Quirky Indie RPGs - Depression is optional

[LucasSomething]

Shocked that nobody's brought this up yet. Pipkin, a Pokémon-like Earthbound clone with Undertale and Stranger Things elements.
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Genuinely one of the least-creative games i've seen in a while. The only good part of it is the Halloween theme, but even that rings kind of hollow when the designs are so generic and the game itself looks so nonthreatening.

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(the trailer is edited by a schizophrenic who can't linger on a shot for longer than half a second, so I picked out some better shots to spare you the trouble of watching it.)

It even has that stupid problem where it rips off existing games so hard that it emphasizes the parts of that original game people didn't like in its marketing.

I think it says a lot that the #1 selling point is just the fact that it advertises itself as being "fall/Halloween" aesthetic first and a game second.

I mentioned it a few pages ago in the pokemon direct, it does look okayish and carried by asthetics.

I never got the appeal of "anti-grind" or "grind-free" as a tagline for these games. Like it doesn't have to be Disgaea levels of grinding, but it almost feels like a complete dislike for the genre of game you're making. Either way it's a sign of a shitty game.

The appeal is that you get a jrpg designed for people who don't actually play jrpgs because they think turn based is inherently grindy and boring lol.

It depends on other factors imo, like progression and difficulty curve. Chained echoes has no level EXP but you still have reasons to grind skill exp and the board objectives for rewards.

Alright, I finished Bloomtown, it's okay but that's about it.

It is very much P5-at-home, but honestly lacks depth all around. From having the same party the entire game, to spell lines that boil down to single/party, the game doesn't change much as you go through. Since you can't replay previous dungeons, that severely limits what's actually available to you for your pool of demons, and that results in the end game where foes are actually weak, and the final boss doesn't actually have resistances apart from status effects.

Lucas brought it up earlier, but now that I got the whole picture... Yeah, RNG is a mess in this, but what's really annoying is just how opaque everything is. You have no idea what's the odds of spells missing, the accuracy stat for weapons seem to be a crapshoot and One More Turn is also chance-based with only Chester having higher odds of procing it on a weak point. Heck, you'll probably find out the latter is chance-based when you actually unlock or look at his friendship perks.

All around, this is a pretty shallow experience. I chuckle thinking back to the Steam discussion board for the game with a specific thread: "I applied as a designer for this game: They didn't call me back. >65 replies"
Not sure how you could have saved this game, bud.

The soundtrack slaps, but that probably the only lesson they took from Persona: Have more than 1 battle track. And then proceed to drop the ball by having the final boss use the same boss track as everyone else.

So one more is actually random wtf i thought i was going crazy where sometimes my characters move twice on weakness hit sometimes they don't it kept messing me with my brain. The game never explains how it works afaik.

You said most of my fears there, the lack of new party members and long term depth. The only saving grace is that they made the lack of timer and the constant saving makes it a very casual "cozy game" but and especially how boring fusion is.

I don't know why they bothered stealing P5 hold up recruit if you can't actually fuse demons into new demons, only level them in the hopes of a new spell. Is there even other system like item manufacture and skill cards? They should've stolen persona 3/4 post battle Shuffle card system cause while that's a bit broken it would fit better in a game without fusion.

I'm still finishing the first dungeon but if the game is short i'll try to clear when i have spare time (not much lately). Also agree that battle soundtrack is good and saves the game.

Either way i played 2 demos they're the frameland a binary tale demo and the edge of allegoria demo, the latter i didnt finish.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2137750/Frameland_A_Binary_Tale/

Frameland is a pretty bog standard jrpg but with a twist... You have to do quick time events to attack! Wooow...

Spoiler: frameland

You play Ryiu who lived a happy nice life playing hero, the leader of talons, with his family in his nice village until one day something "glitchy" happen and he wakes up in a beach. I assume his whole life was some sort of simulation, and we something went wrong, as we alternate to Yuri in a lab in flames.



Yuri escapes and next time we play him he's in a new lab. But either way we play Ryui who is effectively an isekai protag in a modenish world. He crosses a snow forest and gets to a miner city where he meets a talking dogo. The dog for some reason seems to know about Ryui homeland (hammertal) and agrees to tell him if he helps get to the next city.



The city is sad and people are being exploited. Either way we cross the mine and beat a robot, then get to the city and sent to jail for breaking that robot. There we meet a prisoner and get some info. Ryui keeps calling himself leader of talons but in this world the talons are a terrorist group trying to take down the king, who apparently went evil suddendly.


Half the humor comes from Ryu being a retarded naive teen. The other half is a few funny npcs.

Then the prisoner helps them escape and the demo ends.


(I actually really like how expressive the sprites are, ryu has many different poses)

But how is the gameplay? It's very bog standard game made for people who dont like rpgs i guess. It has no MP, only AP that you get more when you time defense and attacks right. Enemies dont respawn and are fixed so you can't grind. There are no elements in the demo but you can use the dog's plasma cannon to charge enemy robots heat bar and stun+weaken them, its cool but also shallow.

This leads to a fairly basic battle of attriction where you and the enemy smack each other until someone dies first. You can backdown to heal at save spot at any point so there isnt really any managing, you just trade blows and get the QTE right. The gameplay trailer shows something like a materia system but it's not on the demo.

Overall a weak demo that i didnt like. It's not offensively bad or even bland but the gameplay is too simple and the demo, while ending on a good cliffhanger, doesnt setup any stakes or real objective. Only salvageable if the game is really short.

The other game i played was edge of allegoria that was mentioned here, which is just edgy pokemon but you're a human.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1870700/The_Edge_of_Allegoria/

I did not like this demo. The game has this edgy millenial writing that feels too annoying to me.



It literally starts by saying "a bunch of shit happened a awhile ago. It was really cool. Now it's your adventure. It wont be that cool so dont expect anything that cool".

Spoiler: edge of allegoria demo review

The story is literally you going a quest to do "something with your life". The gameplay is a really shallow 1v1 where your weapons teach you attacks and you armor increases stats, and the more you use them you master so you learn the attack forever and get the armor boost permanently. This leads to a fairly grindy gameplay loop where an npc even tells you to go to town buy gear and master 1 by own to increase your stats.

It also hypes it's "combo potential" but it's just shallow. You can do a sword slash to give the enemy bleed vulnearability, then use the razor skill to inflict bleed then use the axe skill to deal increased damage on bleeding opponents and wow that's not as hype as the game think it is. Especially cause you get a life steal attack early on and it's stronger so why not use it 3 times instead.




25% of the jokes in this game are obvious pointing at objects like "this mail box is used to receive mail". 25% is swearing and more 25% is just verbose shit like an npc giving a huge tutorial saying "you look like the type of guy who does X and y and z and ..." then the final 25% is adult jokes i guess.




(Did Vivzie Pop from Hazbin Hotel write this game?)

The only joke i found funny was one npc ranting about the goblin king being mad at humans killing goblins and saying "of couse we kill them, they're monsters plague who should get the fuck out of our country" and it felt like an actual clever parody of rpgs. Then the goblin king calls you a bitch for having no goal in life and only hunting him because random people asked.

After this i tried a bit more and got bored, i just didnt like the gameplay loop and the humor. Battles are just attriction fights where both sides trade blows and you lose nothing for dying other than gear mastery that increases too fast anyway.

It also felt a little too "safe edgy humor" until the first boss. Not saying my pixel rpg needs rape and gore but its mostly people dropping fucks and shit, have the balls to drop a retarded at least. I guess it's not trying to actively shock the player but to be immature which is fine, but either way not my type of game.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

The appeal is that you get a jrpg designed for people who don't actually play jrpgs because they think turn based is inherently grindy and boring lol.

It depends on other factors imo, like progression and difficulty curve. Chained echoes has no level EXP but you still have reasons to grind skill exp and the board objectives for rewards.

When I read grind free I think of a game that is built well enough that you don't need to actively disengage with the plot and spend an hour fighting random encounters to pass a boss that is a stat check.

Of course in modern Quirky RPG who knows what anything means.

 

[HexFag]

When I read grind free I think of a game that is built well enough that you don't need to actively disengage with the plot and spend an hour fighting random encounters to pass a boss that is a stat check.

Of course in modern Quirky RPG who knows what anything means.

That's usually not what they're referring to but games that do have that built in don't advertise themselves as ANTI-GRIND.

The appeal is that you get a jrpg designed for people who don't actually play jrpgs because they think turn based is inherently grindy and boring lol.

It depends on other factors imo, like progression and difficulty curve. Chained echoes has no level EXP but you still have reasons to grind skill exp and the board objectives for rewards.

Stuff like this really makes me appreciate Jimmy for being so dedicated to being a JRPG first and a quirky indie RPG second, if that makes sense.

 

[LucasSomething]

When I read grind free I think of a game that is built well enough that you don't need to actively disengage with the plot and spend an hour fighting random encounters to pass a boss that is a stat check.

Of course in modern Quirky RPG who knows what anything means.

Nowadays when an rpg advertises itself as "grind-free" i assume it means you're mechanically incapable of grinding at all, usually by making enemies not drop exp and/or having fixed level ups (chained echoes) or by making enemies not respawn (Suits and Barkley).

Felvidek is a funny case of doing both, you can't level up and every encounter is scripted so you only fight for progress, sidequests or item drops. I think it's silly unless it's done really well in a way that enhances the experience like felvidek.

I think rpgs simply needs better grinding tools to avoid feeling "grindy". Heartbeat has a level scaling that gives more exp so it doesnt feel grindy. Another is The last story that has a monster summon spot besides save spots that gives more exp/drops so if you want to grind, the game will give you the tools to do it fast. A fast battle system and auto battle help a lot too.

That's usually not what they're referring to but games that do have that built in don't advertise themselves as ANTI-GRIND.

Stuff like this really makes me appreciate Jimmy for being so dedicated to being a JRPG first and a quirky indie RPG second, if that makes sense.

Yeah i love how jimmy is really "oldschool" in that sense, it's like old rpgs where the dungeons and boss fights get progressively longer and items are expensive so you realize how every extra level worth of MP matters. Leaving the dungeon to rest and returning with 2-3 more levels feels good.

It also has an easy mode that gives more exp that i used a few times to farm class levels (but didnt fight any boss with it) so if you ever get frustrated you have that option.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Nowadays when an rpg advertises itself as "grind-free" i assume it means you're mechanically incapable of grinding at all, usually by making enemies not drop exp and/or having fixed level ups (chained echoes) or by making enemies not respawn (Suits and Barkley).

Felvidek is a funny case of doing both, you can't level up and every encounter is scripted so you only fight for progress, sidequests or item drops. I think it's silly unless it's done really well in a way that enhances the experience like felvidek.

I think rpgs simply needs better grinding tools to avoid feeling "grindy". Heartbeat has a level scaling that gives more exp so it doesnt feel grindy. Another is The last story that has a monster summon spot besides save spots that gives more exp/drops so if you want to grind, the game will give you the tools to do it fast. A fast battle system and auto battle help a lot too.

The problem with this is that it raises the question why are there even random encounters if they don't give you anything. If they drop items then it's just item/gear grinding which is far worse than level grinding. And making the random encounters non escapable means the dev just pads the game out and wastes the player's time.

 

[X Prime]

People need to accept that JRPGs are long-winded timewasters usually. It's okay if they take awhile.

 

[LucasSomething]

The problem with this is that it raises the question why are there even random encounters if they don't give you anything. If they drop items then it's just item/gear grinding which is far worse than level grinding. And making the random encounters non escapable means the dev just pads the game out and wastes the player's time.

Chained echoes "random encounters" are in the path so you have to beat them on top of giving money and skill points so you effectively grind skills instead of levels.

When enemies don't respawn they're not "random" anymore but more setpieces you're forced to engage. LISA for example has 99% encounters be unique enemies you can only fight once, but it also has the cave shadows and wrestling ring as grind spots to avoid frustration.

 

[Sparky Lurker]

Paper Ghost 2 announcement:

 

[The Feline Solution]

I like grinding when it is not of the Disgaea ultra autismo variety. Grinding in JRPG is a fundamental part of the genre for me, having started playing JRPG in the SNES era. A JRPG/RPG in general touting itself as grind-free is a game i most likely won't play.

 

[Chug Smuckle]

I find games that have alot of side quests with optional dugeons, battle arenas/tournaments (like star ocean) and side games like triple triad, are good ways to have players grind without them noticing that there grinding. Like give players an incentive outside of levels. Ironically ff8 has alotta of theese and that game is acually easier (from what I hear) at low levels cuz of level scaling.

 

[I_Am_Not_Bruce_Willis]

 

[Joe Dough 68]

Banquet for Fools

Found this game randomly on Steam, a CRPG with real-time combat, seems interesting with a kind of dark fantasy Claymation style going on.
There's a demo available I'm gonna try, but the millennial couple devs you can see in the News section give off rather mixed feelings.

 

[LucasSomething]

I completely missed this game release but found it in some october indie game compilation, it's HorrorVale and it looks pretty solid

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1114650/HorrorVale/

I pirated it and played it for an hour and i really liked it so far. It's standard RPG Maker fare but the halloween setting makes it standout and the designs for enemies and characters is really creative. Everyone is pretty quirky too, the tutorial book is snarky and unsufferable but otherwise the jokes are fine. I like how i found this random ass cave with zombie Alex Jones and Mulder from X-files.



(A L I E N S)

The story starts prety childish. It's about a skeleton witch girl named Alice searching for her undead dog (undog) that disappeared because monsters took it. Well, everyone is monsters but for some reason new more violent and irrational monsters called "creepies" appeared around town causing problems and no one knows why yet.

(not all jokes are good but i liked this one)

In this world nobody dies cause they're already dead so people respawn, meaning you can yolo kill others and it's treated as a fun thing, but if you die it's game over (lame). As a quirky game, it features quirky enemies with gimmickies. There are RED NAMED ENEMIES that are puzzle focused and require quest items, while others are weird, like this slime that doesnt attack you or drop items, it just asks you to buy "a thing" mid combat for 20 candies. Another enemy was a "Dazzling vampire" who was obviously a twilight joke.


(i panicked and killed him but he comes back)

There are also funny things that play with expectations like how the HEAL SPELL actually does damage (cause everyone is undead) and the POISON spell is regeneration. The visuals are obviously on the lower end but soundwise it sounds really good and unlike most rpg makers it features a sidequest journal to keep track of everything and an actually good map that shows sidequests and save points, high effort stuff.


(Party level is shared so no wasted experience when switching party members, i love that).

Combat is also pretty fast and simple. There are 7 elements (bone, blood, ectoplasm, flesh etc) and they do different effects on different races so just use the right thing. Alice is a pretty bog standard mage but Wraps has a spell that consumes her own hp%. There are apparently like 30 different party members unlockable from side quest which gives me LISA vibes.

I'll play more when i have time and see how it goes but it has potential to be a hidden gem.

edit: Just realized the consumable that cures confusion is called "HorrorVale wiki" and it got me lol. The sad part is that the wiki is incomplete and only features the demo content...

Also the third party member is just the angry i mean "timid video game nerd" that switches forms to a chad jock every 3 turns (and changes moveset) which is kinda great even if he's not that strong as a unit. Game likes pop culture references but so far is tasteful with them.

 

[Sparky Lurker]

Cyberslop RPG announcement:

 

[Coolio55]

Is Towelket any good or is it just moe troonslop?
The descriptions and audience aren't too convincing.

 

[Oulun]

Is Towelket any good or is it just moe troonslop?

I had a friend who played the first few way back in the day. The originals came out back around 2008 - 2009, when it would've been more like wapanese weebslop than troonslop, but even back then half the characters were femmy catboys.

It's worth saying that it's made by an actually Japanese developer, who seems more gay in the traditional Japanese way than in our western MKULTRA, LGBTQZP+ psyop way. Personally, I wouldn't waste my time, but maybe I'm just a roundeye baka gaijin who can't tolerate more exotic and primitive forms of homosexuality.

Mechanically, it's just a Dragon Quest clone like all RM2000 games, IIRC.

 

[Breadquanda.]

My friend (a liberal, so she enjoyed this a lot) was showing me a game called Final Profit: A Shop RPG a while ago. It's an RPG Maker game. From what I watched, it starts off quite story-based, but as the game advances it becomes heavily grindy. There are also tedious floor puzzles, not at all suited to the hypersensitive controls of the game.

There are a lot of strange troon references, and a very outsized number of the couples are gay or lesbian, including the player character's former lesbian girlfriend. The game is obviously some weird criticism of capitalism too, though it seems to advocate for a strange feudal communism which I cannot understand and which would come off as more national socialist, if not for how woke it was. There are a faction of communist knights who practice something that serves as a weird type of eugenics reference, involving an induction with certain powers that leaves some people permanently crippled, with their leadership writing it off as a necessary evil. The plot also revolves around someone defeating this corrupt capitalist system by becoming a capitalist, despite the rest of the country's leadership disagreeing, which seems rather Dengist to me.

I don't really know. A lot of the things in the game seem quite interesting and maybe slightly humorous, but in general it is kind of strange political troonslop. It doesn't seem like a very popular game, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

 

[Safir]

There's a demo available I'm gonna try, but the millennial couple devs you can see in the News section give off rather mixed feelings.

They made Serpent in the Staglands, which wasn't woke. Unfinished, but good enough to get 90/100 from ragequit.gr (the only non-sellout review site of the time). But that was 2015, they could have gotten TDS in the interim.

 

[Joe Dough 68]

They made Serpent in the Staglands, which wasn't woke. Unfinished, but good enough to get 90/100 from ragequit.gr (the only non-sellout review site of the time). But that was 2015, they could have gotten TDS in the interim.

You get to make your party by the end of the demo, there were some weird things, how can I explain it.

• "Sex" option in the character editor is a slider what only changes character's height and stats, up until it hits the mid point, where it also changes the entire character model between male/female (you can see the cleavage, otherwise it's somewhat difficult to tell the difference);
• And there are no face options, what you get is what you get, nor any 'male' looking hairstyles, most of what's there is long-haired, either explicitly feminine or 'neutral' at best;

Other than that the demo was alright, not much was shown in terms of story so I can't tell how bad it is further into the game. Didn't quite get how the combat system is supposed to work, you have a single cooldown for all actions but also can just run around avoiding all melee damage. Might pick it up on sale at some point.
Also there is a save import feature from the Staglands game, seen that mentioned on the store page.

 

[I_Am_Not_Bruce_Willis]

• "Sex" option in the character editor is a slider what only changes character's height and stats, up until it hits the mid point, where it also changes the entire character model between male/female (you can see the cleavage, otherwise it's somewhat difficult to tell the difference);

It can't be...

In a time without activist purpose to cling to, the fertile minds of young people have created boogeymen to fight against. They envision a world where everyone is brown, kebabs and tacos can be ordered on DoorDash with food stamps and delivered by public transit in every American city, and gender in video games is now a slider.