Mango Mischief

This game draws together all of the best features of the JRPGs you loved growing up and puts them into one game. An engaging story! Lots of humor! Perfect soundtrack! Classic battle mechanics! I love they way you can tweak and customize your characters abilities. I'm just scratching the surface, but I gather that this game has dozens of hours of original story, and eight dungeons that can be played in any order, open-world style. Can't wait to play some more!

So right at the top, I met Mr. Mango a few months ago on Twitter. We both enjoyed old school Final Fantasy games, and he seemed like a pretty nice dude (he is) so I bought his game. We've chatted a few times, and he's watched me play his game a few times, but otherwise that's about it. I haven't received anything other than a game that I paid $10 for. But yeah, so far I think that this is a fun little game and I don't feel like I have wasted my money. The class system in the game is reminiscent to Final Fantasy's job system and so I'm pretty excited about building a party in this game. In general the writing is pretty clever, and I'll often find myself being reminded of some trope or frustrating thing from something like a S/NES Final Fantasy or Gen 1 Pokemon that is then referenced in the game. I did have some awkward moments playing this game but overall I think this is a very solid first attempt at making a video game. There was obviously a lot of time, care, and effort put into making this game by someone that grew up on SNES era JRPGs. I feel like this would be a game for someone into indie or fan made games for sure.

Why didn't I buy this game earlier. I thought I would never see a good classic rpg adventure being released again but here it is: The characters are very likable and the story enjoyable and fun. it's not supposed to be complex or to have 400 IQ professional quality characters and that's what I was missing. they're better than that they're just people that I like and that I would make friends with. the fact that it's a parody only makes it better, you go inside a house in the capital and the main characters start questioning a mage about the elements. me and the friend I was streaming for completely lost it when they ask for a periodic table and state that the mage failed chemistry I feel like that's what's missing in the entertainment industry today, specially outside of japan. I can like the game not rationally.

A game that starts with humor and ends with feels. It is more than a game it is a jorney that gets you addicted. Fun world elements, easy combat system a must buy for jrpg fans.

This game is pure nostalgic comfort food for me. The class systems are more for deciding what order you learn moves in (there's a section in completed quests in your journal that will tell you what jobs teach what and at what level). The full heal on level up and still getting exp for characters that are KO'd keep the pace up. The thing I like most about the combat is that status effects are useful against even boss monsters throughout the game. All these things, and the main party's actions in the game, make this something I highly recommend for fans of old school turn based rpgs.

Backed this game on Kickstarter because I know the developer through FB (for full disclosure). When I wrote a book and had online friends back me on Kickstarter, I never expected many of them to do more than read a few pages (if at all!). For Mango Mischief, I never expected to play more than half an hour or so. 8 bit isn't my thing anything more and RPGs really need to grab me. Not the most positive of starts to a review but I'm now 2 hours into the game and have plenty of desire to come back to this gem. I've laughed in spite myself at a couple of the jokes and whilst the fighting at first is repetitive (show me an RPG where it isn't) I love the class system and how quickly new moves are added for each character (adding that much wanted variation). Good balance between grinding and difficulty as the first boss I had a character die whilst also thinking it was too easy (so clearly not that easy!) It's nicely priced so if you want a pick up and play RPG with plenty of humour in it, you can't go too far wrong.

This is a fun and engaging game. Even though there are areas that could use improvement, the gameplay is easy to like after encountering the first major dungeon and changing character classes. If I didn't have to sleep I would probably just sit there endlessly playing Mango Mischief tonight. Here are the things I liked and disliked in a pros and cons format. [b]Pros[/b] - The class changing system is excellent. Classes have their own levels that increase after battle and they max out quickly, making way for even more new classes. I was jumping from class to class and learning numerous abilities even during the early hours of the game. The class system is such that you would be switching classes and constantly racking up new types of abilities. Buffs, debuffs, and elemental strengths and weaknesses make a noticeable difference in most fights and particularly during boss fights. I also like that guarding is not useless and sometimes worthwhile strategically. The presence of a bonus attack gauge makes for an extra limit break-style skill to look forward to utilizing at the right time. There is also this challenging question of whether to prepare for a boss or go all in and see what happens. Overall, there is a lot to the combat and character progression, but I found it all very user-friendly and appealing. - The general pace is well-balanced. Battles are resolved quickly and can be made even faster with multiple options to skip battle animations. The level of challenge is not compromised in my opinion. Enemies hit hard. - NPCs have fun dialogue that seems well-edited, as if ran through with a fine-tooth comb for quality. I can't recall too many (if any) spelling errors or grammatical errors. There is some flavor to the dialogue and party members sometimes contribute to conversations with NPCs. I love that sort of thing. - Aside from the dungeon/town/cut-scenes structure, there are puzzles peppered throughout. These often involve paying careful attention to what NPCs are saying or being observant of small details in the environment. - The music is nice. I really liked the theme that plays during boss fights the most. - The little rhyming poems on the sign posts in every town are a nice touch and charming to read. [b]Cons[/b] - Given the amount of effort put into the greater parts, the visuals are unremarkable. This game doesn't play bland, it doesn't read bland, so it's unfortunate that it looks bland. When considering the large numbers of JRPGs out there with a more distinct art direction, Mango Mischief can easily fade in the background under a hasty glance. - While I did chuckle at some jokes and enjoyed some of the humor, the fourth wall breaking jokes can be repetitive or groan-worthy even if purposefully so. - The encounter rate varies oddly. Sometimes it's too high. Some quests involve some backtracking that can be tedious. [hr][/hr] I'll update this review as I explore more of this game. But overall I have largely good things to say. I had a nostalgic feeling all throughout playing that kept me hooked. The class/job system is rewarding to explore. Combat is consistently fun. Finally, I like the writing in general and the storyline though it becomes a bit more minimalistic as the game proceeds. Maybe that will change. But overall, this has been well worth playing.

* This is an excellent fun little game that I recommend. * $10.00 will get you about 25 hours of content (100% completion). I could probably cut that time in half if I played it again (now that I know what to do for everything) but still decent length. Makes fun of JRPG tropes very "aware" of itself. Story is fun, doesn't suck. Fun game, worth the $10.00.