Hey wait, didn't we just see this guy 441 pages ago?
So, between RC and BN, I've kinda got like, 40 pages written in advance. And y'know, my blog posts have been on the short side lately. I know you guys have gotta be sick of "Not much goin' on lately!" every update, soooooo
BRAD REVIEWS A VIDEO GAME
I've been playing a bunch of games lately. Mostly RPGs. Figured you guys might like some recommendations from a snobby elitist like me, so I'll tell you about games I like! Or I'll tell you why I didn't like them. I understand some games aren't for me but might be good for other people, so I try to keep an open mind. That said, let's start with our first official review:
Lately, I've been playing Lisa, the Painful RPG, a post-apocalyptic side-scrolling turn-based RPG in the same vein of Earthbound. It was gifted to me by a Steam friend, but I don't know if they want me actually revealing their name, so uh, we'll just say he was a pretty cool guy. Lisa is very much a dark comedy with its goofy art-style and charmingly odd characters, but there's easily more of an emphasis on "dark" rather than comedy. Lisa is actually the second in a series of games, something I would have never known going in if another Steam friend hadn't messaged to tell me this beforehand. The prequel game, Lisa the First, is a surreal exploration game made in RPG Maker 2003, so it's more along the lines of something like Yume Nikki. I didn't really care too much for the prequel game, but it ties in pretty heavily into Lisa the Painful's story, and you REALLY won't understand the ending of that game without first beating its prequel. So, something to consider, I guess, if you intend to play this two year old game that I'm way late to. Just be warned, the prequel game is a lot of trial and error, figure-out-what-goes-where kind of game that tries a little too hard to hammer in themes of sexual abuse and phallic imagery. They REALLY just bash you over the head with symbolism.
Subtle.
Anyways, back to the second game, the Painful RPG. Pain and sacrifice are huge themes in this game, not just from a narrative point, but it also plays a major role in the gameplay itself. The game is not afraid to hinder you in really cruel ways, from stealing your items and handicapping your abilities (in numerous ways) to outright killing your party-members...permanently. Moreso than most other post-apocalyptic games, the wasteland is an especially cruel place in Lisa. Even just the simple action of resting at a campfire can screw you over shortly after. Of course, since most of these events are random, the consequences can be avoided by save-scumming (saving before an event and then reloading until you get the outcome you want). These consequences can be mildly annoying at best on normal mode if you're a save-scumming piece of garbage like me, but luckily, Lisa has a "pain" mode, where save points can only be used once before exploding in a hilarious manner, along with making the game harder and adding in additional enemies. I can't even imagine how badly shit can go for you in a Pain playthrough, and I doubt I'll be doing a playthrough that way myself, but I appreciate the fact that it's there. It's a great feature.
There's a lot I love about Lisa. I think the combat is really nice for the most part. I kind of wish more characters got little attack mini-games like Brad (the main character, not me) and the other dial-a-combo fighters, ala Charles Barkley Shut Up and Jam Gaiden, but what's there is good and even then, almost every party member has a unique style to them that makes the most out of the game's menu-based system. The game throws damn near 20 or 30 party members at you, which is great since it is SO easy for them to die. It's amazing how much thought and personality went into every single one of them considering how disposable they are (Nern, Jack, and Birdie ended up being my favorites). Sadly, many of them end up being on the shit-side gameplay-wise, so many of them will just be tossed in the select-your-party trash heap, never to see combat. Still, I like that there's a ton of room for experimentation in that regard. Other mechanics, such as Brad's drug-addiction, are really clever. Brad himself is easily your strongest character in the game, but his addiction leads him to suffer regular withdrawal attacks, where his craving for the drug reduces his normal attacks to zero. Do you take the drug to get back into fighting spirit (while giving yourself a drug-fueled combat boost), or do you try to stay clean and fight through the pain? Considering how quickly things can go south things in this game, the temptation is always there, and I love it.
The story is twisted and absolutely in love with its world of freaks and perverts. It's surpisingly concise in its narration. No scene ever feels like it drags on, but many times it feels you're just thrown into game-changing, heavy-hitting decisions without much of a build-up. While I do love the game's attitude and some of the amazingly weird and entertaining tangents it can go off in, it's sometimes a little difficult to keep track of the major players in the main story. Important names don't get dropped as much as you'd like so you can remember them, and the actual characters (especially the ones that force you into your big decisions) kinda mesh together, personality-wise. While the world of Lisa is fun to explore in a kind of lore-building, look-at-all-this-weird-crazy-shit kind of way, it's not exactly fun to navigate through. The side-scrolling lends to a great art-style, but the game is plagued with cliff drops every five feet that will have you leaping to your death if you're not watching where you step every second of gameplay. God help you if your index finger slips.
Whoops.
Should you play Lisa? Yeah, sure. Only if you're a die-hard RPG fan, though. It's not exactly a super challenging experience if you're accustomed to these types of games, but casual gamers will probably be turned off by how thoroughly punishing Lisa can be. You also really do need to play the prequel game first if you want the full experience, so if you're not willing to put an extra two hours slogging through a fairly boring but at least mildly inventive RPG-Maker-based explorer game, you might wanna just look up a guide or read the wiki or whatever. The Painful RPG has a wonderfully weird world to explore, an inventive combat system, and a hard-hitting finale. I say it's worth the trouble.
Oh, special mention goes out to the amazingly inventive soundtrack by Widdly 2 Diddly. Been listening to it for days now, and it's just as weird, fun, and intense as the game itself. Favorite tracks would probably have to be Men's Hair Club and Work Harder. I should also note that the game has a sequel expansion, Lisa the Joyful, which I haven't played yet. Will probably pick it up later at some point. I'll let you know how that goes.
Expect another page and another review on Friday! See you then!