Notes From Province

this free jrpg is mid. i will just come across pros and cons. Pros: sweaty gameplay, cool lvl up rewarding system, quality of life upgrades, autosaving, good dialogues (ig?), various of characters to build your team. Cons: Default rtp assets (its just too much), complexed walkthrough (i looked at every damn location to find next point to storyline. todo list aint helping much), bosses power scaling (tf with magician apprentice?). For about 4 hours i did absolutelly NOTHING, because of the complicated storyline quests locations and tasks. I couldnt finish the game fortunally, Ive had enough!

Игра 'Notes From Province' – это восхитительное погружение в атмосферу русской глубинки, пропитанное теплом и уютом. Визуальный стиль, выполненный в акварельной технике, создаёт ощущение старой доброй сказки, заставляя забыть о суете современного мира. Геймплей прост и ненавязчив: мы раскладываем пасьянс, собираем фрагменты воспоминаний и постепенно узнаем историю главной героини. Самое ценное в игре – это её неспешный ритм и умиротворяющая атмосфера. Нет никаких дедлайнов или сложных задач. Просто расслабляешься, слушаешь приятную музыку и наслаждаешься процессом. Сюжет раскрывается постепенно, через короткие записки и визуальные образы, что придаёт ему особую трогательность. Несмотря на кажущуюся простоту, игра заставляет задуматься о ценности простых вещей, о связи с семьёй и о важности сохранения памяти. 'Notes From Province' – это не просто пасьянс, это интерактивный рассказ, который оставляет после себя приятное послевкусие и желание вернуться в эту тихую и уютную провинцию. Рекомендую всем, кто ищет спокойную и красивую игру для души.

It's a perfectly OK RPG cobbled together with nothing but stock RPG Maker assets. Notes from Province seems rather long and involved, but the story itself is only so-so. The plot is very isekai-ish as seemingly everything revolves around the player character apropos of nothing, including (as you'd expect) lots and lots of beautiful women who are interested in you from the get-go. The player character also has an unfortunate habit of narrating his every action, which feels very fan fiction-y, and the writing itself is mostly amateurish and overly gooey and sentimental. Gameplay wise, the fights seem very weirdly balanced: even though your characters are very strong and can heal themselves infinitely, even the most basic fight is way too drawn out and goes on too long. There are all sorts of systems and special moves, but still built upon bog-standard boring RPG combat. The game is advertised as "open world" so there appears to be a lot to see and do, but with the unfortunate side effect of seeming rather aimless and lacking any sense of urgency. It's hard to describe; even though the game was obviously made with care, there is still this sheen of blandness over everything. In all, it's an admirable free labor of love worth putting around in for a bit if you are bored, but I'm not sure I'll ever feel motivated enough to play it through to the end. Still, no harm in giving it a try!

I just beat this, at close to 100%. (Apparently I'm missing one ring, one crafting material, and two codex entries.)​ The combat system is fantastic. Switching partymembers freely is the next best thing to having all of them out at once, and creates some interesting tactical considerations of itself. Switching ​equipment​ midfight is really cool, enough that I wish there was a recharge mechanic for that rather than making it once-per-battle. Free enemy analysis, rules reference, and viewable nonrandomized initiative order, are all huge quality-of-life benefits. That last one also makes it clear exactly how much the Agility stat is worth, which it turns out is a lot. Characters are split. Ezekiel's pretty cool, Umbra's generally a standout, Bolinda's hilarious and I wish the ambiguity about whether her Gang was actually real didn't collapse toward the negative after her fantastic bossfight, Jim Jam was entertaining, Boderick was great, and Sita started as oblivious and separately a bully, but grew on me. Rick was pretty consistently awful, but he had some interesting interactions with Ezekiel, and he kind-of-sort-of grew up a little by the end, maybe, I guess. Brave Wind had potential, but his plotline is almost entirely about killing innocent creatures who talk, and his last line of dialogue is accepting with good grace Umbra being pointlessly mean to him. He'd have been more interesting if he had a bad example to play off of, which Rick could easily have provided. Emith's Zatanna schtick (using phenomenal cosmic powers to fake stage magic) could have said something very interesting about him, but the story never really delved into the requisite worldbuilding for that, and he doesn't really have anything else going on. He's also the only character who plays into most of the damage type system, and that feels like a missed opportunity. Finally, Kyme himself... cares a lot less about having killed Death, or the Excrucian-grade kleptomancy that apparently exists, for someone who moved to a completely different town because his... wife? Girlfriend? Completely blank-slate plot device? - died, than such a person ​really should​. His love of walks and his party-defending combat style were interesting enough, but not enough to make up for being an insensitive skirt-chaser at best, and an adulterer at worst. A number of fights feel morally reprehensible. Lamia wasn't actually eating children by the time you fight her, first Rat Man encounter is one you can run away from and he isn't obviously breaking in to Macy's house or stealing anything, it very definitely should have been possible to progress the Ruined Keep sidequest without killing the Knight, or at least given some indication that fighting was the Knight's choice rather than the party's. Arana's Den felt kinda bad-faith, given that I literally couldn't avoid fighting and had tried. Fairies did not appear to deserve death, especially for the sake of a single fake resurrection potion, Brave Wind had absolutely no right to murder his way through the beehive, and ending the Illusionist's tea party before at least partaking of crumpets was just rude. He seemed fairly harmless, regardless of how incredibly long his bossfight took. I loathed the ending. The bad guy's philosophy has huge, glowing weakpoints in the form of every victim whose lives he categorically did not improve, which seems to include the sailors whose boat he stole, the woman whose ​voice​ he stole, the Harps whose goddess's favor he stole, the children whose ​capacity for laughter​ he stole, and of course the party, whose combat skills he never returns. And because the PCs never properly bring this up, once the Grand Thief has run away, he's won the argument: Kyme goes and seduces Serene, who is married to someone else. (Serene isn't even an interesting character! Just a jerk too dishonorable to return to her husband or properly divorce him for leaving! Sita and Bolinda are far more entertaining, and if it's just a matter of attraction, Morning Star is obviously hotter!) It's intensely frustrating. A lot like Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass that way, with which it shares similar strengths and weaknesses.

lowkey tuff

It's a fun game, it's made with care, and it's free. Kudos to the devs

I never would have imagined a free rpgmaker game would be such an unique and enjoyable experience. The dev seems really passionate about creating games and is also extremely helpful with answering any questions you may have. I highly recommend you give this game a try.