC acts and the birds act.
I took the ignore route first and it's obvious the "bad" route. There is zero forced combat in this route and it's mostly about all the building people dying one by one by the crows who say they'll "cull the unnedded but not you" while the MC keeps insisting everything will be allright and this is all impossible.
This leads the MC into a breakdown where they go talk a walk on the streets, and suddendly the NARRATOR starts talking to the player in what is either a very pretentious or smart attempt to make you realize what you've done. Much like OFF they refer to the MC as "your puppet".
(oh fuck off)
#I'm14AndThisIsDeep
Either way we return and we talk with our friend that is the only one left and she lays a smackdown at how we didnt do shit to help and lied to her which just... rings so hollow consdiering how painfully linear this game is. She says she will make us a drink and we have the option to leave or wait.
If you leave we meet the corpses of the other npcs and they shittalk us, then we panic and go back and our friend is almost dead. She ALSO shittalks us and dies by our side, then we cry and become crow too. I'm sure this is symbolism.
But if you wait for her, the MC suddendly confess that he's being controlled by an external force and the friend says there is a play called An Outcry with a character like them, then they leave the room and appear in a theater, with the MC having no censor bar anymore. They exit the theater and it ends. Wow, very meta i guess???
The FOLLOW the cry route is completely different because the MC is actually proactive. He meets a talking bird right there and decides he needs to rest, then is attacked by birds in their room. In this route the birds seem to hate humans and want to take over the world unironically, with them already taking over the building.
This route is much more surreal and dreamy but active. You go meet the Manshrike in a talk show where he calls you an coddled loser and asks you to justify why your life has value, only t okeep cutting you, with you eventually punching him. You join the cleaning lady in plans to escape and watch the news where the birds are taking over Austria oh no.
The building is now on fire cause the bigot npc escaped and burned his apartment. We turn into a cool first person segment exploration (it's really shallow and linear) and in a cool twist, the bird voice actually takes over the narration and says how delicious the victims were and how you should die die die. We get the sledgehammer and go meet the big giant boss ourselves.
(game actually gets spooky right before it ends)
This leads to a big confrontation where the MC says "Birdness" is just a coward who preaches control through violence and hates anyone different (politics hmm). We can then
1-Submit to birdness -> Our face becomes an ashtray and they put a cig on it.
2-We run away but there is no way to escape to we jump the building in a suicide ending and our face is hollow.
3-We use the sledgehammer to power through out the building and when we're out, the boss big hand gets stuck and we smash it. Our face then changes from censor bar to bright light (HOPE IT UP) and we walk away while the skyes clear.
So like, there is a lot more going on here but yall get the idea. But now i'll reveal a big twist that is never explicitly stated in the game, that you can actually cancel out of answering things.
(When the bigot man bullies cleaning lady, it seems like your only choice is to be a coward and do nothing but you can actually cancel out of it and protect her. There is no other choice like this and this one doesnt matter, ironically.)
But my problem is that in the Ignore route, this is kinda useless because the MC still can't solve things. He can actually ignore the option to say he's weak but he cant save the kids cause the fight is too hard. He cant help bigot man cause it's too late. He can say bigot man died but will still lie to his friend for the reason. So the game's attempt to guilt trip me feel kinda garbage.
It's a lot more important in the Follow route because there the MC will hard ignore the excuse options and be honest. They'll say they're bald cause their boyfriend abused them. That they cant mope around. That the birdness narrator will keep telling you to die and you must cancel the option, it's the one moment the game felt really clever and i wish it happened more.
But it all feels too short and shallow to hit. It would've been more interesting if we had a real +10 hour game with more branching paths and real choices to let this set in but as it is it comes across as pretentious. Some themes are obvious tho:
1-The right wing mayor poster changes in routes, turning into a crow face in the follow route, making me wonder if the crow. The talk show also might be a political reference.
2-Your friend is trans and the cleaning lady is immigrant (muslim headress?) and you're Non binary so.
3-The extremely heavy shaming for inaction.
4-The follow endings being ashtray (accepting opression), suicide (cowardness?) and fight for friends friends (live your life for others).
I feel like the game's message is obvious, that depressed minorities struggle but you shouldnt be selfish regardless, even doing the bare minimum will make you and others feel better. It's weak IMO but it's there.
I have no mentioned the combat yet because it's so bad it might as well not be there. You have one party member with 1 attack, one heal spell, 1 mana regen and 1 def buff so all you can do is cycle those. It's so boring that the game will tell you're allowed to flee and skip the battle after 3 enemy turns.
(The only time you can't skip battles is when Birdness takes over)
TL;DR: In my opinion it kinda gets better but then it gets worse again. I like how both routes have a horror movie vibe to them with one being bird apocalypse and the other bird murder(?) but i wish it would last longer and have more actual branches and real choices.
Like, you'd think the MC's abusive exboyfriend that they're so afraid would've been more important but it's only mentioned for more misery fuel. The birds are cool but as monsters they feel detached from the MC so it doesnt feel like psychological horror, other than maybe the idea of crows being "coward opportunists".
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2016
This is actually a rip off of that pre-UNDERTALE Toby Fox Earthbound hack BTW.
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2020
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2019
Sea of Stars is to RPGs what Mega Man Zero is to its kind of platformer. It is sold almost entirely on visual style/being "cool" looking.
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2016
I thought MMZ had some cool ideas like all the inventory items being named living creatures that die on use and missions you can fail permanently.
Then again I never played the sequels.