Posted by Derek Yu
Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:48:00 GMT
In Yume Nikki (or “Dream Diary”), you play a young girl who can delve into a bizarre, and sometimes extremely frightening, dreamworld in order to collect “effects” that can alter her appearance in the dream. Some of the effects also have abilities that can be used there. At (almost) any time, our heroine can wake herself up and return to her small, spartan apartment, where she can write in her diary (save), or play a simple minigame on the television.
I really like this game. The lack of dialogue or any “action” fills me with this strange sense of dread. I also like the contrast between the tiny apartment and the enormous dreamworld. And visually, the game really reminds me very much of Earthbound (especially Moonside!) and cactus, which is a pretty awesome and terrifying mix.
Download the English version of the game here (42 Mb), via Rapidshare. The download includes the RPGMaker runtime, as well as instructions on how to configure your computer’s language support to play the game. It’s a fairly painless process.
Thanks, Anarkex!
UPDATE: Tim to the rescue!
Mirror, via
WHFF.
Posted in RPG, Unique / Bizarre, Highly Recommended, Doujin | Tags Kikiyama | 32 comments
Posted by Jordan Magnuson
Tue, 25 Mar 2008 23:45:00 GMT
Gladiator is a brilliant Action/RPG hybrid playable by up to four players on one keyboard. Yeah, the graphics are “old” (whatever that means). Yeah you’re going to need an attention span longer than the average casual gamer to get your team set up. So what. Period.
In my opinion this game is one of the best and most classic multiplayer on one keyboard games you will ever play. The game was originally released by Forgotten Sages for DOS in 1992, but has since been ported to your twenty-first century operating system courtesy of Snowstorm Entertainment. Check out the game and see why it has an average rating of 9 out of 10 at HOTU.
Download and more info at Snowstorm. Man, you don’t even have to pay for this!
Posted in RPG, Highly Recommended, Linux, Windows, Action / Arcade, Freeware | Tags ForgottenSages | 19 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:38:00 GMT
It’s still quite early in development, but I have to mention Omar’s Orthogonal Oyster Outing, the follow-up to Omar’s first tremendous oyster outing. If only to support charon and get him even more juiced about finishing this bad boy. ‘Cause it’s that great.
The original game, which pitted Omar against a town full of zombies, was an enjoyable action RPG “lite,” that had a number of interesting mechanics, like searching/securing buildings and fighting infections. O^4 so far seems to be that game, but with totally sweet minimal 3d graphics that can be zoomed and panned (using the mouse or the numpad).
The controls at this point are a bit obtuse and require that you have roughly 3 hands – you move with the arrow keys and aim with the mouse, but to shoot, you have to press the Spacebar. ‘Enter’ will get you into buildings. You can see the rest of the controls (and edit them all) by opening up “oooo.gei” in Notepad. This is a good way to get the game running in a window, as well.
Alse, be aware that in certain “omigod zombies”-type situations, Omar may start “panicking,” in which case you will temporarily lose control of his movement!
(Thanks, Alehkhs, I got it! Via Puppy Buckets.)
Posted in RPG, Windows, Action / Arcade, Freeware, Previews | Tags SinisterSystems | 12 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:26:00 GMT
Jesus, the things you can do with Multimedia Fusion now! Why, back in my day we had to walk five miles in the snow just to make an active object… grumble grumble!
The above video is a preview of the engine behind Project Rhapsody, an RPG that’s been in development for a few years now. While “ambitious RPG” + “unpaid development” + “years” can = “vaporware,” the team still seems active and updates are coming fairly regularly now. And it looks pretty fantastic!
Another reason why I’m so jonesed about the game is that they’ve got Snake (aka Imson) on board. You may remember him as the pixel artist behind Katamari Colossus, but he’s also a fantastic painter.
“Hit the jump,” as they say, for some awesome concept art he did for PR. Good luck, guys! Become legendary! We’re rooting for you!
Read more...
Posted in RPG, Videos, Previews | 33 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Fri, 07 Mar 2008 20:55:00 GMT
Sometimes you just want a good, brainless dungeon crawl. Monsters’ Den lets you put together a party of four characters (chosen from the requisite fantasy classes: warrior, cleric, mage, ranger, rogue) and then head into the dank, randomly-generated dungeons of wherever to do battle with all manner of grisly monsters.
The game mechanics are very simple – just click around the map to explore new rooms, collect treasure, and engage the denizens of the dungeon. Combat is tactical in the sense that your party’s formation (set before each fight) determines who can hit or get hit by whom, but overall it’s pretty fluffy (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing). After fighting, you get to collect the requisite loot, which is never in short supply when you throw in all the treasure chests lying around – after level one you’ll have a lion’s share of interesting weapons and armor.
So yeah, Monsters’ Den is just a really stripped down RPG, and it’s really pretty enjoyable as that. And the randomization, character creation, and various difficulty modes (with and without permadeath) give it quite a bit of replayability. I had a good time with it, okay!
EDIT: Apparently, the game is extremely similar to the more polished
FastCrawl, which is downloadable shareware ($20). See comments.
Posted in RPG, Browser Games, Casual | 16 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Tue, 26 Feb 2008 04:38:00 GMT
Created by a shady Chinese tech company in the year 20XX, this unlicensed demake of Final Fantasy VII was actually released as a cartridge at some point (when, though?)! A play-by-play copy of the Playstation original in terms of plot, FF7 NES is apparently NOT a hack of another FF game, and is, on a technical level, somewhat of a marvel. Chinese hackers are amazing, aren’t they?
Head over here for a full write-up of the game, including nearly 150 screenshots.
And I’m guessing some of you are probably interested in playing the ROM. Well, follow the “Baidu” link in the article and you’ll get to it eventually, although apparently only “an extremely hacked-up version of VirtuaNESex supports the game through an ugly bank-switching mapper driver.” You have been warned.
Alternatively, you can just watch this YouTube video that shows some (pretty boring) gameplay from the demake.
(Source: Luke Plunkett, via Kotaku)
Posted in Demakes, RPG, Unique / Bizarre | 17 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:45:00 GMT
Jeff Vogel and Spiderweb Software have been going strong for over a decade now, having released well over a dozen full-length shareware RPGs for Windows and Macintosh since 1994. It’s been a bit of a wait, but I’m happy to announce that his latest game, Avernum 5, has finally been released for both platforms (including demos)!
Spiderweb games have never much been known for their presentation, so Avernum 5’s graphics haven’t progressed all that much since the last game… or even the original game. But that’s never been a problem for its fans, who enjoy the intricate plots and unique, sprawling worlds. For RPG fans, I think its definitely worth checking out one of the mainstays of the genre.
The website assures that “experience with previous Avernum games is completely unnecessary to enjoy Avernum 5.”
(Source: Kieron Gillen, via RockPaperShotgun)
Posted in RPG, Macintosh, Windows | Tags SpiderwebSoftware | 13 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:26:00 GMT
Apparently 3 Flan games came out without my even knowing… ah well. The fourth installment of this series, by the developer of The Desolate Room, is one heck of a strange RPG. The star here is the unique leveling system, which lets you upgrade your party of four flans by collecting random drops during the battle. How often the drops appear and how good they are is determined entirely by your party’s “Loot Drop” stat, which is higher when you fight more difficult monsters (especially Boss Monsters), but can also be raised manually during battle by certain Flans. Each type of Flan has its strengths and weaknesses, of course, and finding the right combination is crucial.
The biggest problem with the game is that it can get repetitive pretty quickly. Traveling in the overworld is mostly uninteresting, and completing the various quests involves traveling back and forth and getting lost. The story is also mostly non-sequitur, and fairly “fluffy” compared to The Desolate Room. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, since I appreciate the humor, but it’s not quite enough to compel me just yet.
Granted, I’m currently trapped in “Dead Flan’s Pit,” so perhaps it gets more exciting further on out. Anyone want to help me out? I’ve started a page on IndieFAQs for it, already. Get me out of here!
Posted in RPG, Unique / Bizarre, Windows, Freeware | Tags scottgames | 5 comments
Posted by Shabadage
Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:01:00 GMT
Mark Pay has uploaded a new video of his beautiful upcoming role playing game, The Spirit Engine 2. This video showcases the combat portion of the game, which is refreshingly different from a large portion of other RPG’s. So bask in the beauty that is TSE 2! It’s coming soon-ish!
(Source: Total-Klik)
Posted in RPG, Videos, Windows, Previews | Tags MarkPay | 19 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Tue, 22 Jan 2008 19:14:00 GMT
The Great B-Ball Purge of 2041, a day so painful to some that it is referred to only as the “B-Ballnacht”. Thousands upon thousands of the world’s greatest ballers were massacred in a swath of violence and sports bigotry as the game was outlawed worldwide. The reason: the Chaos Dunk, a jam so powerful its mere existence threatens the balance of chaos and order. Among the few ballers and fans that survived the basketball genocide was Charles Barkley, the man capable of performing the “Verboten Jam”...
In 2041 I will look back on my life and I will recall two momentous occasions in my life. One, the day when science allowed me to conceive a child with Jon Mak. And two, the day I was able to download and play a finished version of Barkley, Shut up and Jam: Gaiden.
As you know, I’ve been waiting anxiously for the final version of this incredible RPG “vidcon” for awhile now. In the game, you play as Charles Barkley… once a world-renowned baller, now an exile, living with his son in the Cyberpocalypse which he helped create. With Michael Jordan on his ass, and the terrorist organization B.L.O.O.D.M.O.S.E.S. raising hell all over Neo New York, life is difficult. Can Charles bring an end to the misery and redeem the greatest game mankind has ever known?
For importantly, can he learn to forgive… himself?
The random battles of the demo have been replaced with an Earthbound-like system where you can see your enemies and surprise them. The battles themselves are quite fun. As Barkley, you will have a variety of slams and jams at your disposal, and the effectiveness of these attacks are determined by timed button presses. The action-based elements of the Shut up and Jam: Gaiden really spice things up.
What can I say? This is the greatest game ever made, and it won’t cost you a single neo-shekel to play it. Get it immediately.
(Thank you, DarkNecrid, for the tip!)
Posted in RPG, Highly Recommended, Windows, Freeware | Tags TalesOfGamesStudios | 23 comments
