Koikoi

[b] KoiKoi [/b] is clearly inspired by Undertale and it is certainly not afraid to use a few references to show that. This unusual JRPG is all about the narrative, weird characters, and subverting expectations. Despite having many similarities to Undertale in terms of the narrative, KoiKoi manages to be its own unique experience. Honestly, I did not enjoy the game initially, mostly because the first area is very dull compared to the rest of the game. It took me about 8 hours to beat, and another 5 hours to find most of the secrets. Just like Undertale, it tends to ramp up and get better toward the end, and it does get a little emotional, although not to the same extent. When I look at all of the individual parts of KoiKoi, I have to conclude that this game is yet another JRPG masterpiece, a slightly more lighthearted version of Undertale, not as good, but definitely worth playing. [h1] Unique take on Combat [/h1] Following the Undertale trend, Koikoi has a its own twist on the combat that does not encourage the attack button (no it does not have the whole dialogue mechanic). So you have an option to attack enemies like you would in any normal JRPG, except that it does 1 damage because you play as a weak human child, while enemies have like 300HP or more. Your attack button is literally just for showing. The combat in this game is designed completely around consumable items and having correct items for each battle. There are probably more than 100 items with different effects such as elemental damage, heals, buffs, debuffs and so on. You can beat most of the enemies without too much thinking, but when it comes to bosses you have to do a bit of planning, making sure that you bring the correct tools for the fight. If you are having too much trouble in the beginning of the game, please note that items reset when you leave the screen, so you can stack on "ammo" by looting the same spots. I personally never played a game where you had to rely completely on consumable items so it felt very refreshing. [h1] Narrative, Characters & Exploration [/h1] I only have one problem with this game. Unfortunately, the translation is awful, which is a shame because I like interactions between the characters. About 20% of the story has spelling errors so it definitely has an impact on the flow of the narrative. The developer seems pretty cool so I expect it to be a temporary problem. KoiKoi is yet another one of those games where the developer understands the mind of the player. It has a lighthearted sense of humor that I enjoy, and the game rewards you for your curiosity. While there are not too many areas to explore, it does have many little secrets. Sometimes you may want to visit previous areas to check if something has changed ;). There are many weird characters in the world, a few side quests and many engaging conversations. You will fight several bosses that may become your friends, perhaps it's another aspect that KoiKoi adapted from Undertale. As far as I can tell the game has at least 2 endings, that I am aware of. [h1] Visual variety & soundtrack [/h1] As far as I can tell the artwork is original to this game. It's a relatively long JRPG so I appreciate how much work went into making each individual area, even if it's just a simple pixel art. There are probably more than 100 characters, and they all look unique and different. KoiKoi has a very basic 8-bit soundtrack, something that I personally enjoy, but it does not compare well to something like Undertale where every song was memorable. I expected the game to have like 3 areas, but It actually has 3 towns, mansion area, prison area and graveyard. If anything, I think Koikoi gives a great value for the price. [b] Pros: [/b] + funny and lighthearted narrative that subverts expectations + the game rewards curiosity, plays with the player + interesting approach to combat + lots of different items, including a few character skins + good visual variety, many areas and characters + enjoyable soundtrack if you like ambient chiptunes + secrets [b] Cons: [/b] - many spelling mistakes - about 5% of the text is not even translated - I would like better item description [h1] Overall Thoughts: 9/10 [/h1] The more I play KoiKoi the more I love it. What started as a very niche game that I played out of curiosity, could possibly be one of the most overlooked titles in my recent memory. If you love those weird JRPGs that do something differently (like Undertale or Mother), then you should definitely consider it. There are so many different aspects to the game that come together to make a genuinely enjoyable experience. The developer just needs some help with English. [code]For more hidden gems: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]

ブラッキーさんに会えました！

奇妙なキャラクター、センスのあるとぼけた会話、練りこまれたシナリオと、MOTHER〜Undertaleの流れを汲むレトロ風ドットRPG。シナリオをクリアするだけなら（ゲーム内記録で）６時間ほど、アリーナなどやり込み要素を含めると倍以上のボリューム。隠し要素のワカメやタコ焼き戦車も凶悪だが、やはりアリーナのラスボスが理不尽なまでの強さを誇り、Lvが最大値近くでもマトモにやったら歯が立たない。回復を捨て例のクッキーをありったけ買い込み（持ち物スロット30のうち20がクッキー！）ようやく倒したが、他に解法はあるのだろうか？ ともあれシナリオ後半、タイトルにもなっている冒頭の意味深な儀式や手紙の真相がわかるくだりはゾッとするし、30個という限られた持ちアイテム数で回し続ける戦闘も、仕組まれた不便さをやりくりする楽しさがある。良作です。面白かった。

若きゲームクリエーターさんが、たった一人で全てを作り上げたと言う、オリジナル・デビュー作となると思います。 ドット絵による王道のRPGで、クリエーターさんの個性が随所に見られ、世界観もとても素晴らしく、 エンディングは清々しい！と感じる作品でした。 「サイキ」と言う攻撃パフォーマンスを使うゲーム進行で、主人公が少年という観点から攻撃アイテムがとてもユニークで、 敵キャラの耐性に応じたバトルを展開する楽しみもあり、なかなか濃い内容となってると思います。 ミニイベントもしっかり組み込まれているので、じっくり隅々まで楽しむことをおすすめします！ 特に音楽とキャラクターデザインがとても個性的で新しく、個人的にかなり好きです！！！

Charming little game which mixes sadness with lightheartness. Definitly not your generic RPG Maker game. Pros: [list] [*]Original combat system based on item management [*]Visuals which aren't the generic pixel sprites. I think they resemble OFF. [*]Delivers a not completely new, but nevertheless unconventional story. [/list] Cons: [list] [*]The background music is incredible repetitive and becomes tedious quite soon. [*]In the later game you want have to travel between multiple locations to restock etc. all the time. But traveling is really annoying, forcing you to go through lots of dialogues and pauses over and over again. [*]I'm not a native speaker, but orthography and grammar felt subpar. In fact, I had problems with following the story at the end. Maybe that's why it also felt a bit forced and random there - it's possible I just did not get it completly due to the grammar issues. [*]While the levels are short, you've got to grind a lot in a arena (again with lots of dialogs), I wish the oversized arena (which impossible to finish if you don't want to spent another 10 hours into tedious grinding) would have been smaller, but there would have been some more areas to explore instead. [/list] Tips and hints: [*]In the beginning you're asked to enter your name. Do that. I skipped that part because I was expecting some generic "Hey [playername], here, take some [favorite food] and then you can meet [bestfriend]!" stuff to force immersion. It's not like that, and throughout the game I regretted that I had just kept the default name "PLAYER". [*]Don't bother with the arena any more than necessary. I've just finished the normal leagues (expecting it would be done by then, but no, that's merely the half of it) and could roll over the bosses till the end (except for a secret boss). [*]In the beginning it's bit hard to understand what which item actually does: There are items which just cause an element's debuff (most of the time it says something about "status ailments" in the description) rendering the enemy vulnerable to that element, items which cause damage in an element and have just a chance to cause a debuff, and there are items which attack all enemies (they have a "+" sign in the icon). Other, special items explain themselves well enough ("raises attack by two levels" etc.) [*]When you're starting in a new area, the first thing you want to check out: where aer the items on the floor that you can pick up? Ideally these items lie close to an exit of the area (so you can re-enter the area easily to pick up the item again). When you've found that setup, grind your level until you can one-hit or almost one-hit the enemies and they can't deal much damage to you anymore. Then, proceed to the boss. [*]Most of the time you can flee from battles. Use that if you're out of items, or to reach a boss with a full inventory. This also holds true in the arena. Find out which enemies drop nice stuff (AoE items mostly) or give nice xp, kill them, and escape from the battle after that wave. Many times there's no reason to finish all waves of an arena fight just for some money. [/list]

Ну и кал, если честно, 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Weird little JRPG! Very tedious but has it's own charm.